How many times has a party come alive when someone’s said those magic words “Have you heard the one about…”?
Life as we know it would be like a Kafka novel if it were not for our sense of humour.
That’s why, in this issue of The HITG report, we bring you the vast amount of completely crazy stuff out there on the Web. Bizarre, but funny. It’ll make you wonder - who even bothers to collect this stuff?
http://www.amused.com/
This is by the far the great grandmother of all humor sites on the Web. If there is any good stuff on the Web, you should find it here.
The first thing about it is its extensive joke archive, but then that’s expected. There are a lot of games that you can play…but that’s not the best thing about this site. There are many cool options, like the one which takes you to all the weird sites on the Web. These are bizarre sites set up by weirder people(who else would put up a site to yellow cars or to a banana museum?) Then there is a link to sites that “Do Stuff”. Again, these are very interesting sites which you could keep surfing for weeks.
Apart from these features, the site has a number of small appealing things to do. Like the “Internet Police” parking ticket and the dancing cartoons. Their “Site Of The Day” is also quite good. This is one humongously funny place to go to.
http://www.nationallampoon.com/
This site is courtesy of the guys behind the magazine by the same name. And one that’s equally good. Basically dedicated to spoofs, this site comes up with some hilarious stuff.
First up is the daily “headlines”, which take every major issue and give it a unique twist. The result - chaos! Then there are reports on famous events which are supposed to have taken place. With full details and photos, they make for good reading. The article on the fifth Harry Potter book was truly inspired.
And just in case you figured the Oxford Dictionary wasn’t good enough for you, check out their “Weird Words” category. Rest assured, Scrabble will be easier to win at after you’ve gone through this segment. Apart from all this, the site has a number of other features worth checking out.
http://www.bigwaste.com/
Though this site is self-deprecatingly called “The Big Waste of Time”, it is anything but that. The amount of information here is heaven for any trivia lover.
The site aims at collecting all sorts of useless and hilarious details - be it poster signs, road signs or just mundane facts. The site is divided into a number of home pages, each of which is quite enough to retain your interest. Each page is divided into a photo gallery, library and links section.
The photo showcases signs dealing with different aspects of life - like the “Largest” something, or weird house signs. The library deals with absolutely amazing and useless information which makes you read for ten minutes before you realise you’re wasting your energy!
The site also receives our award for the nattiest looking site of all the ones we’ve reviewed this week.
http://www.allfunnypictures.com/
Without pictures, life would be just another boring epic. And that’s why this site finds its way into this showcase.
Coming second in our award for the best looking site, this one is for anybody who needs a cool cartoon or picture for any occasion.
There are several features on the site, but the best is undoubtedly the one with the pictures. There are numerous categories, which include “Crazy Cars” and “Amazing Signs”. The extensive number of photos are not at all tedious or repetitive and tend to be quite original. In sync with this is the feature on comic strips, which also deal with situations. Though some of these tend be slightly risque, they are quite funny.
Also worth checking out on the site are the free stuff and jokes departments.
http://www.comedy-zone.net/
Though most people would expect only jokes from the Web, there are also a number of sites dedicated to comedy. This one is quite good.
The site has a good segment on stand-up comedy which showcases the best comedians and makes life simpler by letting you choose alphabetically. The list of comedians is quite vast and you’re sure to find the most obscure comedians here. There is also a link to where the comedians are going to be playing next.
The site comes with a good cartoon segment which allows you to choose between Web-related cartoons and the best of popular cartoons. For all those who want to read those childhood cartoons, here’s where you go to search for them. Besides this, they also have trivia,humorous quotations, games and awards.
http://www.digitallaughter.com/
This is another good site, especially for pictures. But that’s not the only thing available here.
They have a whole segment on funny pictures, and also let you select them as thumbnails (something we haven’t seen in other sites). Besides this, they have funny videos and audio clips which you can play or download. There is a large selection of these along with Web-related funnies.
Apart from this, they have something called “Digital Magic” where a wizard-like character appears and astounds you with stuff that is mundane in life but seems phenomenal over the Web. The brainteasers are a good option too, for those who think that they qualify for Mensa. The usual quota of cartoons and jokes fill up the blank spaces.
http://www.kidsjokes.com
After all is said and done, the Web is not really kid-oriented, is it? That’s why it’s so refreshing to find a site which caters only to kids.
The site is very simple, but then that’s okay by us. There are not too many features but just the basic games which held our appeal as kids. There are segments on riddles, puzzles, jokes and of course the perennial “knock-knock” jokes. Lest an adolescent find them childish, may we remind you that this site is strictly for the kids. The jokes are quite good and will remind you of days long past.
There also is a store for kids, but that was under reconstruction, so not much on that front. However, overall the site fulfills its limited appeal and quite well. Should be worth a visit to get some jokes for your kids/nephews/cousins/whatever.
http://www.demotivate.com/intro.cfm
And finally, for all those who treasure black humour and bow to the goddess of sarcasm, this is the site for you.
Demotivate.com does exactly that, with its dark gray and black design and its cute but nasty one-liners. They offer you quotes, news and various other stuff bound to send you into throes of ecstatic depression. They even offer to send you home and ask you NOT to contact them! Nice to see that someone’s thinking hard about how to make you miserable.
And that’s about it for this week. See you soon!
This article was first published on 07 Sep 2000.