internet field trip #1

links to rot with after work, during your paid lunch, or whenever YouTube stops hitting

So, you’ve cancelled Cody Ko and are now hoping to recreate the feeling of watching his Youtube videos during your thirty-minute paid lunch? Or maybe you’re a forty year old father like so much of my audience is for some reason and want to recreate the feeling of Saturday morning cartoons. Well, let me introduce to you: my monthly website round-up! It is that time of the month again and I’m not talking about shark week!

I recently started a job in retail and while I have discovered I’m decent at it, I have also decided I hate it because I spend significantly less time at my favorite place on Earth — the internet. So, I have spent my entire Sunday, my first official day off, exploring hidden corners of the world wide web. Last month, I presented my monthly website list as a set of carefully curated links that fit an uber specific aesthetic like dark academia mob boss wife or whimsical virgin suicides sofia coppola swan lake. This time, we’re trying something different. This time, you’re getting a LOT more sites split into three simple categories: websites, games, and substacks. My brain hurts and I simply want to show you guys some cool things I found rotting on the couch today. My back’s sore, my feet are cramping, enjoy. (A note that these websites have all been tested on my computer because that is my safe space. I have no idea if they hit the same on the phone.)

a lazy river for your cursor, playlists inspired by your zodiac sign, and cinema is back baby!

Nothing to Watch - A pillow, blanket and a bucket of popcorn dripping in butter has been my uniform this month; I feel like I moved into the movie theater. It’s having a comeback!¹ And I’m excited to see how that continues throughout July. However, this site is for those days when you don’t feel like gambling on whether or not the row behind you will rob you of 20 dollars by talking throughout the entire two hour feature. It solves the modern issue of choice fatigue by providing you a simple interface for picking which movie to watch.

Worldwide Sidewalk Joy - July is the month of spontaneity, of going outside and exploring your town like a tourist. Here’s one way to do just that. This map shows a bunch of “sidewalk joys” that you can find and visit. “Sidewalk Joy spots are free, curated public galleries, exchanges and displays installed in curb gardens, front yards or sides of buildings. Examples include Free Little Art Galleries, Puzzle Exchanges, Toy Swaps, and more.” It’s super cute and I will definitely be visiting the mug exchange near me!

Cursor Camp - Okay… I’m actually, genuinely, absolutely obsessed with this one. Like I have it loaded and ready for when I’ve finished writing this post. I just got distracted and played it again for twenty minutes while editing this section. Cursor Camp is a playground for your cursor made by Neal.fun who has been featured throughout a lot of my posts. What can I say. The man’s got bangers. In cursor camp, your cursor is your avatar which you explore with, customize through little mini games, etc. The map is very interactive. You can fall down waterfalls, explore caves, play volleyball. What I loved most about it was finding different ways to communicate with the people around me using only my cursor. I spent a good thirty minutes hanging out with one cursor and it was just interesting to see how we used different movements and patterns to communicate different things. Super cool and would definitely recommend.

Packet Highway - I hope someone finds this site as interesting as I do. Packet Highway turns your computer’s internet traffic into a digital highway of cars. Every time your computer sends or receives a piece of information (like loading a website), a little car drives across the screen. If you are using a lot of internet, the highway fills up with heavy traffic. You can click on any car driving by to see exactly what piece of data it’s carrying. It is basically a fun, visual way to watch your computer talk to the internet, and I am oBsEsSeD.

Stumble Upon - Every single time I post a website listicle, I get a comment about the old website stumbleupon. SO! Today, I present to you: stumbleupon the reboot! This website is exactly like the old site where you refresh for a different random site each time. So, enjoy a comment section free of a stumbleupon recommendation :)

Firewood - Firewood is a browser-based physics simulator entirely focused on splitting logs. It is incredibly satisfying. ASMR level satisfying. Also! It’s gorgeous. It looks so lifelike because the creator of this site used their phone to 3D-scan their actual backyard chopping stump, a real axe, and real logs, dropping those photorealistic models directly into the browser. It makes me want to buy a giant red and black wool flannel and grow a beard.

Merlin Bird App - Oh, my true love, the Merlin Bird app. If you keep up with my notes, you will have seen that I’ve become obsessed with identifying birds recently. I saw a TikTok of different bird calls you might hear in my area and ever since then, I have become maternal toward them and addicted to catching them all. A big reason for that is this app. You can record bird calls and watch in real time as they’re identified. I love it. I love being able to track which birds I’ve seen recently. I love knowing their names. I fear I am one step away from buying binoculars.

Tiny Robots - I love robots and I will never apologize for that. This website is a collection of different tiny toy robots from the past that look a lot like the old 50s sci-fi diner aesthetic I’m obsessed with right now. This is my official statement that it’ll be a big trend in like two years. Anyways, I spent a lot of time looking through these robots, picking out which ones I want like an old Sears catalog.

Landlines - Landlines is a project built around satellite images. Draw on the screen and find Google Earth images that match your every line. It uses machine learning, optimized algorithms, AND you can even try it out on your phone.

Radio Venus - Have you ever wanted a playlist inspired by your venus sign? Of course you have! I just know that’s EXACTLY what you were craving right now. Well, this site builds you just that. Enter your birthdate, pick a genre, and get the perfect playlist inspired by the stars.

