The Weblog Review

With a title and domain like Violent Nation, I really had no idea what to expect. Anything from some type of a hate crime expert to a misunderstood teenager crossed my mind as to who I was going to be reading about as I began my journey through this weblog.

I was pleasantly surprised to find out that this weblog was one belonging to a somewhat average guy who just has an impeccable flair for being able to describe a situation and make the reader feel as if you’re right there. The first post I read about the drama involved in delivering pizzas set a great tone for the rest of the site, because I knew the author, either consciously or otherwise, made an effort to make the readers that stumble upon this site feel like they’re right there during each entry.

Be sure to check out the violentnation.com soundtrack at the bottom of the site. You can create your own listening music while reading through the weblog and/or the rest of the extensive site. It’s setup just like the cool keyboards from about 10 years ago where you could loop your favorite drum sound with the likes of a synthesizer and get yourself going with some pretty cool music that you, uh, “created”.

Other than the soundtrack feature, there’s a ton of different sections throughout the site. There are TONS of photos, some fun flash presentation-type things that the author’s created, song lyrics, poetry, essays, and the list of other parts of the site seems to have continued to grow since the beginning of violentnation.com.

After finishing reviewing the entire site, I’m still sitting here tapping my foot to the sounds of my very cool lounge-ish music I’ve created with that crazy little soundtrack feature, and would highly suggest making your way to this site – it’s not really a Violent Nation.

violentnation.com

Sphaera Ephemeris is an excellent example of a news blog with a specific focus: Greek news. Nikolaos Karanikos writes, pretty exclusively, on Greek politics, and geopolitics as it effects Greece. I don’t know much (OK, I don’t know nothin’) about Greek politics, but if I were interested in it I would read this site daily. Karanikos doesn’t just aggregate news, he opines at length. He does not mince words. He has harsh words for the Simitis government, and harsher ones for Turkey. I suppose if you disagreed with him you might find his tone inflammatory (“Turko-fascists,” “Simitis the Supine,” etc.) But hey, it’s a blog, and strong opinions well expressed are valuable.

The site isn’t going to win any design awards — it’s functional, cut-and-paste template, and that’s about it. Personally I’d like to see the font slightly larger, but then I’m all about the legibility. (Plus I think I need to see an optometrist. But enough about me.) Sphaera Ephemeris has a list of blog-links, (including the NYCBloggers map, yay!), but not much else in the way of extras. (What? No links to recommended Greek news sources?) There’s a search function (powered by Google) but it’s hidden at the bottom of the page, and doesn’t find specific posts, and so is not that useful. He’s just launched a Greek language version of the blog, making this the first bilingual blog I’ve come across, which I think is just grand.

But the major drawback to Sphaera Ephemeris is its lack of community functions like commenting. With strong political opinions such as these, there must be people who agree and disagree. Feedback would make the site a much better source of news. (Think about little green footballs, for example.) I’d really like to see what others think about Karanikos’ opinions. It looks like he’s attempted to use a Yahoo group as a discussion mechanism, but the only posts in it (as of now) are mirrors of his blog posts. His email address isn’t even listed, so if you vehmently disagree with him, there’s no way to let him know. Other than post about it on your own blog, I suppose.

In all, I think this a very good blog, that has the potential to be an important voice for those interested in Greece and European politics. If you’re in that camp, then definitely check it out. If you’re not, then you’ll definitely learn something.Sphaera Ephemeris

Neutral colors, standard template. Hey, and no chimps. I guess there is some truth in advertising after all! No Chimps doesn’t reach out and grab a reader’s attention, but I must admit that my curiosity was piqued by the name of the blog.

Thomas, a student, dislikes Margaret Thatcher but declines to say why and has quite a collection of guitars. There are only a few dozen entries so far at No Chimps. Some of the entries are quite short and don’t say a lot; recently Thomas’ entries have gotten a little longer, a little more introspective. If Thomas continues to add thoughtful entries No Chimps will evolve into a good blog. As is, there are too many short entries to really hook me into becoming a regular reader. This is my personal preference, but cleaning up the occasional spelling, grammar, and punctuation errors would also really help with the flow of the reading. And, again personal preference, Thomas’ intermittent usage of capitalization is irksome.

