Sites for sore eyes

ICYCLE

In a frozen, post-apocalyptic landscape, a lone, naked survivor peddles his tiny bicycle, following a trail of soap bubbles left by a mysterious creature. Welcome to the world of Icycle, an online flash game that will keep you glued to the keyboard for hours. For such a simple concept, the game is remarkably challenging - each level is filled with progressively harder terrain that not only tests your reflexes but your memory as well, because the environment changes as you cross it. The art is beautiful and the soundtrack is suitably austere, interrupted occasionally by the protagonist's echoing cry. With rewards for speed, bubbles and keeping your man alive, you'll find yourself playing Icycle repeatedly.

THE INCREDIBLE POLO

Ever wanted a troupe of talented beatboxers at your command? French site Incredibox has engineered a clever internet solution to this common desire. A selection of sounds spans the bottom of the screen. Drag and drop one onto a waiting performer, the music starts and a new performer springs up. You can have up to seven sounds running simultaneously, creating a complex track that will have your head nodding. With a little practice you will be able to add and remove elements without breaking the rhythm, or simply flip on shuffle mode and let the site do the rest. It's a musical diversion that will have you thinking about how sound interacts, perfect for any budding composers or producers.

POST SECRET

Ever had a personal secret that you longed to tell, but was so dark that it might ruin your reputation or your life? Post Secret understands. Established in 2005, this blog exhibits postcards upon which contributors have written their darkest confessions, from evil deeds to sexual fantasies to embarrassing hopes and dreams. Updated every Sunday, it is part art project and part confessional booth. The raw honesty of the submissions can take your breath away, and site creator Frank Warren occasionally posts testimonials from people whose lives were changed by viewing the site. If you wish to take the plunge yourself, there are instructions about where to send your postcard, as well as a thriving online community dedicated to the site.

SHMITTEN KITTEN

Anna Goldfarb and Shannon K have had their fair share of being unlucky in love, and instead of curling up around a box of Kleenex they set up Shmitten Kitten, a Philadelphia-based blog about dating and a wonderful resource for peering into the minds of the opposite sex. With post categories like ‘Tip of the Hat' (celebrating something they like in partners) and ‘Bonerkiller' (complaints about turn-off behaviour) and‘Boxerdropper' (female behaviour guaranteed to attract a male), they have mapped out the pitfalls of trying to find someone to smooch. Best of all, they respond to user submissions and offer useful advice for your problems.

ETSY

With Christmas looming, how nice would it be to conduct all your shopping from the comfort of the internet? You can always go to the website of the stores you were going to visit, but then why buy something that hundreds of others will be getting as well? Take a step away from the mass produced this festive season and head to Etsy, an online marketplace for handcrafted goods, sold directly by the producers. From beautiful pieces of jewellery, to zines from all around the world, to intricate wood carvings, this site has a wide variety of great products that aren't available anywhere else.

BBQ PIT BOYS

Australia, as a culinary nation, has largely built its reputation on the barbeque, throwing shrimp around and grilling up snags and onions. However, in terms of the true potential of barbecuing, we are mere babes in the wood. If you want to push the envelope with your Weber, head to the BBQ Pit Boys Youtube channel. Their Southern-style recipes are broken down step-by-step in such a way that the most amateur chef can prepare great food, and the whole thing is amusingly narrated by a flint-voiced good ol' boy who constantly exhorts the viewer to enjoy the smell of whatever's grilling. From ribs and steaks to pizzas and clam chowder, there is nothing these guys can't do with hot coals. The end results are mouth-wateringly delicious, enough so to make a carnivore out of the staunchest vegetarian.

KITTENS INSPIRED BY KITTENS

User-created content is what makes sites like YouTube such a double-edged sword. On one hand, no one wants to see tuneless renderings of Bette Midler classics done by a man in his underwear in Beijing. However, sometimes a clip is posted that should be watched by everyone in the world. Kittens Inspired by Kittens is such a clip. In it, a young girl takes us on a tour through her book of kitten pictures, verbally captioning each with subtly humourous interpretations of what the kittens look like. The enthusiasm of the lass, coupled with her sometimes surreal lines ("We're eating pepper! And chips!), results in something that is so cute your brain will melt.

THE SYDNEY PICNIC CO.

As the winter cold fades away it's time to reclaim the outdoors as Sydney's best place for summer time fun, and what better way to celebrate that than with a picnic? Of course, the logistics of preparing and hauling food to a remote location can often take most of the fun out of it, so this year why not leave the vittles in the hands of the professionals at The Sydney Picnic Co.

