Well I was on one of my usual IRC hang outs the other night (I'm sure many of you, just as I, are familiar with the idea of substituting things like IRC for any sort of real life) and someone begins expressing quite a bit of confusion over the website http://www.twink.net

Now don't worry about clicking the URL, it's entirely work safe. Though to be honest you may want to hide your monitor away form anyone anyhow, as you'll probably get laughed at for looking at such a goofy site. It looks like some sort of children's coloring book or something.

Well, the URL alone was enough for me to decide to give it a look, the obvious connotations are of course something of sugnificant appeal to me, after all. Anyhow as I think should be obvious, my expectations turned out to be entirely misleading, with rather humerous and ironic results. Anyhow, after looking the site over a few times I decided to shoot off an e-mail to the webmaster:


Greetings,

I happened to be chatting online one rather recently when a fellow patron of my preferred network posted a link to your site, twink.net, and began expressing quite a bit of confusion. Rather curious myself, I just had to give the site a look over, and I must say that it’s content was quite different from what my initial reaction to the URL had lead me to expect. Let me congratulate you on having such a wonderfully keen and whimsical eye for layout and composition, I must say that visually your site is quite a treat, and the artwork there, though relatively simple is quite pleasing.

Admittedly, music preformed on toy pianos doesn’t exactly hold much appeal for me, even if it is a particularly interesting novelty. What has captured my attention, however is the site itself, as I may have made clear already. I mentioned certain expectations derived from the URL, this is something I must imagine you have heard before, expectations which were certainly tickled a bit more upon being greeted by an image of a rainbow on the main page. I couldn’t help but feel that the whole site is trying to hint at something delightfully subversive, and rather comical, in a sense, for such a site set up to produce such an overt child’s story book type of aesthetic. . Given your clear eye for graphic design and accomplishing a thematic layout, I simply can’t bring myself believe that these prominent elements-the domain name, rainbow, and prominence of the rabbit (which certainly has a many similar connotations attached to it in a number of cultures)-are merely coincidental.

If I may be so bold as to finally get around to the point of this e-mail, I’d quite simply like to ask if I’m recognizing a genuinely intended theme on your site, or if perhaps my undiagnosed paranoid schizophrenia is acting up again, and I’ve convinced myself that I’m seeing secret patterns where there are none. If I’m right in my suspicions, then I don’t suppose I should have to be any more specific in describing what exactly I think I’m seeing. However if I’m wrong, then I suppose I should prepare to test just how politely I can explain what the heck I’m talking about without offending, or seeming rather perverse of mind.



so what do you think, folks? Am I looking for dirtyness in places where it just doesn't exist, or does there really seem to be a sort of subversive subtext to the layout of this site?

I'll post back here later once I get a responce from Mike Langley, who owns the site.

what, do you think the site is like an adult site, but subtly disguised as a children's site? Like Pee Wee Herman's movies? :m:

what, do you think the site is like an adult site, but subtly disguised as a children's site? Like Pee Wee Herman's movies? :m:

Well not necessarily that, but yes perhaps something along those lines. I thought it must be some sort of statement on the part of the "Band" (which is just Mike Langlie) about his sexual orientation, displayed in a subtle to serve as a sort of nod and a wink to those in the know. It makes a sort of sense when you think about it. . . I mean what kind of guy buys children's toy pianos and then actually goes out and plays them, right? Sure I complain about these kinds of stereotypes, but wouldn’t that just scream gay?

Anyhow I have received word back from Mike, so here’s what goes on the record:



Hi there, That's the longest euphemism I've ever read! :) Truth be told, I was unaware of any definition of twink before starting my musical project, and the website (even twink.com at that time was merely a "site coming soon" message, with no hints of what would be hosted there). It wasn't long before I did learn the term, and was surprised not by the connotation, but that I simply never heard the slang before - I'm certainly anything but a sheltered guy. While I insist that my motives in the project and design are innocent and not intended to imply anything other than what it is on the surface, I do not mind the surreal or subversive associations that may arise. It's a bizarre world, filled with funny coincidences, and that's one theme that seems inherent any my work. Cheers, Mike http://twink.net

And I suppose that’s all there really is too it. In other news, I downloaded a few of the tracks that he has available for sampling and they're actually not that bad. I recommend Hoppity Jones.