As you can well imagine, my "favorites" and "bookmarker" lists are long — some sites kept for business reasons and others just for fun. From time to time, I sort through them all to weed out any that have served their purpose or have passed their prime. As I go through them, I always find a few gems that just haven't fit into a topic for the column but definitely, deserve a mention. Today's selections fall into that category.
• www.reddragonmovie.com. This is the official site for the movie "Red Dragon." I ran across it when I was checking to see how long the film runs; I couldn't resist exploring the entire site. Not for kids, the presentation here is as creepy and as enthralling as Dr. Lecter himself. After you get past all the opening screens, you'll be invited to build pages in a ledger. (Flash, Quicktime and Windows are all required.) Each part of the page triggers the telling of more of the story which, trust me, is seriously gruesome.
By the way, the first time I visited this site, I signed on with a 56K phone line modem and it took several minutes for the main page to load and another minute or so for each sections of the ledger. This time I used broadband access and the loading took less than 10 seconds. Still, even at the slower speed, the site is worth the wait.
• www.tvland.com. OK, I confess, even though I don't watch a lot of Nick at Night — it makes me feel good to know it's there should I ever need a nostalgia fix. The TV Land site does the same thing for me online. You can hear theme songs, read about the shows, get the schedules and even check out some retro commercials that will take you back.
• www.tv-now.com. Before I leave television viewing, I want to let you in on one of the Web's best pages. TV-Now lets you search for any actor or actress and call up a list of every show in which they'll appear. The service is wonderful for finding some of the more obscure listings on often overlooked cable channels or on shows that don't rate a detailed description in the printed listings.
• www.madsci.org. This is one that actually made it into the column in a previous year, but so much has been added and improved that it is well worth a second mention. If you've always been fascinated by science — or even better — if you've always thought you hated it — this site will win you over for sure. Explore the whole site and then use the "Random Knowledge Invocator" to get answers to questions like, "What is quicksand?" and "Is hot water really best for shaving,?"
• www.theromantic.com. If you've always wanted to live a romantic life (but the rest of the world keeps getting in your way) spend a few minutes at The Romantic site. Learn how to write intriguing, mysterious, romantic notes; find the lyrics to hundreds of love songs; get a little creative and change your dates from ordinary to extraordinary; research some romantic getaways and discover the romantic that's been hiding in you.
• http://users.htcomp.net/weis/c4eeyore.html. This site's official title is "Fubsy's Sanitarium at Eeyore's Thistle Patch in the Hundred Acre Wood(lawn)." I stumbled across it because of my love for a bear named Pooh. But instead of another charming child's page, I discovered a wonderful stream-of-consciousness collection by the somewhat shell-shocked mother of twins who created the page to quench her own need for adult interaction and as a sounding board for any number of subjects. The Martha Stewart section is a hoot. I agree completely with the Dandelion Appreciation notes and I confess to visiting the Butterfly Gardening for Ninnies pages on several occasions. It's all lots of fun.
Jan Perry is a Kentucky-based freelance writer for The Post. She welcomes your questions, comments and suggestions at SiteSeer2K@aol.com.