Established by a husband and wife team - he's the chef, she's the designer - The Sydney Picnic Co. specialises in beautifully designed gourmet hampers containing the finest seasonal produce. The site features some picnic suggestions, but the menu is flexible and can be tailored to your taste or dietary requirements, or if you're planning a romantic tryst the basket can be personalised to reflect your loved one. Delivery is available to the Sydney Metropolitan area for free, with small charge for anything further out, and the Picnic Co. can provided blankets, cushions and the like. Don't waste your time fighting with ants for the last of the crushed Jatz, call or email The Sydney Picnic Co. and get ready for a great day out.

FASHEMATICS

Did you know that Tilda Swinton + Bill Sykes = a Haider Ackermann outfit from his fall 2009 collection? Or that Hyacinth Bucket + a mushroom = a recent Christian Dior hat 'n' shift combo? Sydney's Jonathan Zawada and Shane Sakkeus have figured out a way of explaining fashion via simple equations. The Fashematics site is comprised of deep-etched images of recognisable characters, foods, shapes and textures and adds them up to produce looks from runway shows. Individually, Zawada and Sakkeus hold wide-ranging influence in creative fields, so it's little wonder that their combined efforts make fashion humour look like an art form.

SOLARBEAT

The concept of ‘celestial music' has been around ever since humans figured that the sky wasn't just a pretty picture, but while many composers have sought to evoke and interpret the majesty of the solar system, none have let the planets speak for themselves until now.

SolarBeat is the online project of designer/programmer Luke Twyman, aka White Vinyl. A deft bit of Flash coding has rendered the nine planets we call our cosmic neighbourhood (for the purposes of this website, Pluto never got the astronomical cold shoulder) in their respective orbits, circling the sun at the correct speeds. Each planet represents a note on the musical scale. A line lies across the numerous orbital paths, and once a planet crosses it its note is sounded, turning the passage of time into a gentle, ambient piece of music. A slider that controls the speed of the orbits has been included, allowing you to choose between isolated notes (slow speed) and a constantly changing melodious drone (high speed), and a handy counter at the bottom keeps it grounded in science by marking off the number of years passed for each planet. Who knew hard facts could be so soothing?

F*** MY LIFE

Ever had a moment where you realise that the straw has finally broken the camel's back? You aren't alone. F*** My Life is an online messageboard site dedicated to the times when you hit rock bottom. Originally created for a group of friends in France, an English language version has since seen its popularity spread around the world. If it is schadenfreude you are looking for then this is the site for you, with over a thousand posts detailing infidelities, breakups, firings and the countless other slings and arrows of life. If it's been a rough day, you can post your own terrible event to alleviate the pain. This is digital catharsis at its most entertaining.

INSTRUCTABLES

Ever wanted to make a chessboard out of money? How about constructing your own plasma speaker? If your lack of know-how was hindering your DIY efforts, head to Instructables, a website packed with step-by-step instructions on how to do a massive variety of things, from unclogging a drain using science to crafting a plethora of fashionable home furnishings. The site is free to sign up to, which allows you to download PDFs of the instructions, as well as post your own guides. It is organised into different categories for easy navigation, and there is something on there for every level of skill.

FOUND MAGAZINE

Have you ever, in the course of your life, picked up a note that wasn't meant for you? Maybe it was from one of your colleagues to another, or perhaps you found it blowing down the street.
Davy Rothbart and Jason Bitner amassed a sizeable collection of these notes and decided to take them online, creating a forum where people could share their own finds. Found magazine has spawned books, greeting cards, badges and even music compilations, but the website is still the crux of the endeavour.
These scraps of paper are sometimes humourous, occasionally devastatingly sad and, quite often, completely and utterly weird.

EYEMAZE

If you need to give your brain a bit of exercise, or are just looking for a good way to kill a few hours, look no further than the site Eyezmaze. At first the puzzles contained within seem deceptively simple. Take, for instance, GrowCube, the original and most popular puzzle. You have several objects to place on the cube, all of which expand and interact with each new addition. The combinations are endless, but there is only one correct answer, and you will be taxing your logic to the limit to try figure it out. Each iteration will bring you closer to the goal, and the level of interactivity between the different elements is astounding. This is incremental cause-and-effect gaming at its best. If you are looking for something a little less time-consuming, there are plenty of simple games as well, which are just as compelling.

