Best Online TV Listings // Gist // (www.gist.com) Not only the gist, it's also extensive daily listings, including programming lists for premium cable channels, customizable skeds, and smart editorial content. Far superior to your average offline TV guide.

Best Show Site // Mr. Show // (www.mrshow.com) Bob & David, the guys behind HBO's cult alterna-comedy hit Mr. Show, have built a gag-laden screen's worth of comic weirdness, including a QuickTime clip of the brilliant movie-trailer spoof Coupon.

Best Narrow-Subject TV Site // TV Single Dads Hall of Fame // (www.user.shentel.net/jimokane/tvdad.html) Real-life single dad Jim O'Kane's site devoted to the small-screen single pop is the repository of info on the Ben Cartwrights and Andy Griffiths of the TV scene.

Best Snarky TV Site //TV Hole // (www.tvhole.com) The black hole of lame TV programming gets its comeuppance on this sly and witty site that skewers so-called must-see TV. The verdict on this season's new shows: They stink.

Best Episode Guide // The Episode Guides Page // (www.xnet.com/~djk/ main_page.shtml) From The A-Team to The Young Ones, this stellar site offers links to breakdowns on virtually every TV show ever broadcast. Full of obsessive minutiae about the shows, too.

Best Web-Based Game // You Don't Know Jack: The Net Show // (www.bezerk.com) The wiseacre, hugely popular CD-ROM games made a seamless transition online last spring, with the same tongue-in-cheek questions and new multiplayer tourneys offering cash prizes.

Best Web Soap //DadaHouse// (www.dadahouse.com) An intriguing, interactive "cybersex soap opera" that takes its lead from the Dada art movement. While that may sound a tad highfalutin, the execution turns out to be surreal and kinkily engrossing.

Best Gaming Resource // Game Spot/ Video Game Spot // (www.gamespot. com; www.videogamespot.com). These two meticulously designed Spots (one covers PC gaming, the other Nintendo, Sega, and Sony wares) offer an enormous quantity of news, previews, and demos. In-depth features like the "History of Video Games" will bring you back for repeat visits.

Best Entertainment News Source // E! Online // (www.eonline.com) Propelled by its sister cable network's showbiz rep, E! Online's coverage of all things entertainment is unbeatable. With A-list celeb Q & A's and insider dish, it's a must-bookmark for the entertainment junkie.

Best Art Installation // HotWired's RGB Gallery // (www.hotwired.com/ rgb) A recurring feature on HotWired's vast site, the RGB Gallery showcases the most innovative work from cutting-edge digital artists. And unlike other memory-munching virtual installations, RGB achieves both simplicity and surprise.

Best Info Source // Internet Movie Database // (www.imdb.com) With 100,000-plus films, 1.6 million bio entries, links to reviews, fan sites, and more, IMDb has become the most beloved mother lode of movie knowledge in any medium.

Best Studio Site // Sony/Columbia // (www.spe.sony.com/Pictures/SonyMovies/) A tight horse race, with the studios' PR sites trotting out the latest in modem-clogging gizmos. Right now, thanks to its Gattaca clone-your-dream-child game, Sony's ahead by a node.

Best Online Film 'Zine// film.com // (www.film.com/film/) Against-the-grain reviews, slick photo features, and essays that combine the wit of a Hollywood insider with the edge of a good old-fashioned Internet rant.

Best Classic Movie Site // Palace // (www.moderntimes.com/palace/) Glowing with film noir's glamorous fatalism, Palace shines a light in the cracks of movie history: You'll find essays on early black cinema and noir director Robert Siodmak, plus tons of swoony photos.

Best Industry Dirt // Coming Attractions // (corona.bc.ca/films/main Framed.html) Harry Knowles' Ain't It Cool News gets all the press, but this similar groaning board of in-production scuttlebutt has a, well, cooler attitude.

Best Online Bookstore// Amazon.com // (www.amazon.com) A free search service for the hard-to-find and out-of-print, cheerful and snappy customer service, and 2.5 million titles make this the mother of all online tome merchants.

Best Literary 'Zine // Salon // (www.salonmagazine.com) The most consistent roster of hip, smart luminaries gather here--most notably Anne Lamott and her "Word by Word" column. More fun than most publishing cocktail parties.

