The Weblog Review

I definitely consider myself a movie buff, and perhaps a little too obsessed with what goes on via the big screen and behind the scenes. Suffice to say, I was anxiously looking forward to reading “Milk Plus: A Discussion of Film”.

“Milk Plus” is a collaboration of several different folks that claim to be a “collective of writers who have come together because we are all opinionated, passionate lovers of film who wish to share with friends and strangers alike”. That self description hits the purpose and function of the weblog right on the nose.

One of the best things about this particular type of weblog is the choice of movies the writers choose to review. They don’t stick with the big screen blockbusters, but also dive right into the independent film pool. These writers are die hard movie fans, and they very much know exactly what they do and do not like about a movie. While it may be viewed by some as too biased, their reviews are anything but that.

With each review, you get comments about the plot, the script, the camera shots, and the acting crew to name a few of the things the writers touch on. Something I became particularly fond of was the comparison between other movies, whether it be something the particular actor had starred in or just another movie that happened to be somewhat similar. As a reader, this gave me the opportunity to, in a way, judge whether or not I would have any interest in the particular movie after knowing what these fine reviewers would compare it to.

With over a year of archived reviews, the troop of reviewers at Milk Plus are definitely consistent. The reviews of movies that I had actually seen were fun to read because I could compare my thoughts on the movies, and the reviews of movies I haven’t yet seen had me mentally adding movies to watch to my list.

The layout goes well with the title. As I found out from the FAQ section of the site, “Milk Plus takes its name from … a name chosen in homage to Stanley Kubrick and his film A Clockwork Orange“. The banner at the top of the page is a “spoof” of the Kubrick film’s logo, which is very tastefully done. I would have liked to see the tables that are used lined up a bit better with the top banner, but once you start thumbing through the reviews, the design is the farthest thing from your mind.

I was very impressed with this weblog. Truthfully, I headed straight over to my Netflix account and started adding some of the movies these folks had reviewed – especially A Clockwork Orange.

Milk Plus: A Discussion of Film

An introspective, intelligent, witty and honest read. The author’s personal reflections and observations about what he experiences and what he shares is very intriguing and thought provoking. The Kiwi author seems very down-to-earth and approachable, and so is his writing. “But wait. There’s more!…” His partner in crime, Natalia also contributes to the blog, and is also a stylistic, articulate and enjoyable writer. Wow. My Luck! Another great blog. 🙂

A few excerpts to illustrate:

She writes about some furniture they bought: “As the weasel (who is lying on the rug in front of the TV right now) said yesterday, we finally ordered ourselves a black leather couch/loveseat set, and a very groovy glass coffee table. That was precluded by furniture-store-hopping, and, of course, price-gazing and subsequent jaw-dropping. ” Heh. Been there done that. Isn’t writing at its best when the read can relate by how something has been described? I think so.

Just thought this was funny:

“That’s right, there were absolutely ZERO posts for the month of August 2002. Move along people, nothing to see here”

The “weasel” writes about his former work environment:

“I’d love to be given an opportunity to make major changes within the communications division where I have been working, but it’s a paramilitary organization and everyone is just required to follow orders without question. Fine if you’re a robot or you just want to go to work, meet the requirements, and get your basic salary without any sort of incentive to perform and be recognised for it, but no good if you actually like to use your brains and advance as a result, know what I mean? This is no reflection on the people that work there at all by the way; they aren’t the ones making up the rules.”

The blog focuses on reflections of the days events like most do. ‘Demon’ talks a lot about jobs and the experience of moving to, and the experience of, being in New York, New York and his crime fighting exploits and how cold NY is.

I simply liked this site. It is visually appealing (clean graphics and I love the hieroglyphic tiled background – right click Save Background As…wink), everything worked, the writing (by both authors) was well written and entertaining. The author also cares about Urban Scrawl, the word “re-design” was mentioned no less than 32,347 times. I will be visited US again ‘fer sure. Thanks for sharing.
Urban Scrawl

eternal autumn is a site where you have to really, really concentrate in order to see things from the author’s side, what with the tiny font and the chosen appearance of the links, which are verging on invisibility.

From the information on the site, we know that eternal autumn is penned by a twenty-year-old American girl. Blog contents focus mainly on movies, concerts, TV, her friends, and her pets. In short, a twenty-year-old American girl’s life.

There’re plenty of interesting entries of the ‘what happened today’nature. After all, how dull can a twenty-year-old’s life be? However,
action-packed as her life might be, the reader’s interest might wan after a number of entries. It would probably make a much better read if the
author could blog down more of her thoughts, feelings and mental reactions to her life instead of just recording moments and instances as
they are. Everything that happens to any one person can happen to someone else; it is reading about an individual’s unique thoughts and outlook
that will hook readers.

