~ANGEL OF THE HEART~'S POETIC PASSION is an oustanding page full of original poetry written from the heart and soul of Pamela Hall, a new friend of mine. I was very impressed and moved by her poems here....I think you will be, too.
THE OFFICIAL DARWIN AWARDS In today's modern society, it's easy to conclude that the age-old process of natural selection has itself become extinct. But a quick visit to this site will prove the contrary. It is filled with news accounts of people who met an untimely demise due to nothing more than their own substandard intelligence genes. Take for example, the enterprising genius who hopped a fence at the Grand Canyon to retrieve some good luck coins tossed in by his fellow tourists and (surprise!)fell to his death. New stories are added each month, and there are eight years of archives just waiting for you. And just when you're starting to believe that truth is indeed stranger than fiction, head over to the urban legends section, which is filled with even more outrageous and shocking stories.
FILM.COM Ever feel like throwing a shoe at the TV when movie critics pan a movie you adore, or worse, gush over a movie you abhor? Now, with the newly redesigned Film.com, you can issue the electronic equivalent of a brickbat or a bouquet to the movie of your choice. Read the professional critics' reviews or submit your own. In the preview section, you'll find streaming trailers of the latest flicks; and in the store, you can buy all the cinema paraphernalia your popcorn-greased hands can afford.
THE GOLDEN RASPBERRY AWARD FOUNDATION Ever felt cheated walking out of the movie theater? You plopped down $8.50 on the flick, and it was really awful? Vent, my friend, vent. The Golden Raspberry Award Foundation feels your pain. Each year, the group compiles a list of what it calls the worst movies of the year and awards them Razzies. Past award winners include Xanadu and (of course) Showgirls. Visit the site to cast your vote in the "100 Years, 100 Stinkers" poll, or check out who's in the lead for this year's competition.
PLAY IT AGAIN, SAM While the debate rages over online music, with major labels wishing it would go away and college kids and independent artists eating it up, many sites have sprung up to cater to the demand. One such site is Sonique, an MP3 player. What's so unique about that? Well, for starters, Sonique has about the coolest looking MP3 player you've ever seen. Adjustable, flexible, with tons of personalization features, this player rocks. Technologically, it's flexible enough to handle many standards, should MP3 not be the format that wins the onlinemusic battle.
USELESS KNOWLEDGE Bet you didn't know that, "If the head of a cockroach is removed carefully, so as to prevent it from bleeding to death, the cockroach can survive for several weeks? When it dies, it is from starvation." Pretty incredible stuff, huh? But some of us thrive on these kinds of ridiculously arcane and esoteric tidbits to get us through cocktail parties, airplane flights, and job interviews. Where do we get it all? Some of us start at UselessKnowledge.com, a site dedicated to trivia, quotes, quizzes, and useless facts. Comb through words of the day, sound quizzes, and more. And really, you never can tell when knowing that a pig can get sunburned will come in handy.
SPACESTATION.COM As if the space program needed a boost in popularity. Sure, we all cheered when John Glenn took to the skies again, but let's face it--that was more a PR move by NASA than anything else. The Space Station, on the other hand, is where the real action is. And whether you're mildly curious about this USA/Russian hookup far up in the sky or a die-hard aficionado of all things interstellar, you'll find something of interest on this jam-packed site. Presented by Encyberpedia and NASA, Spacestation.com offers true geeks the opportunity to view real-time space station data and gives the rest of us a chance to meet the crew, discover the history of space travel, and view various launchings. Who knows? Maybe someday we'll all be up there, checking out Web sites about the planet Earth.
BOB'S FRIDGE DOOR is so offbeat that you'll have to check it out for yourself. This guy is warped......LMAO.
THE ADVERTISING GRAVEYARD
Got a favorite ad campaign? Many of us do, and more than likely we also have ones that drive us batty. Jeff Zeldman, a bang-up Web designer, has created his own gallery of ads--most of which he created--that just don't seem to pass muster with the clients he offered them to. Remember the Godzilla campaign, "Size Matters"? Zeldman offers up "Plot Matters". If you have a way with words and Photoshop, Zeldman encourages submissions as well. Offbeat and funny, some of the humor might be considered a little risque for people who think knock-knock jokes are the height of humor.
