The Weblog Review

Okay. I read the title of the blog and I think, ‘Hmmm. A sisters’ blog. I might be cool. It might be interesting to get to read a blog written by two sisters. Family stories can be funny. I know a lot of mine are. Let’s give it a chance’. Then I read the second line and I go, ‘Hmmm. A Christian blog. Maybe this is not for me after all, since I’m more into “secular” stuff myself’. But hey, I can’t just not read it, right? If I got to choose, I wouldn’t, but this is about a job I have to do. So let’s just do it.

I don’t know if it was me, – and it probably wasn’t just me-, but the whole blog is permeated by this JC-is-everywhere kind of mood. So I kept reading and reading, and, let me tell you, there is a lot of stuff there to read and if you dig their style and if you dig JC, you won’t stop reading. They tell these little facts about their lives and how watching a movie about a car that has a life of its own is fun, but mostly, they talk about their faith and how their lives are guided by it. Not something that is very appealing to me. It’s not appealing at all. But again, if it’s a subject that you take interest in, go for it.

Design-wise, this weblog is hideous. I’m sorry, but it is. The font color doesn’t help with the reading and it gets tiring after some time. I know, you might say it’s green over black and it seems simple and not hideous at all, but check it out and you’ll see what I mean. Everything works okay, though. I tested a lot of the links and they work fine. Also, you can read everything in their archives and they’ve got quite a lot of history there.

Now, you can read a lot about Sue and Katie. And not only their blogger profile, but also their wish lists and another profile they’ve come up with by themselves with the basic ‘likes & dislikes’ and other things. There are links to interviews and oh, I could go on and on. Although there’s lots of info on them, there’s not much more you can read apart from the posts themselves. And they are long. And sometimes, I’m sorry again, they are boring. Because, really, it’s not very interesting to read about someone retelling jokes or how this couple was mad for not being able to pay for whatever it was with a check. Not to mention the religious content of it, about which I’m abstaining from commenting, so I don’t seem disrespectful. And here, dear Editor, you can totally delete this last sentence (which I believe is more of a rant than anything else).

So, no. Not a good blog. Not interesting and the design is, hmm, bad. I know I won’t check it any time soon.
Sisters’ Weblog: It Bloggles the Mind!

When I first read the title of this blog, Sisters’ Weblog, I thought it would be a blog by an African American. I was somewhat disappointed when I saw two middle aged white women in the photo. I’m the same race and age, so that isn’t a slam against the bloggers, just commentary that I would like to see some African American blogs.

The site is easy enough on the eyes, even though it uses a lot of strong colors for text on a black background. I always appreciate seeing a photo of the bloggers, and it’s even better when the site has ample contact links like this one does.

The tagline for the site is “We hope to glorify God by sharing all He is doing in the lives of two sisters in Christ.” Currently the site has some review type posts on “The Jesus Creed; Loving God and Loving Others” by Scot McKnight. As a single, I appreciate a post stating that they were put off by a Marriage series at church. I also liked the blow by blow of the Extraordinary Faith Conference.

Overall, the site is easy to read and is a great addition to the list of Christian bloggers.Sisters’ Weblog: It Bloggles the Mind!

From the moment I entered this blog, I felt a warm “family-like” feeling about it. As I began reading posts, it appeared as if my intuitions about the blog were true indeed.

The Sisters are actually fairly humorous when you attempt to visualize the stories being told in several of the posts. After a long, busy day at the office, it’s a refreshing read.

I really enjoyed Sue’s post about her “watermelon mishap” because I could actually visualize myself doing exactly the same thing in that situation.

However, I feel that the design leaves a lot to be desired. I mean, it’s very practical and has a clean appearance but maybe using lighter colors and adding a header graphic would do it some justice. Overall, I would recommend this blog to others.

Sisters’ Weblog: It Bloggles the Mind!

What first impressed me about this blog was the simplicity of the design. A graphic of a strip of lawn tops the page just below the one line tag: “Poking pop culture’s soft white underbelly with a sharp-witted stick.” It gave me the (accurate) idea that the blog would contain the author’s reflections on pop culture.

The blog contains the author’s opinions and reviews of movies, tv and music, combined with some personal anecdotes and a few political rants. I agree with the author’s politics but these posts don’t seem to . On the front page (as of July 2005) there is an exceptionally long and comprehensive overview of Randy Newman’s career, complete with descriptions of all his albums and links. It was an interesting and well-written piece. Digging into the archive a bit, I found a few other “Complete Idiot’s Guides” to different artists. These entries are different from his other posts and might be gathered together in the sidebar for ease of reading. The music reviews are interspersed with reflections on politics and an amusing tale of bad roommates (I found this the most engaging piece on the blog). There are also occasional time-limited downloads from the author’s extensive MP3 collection.

I enjoyed the author’s self-deprecating sense of humor and no-nonsense writing style. Almost all of the posts are well-written and well-thought out. You know where you stand in relation to the author and what his perspective is (at least after reading a few posts). He does not purport to do anything other than offer his own well-honed opinions, but he does so without reserve or second-guessing.

The design is simple, easy to understand and emphasizes content. The sidebar has a search box on top followed by categories, archives, links, and a flickr badge. (There is something called “Themes” on the sidebar that appears to be a heading but nothing follows it.) The content is on the right and takes up about ¾ of the page. The design is intuitive and easy to navigate. An “about me” section might make it easier to get oriented. You do have to register if you want to leave non-anonymous comments (why?). There are two Google ads placed unobtrusively at the bottom of the page. I found html problems through March 2004. The entries show the html language rather than hyperlinked or formatted text. These issues are resolved after April 2004 but it makes reading the archives a cumbersome task.

This is an interesting site with an emphasis on popular music. Music posts are interspersed with personal stories. Movies, tv and politics are touched on but music is the main focus. If you read the blog regularly you will get to know Jeff, the author, and something about a few of his favorite musicians. I recommend the blog.
jefitoblog

I have Seoul. It reminds me of adventures and maybe pirates and those incredibly huge ships crossing the ocean while sailors pray so no horrific aquatic creature would emerge from the deep waters and swallow them alive, back in those days where Earth was so obviously flat, when people would kept journals neatly illustrated with ink sketches. So I expect to see just that. A thorough description of a country and pictures of interesting things the author, a Canadian 27-year-old guy currently teaching in Korea, has to offer.

His posts go back to February, 2005 when he was getting ready to go to Korea. He makes clear that his purpose is merely keeping friends and family posted on his life there, which struck me as a ‘don’t expect much’ warning. And maybe it was. I take interest on the subject — adapting to a new country and having all these notes about its culture. I also happen to be an English teacher (although taking my poor English you might think I’m telling a lie or you’d feel sorry for my students), which could make this blog one of my favorites. There is a fair amount of entries on how life really is there or how he interacts with locals. You can check some videos and lots of pictures, which makes the blog interesting after all. Also, I have this feeling that he tries to be humorous, but doesn’t quite succeed. At least the entries are not that funny, but it could be due to the cultural gap here (me being Brazilian), or perhaps I’m just not in a good mood. You know how we girls are always subject to these mood swings. I have to admit I smiled a few times though.

The design of the blog is really simple but that is not a negative point. I myself believe that content should matter much more than looks (and that goes for blogs, books and guys, ha!). You can also check his flickr photo albums. Everything works fine. Archives, comments, links. The only thing missing is a Shaun’s profile (and it’s hard to find his name there).

Overall, it is a good blog as in ‘I could check it monthly or at least every fortnight’. He writes okay, he’s somewhat funny and getting to share his experience in Seoul gives us this sense that we are, as readers, close to him. I’ll give it a 4.
I have Seoul