Everybody! Everybody! (homestarrunner.com)

Member Name: DudeGlove

Product:	homestarrunner.com
Date:	26/03/04 (706 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Hilarious cartoon stuff absolutely free!

Disadvantages: Gets you hooked!

I?m not the most ambitious web surfer out there. I don?t have the ability to scan the internet and find those really, really new websites. Really.
Mostly, I hear it on the grapevine, y?know. I got into this whole Dooyoo thing because, probably like most of you people, your friend or someone you know demanded that you registered and logged on and rated all their opinions so that they could rake in those Dooyoo miles and as such, you got hooked as a result. Other than through newspapers or internet message boards, I really don?t know how people go about finding websites. But I prattle on too much.

I can remember exactly how I stumbled onto homestarrunnerdotcom. A mutual friend was on MSN messenger and he was alerting one of his other friends by making his name a URL link to a rather obscure website. Out of curiosity I typed it in, and lo and behold, I was treated to my first ever Strong Bad email, which was entitled ?Dragon?. After the short flash cartoon which lasted around three minutes or so, I was crying with laughter. On my own as well, which is a rare thing nowadays. People give you odd looks if you go around the streets crying with laughter on your own. Here?s the link to it, and thanks to that mutual friend, it was a good link to start with?
http://www.homestarrunner.com/sbemail58.html

?Finally?!? I thought to myself, ?Finally! I?ve found a website that I will constantly want to show everyone at every time of the day!?

The best way to describe homestarrunner.com is as a ?flash cartoon website? (please note that the whole website is in flash, so you?ll need macromedia flash to view it, which the computer should auto prompt for you to download if you don?t already have it). As soon as you type in www.homestarrunner.com you are presented with the Adonis himself, Home
star Runner. Homestar Runner is of course, the protagonist of the website, or so he seems to think. He?s got no arms, long legs, and a white face, wears a red top w
ith a white star on the front and has a beanie hat. He?s just one of the many characters that pervade this gem of the internet. You?re given two choices, either to ?Come On In? or ?Watch The Intro?. The latter option will treat you to a short animation with the chorus of the words ?Everybody! Everybody!? by the lead man (or thing) himself. Actually, having thought about it, Homestar Runner is probably one of the weirdest cartoon characters out there, physically that is.
On the main section you?re treated to several options:
-?Toons
- Games
- Characters
- Downloads
- Store
- Email
- First Time Here?
- Museum
But below the main screen you?ll also see a couple of more options (including the above) in slightly smaller, grey print:
- SB emails (strong bad emails)
- Contact
- Legal Stuff
These will always be here regardless of whichever screen you navigate to. The main section itself is generated randomly from a selection of nineteen other screens. By highlighting any of the main options, ?things? will happen in the background. Its hard to describe, but basically Homestar Runner will say ?Games!? or ?Downloads!? in that dopey, loveable voice of his. All nineteen of the main screens are a joy to behold regardless of which one you get. You can choose whichever one you want anyway as they are selectable at the bottom of the main screen. I strongly recommend you click ?First Time Here?? as you will be treated to a short cartoon introduction by Homestar.
??Toons? is split into four subsections of ?Toons?, ?Shorts?, ?Features? and ?Holid
ay?. ?Toons? contains the biggest cartoons. I can?t really say that the large ones are my favourites; the beauty of all the characters is in their short sharp deliveries. If you must, then I would recommend ?Where?s The Cheat?? as it will feature nearly all of the characters on homestarrunner.com. ?Shorts? are exactly what they say they are, they?re all short cartoons, which is a bit of
a lie as half of them are the same length, if not longer, than the ?Toons?. They?re slightly better than the ?Toons? mainly because there are more of them. I would highly recommend ?The Interview?, a fantastic little exchange between Strong Bad and Homestar Runner. Oh my I?m going on too much here, ?Holiday? is a themed cartoon section, and all the Halloween ones are great.
I would recommend that you watch them in a chronological order, as they would make more sense. But watching some of the cartoons on their own may lead to slight confusion, so I would absolutely implore you to do the following.
Firstly, go to the ?Characters? section, and watch ALL the short movies on everyone, including the hidden one on Homsar (click the tape machine and then click the tape that comes out). Secondly go to the Features section of ??Toons? and start watching the Strong Bad Emails from the very first one. They are what make this site what it is!