THE WEBBY AWARDS The votes were cast, the trophies polished, and the 1999 Webby Awards finally happened--and as attendees, we can confidently say--without a hitch. This official site has been up for a little while, but now you can view the list of this year's winners. Plus, for the 2000 Webbys, there'll be a People's Choice vote as well. Note to aspiring Webmasters: There's still plenty of time before next year's awards, so get coding!
BILLIARD WORLD is, by far, the most intensive page on championship billiards....one of my son's and my favorite past-times :)
ID SOFTWARE is the Home Page of the talented folks who brought us Wolfenstein 3-D, Heretic, Hexen, and the Doom and Quake sereis.
ELECTRO MAGNETIC POETRY We doubt that when Beat poet William S. Burroughs first cut up his writing and reassembled the words in a hodgepodge manner, he was aware that his technique would become the model for the magnetic poetry kits adorning refrigerators across the country. If he had, he'd probably have died a much richer man. Now you can bring the fun of randomly assembling words to make sentences right to your computer. (No, we're not talking about a word processor.) It's a Java-based poetry kit. Sharpen that pentameter and have fun doing so.
DULL MEN'S CLUB
Call him what you will--the dullard, the bore, the guy who shows up at your party and bores half the room to tears. Of course he means well, but how do you tell a friend or acquaintance that, well, he's dull? One way might be to anonymously slip this URL in his mailbox, or forward this e-mail to him. Dull Men's Club has some pretty strict admittance requirements, as you'll find out if you take the "Are You Dull?" test. Once you're in, check out some of the monthly events the club has scheduled, read profiles of certifiably dull fellows, and discover what celebrities are yawners as well.
STEPHEN KING
If Stephen King's book sales are any indication, most of us have at one time or another been spooked by that master of the macabre. Whether it's the vampires of Salem's Lot, the rabid dog in Cujo, or the infamous killer clown of It, King certainly has his finger on the pulse of what it takes to scare people. Now he's finally decided to endorse an official Web site. Anyone looking for thrills akin to those found in his books or clues about where he comes up with his ideas will be disappointed; but if it's King facts you crave, there's plenty to be had. Peek into The Rumors to find the answers to many swirling questions, or read a fairly extensive biographical picture of King in The Man. Fans will surely jump to The Future to find what creatures might spook them soon.
TASTE THE PAIN No, this site is not what you think, folks, but one dedicated to the often-masochistic purveyors of some of the world's spiciest and most exotic hot sauces. Once you get through a couple of clunky opening screens, hundreds of sauces, marinades, and mustards present themselves (so innocently) for your consideration and purchase. Of course, with names like "Sudden Death," you won't be mistaking these for strawberry jellies. Taste the Pain extends its reach to include hot sauce "lifestyle" items as well, such as drink mixers, posters,and shakers.
STRESS, INC. takes a look at the indecent sums of money, the incredible stories, and the indelible stain that the commercialization of stress has created. Read well-written essays discussing stress as it has been commercialized in the worlds of advertising, publishing, pharmaceuticals, fitness, and more. Getting stressed just reading about it? Thankfully, the site provides some respite in the form of games and quizzes. Wait--what if you don't get a high score?!
ABSURD E-commerce sales are up. Chat rooms are flourishing. Grandma bought a Palm Pilot. Just a few signs that the economy is skyrocketing and that technology is bringing us all together? Well, some folks have other ideas about what this "technoglut" portends. And their vision, if, like a point
illist painting observed close up and scrutinized, doesn't really make sense. But by stepping back and searching for the bigger picture to be found in the cacophony of noises, sights, flashes, and text, this truly insane site offers often biting commentary. Too heady for you? Turn down the lights and marvel at the eye candy.
WHEN GOOD TOILETS GO BAD Not enough potty humor in your life? Don't let another day pass without accessing this magnificent collection of toilet news, humor, inventions, and sniglets. Did you know that the bumpers on the underside of a toilet seat are called buculets? Did you hear the one about the woman who fell off the toilet on Halloween and broke her leg? Have you read about the South African invention that allows women to urinate standing up? There's an item about a cat that flushes toilets (driving the water bill through the roof), an article about the toilet to tap plan in Los Angeles, and much, much, much more.
