Back before I abandoned the site for the summer, I used to have a Link of the Day at the end of every post. I decided that having the link in the menu would make more sense, but as a service to all of you who don't read my site every day, I'll be archiving them here. Also included will be a short description of the site in question, and why I felt a need to link to it. Well, link of the day was the original plan, but after a few weeks, I began to run out of ideas. From now on, there will be a weekly link, which might actually give my less frequent visitors time to see all of them.

April 30th, 2003 - Scott McCloud Comics
This comic was mentioned on PVP one day, and though he doesn't have an active webcomic right now, Scott has some pretty cool stuff in his archives. He's very well known in the comic world, and I've seen him referenced several times since first visiting his site. The Morning Improv is an especially good section, and also his most recent. Unfortunately, even that is almost a year old. But it's all good, so give it a look.

April 13th, 2003 - Hamster for President
This is an awesome little site that I came across while searching through random LiveJournals. One of my interest is hamsters, and this site was mentioned on an LJ that came up similar to mine. Apparently hamsters have been running for President since 1996, but since they only live around two years on average, they generally don't survive the campaign. There's a hamster clause that says all goverment positions can be passed down from parent to child, but it's just not the same. But even if he only lives for the first half of his term, Potus will make a better president than Bush.

March 28th, 2003 - Official Enya Website
The more I listen to Enya, the more I love her music. The box set I bought is pretty darn awesome, despite the few misgivings I have with it. Seriously, if you even have a passing interest in new age or instrumental music, give Enya a listen. And by clicking on this link, you can do just that. The site plays low-quality MP3s in the background while you browse, though the webmaster seems to be stuck on Storms of Africa. Good song though.

March 3rd, 2003 - Final Breath
This is a recent play put on by Fat Hat Productions, and the main character is named Eric Meader. I've already e-mailed the creators, and it's truly nothing more than a coincidence, but it's a pretty cool one at that. I'll be buying the DVD at some point, so I invite all of you out there to watch it with me. It's bound to be an interesting ride.

February 22nd, 2003 - Muffin Films
This is a freaky site that some friends of mine found a while back. It consists of twelve short flash animations that somebody made for an animation project at some college somewhere. Some of them are quite hilarious, but most of them are just freaky. They all involve muffins, which is a good thing, I guess. Reminds of a book I had when I was kid about a dragon that would only eat muffins. Eventually a poor king strikes a deal with him. They get the muffins baked for free by his fire breath, and he gets all the muffins he wants. If only things were that cut and dry in the real world. Alright... that's enough of a tangent for one Link of the Week blurb.

February 14th, 2003 - Homestar Runner
This is a fantastic Flash site that Avi found sometime last week. Don't be fooled by the relatively corny Lite Brite opening. Pretty much everything on this site is amusing, but as with all things, there will be a few exceptions. Please try to ignore the lame things, to better appreciate the hilarious ones. Strong Bad e-mail is especially good.

February 7th, 2003 - Spiderweb Software
This is a cool little shareware site that I found while reading PvP one day. They specialize in humongous Ultima-style RPGs, and every game they put out features a huge demo, which covers about half of the given game. I haven't given most of them a try yet, but they seem pretty cool. The games aren't much for graphics, but true RPG fans don't care about that stuff anyway. Gameplay is the thing. Viva la video games!

February 2nd, 2003 - English TTT Captions
This site has some very amusing screencaptures from an Engrish bootleg of The Two Towers. For those of you who don't know, Engrish is poor translation from another language, usually Japanese, into English. This link is mostly for Mari's sake, but anybody who watched the movie will enjoy them. The site swears these screen captures are legitimate, and I've no reason to doubt them.

January 24th, 2003 - The Nature of Zooey Deschanel
The self-proclaimed "number one source for all your Zooey Deschanel needs," TNZD is the place to go if you're obsessed with Zooey, like I am. I suppose it would also be useful if you simply had a passing interest in her, but I don't have any experience with that, so I wouldn't know. I decided to start liking Zooey after seeing The New Guy, and since then I haven't found a good reason to stop liking her, I still do. Actually, the more I find out about her, the more I like her, which sucks, becuase there's no way I'll ever meet her in real life. But I figure I have a better chance with her than Drew, becuase at least Zooey hasn't been married yet.

January 19th, 2003 - Perfect World
I found this site a few years ago, and I must say that it's the place for all of your Ace of Base needs. You can download all of their videos there, plus low bitrate versions of all their songs. Anyway, it's thanks to this site that I knew Ace of Base was still alive, even though they hadn't released an album for several years. Their fourth album isn't released in America yet, but hopefully I won't have to wait very long for their fifth.

December 20th, 2002 - Book-A-Minute
I found this site while checking the away messages of my college friends. I actually don't talk to them very often, but if they have a new link on their profile, I'm sure to follow it. This site takes classic works of literature, and condenses them into a few sentences. To take an example, the short story "The Lady or the Tiger" is reduced to two words: "The Tiger!!." If you've ever had to sit through a high school English class, you'll probably appreciate this site.