Every week or so, Strong Bad will answer your, the viewers?, questions. Its all true, real people do email in and they get thousands a week. So far around a hundred ?emails? have been answered by Strong Bad?s very own sarcastic style, everything from

?Dear Strong Bad, Can you draw a dragon??

or,

?DEAR STRON BAD, U ARE AWSOME. &#
73; LIKE IT BEST WHEN U HURT UR FRIENDS?

and,

?Have you ever written a children?s book??

The general pattern is that Strong Bad dictates the whole email in front of his COMPY 386 and then proceeds to do his best to answer the email; however he may have interpreted it. Hilarity ensues. Usually all the other characters will join in (read: be poked fun at by Strong Bad) during some of the emails, and it should be noted that during the course of the email, often ?clickable? stuff will appear. Usually it?ll be when the email has ended, but sometimes you?ll get things that you can click on like the words being typed up as Strong Bad talks. They?re ki
nda secret as the website doesn?t really tell you about them being there. Heck you can even adjust the brightness on Strong Bad?s monitor. Usually they?re just short silly things that relate to the email in question, but sometimes they can be great fun, like for the email on ?Monster Trucks? you can play a short game as The Cheat in a rolling tire. The reason I put so much stress on the emails is that practically everything else on the website relates back to the emails and vice versa. So yeah, interactivity is a maaaaaaaaaaaajor plus of this whole website thang. Compared to other flash cartoon websites such as www.joecartoon.com, they don?t really have the depth and attention to detail that Homestar has. And, and this is a big AND, the website has absolutely no advertising or pop-ups which is probably why it looks too good to be true. Trying to describe the website is? well, fruitless because it?s all visual. You really just have to see all of this for yourself in order to understand and then laugh your pants off, whichever comes first. O
;oh, let me go on about the other sections first!

?Games? is exactly what it says on the tin. They?re all worth a good hard look. Dancin? Bubs is amusing, but the real treat is Trogdor! Strong Bad?s very own dragon has his own game! In case you haven?t realised, the website is all very tongue in cheek. Its all light humour (no potty mouth or sex references or anything on this so fun for all the family). Occasionally Strong Bad may say things like ?crap for brains? but if Homer Simpson can say that, then anyone can.
?Downloads? is good to look up to. The interface to it is rather unique. You get presented with an ATM machine with four buttons. You can download windows icons and wallpapers for your desktop (quite groovy), songs and tunes from the website such as the Crazy Go Nuts University official anthem and even a little secret bit !(hint: click the $ button then click the balance amount of 0.00 then drag the credit ca
rd into the slot. The pin is 5675 to get at something even groovier).

?Characters? will as I have said, introduce you to all the characters. I?ll let you discover this for yourself, save to say possibly my most favourite of all the characters probably has to be Bubs, but I?ll let you decide your own favourite. All the ladies I know seem to love The Cheat.

I think it?s safe to say I?ve looked around this website too much, but I love it, so that makes it okay. It?s all free as well! The creators call themselves ?the Brothers Chaps?, also known as Mike and Matt. One of them does all the male voices while ?Missy? will do the only female voice of Marzipan, who plays Homestar Runner?s girlfriend. It doesn?t look as though the website has any danger of dying out. They sell absolutely looooooooads of stuff in the store sect
ion. You can buy the usual t-shirts and hoodies but also figurines, plush dolls and some other crazy stuff that all looks worth buying (I am gonna buy myself a Homestar Runner t-shirt one of these days).

In closing, I feel as though I may be opening Pandora?s Box here, writing this opinion. Do I tell the masses of Dooyoo about homestarrunner.com or do I keep it to myself and let it retain it?s cult status to word of mouth (or email) alone? I don?t think it?ll be spoiled by my actions so I urge, nay, DEMAND you all go and take a little bit of time each day to look around www.homestarrunner.com. Your life will feel that little bit richer with each Strong Bad Email you read and it will make surfing the internet that little bit better.

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