WHAT'S YOUR BAG? Pop culture? The strange and supernatural? Contemporary world history? The following CD-ROMs will satisfy your range of intellectual needs.
Bad Day on the Midway. Take a walk on the weird side with Innscape's Bad Day on the Midway, the latest collaboration from illustrator/animator Jim Ludtke and San Francisco cult band The Residents. Like their Freak Show CD-ROM, this disc revisits the "curiosities at the carnival" theme, but with a twist: You must solve a murder without meeting a similar fate. While sleuthing, you interact with fascinating characters, listen to original music from The Residents, and navigate through 3-D environments. This ain't no Cirque de Soleil. $50. 800-693-3253.
Our Times. Based on the best-selling book of the same name, Vicarious' Our Times is a virtual "walk through history," complete with thousands of images; over two hours of narration by James Earl Jones; and an interactive time line, which takes you step by step through the past 95 years. You can also read an essay on environmentalism by Stephen Jay Gould, admire the paintings of Frida Kahlo, or find out Sophia Loren's real birthday. $70. 800-465-6543 or 415-610-8300.
Virtual Stupidity. Sure to bring you back to the here and now are MTV's ultimate slacker icons, Beavis and Butt-head. In the new CD-ROM game entitled, appropriately enough, Virtual Stupidity, from Viacom New Media, you must help the head-banging duo impress their hero "Todd" and join his gang for adventures that include Principal McVicker, Earl, and Van Driessen. Along the way, you'll watch music videos (complete with stunning nuggets of wisdom from our heroes). Uhhhh . . . cool, Beavis. $65. 212-258-6000.
