The Weblog Review

There’s something about the cute-ness in the design of blogs like this that somehow makes me kind of go mushy. It’s not that I expect less or more from it, there’s just something about the design of the blog that kind of makes me smile. Initially you see some bright colors and good artistic work. Then I read the Shel Silverstein poem, and it took me back to childhood. I’ll admit, going into this review, I’m hoping for good things.

I’ve tried to make it a habit to start of with some of the early entries before I dive into the meatier part of a blog. However, the early entries only elude to the fact that Lauren once had a LiveJournal and has moved to her own domain. Knowing this doesn’t actually help in understanding a few of her earliest entries where she talks about bettas (fish, by the way), and Elvis. It doesn’t take a super sleuth to find the information about Elvis, her horse, and not the other guy.

There are a few design flaws, but they’re not major. First of all, some of the “about me” stuff offers a back button to go back to the menu, while others done. Some of the archives got the evil “Not Found” error, while others worked wonderfully. There are frames, so sometimes scrolling can make you a little batty when the entries actually run longer than the “web page” length. On the other hand, the design is very pleasing on the eyes, and easy to read. The colors work well for Lauren’s personality.

There are lots of added bonuses to this site. She has photo galleries, writing galleries, and general “about me” information. There are plenty of pictures to get a feel for the different moods of the author, and lost of interesting outgoing links. There’s a tagboard and comments, and contact information if you’d like to write directly to her. She adds lots of pictures to her entries, which give you a little bit more into the entry itself. She shares her artwork too, which is definitely worth a look.

Like most blogger’s, Lauren loves to write. It’s probably the most common reason why people started blogging in the first place, and I am no exception to the rule. She writes about her day to day trials, but sometimes you get a glimpse into the person beyond the surface words. This blog is worth a read if you enjoy things of the arts or anything to do with horses. Art seems to be a huge part of this author’s life and deservedly so. This blog is good. Though you might have a bit of time finding the diamond in the rough, it’s worth the searching if you do find it. Uptonia

What first attracted me to James’ website is the .co.uk ending. It isn’t often that I come across a new, Brit-centric personal blog, and as I’m always looking for new sites to read (and I prefer reading about something I share in common, whatever that may be), I immediately booked the site out for review.

The first thing I noticed was the ultra-clean, smooth, no-fuss design. The site is headed with a goldfish photo that fits seamlessly under the logo and navigation. It works well, drawing the eye down to the content, which is nicely spaced and very easy to read. The choice of black text on blue background might not be to everyone’s taste but it is surprising effective. White links jump neatly out of the page but don’t disturb the reader’s attention.

The blog is a personal one, with no particular focus other than the writer and his immediate world. The pacing is relaxed, the style of writing perfectly judged to help the reader along. Even the ee cummings no-capitals grammatical method works well and unobtrusively. Each story is relatively self-contained and interesting; amusing anecdotes and events are relayed well and with a minimum of pretension.

Archives stretch back as far as December 2002, and are available from a drop-down list at the top of the page, or alternatively from a collection of links at the bottom, where you will also find the external sites the writer is fond of. The photo gallery, though relatively small, contains some treasures, such as the shots of Iceland, and is very easy to navigate.

The reader is given the option of having links open in a new window via a checkbox at the top of the site; this is a helpful feature but I would have preferred it to only refer to external links; furthermore, the setting doesn’t carry through from page to page. Otherwise the design is practically faultless; if you don’t like it, there is also an alternative available on the “Skins” page.

If you want a window into another’s life, but don’t want to feel like an uninvited peeper, then this is most certainly worth your attention. For me, it is definitely a site I will be returning to, if only to track down more entries and opinions on Iceland.

someonecalledjames

The Unnamed Blog. Great name for a blog. It leaves so much room for you to go with the direction of the blog. It could be about anything or nothing at all. I had some high hopes for this site just based on the name.

The weblog however wasn’t as cool as the name of it. The author submitted the blog as a news/links type site, but it is more of a personal site. Yes a lot of the posts deal with what is going on in the world (blogging and real), but they are more along the lines of here is my opinion, rather than here is a news link. Some of the posts were very funny, and others did very little for me.

One thing I noticed when I got done reading the entire blog from current to very first post was that it was actually a group blog. I very rarely pay attention to the by lines in blogs, but the very first post said it was going to be a joint effort. So I was curious and did some searching through out the blog to find multiple authors. While there are multiple authors, there is one main author with a supporting cast so to speak. Dirvish posts the majority of the time, and the other authors post every now and then.

The design of the site is simple, and I think might be a template for the blogging software, but I could be wrong. If it is a template, it has been tweaked to fit the site. The blog is not about flashy designs, or images, and thus the design reflects that. The only problem I had with the design of the site was the archives, which again I think has to do with the tool. I enjoy reading an entire month’s worth of archives at once, and not day to day archives. I think the clicking of the mouse should be for the links in the blogs, and not archives.

