Hello, I'm back! Sorry that there was no post yesterday; I was out of town and found myself without Internet access. It was actually a very nice little getaway: did some shopping, spent time with my family, and generally just got to relax and have fun. But more on that tomorrow. Wednesdays are going to be my "off-topic" day when there is no site news.
So...TV Tropes. Guaranteed to waste hours and hours of your time! It is a collection of all of the "tricks of the trade" for writing fiction. They began with television, but now they have books, movies, cartoon shows, pro wrestling, you name it.
There are two main types of pages: pages for works and pages for tropes. Pages for tropes introduce a concept that is often found in fiction, like "Damsel In Distress." A tropes page will explain the concept, along with related concepts (aka "tropes"). It will then list examples of the trope, organized by media. Pages for works are pages centered around a certain book, movie, etc. It is easy to tell what most of the tropers enjoy because those pages will be ridiculously long. A works page will explain the plot or setup and then list the tropes found in that work.
This is a wiki site, like Wikipedia. However, unlike Wikipedia, when they say "anyone can edit" they do mean ANYONE, and you can edit anything. Signing up is ridiculously easy--not even an email address is required--and from there you can begin adding examples to the pages. Editing is also very easy to learn; internal links can be added by typing Wiki Words, where you just type the words without spaces and it is all correctly formatted by Wiki Magic. Much easier than Blogger (sorry, Blogger!).
If none of that sounds interesting, you are probably better off. I am being completely serious here: I could happily spend an entire day on their site...in fact, I probably have. The question is whether or not I should (obviously not). TV Tropes' greatest advantage is also its biggest weakness. Gee, I wonder if there's a trope for that...
You can find TV Tropes here. Click at your own risk, especially if you have something important to do.
You have been warned.
Showing posts with label favorite things. Show all posts
Showing posts with label favorite things. Show all posts
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Favorite Things: Irregular Webcomic!
Irregular Webcomic! is done by David Morgan-Marr. All of the characters (aside from David, who will appear as himself in photos) are either Lego minifigs or D&D models. There is a new strip every day, which may make you wonder why it's called "Irregular." That would be because of the content.
David has about 20 different sets of characters, each with their own storylines, and they are all pretty strange. Among others, we have:
-Shakespeare, in the 21st century, working in an office and writing fanfiction.
-Adam and Jamie of the Mythbusters, who have gone back in time to become their own grandpas. They ended up becoming each other's grandfathers instead.
-The deaths, including Death By Insanely Overpowered Fireballs and Death of Being Stared At By A Giant Frog. And the Head Death.
-An Indiana Jones parody, with Montana Jones and his father fighting some Nazis and Hitler's brain in a jar.
The different themes frequently cross over (the Deaths, in particular, have met just about EVERYONE...and they are notoriously inefficient). Right now, it looks like he's building towards a mega-crossover that will destroy the multiverse.
Again.
Like I said, it's highly irregular. It is also uproariously funny, especially if you like science puns. David bases a lot of his humor on bad puns, which is fine by me. Some stories are easier for new readers to pick up on than others; I suggest just jumping in and look through the archives a bit. David has an index broken down by character set, so if you find a storyline that looks interesting you can start there. I started with Mythbusters.
Some quick links:
Here is the latest comic.
Here is the list of characters. From there you can jump to the first and latest strip in each theme.
David also works on Darths & Droids, which aims to answer the question, "What if Star Wars had been created by gamers?" It is a must for fans of Star Wars and/or roleplaying games.
He also does a blog, which is sometimes about the comics but mostly about other things in his life. He does wine reviews fairly often, so if you're into that it's worth checking out.
David has about 20 different sets of characters, each with their own storylines, and they are all pretty strange. Among others, we have:
-Shakespeare, in the 21st century, working in an office and writing fanfiction.
-Adam and Jamie of the Mythbusters, who have gone back in time to become their own grandpas. They ended up becoming each other's grandfathers instead.
-The deaths, including Death By Insanely Overpowered Fireballs and Death of Being Stared At By A Giant Frog. And the Head Death.
-An Indiana Jones parody, with Montana Jones and his father fighting some Nazis and Hitler's brain in a jar.
The different themes frequently cross over (the Deaths, in particular, have met just about EVERYONE...and they are notoriously inefficient). Right now, it looks like he's building towards a mega-crossover that will destroy the multiverse.
Again.
Like I said, it's highly irregular. It is also uproariously funny, especially if you like science puns. David bases a lot of his humor on bad puns, which is fine by me. Some stories are easier for new readers to pick up on than others; I suggest just jumping in and look through the archives a bit. David has an index broken down by character set, so if you find a storyline that looks interesting you can start there. I started with Mythbusters.
Some quick links:
Here is the latest comic.
Here is the list of characters. From there you can jump to the first and latest strip in each theme.
David also works on Darths & Droids, which aims to answer the question, "What if Star Wars had been created by gamers?" It is a must for fans of Star Wars and/or roleplaying games.
He also does a blog, which is sometimes about the comics but mostly about other things in his life. He does wine reviews fairly often, so if you're into that it's worth checking out.
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