Portals
OffLine opens the doors to artistic experience with Wen-Chung's Van Gogh's Ear, a humanizing portrait of the legend of Allen Ginsburg. Gaze through the portal at Hiero Matrix Romp by Manfred Smollich; a primal scratch animation of hieroglyphic images combined with rhythmic drumming.Black and White, by Seattle's Blackchair Productions turns us on a hinge by offering us an otherwise unseen world through subtle manipulation and careful observance of the camera's voyeuristic lens. The doors swing wide open with Janene Higgins' experimental Hairless, an abstract music video for the song "Hairless" by Zeena Parkins, a longtime fixture in New York's "downtown" scene who performed with Fred Frith, John Zorn, Elliott Sharp, and last year with Courtney Love and her band Hole on MTV Unplugged. This episode's in-depth interview is with sculptor and industrial designer Mark Chung.

Birds
OffLine takes flight with filmmaker Tim McCann in OffLine's in-depth feature interview, including clips from his film, Desolation Angels. In Rachel Roth's We're Pastie to be Grill You, alien life forms take over the planet and hypnotize you with their eeerie chorus. Soar with Desecration, by Dante Tomaselli, a surreal short film about a metaphysical relationship between a woman and a man. Sandy Dyas wings us away with snapshots of everyday life and music from childhood which explores the memories and longings of love in her Same Old Song and Dance. Listen to the sonorant sounds of Lisa Karp's Change To the Other Side, a distinctive alternative-pop music video. Drawing on her eclectic background and musical influences she expresses idiosyncratic personal poetry, yielding a unique style of earthy and ethereal modern sounds. The "Birds" episode also contains Orange Julia, Tom Ross' new computer animation with original music, and Dimanche. 1er.Regina. Le Vent, by Marie-Helene Cousineau, which records moments on a day in Regina, Canada.

Humor
Chuckle with us at Stop Pickin' at His Bones, by PWB, a humorous music video about Elvis Presley. Providing additional laughs is this episode's featured interview with prolific video artist and movie reviewer Kirk-o-Matic. Joe Grisaffi presents Death and a Salesman, a short comedy about a used car salesman trying to sell an automobile to the Grim Reaper. Oh Shit That's My Mind, by Matt Wilkins, provides OffLine with excerpts from a Seattle-produced collection of comedy shorts. The laughs continue with 9 Brief Pieces, by Russ and Taly Johnson, a compilation of short pieces that focus on our fascination with how the camera captures and communicates ideas, using familiar objects like toys, hands, telephones, and books. See also Nancy Ghertner's Field Sequence, a personal essay about a field near the filmmaker's home that examines the field during every season and ponders the artist's relationship to it.

Boxes
OffLine's "Boxes" episode contains Little Cube, Jason Simmons' computer animation about a small cube trying to fit in and play with a group of spheres. Barbara Rosenthal's Shadow Boxes, sequences segmented video while exploring the nature of language, visual communication, and "humanness." In Boxes, by George Nadeau, we find computer animation that depicts a world in which everyone lives in their own cardboard box, isolated from society. OffLine's feature interview is world-renowned computer calligrapher and architect Mamoun Sakkal. Part and parcel of the "Boxes" package is Alak Films' Fur Film, in which fur coats abound.

Insects
Explore the world of real and metaphorical insects with To See or Not to See, by Terese Svoboda, a meditation on the giant walking sticks of Papua, New Guinea which dramatizes the narrator's ambivalence toward the"other." Don't Deal Dirt, by Alak Films is a pseudo-police movie collage that demonstrates what happens when good people get involved with bad things. This episode's in-depth interview is Thelma Schoonmaker, film editor for numerous Martin Scorcese movies, such as Raging Bull, Casino, and Woodstock. An insect's world view is presented in Tom Ross' computer animated From the Journal of a Fly. Also on "Insects" is Ignorance is Bliss, an animated ink drawing-like adventure following the life of a tiny fish, Conjugations, by Elouise Oyzon, a story of a young woman wrestling with the conflict between her church's view of sexuality and her own sexual awakening. The Chameleon, by Charles Wilson illustrates via computer animation the dangers of blending in too well.

Water
OffLine pours forth its creativity with Waters of Grace, by Frank Clare, an exploratory use of video images that creates internal and external impressions. In Water, by Kelly Murray, we find a collage-like exploration of spiritual loss and the search for the idea of mother. OffLine's in-depth interview features Laurie Ramacci, lead singer of the Seattle-based avante-pop music group "Tall," including select Tall music videos. Also in the runnel is Forgetting We Are Water, by Lynn Shelton, in which the viewer is led, in stream of conscious manner, through the random reminiscences of a work-wearied mind. The narrative dips and plunges into the deeper realm of remembered dreams, conjured fantasies and disturbing visions. Swimming in the water is the Whose Family music video Trout Wish, a computer processed fantasy of fish dreams.

Rebirth
Enter the womb with Scott Noegel and Greg Bowman's The Descent of Ishtar, an artistic reenactment of a Babylonian myth utilizing the Babylonian tongue (with English subtitles) and ancient music (c. 1800 BC). Be reformed with Chad Bracken's Shed Your Skin, an interesting and socially relevant clay animation. Rebirth continues with Sacrifice, by Leslie Streit, in which the great circle of stones at Avebury provides a magical setting. Life without rebirth is the message of Tag Purvis' Peas 'n Corn, a non-narrative, biting view of the South as decaying social structure. There are no heroines in this one, just the local girls rotting away under the blow dryers at the neighborhood salon. She Slept but a Few Hours, by Sandy Dyas is a driving, nearly demonic soundtrack and a flurry of repetitive imagery taken from the confines and comforts of a woman's home. Rebirth continues its cycle with Helden Sun's Rebirth of Larry, a twisted story of the havoc and violence created by a humorous little mouse. Gretchen Miller-Stephan uses a somber palette to animate the world of Irene, an elderly woman who prepares for bed and experiences flashbacks of her life in Goodnight Irene. Also on the show: the fascinating art installation, Incantations, by artist Ronald Gonzalez.