Entertainment

Alien Song - See the hilarious animation that ComputerBob used to show to students in his Internet courses!

All You Can Read - Read hundreds of magazines and newspapers from all over the world, for free. They even have a search engine to help you find specific stories.

Anagrams - Bomb Cop- True. Bob: Cute Romp. Bob, Metro CPU. Those are 3 of the hundreds of anagrams that this site created from the word "ComputerBob." A chest flu I spin. (this place is fun!)

Ananova - Here's the world's first completely computer-generated "virtual news reader." Ananova is a 3-dimensional woman in her mid-twenties, programmed to find and read news stories over the Internet with a sense of humor. Move over, Tom Brokaw.

Answering Machine - Ever hear a great answering machine message? This site has hundreds of great answering machine message sound files, in many different categories, and you can download and use any of them.

The Big List of Movie Mistakes - Hey, wasn't that guy in the movie wearing glasses a minute ago? Now they're back. Now they're gone again. This site lists 3,500 editing and continuity mistakes in almost 1,000 movies.

Bell Labs Speech Synthesis - This Web site will read out loud any text that you enter, in your choice of English, Spanish, German, French, Italian, Mandarin, or Pig-Latin, using your choice of 8 different voices.

Best Photos of 2001 - Here are a bunch of really good, really funny photographs.

Cartoon Bank - Want to see something funny? The Cartoon Bank has every single one of the over 5,500 cartoons that have ever appeared in The New Yorker magazine.You can even search for specific cartoons by artist or by keyword.If you want to license any of the cartoons for use in any media, you'll have to pay for them, but it doesn't cost anything to look at them.

Cool Site of the Day - Lists many, many categories of Web sites, and each category points you to a new cool site every day. Also has an archive of many, many award-winning sites you'll want to check out. Plus, you can vote for your favorite sites.

Computer Stupidities - Silly things people have said to computer Help Desks.

The Darwin Awards - Awarded posthumously to people who "removed themselves from the gene pool" in really stupid ways.

The Dilbert Zone - Follow the hilarious daily adventures of Dilbert, the cubicly-confined, crew-cut wearing, corporate engineering techno-geek, as he deals with his boss and coworkers. Example: the boss complains that his laptop computer is locked up again. Dilbert reminds him that he has to turn it upside down and shake it to reboot it. As the boss walks away, shaking his laptop computer, Dilbert turns to a coworker and says, "Do you think he'll ever figure out that we gave him an Etch-A-Sketch?"

Doctor Science - Ask any question of the hilarious radio guy who "knows more than you do" because "he's got a Masters degree in Science." Yes, here he is, the man who "legally changed his first name to 'Doctor' to lend credibility to his theories." Warning: Reading Doctor Science's answers to life's questions will NOT help you pass that science course you're required to take.

Films Online - IFilm - "The leading Internet resources for film fans, filmmakers, and entertainment industry professionals," with hundreds of free short and long films in all categories, all viewable in streaming media over the Internet on your PC. (Thanks, Nathan Karline.)Vidnet also has free streaming media videos, arranged by category. Atom Films has over 1000 free films and animations.

Gallery of the Absurd - This site bills itself as "a collection of weird -- but real -- advertisements, labels, and signs." You know what? They're right. See the ad for "toilet golf" (I actually saw that one in a Harriet Carter catalog that arrived last week.), the family that's "happy because they eat lard", and many more. Lots and lots of funny stuff.

Good Clean Funnies List - An entire archive of good, clean jokes. Plus, if you subscribe, they'll email you a good, clean joke every day.

Hidden Mickeys - Did you know that there are hidden Mickey Mouse-shaped objects in many films, rides, attractions and shows? Find out where they are, including the one in The Empire Strikes Back.

Internet Hoaxes - Urban Legends has the truth about college legends, Movie legends, Halloween legends, Wedding legends, Disney legends, and more. Find out if Walt Disney's head really is cryogenically frozen, waiting to be brought back to life in the future. Another great site is ScamBusters, which has a Web site and a monthly newsletter, to keep you informed of all the latest Internet scams and hoaxes, as well as tell you how to protect yourself from them.

Laffatorium Humor Archive - Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha.

Jokes Galore - "The world's biggest joke repository."

Laugh A Day-O - Hundreds of jokes, in nearly 40 categories, plus cartoons, links to other funny sites, and a joke newsletter. (Thanks, Neal Martin.)

Leotardo DiCappucino - Fans of the young superstar will want to check out this fan page, that claims to be "filled with ridiculous inaccuracies and silly trivial tidbits."

Live Concerts - Live concerts of many different artists, representing many styles of music, cybercast over the Internet. Plus there's also an archive of past concerts and entire albums that you can listen to online. Your PC needs to be sound capable and, if you don't have it already, you'll need to download and install the free Real Player software, available on my downloads page. (Thanks, Jodie Gustafson.)

