The Weblog Review

Erin’s Story certainly isn’t going to set your world alight, and at first glance I kind of thought I had struck out on this review due to its basic design and very little else. A web cam is always a nice start, and when you got the blessing of some good looks, well, why not let the world share in it too? Certainly placing a face to a blog can explain a fair few things not to mention add a dimension of personality to it.



The weblog I found rather amusing if anything, not exactly the kind of material you’d find in the study halls of Oxford University, but to the point, no fuss, and almost giving you the feeling of the author as she wrote it. Well I won’t exaggerate, when someone is drunk they don’t post much and when they’re happy we find that the caps lock becomes key of the hour, and as annoying as this is for most people, it almost seemed fitting for this blog. I guess the best thing you can say about this weblog is that its not laboring, Erin doesn’t drivel on, keeps it short and very much too the point, which I found very appealing.



If there’s one thing I would want to enforce about the design of the weblog it’s the use of scroll bars within a site, in particular horizontal scroll bars. In brief, horizontal scroll bars in a blog are plain evil. No one likes reading a blog and then forced to scroll across to catch the last 2 words of a line, and my screen is set to 1024 x 768 so its hardly what you would call small, so perhaps there’s something that can be changed. Resizing images and pictures too could well help here, waiting for a blog to load due to one huge image file can ruin the experience. However the fact that she uses graphics to break up entries etc is refreshing and a feature I liked.



Polls and questions made the site interactive, again something enjoyable to play with, and it does help the old brain stay awake instead of mindless reading all the time. The big plus about this site is there is plenty of information about Erin, her family and her life, and I confess I read through most of it. There’s also some very interesting pictures and animations.



Erin’s Story is light reading, and whilst not being too ‘advanced’ it certainly is interesting enough to want to take a look at. I give Erin’s Story a 2.5 out of 5 though I’m sure a lot of the readers will juggle their vote between 1 and 4. Happy reading!Erin’s Story

Starkdavingmad is a classic and well done vanity site with a blog attached. Besides the weblog it has a variety of other sections to explore (bio, FAQ, pictures, guestbook, work projects, etc.). The author even has a long discussion of the Star Wars movie series. My first impression was a pleasant one.



Although, the blog is largely a day in the life of kind of diary it is well written and easy to read. The links and other sections all work well and are interesting. The problem is the subjects are rather pedestrian. If you like reading about other peoples lives then this site one of the better ones -the writing is clean and crisp and covers a range of subjects (technology, work, family, movies, games, etc.) but the author rarely wrestles with any larger issues outside of himself. If you are looking for more than a interesting diary, there is little to find.



Starkdavingmad is a clever, well written, well designed, diary and vanity site for a 27 year old of Korean heritage finding his way in California – his family, his career, his tastes. If you enjoy following such a life than this site is for you. Personally, I enjoyed reading about “David” and wish him well.

Starkdavingmad

The first thoughts I had when visiting this site was this: who in their right mind would ever name their weblog “FUH-Q dot COM?” There is this big-breasted, beautiful, enticing babe holding a black cat seductively in her lap. Of course, my curiosity is my master, and I click through the picture in order to enter this site. I am taken to the sub-directory called “pissed” and the entry for the day falls under the category “same shit, different day.” Her banner contains statements like “everything’s so blurry,” “everyone’s so fake,” “everyone’s empty,” “everything is messed up,” and “can you take it all way?” Whoa and watch out, cover your ears and eyes, and be daring if you can.



Let me be perfectly honest. This weblog is definitely NOT for the light-hearted among us. Serra’s use of language can be brutal and may offend people. She often sounds angry, but there are occasional entries that shine through. Personally, I found it refreshingly open and direct, because I value honesty very highly no matter what the extreme character it may assume. If however you are easily affronted by foul language combined with extreme openness, then it is probably better that you continue your blogging journeys elsewhere.



There are alot of writings and links on a daily basis, dating back to January of this year (when she got fired). Despite the somewhat angry mood of this weblog, the general design of the site is quite good. Dark blue induces the correct mood of this weighty site, and the mixtures of colors make the reading easy going on the eyes. The navigation around the site is nothing less than perfect, and the visitor can get around everywhere without a problem.



So we have a mixture of moods, ups and downs, a mental roller coaster ride. Serra swings from entries titled “Very angry,” “I feel strange,” “This is a fucked up world” and “So lost” back over to those more positive ones covering topics like “It’s all good,” “Yes I’m fine,” “Lazy days.” She has even written some poetry: “Darkness,” “Forget” and “Don’t.” The pendulum swings back and forth.



