Sak's Recommendations
Blogs
- Dooce: Heather Armstrong's blog. It wouldn't amaze me if you already read this one, considering that it's one of the most popular blogs out there. Heather mostly writes about her experiences raising her daughter. She has a real gift for comedic writing.
- The Sneeze: If you don't like cursing and toilet humor, you won't find this guy as funny as I do. I, however, find his "Steve, Don't Eat It!" section to be comedy genius.
Comics and Cartoons
- Achewood: I think it takes a certain kind of person to appreciate Achewood, but I appear to be that kind. It's utterly ridiculous and quite absurd, and it's one of my favorites.
- Alien Loves Predator: ALP takes two familiar SF/action icons and puts them in a roommate sitcom. Then it just gets ridiculous. I love it.
- Animals Have Problems Too: A sort of odd series of drawings featuring animals with human problems. It's much funnier than that description, though.
- Bigger Than Cheeses: This one is often pretty low-brow, but what can I say? I guess I like seeing cartoon characters cussing and getting kicked in the crotch.
- Girl Genius: This is the one big epic-adventure comic I read these days. It's a lot more like reading an actual comic book than a webcomic, both in terms of artwork and story arc. (Which isn't surprising, because that's how it's actually published.) In fact, it reminds me a lot of the graphic novels I read when I was a kid. If you're a fan of steampunk at all, this one is definitely worth checking out.
- Girly: This one appeals to the bizarre side of my sense of humor.
- Homestar Runner: The home of the Homestar Runner cartoons. Especially funny are the Strong Bad emails.
- Least I Could Do: Chronicling the life and wacky hijinks of a male slut and his friends. As you might guess, there are a lot of sex jokes.
- Malfunction Junction: This one is kind of what Something Positive is shooting for, but more consistently funny. It hasn't updated since April '08, but the archives are worth a look.
- Natalie Dee: I don't really know why I like this one so much, but I do. One panel, often nonsensical, but something about the juxtaposition of each drawing with its title just cracks me up.
- Pictures for Sad Children: Pictures for Sad Children is sort of Achewood-esque in it's sensibilities. Indeed, I know a lot of people who don't think either of them is funny. Personally, though, I just love how absurd this one is.
- Questionable Content: My new favorite webcomic. As funny as Something Positive ever was, but without the mean streak. I've also found it useful for hearing about new bands and albums.
- Red vs. Blue: Based on Halo.
- Rob and Elliot: I discovered this one when the author did a series of guest strips for Sluggy Freelance. I think that this strip captures a lot of what I liked about the early Sluggy strips, but while I've now completely abandoned Pete Abrams, I'm still following this one. I just wish it updated more often.
- Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal: The format of this one is a little bit like <em>The Far Side</em>, but the humor is a bit more contemporary in style. The captions really make this one.
- Scary Go Round: This one was recommended to me because I like Questionable Content. It's got a distinctly different (and British) style from QC, but I quite enjoy it.
- Schlock Mercenary: Plenty of BLAM!
- Shortpacked!: The artwork in this comic reminds me a lot of the Archie comics I read when I was a kid. That's about where the similarity ends, though. Shortpacked is a bit more of a traditional comic than some of the ones I read--focusing on wacky hijinks more than sarcastic or absurd humor--but centered on the sort of odd subculture of toy collectors.
- Slow Wave: Slow Wave describes itself as a "collective dream diary." People send in their bizarre dreams and the author turns them into comic strips. It makes for interesting reading. At the very least, I know that other people have dreams as weird as mine.
- Something Positive: One of my previous favorites. The newer stuff hasn't been clicking with me as much, but the archives make for great reading--funny and at times surprisingly emotional, as well as rather vulgar.
- The Order of the Stick: Good, nerdy fun.
- The Perry Bible Fellowship: The title is a bit misleading; this one is another <em>Far Side</em>-ish comic. It's considerably more random, though, if I might be permitted to colloquially misuse an adjective. It's also funnier.
- XKCD: The nerdiest of all nerd comics. Topics include the usual Internet culture, games, and relationships, but also math, science, philosophy, and engineering. It's definitely the smartest web-comic I've ever seen, and when I'm able to understand the jokes, it's one of the funniest.
Food and Drink
- Big Sur River Inn: A really great restaurant and motel. If you're ever in Big Sur, I highly recommend stopping here, especially in the summer. You can enjoy a drink while putting your feet in the river, or (during Sunday lunches in the summer) listen to live music on the outdoor patio. The entire menu is fantastic, although I admit to having a special place in my heart for the burger and the apple pie.
- Tastings.com: The home page of the Beverage Testing Institute. Find information and reviews of all sorts of beers, wines and spirits.
- The Virtual Bar: A great site for aspiring bartenders. Find all sorts of great stuff here, including a ton of good (and bad) drink recipes.
Friends
Games and Recreation
- Snood: One of the most addicting games ever. It's fun, it's not violent, and you can get a free demo version at this web site. Check it out!
- The Kingdom of Loathing: An adventurer is you! The only MMORPG that I play. It's free, it's fun, and it's, well, kind of ridiculous.
Miscellaneous
- FOLDOC: The Free Online Dictionary of Computing.
- MIT OpenCourseWare: Free lecture notes, problem sets, and reading lists for many MIT courses.
Podcasts
- KEXP Song of the Day: One of my two daily song podcasts. There's a lot of indie rock on both, but this one also includes some hip-hop and urban stuff and generally tends to rock a little harder.
- Morning Becomes Eclectic (KCRW): Live sets from Santa Monica's influential morning music show. I've found some great stuff through this one. My only complaint is that sometimes the bands don't sound as good live, which can be a bit of a let-down.
- Retronauts: 1up.com's retro gaming podcast. Some of the panel members can get a little annoying and there's a fair amount of profanity but I love the little trip down memory lane that it provides. Plus, listening to this one has gotten me to revisit some great old games that I haven't played in a while.
- The Concert: Classical music concerts from the Isabella Stewart Gardner museum in Boston, MA. What I particularly like about this podcast is that each episode begins with a short introduction, giving you a little background into what you're about to hear.
- Today's Top Tune (KCRW): The other daily song podcast I listen to. This one is also a lot of indie rock but the music is often a bit more contemplative and there's more electronic and international music.
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