Links

Because I’m old-school, I like to have a list of links somewhere handy. Kinda like bookmarks, but public on the website. Here’s that list.

Last updated/verified: 17 October 2021.

Key:

  • 🎧 – Podcast or music site.
  • 💬 – Comic/webcomic.
  • 🤑 – Places I go to spend money. No kickback, just, I like to drool over what they have that I can have, if I just use the magic plastic in their checkout.
  • 😈 – Not entirely Safe for Work. Not porn, just… Don’t visit while at work. I warned you, don’t hold me responsible.
  • broken link – links that are broken or non-responsive appear like this. (Note: I get emailed about this, so, sorry for the inconvenience, but I should already be working on it.)
    • Links marked with a * occasionally mark as broken, but continue to work. Cloudflare and Microsoft and some other service providers appear to not recognize this site and block the validation of the link. If you worry about clicking this link, Google Search in a separate tab. I’m working on this.

Links

Links are in accordion-style sections. Click on the name or the + sign to expand or collapse the section.

Note: links to sites do not mean those sites endorse me. I just like ’em, so I included them. Unless explicitly called out in a link, it is safe to assume they don’t know I exist and/or do not support my views.

Art Supplies

  • Copic Markers (Japanese site here) – I’ve never owned any, but I’ve had the chance to use them, and they earned a place in my heart. They might not edge out Prismacolor, but they sure try. Those brush tips, tho’….
  • 🤑 Dick Blick – if I had unlimited money, there would be non-stop deliveries to my house for years.
  • 🤑 Hobby Lobby – I never knew of these stores until I moved south. Now, I only go in with my brother, and he is under strict orders to not let me spend my accounts dry.
  • 🤑 Michael’s Craft Store – my go-to before I learned of Hobby Lobby, I still keep them around. Not all stores can carry all the things all the time, after all.
  • Prismacolor* – colored pencils and markers that can be bought on MANY sites, but they deserve to be called out directly here. My Prismacolor colored pencils are a treasured thing, and are on my “grab them when evacuating” list right after the bro and the cats.
    *(Link occasionally marks as broken, but still works.)
  • Strathmore Artist Papers – ooh, just running my fingers over these pads of paper makes me go to my happy place, and all the troubles go away. Again, these can be bought anywhere, but need a direct call out here.

Learning and Stuff

  • W3Schools – really good tutorials reference for CSS and HTML and webstuff. And they’re really good at keeping updated about browser compatibility.

Reading and Literary

  • 💬 Girl Genius – a steampunk comic about Agatha Heterodyne and her very strange adventures in an alternate-history Europa.
  • 💬 Kill Six Billion Demons – I do not remember how I found this webcomic addiction, but here I am, years later, and I’m still lost in “Heaven” with the group, trying to survive. “World-building” on stereoids.
  • 😈💬 Looking for Group – a rather brutal RPG-inspired comic that is freaking hilarious, if you have a morbid sense of humor. If you don’t… Well, don’t click that link.
  • 💬 Questionable Content – a comic about robots and people and drama and comedy and feels! Jeph has been doing this forever. I used to watch his Twitch when he was drawing, but I lost track of it.
  • 💬 A Redtail’s Dream – a comic about a young man and his shapeshifting dog on a journey through settings from Finnish spiritualism and beliefs, it’s 100% complete and you can read it now and why aren’t you reading it yet?
  • Reddit r/nosleep – campfire ghost stories, on your phone! They’re ALL true! (Read the guidelines.)
  • 💬 Stand Still Stay Silent – webcomic about a future/post-apocalyptic world where THINGS hunt you by sound. But people are surviving….
  • Gutenberg Project – free ebooks of classics. GO ENRICH YOUR SOUL! And donate a couple of bucks, because they rock.

Podcasts

  • 🎧 The Adventure Zone – RPG podcast made by a seriously funny family, they’re making comics of some of the seasons.
  • 🎧 Critical Hit (YouTube, Twitch) – An RPG podcast that started when D&D 4E was still kinda big, they have this huge story arc, with breaks for other systems.
  • 🎧 Critical Role – Voice actors play D&D, and are really good at it (playing, not necessarily the D&D part). Go, listen. It’s like a podcast made up of cartoon voices.
  • 🎧 The Dollop – American History done by comedians Dave Anthony and Gareth Reynolds.
  • 🎧 Lore Podcast – Spoooooky stories, strange history stories, creepy stories, true-crime stories…. All of ’em good stories to listen to while it’s a dark and stormy night.
  • 🎧 Roll Like a Girl – an all-girl cast shows us D&D ain’t just a boys game, and they do have fun. It’s sweet and wacky and slaps you about the feels a little, but that doesn’t mean it sacrifices the umph, so go subscribe. (Warning: Facebook link – I cannot find a non-Facebook home page for them.)
  • 🎧 Unobscured – longer-form series from the same mind that created Lore (Aaron Mahnke), these series give you the details you need, and satisfy most goth-type cravings.

