If there’s an overabundance of one thing on the Internet (apartfrom porn), it’s cheesy Webcam sites (many of which happen to bepornographic). There are so many mopey pseudo-goths lit by theelectric glow of their monitors and perky housewives with too muchtime on their hands chronicling their mundane lives that even themost desperate Web-voyeurs would die of ennui.
That’s why Eric Conveys Emotion is a welcome breath of fresh air.Rather than a piteous display of neuroses for poor Web surfers tosee, Eric puts a smile on your face and can help you through even themost excruciating bad days.
A self-described simple man in to snowboarding and talking in thethird person, Eric graduated from the University of Florida andworked in the once-bustling and booming Silicon Valley as a Webmaster. Loosely based on a bit by former “Late Night” co-host AndyRichter, Eric started his Web site in the summer of 1998 drivenpartly by boredom. He hooked a camcorder to his computer and beganhalf-heartedly mugging emotions such as “Unctuous,” “Suave” and”Bemused Resignation.”
After a while, Eric decided to have people select the emotions tobe depicted admitting that he’d never be able to come up with some ofthe stuff that had been requested. Rather than simple “Happiness” or”Anger,” Eric has accurately portrayed “Seconds prior to a fatalepileptic seizure,” “Filled with chocolately goodness,” “Staring atyour hands the way people do in movies when they’ve just killed theirfirst person” and “Getting a paper cut on your tongue after lickingan envelope.”
The site isn’t all just some guy making faces at his Webcam. Okay,maybe it is pretty much that, but Eric Conveys Emotion also featuresour hero getting into wacky adventures. Some include Eric in a deadlygame of football with the Brothers Chaps (the geniuses behindwww.homestarrunner.com), a brief scrap in a Tampa airport, a Scottishcannon atop Edinburgh Castle and a poor moment of alcohol-addledjudgment in a bar frequented by backpackers. Eric also made a guestappearance on Robot Frank’s Web site (www.robotfrank.com) as bothemo-man and the cardboard robot wandered around New York.
One of the coolest sites on the net, Eric Conveys Emotion hasreceived several Web-based awards and has been mentioned inEntertainment Weekly, USA Today and The Sunday Times.
Pending emotion requests on the site include “Having that ‘not sofresh’ feeling,” “Eric ducking after horrible winged monkeys arecoming to get him,” “I just peed myself” and the ever popular”Gassy.”
– Hubert Vigilla