GOOGLE "What's this? Another search engine being dubbed cool? The Web is full of these things! Why should I care about another one?" We know we run the risk of those kinds of comments by alerting you to a new site specializing in searching, but you have to believe us when we say that Google is
different. Why? Well, for starters, unlike the myriad other search engine/portal sites that throw weather, stocks, free e-mail, and chat at you instead of just helping you find what you want, Google stays true to its mission and presents only search results. Second, the engine behind Google's searches relies on matches to your queries, as well as on what other similar sites have said about the matched site. This helps eliminate spammers who load up their pages with thousands of metatags to get results. Trust us on this one--it's worth a look.
TICKETS.COM The play you were hoping to take that special someone to sold out before you could pick up ducats. Same for the tickets to the basketball game you were going to take your business partner to. What to do? Well, if you have some extra cash to throw around and you're already knee-deep in online auction fever, you might want to stop in on tickets.com, the online version of 1-800-TICKETS. The site provides information on how to find sports, arts, music, and many other types of events, as well as an auction in which interested bidders can try to score seats to whatever soldout event they and their credit card desire.
MARVEL COMICS ONLINE Kasplat! Pow! Ah, the sounds of youth. No, we weren't raised in particularly violent households; we just liked our comics. And in those days, comics meant Marvel. Now, of course, the comics market has become a little crowded, but Marvel still stands near the top and will probably continue to do so with the help of this site. Read Shockwave-based online exclusive X-Men comics, find out what's happening at the Daily Bugle, contact your favorite artists, or contribute to a member-penned comic. But beware: All those colored panels on paper translate into slow downloads on the Web.
ALL-MUSIC GUIDE
find out just about anything you want to know about your favorite performers
(or even the one's you can't stand).
GOOD STORY
You've just finished the final chapter on what you're sure is the Great American Novel. Your mom and your significant other both say they love it, and now all you have to do is turn the rest of the world onto it. Where do you start? You could do worse than to turn to goodstory.com. The site offers help to fledgling writers through work critiques, publisher contacts, and agent interactions. You can classify your work as a screenplay, novel, short story/article, or Internet concept. Goodstory is one Internet concept that's been a long time coming.
THE FREE SITE Once upon a time, a time not so far away, nearly everything on the Web was free. It was harder to find something to buy than it was to find free stuff. But with all the recent hoopl a surrounding e-commerce, the good, free stuff is getting harder to find. The Free Site eases your search by providing a bookmark of freebies on the Web. This portal of penny paucity lists free pranks, prizes, graphics, games, and more. And the place is updated daily, so you're assured of fresh freebies.
TRIVIA WORLD Tired of the solitaire that came with your latest operating system? Why not try your hand at Trivia World? Unlike solitaire, testing your skills at trivia in theory increases your intelligence and awareness. Granted, it's mostly of useless, arcane bits of info, but what better way to fill those embarrassing gaps in conversation at cocktail parties? Trivia World lets visitors test their skills on a variety of topics. Quick: Who was the pitcher to end Joe DiMaggio's 56-game hitting streak?
PEZ.COM It's doubtful that the creators of Pez dispensers ever imagined their candy caddy would one day become the impetus for a multibillion dollar Internet company. But when the founder of eBay started his company to try and find a network for his girlfriend's Pez dispenser collection, that's just what happened. If you're one of the countless folks who feel a strong connection to these kitschy toys, you'll find collector information, company news, tips on limited edition releases, and more at the official site of Pez.
THE DOG HAUSE No, this is not a place to go when you're in trouble. Did you know that if your cat nudges your feet in the morning, it wants to stay inside, and if it nudges your face, it wants to go out? That, and dozens more pearls of folk wisdom can be found at this site dedicated to pets and pet lovers. You'll also find jokes, helpful hints, essays, idioms, fonts, sound files, a kennel of links, and much more--all related to the animals that help make our lives a little more complete.