THE WILDERNESS DOWNTOWN

It's a simple concept, but it works astonishingly well: this online video for the new single by the Arcade Fire, 'The Wilderness Downtown', shows a hooded figure running down a street and stopping outside a house while flocks of birds wheel overhead: except that it's your childhood home. The clip prompts you to enter the address of the house you grew up in (and also advises you to download Google Chrome, and certainly looks better in it, but we've found it works fine in the latest update of Firefox) and then uses Google Earth and Google Maps to pull up the appropriate imagery. It's a brilliant idea designed to show off the power of Chrome and HTML5, but be prepared to be swamped by nostalgia and the one-two hit of the song's emotive power.

DRUNK HISTORY

Did you know that George Washington was an asshole? Or that Benjamin Franklin had a thing for the ladies? How about the slaughter of animals perpetrated by Thomas Edison in the name of destroying alternating current? History is a fascinating subject, unfortunately rendered bone dry by the unending queue of scholars looking to dissect it. Thankfully, the past has been snatched back from the academics and handed to a group who will treat it with much more humanity - the incredibly drunk.

The award-winning short film series Drunk History is the brain child of comedy writer/actor Derek Waters. The premise is fairly simple - each episode features a comedian or writer retelling a famous historic tale as best they remember it while completely hammered. The clips divide themselves between the inebriated narrator and a period-style recreation of the story, with an impressive list of Hollywood stars like Will Ferrell, Michael Cera, Zooey Deschanel, Don Cheadle and more donning powdered wigs and waistcoats. The action following the voice-over regardless of whatever ridiculous mistakes or tangents the alcohol causes, so when Jen Kirkman hiccups throughout her version of exiled slave Oney Judge's life, so do the characters. It's hilariously informal, strangely informative, and a great proof of just how effective a sozzled education system might be.

CREASED COMICS

Humour really is one of those truly subjective art forms. For the younger of us, it's coded elusively in bright colours and clearly defined geometric shapes whereas for the slightly older it resides somewhere in that inappropriate ‘please god no' Christmas party costume. For a select few though, it can be found in the dark and somewhat twisted world created by artist Brad Neely. Responsible for such viral video sensations as Washington, The Professor Brothers and Baby Cakes, Neely's comics and art could easily be compared to The Far Side, or rather The Far Side's fading belle stay-home fifty-something Xanax-shoveling trophy wife. This is definitely the sort of thing that could only thrive on the internet. If comics aren't your thing then you can check out some of the sites original artwork, quotes and even a section simply titled ‘writings.' With over fifty videos featuring original content it's easy to burn through your oh so precious bytes and lose track of time. Once you adjust to the strange world of Neely, he really delivers the funnies.

PASSIVE AGGRESSIVE NOTES

Whether the toilet seat's been left up or you're just tired of people asking you "which way to the bathroom," there's something intangibly effective and satisfying about leaving a note or putting up a sign. Perhaps it's that this unique medium allows the frustrated to realise a level of passive-aggressiveness unachievable through spoken word. If your housemates aren't cleaning up after themselves, you don't confront them, you send them a text, or leave a post-it note. It's a skill that really is it's own payoff and in order to manufacture a truly excruciatingly painful awkwardness for your target party you can't afford not to learn from the masters.

Passive Aggressive Notes is compilation of some of the finest passive aggressive messages that range from the mundane to the downright obsessive. If you're after a quick browse you can check out the top rated messages and if you have a couple of your own to share you can participate  in the broader online community. Next time you get caught on the wrong side of nasty note giving, don't get mad, just upload.

RAINY MOOD

While there is no escaping the necessity for rain, neither is there any escaping the fact that it's kind of a drag when it's gray and wet out. In fact, one of the only highlights of a rainy day is getting to listen to that gentle, natural white noise caused by falling drops. Thankfully, Rainy Mood allows you to experience that relaxing sound regardless of the weather.

It's an exceedingly simple site. Load it up, and a 30-minute continuous loop of rain noise starts, complete with occasional peals of thunder. However, what it lacks in complexity, it makes up for in effectiveness. Feeling stressed? Hit Rainy Mood for a while and feel the tension melt away. Can't sleep? Set your laptop up next to your bed and you'll be out in no time once Rainy Mood does its thing. You can even use it to enhance the music you are playing (it might not work so well with pop, but anything ambient or a sultry jazz number will definitely benefit from a touch of rain). It's potential is only limited by your imagination, so head over Rainy Mood and get ready to relax.

LETTERS OF NOTE

Video might not have killed the radio star, but the internet certainly beat the crap out of the postal system. Free and easy access to communication has certainly improved our lives, however there is no denying that some of the magic has been taken out of corresponding with a friend or a loved one. To revisit the elegance of the scrawled note and the long-winded letter, take a browse through Letters Of Note.

