Stumbling around the internet

I started typing up a post about books I've been reading and tv I've been watching, but I so can't be bothered with that right now. Instead, here are some sites I like, based on what's on my StumbleUpon profile. StumbleUpon is one of the greatest inventions since the internet, by the way.

Jeff Russells Starship Dimensions

This is a site where you compare spaceships, basically. Great for scifi nerds like me. It's best viewed in IE, because that allows you to drag stuff around for better comparison. Ever wanted to know how big the Enterprise is in relation to Moya? Or Serenity? Or the Cloverfield monster? If so, this site is a great way to avoid doing your dissertation.

Guess the Google

I'm guessing that most people with access to this blog have heard of this game already, but it's still worth a mention. Basically, the game shows a load of images, and you have to type in the word Googled to get those images. It's a simple game that's actually really fun to play. For a while. Obviously these things do get old, but it's worth a mention.

Questionable Content

I discovered this webcomic a couple of years ago. I wasn't really into webcomics, then a PBS thread came up where people were listing their favourites, and I thought I'd check some out. QC was mentioned a lot, so it was one of the first I looked at. I realised that I'd have to start from the beginning to get it, and although at first I wasn't sure I'd be interested, I ended up reading every one and getting right up to date. The comic can be really funny at times, and the plot is usually interesting enough to make you want to know what happens next. I think my only problem with it is how obvious it is that it's written by a man sometimes, and the fact that he writes things into the female characters that just don't seem to fit. I'd still recommend this as one of my favourite webcomics though.

eFestivals

The only site UK festival goers need for all the latest festival news. I live by this site when line ups start to get rumoured early in the year, and check it regularly after I buy tickets for any changes.

Digital Spy

This site is every trashy magazine I hate, but I love it still. I mostly go there for TV and soap news. The premiere list is useful, and I usually like checking up on the cult section. I use the soaps section to see if I'm missing anything major in Hollyoaks if I haven't seen it, so I can go 4oD it if it's something important. Also good for Big Brother, X Factor and Strictly Come Dancing news. One thing I don't like about it is Gay Spy. That part of the site seems to assume that gay men are only interested in thinking about which celebrity pretty boy looks best without his shirt on.

Scientists for Better PCR (song video)

This is brilliant. Just brilliant. It's actually an advertisement for Bio-Rad, who make scientific equipment, but it's still great. For those who don't know, polymerase chain reaction (or PCR) is a method of amplifying DNA for analysis. The thermal cycler Bio-Rad make is a machine that can do this. Anyone who does get it will find this song hilarious. It's funnier because it's made to look serious.

A Dog's Breakfast Movie (+ David Hewlett's site)

If you haven't seen this film, go and buy it. It's so funny, and I can tell David Hewlett has a pretty similar sense of humour to me. If you don't know, he plays McKay on Stargate Atlantis, and quite a few Stargate actors pop up in the film. The site includes his blog and twitter, and so also updates on what he's doing on Atlantis.

Book a Minute (SF/F)

This is the sci-fi/fantasy section of Book a Minute. Basically, it sums up popular books in a few sentences, and usually in a funny way. As an example:

Frank Herbert's Children of Dune: "(People do stuff that is OUT OF CHARACTER. People do stuff that makes NO SENSE. Cool arabic-type words and names are said, making Frank Herbert look SMART and COOL.)"

Too true, haha.

Dr Horrible's Sing Along Blog

I believe I've spoken about this in a TV or film related post, so I won't dwell, but it's still as brilliant as when I first saw it. You can't see it on the site anymore, but there are lyrics and stuff there, so it's worth a look.

Television Tropes

This site is one of the greatest sites ever. I like TV. I like overanalysis of TV. I like it even more when done in a humourous way. This site does just that, and includes some awesome comical analysis of my favourite shows, and the patterns and cliches in them. One of my favourite trope labels is "Magnificent Bastard". Obviously this includes Scorpius, who has to be the best character mentioned. The Master, from Dr Who, is another good example. Anyway, this site is easy (for me at least) to lose hours in. I already spent longer on this paragraph than any other so far, since I started looking at the site.

Treesize Free from JAM Software

Even though I could give out more sites, I'm going to end it here for tonight. I'll finish with some free software Google told me about the other day. Have you ever wondered where all the space is going on your hard drive? I know I did. I only have 80GB, and when I couldn't work out how why I was always nearly out of space, I decided I needed a way to find out where I could stand to lose stuff. This tells you exactly where on your hard drive most memory is being used. It made it so much easier to clear things up. Definitely worth a look.