December 16th, 2002 - Wunderland Games
This is a cool little independent game company that I strongly suggest you check out if you enjoy fun games. I've never actually played any of them, but from what I read on their website, they all sound quite entertaining. I snagged this link from one of the people on EveryNothing, which is cool, since I might get a chance to play one of the games the next time I visit Mari's people.

December 14th, 2002 - Acts of Gord
This site was recommended to my by Scott, who seemed almost shocked that I hadn't heard of it before. It's set up to parody the Bible, if you couldn't tell by the title, and while the web design is a little over the top, it's as good a way as any to arrange things. I haven't looked through it much yet, but it's basically just an amusing collection of stories from the world of video game sales. As this is a subject very dear to my heart, you can be sure I'll be reading the whole site in due time.

December 12th, 2002 - Youare Myfriend
This is a strange little site that Tom showed me today. If you click on the link, you'll see what I mean, but basically it just adds whatever you put before the "." into this cheezy little friendship animation they have. The one Tom sent me said "Meader, you are an asshat, but" Clearly the possibilities for something like this are endless, though only if you like sending stupid animations to your friends. I know I do.

December 10th, 2002 - Digitally Imported
This link is really only of interest if you have access to a high speed connection, and then only if your school isn't miserly with their bandwith (like Penn State). I found this courtesy of Gerard, who mentioned it in his LiveJournal. It's got five channels of streaming music, which may not seem like much, but they have absolutely no commercials, and they all play good music. There's Trance, Eurodance, Hard Trance, Hard House, and Classical. I'm just hoping to hear some Ace of Base on the Eurodance channel one of these days.

December 8th, 2002 - FIBS Backgammon Client
FIBS stands for Free Internet Backgammon Server, and it's the best server around if you want to play some online backgammon. The client I linked to is one of the better ones out there, called 3DFiBs. The name is pretty lame, but everything else about this program is pretty cool. It also comes with the latest version of GnuBG, the Artificial Intelligence that taught itself backgammon by playing games against itself. I've never lost against it, but I've only played around ten times. Plus, there's a whole lot of luck involved, so it's not that much of an accomplishment.

December 7th, 2002 - Seiyuu Database
Seiyuu is the Japanese word for "voice actor" and refers to the many talented people who lend their speech to anime, video games, or film dubbing. Occasionally while watching anime I'll recognize a voice that I've heard before. Whenever that happens, I load up this site and see if I was correct. Most of the time I'm flat-assed wrong, but that's because I'm still not very good at differentiating Japanese voices.

November 24th, 2002 - Bill Maher: The Offical Website
I only ever saw a few episodes of Politically Incorrect before it got cancelled, but they were more than enough to make me obsessed with Bill Maher. I don't agree with him on everything, but on the major points, we think the same way. He actually describes himself as pro-death, since he favors abortion rights and the death penalty. Anyway, even if you disagree with him, Bill Maher will make you think about your own views, while still being funny. He's been on Larry King Life ten times, and you can read the transcripts on the other side of this link. Enjoy.

November 21st, 2002 - Game Skins
This is a really cool site that Avi found while browsing the Penny Arcade archives. He really likes "The Code Tee" so if you'd like to get on his good side, it would be a good birthday or holdiay present. So if you like video games, 80s nostalgia, or Avi, you should definitely check out this site. Because Blue Wizard Needs Food Badly.

November 18th, 2002 - Toriyama's World
I found this site a while ago, while looking for an episode list for Hikaru no Go. While this site doesn't actually have any information on the anime, it does have translated images of the manga. The manga currently has over 130 chapters, though I'm expecting it to stop around 140. Judging by the titles for each issue, they seem to be wrapping things up. I'm currently on episode 40 of the anime, which corresponds to chapter 83 of the manga. I'd actually like the anime to end as quickly as possible, becuase I'm starting to run out of CDs. I think 65 episodes would be a good place to stop, but nobody's asking me.

November 16th, 2002 - PopCap Games
I stumbled on this site a few days ago, and it's currently the home of such internet gaming greats as Bejeweled and Alchemy. The fine people over at PopCap have been hard at work desiging new games, though often thery're just clones of other games. There's a Bust-a-Move game called Dynomite that's way better than Snood, and might even be better than Bust-a-Move itself. There are a few original gmaes though, like Insanaquarium that are just really fun to play.

November 12th, 2002 - Official US Time
It may look like I'm just desparate for links here, but this is a site that I actually use. What better way to set your watches and clocks but to the same time that the government uses? I actually haven't recalibrated my chronographs lately, so I'm sure they're all screwed up from Daylight Savings. I'll get to it one of these days...

November 7th, 2002 - Turdmonster.com
In case you're wondering, the Turdmonster in question is really a Domo-Kun which is the mascot for some Japanese televison station. I'm pretty sure Domo-Kun tranlsates to Mr. Thank You, though my Japanese knowledge is entirely gleamed from anime, and not from actual Japanese people. Anyway, Turdmonster.com is a pretty amusing site, even if they haven't updated since Easter. I'd actually like a Domo-Kun plushie of my own, though with their increasing popularity, they're pretty hard to find.