Here is an interesting entry I found which is appropriate to the general mood that Serra portrays. “I want to be famous so bad that it isn’t funny. I guess it all stems from where I had a very unhappy and lonely childhood. I didn’t have hardly any friends, no real family, and no romantic life. It appeals to me so much, because I would love for everyone to love me and I would love to make someone happy just by letting them touch my hand.” She writes about her rough life and how she was able to overcome many obstacles, and there is a detailed description about depression and how to deal with it. She tries her very best to sound positive, and it is obvious that she is making progress.



A nice extra feature of this weblog is the forum for which one can register, and in many ways this makes it more of a discussion site than a weblog. I registered and there were no problems. Two other folks were online when I was logged in, so there is some activity, though limited. There are alot of other registered fellow-members. You can also have the opportunity to submit your own stories, but unfortunately this page is empty (for now).



This site is very difficult to review considering its dark mood. One has the natural tendency to feel personally affronted and negative. However, I sense that this is to a large degree what Senna wants to accomplish. She does it on purpose. She grabs your attention, but she also holds onto it. You are so caught up in her many words that if you are not careful you get carried along with her on this fantastic roller coaster ride. So in that regard, I have to congratulate her on doing a good job and accomplishing this difficult task. This is the task with which all bloggers are confronted, and each must find their own personal way to overcome it. Yes, I can recommend this site, but do not cover your ears or your eyes, and be daring.Fuh-q dot com

“Untitled” honor the name of the site. The three authors are somehow young, although their ages are not stated anywhere they said “we are kids”, and somehow lost on the purpose of the weblog. One of them actually said it: “There is no goal for this project, but to get hits” … hard to get hits without a goal. So they use words writing with no sense to attract people through the search engines.



They categorized themselves as “news commentary” and “movie reviews” but personal events of the daily life and school stuff are all over, and movie reviews constitute just very few post. There are, also, comments and links to articles with teens interests like Britney Spears, or women semi-dressed.

It is also said the site is “humorous satirical”, which in their minds mean cursing and insulting … a lot. The writing, although meant to be funny, is not. Is more teen bla bla bla trying to get attention.



Untitled has the comments facility but not lot of comments actually.



On other hands Kelvin records all kind of excuses when he doesn’t post, like “I haven’t been updating. My social demands of life have taken over my online ‘priorities’”, or, “My presence here has been next to none but I assure you I have good reason for my absence, I have been having a life”, or, “I know that none of you care, but I haven’t been posting lately” … too many excuses for the little absences, that usually don’t go over a day or two.

The other two members of the site post very little, but their post follow the general pattern of teen topics and bad mouthed language.



The site has a clean design. Easy to navigate, and that is it. Not very much to offer.



Not suited for very young audience, lots of bad words going on and statements like “idol: Adolf Hitler”. And the disclaimer states they are not responsibly for anything they said. Bad example.

untitled

The People’s Republic of Seabrook begins with “If you’re drinking to forget, please pay in advance.” The first thing that pops up in my mind is whether or not this is a weblog. Is it? Everything appears on one huge single page that takes a long time to load. In fact it is still loading after I have read through the first three screen-fulls. There seems to be little or no structure here. I start searching for it but it is difficult to find. It is obvious from the very beginning that this is a weblog in motion, still being thought out and growing quickly without form. The author has chosen to do it this way, which is his right and I can respect. However, it does not make it easy reading for people like me who expect structure. So where is the weblog anyway?

Aha, I think I have found it. Part way down I spot the following words: “Welcome to my weblog- the catalogued ramblings and hallucinations of an unchecked intellect. I love to write, and frankly, this provides me with a much-needed outlet.” Good, so I click on the weblog link and get the much feared 404-error. Bummer, what’s happening here? I skip around and see he is using a ready-made template that is pretty much unused, mostly empty, many gaps. There is even a so-called shop called “shop ecrosstexas style.” Nothing to sell there, though. Click, click and more clicks in search of the weblog. Where is it? I finally find it. However, it has cost me so much energy making it this far, that I have lost some patience for perusing the blog contents. But as a dedicated and hopefully objective reviewer of blogs, I find it my duty to continue anyway. Just in case.

The general impression is that this weblog is okay, nothing exotic or overly interesting, but enough stuff to read. Plenty of stuff. Indeed, the writer does spend serious moments of thought putting down his creative thoughts on paper. I click on the About-link. There I see “What is ecrosstexas?” but there is no answer below. Emptiness and I am still left hanging again.

So let’s get back to the question that started this review in the first place. Is this a weblog? If we mean the People’s Republic of Seabrook, then the obvious answer is no. However, if we mean ecrosstexas then the answer is maybe. There is potential there. The author is obviously working hard on creating his own piece of art, but he is not quite there yet. I think that if he used some good web tools rather than trying to do everything in raw HTML by hand he could do better. There is a good chance.
The People’s Republic of Seabrook