Guests' Web Picks

For me the web currently has five purposes:

1. Work

2. News

3. Buying stuff

4. Anime & Fun

Formerly a newspaper reporter and assistant editor, I went into the internet biz because it was a natural marriage of my techno-junkie tendencies and work. After going around the internet for a couple of years, I discovered the anime fan sites. Then I discovered fansubs. Then my love for anime (which was in hibernation for a few years) exploded. I've been working on anime one way or another on the internet for the past 2 years. Now I'm usually too busy to do anything that's not related to work... I'm hoping to change that, though

Here are my most used links and explanations for my web paths:

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SPECIAL LINK: HUNGER SITE -- I visit this twice a day - at work and at home. It's an established charity (that's been on a few newspapers and magazines), and EVERY TIME you click on the button, food is donated to the starving countries by the companies sponsoring this site. Please visit and donate food and save the rainforest too! (You can only do this once a day).

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1. WORK - about 90% of all web professionals are self-taught -- that includes HTML, Javascript, PHP, Flash, etc. etc., although that's changing as more and more design schools are giving classes on the various software. Even if these classes aren't available, there are tens of thousands sites out there that teach or explain. Here are the top sites I visit for work: ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1. ANIME COLONY (of course): This is the baby I spend 60+ hours a week on.

2. WEBMONKEY: Wired Magazine's tips and guides to webpage making. Really easy-to-read and educational.

3. SCIFI FONTS: Fonts are a powerful thing to have -- design-wise or anything else. This is just one of my many Font sites I stop by.

4. COLOR PICKER: You need to know the code of the color to put up colors. Of course NO ONE memorizes them (except probably someone from the movie "Rain Man"). I like seeing them on screen and getting the code here.

5. STOCK IMAGES: Need a good anonymous image to work with on your designs? A good place to find it is here.

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2. NEWS - I'm a news junkie. Weird news, interesting news, weather. I always try to keep up-to-date.
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1. 1010 WINS: New York City's #1 news radio station. I check it on the web since I don't listen to radio anymore.

2. THE OBSCURE STORE & READING ROOM: This place collects all the WEIRDEST TRUE news around the world everyday. We're not talking tabloids -- but hard news from established newspapers. Headlines are like:

"'Teen' basketball player is actually 20-year-old fugitive" or "Female thief demands sex from unwilling man, 82"

3. MY YAHOO PAGE - I personalize my yahoo page and get news that I'm interested in and horoscope and movie times too!

4. THE STRAIGHT DOPE. Not really a news page but I have a lot of fun visiting. They answer all the questions you always wondered about but never got a chance to ask. Like why pigeons bob their heads when they walk or can HIV be transmitted through mosquitoes.

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3. BUYING STUFF - I do most of my shopping online these days
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1. DVD EXPRESS - I think I must actually keep these guys in business. I'm a DVD junkie.

2. URBANFETCH - In NYC, you buy stuff and they deliver it to you within an hour for free. Cheap and good stuff too!

3. PETS.COM - major animal nut also. I have 3 cats at my apartment (Teardrop, Ashlin, and Calliope) and I make sure I spoil them properly.

4. AMAZON.COM - where I stop when I can't get the above stuff

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4. ANIME & FUN - what needs to be said?
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1. ANIME TURNPIKE - I probably stop by here like 5 to 20 times a day.
http://www.anipike.com/

2. ANIME COLONY - I know, I know, it's my work -- but I actually like stopping by and reading the message boards and seeing how the deathmatch is going.

3. UMJAMS ANIME NEWS - my favorite anime news stop.

4. BASEMENT ARCADE - I used to dream of owning REAL ARCADE GAMES in my apartment. My apartment's too small, so now I have my parents harrassing me about leaving my games there. A lot of good ones are cheaper than a Playstation 2!

5. ANIME NEWS NETWORK - this site used to be pretty stale on the news side, but with the new editors, it's really starting to take off.

6. ANIME NEWS SERVICE - this guy puts up like every press release given (except for ANIME COLONY press releases for some reason - boo!), plus you get juicy rumors every-now-and-then.

7. THE END OF PLEASE SAVE MY EARTH - my favorite anime series. You can come here to find out the complete story that the OVA doesn't provide.

Well there're more, but these are the main ones!

Ja,
Kane Tung
Anime Colony Producer
SCIFI.COM