Alternative Media & Political

Annals of Improbable Research - A glorious site celebrating the absurd. They promise something new and improbable every day. They also award the annual IgNobel Prize for achievements that make people laugh.

Spud Cannons - A website of information about potato ballistics. If you like destructive aesthetics you should also check out The Infamous Exploding Whale website.

Ooga Mooga - A new site dedicated to the collecting of Tiki mugs.

The Museum of Questionable Medical Devices - Is just that with tales of medical fraud and amazingly useless gadgets.

Banksy - This is the site of a British guerilla artist who travels the world making public art. His latest stuff is all over the illegal Isreali "security" wall.

Rebelión - This website is in Spanish only but has a million excellent articles and cartoons focusing on Latin American issues.

Common Dreams - "Breaking News & Views for the Progressive Community". Even though the name sucks, this is a great resource for finding the latest essays, viewpoints and articles by hundreds of progressive writers including Noam Chomsky, Ann Richards, Molly Ivins and Ralph Nader. Also check out the impish Russell Mokhiber's "Scottie& Me" archive. They also have a huge list of news services, media and periodicals.

The Memory Hole - Russ Kick is an author and fellow list freak. His web site is dedicated to rescuing knowledge and freeing information. He even managed to get photos of flag-draped coffins returning from Iraq.

Doctors Without Borders - Also known as Médecins Sans Frontières, DWB/MSF is a totally independant medical aid and relief agency who will go into the midth of any crtisis to provide essential medical aid wherever needed regadless of race, religion or politics.

Philosophical Toy World - A strange and lovely site. Brought to you by the Society for Etheric Research.

The Institute of Druidic Technology - A not-for-profit organization devoted to increasing man's understanding of ancient technologies.

WFMU - Quite simply the greatest radio station in the world. You can listen live over the Internet and buy crap from their store.

Speak Out - Although it's pop-up advertising can be really annoying, this is the best site for getting involved in causes with extensive links and information on activism campaigns such as abortion, death penalty, gay rights gun control, race relations and even downloading MP3 files. They also have lots of interactive polls.

BuzzFlash - An excellent portal site with headlines and links galore. It says here that "BuzzFlash provides headlines, news, and commentary for a geographically-diverse, politically-savvy, pro-democracy, anti-hypocrisy web audience, reaching 2.5 million visitors a month and growing".

A rabbit that balances things on it's head - One of my personal favorite Japanese sites which has other rabbit balancing links. There's even a fan site in English.

Working For Change - This is a fantastic site by a wonderful "Working Assets" organization. Lots of good stuff to browse and buy.

The Museum of Jurassic Technology - The most wonderful museum in the world. If you are ever in Culver City go check out stink ants, melting dice and the Horn of Mary Davis of Saughill.

MoveOn.org - This organisation has been in the news quite a bit lately. Their goal is to bring "ordinary people back into politics".

CIA plots to kill Fidel Castro - Excellent account of the some 6000 assassination attempts the Cuban president has survived at the hands of the CIA and Miami exiles.

Media Channel - A media issues "supersite", featuring criticism, breaking news, and investigative reporting from hundreds of organizations worldwide. They have a great serach engine for specific media issues. There is also access to hundreds of media issues organizations from all points on the globe. These include media watch groups, university journalism departments, professional organizations, anti-censorship monitors, and trade publications.

Cereal Art - Sadly not a website dedicated to Quisp boxes, but if you need a sad ghost lamp or a pupcup, then this is the site for you. Wonderful and cool designer items.

The Orphanage of Cast off Mascots - Adopt a homeless mascot and make the world a better place.

Suck.com - One day it will return but you can still enjoy the reruns.

Cursor.org - Cursor is a fantastic site with some great cartoons and humor pieces. Cursor combines original material with a daily-updated media and politics Web log that comments upon and links to the work of major news organizations, as well as to other critical, independent voices published on the Internet.

Scary Squirrel World - A site full of squirrel news and information.

