screenwriter.ca
by Andy Riga
Fun and Games
Tired of working? But still willing to risk more repetitive strain? Here's where writers can go to have fun (good, clean fun) on the web.
The mouse wanders. You're looking for something and the Google search sends you off in another direction. Before you know it, you've strayed so far from what you were looking for you can't remember how you got there. Not that you're complaining. You've stumbled onto something fascinating.
If you're battling writer's block, having an Internet connection a few clicks away is bound to induce procrastination. Then again, even workaholics realize that taking breaks can be healthy.
Laughs
"48-Hour Internet Outage Plunges Nation Into Productivity," blared a recent headline on The Onion (www.theonion.com). The satirical online magazine, updated weekly and featuring a big archive, is usually good for a laugh or two. So is the online diary of Miami Herald humour columnist Dave Barry (http://davebarry.blogspot.com/). Among his postings are links to quirky articles and submissions from his fans.
Some other humour sites to keep you amused: About.com–Political Humor (http://politicalhumor.about.com/), Rec.humor.funny jokes (www.netfunny.com/rhf/), Daryl Cagle's Professional Cartoonists Links (http://cagle.slate.msn.com/) and Comics.com (www.comics.com).
Games
Sure, online games are addictive but at least with Yahoo! Games (http://games.yahoo.com/) you can pretend they're helping you sharpen your wordsmith skills. Nine of the site's games are word-related. Some, like Scrabble-knockoff Literati, are played in groups against strangers or friends. Tens of thousands of players are online at any given moment so don't worry about finding an opponent. Other games, such as Bookworm (in which you have to detect words from jumbled letters on a game board), let you play on your own. Crosswords are another option. Beware if you're weak-willed: the site gives you the option of revealing words that have you stumped. Or, for a monthly fee, spend a bit of time doing the New York Times crossword puzzle, alone or head-to-head (www.nytimes.com/pages/crosswords).
Words
If you love words, you'll love word-a-day newsletters and web pages. Word Spy (www.wordspy.com), by Toronto writer Paul McFedries, will keep you abreast of recently coined words and phrases, as well as old words that are being used in new ways. Subscribers get an email every weekday containing a word, definition, recent citation and background information. A.Word.A.Day, with 550,000 subscribers, is another good bet (www.wordsmith.org). You'll also find word-a-day web pages, from sites such as Oxford English Dictionary (www.oed.com/cgi/display/wotd), Merriam-Webster (www.m-w.com) and Dictionary.com (http://dictionary.reference.com/)
TV ads
People usually hate TV ads, but somehow it's OK when you can pick and choose what you watch. That's why AdCritic.com became an online sensation. Alas, you now have to pay to watch ads on AdCritic (US$ 99.95 per year; a bit steep for casual browsers). But you can still watch ads online for free. A site called Visit4Info (www.visit4info.com) features thousands of British ads, which is just fine because the Brits have a knack for making them cheeky and entertaining.
Instant messaging
Instant messaging is a cross between email and the telephone, allowing you to communicate by typing in real time with people of your choosing. Use it to chit-chat with friends, keep in touch with colleagues, or brainstorm scenes with a collaborator. The software and services are free, and available from AOL (www.aim.com), ICQ (http://web.icq.com/) Microsoft (http://messenger.msn.com/) and Yahoo! (http://messenger.yahoo.com/). To make it work, you and your pen-pal will have to use the same software.
Movie trailers
They used to be what stood between theatre-goers and feature films. Now, people seek them out online. Start at the Internet Movie Database (www.imdb.com/Sections/Trailers/), and don't miss Apple Computer's trailer page (www.apple.com/trailers/). Other sites to peruse: ComingSoon.net (www.comingsoon.net/trailers/) and Movie-Page.com (www.movie-page.com/trailers.htm).
News
Google News, which lets you sift through reports from 4,500 news sources, has a useful feature called News Alerts (www.google.com/newsalerts). Set it up and the site automatically sends you an email when there's news about a topic you're interested in. It will shoot you a message every time the word or phrase of your choosing–say, "Canadian drama" or "Atlantic Film Festival"–appears in an article. Set your email program to filter all messages from Google into a folder and scan them when you have a few minutes to kill.
The BBC's enormous news site (www.bbcnews.com) can keep you clicking for hours. Read up on the latest, scan headlines by continent or read in-depth reports on hot topics. Yahoo! News (http://dailynews.yahoo.com) does a good job of organizing stories from many sources. Click on Entertainment to zero in on news about movies, TV and the industry in general.
Two other sites worth bookmarking: Drudge Report (www.drudgereport.com) and Bourque Newswatch (www.bourque.com), which do a good job of culling links to the day's most interesting or unusual bits of news. Drudge–who first brought the Clinton/Lewinsky story to attention–is from the US, while Bourque is based in Ottawa.
How do the Internet and other technologies help you in the writing process? Send E-mail to andyriga@andyriga.com.