Best Starving-Writer Source // Zuzu's Petals // (www.lehigh.net/zuzu/index.html) Gets points for the cute name alone, which alludes to It's a Wonderful Life, but this poet-friendly quarterly also boasts 3,500 creativity-enhancing links to events and contests. Clean up, all ye hollow-eyed bards!

Best Author-Tour Info // Bookwire // (www.bookwire.com) Treats authors like rock stars--even those who definitely aren't. Fresh interviews with touring authors and the most comprehensive listing of upcoming appearances.

Best Jane Austen Site // Jane Austen Information Page // (www.pemberley.com/janeinfo/janeinfo.html) "No, you've not lost your way. You remain safe within the boundaries of Pemberley," you are cozily reassured whilst wandering through this dizzying array of Austen-abilia (hypertext versions of her novels, biographical info, criticism). The ultimate 19th-century cyberbabe.

Best Online Store // CDNow // (www.cdnow.com) With this outlet's vast selection, far superior to even the largest Tower (it's got nearly every album in print); better prices than most record stores (usually $12.99 plus a reasonable shipping fee); and tons of band trivia, record reviews, and audio clips, it'll tempt you to do all your record shopping online.

Best Record Label Site // Matador // (www.matador.com) Label sites are nothing more than ornate ads, but Matador's combination of irreverent wit--the "office cam" shows label employees asleep at their desks--and plentiful information on bands like Pavement and Guided by Voices make it more fun than many slicker, better-kept label pages.

Best Music 'Zine // Addicted to Noise // (www.addict.com) With wacky graphics and assorted record reviews and interviews, ATN is a fun read but not notably better than other sites of its ilk. How, then, has it recruited revered rock-crit elders like Greil Marcus and Richard Meltzer? No idea, but their presence gives ATN a distinct advantage over its rivals.

Best Music-Info Source // The Ultimate Band List // (www.ubl.com) A search engine devoted entirely to music, the UBL allows you to search, browse, or visit sites from record labels, clubs, online stores, and just about anything music related you can think of. Sample oddity: a site devoted to obscure '70s psychedelic band Guru Guru...in German.

Best News Source // Allstar // (www.allstarmag.com) An otherwise unexciting mix of reviews and interviews, the site is a must-read for its daily news updates alone. With a network of correspondents constantly digging, Allstar gets the scoop on alt-rock news. Much of it borders on trivia, but there's enough nuggety stuff to make up for the minutiae.

Best Humor Site // The Onion // (www.theonion.com) Every week brings a blast of brutally irreverent fake stories from the online extension of the Madison, Wis.-based humor mag. Sample headlines: "Mother Teresa Sent to Hell in Wacky Afterlife Mix-Up," "Amish Give Up: 'This Is Bulls--t,' Elders Say." As National Lampoon was to the '70s and Spy to the '80s, The Onion just may be to the '90s.

Best Upscale Sleaze// Nerve // (www.nervemag.com) Can Web smut be tasteful? Send the kids to bed, turn off the CyberSitter software, and find out via pieces from, among others, Norman Mailer, Quentin Crisp, and Joycelyn Elders (writing about exactly what you think). You'll bookmark it for the articles, we promise.

Best Real-Life Voyeurism // PoliceScanner.com // (www.policescanner.com) What could possibly possess us to use a computer to tune in garbled, static-drenched, mostly boring bulletins from Dallas, Los Angeles, and New York? Maybe it's that this plays like "reality TV" without the pricey production values.

Best Internet Voyeurism // Voyeur // (voyeur.mckinley.com/cgi-bin/voyeur.cgi) A search engine turned inside out, Voyeur shows you what other people are searching for: "Jennifer Aniston," "Words to the poem left on the moon by Apollo 11," "Elton Jon [sic]," and--our favorite--"clothing damaged by bats."

Best Dirty Laundry // The Smoking Gun // (www.thesmokinggun.com) The handwritten police report for Tim Allen's recent drunk-driving arrest,
the assault complaint filed by Dudley Moore's wife, Marv Albert's DNA test results, and much, much more. Scurrilous and inarguable--and you'll want to take a shower afterward. *

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