The Weblog Review

At Flamingseagull.com, you get 2 blogs for the price of one! Or something like that …


Here, you’ll meet Nellie, who says she needs to read before heading off to bed and Marlush who says she can’t eat salt for some reason which goes unknown. Both have their own little space where they blog their thoughts.


Both Nellie and Marlush tend to write short posts from what I was able to see; sometimes a line or 2 long while others maybe be a paragraph short. I was a bit disappointed that I was unable to have access or find any archives, but we do with what we have.

They tend to write about work, what’s going on that weekend and so on. Nellie wrote a lengthy post about one early morning where she ended up locking her car keys in her car and dealing with difficult people at the gas station. Marlush on the other hand had a bit more written on her blog and wrote about needing to cut back on some of her expenses and hang out at her local park and what music festival’s coming up.


I liked the layout even though they’re in the middle of finishing up the design and so on. Some of the links you can’t use, such as the photo page, and something called, “ask ms nellie.” The only graphics on the site are pictures of each of the girls which seems to show off their playful personalities.

I was a bit disappointed with the site, mostly because it lacked substance. It would have been nice had there been more to read from. And even though both blogs seem pretty similar, it’s cool you get two blogs to read from. Flamingseagull

Admittedly it was the Blog’s name that first managed to grasp my attention, the feeling that this person may, in all of his piglet kicking glory, be a kindred spirit (alas poor Pooh). Even upon clicking to enter the Site, much managed to hold my normally short attention span.



Unfortunately it is only recently that Evil Dave has commenced posting once more having risen out of a depressive mire that would appear to have been brought on by England’s defeat by Brazil in the World Cup (at least it is there about in time that his postings ceased), but thankful we may be at the resumption of his humour filled banter.



Attractive (assuming that you will not enter into an anaphylactic shock upon viewing the colour purple in all of its royal glory), well laid out and easy to navigate, filled with entertainment from the mouse-over effects of the logo to the navigation features to the instructions as to how one may play paper/scissors/rock by ones self.



Well worth a visit for the entertaining read, quiz and games that his evil mind has managed to conjure from its depths.


evildave

The splash page was one of the very few well done, and not overly annoying splash pages I’ve seen. It’s simple, but yet it’s bright and cheery, and immediately convinced me that I wanted to continue exploring the site. The layout is great – it stays the same throughout the whole site, didn’t take too long to load, and just overall gave off very “happy” vibes.

The author is crazy about her boyfriend. It’s easy to tell this by the way she describes how much she misses him, or how happy he makes her, or by just saying “I’m crazy about my boyfriend”. While it could have very easily turned into something along the lines of the author getting entirely too sappy about it, it just makes the reader (at least me) feel happy that another human being is experiencing that much happiness.

The Ladybug’s Garden is definitely a site that pulls the reader into the author’s world, letting you read about the daily experiences, both good and bad, that happen in Sophia’s life. There’s a lot of information about the author in the weblogs, whether it be the weekly “Friday Five” questions that are answered, or the occasional “What type of ____?” test that she posts. It’s easy to get involved in Sophia’s life and find yourself wondering how she’s doing or what she’s up to if she hasn’t posted for a while.

In addition to the weblog, there are links leading to an “about” section, a photo gallery, the obligatory Amazon wishlist, and a guestbook. Sadly enough, the “about” section hasn’t yet been started. Fortunately, this is yet another site where you learn so much about the author just from reading the weblog entries. The photo gallery has some really beautiful pictures the author has taken on her many travels, and is definitely worth checking out as well.



The site’s visitors are another great aspect of the site! They’reloyal, as well as entertaining. They constantly interact with Sophia via the comments available on each post, or the nifty tagboard alongside the side bar of the site.

It’s easy to see why so many visitors keep coming back – Sophia seems to genuinely care about those that frequently visit her site, and seems like a unique, but yet casual person that’s fun to get to know. That makes this a great site to add to your list of daily reads.Ladybug’s Garden

The first thing that jumped out at me on this site was the picture of a completely naked man with his entire body painted exactly like Spiderman’s outfit? Attractive? Hell no. Funny? Absolutely! So, as sick as it may sound, this weblog instantly made a big hit with me!

Even though it’s quite simple to get to know Kevin through his amusing weblog entries, I was really craving that “about” section. When the link didn’t work, I was sorely disappointed. But reading Kevin’s daily words are certainly a treat all in their own, without the typical informative biography section of the site. And you do get to know his feelings and thoughts towards different topics, which lead the reader to form your own little “about” section.

Design-wise, it’s a standard Movable Type template that’s slightly been altered to the author’s liking. The alterations made it a bit bolder then the typical MT format, and it’s a nice improvement.



NadaBlog has been around since November 2001. Up until the beginning of August 2001, Kevin has each month’s journal entries set up as one big entry summarizing the entire month. With the birth of a new baby in January (and a very cute baby girl, I might add), it’s easy to empathize with Kevin only summing up each month with one entry.

The majority of the entries and posts at Nada Blog contained the little known intelligence that sometimes gets lost when people have their own websites. Kevin’s past concern of “derection” while visiting the doctor and his recently invented “weblog creed” are just two examples of entertaining reading you’ll stumble upon at this weblog.

A new addition to Nada Blog has also just been announced. Lance, it seems, has joined the posting frenzy, and made quite a splash in my opinion with his first post listing “9 Things You Won’t Hear At Your Neighborhood Block Party. Between Kevin and Lance, there’s nothing but good things that could happen with this weblog.NadaBlog

This site has a professional-looking and conservative design, similar to what you might see on the site of a company. It’s easy to read, with a nice blue and white color scheme. The list of links on the right side include graphics instead of just text links, and the writer has posted a large photo in today’s post, so the site looks pretty lively before I even start to read.

The site is subtitled, “Where cats, science fiction, and anger come together!” It’s written by two people, Ellen and Scott. Ellen describes herself as a cat lover who is always angry, exercising a lot, and working as a veterinary technician. Scott has a humorous FAQ about himself and tells us he’s an anthropologist working as a “computer guy” at a national nonprofit. He says the purpose of the site is to allow him to express some of his funny thoughts, essays, and opinions about other media outlets. Anybody who likes an angry wit and news-of-the-weird type links will enjoy this well-written site. Also, Ellen links to lots of really cute animal photos, so unabashed cute-animal fans should definitely visit.

The design of the site and its content go together well in the sense that the design is unobtrusive. This is a very good thing. It’s easy to navigate and to find the links (on the right and left sides) that you’re interested in.

I liked the list of “Topics” on the left side of the page, where you are taken to Scott and Ellen’s postings on specific subjects (such as airplanes, angst, funnies, and space). This is a great idea to let new readers browse directly to entries they might especially like.

Scott and Ellen have an excellent collective eye for the unusual. They interact on the site in a comfortable teasing manner that is entertaining without falling into too many in-jokes.

I recommend this interesting, eclectic site and I’ll visit it again myself, both to follow the saga of Ellen and Scott and to see what strange things they encounter in life and on the web.
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