An assortment of my friend's sites and other sites I deem worthy to visit frequently. It's good to have link pages, if only to allow search engines like Google to figure out what pages people like.
There is a strange phenomenon on the Internet wherein everybody needs to put on their web pages a list of all the sites they like. Sortof like free advertising.
I'm not sure what causes this, but there must be some good reason, so I'll do it too. This also provides me with a "bookmarks" list that I can access from any computer on the Internet. I go to some of these sites quite a lot.
In any case, I hope you're able to get some enjoyment out of them. I certainly did. :)
Laughter and Jokes are important. I go to these sites when I want to laugh. I want to laugh a lot.
These are sorted roughly in order of update frequency and how much I like them. So the top ones are ones I like a lot and are updated frequently, and the bottom ones are ones I like less well or are updated rarely.
Bruno the Bandit - A ne'er-do-well bandit and his trusty sidekick microdragon. Used to be updated 3 times per week, but he moved it to daily updates. I think this may be my favorite comic.
Sluggy Freelance - Is it not nifty? Worship the comic. What do aliens, demon summoning, Y2K bugs, killer rabbits, and vampires have in common? Erm...not much. Check out Sluggy. Please. You'll be glad you did. Updated daily.
The Order of the Stick - Funny funny stick figure comic about a roleplaying adventuring party.
Nodwick - This is classic gamer humor. Nodwick used to run in Dungeon and Dragon magazines, and will always hold a special place in my heart.
Full Frontal Nerdity - Another comic by the guy who writes Nodwick. Gaming from the players' perspective, rather than the characters'.
Knights of the Dinner Table - Another classic gamer comic: four classically bad players, and one classically overworked and underappreciated DM.
Girl Genius - I love this one: Phil and Kaja Foglio draw a wonderfully rich steampunk world. Really worth checking out. You can also go straight to the latest comic.
GPF - a neato comic about a bunch of misfit software developers. Updated daily.
Superosity - one of my latest favorite comics. Wacky and stupid, but I find it funny. Updated daily.
You Damn Kid - Kindof crass a lot of the time, but mostly a funny cartoon about a kid and his family, and his small town.
Player vs. Player (PvP) - Funny comic about a video game magazine. Updated (mostly) daily.
Dilbert - Of course (what would a links page be without it?). Updated daily.
Nukees - Another fun comic about life as a Berkeley grad student. Updated Monday, Wednesday, Friday.
Bob the Angry Flower - He's a flower, and he's angry, and he started out in Waterloo, like many wacky things. Entertaining. Updated about once per week.
The Onion - Satirical news magazine. Sometimes hilarious (hand turkey, anybody?), sometimes sick. :) Very fun. Updated about once per week (on Wednesdays).
Dork Tower - Another comic about gamers. I like some of the previous ones better, but Dork Tower's also fun.
Pathetic Geek Stories - People write in sad and humiliating stories that happened to them because they were unpopular or uncool, and she illustrates them as comics and publishes them. Originally in the Onion, it is now on its own.
Intelligent Humor - Yet another incredibly wacky online comic, again from Waterloo. This one is never updated, and the archive is not complete. So if you have some old Intelligent Humor comics laying around, send them to this guy. The world would then owe you a favor. No longer updated.
The Parking Lot is Full - A hilarious (and sometimes creepy) comic that started at the University of Waterloo. Sadly, this comic is now done, the creators decided to give it up. Read the archives: you'll be glad you did. No longer updated.
I do roleplaying. It's a big deal in my life. Not surprisingly, there's websites I go to about it.
Zetacron - A clearinghouse of information for Zetacron, my personal roleplaying world. It's got cool maps and pictures! Go see!
MonteCook.com - Monte Cook was one of the designers of 3rd Edition, but he's since left the company, and is doing all sorts of really exciting stuff. He's cool -- check him out.
EN World - Eric Noah's Unofficial 3rd Edition site used to be the place to go for all news related to D&D. Eric then decided that the site was taking up too much of its time, and EN World took up the slack. Now, *it's* the site to go to.
Strolen's Citadel - An excellent GM aid: this is a community of folks who share ideas and plots - the best I've seen (over 150 fun plot ideas, for starters). Also check out the forums.
RoleplayingTips.com - If you GM, you need to go here and read the tips. 'Nuf said.
Chris Pound's Name Generation Page - Random names, vocabularies, computer programs, links to other similar sites, etc.
An Onomastikon (also here) - Easily the best name list site on the Internet. It was gone for a while (twice now), but it's back up again.
Wizards of the Coast - When TSR tanked, and WotC bought them out, everybody cried Doom and Gloom. Turns out, it's the best thing that ever happened to D&D -- the game became modern and playable again. Now people are saying the same thing about WotC's acquisition by Hasbro. We shall see.
Games Workshop - Games Workshop is the leading manufacturer of wargames in the world, I believe. They are certainly the manufacturer of the Lord of the Rings wargame, which is the one I play right now.
I do a bit of wargames terrain modelling, and there's a couple of truly glorious sites I've found.
Hirst Arts - If you are at all into modelling, go here. Bruce Hirst, the proprieter of this company, has made rubber molds for making standard 25mm blocks and arches and walls and floors and stuff from plaster, and sells them for very reasonable prices. The blocks are beautiful, and the buildings people create with them are phenominal. I've placed my order, and am really looking forward to them arriving.
NetTerrain - I think that Terragenesis (below) is a better site, but NetTerrain seems to be updated much more regularly.
Terragenesis - This site is extremely cool. It deserves mention here. If you ever want to build any wargames terrain, scenery for some other game, model railroads, scenery for your roleplaying games, etc, go here. Very cool.
