pop~TARTS

Just checked out pop~TARTS (http://www.ix.de/TP/issue196/fpoptarts.htm), a
section of the new Telepolis Web site, by Kathy Rae Huffman and Margarete
Jahrmann. Looks really good. It's vitally important that we take up issues
around gender and new media, and I think Kathy and Margarete's approach
really makes sense: smart, loose and not too sober. They take their theory
seriously (it's in German, so they don't have much choice), but they
understand that in the postmodern playpen, surfaces are as significant as
the structures that produce them. Their goal is to deal with questions
around media theory in terms of intimacy, aesthetics and politics by
focusing on the people and events that construct the new media landscape.
So far, the site is pure promise: it describes what they are going to do,
but none of it is actually there yet. Vaporware? Doubt it. I'm looking
forward Kathy and Margarete's virtual food for thought.