Facebook
www.facebook.com
First of all, OF COURSE, is Facebook. Just two-three years ago it was a completely unknown website with who knows how few users on it. Today it is one of the biggest social networks ever and unlike other social networks like MySpace and Twitter even perhaps, it is not something that came by and moved on, it stuck.
When I first started using Facebook, my only friends were my sister and my cousins. It was pretty boring, I didn't even look at it regularly. But then I spent a semester in Italy and everyone had Facebook there. Now, I have 192 friends and I can't live without it.
Why? Simple. There is no other place, where I can follow what's going on in the lives of my 192 friends. Will I be able to e-mail all of them and keep track of where they are and what they're doing? Will I be able to remember their birthdays or to look at pictures from their trips? Simply impossible. And my friends from Iran or China - what are the chances of ever seeing them again or having any other contact with them, I can't even pronounce the names of half of them.
It is basic - it connects me to everyone I know or even remotely have heard of. I can keep track of where my friends are and what they're doing. And in a more useful point of view - someday if I need to go to a trip somewhere, I will know who is there to help me. Or maybe I will need a contact person and I can pick from those 192 people, based on what they do and where they're located. There is no other way I'll be able to do that, except Facebook. That's why I can't live without it.
Youtube
www.youtube.com
I am going to continue with another very popular website that I use a lot and that is youtube. I use that website a lot. It is my main video source. On youtube I find old and new commercials, there are also news videos, trivia videos, as well as trailers of movies or promos of my favorite TV shows. I watch also interviews and popular talk shows like the Ellen DeGeneres, Jay Leno, David Letterman, as well as fan videos sometimes. It is a great source for any type of video you need. And if I look hard enough, I find almost always what I am looking for.
IMDB
www.imdb.com
Now here is a website I cannot go without using. I’ve had some friends ask me what that is, so for those of you who are unaware, this is a movie database. This is like my catalogue for movies, TV shows, actors, trivia, quotes, biographies, pictures, pretty much everything movie related. Every now and then I get this question in my head – where do I know this guy from or where have I heard that name or what was the name of that movie – and there I find the answer. It is a very useful website, especially given that people are allowed to comment on the things they watch. So not only do I get the official info, but I get a personal view on things.
For example, a few months ago I watched a movie called Franklyn and among the comments I found myself digging deeper and deeper into the story and the philosophical side of the movie. It was pretty interesting. People were discussing topics on state and religion, individuality and masses, based on the general idea of the film. But before reading those comments, I hadn’t found that profoundness of the story and I found it refreshing to be able to analyze the movie in a more complicated way because of reading those comments.
Besides, I trust imdb rating a lot. So far it has not led me down. So if you want to watch something, but it gets less than 5 rating, you shouldn’t.
*Of course, there are always exceptions to the rule, but I’m not going to talk about that now.
Google
www.google.com
Now this website I probably don’t need to write much about. It is an absolute MUST in the internet world. I don’t know if a person exists, who doesn’t use that website. Basically, it contains everything about everything not only in English, but in Bulgarian as well. It is a way to find news mostly, as well as any other information that I’m looking for. Clearly, no presentation needed for this one.
Blogger
www.blogger.com
This website I’ve been using for quite some time now. It was a home to my first blog ever that I still have, but don’t have the time or patience to start editing. It is very easy to use and thus very appealing. There is a great variety of themes and templates available and unlike some other blog servers, blogger allows changes and experiments completely, so there is a big freedom of imagination how one wants their blog to look. I have been studying it for a while now and I think I'm starting to get the hang of it. Everyone blogs and everyone has a favorite blog hosting, this one is mine.
quarterlife
www.quarterlife.com
Now this last website many of you might not have heard of. It is a website I recently came upon. It is also featured in the TV shows section, due to the TV show quarterlife, which actually began as a cyber program. It came to my knowledge due to Scott Michael Foster’s character “Cappie” on the TV show “Greek”, who prompted me to look for other appearances of his talent. Quarterlife, the internet blog space, is a youth-oriented website, where one can find shows, specifically designed for us, the young and the restless, to express ourselves. The quarterlife community has actually become pretty popular, you can find a lot of the videos on youtube as well, and there are many discussions on the website, relating to important topics for the twentysomethings. It has influenced me because it is different, it is the first cyber oriented show production, youth-oriented community, focused on what’s new and what’s right now for us, the young and the restless.
Last.fm
www.last.fm
Here's another website, that I started using everyday since I got internet in my house. I like listening to the radio, but usually I stumble on people just talking all the time and no music. And my music has been the same for a while now, so I get tired of it from time to time. And last.fm is the place to listen to online radio!
It is actually really nice. There are different channels with music styles, so whatever the style or band or singer you want, you just type it and listen to it. Which is definitely an advantage to ordinary radio, because you can't make preference. Sure, there are rock radio or retro radio, but not really that many different stations, where you can express your preferences.
I am really enjoying it. For a few days now I've stopped on britpop channel, which features Coldplay - my favorite band ever, as well as some others like Keane, Travis, Manic Street Preachers, etc. I also enjoy the ambient station, which features most of my all favorites, such as Kate Havnevik, Jem, Mandalay, Imogen Heap, A Fine Frenzy and so on and so on.
Basically, it's just lovely.Labels: cabinet of curiousities |