Overall I had a pretty good time at The Unnamed Blog. It is not one that I will add to my daily list of reads, but it is one that I will keep tabs on every now and then. The posts can be entertaining, and it isn’t hard to catch up on pasts posts even if it is your first time visiting.
The Unnamed Blog

The first thought that popped into my head upon viewing Spivak’s Razor was “middle school computer lab”. The green courier text on a black background threw me at first. It seemed unsophisticated and old fashioned, but as I delved into the site and learned more about the author, the design began to make sense. (More on that later.)

Spivak’s Razor has been around for quite a while. The archives go back as far as September of 1999. I looked around for an “About Me” page of some sort on the author, hoping to get some background information before digging in, but none was found. Through reading the older entries, I discovered the author was a New Jersey man in his late twenties. The name “Spivak” was the name of a character he used on LambdaMOO. LambdaMOO, along with other online role-playing games, figures prominently in his journal. Indeed, some entries are clearly meant to be understood only by other gamers, but these entries are few and far between. Spivak is a prolific journaler. His entries are long, detailed, and for the most part intensely personal. He doesn’t mince words or censor himself. His brutal honesty is admirable, although there were passages that were a bit uncomfortable to read (entries detailing various bodily functions, for example). There was also a subtle bit of racism apparent in some passages that bothered me, although Spivak owns up this and offers explanations.

Some of the author’s entries are detailed and wordy to the point of becoming tedious, and it’s tough to get through them all at once. As a reader, I could do with a little more quality instead of so much quantity. There is some genuinely lovely writing to be found here and there, however. His descriptions of being outdoors on a cold winter’s night, his love for animals, and his struggle to overcome depression and self-hatred are particularly evocative. He also has an impressive imagination, and can be quite funny.

As I wrote earlier, the design of Spivak’s Razor is reminiscent of the old days of computing when text was all you had. There are pictures scattered here and there throughout the entries, some quite funny and interesting, but the site itself is text-heavy. Upon reading the journal, and discovering how into computers and gaming Spivak is, it became clear that the simple design fits his personality. He’s more concerned with the writing itself than he is with flashy graphics. His entries are color-coded according to a key found on the front page. Dreams are in purple, posts about gaming are in yellow, holiday posts are in red, etc. It’s a clever concept, a twist on the traditional category system, although some pages resembled a rainbow and were a little hard on the eyes. There were some broken links on the older archive pages.

Spivak has recorded three hundred of his dreams and nightmares and includes them in his journal, along with handy index on the front page allowing you to jump directly to the dream entries, if you’re so inclined. He also includes links to the gaming diaries he has kept over the years. These are hard to follow if you’ve never been a gamer, but I imagine they would make a fun read for someone into such things.

Overall, I found Spivak’s Razor a typical online journal. It’s a true view into the author’s life and thoughts. It was hard for me to maintain interest throughout the entire journal although there were bright spots here and there that caught my interest. A lot of the author’s writing seems to be aimed at friends and online acquaintances, and I would imagine that this is his intended audience. It succeeds as a personal diary and is certainly entertaining in many spots, but lacks the consistent quality necessary to become a daily read. I wouldn’t add Spivak’s Razor to my “must-read” file, but would check in from time to time to see how he’s doing. spivak’s razor

It’s a rare thing when I read through all the archives of a site when the posts are quite lengthy. Okay, I confess I didn’t quite make it through this entire site, however, when I started to read through The Accidental New Yorker I had to keep reading. It began to read like a really good book such as Bridget Jones’s Diary, or like an episode of Sex and the City on HBO. I was so engrossed in this site that I kept putting off getting my dinner from the microwave, even after it kept beeping at me every 2 minutese reminding me it was done.

Oh what can I say about this site? There’s a brief blurb on the home page that explains that the writer’s a gay novelist living in Manhattan, but this wasn’t enough for me. To get a good feeling about what this blog was about and who the writer was, I decided I need to jump to the beginning of the blog which begins in March of 2003. The writer begins by introducing himself and friends in his life whom he frequently talks about in his posts.
He talks about what a lot of people do on their blogs: his life. Except, the difference between his blog and other blogs is it feels like you’re reading a book which is a good thing. His voice is clear through his writing and he says it like it is which I love.

Taking a look at the design layout, it’s a Blogger template and is probably one of the better ones, but it would be nice to see something maybe a little more original. My only criticism might be to try and edit down the paragraphs a bit so it reads a bit better. I got lost a few times reading the lengthy paragraphs which isn’t fun when you’re trying to figure out where you left off.

If it’s not clear, I really enjoyed reading The Accidental New Yorker. It’s so nice to read a blog where the writer can tell a good story, especially when it’s their life.

Go read it … read it now!!!Accidental New Yorker