Sure, you could use the Internet to find thoughtful, reasoned critiques of modern advertising culture. Or you could get right to the funny by visiting "Ad Freak". With tongue planted firmly in cheek, this blog dissects our industry with just the right amount of keepin'-it-real candor.

Long before "Panic! At the Disco" co-opted the carnival-gone-mad look, Altoids was kickin' it retro-fabulous in their ads and branding. Deliciously old-school, with fantastic interactivity, the Altoids website is an example of corporate branding done right!

So you'd like to support the arts, but you're too busy spending all your money on clothes? Problem solved! Threadless is a specialty-shop that features uber-cool t-shirts designed by artists and graphic designers. Now you can feed your fashion jones AND starving artists!

Don't let it's kid-like interface fool ya, 'cause Fact Monster kicks some serious knowledge. Combining a dictionary, encyclopedia, almanac and more, this is the perfect resource for helping your younger siblings research that history paper. Or getting yourself edumacated! Library, schmibrary, right?

Ever wonder why you don't see A-list stars hawking products here in the States? Because it's beneath them, that's why! But apparently that doesn't hold true in Japan, where stars like Brad Pitt, Richard Gere and Julia Roberts routinely pitch products for mucho dinero. Japander collects the best of the best (or weirdest of the weirdest, whichever you prefer) of these commercials. Our personal faves? The ones starring Arnold Schwarzenegger as some sort of weird genie-superhero-court jester that magically appears out of a soda can. (We only wish we'd made that up.)

Having trouble telling apart your "ice" from your "floss"? Can't distinguish between "bling" and "blang"? Well, fear not! Street cred is a mere click away thanks to Urban Dictionary! Just watch a few hours of MTV, jot down the words you're not familiar with (we're assuming that'll be a lot) and before you know it, you'll be able to understand the conversation patterns of your average, everday 16-year old. (Which, come to think of it, may or may not be a good thing.)

Move over Entertainment Weekly, there's a new sheriff in town. Her name's Whitney Matheson and with her blog (which she pens for USA Today), she delivers the latest news in movies, music, TV and the web. It's up-to-the-minute, witty and, unlike most blogs, relatively snark-free.

Sure, we here at Steam Studios often go to Rocketboom for our dose of daily news. But when it comes to our most urgent inquiries, we go to our other favorite vlog: Ask A Ninja. Why? 'Cause if you've got questions, ninjas got answers.

The grand-daddy of internet video, iFilm's stronger than ever. Movie trailers? Check. News clips? Check. Viral Videos? Check. The ability to destroy your social life with its easy-to-navigate interface guiding you into a realm of time-wasting digital entertainment? Check with a capital "C".

Sure, you'd write the Great American novel if there was any hope of getting it published... Well, guess what? Thanks to the internet, the accelerating pace of technology and Lulu.com, you can publish anything you want yourself! Quickly, easily and, most of all, affordably! Time to let your inner-Salinger shine.

If you're like us, then you probably have a healthy love/hate relationship with pop culture. And, like us, you'd like to wittily and incisively comment on this dichotomy from time to time. But the truth is, neither we nor you are that funny. Better take a step back and let the gurus at the "Best Week Ever" blog handle it. Pop culture deconstruction is a job best left to the pros.

Want a one-stop shop for funny videos, movie clips and new music? Want it wrapped up in a Maxim magazine vibe? Then Heavy.com's for you! The Flash interface and content delivery are top-notch, the humor's delightfully juvenile and the style is 100% geek-cool.

MySpace is to Friendster what crack is to cocaine: faster, easier and instantly addictive! No other "virtual community" in webland can touch MySpace's dependency-forming formula of profiles, blogs and comment voyeurism. Be forewarned though! This site really should come with its own "After School Special".

If you're still confused by this newfangled "blogging" thing, better slap on your aluminum foil helmet 'cause it's only getting worse! Rocketboom, hosted by the lovely Amanda Congdon (sigh), is a vlog. As in "Video Blog". As in, if you want to keep up with the latest internet trends, you'd better learn how to stop blinking. Starting now.