THE HAMPSTER DANCE Uh, sometimes sites don't really make sense, but they're still cool. The Hampster Dance, which is part of the Hampton Hampster's Hamster House home page, is one such site. We don't know why we like it so much, but we keep on coming back. It's simple, really: A bunch of animated hamsters run around and dance to some cheesy MIDI tunes. Not something to visit when you're in a hurry, but if you're feeling a little silly, want to see that oh so stern coworker finally crack a smile, or probably keep a young daughter entertained for hours, this innocent site's a surefire hit.
SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE Live . . . from your desktop . . . it's Saturday Night! Although that
doesn't quite have the ring of the original slogan, one could argue
that the current lineup of SNL comedians doesn't quite have the zing
of the original cast. But, tit for tat, this new official site packs
quite a wallop with a slew of options guaranteed to please even the
most marginal of SNL fans. Take a peek at the Behind the Scenes
section, read cast bios, and view RealVideo clips of classic and current seasons.
VIRTUAL DOG Are you a dog lover but have no time for the real thing? Allergic to pet hair? No problem. At Virtual Dog, select the type of pup you want, name it, and you've entered the world of pet maintenance, Internet style. Owners start off with a certain amount of money and must feed, nurture, and maintain the health of their new pet.. E-mail reminders from the kennel let you know if you're being negligent. No virtual potty training, thankfully.
I-CRAFT Did you know that more than eight out of ten households have at least one family member engaged in crafts/hobbies? Probably not. In any case, if you're an educator looking for some new ideas, or if you just want to break free from the grips of a television addiction, crafts are a great way to go--and I-Craft is a great site to find out about them. Here you'll find craft ideas, teacher-specific tips, interviews with, uh, expert crafters, craft chats, and more.
STIMULUS wants to do more than teach you the basics behind site design, the physical underpinnings of the Internet, and tech jargon--it wants to become your way of life. Well, maybe it doesn't want to do that--quite--but this hip tutorial spot does stretch things a little too far with some of its nontutorial sections. Still, for what it's trying to do--teach about the Web--it does a good job. You'll find how-to's on frames, HTML, and CGI scripts broken down into easy lessons. Some freeware is also available.
CURSOR Where to start this review of a site that slams our profession? How about this: If you think the media as a whole is an untrustworthy, capricious, and dubious-at-best entity, allow us to steer you toward a site that's right up your alley. Cursor presents rants, allegations, and exposes that point out the shortcomings of the media--both new and old. Some of the pieces are written by Cursor's contributors, and others are culled from sites such as Salon, Suck, and Mother Jones. Cursor's articles tend to be very long, but the arguments are salient nonetheless.
STICK FIGURE DEATH THEATER Yep, this one's a little, well, different. We had no idea that people didn't like stick figures. You know, those most rudimentary of drawings, the star of the popular Hangman game? But apparently some folks do, and they've taken the time to create this handful of bizarre, yet hilarious, short gif file snuff drawings. Don't worry about bandwidth blues when you want to watch these executions; the beauty of stick figures is that they're light on the graphics files. Choose from four scenes (all of which would garner no worse than a PG rating in the movies) and give your day a much needed dash of nonsensical hilarity.
PUZZABILITY Oh, these dark days of winter, when the snow won't let up, the sun won't stay out, and about the only way to get the mercury rising is to light a match under it. What's a spring-seeking glum chum to do? If you have a Java-enabled computer, you can at least wile away the dark hours of winter having fun--it seems to make them go by faster. Why not tease your brain while you're at it? Some former editors of the venerable Games magazine have formed a company called Puzzability, and they're offering some free brain-teasers on this engrossing site. Crosswords, word searches, you name it--you'll find plenty of clever (and tough) games to play gratis. Puzzability is an 11-letter word for fun.
ENTERTAINDOM Welcome to the Entertaindom, a new entertainment mega-site from Warner Bros. Contrary to what most media-savvy skeptics may assume, it isn't just a showcase of WB entertainment products. Instead, it's a robust destination covering everything related to mostly Hollywood-generated entertainment. You can spend hours perusing weekly box office grosses, local theater and TV listings, entertainment news, and movie reviews and previews. You can even read your horoscope, take a quiz, or play original, interactive animated games. It seems that everyone in Hollywood--including Entertaindom--wants to be a producer nowadays, as evidenced by the original made-for-Web movie shorts and animations.
