Shift Control's new look

[the.news@shiftcontrol.com]

Shift Control has a new look this week. It's out with the old red, black 
and white, and in with a distinctly tasteful blue and cream. And the 
change in colours is just the start. We've listened to the feedback we've 
had about the site, and made it quicker and easier to access and read.

The content, of course, is as good as ever. In Critical Shift, William 
Leith asks what has happened to our heroes. "We don't want heroes 
anymore," he writes, "because we think we've failed as a race. We are 
hungry for stories which tell us about how nasty and greedy and 
self-destructive we are, because this is what we believe. We don't fall 
for a nice, smiling man who is nice to people. We wonder what he's hiding."

In Write Out of Control, we have three new pieces of writing. There's the 
next exclusive (and  rather shocking) instalment of Toby Litt's novel, 
'�'. We also have the first winner of our White Out of Control 
competition. Not only can you read it, but you can also write the sequel 
and win �200. And, in 'Large', Nick Green describes an awesome summer of 
pills and thrills on the festival scene.

"The first event of the summer," he writes, "saw me at my most 
ineffectual, having been rendered completely useless by what can only be 
described as 'a lethal drugs cocktail'. I didn't realise that a seemingly 
harmless combination of acid, speed, Ecstasy and skunk could be quite so 
debilitating."

In Plug n Play we bring you an interior design special - From Habitat to 
Hell and Back - and Fags-u-like, in which our special panel of cigarette 
connoisseurs smoke their way through several packs of fags in order to 
tell you which are the best.  

We've also changed our weekly diary. Instead of Roland bragging about his 
hyperactive social life, he now presents you with 10 essential cultural 
happenings for the week ahead. Gigs, clubs, movies and books - they're 
all in Roland's diary.

Yes, you'd be mad not to visit www.shiftcontrol.com this week.

Regards,

The Shift Control Team

Shift Control is produced by the Guardian New Media Lab, with help from 
Stella Artois and Boddingtons.