Articles of Section 'Geek of the Week'.

Geek of the Week

Aspen magazine

By Dave Watson
In the days before computers became a primary means of artistic expression, people had to make do by stretching the media formats they had available. One of the legendary magazines in the history of multimedia experimentation was Aspen , although it only put out 10 issues between 1965 and 1971. Andy Warhol, Marshall McLuhan, Lou Reed, and John Lennon were among its contributors. Now Aspen has been translated onto the Web ( www.ubu.com/aspen /) and is quite an intriguing artistic time capsule.
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Geek of the Week

Lileks.com

By Dave Watson
There's nothing like a multifaceted collection of sites built up by the long-term efforts of a single person. Minneapolis-based newspaper columnist and author James Lileks ( www.lileks.com ) is one such self-publisher who has a particular fascination for the quirky charm of mid-20th-century media and advertising. There's a lot posted here: unappetizing photos taken from cookbooks, postcards of diners, forgotten comic strips, matchbook covers, even some telegram art.
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Geek of the Week

Ripley’s Believe It or Not! online

By Dave Watson
As pop-culture institutions go, the 90 years that Ripley’s Believe It or Not! has been around are practically a record. That also means that Ripley’s has appeared in most media forms, from print to radio and TV. And now it’s kept up-to-date on the Web ( www.ripleys.com ), where a well-designed site offers video clips, news items, podcasts (called oddcasts), and even archived episodes of the old-time radio series.
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Geek of the Week

It's JerryTime!

By Dave Watson
It was bound to happen: Now even Web-distributed content can win an Emmy Award–if it's good enough, that is. That's what happened with It's JerryTime! ( www.itsjerrytime.com/ ). And after watching the handful of short animated films posted there and browsing some of the accolades the site has garnered ( American Splendor 's Harvey Pekar seems to be the most-referenced cultural touchstone), you'll probably agree there's some merit in going the independent route. But don't forget–you have to be good.
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Geek of the Week

TV shows on DVD

By Dave Watson
Since the summer television season is turning out to be one of the lamest on record (with the possible exception of Traveler ), maybe it's time to buy or rent some shows from the past. For several years, TVShowsOnDVD ( www.tvshowsondvd.com/ ) has tracked current and upcoming releases, offering reviews, comments, and rumours, plus on-line polls on what people would like to see out next. Or you could go outside and play, I guess.
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Geek of the Week

Shooting War

By Dave Watson
A few months ago, I thought about recommending the on-line graphic novel Shooting War ( www.shootingwar.com ), but it wasn't finished yet. Now all 11 chapters are available, and are even scheduled to appear in print later this year. Oddly, some of the more fanciful plot points of this terrorist struggle set in 2011 have come true, so you might as well read it now before it's as old as reruns of The Daily Show .
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Geek of the Week

David Bowie Wonderworld Fan Site

By Dave Watson
If you wonder sometimes, 'bout sound and vision, panicking in Detroit, or who looks a lot likeChe Guevara, you must visit the David Bowie Wonderworld Fan Site ( www.bowiewonderworld.com/ ). You won't have to stand on a chair to make your point of view.
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Geek of the Week

Game Innovation Database

By Dave Watson
There's no question that computer games have been one of the major driving forces behind the last couple of decades of computing, with programmers and hardware developers constantly challenging each other while gamers have provided the commercial impetus to keep everything going. But few people know that the first computer game was created in 1952.
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Geek of the Week

DailyLit

By Dave Watson
Too lazy to e-mail yourself chunks of public-domain books to read on your smartphone or PDA, or via your Web browser’s RSS feature? Then try DailyLit ( www.dailylit.com/ ), a free service that’ll educate you up with the classics, a chunk of text at a time.
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Geek of the Week

Game Innovation Database

By Dave Watson
Curious about the history and development of video games? Visit the Game Innovation Database ( www.gameinnovation.org/) to learn how we got to where we are today. And feel free to contribute anything you think is significant that hasn’t been added yet. I’d probably contribute a few things, except I’m too busy playing Star Wars: Empire at War and Silent Hunter III.
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Geek of the Week

Self-published e-books

By Dave Watson
There are some interesting self-published e-books out there. Take Ray Newman's Abracadabra!: The Complete Story of the Beatles' Revolver, 103 pages of research documenting the making of Revolver , complete with quotes from interviews and Web links. It's a free download as a PDF from www.revolverbook.co.uk/ . Also check out the Google Earth–enabled views of London as the Beatles knew it in 1965 and 1966.
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Geek of the Week

Placeblogger

By Dave Watson
Now that there are so many Web logs (okay, I'll give in and call them blogs), people have developed innovative ways to organize masses of them. Placeblogger ( www.placeblogger.com/ ) goes by neighbourhood, city, region, and country to make it easier to pick up the chatter from far-off locales.
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Geek of the Week

Archive.org

By Dave Watson
Some Web sites are so huge that you could spend weeks seeing what's there. That's certainly the case with Archive.org, which holds constant surprises behind every click. From live concerts to corny old corporate-training films and absolutely everything in between, this site alone is almost all the Internet anyone needs.
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Blogs | Geek of the Week

