There have been many arguments made lately concerning how popular culture has become fractured and divided, and that there now exists subsets upon subsets upon subsets of niches, each with its own group of followers. For example, gone are the days when the majority of America tune in to watch one particular show on one particular network; instead, there are now 1000 different channels with 1000 different programs. And the same goes for all types of popular media, including books and magazines, music, TV and movies, and of course, the ubiquitous web. With so much available, many of us begin finding our own favorite things that our friends and family may not like—or even know about.
The following is a rundown of my own personal Internet stomping grounds, both as an effort to give the reader a few sites to check out, and as an experiment to find out how many other people visit the same places on the web. Or maybe you just need more distractions from work.
FailBlog
I grew up watching America’s Funniest Home Videos and I cannot deny that it had an effect on me: I love watching amateur footage of people doing things like this. Priceless.
Senor Gif
Just watch this, and you’ll see why I dig this site. Perfect for taking short, mindless breaks at work.
The Oatmeal
The Oatmeal is a web comic. Here is one of the comics. They are funny, inventive, original, and sometimes even educational!
Hyperbole and a Half
Hyperbole and a Half is half comic, half storytelling. And it is awesome.
NPR.org
NPR is mostly known for its radio programs (duh, it’s in the name). But NPR happens to host one helluva website. I especially dig the music section, which includes first listens of soon-to-be-released albums, best-of lists, reviews, concert audio, performance footage, and lots of well-written articles.
A.V. Club
Brought to you by the people responsible for the magnificent The Onion, A.V. Club is a one-stop site for those interested in the latest in film, TV, music, and literature. Also, there’s A.V. Undercover where bands are invited to cover a set list of songs, with results like Sam Beam singing George Michael.
Salon
Do yourself a favor: go to salon.com, click on the “Life” section, and scroll down the page. There you’ll find tons of well-written, fascinating articles; for example, “The money I poured into a religious sect,” “Are urban bicyclists just elite snobs?”, and “Married to a pedophile.”
McSweeney’s
McSweeney’s is a comedy website for English nerds, plain and simple. Wikipedia tells me that McSweeney’s is actually an American publishing house, and that the website is just a thing they do on the side. Who cares. The website is awesome.
Post Secret
I think I can pretty safely say that there’s nothing else quite like Post Secret on the web. The postcards can be hilarious, scary, depressing, weird and, mostly, just plain eye-glue-ingly interesting.
Watch Series
For weirdos like me who don’t have cable or satellite TV (or a decent set of rabbit ears), sites like Watch Series are a godsend. How else am I supposed to watch the latest Mad Men, Dr. Who, Downton Abbey, 30 Rock, Sherlock, or Community episode, especially when the networks don’t post last night’s episode online until 2 weeks after it’s aired?
No comments:
Post a Comment