I was on a sort of virtual search for Babylon, which everyone should know, typically involves gathering together a complicated caravan of digital ox-driven wagons. The scene was something out of "The Oregon Trail," as I traveled to distant lands and watched members of my party die violent electronic deaths, one by one.
I had little trouble finding Babylon due to the sizeable, but not overwhelming, number of people who are fans of a certain science fiction television program.
I can also tell you I most certainly was not on that search because it's a cheap storytelling device to bring up some pretty cool Web sites.
Millions of people watch "Babylon 5," a somewhat popular science fiction series that sort of looks like "Star Trek" if you're doing something else and you have the TV on in the background. While I haven't confirmed that millions of people watch the show, that figure sure sounds cool.
I think a few more millions of people are also fans of "South Park," a phenomenon of animated adolescent grossness. So, it seems someone thought in a moment of either brilliance or drunkenness, why not combine the two shows?
Someone thought it would be funny to create a cartoon spoof called "Babylon Park" that apparently won some awards and is now archived on the Web. In addition, a spoof of "Star Trek: Voyager" and "Crusade" is presented, in which the two shows are dragged into a "Grudgematch" of almost epic proportions - but not quite.
Oh my God, they killed Koshi!
Entertained, I decided to build upon my search from this site to find out more about Babylon.
I finally got the information I needed when I visited Gateways to Babylon. I was immediately depressed to find out that women of Mesopotamia spent their days churning butter and grinding flour - not exactly what I call a nice afternoon. Some women were lucky enough to go into the textile business, and were allowed to go down to markets in the area to buy and sell - surprise, surprise - clothing and the materials needed to make it.
I wondered if the Mesopotamian men ever griped to each other about their girlfriends' compulsive need to shop. But aside from such pseudo-amusing thoughts, I decided this Web site was simply no fun. It got worse the more I read, as I saw all of the farming and hard work the Mesopotamians had to do. If that was Babylon, its people's work ethic wasn't going to jive with me. I was back on my search on the Information Superhighway, and the next rest stop was 50 miles away.
Babylon rock+roll.gr seemed a lot more promising. Finally, some good old rock 'n roll. Yay, I said, as the images of Marilyn Manson and Nelly Furtado began to materialize on my screen. Oh no, I said, when I realized the whole site was in Greek and I couldn't read it.
It was only then that I stumbled upon the Holy Grail, the light at the end of the tunnel, the dangling carrot ... you get the idea. Babylon Magazine stood out for me like a flash in the middle of darkness. Or something like that. I had found Babylon.
Standing at the gates after my search through four Babylon-related sites, with Marilyn Manson's black-lipped grin leering at me, Nirvana was mine. And only three members of my party died of snake bites on "The Babylon Trail."
Nicole Saidi is the Content Editor of the Web Devil. Reach her at nicole.saidi@asu.edu.
