New York – December 5, 1997 (Full Issue)

Related Links:
Sparkly twinkly Spanker.com
Mok Designs
Web writers perform

December 5, 1997

Sparkly twinkly Spanker.com
WELL FOLKS, it’s here — the time of year with sparkly twinkly lights, Christmas bulbs and ornaments, menorahs in shop windows, cozy home mantles — and the time of four parties at least a night. I hope you’re all well rested (yeah, right) after this banner crop year in the web field…

SPANK ME BABY! Or maybe someone should have spanked The Spanker at his re-launch party of the site at Coney Island High on Wed. 12/3. His hideously long diatribe droned on but didn’t keep the crowd from losing interest (for some reason). I guess they were all still dazed by the dazzling fire eating erotic dancers (who I first saw at the Webmasters Valentine’s Ball ’96), a fabulous Elvis Impersonator, and the lecherous Santa milling about.

Mok Designs
Just moments before, I was in a quiet seminar room at the Apple Market Center for a presentation by digital design guru Clement Mok. Heckled by an older gent in a ponytail, Mok pressed on trying to answer questions about his logo (the symbol is the original Phoenician letter “A”) and design business. Afterwards I asked Tom Volpe what he thought of the presentation. He felt Mok spoke to the audience, meaning he catered to the “rowdy crowd who just wanted to know what tools to use to make quick easy Websites. The true designers just sat quietly.” Maybe that heckler should’ve gone over to the Spanker party.

Web writers perform
EXOTIC ANTIQUE textiles were the backdrop in the Manhattan Internet Lounge for “Web Writers in the Flesh“. Xander Mellish in a bright orange silk cocktail dress was the final of six poets and writers to perform on December 2. Each writer read a piece of their work in a multimedia fashion. Xander read from her own “Glory & the Golden Age” with the Duke Ellington song “Caravan” in the background. Her stage was decorated with large white foam board cutouts of Manhattan skyscrapers. CyberGrrl Aliza Sherman was there with some folks from CBS, whom she is consulting for. Also present was Sturges Warner, a theatrical director, who is collaborating on a dramatic piece with Mellish. Another highlight of the evening was Alison Dorfman reading some of her poems about high school life in the ’80s. The audience roared as they had samosas and magaz, Indian specialties complements of Kumar Kalantri, director of the Gallery 678 in the MIL.