Ostensibly, L.O.N. is a museum of correspondence. The site is dedicated to posting scans of letters sent by and between historical figures, from presidents to famous actors to sports stars. The whole spectrum of humanity is on there: love, anger, humour, sadness, frustration and more. Each entry is accompanied by an image of the original letter, a brief explanation of the context and history surrounding the missive and a transcription posted beneath. Not only does the site give a personal view into the past, but also allows a glimpse into the mind of some truly brilliant individuals.

INTERNET ANAGRAM SERVER

For those of you who were in the back of the class during English, an anagram is formed when you re-arrange the letters of a word or phrase to form another word or phrase. So, ‘nice to meet you' becomes ‘cute eye motion' or ‘coyote untie me' or even ‘icy teen emu too'. Normally the playground of the nerd, the Internet Anagram Server takes the sweat out of this fun word game by doing all the work for you. Type in whatever you want rearranged and with the press of a button you have a list of options. What does this mean for you? Simple - vanity anagrams. Why Google yourself when you can discover that your name can also spell ‘No Hazlenut Java Noel'? In addition to the anagram engine, the site also links to the Anagram Times, a daily blog that scrambles news headlines to reveal comical double meanings. Take a moment out of your busy schedule and give it a try (I target ivy/yeti vat rig).

BETWEEN TWO FERNS

Few people realise what a genius Zach Galifianakis is. Sure, he turned a few heads as the bizarre brother-in-law in The Hangover, but to really appreciate just how crazy and talented he is you have to step outside of Hollywood and head for the internet, specifically his web-based talk show Between Two Ferns. Hosted on Funny or Die, the comedy site set up by Will Ferrell and Adam McKay, Between Two Ferns is shot to resemble a low budget, public access programme. Each episode features a new guest from the showbiz elite (within the space of nine episodes, the likes of Natalie Portman, Charlize Theron and Ben Stiller have all appeared), and a short interview takes place. However, this is where things get a little different.

Galifianakis is the king of awkward comedy. In his role as the host he mispronounces names, gets details wrong, asks ragingly inappropriate questions, drops surreal non-sequiturs and ignores his guests, all accompanied by some of the most intense pauses ever captured on film. The guests do their best to save face but it's almost impossible. Between sneezing repeatedly in Jon Hamm's lap, starting a slap fight with Bradley Cooper or trying to find out whether Michael Cera is ticklish or not, it's teeth-grindingly uncomfortable at times, although you will be laughing too hard to notice.

CUBEECRAFT

It's hard to be a geek these days, what with the rocketing cost of statues and action figures. For the nerd on a budget, Cubeecraft is a dream come true. There are over two hundred figurine designs on the site, with beloved characters from movies, TV shows, video games and comic strips all ready to be printed, cut out and folded. The designs are rated for difficulty, and none of the paper creations require sticky tape or glue. Best of all, they have interchangeable parts, so if you feel that Mayor McCheese would look better with the head of Kermit the Frog, you can achieve your vision. Fire up the printer and create an army of paper playmates for your cubicle or home.

SUPER MARIO CROSSOVER

A lot of people have fond memories of the original Super Mario Bros game on the NES. Sending that small moustachioed plumber (or his taller, yet no less moustachioed brother) bouncing around the Mushroom Kingdom, stomping on turtles and grabbing powerups, was a thrilling adventure when it was released. But what if you had a choice as to who did your digital dirty work? Give Super Mario Crossover a whirl, and you'll find the answer to that question.

Created by programmer Jay Pavlina, SMC is a replica of the original console game, save for one important aspect: you have seven character choices in this updated version. Taken from Nintendo history, you can now play as Link (The Legend Of Zelda), Samus (Metroid), Simon (Castlevania), Bill Rizer (Contra), Ryu (Ninja Gaiden) or Mega Man (uh, Mega Man), as well as Mario. Each of the new additions maintains their strengths from their original games - why jump on a turtle when you can throw an axe or fire an arm cannon at it? - but their integration into Mario Bros feels completely natural. With the option to change characters with each new life or level, as well as a handy save game function, Super Mario Crossover is the perfect online intersection of nostalgia and novelty.

WHAT THE FUCK SHOULD I MAKE FOR DINNER

Let's run through a hypothetical situation: it's the end of a long day at work, and you are exhausted. Phone calls and meetings kept you away from your lunch, your stomach is rumbling, and hunger has clouded your decision-making abilities. You stand under the fluorescent lights in the local supermarket, peering at ingredients, desperately trying to put together a coherent evening meal, leaning ever closer to giving up and ordering something unhealthy for home delivery. Sound familiar? Maybe you should have swung by What the Fuck Should I Make for Dinner before leaving work.

