Top 10 humorous Web sites
- — 17 October, 2008 09:29
Everybody likes a laugh — but there's no telling what exactly they'll laugh at. Web-based wit runs the gamut from hard-hitting satire to childish whimsy. Our colleagues at PC Advisor (UK) polled their readers to find the Web's most amusing sites.
Failblog
Recommended by: A Ross
"When Failblog is good it's very, very good," writes A Ross. And, we might add, very, very cruel.
It contains images and videos of utter failure and ignominy, from spelling mistakes on road signs to publicly rejected marriage proposals - and we dare you not to laugh at other people's misfortunes.
The PC Weenies
Recommended by: iambeavis
Anyone involved in the use and maintenance of troublesome computers will relate to The PC Weenies and its cast of tech-support everymen.
Bob Weiner, the central character of this thrice-weekly webcomic, struggles with the great IT issues of his time: the Windows/Linux debate, storage inflation, email scams and more. Vista is a frequent target, as is tech-geek culture in general.
Red vs Blue
Recommended by: wolfie3000
Based on the look and conventions of multiplayer deathmatches in the first-person shooter Halo, Red vs Blue is witty, in-jokey and meticulously rendered. The brief video episodes are linked by a common story, but can be enjoyed in isolation for the jokes and peculiar take on video-gaming culture.
"The humour can be childish at times but it's one of the most popular web series in the gaming community," writes wolfie3000. "My favourite character is Sarge... He's got to be the most incompetent sergeant ever."
This is Haywards Heath
Recommended by: roderick_glossop
This Is Haywards Heath offers tourism and lifestyle information on "the average sized town between London and Brighton on the A272", and could almost be mistaken for the real thing.
roderick_glossop praises its "dreary shopping guides, pathetic celebrity sightings and hopelessly misplaced sense of local pride".
Annoyances.org
Recommended by: crosstrainer
"I know it's an old one, but there's still plenty here to make those in the IT-related professions laugh out loud," writes crosstrainer.
It's true that the humour section of this Windows advice site includes some fairly venerable witticisms that most of us will have heard before (such as ‘Upgrading from Girlfriend 4.0 to Wife 1.0') but there's some good stuff here, and you're bound to find something you missed out on the first time around.
The Onion
Recommended by: alan14
The online edition of The Onion, which has long since outstripped its print-only sibling in popularity and global reach, has to be on almost as many bookmark lists as Hotmail. Its twisted take on journalistic mannerisms, from ‘news in brief' and comment pieces to terrifyingly right-wing editorial cartoons, inspired a generation of parody sites.
We're particularly enjoying the US election coverage - look up the candidate profiles and you'll discover that Sarah Palin's general political philosophy is "chestnut brown with amber highlights", while Ralph Nader's best Muppet impression is Sam the Eagle.
