The Weblog Review

I have to admit I was a little curious as to why this site was submitted to be re-reviewed again after it got a 5.0 on the last review. What would be so different that the site would require a re-review? With that thought in question I went on to Steve’s Thoughtful Spot.

The page loads and I am greeted with Jim Morrison and Winnie the Pooh. I am still not sure what the purpose is of both of them on the site, but oh well.

The design of the site is a black column and a green column with the blog being on the later. While there doesn’t seem to be much originality in the design, other than the logo, it works for the site.

The blog itself is well written. Posts are about his daily life: some are about nights with his friends, to work, to thoughts on the blog itself.

While the posts were written well, I had a hard time getting into the site. I think the blog itself follows your standard blog. Posts could be interchanged with a different blog and it wouldn’t seem like there was much difference.

One of the best parts of the site I thought was the about Steve section. He has devoted an entirely new blog to this section. You really get to know Steve in this section as he covers everything from being born to music interests to completely random facts about him.

Over all I think the site will be a good read for some people, but not all. If you enjoy a site about daily life and what have you, this is one for you.
Steve’s Thoughtful Spot

The Princess’s Diaries is, essentially, a diary, nothing more, nothing less. Author Ayaba is a woman who is sure of herself and is determined to give herself the best she can offer. Reading posts from such a self-inspiring woman who values herself is indeed uplifting.

Posts from The Princess’s Diaries are mainly records of Ayaba’s daily life and how she goes about improving herself. Other than the usual this-happened-today entries, Ayaba also frequently posts meaningful lists and thoughts, presumably taken from other sources. For example, a list of why women over forty are better than younger women, a list of tips on staying young, etc. All these fit well into Ayaba’s blog, as the main theme throughout seems to be self-improvement and faith, both in the self and in God. An example:

To A Beautiful Person

If God had a refrigerator, your picture would be on it.

If He had a wallet, your photo would be in it.

He sends you flowers every spring.

He sends you a sunrise every morning.

Whenever you want to talk, He listens.

He can live anywhere in the universe, but He chose… your heart.

Face it friend, He is crazy about you! God didn’t promise days without pain, laughter without sorrow, sun without rain, but He did promise strength for the day, comfort for the tears, and light for the way.

However, there are a few weaker points as well. For one, The Princess’s Diaries’ layout is dry and, well, typical blogspot-ty. Also, there is no information on the author whatsoever, which makes reading about her life somewhat less satisfactory. Lastly, there are no links. Although a personal diary need not have links, it is, in a way, another method of letting readers know a blogger better by finding out what she enjoys reading.

The worth of The Princess’s Diaries lies in the words and personality of the author, where a reader may find an encouraging gem or two while reading about Ayaba’s life. Head over for a look if you are looking for some good thoughts and tranquility.

The Princess’s Diaries

I’m in love with the Cynical Tyrant. Okay, not so much her, but her outlook on life and the amazing way she’s able to put it into words. Perhaps it’s because her thoughts on so many different things mirror my own so closely.

“Cynical Rantings” began only in early February, and the author makes it very clear the only person she’s really keeping this weblog for is herself. In her second week of keeping this weblog, the author makes an observation about all that is in the weblogging community. I’ve never really read it more accurately. So, while very new to the weblogging world, it seems like this author has made a very noble and accurate attempt at understanding WHY the world is full of weblogs.

I didn’t find a single entry that was anything less than three paragraphs. Much to the author’s credit, the entries that are several paragraphs long are very well written. Hoping to one day get her writing published somewhere other then “Cynical Rantings”, the author absolutely does not disappoint anyone stopping by for a quick read.

Reality television is a popular topic throughout the few weeks of archives available, and you’ll also stumble upon entries discussing the author’s opinions on major events like the Grammy Awards or her pet peeves like public nose-picking. One thing I like the most about this weblog is the way the author is very up front about WHY she is doing this: “This blog is an effort for me to become a better writer.” But better? In that case, I’m buying the book as soon as it’s published.

