The Weblog Review

All any good blog site needs is two very important components in my opinion, interesting posts that are easy to read and a nice, pleasant design that is comforting to the eyes and not distracting. Dutch in Denmark seems to have covered these two areas very adequately so I thought myself lucky to be able to review such a well-put together weblog.

Not coming from Denmark, nor being Dutch, I guess a lot of the content went straight over my head that I simply couldn’t relate to, but it doesn’t mean I didn’t enjoy reading the blog. With the World Cup on at the moment I wasn’t surprised to see quite a few references to the big event, and being a mad football fan myself I’ll admit here and now that won me big points with the author. Also with both us being Dutch national team supporters I’m not ashamed to say I was glued to reading some of the posts, but occasionally blogs are like that, if it has a subject matter your interested in they can be rather addictive.

I really like this design, especially the area under the posts where you can view people comments in a smaller font, a fantastic idea. The colour scheme works very well to, nothing too bright, and it all pretty much compliments well together. Navigation through the site is also a no fuss, simple list of links on the right-hand side that is easily assessable. Well-sized pictures and fonts also help make the blog look rather tidy.

There are certainly a lot of extras to this site apart from the main weblog, including a bio (which you should all know by now I’m a huge fan of), photos, links and a guest book among other things. It certainly would take a fair while to plough through all the information here, but its all good and if your interested you may come across some pleasurable links here and there.

Hard to find anything to improve upon though I guess the length between archives is rather long (roughly every 10 posts) which may not seem a lot but there is plenty of filling in each update. Saying that, it didn’t bother me in the slightest until I tried to find something I could comments about, I’m sure you’d come to the same conclusion.

All in all a terrific site, without being over the top, and I took pleasure in reviewing this site. If you like the idea of living in Denmark (or Europe for that matter), not to mention like the odd tad bit of football news at the moment, then I recommend you add Dutch in Denmark to your list of bookmarks. I give the site a 3.5 out of 5. And I’m sure the Netherlands will be there in 2006!
Dutch in Denmark

Kitten with a Whip is the title of this weblog. The weblog title was derived from several nicknames Joni’s been given, and it fits her personality (at least what can be taken from her weblog) quite accurately. From what I could gather from her weblog, Joni’s a take charge kind of person and doesn’t back down from her opinion. So, the name of the weblog fits. And I like that.

Another favorable factor with Kitten with a Whip is the concise manner in which Joni posts to her weblog. If she doesn’t have anything to say, she doesn’t make an entry for the day. If she has several things to say, she may post several different times. It makes the weblog easy to read, and the reader doesn’t have to wade through a bunch of unnecessary babbling to find out what Joni’s really posting about.

If Joni had the option for readers to comment on her entries, there would undoubtedly be plenty of things for people to say.

In addition to the weblog, Joni has written some poetry which she links to on the menu bar. It’s enjoyable, and worth checking into.

Overall, this site was a good read. Reading from start to finish, I stumbled upon a number of interesting things and learned quite a bit about the author. It’s a weblog that I’ll probably be giving a return visit to, and would recommend it to someone looking to add to their list of daily reads.kitten with a whip

Ah nutz. Where to begin with this site? How about the design of it, since that caught me way off guard. Ok, first thing that loads up is a picnic type tablecloth background. Blue and white crisscross pattern. For most of reading the site, this became a nuance as I swear I kept seeing thing outside of the center box with the weblog in it.

So now onto the weblog. This weblog is written by a male in the UK. Some of the things he writes make it very obvious he is from there, and I almost heard my thoughts in an English Accent. (yes I am from the USA) This fact, at first, made it harder for me to connect with the author. Try as I might, I couldn’t find a common ground with him and his current postings.

So I went back to how it all started and read the weblog backwards. This makes me wonder why the weblog tools don’t give the authors an option to post two copies, one in chronilogical order and one in reverse. But back to the weblog. Starting at the beginning put me back on ground with the author. Same things he was going through, I went through. It is interesting if you see where someone started from, you can have a better view point than if you jump in the middle.

