The Weblog Review

When I came across “Simon Templar”, I was very excited. You see, I’m a big fan of “The Saint”. I love the movie, and as for the TV show, I used to watch the reruns on TV back in the late 70s. Simon is slick, smart, and just plain cool.

Then, I started reading the site. The content is political. If you’re the kind of person who’d rather have an elephant in your house than a donkey, you won’t like what he has to say. I like to think “The Saint” has political leanings just like the author of this site. I don’t know for sure, but a lot of things point that way, so I feel the name of the site is justified on those grounds.

However, the web site and the legend have little in common when it comes to being slick and stylish. The layout is not very well thought out which in all fairness, may not be the fault of the author as it appears to be controlled by the hosting service. The navigation is difficult, and the writing is nothing like what I expected. For the most part, it’s just entry after entry of rants. He seems to be very angry and it comes out in the site. The use of different fonts and font colors is simply distracting and the seemingly random placement of images is annoying. He needs to find a punching bag somewhere and get rid of his anger. Then, he can come back and write something thoughtful and meaningful instead of raving on and using slurs.

Although my personal beliefs are more in line with the liberals than the conservatives, I find it difficult to read what he has to say and have any confidence in it. If he were to tone down the anger a notch or two, he might have something worth reading.

To cut a little slack here, the author hasn’t been blogging for very long. His style hasn’t come out. He lists himself as having expertise in several areas, including freelance writing and amateur punditry. Sadly, none of this freelance work shows up on his site (that I could find). In fact, he references another site quite a lot and seems to be more of a cheerleader than author.

The author has done a lot of work on the promotion of the site. He’s on five different blog rings, which I would guess bring a lot of visitors. This will get a lot of people to see the other sites he references. Those people will likely go back to those sites, but as for Simon, what Simon says doesn’t really matter.

Simon Templar

Nothing really spoke out to me when I opened up Lilli Marleen. I wasn’t sure what the site was going to be about because the design gave no clues, and neither did the title. But as always, you can’t judge a book by its cover, and I started to read.

The weblog itself was actually very informative. In the general scheme of weblogs, this one actually gave you places to search online about a variety of topics. Lilli Marleen isn’t a native English speaker, she’s German, but I wouldn’t have even noticed if she didn’t post this little note: “As you might see soon, english is not my mothertongue… So – my deepest apologies adressed to the English Language for not worshipping her better.” That line definitely gave me a chuckle as well as the rest of this site. Scattered around the site are Lilli’s opinions, and you can really get a feel for who she is.

The design wasn’t anything I haven’t seen before, but it worked for this site. It’s set up with two columns, which leaves it easy to navigate. The posts are all on the right side in plain view, and there are links on the left-hand column. However, I had trouble opening up some of the more recent archives, but Lilli has posted on that factor and isn’t sure why they aren’t loading. She said, “So, I’m sorry if you’re looking for an entry… but since I don’t pay them – who am I to complain?” Yet another tongue-in-cheek tidbit by Lilli.

There is more to Lilli Marleen than the blog itself. Lilli has set up an entire page telling us about herself, and she still manages to have that fun, cheery, giggly vibe running through her About page. Also present are links to other blogs, but many of them are in German, so I wouldn’t suggest those sites to an English reader. Also, located throughout the blog are various Quizzilla quizzes, which I always find entertaining.

All in all, Lilli Marleen would be a good read for someone who likes a little variety in life. Variety is the spice of life, isn’t it? While the design isn’t earth-shattering, it is easy to read, and the entire blog has a pleasant atmosphere about it. I would suggest this site to anyone who has spare time to surf the net. I enjoyed my Lilli Marleen experience.Lilli Marleen

Tales from the City, written by a guy who got stuck with a 646 area code while the rest of New York City has the 212 area code, is a real treat to read. The fact the he doesn’t have the “cool” area code didn’t phase me once! 🙂

I started at the very beginning of this weblog, reading each entry, and I really didn’t want to be disturbed while reading it. I found myself very easily reading through post after post, looking forward to whatever it is the author might post about next.

