Stirring some excitement
into being dull

It's OK to Be Dull," "We Don't Get Out Much" and "Born to Be Mild" are just three of the slogans trumpeted by the indifferent, passionless lot known as the Dull Men's Club. Perhaps only in cyberspace, at www.dullmen. com, are the inert and lifeless able to convene without any pressure to appear hip, cool and "with it."

Here is a Web site adorned in a humdrum color scheme of gray, white and black, which celebrates -- albeit mildly -- the freedom to be dull. Take a few tips from dullmen.com and you might be able to attain genuine mediocrity in your life, or at least retain some of the more drab aspects of your personality.

By repeating tidbits taken from its Dull Trivia section, for example, dullmen.com claims you will be the hit of your next yawn-inducing get-together. "Did you know that no piece of paper can be folded in half more than seven times?" Dullmen.com asks. "Try it with a napkin at the next dinner party you attend." If you'd like to appear extremely dull, simply repeat them over and over, especially to people who have heard them before.

The Web site also offers information on trite, little-known institutions like the Apron Museum in Bedford, Ohio; the Comb Museum in China; the Asphalt Museum in Sonoma, Calif.; and the British Lawnmower Museum in Southport, Lancashire, U.K.

Keep up to date with all the ho-hum celebrations taking place year-round in this country with dullmen.com's slate of events. August, for the uninformed, is National Win with Civility Month and National Napping Month. There's also information on the Blueberry Festival in Montrose, Pa., if links to the other two prove too radical for your tastes.

Be sure not to confuse a dull man with a boring man, though, says dullmen.com. Dull men accept their dullness, while boring men actually believe they are interesting. Dull men are introverts, while an extroverted dull man is actually a boring man. "The character Norm Peterson from the television show 'Cheers' is a dull man," explains the Web site. "The character Cliff Claven is a boring man."

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.