The Weblog Review

Who is Tony Blackburn? That was pretty much my first thought when I started reading this blog. After some research on the internet, I found out that he’s a radio DJ in Britain. The link? Apparently, the author – Michelle, also known as Shelley, had a talk with her friend, and her friend noted that Shelley and Tony Blackburn had similar erm, eating habits. Well, you can check out the story over here.

The writing is concise and very straightforward, making it very easy for both the brain and the eyes. Oh yes, the spelling is PERFECT, and there’s nothing I like more than good spelling. The content ranges from talking about her Buffy (or rather, Spike) obsession, to the war in Iraq (her earlier entries were almost always talking about something in relation to the war), and her fight with dementia. I particularly enjoyed this entry, where Shelley complains about excessive use of overly fanciful vocabulary in a Sheri S. Tepper book she read. Very sarcastic. I loved it.

The blog layout is rather standard, with a top title bar, and a sidebar containing the essential links. The technical bit is almost flawless (kudos to her for making the effort to learn up HTML for the blog). However, some work could be done on the archives because there were more May entries on the main blog page than the May archives, which only displayed 3 days’ worth of entries.

I had a good time reading this blog. This is a blog where Shelley jots down her thoughts rather than her daily activities, and she does a great job putting her thoughts down in words (well, what do you expect? She IS a novelist, or would be one soon anyway). I would ask anyone to give this blog a try. It isn’t too heavy, but it isn’t fluff either. I hope you will have as much fun as I did while reading this blog.
Becoming Tony Blackburn

When I read the title, Passport to the Third World, I figured I would be reading about third-world politics. I was close. The blog is about someone who grew up in a third-world country, and is now living in a first-world country, namely, the United States. I can usually tell when a blog is serious by the template, and this is a very serious blog.

This blog is about politics, as many of the news blogs are. Nuno, the sole author of the site, talks about the presidency and recently, the war on Iraq. What I like about Nuno is the fact that he gives the facts, rather than only biased opinion. Many of the news sites I have been reading recently are extremely biased. Nuno usually just gives a link to the original news site, and will sporadically comment on it. The links come from a plethora of sources such as the BBC, Reuters, and CNN.

Nuno is the only author at Passport to the Third World and I think he does a good job giving the reader news without biased opinion, for that is the way news should be. However, more often than not this site has commentary, and you do get a feel for who Nuno is. That is what sets it apart from other news blogs that just give links to other news sites.

The template used at Passport to the Third World I can only describe as “news-y looking.” There are links to other news sites such as Reuters, The New York Times, and CNN. Also appearing in this blog are links to other “War Blogs.” Everything is in fine working order.

If you are sick of hearing about the war, I wouldn’t suggest reading Passport to the Third World. If war news is your thing, then I think you should take a look at this site as it will educate you on the current war proceedings. This site is definitely a well-written educated site and I will be looking back on it whenever I get the urge to read about war.passport.to.the third world

The name of the site, A Castoff Cigarette Butt, made me wonder what exactly the site was about. I saw that it was categorized under news so I figured I would be reading about cigarette lobbyists. However, I was wrong. While the overall design of the site turned me off, I was interested to begin reading about politics. Like most, I am always interested in other people’s swing on things.

A Castoff Cigarette Butt is a highly political site. The Mission Statement of the site is nice because it lets you know what the site is going to be about before you even start reading it. At A Castoff Cigarette Butt, you can read about the Middle East, American Politics, and other political jargon. While many news sites solely post links leading to other news sites, the main author of this site, Manumission, puts a personal take on current political events. Also located in the blog are links to other news sites in case Manumission’s opinionated news posts just aren’t for you. Everything contained in this site is in good working order. I had no problems with links or archives.

Manumission is the main author for this site, and I wouldn’t have even known there were other people writing for this site if it weren’t for this little blurb: “…I will be taking a short break from posting on this site. As the rest of my teammates on this blog are absolute deadbeats…” Manumission does a great job giving news about politics, and many times it shows through that he has a negative point of view on many political aspects.

A political blog, A Castoff Cigarette Butt has much more to offer than CNN, ABC, and Reuters and that is personal opinion. Manumission is a graduate student, and you can sense that through the many posts. I would recommend this site to the educated people that are deeply involved in politics. However, I myself don’t dive into politics often, and I was still able to comprehend the majority of this site. While the design isn’t that great, the knowledgeable posts make up for it.A Castoff Cigarette Butt

For most of us growing up in the late 80’s and early 90’s we had the Simpsons. I remember when they were still on the Tracy Ulman show and the drawings were rough and choppy. And today they are what they are, and there’s a huge fan base… How can you not love a site that has Ned Flanders when you first come to view it!?! Not to mention the quote of “Where there is nothing more exhilarating than pointing out the short coming’s of others.” Though I suppose you’d have to have a good sense of humor to actually find that funny or amusing.

