Eric K.

I first used zap2it.com a few years ago so I could have a customized television guide drilled-down to only twenty or thirty of my most viewed TV stations of the hundreds of cable channels available. Back then there wasn't a "my favorites" feature on cable box guides. I went back to have a look before I penned my review and what a disappointment. Pop-ups and pop-overs everywhere. And not the kind traditional pop-up blockers can stop. Why do the web developers do that to us? And better yet, why doesn't the internet public stop visiting these sites?

selfcontrolfreak.com is a website with a couple of dozen interactive videos where the subject does unexpected things inspired by where you place your cursor. If you are like me, you will spend about 15 minutes being entertained and hours wondering "How'd he do that?"

I am the step dad of a wonderful pug named Max. pugs.com is an ordinary site about the breed. There is a lot of information but the site is unattractive because it uses a content management system called Nuke PHP. There is a forum and plenty of tips and tricks for caring for your pug. There is a pug pix gallery but pugs are notoriously un-photogenic (their black faces and lighter coat) and the pics aren't that great. There must be something better for pug lovers like me.

Warning: this website has foul language nearly as bad as the movie itself, and right on the front page. But if you are a fan of the movie this site is great. It tries to answer the questions like "What was in Marsellus's briefcase" and "Who keyed Vincent's car". There are some articles beyond Pulp Fiction but they are all Tarantino movie related. You can join and become a member and comment and rate articles. The website looks to be supported by selling movie posters and replicas of Jules' wallet. There is a disclaimer that it is a fansite and not associated with Tarantino or the movie officially.

bigbooger.com is a website with over 300 simple flash games. I spent some time on the website and enjoyed playing keno and football shootout. The website has many classic games like Yahtzee and Duck Hunt. It's a nice collection of games, but who can give three stars to a website called bigbooger? Not I.

bugcomic.com is the official website for the comic strip "Bug". Bug is an online comic strip with new strips every weekday. The character of Bug is a sort of wise -cracking, cheap, deep thinker and is usually having a conversation with his girlfriend. One clip has him sitting in a restaurant considering dining choices. The website is simple and well designed and the comics are funny. The cartoonist is Adam Huber and it looks like he is doing it for the love of his art (the ads are all public service announcements). If you check it out be sure to read the "about the cartoonist" to see his story. You can comment on each strip. Minus one star for linking "contact" directly to mailto:.

hammacher.com is the website for Hammacher Schlemmer, a catalog / online retailer with a brick and mortar store in New York. The products sold are unique and interesting. I purchased a robotic vacuum specifically for picking up pet hair and it shipped quick and works perfectly. After that I purchased the robotic mop. The company has been around since 1848. The catalog is now America's longest running, since Sears folded it's catalog operation. Three stars instead of four because the items are pricey, but everything you buy comes with a lifetime guarantee.

I thought it would be interesting to see if there was a website called suck.com and found it. It wasn't interesting at all, in fact, it sucked. This site has everything that makes a website suck. It hasn't been updated in 10 years. It has the old "Daily" feature that wasn't updated daily even when it was active. There is no continuity to the site's content. I ran across a very unfunny cartoon strip about Timothy McVeigh. Some of the supposedly humorous "essays" are just vulgar. The only redeeming value to this site is the content matches the domain name.

As always, I try to review websites with an objective point of view and an ounce of journalistic credibility. Not this time. ledzeppelin.com is one of the coolest websites ever about one of the greatest rock bands in the history of recorded music. Who ever came up with this website design was clearly someone who understands the forty years of Led Zeppelin coolness. There is a great section for the discography that uses state of the art navigation. There are loads of very cool photos and cool videos and a forum. How would I rate this website? A lot above Cool.

redrocker.com is the official website of former Van Halen and Montrose lead singer Sammy Hagar, known as The Red Rocker. These days Sammy is in the band Chickenfoot with Joe Satriani, Michael Anthony and Chad Smith and touring with his other band Sammy Hagar and the Wabos. The website has a fairly active community of fans called "Redheads". You can sign up to become a Redhead, stay up to date on Hagar's concert appearances and read news regarding the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer.

