Blog Patch 1.03

I've got some hefty original content in the works that's going to take a bit time to get done. Seeing as I have yet to get on my WoW review (logistical issues) I'm going to have to cut back on my amount of content for a bit. Since I do have to keep posting I'll give you something that will keep you occupied for a bit.

I've always enjoyed reading comics. Not Spider-Man and company, but the likes of Bill Waterson (Calvin and Hobbes), Berkeley Breathed (Bloom County, Opus), and Stephen Pastis (Pearls Before Swine). These comics always managed to develop story lines and characters while providing a constant amount of funny. With the advent of the Internet, a new genre of comics has sprung up. The genre has aptly been named "Web Comics" Seeing as this is a tech blog and I do need easily accessible content; the next few posts will focus on various web comics that I have come across and enjoy.


This time around I have two of my first webcomics. Sluggy Freelance and Bob & George.



Sluggy Freelance is a very long running webcomic (11 years and counting) that focuses on character relationships with a healthy dose of humor. Sluggy started out with some very basic humor laden plotlines and frequent puns, but now has long arching plot lines and complex characters that [Novelist of your choice] would be jealous of. The art is clean, the humor is genuinely funny (although it can be pun heavy at times), and the content is pretty clean. This is one to read.






Bob and George started as filler for a hand drawn comic, but the author discovered that the filler proved more popular than the actual content and thus Bob and George was born. B&G takes place and parodies the various Megaman games; a basic knowledge of the games is helpful for understanding the jokes but is not required. B&G started in '00 and finished in '07. The comic is now on a loop presenting the comic that would have normally been "aired" on that particular day with optional commentary from Dave (the author). The storylines and the takes on well known characters provide constant humor for the readers and the running gags are priceless (Ice cream anyone?). I should note that the characters will swear fairly often as the situations call for it.


I've got a good bit on my plate right now so I'll try and update while I can. No promises for during the break though, I'm going to go on an epic TF2 bender that I may or may not come out of.


On a parting note, here's a little gem of an Obama ad came across. Fun for Democrats and Republicans alike.

In lieu of any meaningful content

My blog. My rules. (And no, I didn't do this. Credit to the artist, whoever he is.)

Oh, and here's a hamster. First to comment gets to name him.

EDIT: And low, his name shall be Sparkles.

Fun with Facespace

Last time through I posted some little nuggets for enhancing your Youtube experience. Here's a few things that you can use for a few "lulz" on Facebook. Sorry, Myspace users, to be quite frank, your site has been sunk by terrible design and users. (My blog, my opinions)


The first and most interesting item is a piece of freeware ta will make chatting with friends over FB quite interesting. TokBox is a video chat app the integrates seamlessly with Firefox and FB. All you have to do to use it is to open up the chat as normal and click on the icon. (You can't miss it) No web cam? No problem. The program can also function as a voice chat client.

Rating: A+



If you don't have a web cam OR a mic, then you can still have some fun with the chat feature. As you may or may not have noticed, when you insert :) you get an actual smiley. This isn't the only supported emicon. Here's a little list I found that shows you all the smilies and a couple of Easter eggs you can use while chatting. The list can be found here. Credit to the list maker and whatnot.

Rating: N/A


˙ɟlǝsʇı ɹoɟ ʞɐǝds ʇı ʇǝl ll,ı os ʎɹoʇɐuɐldxǝ ɟlǝs ʎlɹıɐɟ s,ʇı ˙oʇ ƃuıʞlɐʇ ǝɹɐ noʎ ǝsoɥʇ oʇ lɐıqɹǝʌoɹd ɐ ƃuıʍoɹɥʇ ɹoɟ ʇɐǝɹƃ sı punoɟ ı ǝʇıs ʇxǝu ǝɥʇ 'unɟ pǝsɐq ʇxǝʇ ʇɔǝɾqns ǝɥʇ uo

˙pǝpnlɔuı sʞuılʇoɥ puɐuoıʇɐzılıʇɐdɐɔ 'sƃuıɥʇ ǝɯos ǝsıuoɔǝɹ oʇ ʇuɐʍ oʇ ɯǝǝs ʇ,usǝop ʇı 'ʎllɐʇɐunʇɹoɟun

flippinsticky.com

+q :ƃuıʇɐɹ



The next update may be a bit. I've got a paper to work on and I'm going to be taking up WoW for a review. After that, I'll have to figure out how in the good lord's name I'm going to play this:





Keep a look out for the NCAA football leguae posters about the campus.

Letter C what?

Now that the little circus better known as an election is over I can have my fun. Here's some of the best internet videos for this past election. (And if a certain Government teacher wants to see anything he can go view this from home. Or a proxy.)

First up, a little fun with party loyalty extremists.


Here's another little Gem from the College Humor Guys, and a major reason the Repubs had me worried this year. Be afraid. Be very afraid.


Next up, a news report that we can all get behind. Nothing like a *ahem* "slight" Democratic slant. Lord willing this guy will keep them coming in the future. Warning: If you are easily offended by anything 1) Remove yourself from the internet & 2) Do not view this video.



And Supernews is always good for a lol or three. (Possible offensive content warning)




And just to do something different here's a funny cat video. You know you love them.

The New Leader of the Free World

Remember, tomorrow is voting day. Vote or die.

To make the process much easier, t3h internet5 have chosen your winner for you.

