We may be a little behind here at The Beehive on this whole "Snakes on a Plane" Internet phenomenon. (We're more into bees. I'll tell you, if it were "Bees on a Plane," we would have been all over it. You should have seen the coverage we would have given to Ulee's Gold." Plus, I'm not a big snakes guy. I do like comedy, though. And this thing looks funny as ... well.)
But there's a bevy of entertainment to be found about this summer's most anticipated movie. And you don't even have to see the film to enjoy it all. While the parody trailers differ in concept from the ones for "Brokeback Mountain," there are some creative Samuel L. Jackson enthusiasts out there. Here are some links to get you ready for Friday's opening (or 10 p.m. Thursday):
Although there is absolutely no connection between The Fresno Bee and BeeDogs.com, we wanted to share this delightful site with Beehive readers. In the tradition of Stuffonmycat.com,whose creator is from Fresno, this site is devoted entirely to found and submitted photos of -- get this -- dogs in bee outfits. Here is a The Friday Thingarticle about Gina Zycher, who stumbled upon and ran with this fabulous concept.
Not sure how we missed StuffOnMyCat.com, but would like to remedy the oversight as soon as possible. "Stuff + cats = awesome," asserts the site's banner, and the spread of pictures below it confirms that this is pretty much the truth. The site was created by Fresnovian designer Mario Garza.
George Berz of the streaming police scanner Web site ScanFresno.com (previously discussed here) sends along a note saying that he's switched to a new server and added some features to the site, including a discussion board.
When Fresno Famous editor Jarah Euston went to the BlogHer conference, she was interviewed by online media pioneer J.D. Lasica (co-creator of OurMedia). In the video interview, she talks about the roots of Famous, her hopes for the site, and her thoughts on citizen journalism.
Remember when we showed you satellite photos of Fresno landmarks on Google Maps? Well, Google recently unveiled a piece of software called Google Earth, and these satellite images beat the other ones hands-down. So, once again ...
Mike Seay, proprietor of the blog Audible Flux, is dipping his toes into the podcasting revolution. (See also, which Mike credits with getting him on the podwagon.) The theme of his second podcast is "former Fresnan from the City throws down love for the hometown." He is also podcasting about Wiffleball.
Remember the dot-com boom, with all those awesome companies that promised incredible services at bargain-basement prices? Remember Kozmo.com, the startup that employed couriers across the country to deliver convenience-store items to your doorstep? (Probably not. Kozmo.com only operated in nine cities, none of which was Fresno.)
Well, even after the dust from the dot-com boom is beginning to settle, there are still some crazy dot-com deals to be had, one of which is KeepMedia.com. For $4.95 a month, you can read through 12 years of online archives for more than 200 publications (ranging from FastCompany to Forbes to Family Circle to Men's Fitness), with articles up to the present-day. KeepMedia also has some pretty great clipping features, so you can hold on to articles you like.
Disclaimer: I have no personal stake in this company, other than hoping their crazy little mission subsumes all the other publications I subscribe to, like The New Yorker and Wired.
If you were a fan of The Meatrix, don't miss Store Wars, the latest salvo from graphics studio Free Range Studios in the food fight between organic and traditional farmers. According to Dennis Pollock's article in today's Business section, farm industry reps don't find the movie very funny. But maybe you will.
The Time Sink is a photoblog created and maintained by Clovite Dan Bowman. Dan says he usually wanders around his Clovis neighborhood with a Minolta Dimage camera in hand, looking for good shots of flora and fauna, with the occasional majestic landscape thrown in for good measure. Every now and then, he adds a touch to a photo that makes it just a little bit breathtaking. He says he started the site in 2000, posting a photo every now and then, before he turned it into an all-out photoblog in '03. Check it out for your semi-regular beauty fix.
"When it's 2 a.m. and you hear the (police) helicopter overhead and wonder what's going on, now you have a chance to find out," says George Berz, a local ham radio operator, private pilot and self-described "computer geek and nerd at heart." Berz is streaming the Fresno police scanner live on his Web site, ScanFresno.com.
Berz writes in an e-mail that he built the site to give folks the chance to hear the scanner without having to fuss with a lot of technology -- "no investment in radios and figuring out the antenna issues, programming the darned thing," etc. He wants "to build community awareness about real crimes and situations in Fresno. Not CSI-type stuff -- real, authentic and happening right now," he writes. "The police have to deal with a lot of ($@%#!) on a daily basis and this may make people more appreciative of all the things that they do," he writes. "Let's face it, a lot of people never interact with a police officer and when they do, most are just getting a traffic ticket."
With the announcement that Meetup.com will be charging groups to use the site, groups like the LiveJournal Fresno bunch and others are left without a free spot to organize their events online. Except not really. In his letter announcing Meetup.com's decision to charge users, company co-founder Scott Heiferman encourages groups to try the other free sites and see if they like the paid Meetup.com experience better.
So, in that spirit, one alternative is Upcoming.org, which looks like it covers some of the basics of the Meetup.com service, although it's less organization-focused and more event-focused. Meetin.org looks like it could one day be a contender, but it doesn't have a Fresno page yet. And of course, there's always Craigslist.
Among the most unique and varied stop-offs on the Fresno Web has got to be Neil'o Whispers, the blog of Neil, a self-described "proud 6'1" sardar." The site runs the gamut from funny to thought-provoking to evocative to beautiful to garbled, spanning a range of platforms, from audio to photography to fine art. Sometimes Neil's writing to and about California's Sikh community, but just as often he's writing about PS2 or Fresno in general. Spend an hour or two perusing Neil's archives sometime. It's worth it.
Speaking of corporate-owned businesses overshadowing Mom-n-Pop joints, the folks at MetaFilter this week pointed out Delocator.net, which lets you see how many independent cafés and how many Starbucks are listed for a given zip code (with the assumption that this will drive you away from the Starbucks and towards the indie coffeehouses). Don't know if this place is on the list yet, but new Fresno blogger Adrian Rodriguez is plugging the CyberSub Café by Palm and West in north Fresno, which he says features free wifi.
Late last year, Google purchased a satellite mapping company called Keyhole, and now they've linked that technology to Google Maps. So when you're giving people directions to your place, they can look in road map or satellite view.
FresnoBee.com gets a facial
"Bees on a Plane,"