Dramatic Readings

These are some of the funniest dramatic readings I've stumbled on across the interweb. Some of these made me laugh so hard, I almost choked. Enjoy.
Breakup Letter
I hate you more than anything in this damn world-d-d-d-d-d-d!
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Dear Loser,[Chris]~~~~!!!!!!
I thought youy like me you […]

GodTube.com - a collection of oddities.

I know plenty of sane and reasonable Christians. Heck, I'd like to hope that the majority of them are. But GodTube.com shows a more tarnished picture: created just last year, as a rival to YouTube, to anyone with half an ounce of common sense it's clear that most of its occupants are trying to make […]

Top Ten Doom Clones

There's a fascinating graph that can easily be found on Wikipedia here that studies the usage of the terms "Doom clone" and "first person shooter", looking at their respective usages in Usenet posts between 1993 and 2002. The phrase "Doom clone" looks to have been conclusively defeated by "first person shooter" by late 1998, which interestingly coincides with the release of Valve's Half-Life. But like the secretive Trystero in The Crying of Lot 49 (I'm sorry, that's the second Pynchon reference in two posts – I'll try and cut them down) the phrase was not quite defeated, but merely forced underground, along with the games that remain lumbered with the label. To be honest, the fact that mainstream magazines and the game-playing public labelled games like these as "Doom clones" was a bit unfair. The games weren't exactly carbon-copies of the massively successful id classic, many didn't even use its influential engine – it's just that the early competitors to Doom were sometimes looked down upon and have been largely forgotten today – even when some of them were brilliant in their own right. So what defines a Doom clone? Well, by my definition a Doom clone is an FPS released between 1993 and 1998, which use sprites for their characters and objects and generally have Doom-esque technology to work with. Some games on the list are still famous today – others have fallen into at least partly undeserved obscurity. Because of the relatively primitive engines they use, they can often be difficult to get working on modern operating systems – but where possible, I'll offer some advice as to how these games can be played in 2008 (remember that DOSbox will theoretically run them all). Incidentally, for those who have yet to experience the joys of Doom itself, it can be found in a Collector's Edition on (for example) Amazon, and there's a guide to getting the game to run under XP over at the excellent Doom Wiki here. For now though, on with the list – from #10 right up to #1…

Neuromancer - Hayden Christensen to play Case.

Yet another peice of depressing news about the Neuromancer film in development. And I was just getting over the fact that Kahn is the director. (I've come to the opinion that people should be giving Kahn a break. He has enough talent to make this film work.)
From 7artspictures.com
"Based on William Gibson’s seminal cyberpunk novel, […]

An Introduction to the Manic Street Preachers

Since their formation in Blackwood, South Wales in 1986, the Manic Street Preachers have released eight full length albums and three EPs, had two UK number 1 singles, played a massive gig in Castro's Cuba, lost a member in a suspected suicide, and will in 2008 be named "Godlike Geniuses" at the NME awards for their career achievements. Their bassist, the self-styled Nicky Wire, frequently wears skirts and knee-high socks to gigs and uses a mic stand covered in pink tinsel. Their lead singer, James Dean Bradfield (who was originally to be called Clint Eastwood Bradfield until his mother protested) has collaborated with Tom Jones and Kylie Minogue and the band worked with notorious pornstar Traci Lords on their début album.

One of the most controversial, overtly political, outspoken and unique bands the UK has ever produced, the Manic Street Preachers are often thought of only when people are in a strictly 90s mindset – but as they continue to tour, having released their eighth album in May 2007, why are the Manics still relevant? And how best to begin to understand such a long-running, iconoclastic and cult band?

Cats, a man's best friend.

My cat is sitting on the chair next to me, watching me type away.

I live in a family of four, we have one cat and one dog. The reason eludes me, but the cat, Sappho, has always been very close to me, while the dog has been distant. When people talk about dogs being a man's best friend, it always confuses me: my dog shows little regard for humans, with his tendency to deposite enough hair in a week to render most of the carpets invisible, his constant desire for food - more often than not my food - and his unescapable need to empty his bowels every day, which one of us or all of us must bear witness to on his daily walks. When he begs for food, half of the time he decides it smelled nicer than it tastes, and he coughs it up onto the floor. When he wants to leave a room, he doesn't even attempt to open the door when it is already slightly ajar. And when we are in close proximity, I normally end up with a sticky coating of saliva on my trousers.

Having a dog - or more specifically, having my dog - meets none of the prerequisites of a friendship.

Google, also an impressive calculator, apparently

Google has surprised me again. I've always known you can search for 'Speed of Light' and before the results google will give you the answer. But it turns out you can enter pretty much any equation and be given the result straight off:

It gets better: if you use Firefox 2 or have the Google toolbar, […]