Major General Tremorden Rederring's Colonial-era Wargames Page - David Helber has done a glorious job on this site. His group, which wargamed in a mythical country called Ouargistan, was really heavy on graphic designers, modellers, and artists. The pictures: my god, the pictures of the terrain they had. <sigh>... it would have been nice to be one of that group. Anyway.
Google's official blog - What's going on with Google?
Jim Hill Media - This Jim Hill guy knows tons of stuff about the Walt Disney company, and talks about it in his prolific writings on this site. Fascinating look into the famous company and its ongoing business.
news.google.com - I think this is the best news site on the Internet. No human editing involved!
The Harry Potter Lexicon - Excellent site -- Like the Encyclopedia of Arda, but for Harry Potter.
The Leaky Cauldron - A wonderful Harry Potter news site.
Harry Potter for Grownups - The best (I think) Harry Potter discussion forum.
TheOneRing.net - An unofficial Lord of the Rings fan site, that has a lot of useful and interesting news..
LordOfTheRings.net - An excellent movie -- the official site often has video clips, making-ofs, etc.
The Encyclopedia of Arda - Excellent site -- like the Harry Potter Lexicon, for Tolkien's works.
Wordplay - Terry Rossio and Ted Elliot are screenwriters, with such credits to their name as Shrek and Pirates of the Caribbean. They host a site called Wordplay (linked) that gives insight into the screenwriting business: including secrets, tips, and all sorts of funny stuff. It's worth a read (even, if me, you don't want to be a screenwriter) just for the insight into how movies get made.
English Cut - Something a little different - this is the blog of an actual Saville Row tailor in London. Fascinating look into the culture and life of real tailors.
Pattern Review - It doesn't rain but it pours! This site is phenominal! It's a community of real serious sewers, talking about real serious sewing. I've just started delving into the archived content here, but I'm very excited!
The Resaissance Tailor - One of the best sewing sites I've found on the Internet -- sections on pattern drafting, embellishments, historical research, and all sorts of other stuff about actually making cool costumes using period techniques.
The Vintage Sewing Reference Library - I want to learn more about sewing than normal books will teach me. I'm interested in pattern drafting, tailoring techniques, and other somewhat-lost arts. This site publishes out-of-copyright sewing books, many of which were originally published around the turn of the century. There is a wealth of information available here for the thirsty for information.
The Lord of the Rings Costume Research Home - A good site with way more detail on costumes from the LotR movie than you probably want..
The Costumer's Manifesto - One of the preeminent costuming sites. I particularly like the Manifesto itself.
Sempstress.org - Elizabethan Costuming, but lots of fun articles and tips and stuff for costumers. Cool pattern drafting advice. One of the best costuming sites I've seen in a long time.
Costume Design Page - A good page about costume design and running a business sewing for others.
The Greater Bay Area Costumer's Guild - A regional costumers' guild, but they have a lot of wonderful resources that are of general interest.
Tales of a Male Stitcher - A really funny guy, who sews!
Life in Elizabethan England: A Compendium of Common Knowledge - One of the coolest things I've found on the Net, ever.
Sites that don't fit anywhere else
Honest Journey - A thought-provoking website with some new ideas about horse rescues, auctions, welfare, and similar topics. If you like horses, this is worth a read!
Ontario Equine Rescue Directory - The most complete list of horse and equine rescue facilities in Ontario.
The Princess Cinema Guide - This is a fairly recent thing... the guide didn't used to be online. Anyway, the Princess is Waterloo's alternative movie theatre. Many good movies, worth going to.
The Record's Movie Guide - If you want to watch non-mainstream movies, and you want to go to them in the K-W area, this is the site for you.
The Weather Forcast for Waterloo - From Environment Canada. Probably fairly up-to-date.
The Household Cyclopedia of General Information - I love 19th century writings!
I have friends, they have sites...
Lisa Wilder - the home page of the love of my life, Lisa Wilder! Definitely worth seeing. Also pictures of me and Jessica and the dogs there!
Christian Schlosser - Christian was a wonderful man that was one of my best friends for many years, from grade school through university. He passed away Wednesday, September 28th 2005 while playing volleyball with friends. I'll miss you, Christian.
Gordon Funk - Gordon was my best friend for many years, and has one of the most remarkable lives of anybody that I know.
Chris Pressey - he's a cool guy that I knew back at the University of Manitoba. He's done some really fun experimental computer languages that I like.
Carl Laurence Gonsalves - Carl's cool, although he moved away to San Fransisco, so we don't get to see him anymore. <sigh>
John Paul
Vrolyk - John Paul got his own domain name,
vrolyk.org. I got jealous. So I went and got
svincent.com, and here we are!
Les Vrolyk - I met Les through John Paul (she's now his wife). She's neat.
Christopher Brian Thiessen - Chris Thiessen's a good guy. I've known him since high school, and we both managed to move out to Waterloo Ontario. He's starting a company, this page is his company's, which is his sole web presence.
Greg Cymbalist - Greg's a friend of mine that I met at the University of Manitoba. He lives in Winnipeg now, and provides miniature painting services on his website. He's really good!
Shawn Patrick Vincent - Another cool guy. Definitely one to check out.
Sharon Goetz - a friend of mine from California. She's pretty neat.
Adam Penner - a good friend from high school, he's now (and was then, I guess) a pilot. Adam and I did a lot of our early Internet discovery together.
Ilana Rosenshien - Ilana's cool. Her website is back up again (July 3rd, 2000). Her site seems a bit of a yo-yo.
Back to Shawn Vincent's home page -- Back to www.svincent.com
Comments, Criticisms, Crunchy Cold Cuts to svincent@svincent.com