The Weblog Review

This is the first weblog I’ve ever seen quite like this.

It’s your typical personal weblog, but Ed also throws in a wonderful mix of brilliant photographs of “images that he’s made”. Most of these images are shots of the scenery that Ed’s out and about in. Sometimes these scenic images are left as is without a single tweak, and other times the author choose to adjust perhaps the saturation with filters on the camera or cropping the same photo several different ways just to get the perfect look. And of course, there are some absolutely adorable picture of Ed’s little granddaughter that seems as if she was born to be in front of the camera, especially with those bright blue eyes.

The design is just the standard one that nearly all LiveJournal users have. Ed chose a nice color combination to use, however, and his addition of photos on a nearly daily basis certainly alleviates the monotony of reading just straight text entries.

I’ve always loved dragging my digital camera everywhere I go, taking picture after picture of various items that will probably never mean a thing to anyone 10 minutes after I take the picture. Am I an avid fan of photography? Perhaps, but only in the casual sense. After reading “Ed Book’s Journal”, I almost feel like I can go out and know “how” to take a picture in the technical aspect of it now. Wonderful writing, gorgeous photography – an overall fantastic weblog experience!

edbookphoto.com

This is not a typical blog, in more ways than one. First, it is not hosted by Blogger or GreyMatter, but by livejournal.com. Second, it is about photography.

Ed Book’s images and the way he talks about photography imply that he has a lot of enthusiasm and experience in the field. Nearly all scenic views, the images are often accompanied by explanations of the equipment and technics used. However, the jargon does not cause laymen to lose interest in Ed Book’s images, as the images also come with descriptions of the location where they were taken and whatever story is behind them. Also, Ed Book has an expressive way of talking about photography. I especially liked the way he defended his preference of saying ‘making images’ instead of ‘taking/snapping/shooting pictures’.

There is not much to comment about on the layout of the site, as it is basically a livejournal design. The main focus here is on the photography. There are lots of images that, to me, as a layman, appear to be of high quality. The real attraction for me here lies in the way Ed Book links his personal life with his profession and hobby. I find it a good site to browse through because each picture has a story; the details make it come to live.

edbookphoto.com

“And this one time, at band camp…” Ah, high school. I usually find high school blogs difficult to read, if not incomprehensible — full of in-jokes, obscure acronyms, and for some reason, negative leading. But cucumbers and strife is an enjoyable read, although perhaps not one I’ll return to often.

Celeste is a freshman at LBJ High School in Austin, TX. She’s self-described as “Shy; Obsessive; Dreamer; Redhead; Oboe player; Hopeless romantic; Half-blind.” She updates her blog with an almost alarming frequency. She writes about struggling with her double reed (hey, I used to play the oboe [badly], and that’s one tough instrument), the triumphs of her marching band, her homework, her friends, her family and her cat, and the mysterious new holiday of Grodmas.

Celeste has a good writing style — she writes more clearly than some adults who blog. (Don’t they teach the subjunctive anymore? That should be “I wish I were Mr. Peabody. Whoever Mr. Peabody is. Sorry, pet grammar peeve of mine.) The blog is clearly meant as a personal journal, written for herself and her friends. As such, there may not be much there for the general reader. But sometimes, there are entertaining stories, or reflections on her own life, and these make the blog a cut above those of her peers.

The design is a standard template (one that seems to waste a lot of screen space on a color border, but that’s just my opinion.) Celeste has included a bunch of links, and has a comments system. The only thing I’d suggest on the design front is the addition of a “Home” link so you can find your way back to the front once you’re in the archives.

I think this blog will improve with age.cucumbers and strife

I generally am not overly fond of splash screens. However, the splash screen at liquidmax.com is simple and not flashy and gives the basics for an optimum viewing experience. In this case, I’d say it’s warranted and prepares readers for an otherworldly experience with the Ohm symbol and the quote “enter freedom from the known.” With that, I was expecting an interesting read.

Unfortunately there isn’t much in the way of entries to review. There are exactly eight entries, all of which are really short and not particularly interesting. I have a feeling there’s more to the story than what the writer writes, but we only get to hear about the surface of things. I really want to like this blog because the layout is so nice but there isn’t much going on.

Yes, the layout is gorgeous. The navigation is a little tricky, however – the numbers to the right of the very small window for blogging text are the navigational buttons. In order to figure out where you’re going you have to read the alternative text. I might recommend re-doing the layout slightly to make the text space slightly bigger, as it seems slightly out of whack with the rest of the layout. And why do we visit blogs? To read them, of course! I’m of the opinion that the text should be the real focus.

Liquidmax.com has an “about me” page, brief page with photos, a page with a bit of religious philosophy, a links page, and a guestbook. He’s also got a link to something that promises easy money. Well, OK.

I doubt I would make another visit to liquidmax.com until there’s more content. The layout is really wonderful, but there’s just not much there to read.

liquidmax

Front Range Bible Blog is a blog from Mark, the pastor of Front Range Bible Church in Denver, Colorado. In the title banner of this weblog, Mark refers to Colossians 1:28-29 which reads: “We proclaim Him, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone perfect in Christ.” Obviously, Mark uses this weblog as a tool to spread the word of Christ that runs parallel with his church and its’ congregation.

Personally, it’s difficult for me to follow any one particular religion. Because of this, I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to fairly judge the weblog at hand. Mark does an interesting job of peppering the weblog with enough humor to keep even the judgmental reader (such as myself) entertained.

Originally, the weblog was started for Mark to keep the “members and friends of Front Range Bible Church” updated on general thoughts and news that would affect them. While the site looks like it might have strayed from specific just to Mark’s congregation, it looks and feels as if it’s now used for Mark to share his spirituality and knowledge with a broader spectrum of people.

The layout of the site is a standard Blogger template, and there’s no real site navigation simply due to the fact that the weblog is the only portion of this site. The other links go to the archives of the site or to external links that Mark feels are interesting and helpful to those coming across this site.

In all, Mark does a very nice job of putting his thoughts and messages into words for people to read in this weblog. It’s not a subject matter that will interest most people, but for those that do find religion and spirituality something they enjoy reading and learning about, I would certainly recommend this weblog.

Front Range Bible Blog