The Iain Lee Column – The Magic of the Internet

I remember the first time I ever had Pesto. I was 19 years old, at a friends house in Glastonbury.  We had pasta and I was asked if I’d ever had this mysterious smelly thing before before.

‘Of course’, I lied, not wanting to look uncool.

‘Oh good, help yourself then.’

With that, I got the tiniest teaspoonful of this green speckled sauce and placed it on the side of my plate, nowhere near my food, immediately making me look uncool.

The people I was with looked at each other, laughed and then someone spooned a whole lump onto the pasta twists and stirred it up. This made me look even uncooler than I looked 30 seconds ago, when I thought I was as uncool as it could get.

Why the reminiscence on this? Well, because I was trying to think of the first time I used the internet, and I just can’t remember it. Both pesto and the www are pretty much a daily part of my world now, but one has left a much more significant impression than the other.

I’m trying to make up for this by finding as many wonderful things online as I can, and this month I have got some great stuff for you. First up, while we are all recovering from Olympic fever, it seems for some it will never go away. One of the stars to come out of this whole exercise in physical punishment (not like that, steady) is Mo Farah who seems like the nicest man in the world. Unfortunately, he may be nice, but he constantly has people and things chasing after him. Don’t believe me? Check out this simple yet wonderful site.

http://mofarahrunningawayfromthings.tumblr.com/

My favourites are Mo Farah running away from Benny Hill and Mo Farah running away from many Mo Farah’s. Utter genius.

Mo pops up a lot on the net this month, as you might expect. He makes an appearance on The Poke, a good-natured spoof of red top newspapers. In the article, he is being sued by a burger chain for stealing their golden arches logo and using it as his victory celebration. Check out the story here http://www.thepoke.co.uk/2012/08/15/mcdonalds-to-sue-mo-farah-over-victory-pose/ and then have a look at the rest of the articles. Very clever and funny.

Fancy a break? Well, the odds are you won’t be going for a Kit-Kat. There are only really a few variations in the UK, and I for one am bored of them. The 2-fingered salute, the 4-way street and the chunky. Occasionally, if we are lucky, some new flavour might come out for 3 months, but really, come on chocolate boffins, put some imagination into it. If we lived in Japan (aka the BEST country in the world) we would have hundreds of different variations on this Great British invention (I have no idea if it actually is a British invention, but I’ve still got Olympic fever, so forgive me). How do I know? Well, I’ve been to Jen Kens Kit Kat Blog, of course http://jenkenskitkatblog.blogspot.co.uk/

Jen went to Japan, ostensibly to teach, but really it was to study and write about all the mental flavours of Kit Kat they have. Pumpkin Cheesecake, Bitter Strawberry, Pudding (very generic) and the revolting sounding Apple Vinegar – all are painstakingly documented here for your pleasure. Thanks Jen.

Hey, this is old but I just found it. Remember the X-Files? Well, apparently Scully used to say ‘Oh My God’ a lot! http://youtu.be/-Dw3m-vIj7A

My 2 and a half year old son has taken great delight in sticking googly eyes all over my house. I really cannot tell you how much pleasure it brings me walking into a room and finding these sticky blooming things stuck everywhere apart from on pieces of paper. I blame Mister Maker (a joke for the parents there). I was very surprised to find that this naughty and irritating activity is now considered to be a legitimate art form and even has it’s own website. http://eyebombing.com/ Is the home of what is called eyebombing, sticking googly eyes (available from any arts and craft shop) onto things. Stick with. It builds up and becomes more and more fascinating and amusing.

I had a lot of complaints that last months column did not feature enough cats. Or sinks. So, here are some cats. In sinks. http://catsinsinks.com/.

As ever

If you’ve got any exciting websites you want to share, email me iainATiainleeDOTcom

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You can read Iain Lee’s very own take on the internet here on the 123-reg blog every last Friday of the month.

A familiar face on television since he got his first break landing the job hosting Channel 4’s thrice weekly topical comedy show the 11 O’Clock Show at the age of 25, Iain is also an award winning radio presenter, top podcast creator and a genuinely funny guy with an eye for the bizarre.