Brunching Shuttlecocks - Content

Content

Recurring features were:

• The Ratings: Sjöberg would choose a random topic, such as "Superfriends" or "breakfast cereals", and would then apply letter grades to items from that category with an explanatory paragraph. Only one F was ever given during the run of the series. The recipient was Scrappy-Doo in the topic, "Scooby-Doo Characters."
• The Self-Made Critic: Movie reviews by the anonymous Self-Made Critic (later revealed as Neilsen). Films were graded on a scale of 0 to 5 Babylons, and each featured a (usually belittling) comment from the anonymous Editor as a post-script.
• This or That: Tests of the reader's ability to differentiate dissimilar things with similar names, such as "Christian Metal Band or Star Trek: The Next Generation Episode?", "Beanie Baby or G.I. Joe?", and "Porn Star or My Little Pony?" Some of these were used as on-air radio quizzes by morning DJs, usually without citing the source.
• Lore Brand Comics: Three-panel comic strips by Sjöberg, usually consisting of a short monologue by his cartoon avatar.
• Thoughts From: Dave's thoughts conceived during activities such as shopping or driving to work, with each accompanied by a cartoon mugshot of Dave drawn by Lore.
• Bandwidth Theater: Flash cartoons by Lore.
• The Complete and Utter Idiot's Guide: Dave provided instructions to an idiot on how to perform the simplest of tasks, such as cooking a TV Dinner, in the most literal and painstakingly detailed manner possible.
• Ed's World: Short stories on how Ed, the only smart man in the world, outwitted the imbecile citizens of Earth.
• Good or Bad?: A list of dissimilar items in a cgi web form that allowed readers to rate them as good or bad. Votes were tabulated, and items appeared above or below the "Line of Truth" based on whether more readers voted "good" or "bad".
• Web toys, such as Tina the Troubled Teen, a cartoon of a goth girl which could be copied to any webpage, showing a new caustic comment every day; or the Oral Sex Donation System; or a page allowing Roshambo challenges through e-mail.

The Geek Hierarchy deserves special note, as it has been widely passed around, and imitations created for other fields. It is a chart of various groups in fandom, with arrows between groups indicating who looks down on whom. The topmost group is "Published Science Fiction Authors" and various flavors of furries are at the bottom.