This page lists most of my favorite websites. Some of them, such as IMDB, Grapevine Video, and the Library of Congress online catalog, are sites I have frequented for almost a decade now.
silentera.com
I'm an admitted fan of silent films. Here you can find information on dozens and dozens of silent film releases on DVD and VHS, as well as a database of silent actors and film preservation status.
IMDB (imdb.com)
What can I say? The best site for movie information on the web. If you're looking for any information on cast, crew, actor filmographies, or even acting and editing goofs for particular movies, this is the place to go. There's a premium version available as well.
DVD Beaver (dvdbeaver.com)
For those of you who, like me, don't like to be constrained in your entertainment choices to a single DVD region or video format, this is the place to go for reviews and comparisons of different DVD releases worldwide. Be forewarned, however, that this site features some very large graphic images and pages and is not at all suitable for dial up.
Unknown Video (unknownvideo.com)
Another source for high-quality silent films. Transfers are generally excellent.
Sunrise Silents (sunrisesilents.com)
Based in Middletown, Rhode Island, Sunrise Silents offers good quality DVD-R's of movies from the silent era, with color tinting and windowboxed video transfers. They offer the unique option of purchasing discs in either NTSC or PAL format. They also offer reproductions of periodicals from the silent era on CD-R.
Grapevine Video (grapevinevideo.com)
A source for rare and unique films for nearly twenty years, Grapevine Video specializes in mostly public domain releases of rare and obscure titles from the silent and early sound eras. Picture quality can vary widely, especially on the rarer titles. More recent releases, however, have shown a marked improvement in both audio and video and in the quality of the transfers. I obtained my copy of the original 1914 Pearl White serial The Perils of Pauline through them in 2006.
Facets Video (facets.org)
Facets Video is the ultimate resource for domestically available movie releases on DVD, VHS, and (very rarely nowadays) laserdisc. They contract with every major video distributor and countless numbers of independent and mom-and-pop operations to offer the widest possible selection to be found anywhere, including many titles that can be found virtually nowhere else. Facets also features a fully operational theater in the city of Chicago, IL that I have never been to, but would love to visit someday.
Dr. Macro's High Quality Movie Scans (doctormacro.info)
Just as the name suggests, this site is a treasure trove of extremely high quality (and very high resolution) images of the movie stars of yesterday, featuring such luminaries as Clara Bow, James Cagney, Clark Gable, Bette Davis, Bing Crosby, and many, many others going back to the silent era. The site also features film clips, Vitaphone and other shorts, and even downloadable songs and radio shows. Very highly recommended. (Note: the images in the galleries on this site are extremely large, with resolutions as high as 1,737 x 2,151 pixels or larger - compare this to the standard screen resolution of 1024 x 768. A high speed connection is recommended.)
Silent-Movies.com
A kind of "front page" to a number of other silent movie-related pages and sites. It also includes its own "silent movie multiplex," where you can download a few movies in QuickTime format.
The San Francisco Silent Film Festival (silentfilm.org)
If you're in the San Francisco area, you should check this out. How often do you get to see silent films on a big screen? They also offer a few items for sale, mostly notably DVD's of two films from Chinese silent film great Ruan Ling Yu.
(Sadly, my all-time favorite silent film site, The Silents Majority, went offline several years ago)
Jammer's Reviews (jammersreviews.com)
Reviews of science fiction-related television series, including all five major Star Trek series. The premier site on the Web for Star Trek reviews.
Archeophone Records (archeophone.com)
I'm a fan of many different kinds of music. I can dig something that's new and underground, or something recorded over 100 years ago that is anything but. Archeophone has been offering CD's of recordings going back to the acoustic era since 19xx. More recent releases have also spotlighted different recording artists and companies as late as the 1930's. [mention different series here]. I've been a customer of this company since it started up in the late 90's, and I will doubtless continue to be one for many years to come.
tinfoil.com
The oldest extant recordings in the world, from the earliest era of commercial recording, are sampled here. You can listen to RealAudio and Windows Media samples of songs recorded a century ago, and browse through a brief educational tour about the history of wax recording. Tinfoil.com will [also] transfer your old wax cylinders to CD for free provided you allow them to use the recordings, and the site offers CD's of music transferred from old wax cylinders. No one else goes as far back as this guy goes - the oldest recordings featured on these CD's are from circa 1885! A digital transfer of the world's oldest playable recording, made on a lead cylinder in 1877, is also featured here.
