The Weblog Review

First thing I thought was, “beginner web designer” when the site loaded up with it’s black, bubble background, contrasting blue, fuzzy graphic in the corners and big font. It almost appears as though it was created with Tripod or a similar application which you can use to begin a website if you don’t have any web designing skills.

Navigation wasn’t great on this site. I assumed “text” would take me to the blog which did and didn’t. Clicking it brought up a window with neon circles, which I had to view to scroll up and to the right that gave me a link to enter the “text” area of the site. I then was brought to a blank page with just words, or titles better, which didn’t give me much help. I decided to click on the title that said “journal” and up popped a “psychedelic” patterned window with a blog of sorts.

I began reading it and it sounded like the author was moving, or renovating a place, so mostly there were descriptions of that. Other posts discussed work, school, music and going ons in their life. Some of the posts contain links to other findings on the internet which are usually given at the end of the post. The journal or blog, which ever you’d like to call it, was amusing enough to a point, but I think it’s interesting when people blog about moving.

I’m not really sure what the point of this site really is to be honest. Other findings on the site, er, well, there’s an article on September 11, and plugs for other sites, but really, this site’s unorganized and there are too many parts incomplete. It needs a revision.
.: Synthetic-x.com :.

Um, okay.

Live Journal sites usually scare me. Why? It’s because anybody and everybody can sign up for some space at LiveJournal.com to enter their daily thoughts. The author of this weblog has done just that, but his writing is so much more entertaining and worth reading than the average LiveJournal site or any type of site, for that matter.

What’s with the background on this site? Perhaps there’s no answer to that question, and perhaps it doesn’t matter. But, man, is it distracting! The rest of the color scheme is quite bright, but still manages to go well together. The titles of each post, however, are displayed in orange text on top of a yellow background. It makes these titles difficult to read, which is too bad, because sometimes the titles are just as entertaining as the post itself.

I never realized the power of staplers until I read this weblog, but now I can’t begin to argue with the importance of that particular office supply. I also found out from this site that I only own 8 of the CDs listed as “The Top 100 CDs You Should Get Rid Of If You Own” – not too bad at all, if I do say so myself! There’s such a variety of entertaining and humorous posts throughout this weblog that you’ll certainly find something to laugh at somewhere.

If you can move past the background image used for this site, you’re sure to find yourself either chuckling aloud about something you’ve read or nodding your head in agreement to one of the author’s profound, yet amazing everyday realizations. You’ll like this author, and you’ll like the site, too.George

Eccentricity is a trait that all of the most interesting people have. Unfortunately, not all eccentric people are interesting. This Weblog author, however, is not one of those people.

From the title of the Weblog (“:: not so [xxcentrik] after all ::”) to the Subtitle (awesomely stupendous in wondernation and fantasticality) I knew this was the Weblog of someone I would love talking to if I randomly met them one day. The author is a fairly regular poster who creates interesting posts about random subjects. Sounds like your typical Weblog, yes? Well, yes and no.

You see, many Weblogs have random posts. Few pull off random posts that are more interesting than mundane. This Weblog certainly does not fall into the category of mundane. While the author covers such topics of why he is pissed at his school (and college student can relate) to other typical Weblog posts, they are well written and worthwhile reading. The posts usually go beyond the journalistic “Wow, I have an online diary” type, which is definitely good for the reader. Oh, and he references “Waking Life,” one of the best odd movies to come out in more than a while.

Still, the thing about the site that I enjoyed the most was the design. The template is fabulous! It changes colors each time you load (and I swear it randomly changed while I was reading, once). The template also lets you mess around with the fonts. In my mind, this fits the idea of eccentricity rather well.

With the combination of interesting writing and a fun design, this Weblog is definitely worth a look. You might not keep returning, but I doubt you’ll think it was a total waste of time. If nothing else, you should have some fun with it. And that’s what it’s all about.

.: not so [xxcentrik] after all :.

Hmmm….is it Monkeyface or is it really Moneyface? It seems the author has decided to rant about credit card companies today. There’s a whole lot of money talk and I was beginning to fret that the whole blog would be about money and other financial things. I was freaking out to tell you the truth because although the entries were quite humorous and has gotten me to read more about money things than anything my bank can ever send me, I didn’t know quite how to review such a blog. So I was filled with bewilderment concerning my dilemma like never before.

Fortunately, as I scrolled down my patience was rewarded for it explained that money happens to be the topic for this week. Ah, I get it now, big heading at the top “Money” and the words “This week’s topic is MONEY” a few entries down, how could I have been so slow? It is times like these I think I may be mentally impeded. The concept is: different week, different topic. I’m liking that. I just hope that last week it wasn’t about politics. Excellent, it was the good old classy toilet paper. Monkeyface looks right to me once again.

So what do you get when a bunch of guys go with a name like “Monkeyface”? You get good wholesome blog entertainment, fit to show your own mother. Each entry are as witty as the next, well written and insightful pertaining to that week’s topic. This group blog also uses groovy cartoon creatures unique to each different author so that the reader can easily identify which author has written which entry.

The website design is simple and clean, the green and white colour theme works well and it makes the blog very easy to read. There isn’t a monkey’s face or any part of a monkey anywhere in sight, but there is green and leaves are green, trees have them and monkeys live in trees so it’s alright, crisis over.

This is a gold nugget of a blog and I’d definitely visit it again. The concept behind it is awesome and the content is well worth the read. I can’t wait to see what next week’s topic is…..I hope it’s something like beef or mouthwash to undo the terrible aftertaste of money….monkeyface

I’m not sure why I clicked on the site suggestively named Vegan Blog, it surprised me even more that I decided to write a review on it despite being an avid Bovine food lover. I though by reviewing this site I would expand my depth of understanding into the world of veganism (I don’t think that’s a word but it should be) and I was greeted by a green and white site with a picture of a cow in a quit sign with the words ‘Don’t get Mad – Get Vegan’. I don’t think the sign was meant to be insulting but as a meat eater I was, perhaps this reviewer is just a tad touché.

Unfortunately at the time of me writing this review the author of the site was away on conference, it doesn’t stop me however from giving the blog the good once over, and I was a little startled that I found some of the post rather interesting. Of particular appeal was a post about the killing of wolves in the US, and it can be well identified that the author has done his homework, as the level of information is quite informative. Even though I found my views differing a lot to that of the author, the posts wasn’t insulting nor was it overbearing, in fact I’d say it was more pushing a point based with some factual information behind it.

The design of the site is fine, nothing over the top and I believe it does the site the justice it deserves. A good selection of colours, nice links menu on the left hand side, and readable layout make the site quite pleasant to the eye. My only beef… err, problem, was the scrollbar on the right hand side, it was hard to see where the scroll was in relation to the rest of the bar.

There are a few nice features about the site, you can subscribe and receive the posts directly to your inbox and a comments section that I was surprised hadn’t been used much by readers (either supports or otherwise).

I’m probably not going to give this site the credit it rightfully deserves, however you do have to admire a site that’s willing to push opinions and beliefs in a mature manner by a person obviously as dedicated as our author is. A highly recommend this site to anyone who has an interest in animals in general, though I’m sure everyone can walk away from this site slightly enlightened (myself included). I give Vegan Blog a tofu thumb up and 2.5 out of 5.
Vegan