David TaintorWasting time on the Internet has become a national pastime, especially for college students. Whether it’s delaying homework, studying or working, the Internet has become like a best friend; it’s always there and ready to have fun.
These days, there are so many different types of ways to waste time on the Internet. Whether it’s checking out the latest gossip on Jessica Simpson’s dress size, feeling better about a bad day while reading other’s comical misfortunes, blogging about Barack Obama or communicating with a best friend from first grade on Facebook. The options of wasting time on the Internet are virtually endless.
Gossip gurus
For those that need to be in-the-know with all things celebrity, PerezHilton.com is the best bet. He’s crass, he’s rude, and somehow he knows everything there is to know about the world of stars. Whenever there is a new celebrity relationship, breakup, scandal or overdose, Hilton is usually the first to know.
His inappropriate doodles over celebrity pictures are now infamous, and through his clever nicknames for celebrities, anyone can tell whether he likes them or not. His nicknames include, “Maniston” (Jennifer Aniston), “Princess RiRi” (Rihanna), St. Angie (Angelina Jolie) and Mary Kate and Ashley Trollsen.
For those that enjoy an even cruder gossip site, Dlisted.com is the way to go. Blogger Michael K. uses his raunchy wit to make his gossip entries funnier than Hilton’s. He loves blogging about “Real Housewives of Orange County,” “Lindsay Blohan” (who he has so fondly nicknamed) and “Spaghetti Cat,” who has become somewhat of an Internet sensation.
But, for those that want just the facts, not the gossip, People.com has up-to-date information on every celebrity wedding, pregnancy or dilemma, and they have plenty of celebrity trivia and games for those that want to brush up on their Angelina Jolie facts.
Newsworthy
For those that enjoy Rachel Maddow over Rachel Zoe, news Web sites are everywhere. Not every newsy site is boring either.
Fark.com will give its user up-to-date information on everything happening in the world and will lead its user to the appropriate site.
Junior Casey Clark said that fark.com is a site for those that want the information without the boring part.
“It’s a pretty clever Web site,” he said. “It’s like if ‘The Daily Show’ were a Web site, it would be fark.com.”
The information also has a stamp next to the story to signify to the reader what type of story it is, such as “interesting,” “weird,” “stupid” and “fail.”
For those looking for a more personalized Web site, Stumbleupon.com is an online community in which users can rate different Web sites. After rating, the user presses “stumble,” and a personalized page displays, showing sites that stumbleupon.com thinks the user would enjoy.
Cheer up, Charlie
Having a bad day? Failblog.org is a guaranteed laugh. Every day, different pictures are
posted of random things that are deemed a “fail.” These could be gross misspellings, such as a textbook whose title is spelled “Bascic Reading Skills,” a “firefighting fail,” which shows a photo of a fireman trying to put out a fire while sitting in a lawn chair, or a “sales fail,” which shows a photo of a man on a street trying to sell snowballs for $1.
Failblog.org’s web manager Brian O’Dea said the Web site is unique because of its ridiculous content.
“I think people love ‘failblog’ because it’s human nature to laugh at someone who does something stupid,” O’Dea said. “People love watching other people fail, and we here at failblog are more than happy to deliver it to them.”
O’Dea’s fondest “fail” comes at the expense of a happy couple.
“I think the craziest ‘fail’ I’ve ever seen featured a white trash couple laying on a bed acting super cool and being all tender with each other, but sitting right next to them is a giant bottle of anal lube,” he said. “The image still haunts my dreams.”
But for those with an even more wicked sense of humor, fmylife.com is a site that will keep even the more serious person laughing all day.
Anyone can write into the site about what terrible event happened to them that day and have their “FML” posted for the world to see. A typical “FML” can be anywhere from sad to gross to downright disturbing, such as, “Today, I found the family’s pet hamster under my mattress, he’s been missing for six months. FML.”
Fun & games
For many, the Internet is a place of exploring. Finding new, crazy videos is a large part of it, and that’s where YouTube.com comes in. It seems as if YouTube has become an outlet for extremely creative people, such as user “NeilCicierega,” who created the wildly popular YouTube series, “Potter Puppet Pals.” Using hand puppets, Cicierga creates outlandish situations for the gang at Hogwarts. Even the most dignified “Harry Potter” fans will find themselves laughing at the “tomfoolery” Harry, Ron and Hermione get into.
But many also use YouTube to showcase their musical abilities, such as aspiring singer Esmee Denters, whose rendition of Justin Timberlake’s “What Goes Around . Comes Around,” caught the eye of Timberlake himself. Timberlake even sang with her on her next YouTube video because he was so impressed.
Collegehumor.com is a site where, the more ridiculous, the better. It features videos, photos and articles that star mostly college-aged people partaking in humorous behavior or acting in an original comedy sketch. Collegehumor.com has become so popular that now it even has its own television show on MTV.
Another Web site to waste a lot of time on is faceinhole.com. At some point, we’ve all wished to be someone else, and with faceinhole.com, that wish can come true. The site features thousands of people, mainly celebrities, with their faces cut out. Then, anyone can upload a photo and place it in the missing face hole. In just minutes, one can be Taylor Swift, The Jonas Brothers, Chucky, Batman, or even The Statue of Liberty.
Stay in touch
Facebook.com is the ultimate way to stay in touch with many people. Since Facebook opened up, the social network to everyone, not just college students, it seems as if the whole world has joined. Facebook has also come a long way since its beginning. It’s not just a way to keep in touch; it has many applications for fun, such as “bumper stickers,” “I like,” “causes” and “happy hour.”
Junior P.J. Hoff said that he has become openly obsessed with playing Scrabble, another application, on Facebook.
“I can’t stop,” he said. “I’m currently in a game with some friends, and I can’t stop thinking about my next word.”
Twitter is another social network that helps people stay connected through updates known as “tweets.” Users can become “followers” of other users or other Web sites. This way, users can stay connected through a simpler form than Facebook.
Whether it’s spending hours laughing on fmylife.com, uploading your own face to be Jennifer Aniston’s for a little while, or listening to aspiring singers on YouTube, the Internet offers something for everyone.
Proite is a senior print journalism major and scene editor of The Spectator.