October 31st, 2002 - Everynothing
This is a site run by one of Mari's friends, and basically consists of a bunch of random thoughts by people who used to go to high school together. It's actually a pretty cool idea, and is something I would have done myself, if I had enough knowledge of scripting languages. I actually posted on the site for a while a couple years back, but ended up leaving after getting in a stupid fight with some of the posters. They may be smart, but they really like to get into arguments. Anyway, it's worht checking out if you feel the need to live vicariously through somebody besides me.

October 27th, 2002 - Anime Meta-Review
This site is made by a guy who makes my anime obsession look like no more than a passing interest. He's trying his best to watch every anime ever made, and when he does, he writes up a brief review on it. I first discovered this site while trying to figure out why everybody seems to greatly prefer Cowboy Bebop to Outlaw Star. This guy goves Outlaw Star the second best rating of "worthy", but of course Cowboy Bebop ends up with "exemplary". If you're wondering, Hikaru No Go gets the middle-of-the-ground rating of "watchable." Of course, the anime fan in question hates Go, so that might have something to do with it.

October 25th, 2002 - Vice City World
This is my brother Bryan's website, dedicated to the new game, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. He's been obcessed with this game for a very long time, so it's good that he at least did something productive with his passion. It pains me to say this, but his website looks better than mine, hands down. Of course, he doesn't understand half of his code, and he makes typos galore... Anyway, his is by far the best GTA site I've seen, even if the frame system doesn't work right in Opera. Hey... he's my brother, left-handed compliments are the best I can do.

October 22nd, 2002 - Game FAQs
If you've ever searched for a walkthrough for a game, you've found this site already. But since I used it so often searching for secrets in Kingdom Hearts, I figured I'd throw a link their way. Apparently the whole site is basically run by this one dude, so I have to give him props for that. Um... that is all.

October 19th, 2002 - RPGamer
This site will be the death of me one day. It lists all of the RPGs coming out for every system, which is handy, unless you're a compulsive RPG buyer like I am. It's becuase of this site that I'll be asking for a GBA for Christmas, though I may wait to see if the rumors about a GBA II turn out to be true. RPGamer also has information on previously released games, as well as screen shots and reviews. Definitely a must-visit if you're into roleplaying games. And really, who isn't?

October 16th, 2002 - Deep Discount DVD
This is a cool website I found a while back, and except for a little bit of trouble with my shipping address being different from my billing address, I've had a pretty good experience with them. Their prices are consistnatly lower than other sites, and they always have free shipping. The only real down side is that they don't let you know in advance if something is on back order. Small price to pay though.

October 15th, 2002 - Arcadia
This is the art secton of a larger website called Technomancy. The site is oficially defunct, but luckily they have decided to leave all of their old content on the servers. Arcadia is basically a collection of collages and winamp skins based on various anime and video games. The skins are for Winamp 2, which means they probably won't work for Winamp 3. Which is a real shame, because there are some really cool ones based on the old Ultima games. The collages basically take a scene or collection of scenes from a game or movie and toss in some song lyrics in the background. They actually look pretty cool, and would make good wallpapers, if you were so inclined.

October 11th, 2002 - Digital Blasphemy
This is hands down the best wallpaper site I've ever come across. Granted, I haven't really come across any other wallpaper sites, but that's besides the point. Digital Blasphemy is run by Ryan Bliss, and you've probably seen some of his stuff before. I've been a member of his site for a while now, and at only $15 a year, it's well worth it. Ryan makes this stuff for a living, so I thought it was only fair to help support him. Plus, the non-members gallery has a much smaller selection.

October 10th, 2002 - Desktop Weather
This is an awesome little program that Rach found a while ago. She showed it to me at the time, but I wasn't impressed. How wrong I was. You plug in your zip code, and it tells you the current weather conditions. The current temperature is displayed in your system tray, and you can click it for a more detailed description. It's updated every ten minutes or so, and shows you the current conditions, 12-hour forecast, and a variety of cool little maps. If you're on the interent constantly or almost constantly, you have no excuse not to get this program.

October 8th, 2002 - Brunching Shuttlecocks
The Brunching Shuttlecocks is probably the best collection of satire I've seen in a long time. It's got about five years of archives, which are so huge, that I'm not even finished reading through yet. And with my huge appetite for time wasting, that says a lot. Some of the best features are the Alanis Lyric Generator and C.Y.B.O.R.G. If you enjoy those, check out the rest of the site. You'll be glad you did.

October 7th, 2002 - Opera Software
Opera is hands down the best web browser I've ever come across. It's got every option you could hope for in a browser, including an easy way to turn off pop-up windows. In fact, the only downside to Opera is that if you don't pay for it, you have to deal with a banner add at the top of the program. It costs $39 to register ($20 for students) which is a bit steep, but well worth if for the quality of the program.

October 6th, 2002 - Final Fantasy Excursions
This is yet another sprite comic that I found, and although there isn't really any artwork to speak of, it's very entertaining if you've played the Final Fantasy games. I've been finding so many amusing sprite comics lately, that I may have to take Bob and George off my list. Because frankly, Mega Man comics have nothing on Final Fantasy or Secret of Mana comics. Just one nerd's opinion.