Phonozoic
A site dedicated to the history of early sound recordings. CD's of early recordings are offered, as well as reproductions of old phonography-related articles, and a wealth of links to other sites.
Ace Records (acerecords.co.uk)
Britain's premier oldies reissue label, specializing in reissues of material from the 50's and 60's. Ace is similar to America's Rhino Records, but offers a far wider variety of both classic and lesser-known recordings with up to 30 songs per CD. Some of their CD series include The Golden Age of American Rock 'n' Roll, Teen Beat, and Fabulous Flips, a collection of B-sides of popular American singles from the 50's and 60's.
Jazzpromo (jazzpromo.com)
A Canadian-based site specializing in a variety of jazz styles from early to acid and everything in between. It was through this site that I was first introduced to the music of Canadian jazz singer Alex Pangman.
No Life Til Metal (nolifetilmetal.com)
Hundreds of metal albums are reviewed on this site, including a number of bootleg releases and a few non-metal titles. This site is maintained and run by Scott Waters, vocalist for Ultimatum, and represents his personal collection of titles.
archive.org
The source for hundreds of freely downloadable public domain films, video, and audio recordings. Archive.org also features archived [websites, etc]. It also features a large archive of [lossless/Grateful Dead type stuff]. Highly recommended, but hardly/not suitable for dial-up.
yesasia.com
The premier source for imported and domestic releases of Southeast Asian films and music. They carry items no one else has, and unlike so many ersatz Asian releases, all of them are legitimate. Often there will be multiple versions of a movie from different areas to choose from (Korea, Japan, China, etc.) I have bought quite a few DVD's and video CD's from this site, and the prices and shipping costs are generally quite reasonable.
Atari Age (atariage.com)
Would you believe there are NEW games being produced for the Atari 2600 gaming system? Check out this site for reviews of classic games
and the site that introduced me to ROM's and classic video game emulation. Recommended.
Phosphor Dot Fossils (thelogbook.com/phosphor)
A treasure trove of reviews of retro gaming systems, going all the way back to the original Odyssey console (1972). Rare units as the Vectrex and the Aquarius are also covered here, and there are reviews of several game titles as well. (Note: some pages on this site will not display correctly in Firefox/Netscape browsers).
The Library of Congress Online Catalog (catalog.loc.gov)
Here you can search the entire Library of Congress catalog by author name, title, keyword, ISBN number, etc. I have used this resource to help me compile author bibliographies on several occasions.
bookfinder.com
A good resource for locating old and/or collectible volumes. I used it to find an early copy of Merrie England, a collection of socialist essays published by Robert Blatchford in 1893, and have used it to locate long out of print books published during the 1930's and earlier. You can search the online inventories of all the book sellers in the database.
Wikipedia (wikipedia.org)
The online encyclopedia that anyone can edit. That being said, the information is generally quite accurate and usually annotated with sources listed. A great site to get lost in on a rainy day.
Newspaper Archive.com (newspaperarchive.com)
An online compendium of old newspaper stories and articles, including scans of full newspaper pages. Recommended for the history buff.
Jews Against Circumcision (jewsagainstcircumcision.org)
Pretty self-explanatory here. This group gives reasons against infant circumcision that can take religious reasons into account. Recommended.
Mothers Against Circumcision (mothersagainstcircumcision.org)
Again, pretty self-explanatory. Highly recommended.
The Deep Ellum Enrichment Project [D.E.E.P.] (deepellumproject.org)
D.E.E.P.
I was a member of this group for about a year, from September 2006 until late August 2007.
Utilikilts (utilikilts.com)
Reed from Meat Goat introduced me to this company, which is dedicated to the production and sale of "American-made utility kilts for everyday wear." I haven't gotten up the nerve to get one myself, and I'm not Scottish so I'm not sure I belong in a kilt anyway, but you should check it out.
Landover Baptist (landoverbaptist.com)
A wickedly acerbic and biting take-off on fundamentalist bigotry. Definitely not for those with no sense of humor.
XE Currency Converter (xe.com)
Quick and simply conversions between any of the world's currencies. Try not to get too disillusioned over the diminishing value of the the U.S. dollar.
About Me | Favorite Places | Favorite Sites | Favorite Movies | Calendar | Cool People and Things | Return to Home Page