The Weblog Review

This is the weblog of small-town-Wisconsin-native, Ira, who’s now living in Chicago. The North Avenue Traffic Report is a personal weblog detail Ira’s personal traffic report, if you will. Ira best explains his purpose and intent by letting all the readers know the story behind the title of the weblog, and how it effects what he chronicles at this site.

The way Ira narrates stories is often very picturesque. When he tells of his dumpster diving experiences, it’s very easy to imagine him, legs sticking out, scrounging around for that great deal that you can’t find anywhere else – aside from the bottom of a dumpster. With Ira’s description, for the first time ever, I realized the advantages of scoping out those perfect dumpsters and piqued my curiosity enough to wonder where I might find some professional dumpster divers in my area…



No, his posts aren’t all about digging things out of the garbage. A good portion of his posting deals primarily with his bike ride to and from work each day. I never knew one could have so much to write about just along a bike ride. Ira takes time to notice what’s going on around him each day, and does us all a favor by taking the time to write about it. It’s a refreshing thing to read for me, because on my way to work, all I’m concerned about is the jerk in front of me who keeps riding his brakes and the lady next to me who’s got her lipstick out trying to use her rearview mirror to apply it.

The only thing I really felt like I missed out on at the North Avenue Traffic Report was some more information about Ira. His stories sometimes clue us in to a little bit about him, but you only learn that if you go through the few months of archived entries that are available. I’d like to see somewhere I could read a more general description of this guy that managed to entertain me the whole time I read through this site.



The design of the site is nice. It uses standard black, white, and yellow. There’s nothing flashy or something that’ll throw in any shock value. It’s just a nicely done site that makes for easy navigation and easy reading.

Stop by and give the North Avenue Traffic Report a read for a few days. Ira is sure to hook you with is writing and just the mere way he can tell a story. And that always makes for a good weblog.

North Avenue Traffic Report

This girl can vent, and I mean she can really vent. For people that have followed this particular weblog all along, they’ve known this from the first official post, where someone steals money from the author’s wallet. I would not have wanted to be on her hit list that day. And with her second post listing all over her boyfriends (Edward Norton, Jude Law, Paul Rudd, etc.), I felt like this was going to be the weblog of someone I just couldn’t help but like.

The posts continue on like that. The author goes off on a tangent quite regularly, but I don’t think that’s anything unusual from anyone else. And these particular tangents also happen to be ones that I’m sure lots of people out there could go off on just as well. It’s definitely something that I liked reading about, oddly enough.



It’s a Blogspot weblog, but I was exuberantly happy to see that the author had done something more to the design than just leave it in a prefab template. The background you find when you click on the archive link is a bit… well, bizarre, for lack of a better word. The full layout, though, is one that works for the site. It doesn’t actually tie in with the title in any way, but I suppose it doesn’t really have to.

The about section is limited. It’s very bare, but I suppose that works into the Bare part of the site’s title of “Barefoot and Happy”. There are other links available – one to a poll and of course several that lead to other sites the author frequents.

This is one of those rare weblogs that have you going “Hey, me too!” over and over again while reading each entry. To me, that makes a weblog one that you’ll want to come back to over and over again. Check this one out. I’m confident at least one of her posts will grab you and shake you just like it was something you’d said yourself.

Barefoot And Happy

Met by pictures of naked boys, hiding their junk behind pants-in-hand, ‘Brandon’ gave an interesting first impression. The naked boys are holding jeans by the way, which is ironic, considering our new friend Brandon never liked wearing jeans … I guess that’s why the boys have them off instead of on?

Anyway … Brandon, 19, a Cancer, from Indiana, is quite the character. He’s a very literal writer, but inherently, his writing style expresses the down-to-earth personality he possesses. I think people can honestly relate to Brandon … he’s a college-going homosexual who is dealing with current things, admittedly affected by a prejudiced past, and ultimately growing as a result of remaining open to new experiences. I like Brandon … he’s a solid guy, with no regrets.

Brandon’s design is a very clean one. Easily navigated, and attractive, it’s all-in-all a functional, well designed weblog.

I think Brandon, the site, the blog, and the person is very worth anyone’s time. This weblog received a 4.5 because of it’s simplicity, and mild-spirited everyday ramblings./brandon

Digital Tirade was listed as an “entertainment” blog, so I expected to show up and get the latest lowdown on television or the movies. Digital Tirade really isn’t an entertainment blog though – it’s a group blog about….well, a myriad of topics. Four guys with an overabundance of testosterone: let the hilarity ensue!

If the co-workers from Office Space got together and wrote a blog, I imagine that it would be much like Digital Tirade. Almost the whole first year of entries are mostly Waylin complaining about his job [that’s some entertaining stuff], but then the other writers of Digital Tirade show up. There is an element of an entertainment blog to Digital Tirade – there’s a section for reviews of mostly movies and video games. I will fully admit this: I love this blog. It’s funny, irreverent, and well-written. I’m totally hooked – I read every single entry, and that’s just about three years worth of entries.

The four writers at Digital Tirade don’t always play off each other’s entries, but regardless of whether they do or not, each of them makes great contributions to the blog. Devilturnip has some great entries about his trouble with cops, and I think he’s my favorite writer at Digital Tirade because he likes one of my favorite writers. Waylin is hilarious – he likes to teach Mormons about the chaos theory. I laughed and cried with Docnose as he explored the darker side of hibachi grilling, and with KoRyo as he complained about being his boss’ personal bitch.

Digital Tirade has one of the best About Me type of pages I have ever read. It doesn’t give too much information, but it’s hilarious. There is a store where you can purchase Digital Tirade merchandise, but the graphic links to the merchandise were broken when I visited. There’s also a section devoted to Waylin’s artwork, and a section that displays stills from and links to three of the writers’ webcams. Aside from all this, there are links to sites of interest and a great search feature. The design is good, with clean navigation.

Digital Tirade is one of the most entertaining blogs I’ve come across in a while – I’m definitely adding them to my blogroll list and will read regularly!
DigitalTirade

Huh, I certainly have not seen many blogs that have their own merchandise line, but Arseblog has their own shirts, mugs, shorts and of course the indispensable Arseblog thong. It took me a minute to figure out Arse(nal) blog is for Arsenal, which is a team in the English Premier Soccer League. I can’t say I follow European soccer much, but if you do these site is a well maintained and informative resource. The coverage and knowledge of the team is VERY extensive.

The blog updates every move made by Arsenal with updates nearly every day. You can surely get your Arsenal info fix here (or from the numerous links within the blog). The entries are well written with a bit of crass humour. A little taste:

“So what FIFA are saying is the referee is always right….even if he’s wrong and subsequently proved to be wrong. Making the referee look like a twat and essentially undermining his credibility, if not his authority. Some rule changes have worked well for football, like the back pass rule (my abiding memory of Ray Clemence is him picking up back pass after back pass), and the offside rule change which benefited the attacker. This however is a stinking pile of horse vomit with a dinosaur sh*t on top.”

There is a forum to discuss games, players, coaches, everything Arsenal. In another area you can find pics, wallpapers and other fun stuff. I couldn’t imagine what else Arseblog could cram up its arse. A great sports blog and a must for any Arsenal or English Premier soccer fan. Go Gunners!
http://www.arseblog.com