Frightfully Well Spoken
Sydney Morning Herald
Monday November 20, 2006
Seamus Byrne brushes up on his grammar, seeks advice and then discovers some scary dolls.
SMARTAsk Oxfordwww.askoxford.comThe English language is anything but boring and the well-read crew at the Oxford Dictionary are here to prove it. At Ask Oxford you find some standard word treats, such as word of the day and quote of the week. A trip into the Ask the Experts area will leave you with some fine additions to the trivia bank. What is the longest word? Words with a "q" and no "u" following it? Add to this expert advice on spelling and grammar, good use of plain English, commonly confused words and a lot more. There are also word games such as hangman and a look at the five events that have shaped the history of the language.USEFULSquidoowww.squidoo.comLooking for a little advice for your business, a weekend project or just on something you find interesting? Squidoo lets visitors write "lenses", a place where they can share their expertise on any subject with the world. When you read a lens, you can give it a rating, which will add to its overall ranking. This makes searching Squidoo highly effective in giving you the best advice right away. There is some quality help here too, with Squidoo becoming a place for professionals to promote themselves by giving free quality advice. A sideline: the site's advertising revenue is directed to charity.FUNBrilliant But Cancelledwww.brilliantbutcancelled.comTelevision buffs hate spoilers. Or they love to hate spoilers. If you love TV then you love TV gossip and Brilliant But Cancelled (BBC) has some of the best coverage on all the latest US shows . TV news, blogs and videos are all here to get you up to speed. As the name implies, BBC is also obsessed with the "if" and "when" of new shows being cut down in their prime, with odds posted on how soon some shows will be axed. Foxtel subscribers will get the most out of BBC as many shows discussed aren't running on free-to-air. For Project Runway fans, you can't go past the collection of reject audition tapes.FREECraft Bitswww.craftbits.comGet set for the summer holidays with lots of free plans and patterns for craft projects. Projects you can do with the kids or things you can make to keep them happy. The crafts are neatly sorted into types, such as bath and body, beads, paper, knitting and Christmas. Each section has a big list of projects as well as a top-10 and sub-categories to help you find something you'd really like to do. Each project is then presented as a recipe, with materials and instructions plus a comments area. Whereas many other craft sites pilfer projects from all around the web, Craft Bits carries plans that are ?Creative Commons licensed TBC, which is a nice touch.WEIRDSinister Dollswww.sinisterdolls.comDolls can be spooky, but few people make freaky dolls their mission in life. Chad Savage brings "dead" dolls back to life. Or is that undeath? Either way, they have been rescued from garage sales or junk shops and, according to Savage, the more used and abused they are, the better. After his ghoulish operation, his dolls are put up for "adoption", though none are currently listed as available. He maintains an archive of the dolls that have found new homes to haunt. This is a launching point into the rest of the artist's macabre works.
© 2006 Sydney Morning Herald