KHAAAN!

Today's will be short but strange. These websites have been around for at least 100 years, yet if you don't know to go looking for them, you probably won't find them. I don't think these need any explanation.

http://www.khaaan.com/

http://www.zombo.com/

(For some reason, the sound cut out when I went to zombo.com today. If there's no sound, it's not funny, so don't blame me if it's silent and seems stupid.)

Fully Ramblomatic

Like I said yesterday, Yahtzee makes some games too. They're on the low tech, original Monkey Island end of things, but if you require cutting edge graphics to have a good time, you can bite me. Trilby: The Art of Theft is my personal favorite. 1213 has a good story, but the gameplay's not spectacular. I think it's worth playing for the storytelling elements; if you're looking for a high action game, look somewhere else. I haven't played them yet, but I hear a lot of good things about the 5 Days a Stranger series. These are more like Monkey Island or Day of the Tentacle.

Zero Punctuation

Today we talk about Zero Punctuation. Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw is the cantankerous genius behind this. He's a delightfully snarky Brit who treats us each week to a rapid fire, honest (bitchy), unbiased (except for his own biases), and hilarious video game review. On top of all that, it's set to funny animated video, making the jokes all the better. It's an innovative means of reviewing, and suits the video game genre beautifully.

I find Yahtzee's candor quite refreshing. He hits the nail on the head when he points out the shortcomings of games. I've seen it from all angles. I watched reviews of games I've played, and he was dead on. I've played games after watching his reviews, and found they were just as we said. I even asked a friend to describe a game to me (MOH Airborne), and proceeded to crack up as Yahtzee hilariously highlighted everything my friend had complained about.

Zero Punctuation is hosted by The Escapist. To be honest, I was introduced to this site with ZP and I haven't really looked at the rest of the site yet. It looks like a pretty neat collection of game related reviews, news, videos, etc. I'll check it out and get back to you on it later.

P.S. Yahtzee makes some interesting games too. More on that tomorrow.

Dancing with the Star Wars Stars

This one is crazy. A little something for the star wars geeks out there. Apparently they did some crazy Star Wars related stuff at MGM Studios at Disney World. My favorite is Darth Vader from the 2008 video.

Dancing with the Star Wars Stars 2008
Dancing with the Star Wars Stars 2007

Minesweeper: The Movie

Today is a YouTube video for you old-times windows users. If you don't get this video, and you have windows, go to the start menu, then all programs, then games and play some minesweeper. For you youngsters, this is the kind of windows game we used to play back in my day.

Minesweeper: The Movie

Dr. Tran

Ok, I'm sure most of you have seen Dr. Tran already. The dude is huge. However, I would not be doing my civic duty if I didn't make SURE everyone has had the opportunity to see him.

For those who have, perhaps you'd be interested in seeing additional Dr. Tran adventures.

For those who haven't , go watch Dr. Tran.

Oh, I'd also like to note that over 70,000 pairs of 3D glasses were produced for the showings of Dr. Tran at Spike and Mike's Festival of Animation.

Star Wars: The Musical

I promise, this is the last musical post. At least until I find another weird musical. This one is Star Wars. I especially enjoy the video version of One Season More. This one has won multiple awards, so it's worth a look.

http://www.infauxmedia.com/swmusical/STAR_WARS-The_Musical.htm

Silence!

I've done videos the last couple days, so let's do music. This is Silence! The Musical. It's a lovely musical version of The Silence of the Lambs. Jon & Al Kaplan made it, in addition to several other funny movie-gone-musical pieces. Looks like they created 24: Season 2: The Musical as well. I better watch some more 24 and listen to that.

http://www.jonandal.com/

Powerthirst

Today I am tired. I need a Powerthirst. If you don't know what I'm talking about, you should check out Picnicface. These guys made Powerthirst, and numerous other hilarious videos. At least, I assume they're hilarious. So far I've only watched Powerthirst, Powerthirst 2, and All About Halifax, but those were awesome. Everyone I know has been randomly quoting these for months.

Those Aren't Muskets!

Here's the site of a talented sketch comedy troupe from the San Diego area. These guys are incredibly creative; they've even gone so far as to make a sketch entirely in Super Smash Bros. I suggest all you internet people go check out my favorite, Internet Party.

http://thosearentmuskets.com/index.php

Jonathan Coulton

I like music, but I like hilarious nerdy music more. Jonathan Coulton is a veritable factory of excellent nerdy music. Additionally, he loves us enough to let us sample all his songs on his website. Some of my favorites are even available for free download.

All of his music is released through the creative commons license, which has lead to many excellent derivative works, such as mash-ups and music videos. For those of you who have caught the karaoke bug (filk anyone?), there are karaoke tracks, with on-screen text, available for purchase.

So go check it out. You won't regret it.

http://www.jonathancoulton.com/store/downloads/

My personal favorites are Re: Your Brains, Skullcrusher Mountain, The Future Soon, and (for those of you wearing headphones, this one's NSFW) First of May. Also, check out the video for flickr:

Hapland

This is the first post. As such, I will start with something appropriate to the inspiration of the blog. I felt it would be worthwhile to build a listing of internet amusements as a resource for others. I eventually realized that I would end up with a reminder of where to find things I like. Recently, I spent about an hour searching for a game I enjoyed, but I could not remember its name. So, here it is.

Hapland. The object of the game is to activate the portal. This is accomplished by clicking on various objects around the screen, sometimes with precise timing. This is one of those games where it's easy to destroy your resources by making the wrong move, but fortunately the ensuing explosions and stick figure deaths usually make it enjoyable anyway. I can't tell you much more without ruining it, so go play with it for a while and have fun.

http://foon.co.uk/farcade/hapland

P.S. This site contains more games from the creator of Hapland, including Hapland 2 and 3. If you get tired of blowing up the same stick figures, you can switch to another one for a while.