TODAY'S TOURBUS TOPIC: HAPPY BIRTHDAY / BAD STUFF

Hi All! This weekend Patrick and I are celebrating the 8th birthday of TOURBUS. We started publishing on July 20th, 1995 and it's been a great ride. We want to send thanks to all of our 100000 loyal riders, especially those who have been with us since the beginning.

In today's issue, you'll find some Really Bad Stuff. Nothing dirty or illegal of course, but stuff so bad it'll make you laugh. Our sponsors for today, however, have some really GOOD stuff. I encourage you to visit and thank them for supporting TOURBUS. A click or two before we get rolling will make them very happy!

BAD ART

When I was a kid, my orthodontist had a really bad painting in his office, which I had to stare at while he reshaped my mouth. Ever since then, I've been sensitive to Bad Art. I think the people responsible for creating

Museum of Bad Art - http://www.glyphs.com/moba

must have undergone extensive dental work too, because they've spent a decade collecting examples of Bad Art. The curators of MOBA explain their philosophy like this:

> The pieces in the MOBA collection range from the work of
> talented artists that have gone awry, to works of exuberant,
> although crude, execution by artists barely in control of the
> brush. What they all have in common is a special quality that
> sets them apart in one way or another from the merely incompetent.

I especially enjoyed "Peter the Kitty" and the witty writeups that accompany the artwork. Need more Bad Art? Try these links:

Just Plain Bad Art - http://bertc.com/weirdart.htm

Ohio Bad Art Guild - http://www.obag.org

(Oh, and Dr. G, if you're reading this article, please don't visit any of these sites. Your past, present and future orthodontic patients all thank you.)

BAD LITERATURE

Do you think you're a really bad writer? Take heart, you could win a prestigious award for your drivel. The Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest has challenged entrants for almost 20 years to compose the opening sentence to the worst of all possible novels. Here's one of the first winners:

> The camel died quite suddenly on the second day, and Selena
> fretted sulkily and, buffing her already impeccable nails--not
> for the first time since the journey began--pondered snidely
> if this would dissolve into a vignette of minor inconveniences
> like all the other holidays spent with Basil.
> --Gail Cain, San Francisco, California (1983 Winner)

The winners for this year's contest were just announced, but if you think you're Bad Enough, feel free to submit your own entry for next year's contest!

Dark & Stormy - http://www.bulwer-lytton.com

GOING FROM BAD TO WORSE?

If you haven't had your fill of Bad yet, try the absolute worst at

The Worst - http://www.worstoftheweb.com

Each weekday, your guides Buzz, Melvin and Chip feature a really awful site, and tell you why it stinks. If you want some examples of how NOT to design your web pages, browse here for a while.

That's it for our trip into the Bad side of the Web. See you next time! --Bob Rankin