THE SMOKING GUN
Do you enjoy true crime novels and TV shows or find yourself with a morbid curiosity whenever a high profile crime takes place? If so, you might want to take a cautious gander down the barrel of this smoking gun. This hub presents scores of legal papers, arrest affidavits, crime scene reports, and more from famous lawsuits and crimes. You'll find the police reports from Kurt Cobain's suicide, the Unabomber trial notes, and sundry Hollywood Babylon affair documents. Photos are rarely used (thankfully), and much of the papers are filled with legalese mumbo-jumbo, but for the curious (morbidly or otherwise), there's plenty of grist for the late night conspiracy theory mill here.
PAUL IS DEAD It's 1981 and Paul Lomo, charismatic singer for the punk band Miasma, was just found dead in a swimming pool. The media writes off the tragedy as the suicide of a desperate man. But one woman--the band's biggest fan--doesn't buy it, and she's taking you along on her quest to uncover the truth. What is it? It's the latest serial adventure on the Web, Paul is Dead. Each day, more clues are added to the Shockwave-based mystery, and you get to tag along. Was it the Satanic bass player? How about his mysterious girlfriend? The path to the truth is nonlinear, and who knows what lurks beyond each click. Well done, rich, and enthralling.
DUMB LAWS R US
We don't recommend that you refer the police officer who pulls you over to this site, but if you're frustrated by the bureaucracy of the law or just want a few laughs, you'd do well to visit this site. Nobody's got a lock on stupidity: all 50 states are represented here. The site is forthcoming that some of the mentions haven't been verified, but we're not taking any chances.
When we're in Massachusetts, we'll NEVER drive a car with a gorilla in the backseat.
THE ARCHIVE OF MISHEARD LYRICS How many times have you been out on a date, trying to impress the person, thinking you're cool, singing along to the song on the radio, when your companion leans over and politely tells you, "Um, those aren't the words." Duh! Bummer. You can find companionship on this site, which houses botched lyrics to more than 1,800 misheard lyrics. Visitors send in each bungled lyric, and you can see the actual lyric, how the lyric was misheard, and the embarrassing moment of revelation, as well. Hilarious stuff.
URBAN LEGENDS REFERENCE PAGE
"A friend of a friend was telling me the other day..." Stop! We've all heard stories that start like that, and many times those stories fall into the category of urban legend. Thanks to the Internet, urban legends abound like never before, in the form of chain e-mails from Bill Gates promising you $5,000 if you forward to ten people. Before you make ten enemies, consult this site. Remarkably comprehensive, snopes.com houses scores of legends, categorized by type and even whether they're true or not. To back up their findings, the site's owners provide source info for the verification.
THE DIGITAL ART OF LARRY CARLSON Photo-enhancing programs like Photoshop have broadened the palette of artists and, at the same time, lowered the bar for what it takes to call yourself an artist. This site demonstrates both of those statements. First, Mr. Carlson, self-described "surfer and sampler" is able to take photographs from the Web and enhance them digitally, turning once blase photos into kaleidoscopic landscapes. On the other hand, however, his work consists merely of tweaking existing photos. Artist or borrower? Visit and decide, but decrease the resolution of your monitor, because Carlson uses a tiny font throughout.
ANOTHER UNIVERSE.COM
Comic book fans exist in a pretty inclusive world--a world whose habitues typically include pre-teen sci-fi enthusiasts, post-teen programmers, some role-playing fans, and little else. Still, somewhere amidst that demographic must certainly exist the comic book fan who wants to expand his or her borders. We think that Another Universe exists for that demographic. We think that because exactly whom AU exists for isn't entirely clear. It focuses on comic book paraphernalia, sci-fi memorabilia, and the like, but it also includes Hollywood news items, interviews with B-level celebs, and other assorted items. Maybe it's step one in a 12-step comic book weaning program.
M&M'S CYBERCENTER FOR MILLENNIUM HYPE Did you know that M&Ms are "The Official Candy of the New Millennium"? M&M is the Roman numeral representation of 2000, get it? Now you know. To find out more important facts about the history of the durable, colorful candy, including how the idea struck Forrest Mars, Sr. during the Spanish Civil War and why red ones were taken out of the color mix for 11 years, check out this corporate site. You won't find just shameless PR here; the hypesters have taken a tongue-in-cheek approach(so to speak) to their material. Oh yeah, you can also register for a couple contests and proclaim yourself the "Darned-Near-Official" something of the millennium.
