Caught in the Net: Southern fried gold

Alright, alright, alright! Caught In The Net rarely brags, but it must be pointed out that we’ve always rated the acting talents of one Matthew David McConaughey ever since we first saw him walk tall in the likes of Dazed And Confused and Lone Star. Sure, he spent far, far too long leaning against Kate Hudson, Sarah Jessica Parker et al but we knew he’d come good again. For the record, the ‘McConassiance’ first began with The Lincoln Lawyer, a slick, old-fashioned thriller that features both a killer cast and Kavinsky’s ‘Nightcall’ before Drive made it cool.

We’ll stop trying to out-hipster the hipsters now and turn our attention to two McConaughey-related gems that hit the web recently. First up, a dance remix of his scene-stealing. chest-thumping war cry as seen in Martin Scorsese’s Caligula reimagining, The Wolf Of Wall Street. Get that sucker at bit.ly/PsWcH1. If there’s one thing the internet loves more than a techno twist, it’s an 8-bit rendition of something hugely popular. Step forward Mike2600 and his MIDI version of The Handsome Family’s ‘Far From Any Road’, aka the pitch perfect theme to the equally excellent True Detective. Head to youtu.be/EVZaJ-l_G4M now.

Another long-term favourite, the one and only Seinfeld, gets the remix treatment, with the emphasis placed squarely on the whole “show about nothing” thing. We’d get all nitpicky about how that description was repeatedly rejected by Jerry Seinfeld, Larry David and Jason Alexander, but LJ Frezza’s plainly-titled Nothing is really quite impressive, detailing collected scenes where nothing genuinely does occur. Strangely haunting stuff, to be honest. Check it out at ljfrezza.com.

On a similar theme, you’ve probably seen the often hypnotic Garfield Minus Garfield series (if not, you know what to do) but there’s a new weird player in town in the form of Garfield Minus Thought Balloons which, in addition to being a great name for a band, is just as intriguing. Hit that up at bit.ly/1oUb2k6

If you’ve ever sat around and pondered, “I wonder what Jay Z’s face looked like when Timbaland showed him the beat from ‘Dirt Off Your Shoulder’?, then ponder no more! bit.ly/1lDD3wc

The internet is 25 years young now. Can you believe it? If the likes of ‘Lycos’, ‘Dogpile’, ‘Ask Jeeves’ and ‘Geocities’ ring a bell, you’re probably feeling about as old as Caught In The Net. If not, huzzah! Incidentally, look us up in 25 years when people react to your mention of the iPod with bug eyes. Don’t think it won’t happen. Anyway, you can’t turn 25 without some kind of celebration, and this being the big WWW, there have been plenty of fun retrospectives and such. Top of the list is The Guardian, who led the way with a user-assisted nostalgia piece – bit.ly/1gkAJt7 – and a 25-strong rundown of net-based trivia that might surprise even the most learned user – bit.ly/MXLbes. Who knew that all that surfing helps the environment? Not us...

As for whatever happened to Ask Jeeves? Nothing. He’s still there, looking sharp and dispensing wisdom. We just sold out him out for some big colourful letters.