By Jeannie Ben-Hain
The tagline under killfrog.com's logo is, "Another waste of space
on the net". While this may or may not be the case, it is definitely
an entertaining place to waste some time. Killfrog.com offers visitors
an assorted selection of cartoons featuring original characters interacting
with one another usually towards some violent end. As the webpage
loaded onto my browser, the first thing I noticed was a boy with big
green eyes standing and staring at the logo. In the meantime, a small
rope with a noose emerged from the logo and dropped down behind him.
Having missed the target, the rope is lifted back up only to be dropped
effectively around a stuffed rabbit doll lying a little further away.
The hung rabbit disappears behind the logo which starts shaking ominously
until a few severed doll limbs drop back down. From the top of the
logo three little pigs with wicked grins (complete with wickedly sharp
teeth) pop up, the middle one carrying a chainsaw, and it is clear
they're the ones behind the mutilation of the bunny.
This opening animation fits nicely with the content of the site: irreverent
and satirical animations with a good measure of twisted violence.
To the left of the logo, you'll find a giant remote with variously
colored buttons which contain the links to different areas of the
site. I liked this buttons graphic because it was different from most
websites, but still retained high visibility and ease of use. Clicking
on "New Stuff" will take you to a page with a good selection
of the different types of animations available at killfrog.com. To
the right you will find links to two animation series: ""Ultimate
Survivor" and "The Little Susie Experiments".
The latter features the Three Evil Piggies, whose names are See, Speak,
and Hear, portraying a manifestation of a little girl's bogeymen under
the bed.
As soon as the lights go out, the pigs torture and scare the little
girl by mutilating the toys scattered around her room. It seems that
when these episodes came out, the audience would vote on whether or
not Little Susie would die and offer suggestions about how she would
meet her demise. Unfortunately, since I am probably watching these
series a while after they were first shown I didn't have the opportunity
to participate. This feature seems interactive in the way that we
discussed in class when movies and theater have the audience choose
the ending.
The other animated series, "Ultimate Survivor", is a parody
of the popular television show, "Survivor". Killfrog.com's
interpretation includes the cast of characters from other animations
(Evil Piggies, Little Susie, the Kat, Doc) outlasting each other on
a deserted island. Sounds like the original, right? However, instead
of voting people off the island, these survivors must "Eat or
Be Eaten". I was amused by the names of the two camps: Donner
vs. Dahmer and the appearance of characters from another well-known
show set on a deserted island ("a three hour tour").
Still, as entertaining as some elements of the shows were, I found
them a little on the long side. Far more engaging, and definitely
more interactive, were animations that included buttons for the watcher
to click and take part in the action. The star of most of these games
was the Kat and killfrog.com gives visitors the opportunity to "Spin
the Kitty", where the wheel of death is spun to choose how the
Kat will die (toaster-electrocution anyone?), "Save the Kitty",
where an evil doctor tries to turn the Kat into Frankenstein, and,
my favorite, "Fluff the Kitty", where the Kat is subjected
to tortures by Washing Machine. Other delightful games on killfrog.com
include a "Deportation" game that mocks the hoopla surrounding
the Elian Gonzalez controversy and "Dumbass Bass" where
web users can torture those annoying singing stuffed fish.
All in all, killfrog.com offers a few hours of enjoyment for those
times when you are procrastinating from a problem set or goofing off
at work. There is even a link to a page where you can send friends
killfrog.com greeting cards. Lastly, be sure to check out the "Links"
button if only to view the hilarious graphic of Kev (the boy character)
dressed as a butcher serving up sausage weblinks to his customer.