GEEK CULTURE
No longer an oxymoron, geek culture is alive and--well--alive. Ever wonder what geeks think is funny? What kinds of TV shows they watch? Wanna learn the latest lingo? How about checking out some geek strip pens (don't worry, mom and dad, the whole site's rated PG)? Check out geek culture to send your loved one a geek e-card, buy some geek paraphernalia, download free geek software, or visit some sites deemed geek worthy.
WHO WOULD YOU KILL We'll start off by saying that we don't condone even the notion of murder, but given that this site is a fantasy site based on the murder of television characters, we thought it was OK to mention. Besides, who hasn't at one point or another screamed at the television as their favorite character hooked up with that, that worm? Well, here's your chance at revenge. Each week, Who Would You Kill lets visitors vote for who on a particular show they'd off (past choices included Baywatch, Addams Family, and Dawson's Creek), and how they'd do the deed. Good, escapist fun.
FRISKY PET
Not a new spin-off magazine line from Penthouse, but a catchall Q&A site for anyone who owns either of the top two pets: cats and dogs. Just because cats and dogs are domesticated doesn't mean they're not quirky, often nonsensical beasts. This site, sponsored by such companies as Alpo, Friskies, and others, answers dozens of "Why does my dog/cat..." questions and offers nutrition tips, pet care resources (both online and off), and an opportunity to ask a pet expert questions such as why Fido continues to tear up the magazines you lay on the coffee table.
NUCLEAR BLAST MAPPER It's hard to believe that kids born after 1989 will probably (we hope)not know the fear that the threat of a nuclear holocaust held for the generations before them. To youngsters today, "The Day After" will simply mean tomorrow. While we're all thankful that the Cold War has ended, the importance of teaching children about the terrible destruction a nuclear blast inflicts can't be underestimated. PBS has set up this site to show children and adults just how devastating a nuclear blast would be. Choose the size of the bomb you want to use, and then enter the address/location you want to bomb. A map shows the levels of radioactivity that would encircle the location, with vivid descriptions of the carnage that would ensue.
THE INTERNET MOVIE DATABASE
Although IMDB has recently been spiffed up with games, contests,
message boards, recommendations, and other entertaining goodies, the
main attraction is still the unfathomably gargantuan, indescribably
extensive and detailed database of movies, TV shows, and the people
who made them. Type in your favorite actor, producer, director, or
writer, and it will spit out every movie in which he or she has been
involved. Click on a movie, and you'll find more than you wanted to
know: filmography, awards, plot summaries, trivia, box office grosses,
and everyone who was involved in the making of that movie. Every
proper noun is hyperlinked! It goes on forever!!!
SCOUR Just about everyone has the usual list of search engines to visit when scouring the Web for information. But what if you've forgotten what color Ricky Martin's highlights are this week and you want to see a current photo? Or you just want to make sure that there aren't any illegal MP3s of your favorite Elvis song? Or perhaps you're looking for a video of Pamela Lee and Tommy...playing chess? Well, even Scour might not be able to help you with that last one, but it's certainly the best place to start! Founded by a bunch of UCLA students and funded by Hollywood uber-agent Michael Ovitz, Scour is a specialized multimedia search engine that helps you locate images, audio, and video files. It even displays helpful thumbnails on its search results pages, so you can peek before you click!
HOUSE OF BLUES
What would you expect to find on a music club's Web site? Concert schedules and menus? Directions and hours? Well, fortunately, Mr. Dan Ackroyd and company have a bit more vision than that. Far from being an online brochure, Hob.com is a music destination in its own right. You can listen to (and sometimes watch) live concerts just about every day. Meanwhile, HOBRadio streams the blues 24/7 worldwide. There are exclusive music tracks from a variety of non-blues artists just waiting to be downloaded. Plus you'll find music-related games, giveaways, artist bios, profiles, interviews, news, and videos. It's perhaps the only Web site in existence that lives up to its real-world counterpart!