Lost in Translation - Modern language translation software is OK, but it's not perfect. Type any English text and this site repeatedly submits it to BabelFish to be translated back and forth between English and 5 different languages. The results often have little to do with the original phrase. For example, "ComputerBob - making geek-speak chic" translates to "ComputerBob - with geek of formerly intelligent speech," and "Max the dog loves to sleep all day" translates to "The maximum lover of the dog for the dream that whole day."

Magic 8-Ball Unofficial Home Page - Everything you've ever wanted to know about the classic all-knowing toy. The authors even took one apart and TASTED the blue liquid inside. If you decide to buy the classic model, or even a talking one (I've owned several - they're really funny.), look below for the link to Archie McPhee.

Moreover News - News from 1500 different sources, all free, categorized and available online and sent to you by email.

My-Meals.com - This is a great site for anyone who eats food. There are over 10,000 recipes, including detailed instructions and nutritional information. Among the things you can do are choose the recipes you want; save your favorite recipes in your own online recipe box; plan an entire week's menu; and automatically generate a shopping list of the recipe ingredients you'll need to buy. I went to my-meals.com, looking for a banana bread recipe -- they had 36 of them.

NewsLinx - You don't have to spend hours, looking all over the Web for the latest news about the Web and PCs -- NewsLinx does it for you every day, and then gives it all to you on one page.

Nothing But Comedy - Their home page says, "Like no other website, NothingButComedy.com brings the world of humor together in a single, hilarious place. Comedians, comedy clubs, comic books and sitcoms are all featured along with some of the funniest links the Internet has to offer."

Oh, the Humanity. - A whole site dedicated to "the worst movies on earth." Read reviews, cast your vote for the worst movies you've ever seen, participate in a forum, and more. It's hilarious.

Pet Sites - ZDnet recommends several sites with tons of information about pets, including tips for care and feeding, boarding, training, etc. Like the old cartoon says, on the Internet, no one knows you're a dog.

PuzzleMaker - Create many different kinds of word, math and maze puzzles and games. Save them and print them out or use them any way you want.I'm thinking of using PuzzleMaker to make some crossword puzzles to help my students study for my computer courses.

QuoteLand - Hundreds of famous and not-so-famous quotes, searchable by author or topic.

Radio Stations On/Off The Internet - A list of over 7500 radio stations, many that you can listen to over the Internet, as long as you have a sound-capable, Internet-connected PC, and RealPlayer software (available for free on my Downloads page). If you're looking for some of the most popular ones, click over to ZDNet's Radio Daze.

The Rat Fan Club - The person who suggested this site has chosen to remain anonymous. Learn all about rats as companion animals, from Debbie "The Rat Lady" Ducommon, TV talk-show guest and owner of Moses, the hairless rat. Find out how to choose a rat, how to begin your friendship, how to take care of your rat's health, how to show your rat, and more. Rats - they're not just filthy, disease-carrying vermin any more.

The Razzies - Home of the Golden Raspberry Awards, "Dis-Honoring The Worst Achievements On Film." Sylvester Stallone and Madonna the Worst Actor and Worst Actress Of The Century. Take a look at "100 Years, 100 Stinkers."

Rotten Tomatoes - Movie reviews and news. A compilation of reviews from several other review sites. Your one-stop movie review site. (Thanks, Cindy McDowell.)

Satellite Images - TerraServer is incredible. From satellite photographs, you can zoom in and see any neighborhood in the United States. I found my house - can you find yours? Earthshots, created by the doctoral student brother of one of my students, has "before and after" satellite images of environmental changes. (Thanks, John Campbell!)

Saturday Night Live - Announced during the recent SNL 25th Anniversary telecast, this site has old and new video clips and more, from the show we all love to say "just isn't as good as it used to be."

Screen It - "Entertainment Reviews For Parents." Find out what any current movie is about, as well as what caused it to earn the MPAA rating it received. A lot of extremely useful and detailed free information.

Sign Language Dictionary - HandSpeak, the online Sign Language Dictionary. Hundreds of short videos, with professional signers demonstrating how to do hundreds of different signs.

Song Lyrics Server - All the lyrics to over 100,000 different songs.

StrangeReports - Lets you play practical jokes on your friends through the Internet. Here's how its creator describes it: "Send your victim to the Web address that you create. Your victim will read a fake news report with his or her name in it. It will totally shock them. They will think they really are a criminal, cigarette butt thief, have an overdue library book, or whatever you choose." (Thanks, Starmancer.)

TELEVISION COMEDY - David Letterman's Top Ten List - Posted each day around noon. Jay Leno's Tonight Show Headlines - Funny and real items from newspapers all over the country. Conan O'Brien's Actual Items - The best "actual items" found in newspapers all over the country.

This Day In History - Look up your birthday, a friend's anniversary, or any other date, and this site will tell you a bunch of other interesting and funny stuff that happened on that date in years past. On my birthday in 1872, Brigham Young, the Mormon Church leader, was arrested for bigamy because he had 25 wives.

TIME Magazine - FREE online, with links to a couple of other magazines.