So by now you've probably punched yourself in the face enough to ditch cable....now what? Yes, there's Netflix, Amazon Instant Video, and Hulu Plus that cost $$....but they cost $$.
For Freebies there's Hulu free, ProjectFreeTV.com, OTA channels, and any number of sites to catch a show on for free streaming shows, sports, and events.
But I'm not talking about those....in fact I'm turning off the TV for a minute (just a minute, please hear me out) and we'll try to engage some of our other senses outside of that giant Magic Box.
The Library - You know it, you love it, MMM talks about it frequently, so I'm not going to go into crazy depth here. All I can say is, the place is incredible, and up until my recent discovery of MMM, I had all but forgotten what a magical place it is. In fact, it's even more magical now than it was when I was a kid. I live in Northern VA, and there are several counties around here that make up the "Metro Area" of DC. The counties have reciprocal agreements regarding libraries, meaning I can sign up for FREE library cards across several counties if I wanted to! I HAVE ACCESS TO THAT MANY SYSTEMS OF BOOKS!!! NOT JUST THE COUNTY I PAY TAXES IN!!! I can't tell you how wonderful that is. I work in a different county than I live in, so I currently dig around the libraries of those two systems. I can request books be shuttled over to my "home" library in both counties....ALL FOR FREE!! What's more, both library systems now offer E-Books as well! I can check out books for my kindle!!! In 2 counties!! AHHHHH!!! I don't know if this is something that's caught on all over the country, and if it has then I'm the rube, but I thought that double and tripling my library resources for free was just about the best thing ever! Check out to see if your local area offers you this reciprocal-county arrangement.
Blogs - Obviously you're aware of blogs, otherwise you wouldn't be here. But let's move away from finance blogs and self-help blogs for a moment and just focus on blogs that serve no purpose other than to entertain.
I personally love to laugh, so anything involving comedy is a WIN for me. Sheer silliness is fun, especially when you're having a rough day. Here are some of my favorites: [HEADS UP: All of my selections involve some sort of swearing. If you're not into that sort of thing, there are other funny places out there that omit swearing....personally I think swearing is funny]
http://thebloggess.com/ This lady is fantastically funny and strange. She posts weird stories and even weirder thoughts. Give her a look. Some of my favorite posts:
http://thebloggess.com/2012/09/i-rinse-them-out-first-stop-judging-me/http://thebloggess.com/2011/06/and-thats-why-you-should-learn-to-pick-your-battles/http://thebloggess.com/2012/06/if-its-the-weekend-this-must-be-chicago/http://theoatmeal.com/ This dude is hysterical and I hope he never leaves. An ex-webpage-builder-guy (I think) he has taken the hobby of drawing up funny little comics and turned it into a full-time business! He's got one book on the market and another on the way. He's a pretty big deal and here's why: He's used his clout to raise money for a Tesla Museum
http://theoatmeal.com/blog/tesla_museum - $1.3 mil to be exact
http://www.indiegogo.com/teslamuseum?c=home, and he's just damn funny. Go check out some of his comics! Some of my favorites:
http://theoatmeal.com/comics/incredible_photoshttp://theoatmeal.com/comics/dog_paradoxhttp://theoatmeal.com/comics/movie_theater_layouthttp://theoatmeal.com/comics/printershttp://theoatmeal.com/comics/design_hellhttp://theoatmeal.com/comics/misspellinghttp://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/ Hyperbole and a Half is lots of fun. She's got a crude drawing style that only enhances her story-telling ability. She hasn't posted in awhile, which saddens me (and I hope she's OK), but what she still has up is pure gold! Some favorites:
http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/2010/10/god-of-cake.htmlhttp://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/2010/06/this-is-why-ill-never-be-adult.htmlhttp://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/2010/03/spiders-are-scary-its-okay-to-be-afraid.htmlAll of the above bloggers have links to their favorite sites as well, and those are pretty funny. You have the potential to walk through the magical woods of comedy bloggdom and never come out again! And that could be cool!
Podcasts Free audio entertainment! What could be better? I love listening to things because I can engage my hands some other way (drafting, painting, cooking) while still paying attention to what I'm hearing. Sometimes I don't have time to stop and read a blog, but podcasts are great! They are everywhere, and it comes down to separating the good from the bad.
http://mikeomearashow.com/ The Mike O'Meara show! I love these guys. They used to be on the radio here in DC, until their station reformatted and kicked them to the curb. What did they do? They took all of their years of broadcasting experience and formed it into a podcast! The outfitted Mike O'Meara's very own living room with high quality audio equipment, and they've been off and running ever since. They have been doing their own show on their own terms in this format for nearly 3 years now, with no end in sight. They are funny. They support themselves with advertising, both on the website as ads and live-read commercials, which aren't long at all. Most of their advertisers are quite topical and internet-based. You can purchase BONUS content from them (I do, because I've followed them so long and want to support them), or you can just listen to their free daily 1-hour podcast.
http://bigoanddukes.com/ Big O and Dukes! They are another cast-off of the same radio station as Mike O'Meara. They skew younger, but again, highly entertaining broadcast professionals who bring it above and beyond your typical podcast. They have a free weekly podcast, as well as a bonus weekly show called "Reloaded" that can be purchsed.
This is by no means a comprehensive "Free Entertainment Guide", but I thought I'd lead off with some of the stuff I look at/listen to. Please feel free to add...I'm sure I've left out a ton of good stuff.