Rebel Communique

The caffeinated eclecticism of this webzine reveals its creator, Eraserscreenwriter Tony Puryear, to be more dilettante than Renaissance man. The 38-year-old African-American's Rebel Communiquemimics a Gen-X lifestyle mag — featuring film reviews from French and Japanese freelancers, a noirish interactive novella, rap reviews, a link to the Mexican rebel Zapatistas' home page, a sex column, and even an online store pitching T-shirts and home-brewed beer (each bottle signed by Puryear). The editors have constructed the skeleton for a potentially engaging potpourri, and Puryear's dedication is heartening. But mundane visuals, juvenile writing, and technological glitches — links that lead nowhere, text shaded too dark to appear on screen — diminish the site's impact. B-