Caught In The Net

THEY RE NOT quite in the Tommy Hilfiger or Yves St. Laurent league yet, but 1998 found the Los Angeles County Coroner s Office selling over $1 million worth of its death-themed fun wear.
Bodies and death are our business. We re just trying to take advantage of it, explains the LACC s very own Vivienne Westwood, Marilyn Lewis. They ve had a lot of famous cases here. They handled John Belushi and Marilyn Monroe. There s a kind of mystery about the LA County Coroner.
The grim reaper, it appears, is laughing all the way to the bank.
This has kind of humanised the department, Lewis continues, rubbing her fingers into a black beach towel decorated with a life-size murder victim. We re just trying to be a little bit creative. You have to have a sense of humour.
Her partner in design, Greg Vella, is even more sanguine in his approach to marketing the Coroner s wares:
The hip kids wear duds and logos from our surfers and snowboarders and hip-hoppers. So why not from our dead? The girls, especially, think it s cute.
As do our friends in the Land of the Rising Yen Vella inking a megabuck deal which will enable Japanese youngsters to adorn their torsos with body outline sweats, undertaker boxers and personalised toe-tags. If you want to go the whole hog, $18 buys you an attractive zip-up black nylon body bag.
If this seems just the teensiest weensiest bit insensitive, you ll be pleased to hear that all proceeds from the venture are going to fund a youth drunk-driving deterrence programme.
It seems to have a very definite and real impact on people, says programme co-ordinator Chris Harvey. They leave with their eyes wide open and a different outlook on life.
And, if they ve got fifteen bucks to blow, a Los Angeles County Coroner s Office BBQ apron.
http://www.lacoroner.com/
The War Diaries. A daily account of what it s like to have the fuck bombed out of you by NATO.
www.webcinema.org/war_diaries/

Moonshine. You ll never need to visit the offie again with Grandma s easy-to-follow recipe for 50% proof gargle. metalab.unc.edu/moonshine/make/howtomake.html

B-Movies. Attack Of The 50ft Women, Plan 9 From Outer Space and Santa Claus Is An Alien are just three of the cinematic masterpieces given the Barry Norman treatment on this award-winning site. www.bflick.com

Beano s. Suicidal because you can t find that A&M copy of the Sex Pistols God Save The Queen ? E-mail your wants list to Europe s biggest second-hand record store. [email protected]