Cracked

If you grew up during the 70s, as I did, you probably read Mad magazine. Religiously. It was the one that came up with things such as a fake magazine called "Famine Circle" (there used to be a magazine called "Family Circle") which was a parody that focused on starving families in Ethiopia (back then Ethiopians starved instead of Somalis) and it was absolutely hilarious. It inspired me to come up with Somalian Country Cookin' (a long, long time ago, 1996, on the first "blog" I ever did, which was a parody site called The Bastard. I'm really glad I saved that article, because the site has now disappeared from archive.org).

But there was a lesser known competitor to Mad, which I never read because of my loyalty to Mad. It was called "Cracked."

I guess I should have read it, because I stumbled upon its website, Cracked.com, which is hilarious -- and remarkably intelligent. Its readers also seem remarkably intelligent, judging by the comments I read.

Refreshing.