The design really doesn’t do much for me, but it’s not hideous or anything. In fact, it is quite functional with fairly good navigation. As noted above, the whole design is just rather neutral. I suggest taking the quotation marks out from your page headers. I don’t really see the need to label the main page as “home” but maybe someone complained to Thomas about being confused. It would also be a little easier to navigate if the reader could get to the next entry or the previous entry from the current entry, instead of having to access all archived entries from the Archives page.

One of the most unique things about No Chimps is the section in the blog where the reader can download clips of Thomas’ songs. This is a really great feature – since Thomas doesn’t really have very many entries yet this may be the best reason to come to No Chimps. Thomas also includes the “Tombot” – a sort of Q&A about Thomas type of thing – and quizzes to test the reader’s knowledge of Thomas trivia. Both are really interesting elements. He also has a guestbook and an About Me page.

I might come back to catch up at No Chimps in a few months after Thomas has some time to write a little more.
NO Chimps

“Quiet” is the first thing that comes to mind when looking at Kane Blues for the first time. If this blog had a sound I imagine it would be white noise. I thought maybe Kane Blues would be a quiet and introspective blog. I was right.

The writer of Kane Blues has a calming writing style. She is detailed – not in a Hemingway-like way, but in a descriptive yet fleeting way. She has a lot to say, and is thoughtful. Good writing, and insightful commentary are the rule here. Good job!

Kane Blues is a very simply designed journal. Sometimes simple is boring, but in the case of Kane Blues that’s not what’s going on. Of course, I wouldn’t call it exciting or interesting, either. But it’s very functional and not unpleasant to look at. And it has excellent navigation, which I appreciate more than anyone can know. The only thing I can really complain about is the main logo graphic – the font is slightly hard to read.

There aren’t a lot of extras at Kane Blues, but the extras that are present are well worth a visit. There’s a link to the writer’s poetry and an excellent photoblog.

I would likely come back for another read of Kane Blues. It’s good writing with a very reflective feel to it.
KaneBlues

Some people think it’s cute when blogs are designed so things trail behind your pointer or stuff, like snow, is falling across the screen. I am not one of those people. It’s distracting and annoying. And so when I first came across Punk Rock Princess, I mentally prepared myself to be annoyed. In the end, the writing didn’t annoy me but the falling snow definitely did.

Nicole, the writer of this blog, is a student in Canada. She keeps a blog detailing the day to day of her life. She tells jokes that she hears, and little factoids that she runs across. The main part of her blog seems to be part personal journal and part news/factoid links. I find her “Beef of the Month” section much more interesting. While I don’t agree with some of what she says, the entries are longer and more entertaining than what is on her main blog.

The design of Punk Rock Princess is not really a match to the name of the blog or to the writing. Nicole’s About Me page says that she likes Bon Jovi and Loreena McKennitt, neither of which are remotely punk rock. The design features an off center lion and the above mentioned annoying falling snow. I didn’t see the words “Punk Rock Princess” anywhere on the blog at all. I’d like to see a more streamlined approach to navigation. As is, the navigation is cumbersome and clunky. Maybe a drop down box somewhere to get around? And the words “guestmap” break on my browser so “guest” is on the first line of navigation and “map” is on the second line. Some older links in entries are broken.

If you’re interested in what Nicole is reading, has on her desktop, or what her weather is like, you’re in luck – she lists those on the side. As mentioned, she has a guestmap and an About Me type of page. She also links to all pages within in her blog where she has done a quiz or a meme.

If you’re a friend of Nicole’s this would make a great blog to catch up on her life. I might come back to read more of her “Beef of the Month” entries, but I doubt I would read her regular blog. Most of the content is not original – it is links to news or jokes that can found on other blogs.

Punk Rock Princess