When I first started reading the blog to do this review, there was a post about censorship in textbooks in school, and the ridiculousness of the severity to which the publishers are now going to maintain the “politically correctness” of those books. This post was. highly. intriguing. He’s a writer, and shares the new chapters with his readers, which makes things completely all the more interesting to read his every day posts. I don’t know if it’s me, or just the writer in me, but I find that people who are writer’s or aspiring writer’s actually have some silly and strange stuff to say on their own blogs. And this author is no exception to the rule.

He has the occasional rant about things we’ve all been ranting about before, but Rob seems to say the same things we’ve all said with a different kind of pizzazz and spunk. When I first started reading I was sure that this guy was like more people my age, considered generation x-ers, but he’s actually a little bit older than myself. I saw a lot of the same things you’ll see on the “younger” generation blogs. Not a bad thing, since this author actually has a laid-back mentality, which shows in his writings. But that didn’t take away from his insanely real and humorous writing style. He has a sense of humor only other sarcastic people might understand. People might actually find him offensive to a degree. I, on the other hand, find him ingeniously entertaining.

As with any other blogspot blog, there are a few problems with loading and archives actually showing up, load time and things of that nature. Its sites like these that make me want to offer subdomains for nothing, and just host for the sake of putting really good blogs out there to share with the world. However, once you do get the archives to work you’ll find some serious gold there (May 8 #3 & #15).

The design works well. The only problem that I ran across is that if the font appears to be too small, you can just make the text size of the browser bigger in order to read it better, you’re basically stuck reading the small print.

The majority of this blog is filled with witticisms and hilarity overflowing. If you want something real and yet still amusing, this is the place to go. I found myself highly obsessed with menial things like his driving for 10 hours and all he had to say about work. You’ll find fun for the whole family here, only if you have a good sense of humor. The New Empire Lounge

It’s funny how we often overlook potentially good blogs simply based on where they are hosted. Like so many other reviewers I have a tendency to do just the same with someone who’s using one of the pay services. A blogspot blog. Can you see the grimace on my face? However it was a pleasant surprise to not got to his blog and see that ugly multi-colored layout with the big black borders? I know you all know which one I’m talking about. Instead you’re graced with the cool colors of blue. This, dear reader, is a nice change.

The author, Ruchita, is a young one. Still in her high school years, it’s amazing sometimes to see the difference in the writing style of the youth today as opposed to just a few years ago. I doubt I could’ve written anything worthy of posting when I was still in high school. Though she shares with us her anticipation of graduation, we can sympathize, because goodness knows there’s not a person alive who doesn’t remember anticipating graduation high school. Ruchita reminds me very much, in her style of writing, of some of the young adult books that I’ve read. Don’t get me wrong, I love and adore those young adult books and have turned many an adult onto these books. This blog reads much like those (referring to classmates and dorkus’). It gives the blog a very light-hearted, humorous feel to it. Young people can relate, and older people can remember. A nice balance between all worlds.

As you read you feel her pain as she studies for exams, and juggles between leisure and work, and also the occasional rambling about theater or concerts. This lets the reader wonder whether she’s a theater freak, or just the regular over-zealous teenager trying to make it into a decent college. This also caused me, the reader, to want that much more about Ruchita, which left me searching for an about me page. Maybe it’s just me, but I like to know a little more about the reader, sometimes even just silly details. However, on the plus side, you do learn more about Ruchita if you actually get to reading more of her entries. She’s obviously a social butterfly (which is definitely not a bad thing) with scheduling a movie night at her house and inviting everyone she knows (and making sure that everyone “spreads the word.”)

She writes in a style that almost mimicks letters to her friends, as a whole. Her readers are referred to as “you” and it makes the blog have a very personal feel to it… almost like she’s your friend also. I’m guessing that’s the point. And trust me… it definitely makes you feel more at home.

The only issue I was noticing with regard to the entire blog is that it is hosted on blogspot. It’s not that it’s a bad host, it’s just that there are a few server problems now and again. I didn’t take this away from her score, simply because it’s not wholly her fault. She cannot control the server gods and make them do anything right. The problem lies in when you try to view any of her archives. Some archives show up with the “page not found” error. Other’s come up with just the code of the page. Other times you’ll load the layout, no text. And when you refresh (sometimes it’s the 4th or 5th time) you finally get the text to show, sometimes with a few errors.

Overall, this blog is a simple glimpse into the life of a teen somewhere out there. It’s fun, entertaining and highly amusing. It reads like a book, very smoothly, and I recommend stopping by and giving it a read. You might be surprised to find that you’re enjoying it as well.Virtual Insanity