Countdown Four Days: Reasons I am happy Al Gore invented the internet

The internet is a great time waster and information giver. Here's a few sites I love that do both at the same time.

http://postsecret.blogspot.com/

I love this site for many reasons. The artistry involved in the postcards is amazing. Someone worked VERY hard on each of these cards; the telling of the secret, even though it's anonymous, takes a lot. It's freeing, releasing, and at the same time, confining and painful. When I write, sometimes I have to come up with a secret that a character has; they all have secrets. This is a good place to look for the secrets. Also a wonderful jumping off point. The unfortunate part about PostSecret is that they don't have an archive. I would suggest cutting and pasting the ones that call to you in a file--I have and it's getting big.

http://www.alternativebabynames.com/

http://www.babynames.co.uk/Baby_name_generator.htm

I've used both of these baby name websites with good results. I do, however, stick to the baby name book I bought at the age of 10 at a local bookstore. I can still remember the very strange look I got from the woman who sold it to me.

http://www.durhamtownship.com/index.html

I can't even remember how I discovered this site. I am just glad I did. Kathleen Connally's photography captures the beauty of a land I always picture in my plays. I came from a city, but at heart I've always wanted to live in these pictures. Beautiful and inspiring.

http://www.wordle.net/

This is an interesting site. You can put the text of what you are working on into it, and it will make a word cloud based on how prominent certain words are. It's pretty cool to see what stands out most. It kind of helps when you're stuck with things and can't see the forest for the trees.

http://k4-pacific.com/nametown.php

One of the most helpful sites I've found was a random town name generator that no longer exists. That stinks. This one seems pretty good, although I just found it online.

http://www.fark.com

This site is great for headlines. They usually have some pretty interesting stories on there. I have at least three plays written because of fark.com.

http://www.mentalfloss.com

This site is full of all the information you never thought you would want to know or needed to know. I apologize in advance for suggesting you look at this site; say goodbye to your evening.