This weblog is just an average weblog though. There is nothing over the top, and nothing that is bad. It fits nicely in that niche that some people will like it and other won’t. It won’t have a majority ruling one way or the other, and that is fine.
nutz.

My first impression upon visiting Nick’s Domain was a pretty gosh darn good one. Blogspot site (one of the better templates) and I immediatley saw on the left side a huge archive section, which I think is so important to any blog.

I pride myself on the fact that every blog I review I read word for word, no matter how long it is, or how long it takes to review it. Usually, the longer the blog, the higher the score (from me). I am a ‘content’ reviewer. I don’t care about how many plug-ins or how much time you spent on design, I like to read a good journal. Well Nick has written a lot, for a pretty long time, and I have to say, I wish he hadn’t, because what I read, just plain disturbed me.

Nicks Domain starts out innocently enough, for a month or so it even toys with becoming a group log. The author ends that and begins going solo with the posts. He seems to obsess throughout the blog on wether people think he is ‘smart’ or not. The author posts incessantly about his personal conflict on wether he is a heterosexual, which would be a great study on someones thoughts about their own sexuality, if in the way the author wrote it did not completley turn me off this blog. There is a section where the author questions himself (quite brutally at times-2/9/02) on many subjects, which on face value seems like a fantastic idea for a diary or journal, but after reading what I did, I wish I hadn’t. Cause I plain found it disturbing. I gave the author some points for that method of writing though, introspection is sometimes a good thing in a journal. Sometimes. The author seems to go out of his way to lash out at his friends.

Than the author meets Allie (the internet girlfriend). I’m guessing he met her on the internet, and eventually the two meet twice. Once in D.C. (where the author lives) and once again in Pittsburgh, where Allie lives. They seem to hit it off on the net, and than they meet each other, and after that things seem to go sour. Than this weblog becomes an ‘all about Allie’ weblog. The author posts numerous times about how his girlfriend is late to internet chats or doesn’t show up at all. (or dates as he calls them). As a matter of fact, for the last two or three months of the blog, all the author focuses on is Allie. Constantly. And that kind of seems weird. (Allie is not reciprocating here). The author even mentions how he has an ‘Allie’ shrine in his room on the bulletin board. Well, Allie dumps him. And thats all you read about for the last month (or two) of this blog. Its just plain weird.

There aren’t any bonuses to this site, no ‘about’ section, just a weblog with archives and links to the weblogs this author reads on a regular basis.

The author’s parents constantly mention to him that he is spending way to much time on the internet. I agree with Mom and Dad. The author needs to unplug his computer for awhile and get outside or something.

Half a star. If you want a guide on how not to conduct yourself in the weblog community read Nick’s Domain, read it from day one like I did. This is pretty weird stuff. Nick’s Domain

This is one of the most fascinating weblogs I’ve seen in a long time. The author, Kelly, is a 21-year-old Canadian who writes about her travels in Asia. As of April 4, she’s in Cambodia.

She writes about getting instructions on traveling from Thailand to Cambodia and the possibility of coming across landmines on the trip. Then there’s this part of one entry … “I got my Thai exit stamp and then was in No Man’s Land between Thailand and Cambodia. Here, people tried to grab my bag, arms and hair. Kids were holding up umbrellas, hoping I’d pay them for their service or buy a drink or just throw money at them.” You just don’t see posts like that everyday.

In addition to logging her adventures on her current trip, the site also has links to travelogs from her trips to the Mardi Gras in New Orleans as well as New York City (pre 9/11). There are also links to other travelogs, reviews of various hostels around the world and other travel-related writing.

She also has links to other essays, news articles and term papers she’s written on a variety of subjects.

The weblog itself is attractive and easy to navigate.

This is a unique weblog and I’m looking forward to reading about the rest of her trip and the insights she shares.

crazy white girl w/ a keyboard