Singapore Tech Virtual Campus Tour - Okay this is kind of random, but it’s genuinely such an interesting format for a campus tour, I had to include it as a reminder that you can be creative on the internet…even when assigned with something as straightforward as a virtual campus tour. Explore Singapore Tech’s 3D virtual campus through an avatar of their mascot, an otter. Walk around and talk to NPCs to learn more about the campus. I just find this such a creative way to show off your school and the education there. I even learned they have tennis courts on the roof by taking an elevator up there. So unique :)

Similes - I find myself going back to the basics a lot when writing. I miss the crisp autumn aura of high school English class, and I find myself chasing that high quite a bit. This website is a deep dive into similes, which sounds simple until you remember that so much of writing is just finding a better way to say what something feels like. Very nerdy. Very useful. Made me want to annotate a poem and dramatically stare out a window.

life360’s TikTok account - Life360 changed their name on TikTok to be Brinity360 because of Love Island’s top couple Bryce and Trinity, and I think that’s really important to know.

‘the internet was made for play so here’s a bunch of browser-based games’ gby fall out boy

RNGdle - Alright. Is this the dumbest game to ever exist? Maybe. Is it also incredibly addicting and I cannot wait until tomorrow so I can play again? Absolutely yes! This is a wordle-type game where you get one random number a day. From there, it categorizegs the number to determine the point value of said number. I’m upset because the first number I rolled started with “69” and I got points for that 😭 but I didn’t have an account, so it didn’t save.

Catfishing - I LOVE this game. In Catfishing, you are given the tags to a random Wikipedia page. From those tags, you have to guess the Wikipedia page being described. It actually isn’t as hard as you think it’ll be and it’s incredibly fun, so have a go at it.

Wordslop - WordSlop is a word-association puzzle game where you type in objects or concepts to fill specific categories. I’m honestly not sure how to describe it, but it’s very low pressure and I like to play it while watching Love Island lol. Update: It’s editing Brooklyn and I am obsessed with this game. I have it on 24/7. I have to think of every word ever so please drop suggestions in the comments.²

WenWare - WenWare is essentially a time-travel version of GeoGuessr. Instead of just guessing where you are on a map, you are dropped into an immersive 360° historical scene and have to figure out both where you are and when you are. You move through different eras like Ancient, Medieval, or Modern and try to pin down the exact location and time period, which gives it a fun, investigative feel that’s much more about lore and observation than typical technical gameplay.

Takeaway Eight - I have yet to solve this game. It is incredibly hard. But essentially you are given an eight letter word which you must remove a letter from and rescramble until you get a real 7 letter word. I’m assuming this continues until the word is too small to make shorter, but I have yet to move past round one. So.

Kickoff League - This pick is inspired by the new current obsession with the World Cup and my continuous obsession of kicking cobwebs in my brain’s ass in chess! But seriously, this is a really cool site that combines chess and soccer. Instead of moving pieces, you’re passing a ball between them in similar patterns to the chess pieces.

VibeSail - VibeSail is a browser-based sailing game. I don’t know anything about sailing and I’m not quite sure it interests me that much. However, the art in this is just gorgeous and I could see a lot of people finding peace in this site. Not me though. Not me.

a substacker reading a substack about substacks on substack

Serving Biscuits in God’s Kitchen - A funny, poignant essay from Vittles about an anonymous writer running the tea and biscuit table at Alcoholics Anonymous meetings in London. I didn’t think I would be moved by biscuit etiquette, but here we are. It’s about recovery, service, and how offering someone a cup of tea and a biscuit can become a profound act of care for people who often feel they don’t deserve kindness. Very simple. Very beautiful. Made me want to be a better person and also maybe offer someone a biscuit.

GemStone - In this essay, Tao Lin reflects on his middle school addiction to the 1990s text-based MMORPG GemStone III. It’s a nostalgic look at the early internet, social anxiety, and how a text-only virtual world became a place where he could disappear into another version of himself. By revisiting the game years later, he looks back at what those early online spaces meant and how they let people build alternate identities.

Why does everyone love Obsession but hate Don’t Worry Darling? - Two of my favorite movies in one essay?! This piece digs into why my current obsession CALLED Obsession is being praised for its horror of male entitlement while Don’t Worry Darling was dismissed for exploring a similar fear in a more pop-feminine package. Such a fun read if you love messy reception discourse, gendered criticism, and movies about men trying to control the women they claim to love.³

Lessons from Blackmail - I absolutely adore this piece. Jade Fabello gives a writing lesson by analyzing a spam email she received trying to blackmail her. It’s clever, entertaining, and genuinely useful. I read this piece after I wrote this post and had to go back and rewrite so much of it just because I was so inspired by the lesson. Useful tips and very funny.

Raw! Unfiltered! Journalling! - I love when someone writes in a way that makes me feel like I need to immediately open a blank document and confess every thought I’ve ever had. In this essay, Rosie Whinray writes about journaling as a private exorcism, a survival tactic, and a place to put the self you’re not quite ready to show anyone else. It’s funny, messy, witchy, and a little unhinged in the best way. Basically, if your notes app is your safe space, this one’s for you. An absolute favorite.

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Alright, it’s 12:25 am. Sunday is officially over. You’ve been bombarded with links. I think it’s time for me to schedule this post and fall asleep to Obsession think pieces on Youtube. I hope you found something cool in this list! Love you guys!

<3 brooklyn

1. …if the current trend of supporting new ideas and artists continues.

2. oh also the sounds are so asmr satisfying

3. I also just recently made a dont worry darling edit so thought this was crazy timing