Cheeky Squirrel Net - Absurd and nutty squirrel activities, blogs. news and squirrel movie reviews.

In These Times - Another magazine web site with lots of original articles. In These Times is an independent political newsmagazine. "As a not-for-profit publication supported entirely by our readers, we are free from the need to conform to advertisers or from the dictates of corporate headquarters."

Singing Kittens - It's as bizarre as it sounds. Imagine if Destiny's Child were from northern England and comprised of cats.

Democracy Now! - From the goold folks at Pacifica. Democracy Now! is a national, daily, independent, award-winning news program airing on over 140 stations in North America .

Alternet - First launched in 1998, AlterNet's online magazine provides a mix of news, opinion and investigative journalism on subjects ranging from the environment, the drug war, technology and cultural trends to policy debate, sexual politics and health issues.

AntiWar.com - A libertarian group (in the pure sense of the word) focused on what they call a "Pro-America" and "non-interventionist" campaign. They update the site every day with excellent links to daily postings and articles from around the web and the world's newspapers regarding issues of war and peace.

Harpers Monkey Index - Yes, it really is list of monkey-related events in the news.

Transom.org - Excellent resource for DIY music and radio resources

Alternative Radio - Alternative Radio is a weekly one-hour public affairs program presented by David Barsanyan which is given away free to public and community radio stations. AR provides information, analyses and views that are frequently ignored or distorted in other media.

Dennis Skinner - The Labour MP for Bolsover since 1970. He often heckles the Queen and refuses to be paid more that the average wage of his constituency.

Color Lines - Great site for minorities issues. "We bring together the leading thinkers and organizers of color and the leading writers on race to speak on the issues, the organizing, the arts, the ideas of our time."

Adbusters - the web site of the ad-less magazine.

Disinfopedia - Disinfopedia is a free encyclopedia of propaganda that is being written collaboratively. It catalogues descriptions of PR firms, activist groups and government agencies as well as the criticisms that are made of these groups from different perspectives.

FAIR: Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting - I can't say enough about this organization. Check out their web site and support them in any way you can.

Granma - The Cuban state newspaper. Excellent site for getting the true alternative viewpoints. The online version of Cuba's Granma is one of the 100 most-read online newspapers and is available in Spanish, English, Portuguese, French and German.

Hightower Radio - Jim Hightower's site. He could be the only clear thinking man in Texas.

Wheely Willy - The web site of a cute mobility-impaired dog

Green Party - Even if their presidential candidates stand little chance of being elected, America's third parties have historically promoted concepts and policies that have been incorporated as important parts of our social and political lives.

Vegetarian Resources - Includes millions of links to other sites like the Vegetarian Society for people who don't like to eat anything with a face.

World Socialism Web site is a great site with some cartoons on it. There are also some good socialism links at the Socialism Web SIte

Grubby Kid - this is an excellent and original site with a plethora of geeky goodies. They have an excellent links page to truely bizarre sites.

American Atheist - offers so interesting commentary on the Bush "faith-based" agenda. In the worlds of Luis Buñuel "Thank God I'm an atheist".

Bush or Chimp - A site of inspired genius.

Global Exchange - Global Exchange is an international human rights organization dedicated to promoting environmental, political and social justice . I used to work for them so I can personally vouch for their impeccable credentials.

ActivistNet - This is an impressive site featuring news, networking and nearly 13,000 resources in some 340 categories.

Carrie - It's an on-line, electronic library including some banned books!

Mr. Winkle - The cutest dog in the world.

Sam - The Ugliest Dog in the World - Voted the world’s ugliest dog three years running, this poor blind hairless dog is so hideous it’s cute.

Cuba Solidarity/InfoMed USA - Clearinghouse for information on the blockade of Cuba. This site has a ton of other Cuba related links. Also, if you want to donate old computers for use in the Cuban medical system, these are the guys to contact.

Latino Issues Forum - "LIF addresses public policy issues from the perspective of how they will affect the social and economic future of the Latino community.

The Smirking Chimp - News and message boards tracking our simian-like 43rd president.