Take one "Get Rich Quick" scheme, sprinkle in some free publicity (including this newsletter) and toss with a heaping spoonful of cyberspace and what do you get? The Million Dollar Homepage (or as we like to call it: Marketing Genius)!

If you thought breakdancin' movies had hit their zenith with "Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo", well - you'd be right! But another great film is Style Wars, which is an amazing documentary that chronicles the rise of hiphop culture in the early 80's. But you know what's even cooler? The Style Wars website! With amazing Flash animation and great interactivity, this website is the perfect way to celebrate the re-issue of Style Wars on DVD.

First off, we're not even 100% sure what this site's about. Ostensibly, it has something to do with Sony's Aiwa product line. But in reality, it appears to be some strange Tokyo-flavored trip through a cartoon wonderland populated by strange and interesting creatures. Which is actually far cooler than a site that has anything to do with Sony's Aiwa product line.

As everyone knows, Halloween is Steve's favorite holiday (and if you didn't know... um... you know now!). And just in time for that one night where we embrace thrills, chills and tooth decay, comes this great site that has everything you'd ever want to know about the spooktacular. There's even a great "Top 10 Halloween songs" on the site right now! So check out some ghost stories and prepare to scare the bejesus out of the kids in your neighborhood.

Even without the really cool name, Giant Robot would be a really cool magazine. Covering all aspects of Tokyo's underground youth culture, it... What's that? Why should you care about Tokyo and/or its underground youth culture? Because Tokyo is light-years ahead of us in terms of technology, fashion and "let's-throw-it-at-the-wall-and-see-if-it-sticks" attitude, that's why! And thanks to Giant Robot, we knew what a "harajuku girl" was waaaay before you and Gwen Stefani did. So there.

What if we told you that there was this great annual competition for Flash animators? And what if we told you that some of the most entertaining and challenging short animations on the Net were a result of this competition? Well, we couldn't, because... it's The Greatest Story NEVER Told! (Sorry for the bad pun, but we just couldn't resist. Just click the link, watch some cool online cartoons and we'll pretend this never happened.)

Thanks to the suckers...uh... kind folks at Universal Sydication, tons of comic strips are available for your reading enjoyment free of charge! From old favorites like Calvin and Hobbes, to newer strips like The Boondocks, as well as online exclusives, you can wile away hours laughing your tuckus off when you know you should be working. We sure love helping you slack, huh?

So, you want to become an art collector, but you don't have the scratch for that Picasso you've got your eye on? Art-o-mat lets you get in on the ground floor with original, one-of-a-kind artwork that's cheap ($5) and easy to access (through the magic of old cigarette machines). Art and Tobacco nostalgia? That's a win-win if we ever saw one!

Every where you turn it's blog this, blog that. Blogs are everywhere now! And you want in, right? Welcome to WordPress. As it states on its homepage, WordPress is "free and priceless at the same time", helping anyone who wants to blog churn out elegant, easy-to-use blogs for consumption on the World Wide Web.

Sure, Matrix 2 and 3 were the worst sequels ever produced. Sure, Matrix parodies are all over the Internet. Sure, this particular parody is really a front for vegetarian activists. But you know what? It's funny. And sometimes that's enough.

With the massive letdown that was Star Wars Episodes I and II, a group
of dedicated fanboys (and fangirls) spent the last 3 years making the ultimate fan-film. And if you think this particular online flick will be just another showcase of bad acting, weak story structure and utter geekiness, well, you're absolutely right. But the production value is nothing short of astonishing and the passion for the material is undeniable. Sorry, Mr. Lucas, but THIS is how you make a Star Wars movie.

With the modest goal of eventually cataloguing all human knowledge,
Wikipedia, the web's largest encyclopedia, can be read and edited by
anyone the world over... for free! Encyclopedia Britanni-who?

It's the great conundrum of the 21st century: How does one stay informed of the quality of newly-released films, while not having the time to actually read any movie reviews? Let Rotten Tomatoes do it for you! Instead of reading one film critic, Rotten Tomatoes assembles the opinions of hundreds of critics and spits out an easy-to-digest percentage. Anything above 60% = "The Matrix". Anything below 60% = "The Matrix: Revolutions".