I don’t know about you, but I have about a gadgillion bookmarked pages in Firefox. It’s a beautiful thing that Internet search engines work exactly the way my mind does: “Oh look! A shiny thing! A poodle in a vest! Follow it!” Anyone who knows me has inevitably experienced my free-form, multi-tangent way of conversing (which only intensifies after stimulants). The advent of Stumble Upon was both a blessing and a curse. Here I offer up some of the reasons I’ll never have the time to hold a real job:
The Cool Hunter: The Cool Hunter says of itself: “We select and celebrate what is beautiful and enduring from all that is sought-after in architecture, design, gadgets, lifestyle, urban living, fashion, travel and pop culture. We remain relevant by staying ahead of and outside of trends and fads — the fickle shifts in taste and style. The Cool Hunter digs deeper, finding tomorrow’s icons and classic phenomena. We are a prized reference point of choice for a global creative community.” What I say: there’s really cool stuff here! Everything that floats your boat and a few I bet you didn’t even know about yet. Check it out.
The Book Seer: Thank the patron saint of the written word (whoever that is) for The Book Seer! He is your virtual librarian, the one who’s read all the titles and knows what you dig and what you don’t. Stunningly simple in design, the Book Seer poses your question for you: “Ambassador, I’ve just finished reading Title by Author . What should I read next?” You type in the info, and he pops out reading recommendations! How awesome is that? A must for all us bibliojunkies.
Knoword: Yeah, it’s a game…but it ain’t Farmville (kill me). This, my dears, is for those of us who fancy ourselves dictionaries-made-flesh. From the site: “When you begin, you will be given one randomly generated dictionary definition along with the first letter of its corresponding word. You must fill in the rest of the word to experience a gain in points and an added time bonus. You will start off with one minute before the game ends, and every word is an opportunity to extend your time.” Even a total word snob like me gets owned every once in a while – this isn’t a crossword puzzle you can take hours to do. The pressure! I love the pressure!
Cute Overload: Quick! A qualifier here before you tune out! You know those e-mails your ma sends? The ones you delete immediately, when you see the subject line (“Thought you’d think this was cute!”)? Well, Cute Overload isn’t that. And it’s not the adorable pics of various animals that gets you grinning in spite of yourself, it’s the damn fine captioning abilities of the writers. They even have a Glossary to discuss the terms they’ve coined on the site. Smart, funny and not afraid to mention drinking or boobies. That’s right, I said it..there’s a Cats ‘N’ Racks section (pictures of kitties and cleavage, for the slow-witted in the crowd). That’s all right, boy readership, you can thank me later.
Sporcle: Sporcle’s tagline is ‘mentally stimulating diversions,” which allows you to justify fakking about on the Internets pretending you’re Cerebro. The site is chock-full of games and quizzes on Geography, Entertainment, Science, History, Literature, Sports, Language, Just For Fun, Religion, Movies, Television, Music, Gaming, Miscellaneous and (running…out…of…breath!) Holidays. Take yer pick. Just have the Panic button ready if you’re at work, you slacker.
The Pioneer Woman | Ree Drummond: I came across this site whilst attempting to find a less-boring way to prep a potato. As I had it pointed out to me recently, paper cookbooks are going the way of the dodo. Found an awesome recipe for Crash Hot Potatoes which has now become a staple in this house for the starch eaters. On top of her considerable talent in the kitchen, Missus Drummond manages a sharp blog (on several subjects other than cuisine) and takes really pretty pictures. As she notes, her writing is ultimately about her “long transition from spoiled city girl to domestic country wife.” And she takes shots of her cowboy husband in chaps. Yeah, that’s cookin.’
Kijiji: Kijiji (“village” in Swahili) is like an online Value Village/Talize/Goodwill/Sally Ann, with the added benefit of a ‘haggling allowed’ policy. They have sites for over a dozen countries and most of the major cities and burbs of said countries. I love Kijiji! Just last week I scored a solid wood desk and chair for my girl for $60, and I’m pretty sure I was still in my jammies when I called to say I’d take it. I know some of y’all might be Craigslist aficionados, but I have to say that the name is (in my mind) synonymous with ‘creepy-psychopath-waiting-to-kill-you.’
Dear Blank, Please Blank: Hans Johnson and Jared Wunsch have essentially provided a place for people to get their ya-yas out, usually in hilariously funny (if not a tad offside) ways. The premise is easy-peasy-lemon-squeezy: 1. You write Dear Who-or-What you want to address, 2. You pen your gripe 3. You sign off. For example:
Dear Nickelback,That’s enough.Sincerely, the world.
Very funny stuff.
CD Baby: Once while searching for a Deb Talan CD online, all I was finding were eBay ads that listed it as an import (she’s from Massachusetts) and were trying to charge about $60 (I could buy a freaking wood desk for that!) Anyway, it’s a good thing I didn’t have that kind of cash burning a hole in my pocket, because my persistence found me CD Baby, a distributor of independent music – run by musicians for musicians – that charges very reasonable green for discs and only a few bucks for shipping. You also get adorable, personalized confirmation e-mails from them and they have an awesome ‘Explore Music’ feature which matches your tastes in artist/album/styles or ‘sounds like’ categories and hands you some great suggestions, which you can listen to on the site.
Instructables: Always wanted to know how to make a porcupine napkin holder? How about scoring the recipe for ‘Dirt Cake With Gummy Worms’? Interested in browsing ‘The Clueless Guy’s Guide to Buying Flowers’? Instructables is the site for you. With the tagline ‘share what you make,’ the site boasts thousands of reader-submitted, step-by-step instructions for well, almost everything.
Vanity Fair: This is my guilty pleasure. I just included it here because I heart V.F. so much. I don’t actually expect you to like it. And if you do check the site (or the mag) after my suggestion, don’t blame me for George Wayne. How this annoying sycophant stays employed, I don’t rightly know. Thank God they have Annie Leibovitz’s pictures to make up for it. I love the glossy images, reading about the rich and famous, and occasionally even learning something about international politics (admittedly not often). Nah, who am I kidding. It’s the pictures.
IMDb (Internet Movie Database): I think I checked imdb.com a dozen times just yesterday. What’s that guy’s name from The Office (US) who was in Juno? What else did Mary McDonnell do after Passion Fish? I had no idea that was Jimmy Fallon in Almost Famous! If you love dem movies/tv shows/made-for-TV-movies/after school specials, and you’re the type to stay up all night until you remember all seven dwarfs’ names, this is the lifeline you need to bookmark.
Thanks for tuning in. Send me your suggestions!
Erin's Clishmaclaver 