The site I visit more than any other (bar my own) is, by a long shot, that of Andrew Rilstone. He's a bit of a personal hero of mine, an undiscovered genius of an author and a master of the reflective rant-piece, of which he publishes one every week or so. Also HEAPS of stuff on C.S. Lewis, a great joke about Thor, and some interesting links. A damn good read.
Don't miss your favourtie shows through ignorance! Here's tonight's TV guide for Brisbane, and you can go from there to all round Australia.
In this world where the media is a joke, merely the lackeys of their capitalist overlords, not actually informing but just splashing the gore and sex for the frenzied, braindead public to lap up like dogs, there is only one alternative. And that is The Onion the world's only entirely fake news service. You may enjoy these highlights.
It will be here now in less than 2 years. And it is the greatest single event of this century. The world holds its breath, because when it finally arrives, there will be the biggest party the world has ever seen. No, I'm not talking about the turn of the millenium, I'm talking about Star Wars: Episode 1. The fantasy begins again, in exactly this many seconds, minutes, hours and days.
Medievia is a silly little MUD that I play on occasion. As MUD's go, Medievia's pretty good for a free one, and allows for some complex play but also allows for just walking around bashing things. Simple and fun stuff. My character is called Tanarive, so say hello should we meet.
Kevin Smith, like so many of us, grew up in the eighties with the world of John Hughes. However, unlike so many of us, he took this experience and made his own film career, creating films for the nineties which are heavily influenced by Hughes' work. Hence his body of films represent much to children of the eighties, being the matured version of their childhood films. But I babble. What is really important is that Clerks, Mallrats and Chasing Amy are fantastic films, hugely funny and wondefully watchable. Smith now has his own company, View Askew, at whose web site you may find heaps of great images and sounds from all the movies, plus info on future projects. Brilliant stuff.
Ratbert, Catbert, Dogbert, Bob, Dawn and Rex, - it's the animals that steal the show in Dilbert. Though some praise Scott Adams for his deeply satirical comments on modern office life, I love him for his cute animals, his stupid jokes and his really bad puns. If only he would return to the glory days in the late eighties when we hardly ever saw Dilbert at work. But I digress. Here's the official site, The Dilbert Zone because we all need a good laugh every day.
Ahh, Doonesbury. Another of my favourite comics. Gary Trudeau is arguably the greatest comic strip writer the world has ever seen, flawlessly mixing cutting political commentary, intelligent characterisation and razor-sharp wit. It's almost worth buying the Australian every single day, just to read it. Anyway, the official page is here.
Yes, that's right, I'm a big fan of ER (always pronounced to rhyme with Ur) And my sister is a med student, so I have someone to translate. I haven't found a really good ER site yet, but the ER Online Compendium (EROC) has lots of links to ER pages, plus a lot of good references of its own.
Two of my favourite comedians (and hence my favourite double act) are the inimitable Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie. Reserved yet anarchic, gentlemanly yet overt, meticulous yet wide-ranging, their humour is cold-bloodedly intelligent and accurate while at the same time wildly fantastical and creative. They blend the biting satire of Swift, the wizardly wordplay of Wilde, the sheer lunacy of Graham Chapman AND the erudtion of Malcolm Muggeridge into something of which Shakespeare would be jealous. Such men are dangerous. More British Comedy links are here.
I do love Ben Jonson's poetry. So simple, so pure, so beautiful. I'll eventually have some more poetry links here, too, but for now just sit back and enjoy the soft and soothing rhymes of Ben's Complete Works.
Some of you out there might remember the sweet little rotund white blobby Finnish things that featured in some of your favourite books from childhood: MOOMINTROLLS! The depth and enchantment in Tove Jansson's fantasy world is incredible, and the foreigness of it all made it even more enticing and remote. Who needed Bilbo Baggins when you had Snufkin the Wanderer? My favourite was always Finn Family Moomintroll, but there was also Comet in Moominland, and Moominland Midwinter, and many more. Magical stuff that I'd thought I'd forgotten, but here they are on the internet. What a wondeful world it is that we live in.
The brilliant, the sublime, the pint-drinking Jag-driving cryptic crossword-solving scarred old bulldog of upper class and high academic crime prevention, Inspector Morse, has a page here. It's not great, but it's got the basics. Besides, Morse doesn't approve of the internet anyway. Also, if you enjoy cryptics as much as Morse and I do, The Times is here.
