Books and Language
- Amazon.com
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- Barnes&Noble.com
- Would you rather shop at "Earth’s Biggest Bookstore" or "The World’s Largest Online Bookseller"? Do you care, as long as the books are cheap and plentiful? I didn’t think so.
- Jesse’s Word of the Day
- Weird words and lucid definitions from Jesse Sheidlower, a Senior Editor in the Reference division of Random House.
- Cobuild Idiom of the Day
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- The Weekly Idiom
- Depending on how often you need an idiom fix, you can score a new one daily or weekly.
Movies
- Hollywood Stock Exchange
- Buy and sell pretend shares of your favorite real-life films and movie stars. Win big, lose big, have lots of fun - all for free.
- The Internet Movie Database
- An enormous, continuously updated, searchable database of movies past and present. Search by actor, director, title, keyword-you get the picture, right? Do a little extra research and make a killing on the Hollywood Stock exchange (above).
- Movie Critic
- (1) You rate some movies. (2) The site recommends some movies to you. (3) You watch and rate more movies. (4) The site gets better at recommending movies for you. This all happens thanks to a hyper-sophisticated mathematical algorithm that plots your rating against those of users all over the internet with similar tastes. Fortunately, you don’t need to understand it to use it.
Music
- CDNow
- Online commerce at its finest. Records, tapes, CDs, and videos - catalogued, reviewed, and available for purchase.
- The Ptolemaic Terrascope
- A tiny music magazine from rural England that's gradually gaining some international recognition, thanks to the broad-minded and all-encompassing approach of publisher/editor/interviewer/writer Phil McMullen. Music from 60's psychedelia to 90's noise and beyond, following any path possible.
- Harmony Central
- If you create (rather than just consume) music, this may be the site for you. Conventions, classifieds, bulletin boards, reviews, and links galore.
News
- The ONION: America's Finest News Source
- Rude, crude, irreverent, and intelligent. This is the perfect antidote when the real news of the world is too much to take.
- Salon Magazine
- Cynical on-line art/literature/entertainment/politics magazine, with contributions from some big-name and occasionally controversial writers. This site has attitude to spare, but it delivers the goods in quantity and quality.
- Slate
- Yet another on-line art/literature/etc. magazine. Good content and interesting design, but beware: sponsored by Microsoft. Always read the fine print.
- Suck
- The motto: "A Fish, A Barrel, and a Smoking Gun." The site: daily editorials and cartoons on the media, its makers, and (more often than not) their biggest blunders.
- Wired
- Late-breaking news for the online world, plus archives and opinions. Also check out HotWired (http://www.hotwired.com) for online multimedia art, web-design info for beginners and experts, and editorials on a wider range of interests.
Weirdness
- American Science & Surplus
- More strange stuff in one place than should be permissible under law: surplus lab gear, bizarre toys and gadgets, and some real mystery items, all described in hilarious detail and priced to move.
- Archie McPhee - Toy, Novelty and Fun Headquarters
- American Science and Surplus' upscale brother, minus the hardcore science surplus. Where else can you get a family-size tub of glow-in-the-dark, high-bouncing eyeballs?
- The Nixon-Presley Meeting
- A complete record of one of the stranger moments in American history: Elvis Presley's deluded attempt to become an "Agent-at-Large" in the Federal Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs. Pictures, memos, and extensive commentary are all right here. Read it and weep. Or laugh.
- Piercing Mildred
- It had to happen: Virtual Piercing. All the fun, none of the regret, and totally free.
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