Wonderella - Website of Clint Marsh who publishes all sorts of curious and wonderful pamphlets and books.

Global Issues - Over 5000 links to external articles, web sites reports and analysis are used to provide credence to the arguments made on this web site. The issue categories range from trade, poverty and globalization, to human rights, geopolitics and the environment.

Leftist Parties of the World - This page contains the entire spectrum of political parties, organizations and groups which consider themselves to be leftist or have origins in leftist movements. Tons of links.

David Sedaris - makes me laugh out loud. There is another unofficial page here.

The Complete History of the Banana - A bunch (sic) of information about the second greatest fruit in the world Including banana recipes and medicinal uses of bananas. Did you know the banana plant is not a tree? It is actually the world's largest herb! More banana stuff here.

The Institute of Official Cheer - Where the past is brought back to life, and promptly beaten to death again! You'll find old favorites like the Gallery of Regrettable Food and the Grooviest Hotel in Wisconsin.

ZNet - Last but not least, ZNet publishes the wordy Z Magazine with regular contributions from Noam Chomsky, Barbara Ehrenreich, Michael Albert, Katha Pollitt, and Howard Zinn.

Art, Music & Cartoons

Boing Boing - A self-styled directory of wonderful things. It used to be a fanzine and now it's a blog crammed full of bizarre and interesting trivia.

The Cartoonist - Cartoonist Ralf Zeigermann runs a kind of retro art, vintage ad, hot rod, B-movie blog site here. There's also some stuff about 1970s German punk bands.

Dull Men's Club - A celebration of the ordinary with all sorts of boring information including a list of the direction of airport luggage carousel from around the world and different ways to tie your shoelaces.

Troubletown - Lloyd Dangle is based in my former home of Oakland. His weekly strip appears in all the best alternative weeklies and you can by cute little books of his comics.

Found - An excelent website and a magazine dedicated to esoteric items , photos and things that people have chanced upon.

Comiclopedia - A dutchman has compiled this extensive encyclopedia of comic artists complete with examples.

McSweeneys - The curiously wonderful home of Timothy McSweeney's Internet Tendency and McSweeney's books, publisher of Mr. Dave Eggers who founded the amazing pirate store at 826 Valencia Street in San Francisco.

Roy Smeck - Quite simply the greatest string ukulele player ever! Known as the "Wizard of the Strings" he could play pretty much any stringed instrument. Although I'm partial to his ukulele stuff he also played a mean steal guitar. You can listen to some music here.

B. Mossman - A fabulous artist and musician. He writes tunes for kids TV and you can download some MP3 files from his site.

The Museum of Unworkable Devices - A celebration of fascinating devices that don't work.

ZNet Toon Index - Lots of cools artists post their stuff here.

This Modern World - Tom Tomorrows site with more than just excellent weekly cartoons.

Topplebush.com - More links to cartoons who really don't like the current US president.

Javier Mariscal - A fantastic modernist spanish artist and cartoonist, known for his Barcelona olympics mascot but his other stuff is even cooler.

Mike Wuerker - Great artist, great cartoonist.

Jottoworld - The web site for J. Otto Seibold who is more than just a kids book illustrator. Check out the anarchic Flash extravaganza. Kids will love the Mixulator and Bubblesoap.

Professional Cartoonists Index - A site maintained by Daryl Cagle who has links to just about every political cartoon ever listed by category.

John Hersey - Another bizarre and brilliant site. John Hersey is San Anselmo's finest and could in fact be completely mad.

Lalo Alcaraz - Lalo is an internationally published editorial cartoonist who has been drawing the self syndicated comic panel "La Cucaracha" in the Los Angeles Weekly since 1992.

Kooch-e-Koo - Cute website for retro-hip Los Angeles-based artist Miles Thompson. He is interested in Rempel squeek toys and osteology (which is the is the scientific study of bones)

La Luz De Jesus Gallery - The Mecca for all things hip in Los Angeles. The gallery which showcases underground artist in the post-pop retro-chic style was founded by Billy Shire the “Peggy Guggenheim of Lowbrow." For mondo materialists in need of a retail therapy fix, the “gift shop” is like a supermarket of the most amazing publications and artifacts you can buy on planet earth.