Press Gang, a tale of a tempestuous love/hate affair told against the epic background of the publishing of a teenage newspaper is probably the best kid's drama show ever made. It deals with big issues without patronising, and is full of humour, realistic situations and dialogues and brilliant characterisations. The main story concentrates on the powerful, efficient editor and straight-A student, Lynda Day overcoming her emotional insecurities and coming to terms with the affections of the hard-nosed investigative reporter and teenage delinquent, Spike Thompson. Great stuff, and worth checking out the next time the ABC runs it, or if you have Foxtel you can catch it weekdays at 6pm on UK-TV. Or, you can check out the official website here, and this is another good summary. If you're a big fan, you might also enjoy the You Might Be A Press Gang Fan If..." list. Julia Sawalha (Saffron in Ab Fab) plays Lynda Day and is, in my opinion one of the sexiest women in the world. If you share this opinion, you may enjoy this site. Or you could just click here to see that gorgeous smile straight away....
Yes, it's silly, it's fantastical, it's even idiotic sometimes. But I still can't get enough of Due South, the incredibly charming sitcom about a Canadain Mountie in Chicago. Though it is ludicrous, they never take themselves too seriously and never let you forget it is a fantasy - and such a enchanting one that you go with it. The gentleness, the subtle self-deprecating humour, the sharp direction, the great music, the very cool wolf, the classic theme of crossing cultures, the respect for the audience - it all comes together to make a damn fine show. Unfortunately the fourth series has failed to match the others, but the first three were magic.
Big, Blue and Nigh-Invulnerable, The Tick is the greatest cartoon superhero the world has ever seen. Helped in protecting The City by his sidekick Arthur, he has foiled the plans of villians such as Chairface Chipendale, Dinosaur Neil and The Evil Midnight Bomber What Bombs At Midnight, leaping into the fray with his battle-cry: "SPOOOOOOON!" Two great Tick sites are SPOON! The Tick Headquarters and Jeff's Tick Page. Yahoo's list of Tick links is here. Tick also has an animal companion, Speak, his sometimes-talking capybara (Hydrochoeurs Hydrochaeris), who is extremely adorable and certainly deserves his own page, which is here. There's some capybara links there too.
Master of comic deadpan, Canadian Steven Wright is one of my favourite comedians. This site has a lot of his material, but without the delivery, it is nowhere near as good. Still, if you're looking for a quote, it's a good place to start.
The comic caperings of eight-year-olds Stan, Kyle, Eric (Cartman) and Kenny make up the refreshingly brilliant new comedy show South Park. South Park HQ is by far the best site, packed with everything you could want, including full transcripts of most episoes. Another useful site is this one, which comes from Comedy Central, the station responsible for the show. Here in Australia, of course, it is shown by the legendary SBS.
The cutting edge of television for "young adults", the ultimate testimony to the student life-style, one of the overlords of British comedy series that started so many careers - I speak of course, of the Young Ones. No child of the eighties (which I so proudly am) cannot share in the joy of its anarchic genius. There are a fair few sites out there about the guys, but Andrew Wong's is the best I've found so far. I especially love the testimonies from those who were uni students when the show was airing for the very first time - amaaaaaaayzing!.
LINKS WANTED: Aufwiedersehn Pet, a good Red Dwarf site
RPGNet is the biggest, most chock-full RPG-oriented site on the net. Articles, reviews, humour, newsgroups, forums, connections, links by the score, everything you ever wanted to find on the net about RPGs but were too afraid to search for. The only problem is that there is SO MUCH stuff here, you may never find what you are looking for. Getting lost, though, is pretty interesting anyway.
Web RPG is like a smaller version of RPGNet. Links, forums, online gaming and a very amusing monthly Top 10 list that is definitely worth checking out.
For something a little less commercial, check out Phil Masters' RPG links page. Phil, of course, is a well known British RPG writer, and his links page is one of the most interesting and comprehensive on the net. Definitely worth a look.
Ever wonder what a fat Bill Gates would look like? Or an Asian Mona Lisa? Check out these and other weird and wonderful morphs at the House of Morph.
Looking for that special, singular word that accurately sums up your feelings? Well if you are, and you are talking expectoration, the Vomit Dictionary is for you.
Here is the story of Oedipus written entirely from vanity license plates registered in the state of California.
"Blinded by the light...wrapped up like a doo-something something in the night???" Ever wondered exactly what that line was? Well here's a page totally devoted to that many-times misheard line.
Here are some disclaimers that take into account the laws of physics.
And here is some of Lewis Carroll's Jabberwocky, translated into Klingon. Don't you love the internet?
Jack Chick is a raving mad fundamentalist right-wing American Protestant who expresses his puritan views in blindingly un-subtle comics. If you find this sort of thing offensive, avoid this site like a plague. But if you enjoy sick humour, you might enjoy taking the piss out of Jack here.
For the really sick and odd, but strangely amusing, check out the folks at BYSB Industries. This page contains the Natalie Portman "Countdown to Legality", the "Ugliest People on the Net" guide and a special message for the Amish net surfer. Enjoy.