loonapix.com is a new website like photobucket, but not nearly as functional. You can add frames, effects, distort or edit photos with some interesting results. You can't save anything privately on their servers and "unused" pictures are deleted in two weeks. Most of the written content looks like it was translated from another language from babelfish. "LoonaPix.com is a way to make funny photo online." I like to encourage start-up operations like this one, but isn't there at least one staff member fluent in English? Stick with the best Photobucket.

johnwayne.com is a very slickly produced website, of course, honoring the legendary actor John Wayne. It's a very easy to read website with comfortable navigation. There are some very high quality clips from his career and a near as possible complete filmography. There is a trivia quiz and a current guide to when his movies are appearing on TV. Dare I say: John Wayne would have cottoned to this website?

threestooges.com is the official website for The Three Stooges of movies and television fame. There are full biographies of all six stooges through the years. The website is of particular interest these days as a new movie depicting the three knuckleheads is in pre-production. It is also the home of the official fan club and has a complete filmography of films from 1930 to 1970. A great time for the whole family? Why Sointenley! There's as much advertising as content, but at least it's all stooges stuff.

tvfanforums.net or Morty's TV is a forum that's right up my alley. TV trivia and forums. Unfortunately in an effort to reduce spammers they ask for a special invitation code that they say is available on twitter or facebook. Ok, I dislike spammers probably more so than the next guy, so that's not too much to ask me. Just one problem, they don't offer URLs to these facebook or twitter pages and you have to flush them out. I couldn't find their pages on either. Nice shot. In the foot. I would have loved to have checked out this site and talk about how safe and friendly your site is here on sj - but, you make it way to hard to join.

How I Met Your Mother is an American television sitcom and on said sitcom the writers often write in the script mentions of websites. Having brilliant marketing skills, the producers of HIMYM create fake websites prior to the shows airing knowing that when a website is mentioned on the show thousands upon thousands of viewers will run to see what they get when they type in the URL. In one episode a jilted girlfriend of the character Ted Mosby creates a website tedmosbyisajerk.com to get back at him. The website is still there no doubt getting thousands of hits every time the show is re-run.

Eddie Trunk is now the most trusted and popular expert on hard rock and heavy metal music. He is the host of VH1's That Metal Show. The reason that this website is interesting and important is that if it is happening in metal it's on this site. If you are a hard rock and heavy metal music fan eddietrunk.com is a must for your bookmarks. It is updated daily and misses nothing in the genre. It is safe and only moderately peppered with ads and no pop-up advertizing.

All the contents you would expect from a dictionary. Plastered with way more ads than even the greediest of websites, and new for 2001 - pop-up advertizing. What would Noah think?

What a terrific domain name friends.com would be for an organization that could do something good on the internet. But no. This faux dating site is just a front for Adult Friend Finders, complete with the phoney pop-up of live chat with a pretty girl who "says" in my case "hey you live in Los Angeles too!? Wanna come over and chill with me?" What a total waste of web space. A large percentage of the links take you directly to Adult Friend Finders who still continue to find new ugly ways to promote themselves.

This is Gweneth Paltow's blog, website, shopping network. I'm a big fan of uniquely designed websites (probably more-so than Paltrow herself). The concept of "get", "go", "see" navigation is very clever as is the domain name - G-gweneth OO-her eyes maybe? And P-paltrow. goop.com. I imagine the site is even more meaningful for big fans of the Oscar winning actress. The site is safe for all with no pop-ups or suspicious links.

A run-of-the-mill top 10 website with articles such as Top 10 Comic Book Villains, Ten Performers who died on stage etc. There doesn't seem to be any kind of credibility system as to why #7 is greater than #8 (for example) other than the authors opinion. And if the content weren't mediocre enough - the website treats you pop-up advertizing.