GREAT OUTDOORS Unfortunately, I don't get the Outdoor Life Network on my cable system, but I'm a huge fan of its Web site. It just makes me feel so... Xtreme! Great Outdoors covers virtually every outdoor activity except sunbathing and barbequing. You'll find articles, reviews, and resources about skiing, climbing, hiking, sailing, mountain biking, and surfing, just to name a few. Anything strenuous and cool, dude. Great Outdoors is easy to navigate and packed with diverse information. Where else can you learn how to take underwater photos and read reviews of the latest hardcore synthetic underwear? It makes me wonder, though: if I'm such a rugged outdoorsman, then why do I spend so much time sitting in front of my computer reading this site?
JUST LUKE
Pity poor Luke Skywalker. Left out of the most recent Star Wars movie, his spotlight stolen by something called a Jar Jar Binks, ol' Luke could use a little loving these days. If you're a die-hard Star Wars fan who wants to feel the Luke love, stop on by this extensive fan site for Luke news, sightings, rumors, sound files, and movie clips. Mark Hamill--if you're out there--we still care, man. May the force be with you.
SEARCH ENGINE SHOWDOWN So, you think you know how to search the Net? Feeling pretty confident in your abilities, are you? Did you know that there are an estimated 1 billion Web pages out there? And that none of the top 13 (13?!) search engines catalog more than 300 million of them? And furthermore, about half of all Web pages out there appear in only one search engine! Maybe it's time to tune up your Web searching skills. Search Engine Showdown teaches you searching strategies and provides you with search news, reviews, feature comparisons, and mountains of search data and statistics, just in case you start feeling a bit overconfident.
SOON TO BE RELEASED
Are you sick and tired of being at the whim of marketing directors and advertising executives to find out more about the Next Big Thing? Are you ready to start thinking about next summer's box office blockbusters in fall? Or curious when Microsoft is going to release Windows 2001? Then quit scanning ads and head for Soon to be Released. This handy site tells you the planned release dates of hundreds of new movies, music albums, DVDs/videos, books, and software. It even provides a brief description of each title, plus a link to its Web site, if available. Let the waiting game begin!
THE WIZARD OF ODDS This Wizard may not grant you your wish, but he'll sure be happy to lay out the odds of your local casino doing so. This site is an excellent resource for any gambler, from novice to expert, who holds probability in higher esteem than luck. The Wizard starts off by
teaching you the rules and strategies (and dispelling the myths)
behind most casino games. He even throws in a quick section about
etiquette, so you'll know how to win 49.7 percent of the time in
style! Not sure why it's easier to roll a seven than a two in craps? Delve into his mathematical breakdown of the house edge, then learn how the Wizard's optimal strategies can boost your odds a fraction of a percent. When you think you've mastered his techniques (or when you start getting that same headache you used to get during trigonometry class), you can try out your skills in the Wizard's free online casino. Or, if you're really feeling confident, you can pull out your credit card and follow his links to the real thing: offshore, online casinos.
JIM ROMENESKO'S MEDIA NEWS
Psst--did you hear the one about Tina Brown? Ha! Which one? Are you a media junkie? Do you avidly read through the New York Observer's "Off the Record" column and eagerly await Noam Chomsky's latest media missives? You'd do well to stop by Jim Romenesko's Media News. Jim posts several items daily, culled from newspapers (mostly) around the United States, usually described with biting editorial wit. Great fodder for cocktail parties and to see how stories are covered around the country.
BLINK What if you could build your own private Web directory that contained only your favorite Web sites? Well, now you can, at a site called Blink. And, unlike your Web browser's bookmarks feature, your Blink directory can be accessed from any computer--at home, at work, even when you're traveling. You can even share your directory with friends and co-workers. All you need to do is create a few subject categories, then start populating them with your favorite Web sites. Blink even lets you write a brief description of each site. You can also use Blink to search the Web for new sites that you may like based on your current bookmarks. Or, if you're curious to search through thousands of sites selected by fellow Blink users, just head to the Public Library. Maybe they should have called this site "Youhoo?"