As for the layout, there is nothing wrong with the bluish site, except the font and its colors. Navigation is somewhat hampered because the
links are hard to read, as mentioned before. The title, eternal autumn, comes as a bit of a surprise after a survey of the site, because other
than a strip of a brown tree, there is nothing that suggests the implied melancholiness of the title. In fact, there are some cute graphics on the site, including an adorable cat mood indicator.

eternal autumn is not a bad blog, but it is somewhat bland and lacking in personality. With some changes to the site, it can be a lot better. I look forward to a re-review.

eternal autumn

While I know that the biggest percentage of internet users probably includes the majority of people using a 1028×768 screen resolution. I, however, am not at this moment in time, and because of that, I had to scroll from side to side to read entries on the main page. It looks like this is just caused my the placement of images in certain monthly archives.

I was absurdly amused by the FAQ section of the site. Perhaps it was, for the most part, made up, but I still found a lot of interesting information about the author and the “Studied Authenticity” weblog – personal information about the author, like his pets or his current living situation, and information on how the weblog got its name and the initial purpose behind it all.

In addition to the “witty banter and links”, there’s also a link to some of the author’s personal poetry. The standard external links to other weblogs the author reads, links to the books he’s reading through Amazon.com, and the archived months are listed along the right side of this standard Blogger template.

Most of the posts I read through related back to some form of pop culture. Combining a review of the Ben Affleck/Samuel Jackson movie “Changing Lanes” along with a comparison of how the movie relates to his daily life is one of the many entries that stood out when reading back through the archives. The author is genuinely funny, with the type of slightly dry, offbeat sense of humor that not everyone’s going to get.

He throws in a great diversion of humorous images throughout some of his entries to break up the stream of constant text. Another fun addition is the way the author uses phrases like “The Lord sayeth unto me, ‘Yo nigga, I done gots some revelations fo yo dumb ass!'” as a title for a weblog entry, turned essay-length rant the author claims “really went nowhere”.
Topically speaking, readers are going to find a broad range of subjects to read about. The author, through his writing, seems very passionate about any subject matter at hand. Whatever he feels like talking about is always backed with strong opinion and plenty of explanation.

Reading a weblog from someone that appears as confident as this author is always refreshing, and even helps build confidence in your own opinion on matters. So, in all, this weblog is ideal for those that have opinions or enjoy reading the opinions of others and are looking for a little more than just the standard day-to-day updates of someone’s every day life.

Studied Authenticity

“Everything but what’s on my mind” is the weblog of Sharon, who describes herself as “new and improved at 18 years old, but still tragicomically inept”. When I was 18, I didn’t even know what tragicomically meant, and to be honest, I had to look it up even now. Apparently, tragicomically is an extension of the word tragicomedy, which is defined by Merriam-Webster as “a drama or a situation blending tragic and comic elements”. Good to know, I thought to myself.

Nearing almost a year in existence, “Everything but what’s on my mind” doesn’t give off the essence that it’s from a teen-aged writer. Not at all. While the entertaining antics are typically those enjoyed by people that fall into the same age group as the author, the writing is far better. The word choice, sentence structure, and just overall writing style of each entry seems to be that of a well-seasoned author, not that of someone who’s just beginning their search for the right college.

The design of the site it one of the generic template Blogger offers its users, and the site is hosted via BlogSpot. While not a terrible design by any means, I personally felt like the writing alone deserved something a little more. The main point of the site, however, IS the writing and that’s certainly what draws you in the most. Bordering on the right of the semi-daily entries, you find two brief sentences about the author, links to the monthly archives, and the standard of links to other weblogs.

Most readers that fall into the age group this weblog is written for and by might not find the interest or want to take the time to read the detailed entries Sharon jots down. Actually spending time easily forming the mental picture that the author leads us to see is definitely one of the finer points of this weblog. While you may not get exact details of what a certain person looks like or the complete play-by-play of the evening, the author provides readers with enough information that creating the situation and/or people involved in your mind is easy to do.

From experiences in the past, I tend to lump any weblog written by someone barely old enough to vote into a group of undereducated, attention-hungry kids who really only need to share their weblog with their friends. “Everything but what’s on my mind” is very far from that. While it still has a few bits and pieces that are probably only understood by those near and dear to the author’s personal life, I felt like she was really writing for absolutely anyone that stumbled upon the site and that’s the kind of thing that brings readers back. Everything but what’s on my mind