The Weblog Review

Written by Codelust, “Meticulously Underthought” is a whirlwind of bold philosophy and passionate keyboard love. Written like a novel, this web log is undeniably the best I’ve ever read. You get a sense that this writer must write professionally — as the design and structure of every single entry is, well, meticulously drawn and executed. I am in awe at the originality and relentlessness that is present in this web log.

Although the blog design is standard and without any tricks or elaborate features, this is considerably overshadowed by the content.

The entries range from the very deep and sophisticated to a simple discussion about ‘the everyday’ leaving readers with multiple flavors of the one taste that is this writer’s vision.

While some of the entries seem too discrete to possibly unravel, these same entries leave much room for interpretation which I find truly admirable and unparalleled in the world of web logs.

To attempt to offer any suggestions would simply reveal my ignorance — as this author has far surpassed anything I’ve ever experienced in my adventures through the usual doldrums that is the blog world.

This web log is simply, ingenious.Meticulously Underthought

My first impression of …In Quiet Desperation: low key. This journal is a standard three column template Blogspot site. There’s not much going on with the design to help form a first impression. It’s a quiet design. Maybe that’s the point.

Josh [the author of …In Quiet Desperation] is a theatric writer. And it makes sense – he’s a theatre major. The grammar and spelling is a little off from time to time, but overall the writing is good. The journal is almost purely about Josh’s daily existence. Every now and again, there is some reference to current events or news of some type, but mostly it’s Josh doing school work, watching movies, and talking about the performances of his friends on stage.

The template design doesn’t say much. I don’t hate it, but I don’t love it. It’s functional. Most of the problems I have with the template are matters of my personal preference, but could be fixed easily. The links to archived entries open in a new window, which [for me] gets really annoying. In addition, the journal has a super tiny font for the body and that makes it very difficult to read.

I heartily recommend that Josh add an About Me page or add a 100 Things page. Even having read his entire journal, I don’t feel like I got a real sense of who he is. Josh refers to stories he’s written, but the reader never gets to read the stories. A section that links to Josh’s short stories would be a great addition to …In Quiet Desperation, especially since he was referred to as “a genius” after someone read one of them.

…In Quiet Desperation is not a journal I would visit every day, but it’s worth a read.
. . . In Quiet Desperation

The layout of this site is absolutely gorgeous. I love the light blue background, and the pink flower that just hits you right in the face – in a good way – as you load the page. The same flower is used for buttons on the navigation portion of the site. And I also loved the font Shannon uses for the title. Layout? Good. Very good. The only slight issue I had with the physical appearance of the site was the fact that viewing it on anything less than 1027×768 doesn’t give you the whole view of the layout.



I read through months and months of the archives, hoping to find some writing as wonderful as the layout. Unfortunately, I was unsuccessful. Don’t get me wrong – Shannon fulfills her personal purpose of her weblog, which is just to keep people informed about her life and to have some place to type out or vent her feelings. This is certainly a site where you can really get to know the author since the weblog is that of such a personal nature.

The writing style that Shannon uses is easy to follow. It’s a simple style, and it’s one that’s almost as if you’re just reading a letter or note to a friend or family member about what’s going on with Shannon, and those involved with her daily life.

This is a good weblog for someone to bookmark if you’re looking to perhaps find someone you have things in common with and enjoy catching up on each others lives via a weblog-format.Footsteps

My VERY first thought about this website was how beautiful the color combination was. The dark colors complimented each other very well, and it’s a very nice site to look at. The site is very nicely laid out, with an easy to navigate site and has a great look to it.

Both the font size and the font color that is used for the weblog entries could stand to be changed. The font is quite small, and since it’s done in style sheets, I can’t use my browser to increase the size, which is something I found a little frustrating. I don’t like to have my face 2 inches from my monitor to read a weblog.

There’s a brief about-the-author portion along the sidebar of the site, as well as some random art, a tagboard, some character test results, and a few other random current facts about the author.

One dozen entries. That’s all you get with this weblog. Don’t get too attached to reading from this site. After confirming this with the weblog’s author, I found that there were no archives to this site.

There’s not a lot of quality (or quantity, for that matter) to the weblog entries at hand. Basically, the entries consist of very brief narratives on what Steph (the author) may have done that day, or what she’s about to do.

As much as I hate to, I feel like I have to summarize this weblog as that of a typical teenager. If you’re in to that kind of a site and think you might have the same interests as someone that age, then by all means, check this site out.Shadow and Flame

Token Ramblings – I like that title. But what I like even better is the subtitle (?) that appears above the weblog – “you’re getting sexier just reading it…” By the time I was finished, I was prancing around my neighborhood in five inch heels and a strapless evening gown.

Seriously, though, this was a very good weblog all the way around.

The appearance of the site is great. The white text is great on the gray background, the light blue and orange-ish colors go well together, and overall, it’s just a really pleasant site to look at. But don’t look at it for too long, because there’s plenty of weblog entries you’ll want to read. My only complaint about the entire site is that the appearance of the archives is a bit off, but that’s something easily fixed.

There’s an “about the author” section. To take the author’s words right off of his site, “‘tain’t much, but it’s there.” The main bogosity.com page features massive amounts of pictures of Dave’s absolutely precious toddler, Little Miss Caroline.

And, of course, there’s the weblog portion of the site! I don’t know much about the author – his background, education, whatever. But from the way he writes in such a clear and thought out manner, I’ve got him pegged as someone that’s quite intelligent and keeps up on the newsworthy happenings.

Through his entries, you do find out some things about him that are fun to learn. He’s a packrat that’s using the same mouse pad he’s had since 1994. He works in the technical field, often becoming a slave to dying servers. Dave does a great job of supplying intelligent, sarcastic, and often hilarious commentary on various news articles, making entries fun to read.

For those of you at home wondering what the heck “bogosity” is, never fear, because I have a definition. Actually, Dave had a definition linked to his website. Bogosity is the degree to which something is bogus. There’s your FYI of the day.
token ramblings