The Boob Tube on T3H TUB35 or Internet Killed the Television Star

Television was big back in the days before MTV sucked, but now that we can have nearly instantaneous gratification it is going the way of the radio. That being said, television still offers a level of consistent quality (reality television aside) that most of the internet has yet to produce.

But once again the tubes have come through with on demand television. Sure, depending on where you go, it's a legal gray area, but anyone that hasn't downloaded a song without paying for it or borrowed a picture is a liar.

First up, hulu.com. This is one of the only sites on the Internet that has legal access to current material and is sponsored by the major networks. Hulu is a good source for some high quality vids of shows including Family Guy, The Simpsons, American Dad, 30 Rock, Saturday Night Live, and several others. It now even hosts some movies, older ones mind you, but good ones nonetheless.

Evaluation: The site has a selection that is hard to find in other locations. That aside, it only host some episodes rather than keeping older ones. The internal search engine could use some refining, but serves its purpose. The quality can't be beat, but commercials are integrated within almost all of the videos. It's still developing so this is one to keep your eye on.

Rating: B


Next on the chopping block is surfthechannel.com. This site offers a pretty good selection from a wide range of shows. All content is generated and linked from other sites.

Evaluation: Legally this is dubious. There is no guarantee that the material you are viewing is legal or of any noteworthy quality. Depending on who uploaded the video, the link may not even work. There's no guarantee that a certain show will have one, several, or any episodes available. On top of that, site navigation is sluggish. The selection is adequate though. Take a look, you never know what you will find.

Rating: C-


Veoh can be viewed as a more refined version of Youtube. Even though users can upload any content, there are plenty of shows available and nearly every video has a very high level of quality.

Evaluation: Veoh is an excellent source for many shows that are either hard to find or are in poor quality elsewhere. Site navigation is easy and fast.

Rating: B+


If you prefer to watch your television programs on an actual television then locatetv.com is your promised land. This site lets you look up show times for almost any show and is a wealth of information.

Evaluation: The site is quick, informative, and to the point. It achieves everything it sets out to do and nothing else.

Rating: A

Last up, one for you otaku out there, here's a little dedicated anime site. Animefuel.com has what I assume (I don't really keep up with the genre as a whole) is a good selection.

Elvaluation: Videos load quickly and most are availble in dubed and undubbed format. As with most sites, more popular animes will have more selection of episodes, but older classics like Ranma 1/2 and the Gundam series have an established video base. No Robotech though; not a good thing in my book.

Rating: B-


Got suggestions, sites, rants, ect? Then either post or send an E-Mail to doabarrelrollblog@gmail.com

Youtube Apps

Alright guys, I have a double header for you today, Seeing as you had the the competency to find your way over to my corner of "t3h inter3tz" it's safe to assume that you have heard of a little site known as Youtube. While the site works just fine on its own, but my findings can add a little fun to your time there, at no expense to you of course.

Ever seen part of a video that you wanted to show to your friends, but didn't feel like making them wait for it to load up and then having to go through the trouble of telling them when to watch? Well thanks to the power of the internet you don't have to.

Take a trip over to splicd.com and enter the url of your video (If you haven't already caught on, this is only for Youtube vids) and the start and end times you want your selected bit to have. Wait just a minute and woot! you have your own little mini vid to share with your friends.

Example: Say I want to take some of the funniest lines from Youtube's "Take On Me: Literal Video Version."

I enter the necessary information and this is the end result:
All things considered, the process is a bit rough. The video start and end times are a bit wonky on occasion and nothing can beat actual editing software, but it's free and fast.

Rating: C+



Chances are that at one point or another you've come across a video that had an awesome song that you couldn't find anywhere else. Used to be you had to watch the video anytime you wanted to hear the song. Well, not anymore.

www.vid2mp3.com work like the previous site. You enter the video's url and it goes to work. (Note: This works for several different sites. See site for full list) The site quickly extracts the MP3 used in the video and allows you to download and play it on a media player of your choice. By naming the track and putting in the appropriate folder you get your own song to hug and squeeze and/or call George.

This is a very fast and easy way to "borrow" a song that is hard to find. (Remember kids, stealing media is bad) The site is straightforward and offers the chance to gain access to things that you wouldn't normally be ably to get. However it does not differentiate between multiple songs within a video, so if you have more than one you're stuck with them.

Rating: A-



If you have something you think I should feature, (or anything else) then drop me a line at doabarrelrollblog@gmail.com and I'll give you props of I decide to use it.


(Credit to DustoMcNeato of Youtube for the Take On Me Parody)

Gentlemen.

The internet is arguably one most important inventions of Al Gor-....er.... man. It is a boundless source that caters to almost any whim of a user's fancy. Since the advent of Web 2.0 nearly everyone (and in some cases their grandmother too) can put in their opinions or create content. This is not always a good thing. As anyone who has tried to find information for a paper via Wikip-*ahem* a search engine knows, there a large amount of junk out there. Trying to come across something worthwhile takes some doing. That's where I come in; I sacrifice my social life so you don't have to sacrifice yours.

"Vegeta, what does the scouter say about the tuition rates?"
"They're over 9000!!!!!!!"
"What?! Over 9000?!!" (Sorry, couldn't help myself)

Being a student means that I'm always in various stages of being broke, but this turns out to be good for you. This means that I will focus on items that are free at best and cheap at the worst. You can rest assured that I will seek out worthwhile sites and apps to you don't have to. Each recommendation comes with my seal of approval; meaning that I have used each site or app and they are worth your time.




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