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’Net Junkie Shawn "Speedy" Lopes |
Greeting card Web site
can come in handyIt's been said that 93 percent of all greeting cards are bought by women. I can believe that. I honestly cannot recall the last time I purchased one myself, though I've received some over the years, all by women. You know, the usual culprits -- my mom, a few relatives and the occasional girlfriend. I have yet to receive a "Just for you, birthday boy," greeting card from one of my homeboys though and, believe me, I'm not holding my breath either.
While I can't imagine ever using a Web site like 123greetings.com, I realize that others may find it novel, useful and, well, cute. It's an online service that offers interactive animated greetings you can send to others, complete with sound. Sure, many of the depictions here, as with the traditional greeting card, are of the cute, warm-and-fuzzy variety, including teddy bears, balloons, flowers, puppies and bunnies, though others are decidedly more grown-up.
123greetings.com's "At Work" section, for example, offers customized messages ornamented with animated cell phones, computer screens and coffee mugs. Other categories include arts, events, friendship, invitation, love, music, religion, sports, teens, travel and wedding.
There's also e-cards.com, which features "online greetings and gifts with a global, educational and environmental twist." For example, if the mood strikes you, you'd be able to send someone a photo of a leopard, giant panda or black rhino along with a customized message with your choice of nine classical piano tracks or a contemporary MIDI instrumental piece, 18 card colors and 10 natural backgrounds.
As one might expect, though, the most clever, witty and entertaining sentiments are being generated by the old pros like Hallmark at hallmark.com and American Greetings at americangreetings.com, both of which offer top-notch animated e-cards, many free, others for a fee. Other similar sites include regards.com, greeting-cards.com, cgreetings.com, 1-greeting-cards.com, usagreetings.com, all-yours.net, greetinggrams.com, quickegreets.com and funnyreign.com, which features toilet jokes; jabs at Britney Spears, Saddam Hussein and Paris Hilton; and even an expletive-laced Osama Bin Laden gag. You know, the kind of greetings your obnoxious drinking buddies would actually appreciate.
Note: Web sites mentioned in this column were active at time of publication. The Honolulu Star-Bulletin neither endorses nor is responsible for their contents.
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’Net Junkie drops every Monday.
Contact Shawn "Speedy" Lopes at slopes@starbulletin.com.