Vidya Games

  • Dust an Elysian Tail – a metroidvania from a few years back, it’s hand-drawn and beautifully scored and just a heck of a lot of fun. (Note: link goes to Fandom, the main site hasn’t been updated since 2015.)
  • FTL – rogue-like game where you’re the last starship of the Federation, after they got SPANKED by the Rebels. You’ve gotta get back home to tell command…. I had all the ships unlocked but one, and then my computer crashed and the saves were lost. I WILL GET THEM BACK!
  • Hades – rogue-like game where you’re the son of Hades and Persephone, and you want to leave home to find your Mom, but Dad isn’t helping. He isn’t helping one tiny bit. At least Cerberus is a big sweetheart.
  • Hollow Knight – an amazing hand-drawn metroidvania with an absolutely amazing soundtrack, I have had this game for years and still get stuck. But I listen to the soundtrack when I’m walking.
  • Minecraft* – goodness, if I could figure out how to stop eating and sleeping and needing to use the bathroom, I could play this game forever. I run a local-area network server where my brother and I play a persistent game, but we’re waiting for the 1.18 update and then I may forget to blog again for a while….
    *(Link occasionally marks as broken, but still works.)
  • Oxygen Not Included – you are the overseer for the establishment of a colony, one where a 3D printer was sent to a distant planet, where it will burrow down and prepare. You then use that printer to print clones to build, mine, and make mankind’s next step into the stars!
  • RimWorld – it’s like the old TV show Firefly got turned into a colony-creation game, and was introduced to city-state level politics! With the obligate amount of sci-fi western sounding background music.
  • Stardew Valley – what started as an open-ended Harvest Moon-inspired game, it’s grown through constant expansion by ConcernedApe, that magnificent creator of pixel happiness.
  • Space Haven – still Early Access, you build your ship and travel, collecting resources and upgrading your ship. It’s not done, yet, and I have high hopes for it.
  • Starbound – a pixel survival game, you’re part of the academy’s graduating class when a Cthulu-like monster attacks and destroys Earth – but you escape last minute on a ship. Now, it’s time to try to build some sort of life.
  • Subnautica & Subnautica: Below Zero – a duology, in Subnautica you crash on a planet that is mostly ocean, and have to swim to collect things so you can build something to escape, while nasty underwater beasties try to eat you. The second game, you’re another character going to the planet to find her lost sister, and find even nastier underwater beasties will also try to eat you. Play either with headphones. In the dark. And don’t wet yourself. I dare ya.

Streamers (YouTube & Twitch, mostly)

  • Cryaotic – Let’s Plays with a kinda gentle NewYorker attitude. He does great voices for the various characters in the games, and is generally fun to watch.
  • Gab Smolders – Let’s plays of Japanese games in Japanese that she translates, horror games, and others. Hard to pigeon-hole, go watch.
  • 😈 Jack SepticEye – TOP OF THA MORNIN’ TA YA! This Irish streamer is just fun. Go. Watch.
  • 😈 Krinx TV (YouTube & Twitch)- mostly horror games, she sometimes plays games with her wife and it’s so adorable, and only a teensy-weensy bit cringey sometimes.
  • ManlyBadassHero – mostly RPG games, mostly horror games, but he does mix them up. Warning: he’s a completionist. So, if he’s playing a game you don’t want spoiled, maybe don’t click/watch. Otherwise, click away.
  • 😈 Markiplier – one of the legends, with Jack SepticEye, he’s a little showy, but it’s still fun. Check out the Powerwash Simulator series.
  • 😈 MrKravin (YouTube & Twitch)- another horror game Let’s Player, he’s started branching out. I really enjoy his “Three Random Games” videos.
  • ProofreadFire – I stumbled onto this guy by accident, and discovered he puts up a a video every day. Like, amazing consistency. General goofball worth watching.

Web Resources

  • Emoji Wiki – a very complete collection of all emojis, with explanations and copy/paste resources.
    • Unicode Reference – this doesn’t have all the history or copy/paste resources, but it IS the official standard. And it has screenshots of what various devices use in this table.
  • Google Fonts – fonts available for embedding on your site, for free! I use a couple on this here website, for those who couldn’t tell already.
  • Kaomoji: Japanese Emoticons – while not strictly a web resources, lotsa people have used these all over the web, so have some fun!