Lunar Boy - A serious playground of art, design + more. Inspired by “anything from the 1930s on, when the modern era becomes fun, warm, and nostalgic”.

Mitch O'Connell - Mitch O’ Connell makes devil art.

Ningyoushi - Mmmmm… tofu blocks. Cool designer toys for the savvy collector. If you live in San Francisco go spend money at their store and make them happy.

Copronason - A Santa Monica art gallery with some ultra-hip prints for sale and a Tiki gallery.

Dig Dugs - A Bloo Empire Store which sells flamingo art and designer toys.

Juxtapoz - The arts and culture magazine for art, artist and arty products. It has a really useful gallery guide plus like one gazillion links including some that defy classification.

Diesel Sweeties - It’s a webcomic by Mac addict and pixel perfect Richard Stevens. He also sells a “Monkeys are good people” t-shirt. If you buy one, people will stop you in the street and ask you where you got it from.

Museum of Bad Art - The MOBA is the world's only museum dedicated to the collection, preservation, exhibition and celebration of bad art in all its forms.

Super Bad - A truly bizarre but inspired site with lots of information about knots.

Strangeco - Purveyors of the perculiar. They sell designer toys, art and curiosities and have a great number of links.

Tim Biskup - Tim Biskup is an artist inspired by mid-century modern design infused with a healthy dose of punk rock energy.

Ted Rall - Ted Rall, America's hardest-hitting (and often contraversial) editorial cartoonist for Universal Press Syndicate, is an award-winning commentator who also works as an illustrator, columnist, and radio commentator. He's also an expert on oil pipelines in the Middle East.

Carol Ley - According to her web site Carol just got divorced but she's a brilliant cartoonist. Buy her stuff and make her happy.

Mark Fiore - the Internet animation cartoonist. Mark Fiore is a political cartoonist currently living in San Francisco, the Promised Land of satirists. His animated political cartoons appear on various media web sites and are seen by millions, possibly even scrillions. Formerly the staff political cartoonist for the San Jose Mercury News, Fiore now focuses exclusively on political animation.

Aaron McGruder - Boondocks artist. Aaron seeks to provoke thought, help improve the state of racial discourse and expand the types of humor found on comics pages. He's a near-fanatical "Star Wars" fan and a hip-hop enthusiast of the greatest magnitude.

Al Jareerah cartoons site - In English.... and yes, arabs do have a sense of humor as well. Tons of anti-bush and Arab cartoons.

Kirktoons - Kirk Anderson is yet another cartoonist living in the Twin Cities. His work is widely published and highly amusing.

Gary Trudeau - Still the most intelligent syndicated strip. Also doubles as the slate.com web site.

Fantagraphics - Site for great comic book artists like Dan Clowes and Peter Bagge.

Eye of the Beholder - Peter Keiper is almost too famous to be on this page. Eye of the Beholder was actually the first first comic strip to regularly appear in The New York Times.

Slowpoke.com - This site is the work of Jen Sorensen, the author and artist behind "Slowpoke," a weekly cartoon that runs in numerous alternative newspapers around the country. She currently lives in Charlottesville, Virginia.

George Herriman - George Herriman was a true genius and this is a great site of the Krazy Kat artist.

Jan Svankmajer - The great Czech animator and surrealist. There's another site here.

Lynda Barry - Lynda Barry is awesome. Read her strips, buy her books and make her feel loved.

Shag - (Real name JoSH AGle) The hippest painter/illustrator /designer ever. He lives in Southern California.

Cat & Girl - An intelligent and wonderful web comic strip by Dorothy Gambrel.

America's Shrine to Music Museum - Photos of instruments from around the world.

Aki Kaurismaki / Leningrad Cowboys - Aki Kaurismaki is a Finnish filmmaker who makes darkly comic masterpieces. Leningrad Cowboys are a rock band spinoff from one of his movies and make CDs.

