Pet Fun Sites
by Kathy Tafel
Be honest - the real reason you keep your Internet account is to be entertained
by the infinite pages of spoofs, random bizarreness, and just plain silliness
that make the Web fun. The sites below each contribute to the all-around
mayhem in unique ways.
Capt. James T. Kirk Sing-Along-Page
http://www.ama.caltech.edu/users/mrm/kirk.html
He went where no man has ever gone before, and we're not talking outer space.
It takes a man of great courage to sing the hits of the 60s, but William
Shatner is... such...a... man. He doesn't sing so much as speak with great
melodrama, accompanied by cheesy psychedelic music. Snippets of songs are
available to download, and lyrics are available for sing-alongs. Unfortunately,
that's not all - Spock, Data, and Uhuru convinced someone to produce an
album and yes, pages are devoted to them, too.
Internet Pizza Server (MIRRORED)
http://www2.ecst.csuchico.edu/~pizza/
Would you like some Legos with your anchovies? Perhaps goblins, red peppers,
and Poptarts? All this and more are available from the Internet Pizza Server.
Choose the size of your pie and toppings, and the Server will pop your za
onto the screen. For the truly lazy, the IPS will deliver straight to your
e-mailbox.
Mr. Showbiz
http://web3.starwave.com/showbiz/
Mr. Showbiz is a joy to look at - funky icons and pleasing pastels combine
to create an inviting atmosphere. Mr. Showbiz has everything under the sun
relating to show business, from book and movie reviews to amusing Tabloid
headlines - "SNAKE MAN HISSED OFF." Mr. Showbiz hosts live chats
in the Mouth Off area; be sure to check out the transcript of Senator Bill
Bradley promoting his book Time Present, Time Past. It almost made
me run out and buy the book. It is extremely easy to get lost in the depth
and breadth of content here - there's no business like Mr. Showbiz.
Piercing Mildred (MIRRORED)
http://streams.com/pierce/
Not quite ready to take the body modification plunge? Nose rings frowned
upon at work? Not to worry, Piercing Mildred will satisfy your scarification
needs. You're given a budget of $100 per week to buy piercings and scars.
Watch out, though, scars are particularly susceptible to infection and healing
ointment costs bucks. Prizes are given to the geek of the week and all-time
geeks can be viewed on the Freaks on Parade.
Random Internet Camera
http://www.xmission.com/~bill/randcamera.html
While this site consists of only three half-way decent pages, it's got a
good CGI going for it. Anything with random in its name has got to be good.
After all, the hardest part of surfing the Web is finding places you haven't
been. You get into a rut and visit the same places over and over again.
Anyway, the Random Internet Camera tosses you off to another site that has
a camera hooked up to it. That's right, pictures of random people from all
over the world only a click away.
Sound Bytes: The WWW TV Themes Home Page
http://www.parkhere.com/tvbytes/
Guaranteed giggles - Sound Bytes has snippets from just about every TV show
theme you could possibly imagine. Spanning four decades, the themes are
broken down by category. You'll also find your favorite commercial themes,
such as the ever-popular "Mentos" song.
Spiv
http://www.spiv.com/spiv.html
Our token Webzine, Spiv has bright graphics and fresh content. A daily Sermon
on the Web provides a thought-provoking essay about modern life. Each section
is well-designed with plenty of stories, essays, and admonishments. The
art is high bandwidth, but worth the wait. All-around, Spiv is candy for
your eyes and candy for your brain.
The T.W.I.N.K.I.E.S. Project (MIRRORED)
http://www.rice.edu/~gouge/twinkies.html
Only a week-long sugar high from eating too many little yellow kakes could
have produced the T.W.I.N.K.I.E.S. (Tests With Inorganic Noxious Kakes In
Extreme Situations) Project. Two students from Rice University subjected
hapless Hostess treats to a series of rigorous tests, including a rapid
oxidation test, gravitational response, and a Turing test. While the results
of the Turing test show that PETA won't be liberating Twinkies from store
shelves any time soon, the rest of the tests might discourage even those
with iron stomachs from eating Twinkies in the future.
Universal Access Inc.'s Zippy HTML Active Filter
http://www.ua.com/zippy.html
One page with a form. Black and white graphics that are simple yet elegant.
Spare in the modernist tradition. The Zippy Filter is not on this list for
the merits of its own page, but for the havoc it wreaks on other Web sites.
Type your favorite URL into the form, press "Bo Derek ruined my life"and voilá! the site is zippified: "One of Londo's two squandered
chances was undoubtedly his action in "The Coming of Shadows,"which sparked the Narn-Centauri War. The other is less clear. .. I'm IMAGINING
a sensuous GIRAFFE, CAVORTING in the BACK ROOM of a KOSHER DELI..."(http://www.hyperion.com/lurk/guide/053.html through the Zippy filter)
Useless WWW Pages (MIRRORED)
http://www.primus.com/staff/paulp/useless.html
Inspired by the discovery that someone had posted a catalog of his CD collection
on the Web (http://www.cs.rpi.edu/~kennyz/disclist.html), Useless WWW Pages
pays tribute to those sites that are nothing but wastes of bandwidth. Among
the categorized uselessness, lists devoted to cars, food, and pets are accompanied
by pithy comments explaining the uselessness. Be sure to check out the Hall
of Fame and the 1995 Useless "Bobbie" Awards (a tribute to Microsoft
Bob).
And don't miss:
bOING bOING (http://www.zeitgeist.net/Public/Boing-boing/boing.boing.html)
Crunchy Stuff (http://www.ice.net/~crunch/)
Darrell's Talking Web Site (http://www.csug.rochester.edu/users/ugrads/anderson/sayit.html)
ESPN (http://www.espnet.com)
Foxy (http://www.tumyeto.com/tydu/Foxy/Foxy.htm)
Hotwired (http://www.hotwired.com)
KCRW (http://www.kcrw.org/)
Mythopoeia (http://www.myth.com/)
Ooze (http://www.io.com/~ooze)
Pathfinder (http://pathfinder.com/pathfinder/welcome.html)
Riddler (http://www.riddler.com/)
The Dysfunctional Family Circus (http://www.thoughtport.com/spinnwebe/dfc/dfc.cgi)
The Mentos (http://www2.best.com/~dijon/tv/mentos/)
Toy Story (http://www2.disney.com/ToyStory/)
Vibe (http://www.vibe.com)
Wildpark (http://www.wildpark.com)