Games, Comics, Wit
Just for fun, all of this is just for fun.
Wit!
.sigfile Madness
You've seen them.
Those (supposedly) witty little rejoinders at the
bottom of emails, etc.
They're called .sigfiles.
But where do they come from?
In my case, I collect 'em.
When I come across a good line,
I scribble it down and save it for some future use.
After a while, I began saving all the old ones.
And if you'd like to see my full collection,
here it is.
Sometimes I even make up my own.
For those, you need to look at
The Wit and
Wisdom of Chairman Steve.
What, you can't imagine that? Lucky you, you don't have to.
Peter Zale
has done it for you with
Helen, Sweetheart of the Internet.
Ignore the title, this woman is no sweetheart.
In fact, she's a prime example
of a Bastard Operator From Hell.
Recommended.
Sluggy Freelance
It's funny.
It's weird.
And it's got the
killer lop-eared bunny from hell.
It's Sluggy Freelance.
Is it not nifty?
Kevin & Kell
Bill Holbrook writes what is probably the best strip about people who use the
net.
As you may notice from the picture to the left, `people' may not be
the right word here.
That's OK, you should still be reading Kevin and Kell.
A copy of the
inaugural strip
now adorns my wall, and I hit the site
weekly
to see what's up.
Comic Books
Argon Zark
This ``virtual comic book'' has
everything I hate in a web site -
intensive graphics, animated gifs, odd backgrounds, you name it.
Almost anything I carp about is done on that web page.
But to hell with that.
Charley Parker
has produced
Argon Zark,
an online comic book that build on the strengths of the net
rather than works around the weaknesses.
Yeah, he plays with backgrounds and has huge gifs and sucks up
every bit in your colormap.
But the effect is (a) appropriate, and (b) worth it.
So break those rules, Charley.
Argon Zark doesn't suffer from the limitations of
a printed media -- rigid standardized paper size, static
images, etc.
Parker has managed to carefully break some of the normal
rules, but does it without disturbing the readers
sensibilities.
As a result, it's headed off in some interesting new directions.
The strip is very striking visually,
but the story is unfortunately rather pedestrian.
Steve Bob says `Check it out anyway.'
Steve Bob also says `Be patient, because the pages are about 100KB each.'
Strangers In Paradise
I could tell you that Strangers In Paradise is a comic book,
but you'd think you were just buying a comic book.
I could quote Neil Gaiman (author of Good Omens), who
says ``What most people don't know about love, sex and relations with other
human beings would fill a book.
Strangers in Paradise is that book.''
Or you could do something radical like going out and getting a copy.
The home page
will give you a good introduction, and will tell you
how to get
collections and back issues by mail.
I strongly recommend the collected edition of the original mini-series.
Last modified: Jan 13, 1999
Back to Steve's home page.
Contact, License and Copy Issues.
OK, fire up your imagination. Start with Dilbert. Now imagine if he
could constantly outwit management, was witty, sexy, started MIT at
14 but quit because they didn't have a cheerleading squad, and instead
went out and got a job. Oh yeah, and is a gorgeous female.