Monsterism - A beautiful site that sells cool models and figurines.

Kid Robot - Another site that sells cool action figures.

Planet Cartoonist - Lots of useful stuff for cartoonists.

Life in Hell - Matt Groening's other masterpiece. Also check out the Simpsons links here

Huck-Konopacki Labor Cartoons - Gary Huck and Mike Konopacki are two hardworking cartoonist from Wisconsin. They maintain an excellent site which has lots of cartoons and links.

Alligator Boogaloo - Jerrold Connors is a Canadian cartoonist and a ukulele player. Also check out the fantastic Ukulele Hall of Fame , the Ukulele Occasional Magazine and the essential Ukulelia.

Cordelia Records - The greatest music you've never heard. Buy all of their CDs and make them rich.

TikiNews - The site of all things Tiki. They do an excellent sporadically appearing magazine. Keep it going Otto.

Roadkill.com - The site of Ken & Avidor who produce Illichville, Gondwanaland and Roadkill Bill.

Batemania - Scott Bateman hates Bush almost as much as I do.

Cornmania - Another great alternative weekly classic by Eric Bezdek

Ginger Geezer - is a site dedicated to Vivian Stanshall, the definitive English eccentric and founder of the Bonzo Dog Band. He sadly died a few years ago. There's an "official tribute" site as well.

Minimum Security - Site by cartoonist, filmmaker and activist Stephanie McMillan.

Reverb Central - Phil Dirt's website for surf instrumental enthusiasts.

Sidewalk Bubblegum - Clay Butler's site of cartoons, comics and stuff.

The City - Derf went to school with serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer and now lives in Cleveland.

The K Kronicles - Keith Knight's klassic komic.

Bob the Angry Flower - The "official" website of artist Stephen Notley who also reviews movies and he even has a fan club.

Sutton Impact - NY-based Ward Sutton is the man responsible for this site. You can find his weekly strip here. He also does posters for rock bands.

Last Exit - A fine strip drawn by Andy Singer which appears in dozens of weeklys.

Negativland - Contra Costa Counties finest alternative noise source and pioneers of Intelectual property rights issues.

Black Cat Orchestra - One of my favorite bands. They are impossible to define—wildly ecclectic world music at best.

The No Smoking Orchestra - A Serbo Croat gypsy techno-rock band.

Mano Negra - An awesome French/Spanish band that spurned Manu Chao. More eclectic bizarre wild world music. Sort of like The Clash meats They Might Be Giants.

Astrid Hadad - The Latina Liberace. Astrid Hadad is an amazing performance artist diva from Mexico.

Large Cow - This is Hunt Emmerson's web site. He's a fellow Brit and has been drawing since before I was born which is a pretty damn long time. He draws Calculus Cat, the cat that hates TV and this site has a random curse generator.

Sharptoons - Home of editorial cartoonist Joe Sharpnack. He may be from Iowa but he is also the drummer for Oink Henderson and The Squealers.

Rutlemania - The site for fans of the Prefab Four. The Rutles are in fact so popular that there are several others sites you can visit here, here and here (the official Neil Innes site which has lots of free MP3 files to download).

Rolf Harris - Rolf Harris is a multi-talented performer, artist and British celebrity. Born in Australia he taught me how to swim. Adam Ant also ripped off a Rolf Harris song and hat a number one hit with it. He has a fan site here.

ReR Mail order - Cheap and excellent mail order source for experimental, esoteric, eccentric and exotic recordings.

Lileks - The obsessive website of James Lileks. Among other things you'll find lots of bizarre postcards plus forgotten comic strips from the 20s, 30s, 40s and beyond.

Astropitch - Is another excellent label. Astropitch is brought to you by the same folks who lovingly brought you Astroclam (they used to be called "Clamazon" but some lawyers out an end to that folly) and Ralph America (home of The Residents).

Citrus Links - Links to all lemon related web sites except (curiously) this one.