This minimalist site is an engine for culinary inspiration. It offers up a suggested dish for you to prepare, with a link to an online recipe. If you don't like the suggestion you can veto it (‘I don't fucking like that'), at which point a new meal pops and the process starts all over again. There is even an option for vegetarians, naturally provided through a link that reads ‘I don't fucking eat meat'. It's a great web-based idea executed with elegance and simplicity. If the profanity offends you, well, this is the internet and it's all part of the fun.  Get clicking, then get cooking.

AXE COP

There is no denying that the internet has given everyone a voice. Whether it's a blog, a tumblr, a youtube channel or maybe something a bit more esoteric, self-expression in the public domain has never been easier. Of course, it's what you do with this voice that matters. Some people use this power to become amateur critics, some post cat pictures (okay, many do), and some make the most bad ass comic ever seen - Axe Cop. The kicker? This voice belongs to a five year old.

Created by Ethan and Malachai Nicolle, a pair of brothers with a 24-year age gap, Axe Cop tells the story of the titular hero, a cop who wields an axe and battles bad guys non-stop alongside his bizarre crime-fighting team.  Malachai, the five-year old, is in charge of the concept, while Ethan handles the scripting and artistic duties. Illustrated in a classic comic book style, the strip is packed full of action, tempered with the sort of logic that can only spring from the mind of an imaginative child. In addition to the main storyline, there is also an ‘Ask Axe Cop' section where reader questions are answered by Axe Cop himself in a suitably surreal and hilarious fashion. The site updates frequently, and with a sizable archive of strips already available it's a great way to laugh for an entire afternoon.

GREAT SHOWDOWNS

One benefit of having the internet almost permanently (not long until Steve Jobs invents the iSleep, you heard it here first) is that it can be used to fill those dozens of small periods during the day when you're necessarily idle. Bus rides, waiting for lifts, dinner's finished but dessert isn't back from the convenience store yet - these are moments in which nothing truly productive can be achieved. Thus, it's important to have a good roster of online momentary diversions to keep you entertained. Why not give Great Showdowns a spin?

Created by Scott Campbell, a San Francisco based artist who works for the boutique game studio Double Fine as well as exhibiting and publishing his own art and comics, Great Showdowns is a daily depiction of a classic battle of wills from somewhere in film history. Part comic strip and part art project, Campbell uses a cute, minimalist aesthetic to portray the antagonists in a happier light, glad that their struggle has assured them lasting fame. Each entry is accompanied by a fragment of dialogue taken from the movie, which can be helpful to identify any you might not have seen.

Great Showdowns is a small dose of handdrawn pop culture, capturing films in a humourous snapshot of conflict that inspires nostalgia for great stories shared in cinemas or on the couch with friends and families. With a large archive already available, as well as links to prints of the series for sale (Christmas is coming), it's a great time filler and worth bookmarking for your daily internet meandering.

SARIEN.NET

Video games are a fickle branch of the entertainment industry. While old television shows and movies find a second life on DVD, and old music bubbles back into popularity thanks to sampling, old games are often left to die once their profitability fades and they are taken from the shelves. Finding a particular game you played as a child can be difficult, and if you are lucky enough to track it down then getting a digital dinosaur to run on a modern computer is nigh impossible. Thankfully, nostalgic nerds around the internet have been working on clever solutions to this problem. One such solution is Sarien.net.

Sarien.net is an online arcade specialising in original Sierra games. In the late 80s and early 90s, Sierra released a range of adventure titles that bring a tear of remembrance to any old school gamer's eye: Police Quest, Space Quest, King's Quest and the Leisure Suit Larry series.  Rendered in eye-watering 256 colour graphics, the games were built on a text interface, meaning you moved through the in-game environment while directing your character to OPEN DOOR or KISS GIRL. In bringing them to the internet, Sarien.net have added a few improvements. Right-clicking produces a drop down menu of actions that can help guide you through tricky scenarios; you can jump to specific locations in the same manner, helping circumvent frustrations at having forgotten to pick up a certain item; and a multiplayer function allows you to chat with other people playing the same game.

When compared to modern games, what Sarien.net has to offer seems laughably primitive. However, if you played these games back when they were new it's a chance to relive an era when electronic entertainment relied more on story and humour than killer graphics and action. Take some time out of your busy schedule, and visit some old childhood friends.

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