The layout’s a basic layout – the journaling content on one side, and various outside links on the other. Something that jumped out as unique to me, though, were the different phrases the author uses for the comments people can leave after each entry, giving the site a little more of added New York-esque feel to it. If nobody has commented, you see “silence in Manhattan”. With only one comment, you see “One car alarm is going off somewhere”, and once the masses start throwing in their two cents worth to his posts, the particular number of comments left give you the number of “people are waiting with me on the subway platform”.

The different topics the author touches on are on a level of understanding and entertainment that just about anyone can enjoy. Some of the posts I enjoyed the most were the great experiences he’s had meeting absolutely everyone from reality TV stars to being Anne Heche’s assistant at an awards show. And as if his own website wasn’t enough, I can’t tell you how sites he’s linked in various entries that I visited and thoroughly enjoyed what I found there, too.

Know what this site didn’t have? An “About the Author” section. This, however, is one of those rare weblogs that can go without because every day and with every entry you learn more and more about the author, and find out more of how he is and what he is then you ever could in a autobiographical description.

With Tales from the City, I can live vicariously through the author, meeting all of these famous people I know I’d never meet in a million years. That’s what good weblogging is all about, isn’t it?

tales from the city

Well, what can I say? This is an Irish blog. And it isn’t just an Irish blog because it’s written by an Irish (at least I think the author’s an Irish), or because the subtitles say, “despatches from the west coast of Ireland”. Topics discussed ranged from Irish television, to Irish weather issues, and Irish politics. The content may get a bit too heavy at times (especially if you know nothing about Ireland), but the sardonic wit present in the writing improves the readability and makes you smirk in agreement to the writer’s jokes (IF you catch them, anyway).

Most of the entries are written in a slightly informal report style, albeit it can get a little stiff at times. The writing is very smooth, and the entries have almost perfect spelling. The layout of the blog is very clean and simple. There are few pictures included within the posts themselves, but there are links to various galleries exhibiting several scenic areas around Ireland.

Though the blog is updated on a regular basis, it is recommended that you do not attempt to read everything in one go. This is because as fluent as the entries can be, they tend to get really dense and dry after a while, even more so if you are not familiar with the subjects that the writer is writing about. Thus, unless you are from Ireland, or are extremely interested in the going-ons within the country, this blog might not work out very well for you.
North Atlantic Skyli

Right from the start ‘man.ik-di’pres.iv had a lot to live up to. Having manic depression in my family means I almost knew what to expect. This was familiar territory, perhaps too close to home, and I wasn’t sure if I wanted to see it in a weblog. But the first post made me smile: a hi-fi war. You have no idea how many “hi-fi wars” I live with.

Of course reading about something familiar to me is always going to be of interest to me (and this man even shares my love of Home Alone and The Sound of Music), but ‘man.ik-di’pres.iv presents a quirky writing style that could suck anyone in. It was interesting to read a weblog by someone outside of the US , especially a post about the measures taken at the author’s work place, in response to the highly publicised SARS.

Although I never found anything in the weblog that explicitly stated the author is a manic-depressive, I’m assuming he is due to the title. The writing certainly seems manic. One minute we are told, “life is divided into the horrible and the miserable,” and the next, “each moment of life is precious.” All the posts are short enough to hold your attention and a post that brings you down will usually be followed by one that has you laughing.

The layout of the site is very dark: white type on a black background with a few black and white pictures. This works well for a site called ‘man.ik-di’pres.iv where moods fluctuate from bright to gloomy. The site is on Geocities, which I know would put some people off, but the layout works as well as any standard Blogger template. Some of the non-blog pages, such as the front page, seem a little chaotic and unordered, but as it’s the weblog I’m focusing on here I can say that the diary page looks fine.

‘Man.ik-di’pres.iv has been going for three months now and I happily read through almost every post. The subject matter is a fascinating one and Alex obviously has a skill for writing for an audience. The entry page has a paragraph that says, “welcome to a peek into my mind. I hope it doesn’t leave a bad taste in your mouth.” It didn’t. I’ll be stopping by ‘Man.ik-di’pres.iv in the future, and I advise paying a visit.‘man.ik-di’pres.iv