Links and more links

I really liked the set of political links I put up last week, but I think it a waste to only focus on the political stuff out on the Web. I consider the primary purpose of the Internet to be a tool of information and communication. This is closely followed by the secondary purpose of providing entertainment. A few of my links last time around were cartoons, so I'll put up a few more of those. But there are some high-larious Web sites out there just waiting for you to find. I'm not just talking about the Homestarrunner stuff, either. So here are a few of my favorite spots of entertainment.

Lileks
Wow. This site is random. I mean random. It's slightly more subtle humor than your average sitcom, which for me makes it more worthwhile. I recommend clicking on the "Institute of Official Cheer" and scrolling down to see the Dorcus Collection. I actually had a professor introduce this site to me in class, and it was so off the wall I've gone back occasionally to see what other odd-ball stuff James Lileks has up next.

Things My Girlfriend and I Have Argued About
Mil Millington's live-in girlfriend is crazy. No, really, she is. His stories about Margret's irrational actions have been published in a book (now translated into several languages) and he has a Web site dedicated to the subject. Mr. Millington no longer updates this Web page, instead sending out monthly emails that detail the further exploits of Margaret and their arguments, but there is still plenty of old stuff on this site. It's the kind of quick British humor that makes me laugh out loud.

The Oracle of Bacon
The Oracle of Bacon at Virginia is a project at the University of Virginia that builds on the Kevin Bacon game. Using imdb.com (which merits its own link) it tells you how many steps away from Kevin Bacon any actor is. In fact, you can link any two actors with its search engine. You'd be surprised how close any given actor is to Kevin Bacon, or anyone else for that matter. Me, I'm three steps away from him. Really! My only complaint about the oracle is that it cheats sometimes because it uses movies that haven't come out yet to connect people.

Nation States
I had a friend who had posted the link to her simulated country on her instant messanging profile. I thought it would be fun to make my own country and start a war with her or something, but I soon found you can't do that with Nation States. It was enough to keep me entertained for a little while though. The options are really limited, but I had fun running a country according to Libertarian ideals to see what happened.

Adventure Game Studios
This place is retro cool. Not only does it have tons of old adventure games, it has software you can download for free that will let you make your own video game. Who hasn't wanted to do that at one point or another? I never really got into the old adventure games when they were new, but now that they're old (and free) I find them pretty entertaining. There are enough walkthroughs online that I can just play and enjoy and not get stuck on some stupid puzzle.

International Movie Database
IMDb is a great site for all those random questions about movies. It has information about the actors, directors, cinematographers, the musical score, etc. Anything you want to know about a movie is on this site.

Comics
I included a few cartoon strips in my previous links post, but comics deserve more attention than that. Among my favorite cartoons on the Web are Frazz, Zits, Dilbert, Foxtrot, and Bizarro. I have been surviving on a combination of these comics ever since Gary Larsen and Bill Watterson stopped writing. Fortunately, the immortal Calvin and Hobbes is still available online in reruns.