OddballGreg - Reddit ("Front Page Of The Internet")

Welcome to http://www.reddit.com/, front page of the internet, also the new cause for my sleep issues and general lack of time.

Reddit, "the front page of the internet", and the new reason why I'm suffering from sleep deprivation. As a community based media website, Reddit has become a very large part of the internet for the way it allows like minded people to gather on the internet around any variety of subjects.

A couple of days ago I took it upon myself to explore Reddit, (as you've probably figured by now I hope.) Also, a couple days ago, I knew what it was like to have free time. Too bad Reddit is actually such an unexpectedly fun website to be on, in a variety of ways, and is unfortunately sucking up my life as badly as YouTube was/is. But before I get to that, allow me to explain what exactly Reddit is.

Reddit is something of a social media website... loosely. It's not quite like Facebook or Twitter which are centered around the people you choose to friend and follow, but instead is based upon what is referred to as "Subreddits" which are essentially self-maintained communities based on specific interests, hobbies or just general things. Do you like making websites? Perhaps you'll enjoy the /r/HTML subreddit, or if staring at confusing tags and words on a computer aren't you thing, maybe you enjoy /r/books instead? Or if you simply enjoy a funny story of some REALLY bad luck, perhaps /r/TIFU is more to your liking. (Today I... *cough* "messed" Up)

Regardless of your interests or choice in humor, Reddit has an absolute wealth of information if you look in the right places. My personal time sinks have been in some very unexpected places ranging from /r/Space which discusses everything to do with the "great unknown", (*cough* nerd), to the hilariously psychotic musings of /r/AskReddit as they pose the question: "How would you dispose of he body?" (I'll give you a hint, the winner is the guy that already works in a crematorium.) There's also my new favorite place on the internet: /r/PhotoshopBattles, in which the inhabitants enjoy taking the time out of their days to do things like make a cat catching a butterfly do some very funny things. (Pictures Below)

"Oh... MY BUTTERFLY!"

"I will mention that this is humor and in no way disrespect to anyone's religion or beliefs."

I thought it was kangaroos that did the boxing?

Yeah no... I'm sure you can appropriate any terrible pun you like to this image without my help.

 In any case, apart from being rather terribly funny, Reddit is also an absolutely wonderful place to discuss things with like-minded and experienced individuals. In my case, the ability to research how to do various HTML aspects and seek help when necessary has been extremely useful once or twice. In addition to that, there's also AMA's, (Ask Me Anything's), which are commonly hosted by notable people in the world so that people can get the straight answers that they want on any specific subject from someone who knows about it. Some of the people I really enjoy watching on YouTube like Quill18 and Michael Steven from Vsauce have hosted AMA's of their own on Reddit. (Too bad that was before I knew what Reddit was actually about.)

In any case, if I seem distracted from now on for some reason, I'm probably browsing Reddit or laughing at ridiculous photoshopped images... or... you know... Space stuff. (Teehee) Do you have a favourite subreddit that you think is really awesome, or simply think that I have too much time on my hands, then be sure to let us here at TCSA know down in the comments below or via Facebook/Twitter as we love to hear from you guys. Better yet, if you have some friends looking for a great and near boundless website full of communities and information, then be sure to share this article with them as I'm sure they'll appreciate the info. Of course, if you would like to read more articles like this one yourself, then do be sure to like the Official TCSA Facebook page and/or follow us on Twitter using the associated buttons on the bar to the left so that you can get all the latest posts, as they're published. Regardless of what you do, I thanks you for having taken the time to read this post; hope that you have/had an absolutely FANTASTIC day, and I will speak again soon.

Happy Redditing mio compadres.

OddballGreg - CreepyPastas (Scary Stories)

People say clowns scare them? Are you afraid? Technically speaking... Gene Simmons is scarier.

About 6 days ago I wrote an article about horror games, and why they tend to make me yelp like a little puppy for no reason. So it seemed fair to continue the train of thought and discuss some other reasonably fear-inducing media, though of a kind that I actually enjoy. That would be CreepyPasta's, the internet's ghost stories from around the camp fire.

According to the Creepypasta Wikia, a Creepypasta is a "short story posted on the Internet that is designed to unnerve and shock the reader." An internet phenomenon that arose years ago, these short horror stories were quickly popularized for a variety of reasons, ranging from peoples need to scare themselves for laughs, to literary enjoyment, and the eventual movies, memes and games that originated from these stories. There's also a ton of people on YouTube who continue to say that the stories are true. (There's also people who think the contents of a lava lamp make a good moisturizer... so believe what you will.)

One of the CreepyPasta stories that is most notorious for the way it has expanded the the Creepypasta following is Slenderman, a tall, faceless man with tentacles who kidnaps people and, in some versions of the stories, spikes them onto pine trees in the forests. Slenderman has seen hundreds of stories written about him, and a fair few games which were played on YouTube by various personalities including, (Of course), PewDiePie. (Who on an unrelated note, apparently made an old game so popular that the publisher started printing it again according to Kotaku.co.uk) Some of the other notorious CreepyPasta stories range from Jeff The Killer to Smiledog.png. All extremely odd and yet strangely fascinating at the same time. (One must wonder at the mind of people who write stories like these.)

Of course, being the artsy person that I am, I found the stories themselves to be far more interesting and fun than PewDiePie's screams... but that's just personal preference. So if you are looking for some fun scares or are simply a fan of well written stories, then be sure to visit either www.creepypasta.com or the Creepypasta Wikia; both of which are compendiums of these strange horror stories.

However, being the YouTube warrior that I am, (That basically means I'm frequently bored and watch a lot of inane videos.), I have found a rather good channel by the name of IReadCreepyPasta's in which a man takes some of these stories and narrates them in his very well suited voice, complete with additional sound effects and a bit of visual stimulus for a very entertaining and genuinely frightful combination. He's even managed to scare me this way. (Which, apart from games, is rather hard to pull off.) Perhaps of all the CreepyPasta stories I know, The Russian Sleep Experiment, complete with his narration, is by far one of the best in my opinion.

Ghastly isn't it?

There are others he has narrated which have proven to be equally entertaining to listen to, such as Mister WideMouth and Tulpa, both of which, like The Russian Sleep Experiment, appealed to my enjoyment of topics regarding the human mind. So naturally I found them very entertaining.

In any case, I should mention that these stories can be VERY scary for some people, with the CreepyPasta website even requesting your age before allowing you entry because of that. So consider yourself warned. In any case, if you found this article to be of interest, or have some of your own CreepyPasta stories that you think are worth mentioning, do be sure to let us know down in the comments below or via Facebook/Twitter. And of course, if you are friends with any horror aficionados, then perhaps sharing this article with them. They'll probably thank you for it. Of course, if you would like to read more interesting articles like this one, then do be sure to like our official TCSA Facebook page and or follow us on Twitter using the associated buttons on the bar to the left so that you can get the latest posts, as they're posted. Regardless of what you do, I thank you for having taken the time to read this post; hope that you have/had an absolutely FANTASTIC day, and I will speak again soon.

Good luck sleeping my friends.