The year 2000 is almost over, and frankly, I'm getting a bit jaded with the Internet.  What happened to all of the cool stuff?  It's all the same old shit, and the pile just keeps getting bigger.  There are a ton of sites out there, and almost all of them are half ass (and I'll admit, mine is no exception).  It is getting harder and harder to bring you interesting, worthwhile stuff.

That's where I need your help.  If you run across a site that kicks your ass, let me know about it!  E-mail me at netpunk@diehippiedie.com and give me the lowdown.  The site doesn't necessarily even need to be punk rock -- I'm just looking for something interesting.

This month, I'm featuring a few sites that offer a taste of what the internet may offer in the future, once we all have high speed connections to the net.  Those of you with slow connections will probably find many of these sites very frustrating, but those with fast connections will dig these links.  Of course, this brings up the whole controversy over whether a fast connection to the net is punk, but who the fuck cares?  If your interest in the net is such that you want to shell out 40 or 50 bucks a month for internet access instead of cable TV, then what the hell.  Heck, through a service like WinFire (http://www.winfire.com/) you may even be able to get a fast connection via DSL for free.

The site that got me onto this whole high-speed connection thang was BlankTV.  BlankTV has a collection of punk rock videos available for download, for free via the LOADtv player.  These are some of the best quality videos I've seen online, but each vid is about 6 Megs.  That's a lot of download time on a slow connection.  Most of the videos are of better known bands, but you'll probably find something you'll like.  Visit BlankTV at http://www.blanktv.com/.

Another decent collection of videos is at Audiopunk (in fact, the videos aren't actually here, but you need to go here to get the username and password that will allow you to get to the videos).  There's also a slew of Epitaph/Fat Wreck style punk MP3s available at the Audiopunk site, so it may be worth a visit if you're into that.  Audiopunk is at http://www.sprungnet.com/audiopunk/ .

Paul Dougherty's TV nook is another cool place to check out.  Dougherty is an award-winning video editor that has worked on stuff like PeeWee's Playhouse, Saturday Night Live, etc.  His TV nook includes video clips of Patti Smith, The Heartbreakers, Iggy, The Ramones, PIL, and more.  Visit the TV nook at http://www.postlit.com/punk/index.html .

I've mentioned http://www.panx.net/ before, but they fit in with the whole net video thing, because of the Panx Multimedia section of their website.  Of interest is Panx TV and their MP3 section, both of which feature both European and American bands.  No really big names here, and that's what make it cool.

For some good old-time fun, check out Youth Movement Video clips.  Only a handful of stuff here, but included is Black Flag's TV Party video, plus stuff from The Cramps, Ramones, Circle Jerks, and a handful of others.  Very unofficial, the vids are fun watching. Youth Movement is at http://www.angelfire.com/punk/nevernindthebullocks/ .

Okay, that's enough of the high bandwidth stuff.  It'll keep you busy downloading until at least next month, so enjoy.  I have some other decent sites to share with all of you (not just the speed demons) as well.

Dead Empty is a band out of PA, and they've put together an excellent page showcasing their band.  My only big complaint is that the page wouldn't come up in my version of Netscrape, so I had to switch to Internet Exploder.  Whatever.  Anyway, they keep a list of upcoming shows, and have a discography, MP3 and RealAudio sound files, lyrics for their songs, and a report on their summer tour, where they actually managed to come back from the road with 41 bucks more than they started with.  Punk Rock! -- http://www.angelfire.com/pa/deadempty/ .

While looking around for some info on old punk bands, I ran across a couple of other sites worthy of your attention.  The Billy Eye and Judy Zee site is a collection of articles on the Los Angeles rock music and club scene of 1980 to 1983 written "back in the day".  Stuff here includes writing on the Germs, Fear, Devo, and others.  It's actually all a part of homeroom1, a site that seem dedicated to the 80's.  You'll find the Billy Eye and Judy Zee page at http://www.homeroom1.com/eyezee.html .

Another decent history site is "We Created It; Let's Take it Over!" at http://www.inch.com/~jessamin/ .  This is a series of essays on 70's era New York City punk and wave, including the Voidoids, Patti Smith, Ramones, the Dolls, and more.  Fun reading.

The final site for this month is kind of an enigma.  The Big Fun Glossary is just sorta weird.  It's the mad product of one slacker's overactive mind.  Lot's of writing here.  Not necessarily punk, the author (the Gus) has some interest in the punk scene.   As he puts it "I do pretty much what I want to do and get from punk rock what I need from punk rock".  I like his style.  The Big Fun Glossary seems massive.  Find out for yourself -- http://www.spies.com/~gus/bigfun/ .

Okay, that does it.  I gotta get going for this month.  Remember to write me at netpunk@diehippiedie.com with comments, complaints, or site suggestions that will make the internet interesting for me again.  Or, as always, you can visit http://www.diehippiedie.com/netpunk/ for past, present and future columns.  See ya.