Entertainment
The Web, itself a source for entertainment, is also the best resource for every other form of entertainment. No other tool can locate a movie, TV show, game, musical composition, or commentary upon request, and also deliver it to you, possibly in real time, on your personal computer screen. Knowing how to locate what you want is key: the findingDulcinea Entertainment Web Guide will tell you how to go, where to go, and what you’ll find there.
Expand All Guide SectionsMovies, Concerts, Theater, Museum, and other Activities
You know the feeling. All of a sudden, you’ve got some free time, and you don’t how to ... read more »
DVDs and Books
Just because you have no desire to get off the couch doesn’t mean you should have to be bored ... read more »
Celebrity and Entertainment News
The lives of celebrities and the fast-paced worlds of the music, film, and television industries ... read more »
Diversions online
If you aren’t sure exactly what you want to do, but know that you are ready for a distraction from the job, school, kids, or whatever else it is that you spend most of your day doing, a number of Web sites can keep you entertained. You can view and create different types of media from photo albums to full-length films, play video games, or even sing karaoke on a Web site like The Sims On Stage.
Dulcinea's Insight
- To view or listen to certain content, you may be asked to install additional components on your computer (a sound or video player, or something similar).
- Be careful to avoid downloading (saving to your computer’s hard drive) content without the original creator’s permission; you may be in breach of copyright law.
- Because there is so much user-generated content on multimedia sites, there is no guaranteed filter mechanism to keep out objectionable content. Know that you may run across obscene or offensive material while browsing such sites. Some sites use the indicator NSFW (not suitable for work) to flag this type of material, but others don’t provide any sort of indication.
- Check your office policy about appropriate Internet use at work. If you aren’t sure about the rules, it is best to stick only to work-related sites at the office. You don’t want to lose your job because you watched a video or played a game.
- findingDulcinea’s own Netcetera can take you all over the world and introduce you to all sorts of exciting people, all while you’re sitting at your computer.
Dulcinea's Picks
For online puzzles or games …
Miniclip offers lots of free games: sports games, puzzle games, even multiplayer games. This page is busy with graphics for all of the games, but don’t be deterred by the cluttered look; click on something that looks interesting or scroll down the page to see a text list of all the games available. Miniclip also has daily crosswords and Sudoku puzzles.
Shockwave has an incredible number of free online games in categories such as Action & Arcade, Strategy, Card & Board, and Word Games. There’s also a huge selection of games especially for kids.
Orisinal is filled with cute, creative, and time-draining Flash games, all created by the same programmer. If you’re looking for some wholesome and simple games, you’ve come to the right place.
Second Life allows you to literally create a second life for yourself on the Internet. Get a job, buy a house, go to parties, buy clothing, or do whatever you want. It’s a fascinating development in the virtual world because of its extreme popularity (almost 6 million inhabitants) and the emergence of entrepreneurs on the site (trading virtual money for real money). Buy Lindens (the official currency of the game) through the site’s exchange or on a third-party site (like eBay). Then use your Lindens to buy things like property, clothing, or anything else you can imagine. Basic membership is free.
Web Sudoku lets you play Sudoku (a numbers logic game) online for free. The “How am I doing?” button lets you know if you have made any mistakes in your puzzle at any time during your play, and it highlights the mistakes in red; pretty handy, but it might be too tempting for those who can’t help but cheat.
For videos …
Spike , powered by iFilm, brings together a good blend of TV clips, viral videos, and user-generated content. It has an especially good selection of sketch comedy and short films. Choose the “Comedy” channel on the left menu to filter the site for comedy content only.
RooftopComedy boasts a large collection of uncensored stand-up comedy clips from some of the country’s top comedians and clubs. It’s a great way to see comedians in their natural club habitat without having to buy drinks.
For audio clips …
BBC 7 is a digital radio network featuring the best of the BBC’s programming with an emphasis on comedy. Anglophiles beware: this site may become addictive.
AudioComedy.net archives funny audio files from around the Web. It’s not very well designed in comparison to other sites, but it has an especially good selection of prank phone calls and song parodies.
For cartoons …
Albino Blacksheep is one of the most heavily trafficked media sites on the Web and has primarily made its name as a top source of offbeat cartoons and animation. Go to the “Flash Videos” page to begin browsing by “Flash Categories,” “Series,” “Current Most Popular Flash Videos,” or “Classic Popular Flash Videos.”
JibJab , which achieved fame in 2004 for its “This Land!” Flash video featuring caricatures of George W. Bush and John Kerry, hosts a large catalog of animation and other clips. The site is especially directed at fans of pop-culture humor.
Weebl’s Stuff showcases and is responsible for some of the Web’s most popular Flash cartoons, including “Badger Badger Badger,” and “On The Moon".
For intellectual humor …
Fark is an excellent collection of interesting and ridiculous news stories. The site is well indexed to help you find what you want quickly, and each story has a one-word classification (“Asinine” and “Amusing” are two examples) to indicate what makes it worth reading.
The Onion has had many formidable competitors (modernhumorauthority.com and SatireWire.com, to name a couple), but none of them have had the staying power of this fake news progenitor. Although its popular and critical acclaim have wavered over the years, it is one of the few sites of its kind that remains fully staffed, well maintained, and updated on a regular basis.
HumorFeed scours the Web every day for exceptional news satire and collects the headlines onto one page with links to the full stories on their original sites. There are some stories only The Onion can invent; for everything else, there’s HumorFeed.
Dave Barry may have retired from his regular duties as a humor columnist, but the daily posts on his official blog remind us that he’s really not making any of this up. Much like AOL’s collection, this is a variety of bizarre news stories gathered from around the Web.
For political comedy …
The Borowitz Report is an award-winning political comedy site from The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air co-creator Andy Borowitz. The rare site that is as funny as it is smart, the Borowitz Report can be delivered daily to your inbox via e-mail or to your desktop via RSS.
The Orlando Report assembles political humor from all over the Web, including links and monologue jokes from late-night television. The site isn’t updated very often, but it is still a good place to fish around.
For literary humor …
Timothy McSweeney’s Internet Tendency is the Internet arm of Dave Eggers’s uber-hip publishing house. Make sure to check out the “Lists” and “Recommends” sections in addition to the daily feature.
Opium Magazine ’s Web site is updated daily and posts a delirious assortment of sly humor.
The New Yorker magazine’s humor site really needs no introduction. Aimed at an older demographic than McSweeney’s, this site is a great fount of dry, high-brow wit.
© 2019 Dulcinea Media, Inc.