OBSCURE STORE
With all the serious issues covered in the news, sometimes you need to read lighter fare. Something to make you laugh or drop your jaw in good-natured shock. Obscure Store and Reading Room (created by Jim Romenesko, the same man who brought you mediagossip.com) can do just that. Read through the several stories posted every day. Some sample stories? "Crowds pack museum to smell stinky flower" and "Virgin Mary image surfaces in Chicago home." Kinda like The Onion, but he's not making this stuff up.
THE STINKYMEAT PROJECT The concept behind this site is so simple, it's easy to underestimate how fascinated and horrified you'll become once you start delving into it. One day, Mahlon Smith went to the market and purchased three packages of meat. Then he placed them on a plate in his neighbor's yard and returned each day for 19 days to record nature's progress with a digital camera. All in the name of science, of course. And while the photos might make your stomach turn, the clever commentary is bound to make you laugh. Warning: If you're a hot dog lover, perhaps it's best if you skipped this site.
DEFORMED FROGS IN MINNESOTA
Unfortunately, this isn't the subtitle for "Teenaged Mutant Ninja Turtles XIII." It's actually the brainchild of the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, which is caring for seven deformed Northern Leopard frogs. Found in the wild, these frogs probably wouldn't have survived for long. The agency started finding deformed frogs in 1993. Scientists are still trying to figure out if their abnormalities are the result of pollution or simply a natural occurrence. There are close-up photos and descriptions of each frog's unfortunate defect. Check out the frogs (living quite happily in their frogquarium) on a live Web cam, or peruse archives of past images if you happen to visit when it's nighttime in St. Paul.
SATIRE WIRE What happens when you give a group of seasoned, professional
journalists access to a revolutionary new medium? They make fun of it,
of course. Satire Wire is one of the most well written parody sites on the
Net. It's actually a subtle (and sometimes not so subtle) satire of
all those technology news Web sites, right down to the layout. The
authors seem a bit exasperated by the mainstream media's headlong,
"fools rush in", rah-rah coverage of the growing technology sector.
The fictional stories are totally twisted and often hilarious. A
sample headline reads: "Employee-Slapping Widespread, Effective."
Read, enjoy, laugh...just don't let your boss see it!
POLLSTAR
For nearly 20 years, Pollstar has been the leading publisher for the music concert industry. Thanks to its Web site, Pollstar.com, the world's largest database of international concert information is now on the Net. And you can tap into this database without being a promoter, roadie, agent, manager, or rock star. Scour a staggering
40,000 events featuring over 5,000 artists in just a few clicks of your mouse. The database is searchable by artist, city, or venue. There is also plenty of other music-related content available, like concert news, articles, interviews, reviews, and a list of the most popular tours according to Internet users. A real must for any music fan!
THE REMEDI PROJECT I was put off by this site's audacity when I called it up for the first time. As part of the opening screen, you have to download a 400k Shockwave program! But once I got inside, I realized my initial disdain was unwarranted. Named after the concept of "REdesigning the MEdium through Discovery," this gorgeous, artistic site profiles 10 artists/Web designers and their visual theses on communicating. Stunning in a museum-like quality, this is not a place to go in a hurry, but an enclave to explore when you're in the mood for enchantment.
TOO MUCH COFFEE MAN
Despite what people are saying around the office, you're not an addict. True, you're always the first one to brew a pot in the morning, but that's just a coincidence. You get a little huffy when the pot runs dry and no amount of aspirin will cure those caffeine withdrawal headaches--but you're really okay. There's even a site with a cartoon character to help you feel good about your little, uh, habit. Too Much Coffee Man is a little edgy, but that's just from the caffeine. On this site, you'll find cartoons, animations, screensavers, a newsletter, and some really nifty merchandise. There's even a cheesy TMCM song, but chances are, after a few cups of coffee, you won't be patient enough to wait for it to download.
DEGREE NET Are you interested in earning your degree but don't want to go through all the commuting, registration, and other rigmarole? You've tried close-up education. Now take a look at distance learning. The site offers news, gossip, books, and guides, all designed to demystify the world of distance learning. Find out about schools, accreditation, fees, and other information you'll need to earn your degree via the Internet or mail. There's contact information for the schools that offer these services and links to sites featuring corporate training, government and military opportunities, and even discussion groups. If you're concerned about how distance learning is affecting education, there's a site for that too.
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