Not too much has been happening around Netpunk Central lately.  Most of you must have been too busy becoming yuppie punks to bother writing me and sending your websites for review.  I do have a handful of stuff, though, which I'll get to in a minute.

First, however, I wanted to mention a couple of pretty cool things I've discovered on the net recently.  These are totally unrelated to punk rock, except for the fact that they are sources for cheap (or free) stuff you'll want for your website or computer.

It use to be that the only place to register a domain name (like diehippiedie.com) was Network Solutions, who charged $35 a year to own a name.  Now, thanks to the organization that governs domain names, there is competition and names can be had for much cheaper.  One of the least expensive sources I've found for domain names is http://www.gkg.net/, where you can buy a name for a mere $9.99 a year!  You will still need a web hosting service to provide a home for the domain name, but at least the cost of the name is less.

If you are looking for a web hosting service, you might try http://www.freeservers.com, who offer free web hosting, including your own domain name.  The biggest pain seems to be that your site will be crawling with advertisements.  I've never tried them, so as far as I know they suck, but they are free.  Don't forget that you often get what you pay for, though.

Another cool thing I found is StarOffice by Sun Microsystems.  In what I'm guessing is an attempt by Sun to break Microsnot's stranglehold on the world, they are offering this software for free for Windows and Linux users.  StarOffice is a complete office suite that includes support for all of the popular Microsoft products (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc), a web browser and e-mail program, a database, a contact manager, and more.  The only big pain in the ass is that the program is too big for anyone without a DSL line or connection at school to download.  It is over 80 MB, which takes forever over a regular modem.  You can buy it on CD for around 40 bucks.  Anyway, it's better than giving money to Bill Gates.  Check out http://www.sun.com/staroffice/ .

 Okay, enough of that crap and on to the punk crap… err… rock sites.  We'll begin with that of Straight Up Records from Japan.  There is a lot of cool Japanese hardcore and punk here, with prices set so you know you're buying from Japan (in other words, high).  There are also sound samples, though unfortunately they are only 1 minute worth of songs, rather than full songs.  I hate that.  Anyway, visit Straight Up at http://www.straightup-rec.com/ .

As long as we're talking about foreign sites, I should take the opportunity to tell you about the website for Stress, an Irish melodic hardcore/punk band.  They've got a decent photo gallery, a cool collection of links, and quite a few of their songs available in Real Audio format.  Cool sounds.  Visit Stress at http://drink.to/stress .

More cool sounds emanate from the site of the band Last In Line at http://lastinline.bizland.com/ .  Last In Line play early-80's Boston-style hardcore, and do a kick ass job of it.  Their site has links to their songs at mp3.com, as well as some photos, news, bios and a message board.  Not a ton of content here, but visit for the songs.

All of you Computer Crusties out there may want to visit the Crusthaven Country Club, where you'll find chat rooms, discussion boards and links, all dealing with Crust.  I still maintain that Crusts and hippies are nearly the same thing, but hey, if you wanna live in the gutter with your "dog-on-a-string", who am I to stop you.  You can visit Crusthaven at http://crusty.tsx.org/ .

Taking over from where the MRR personals leave off, the Punk Personals Page at http://www.angelfire.com/co/punkpersonals/ will help you find your perfect punk rock boy or girl, fuck buddy, or whatever.  Not too much action here yet, but I'm sure all of you lonely punks will flock to this site after this column.  Whad'ya have to lose (except your virginity)?

If you are tired of watching everyone just stand around at shows, maybe you should send them to the article on "How to Dance Punk" at http://www.gothpunk.com/main.html .  You'll also find articles here on "How to Dance Goth", open source software, and an interesting article on "Selling Out".  Visit the site, you may learn a thing or two.

The final site I'm going to mention this time around is http://www.skaterpunks.com/ .  First, a big huge complaint -- this site is NOT Netscape-compatible.  It worked fine in Internet Explorer and the StarOffice web browsers, but wouldn't even load in Netscape.  Skateboarding and punk rock have gone hand-in-hand for years, and it's good to see a sight dedicated to that union.  Unfortunately, this place needs a lot of work.  Some of the bands they focus on are barely punk, and they seem to have fallen victim to an Epitaph press release content system.  Weird.  Give it a look, though, because by the time you read this it will be a couple of months older.

That's all I have for you this month.  A reminder that you can e-mail me at netpunk@diehippiedie.com and snail mail me at PO Box 8059, Santa Cruz,  CA  95061.  Also, I'm going to start distributing my columns via e-mail.  If you'd like to join my e-mail list for the column, send a message to netpunkcols@diehippiedie.com and I'll add you to my mailing list.  See ya.