Bender's Pop Culture Emporium

Greetings-- I'm Steve Bender, English Teacher at Dalton. This page is a work-in-progress; the links reflect my pop-cultural interests (books, film, pop music, magic), sites friends have mailed me and encouraged me to look at, places I might like to visit when I have some free time. Send any comments or suggestions to Steve_Bender@dalton.org

I. Serious/Academic Stuff

a) Search Engines

The Lycos search engine is a good (if sometimes frustratingly slow way) to find things on the web.

Yahoo is a great place to start a search for just about any subject you're interested in.

b) Literature/Art

A wide variety of resources for literature and the humanities can be found here.

The On-Line Books Page, will get you to a multitude of literary resources.

There's an interesting Thomas Pynchon page in Pomona.

If you enjoyed that, you'll love James Joyce in Cyberspace.

"Author, Author" can lead you to other author-specific cites.

Postmodern Culture is a very interesting electronic journal of interdisciplinary criticism, one of the few places one can actually find models of hypertextual analysis.

An index to electronic journals and magazines can be found by clicking here.

Humanities in Cyberspace is a very interesting place for English teacher types interested in things hypertextual.

For library and textual resources, have a look at the NCSU Education Page.

The Library of Congress WWW page always contains interesting items.

The Wiretap On-Line Library is an easy to use cite for on-line texts.

I don't know who Jeff is, but Jeff's English project contains links to many resources relating to reading and writing.

If you love Pop Art, but don't feel like taking a trip to Pittsburgh, you can tour the Andy Warhol Museum on the web. This page will also get you to other museums and art resources.

II. Fun Stuff

a) Comedy

Okay, now let's get silly. If you know anything about me, you know that like those folks in Mary Poppins, I love to laugh.

Here are some resources for Monty Python & comedy Everything you ever wanted to know about silly walks, etc. This page will also get you to many other comedy resources (Firesign Theater, et, al.)

If you like Monty Python, you should love this-- the Big Button That Does Absolutely Nothing! Great fun, eh?

Everything you know is wrong-- check out Niles Ritter's Firesign Theater homepage for resources about that group and related comedy stuff.

For some other comedy sites, click here.

b) Film/Television

For cinema studies, one of the most valuable resources I've found is the Yahoo Movie Library. You should be able to find anything you want to know about film in one of their links.

A wide variety of film and video resources can be accessed through einet.

For fans of the master of suspense, there's an excellent Alfred Hitchcock page.

A good collection of screenplays can be found at the Script Emporium.

All the television links you can ever want can be found on the Ultimate TV List.

Of shows worth delving more deeply into, there's Twin Peaks, which has several sites, a FAQ and a News site.

c) Music/Search engines

Like that rock 'n' roll music? Well, then, the Ultimate Band Guide and WWW of Music is the place to be!

HOMR is a great tool for discovering new music that matches your taste (they also have extensive databases for artists you're interested in).

d) Rock 'n' roll sites

Some of my favorite, more specific music places to visit include:

The Expecting Rain Bob Dylan page This will lead you to all the coolest Bob-sites. If you crave even more Bobstuff, John Howell's Dylan page is the place to go.

Anyone interested in good lyrics has to love Liz Phair and Elvis Costello.

If you want to know what Kurt Cobain is saying in all those great songs, check out this Nirvana Page

For information on Kurt's better half, there's also a Hole page.

And a Foo Fighters page, too.

If, like Cobain, you worship at the alter of R.E.M., check out their web site.

Everybody loves those 4 cuddly moptops from Liverpool-- if you're still wondering whether Paul is dead or not, here's one sure way to find out.

Even more Beatles resources can be found on Sam Choukri's John Lennon page.

Paul may still be with us, but alas, Frank Zappa is gone. He lives on, though, on compact disc, bootleg tape, and on the web. Captain Beefheart also has a page, as does Zappa alum Mike Keneally.

Miss Jerry as much as I do? Check this out, one of many Grateful Dead sites.
The band has recently put up an Official Grateful Dead page.

Another musician I just can't get enough information about is Neil Young. Until now, that is.

If you tried the Dead link, you probably want a Phish link too.

Jefferson Airplane & Hot Tuna can also be found on the Web.

So can The Allman Brothers Band

Okay, okay-- you're asking, "where do the Rolling Stones figure in all this?"

And what about Jimi Hendrix?

And the hypertext Who?

Not to mention the Kinks...

Brian Wilson might be nutty, but his music still sounds great.

Still listen to that old, progressive music that the critics (and most of your friends) hate so much? Here are some good resources for Robert Fripp, Brian Eno, Yes, and Gentle Giant.

I've been listening to The Fall for quite some time, and never understood what Mark E. Smith was saying. Until now, that is.

And how's about that boy wonder, Beck?

I've been listening to Hum alot lately.

e) Magic

Want to amaze and mystify your friends and be the life of the party? Visit Penn & Teller's WWW site.

More to come.