| Homestar Runner Homestar Runner is "everyone's best friend" and "2 to 3 times better than the next best person in the world." He's also the protagonist in this simple yet hilarious Shockwave cartoon series that chronicles the adventures and mishaps he experiences while living in a surreal world of loud colors, abnormal friends, speech impediments, and devious but dim nemeses. Loaded with pop-culture references and irreverence, the site's toons and games are an exceptional way to waste valuable time. |
| McSweeney's: Weekly NFL Picks Of all the major sports, the NFL is the most popular with gamblers. Every week, dollar-hungry fans seek out the scoop on point spreads, the Vegas money line, and over/under numbers. If you don't want to bother with all that malarkey, we suggest you read Jeff Johnson's Weekly Picks. Week in, week out, Jeff just picks winners. Moreover, he offers the funniest commentary you'll find on football and its unique pigskin culture. Each column is a wild combination of arcane football knowledge and vividly created vignettes. For example, this week's picks reference super-hot nachos, Dan Fouts's "stepson" Corey, and giant wind chimes. Last season his record was an impressive 151-83 -- let's see you do better. |
| Fear of Physics This site attempts to explain the unexplainable, simplify the complex, and generally make sense of a field of science "mired with images of weird old men electrocuting themselves, strange equations, esoteric concepts, indecipherable books, etc." Interactive experiments let you explore physics in action by dropping virtual tennis balls off the Empire State building or the Golden Gate Bridge, practicing your dunk shot, and riding a roller coaster. Areas of the site attempt to demystify the Doppler Effect, Einstein's Theory of Relativity, friction, and other strange and wonderful forces at work in the world. Does the site succeed? You be the judge. If nothing else, it sure offers some good, clean fun. |
| Mos Eisley Multiplex Four movies, three decades, and one annoying Jar-Jar Binks later, the Force is still with the most hardcore of Star Wars fans. So much so, that webmaster Clive Young has created an online multiplex to showcase fan films in a variety of "genres" (you'll have to see for yourself) inspired by George Lucas's galactic odyssey. Some are outtakes from traditional silver screen flicks, like Austin Powers II and Spaceballs. Most, however, are pure Hasbro-action-figure fan base filmography -- an entertaining, yet sometimes disturbing peek into the psyches of Jedi wannabes. Evan's Cinema is a popular site, home to Kung Fu Kenobi's Big Adventure, a stop-motion film utilizing said action figures. But with animated attempts at channeling the Lucas magic like Star Dudes and Jabba on the Dais (set to Falco's "Rock Me Amadeus"), we're of the opinion that Industrial Light & Magic can rest easy. |
| MobyLives Named for literature's best-known white whale, MobyLives is columnist Dennis Loy Johnson's weblog about books and writers. The site updates daily with news stories and commentary on the literary scene and the publishing world. Johnson relishes book biz gossip and controversy -- when we checked in he was covering the recent flap over novelist Fay Weldon, who accepted payment (from Bulgari) for product placement in a recent work. Another ongoing piece covers the frequency with which the New York Times promotes books by their own staffers. |
| Manhattan Timeformations Using interactive computer animations, this site provides a unique perspective of the history of Manhattan's skyscrapers. Animated Manhattan lets you "correlate the cartographic history of 370 years of urban development of the island with the peaks and valleys of office building speculation." Transparent New York presents a truly original look at the relationship between the skyscrapers and other urban realities like bridges, monuments, and landfills. Finally, the thoroughly amazing Perspectival Fly-Through offers a view of the city unlike any you've ever seen. |
| Writers University The Writers University site isn't for all writers -- it's specifically for authors of fan fiction, where people create new stories about their favorite TV and movie characters. This popular genre has existed in some form for centuries, but it really took off with the Star Trek TV series, and it's gotten a huge boost from the Internet in recent years. The University has everything from advice on copyright issues to academic essays about slash (homoerotic fan fiction) to grammar guides for aspiring writers. |
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