Brass Goggles

By Dave Watson
Most people have heard of cyberpunk, that rapidly-becoming-real species of science fiction that involves plugging directly into cyberspace. Less well known is an entertaining subgenre called steampunk, generally set sometime in an imaginary 19th century in which steam technology and mechanical computers have reached the kind of potential imagined by Jules Verne and H.G. Wells.
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Geek of the Week

Daily Painters Gallery

By Dave Watson
If you're looking for original art in bulk quantities, check out the Daily Painters Gallery ( www.dailypainters.com/ ) for art by "painting a day artists and habitual painters". Sounds like we'd just be enabling the 130 artists involved by purchasing anything, but then you see a puppy you simply can't resist among the five dozen or so works added each day…
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Geek of the Week

I Want One of Those

By Dave Watson
Yes, the Net is stuffed with stores that sell weird crap but even so, British retailer I Want One of Those ( www.iwantoneofthose.com/ ) deserves special mention. Whether it’s a kit of decorative plastic pieces that turn a potato into R2-D2 or Darth Vader, a radio-controlled pirate ship, a USB–powered humping-dog toy, or an inflatable sumo-wrestler suit, it’s likely that your shopping cart won’t remain “disappointingly empty” for long.
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Geek of the Week

The History of Branding

By Dave Watson
Feel like you're missing out on too many commercials because modern technology makes ads easy to skip over? Then immerse yourself in the stunning array of corporate logos at The History of Branding ( www.historyofbranding.com/ ). After being dazzled by all the familiar shapes and colours, you can read about each design's history, or you may have the urge to go out and do some shopping.
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Recipes | Geek of the Week

Mr Breakfast

By Dave Watson
Tired of eating a bowl of ordinary cereal every morning? Then visit Mr Breakfast ( www.mrbreakfast.com/ ) or Mrs Breakfast ( www.mrsbreakfast.com/ )—depending on whether you're male or female—for articles, product reviews, 9,600 restaurant ratings (including several in the Lower Mainland), shopping hints, and more than 1,700 recipes for the most important meal of the day. I can't decide if this is useful or just plain loopy. Isn't the Internet full yet?
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Geek of the Week

Project Censored: The News That Didn't Make the News

By Dave Haggard
The year may scarcely have begun, but there are already sneaky cover-ups under way. Find out about the stories that most media outlets won't likely report on over at Sonoma State University's Project Censored: The News That Didn't Make the News ( www.projectcensored.org/ ), including the top 25 censored stories already being swept under the rug in 2007.
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Geek of the Week

Bang! Howdy

By Dave Watson
It's not the most expansive multiplayer on-line game out there, but Bang! Howdy ( www.banghowdy.com/? ) is kind of fun, a cartoon-y version of the Old West (with elements of science-fiction steampunk technology) that runs either in your Web browser via JavaScript or from a downloadable software package (Mac, Windows, or Linux). Plus, it's free to play, although you can exchange a few real-world dollars for some virtual gold nuggets if you want to speed up the early stages of the game.
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Geek of the Week

ProductWiki

By Dave Watson
Providing consumer opinions about products can be one of the most directly useful applications of a community-built data bank. ProductWiki ( www.productwiki.com/ ) is an attempt to collect such information, using a bloglike format. It’s not quite there as a resource site yet, but as a heads-up about keen products, it’s pretty good.
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Geek of the Week

10MinuteMail

By Dave Watson
Ever bounce over to a site that requires registration in order to read an article, but you’re reluctant to hand over your real e-mail address and risk getting even more spam than you already do? Just open another browser window and drop by 10MinuteMail ( www.10minutemail.com/ ), which gives out free, temporary e-mail addresses that expire after, well, 10 minutes, which is about nine minutes longer than you’ll need them for.
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Geek of the Week

World Mysteries

By Dave Watson
There’s nothing like a good conspiracy theory—or so I’ve heard from people I don’t know very well. Actually, we’ve never met and you didn’t see me here. But I may (or may not) have read something relevant over at World Mysteries ( www.world-mysteries.com/ ).
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Geek of the Week

Placeblogger

By Dave Watson
It’s very new so there aren’t many entries yet, but Placeblogger ( www.placeblogger.com/ ) is an attempt to consolidate blogs that are focused on one particular region or another. Interestingly, Vancouver and B.C. have taken an early lead in the number of blogs listed, and there are without a doubt many other local ones that should be submitted. It’s a big world, but somebody’s got to annotate it.
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Geek of the Week

Phone Scoop

By Dave Watson
For the lowdown on all sorts of mobile telecommunication devices (especially those only available in the U.S. for now), check out Phone Scoop ( www.phonescoop.com/ ), where reviews and user comments can help you choose the best device for your needs. Or keep you paralyzed with indecision while waiting for the next great product to jump from the Rumor Mill section into actual release, I suppose.
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