You don’t learn much personal information about the author, but you do gather great insight to her thoughts and opinions through her detailed writing – always giving opinions, and always backing them up, or sometimes just giving us all a brief, but very witty synopsis to what’s on her mind.

The design at “Cynical Rantings” is a standard Blogger template. It could have been fluorescent green with dancing pink flamingos bordering each entry, though, and I don’t think I would have noticed. I was just that in to what I was reading.

I love this weblog. I love it. It’s bookmarked and it’s a daily visit in my little world. I’d recommend popping on over for a quick read of whatever the latest entry may be. I have no doubt it’ll be a fine one.

Cynical Rantings

First and foremost, ‘script furnace’ is a group weblog. The site states that there are twenty-eight authors in all, but currently only a handful of those twenty-eight post actively.

Most group weblogs are either news/links blogs, or center around a main issue. Not the case with ‘script furnace’. This is a group weblog under the Personal category, which means that everyone posts about his or her life and his or her thoughts, independent of each other. As can be imagined, this leads to a certain amount of confusion as to who’s-who (not to mention what’s-what, where’s-where and when’s-when) for the new reader.

The best feature of ‘script furnace’ is how the authors ask for feedback regularly and encourage discussion. They also interact through the comment system. I would say that a visit to ‘script furnace’ is not complete without also going through the comments after each post. Although there are some pretty interesting entries about the authors’ personal lives, the most engaging posts are those concerning current events and issues that most people can relate to, because, lets face it, reading about someone getting laid off in between opinions about the war on Iraq just doesn’t have the impact it would normally have on a purely personal website.

Layout wise, ‘script furnace’ is clean and simple, with a neat archive system that every group weblog should have. The archives can be browsed by week, by month, and by category, which makes reading a whole lot more easier and fun.

To readers who are not familiar with the authors’ personal lives, the random and sporadic entries about what happened to them and what they did seems somewhat mundane, considering we are given brief and disconnected glimpses of different persons’ lives, all thrown in together. Perhaps ‘script furnace’ should add one more feature: allow readers to go through the archives by author. ‘script furnace’s strong points are its authors ability to strike a chord with readers, to get readers to response, and to touch on issues that readers actually care about. It is, after all, a group weblog, and any group weblog without some form of bond between its authors is not a good group weblog.

script furnace

Jim Howard’s ShowMe was a roller coaster of first impressions. I was intrigued by the title – Jim Howard’s Show Me what . Then I realized that the blog was at xanga.com, a slight disappointment as I knew I would be dealing with a lot of standard details. Even worse, the colors that Jim chose clash. Or maybe I just don’t like brown.

However, I do not take into account (well, not much) the design of a blog. Content is superior – I’d much rather read an interesting blog with green and purple borders than a mundane site that is beautifully designed. What struck me about Jim’s site was his thought flow, very matter-of-fact. I’m sorry to say that this did not appeal to me either. Jim’s ideas come at you like gunshots – BAM, BAM, BAM. I don’t feel a sense of streaming consciousness – a.k.a. sentence flow.

The majority of Jim’s entries are reactions to the world around him, specifically the news. Yes, there are entries that pertain to his personal life – quite a few actually. But the view I got of Jim as I read his blog is that of an intelligent man from Texas who bluntly states his opinions on current events.

One interesting aspect of Jim’s blog was that it linked to another site, called his notebook. The notebook is actually a webcam along with a message board. The webcam was interesting in that you could move around the picture instead of the stills you always see on other blogs.

Should you visit Jim’s Howard’s ShowMe? In my opinion, I don’t know exactly what Jim Howard is showing me. I rarely say “no, don’t ever visit this site” because people will have different reactions to the same blog. I say give it a try – perhaps it will appeal more towards you then it did on my visit.

Jim Howard’s ShowMe