For the attention of the reader

it’s a lot of links… get it? yeah? because i’m about to give you some links? yeah?

I may put these on a nifty little thingamajig on the side (interesting side-note: spellcheck has absolutely 0 issues with “thingamajig” but has a problem with “spellcheck”) at a later point.

This is simply a list of websites which keep me entertained and which may do the same for you.

Blogs

Gwildungsroman is written by a friend of mine, and is consistently wittily and excellently written. I’ve reblogged one of his posts and linked to another in the past, both of which deal with a sensitive subject far more intelligently and delicately than I could have put it myself. He’s well worth reading.

Pajiba is a movie and TV blog which I’ve just recently found, but again exceeds certain others in not only quality of writing, but also in its wit and refusal to report conjecture as news (compare this to this). Also this. Considering my other main source of movie news is Empire magazine (@empiremagazine on Twitter – go follow), Pajiba more than holds its own as an entertainment-focused blog.

Acculturated can be hit and miss, not for the quality of writing itself (again, I have no complaints) but more because the subject matter is so varied that inevitably there are some things in which I’m not hugely interested. That said, it offers interesting angles on pop culture, and its Daily Scene can lead to some really interesting articles. Here’s an example of the sort of thing you can find on there (which obviously appealed to me – it’s about Spider-Man, wahey).

Another blog by a friend of mine, Political Deficit provides interesting angles on global politics – see here for example, a look at the rise of Russia and Africa in a global context. Like Acculturated’s Daily Scene, his Comments & Curios, though less frequently updated, showcases both interesting and witty articles and links.

If you haven’t read any of the anecdotes on Hyperbole and a Half, then I strongly encourage you to do so. It hasn’t been updated in over a year but what’s on there is absolute comedy gold.

Webcomics

I’m not going to critique the comics I read on a daily basis, so here’s my RSS feed.

Dumbing of Age
Shortpacked! by David Willis
xkcd.com
Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal (updated daily)
HijiNKS ENSUE – A Geek Comic
Dinosaur Comics
Hark, A Vagrant!
Happle Tea
The Oatmeal – Comics, Quizzes, & Stories
chainsawsuit by kris straub
garfield minus garfield
cat ghost comics
Wondermark
LOLDWELL.com
Explosm.net
Detective Sloth
Invisible Bread
Octopuns
SeeMikeDraw
Shoebox
PoorlyDrawnLines
Three Word Phrase
Jesus & Mo

All are worth checking out.

Podcasts

I only routinely listen to two podcasts, but there are a couple more that deserve a mention.

The first is The Bugle, a podcast by two English comedians, John Oliver (of the Daily Show) and Andy Zaltzman (who has a degree in Classics), which parodies the news on a weekly basis in some of the most gorgeous bullshit ever crafted by man. It’s hilarious.

The second is The Empire Podcast, a great source of news about movies and discussion of that news, as well as some great interviews and reviews. Well worth listening to if that’s your cup of tea.

The last two are both BBC Radio 4 podcasts – In Our Time and Friday Night Comedy from BBC Radio 4. The one is interesting and informative on a range of subjects, the other is consistently funny weekly satire.

All these are available and free on iTunes.

Of course, I’ve only begun to scratch the surface of blogs, webcomics and podcasts, but I thought I would share with you the ones which have kept me deeply fulfilled for the past few years. If anyone has any suggestions for me I’d love to hear them.

Enjoy!