The Weblog Review

One thing is for sure: you can’t accuse the author of (a)musings of being too brief or short-winded in her weblog entries. And for the most part, that turns out to be a good thing.



The weblog entries covered many subjects in detail. Everything from the guilty pleasures of watching MTV’s “The Real World” to detailed accounts of the arguments that took place with her husband over the timely purchase of tickets to a Barenaked Ladies concert. The author shows no fear in laying it all out for the visitor to read; a quality this reviewer admires. The posts are written well, and therefore manage to keep you entertained, almost in a voyueristic peek-into-someone’s-personal-journal kind of way.



The layout and design of the site left something to be desired, as there didn’t seem to be a common theme from page to page. The navigation was not the most intuitive I have seen, with different links appearing from page to page in different locations. However, I did like some of the images and photographs the author used to bind the site together. The random use of football play drawings as a tiled background was (a)musing.



Get your coffee and your bagle and read through (a)musings for some funny, witty, detailed weblog activity presented in an unabashed, wide-open manner. This is another good site that offers a different angle on life, and should be worth a second look.

(a)musings

In Between Naps is a fitting name for this weblog, as the author writes a lot about her children and the development and happenings they are going through. Mildly interesting, but definitely a unique flavor among the usual multitudes of teenaged bloggers out there.



The meat and potatoes of In Between Naps are the fervent weblog posts relating to religion, the Catholic Church, politics, and social issues. The author seems to comb the internet in search of articles to link to and comment on. She often points out the similarities and ironies that each article poses. I found this to be a refreshing approach to maintaining a weblog, not because such a news site has never been done, but because the angle of approach the author takes is a little different.



The site was based on a Blog Spot template, and lacked any sort of personal or artistic flair. I followed a few of the links, such as the one leading to the author’s main site, but was led into confusion and broken images, for the most part.



Happy to review a rare site that was submitted to us under the 25+ age group, I felt that In Between Naps was a decent place to stop for a new persective on things. Certianly some good content to be found, but nothing visual to hold it all together.







In Between Naps

This would be your average teen blog. There weren’t any archives so this all based on a few posts. Alex talks about her friends and what she’s doing, where she’s going and so on. From what she’s posted, she just graduated from high school and isn’t quite ready to head off to college and rather just stay back home with her family and friends for a while. She mentioned a few times about some guy who I believe is her boyfriend and her feelings about him and all.



She mentioned she was working on a new layout and her current layout isn’t all that exciting. It’s called “the simple things” that has a black background and white font. First thing I noticed and made me grumble was I saw her posts were all squished to the left-side, justified in a small font in a 1-inch space. The sentences are too close together and she should make it at least easier for her visitor to read her posts.



It’s an okay site. Nothing to really rave about. It would be nice if she posted a little more or had some archives.Hail! To the boy that lived! (terminally screwd) ver. Harry Potter

This is the second weblog I’ve reviewed and seen who’s author is a teacher and not just any teacher, but a high school teacher. This one however is a little different.



The layout is your basic Blogger template, but what I liked about this weblog is it wasn’t just posts discussing amusing situations that happen everyday at a high school of some nice little town where most of the students are well-behaved and everyday is a good day. Nope, you won’t find that at this site. The author is an English teacher at a high school in the Bronx. Or as the author describes it, “This school is like Fast Times and Breakfast Club with Boyz in the Hood all rolled into one.”



One post I found funny and it made me realize that just because you’re a teacher, it doesn’t mean you can’t censor yourself and be straightout direct with how you view your students.



“One of my asshole kids that comes to class to do nothing but distract every one and be really really rude, decided to open up a condom and blow it up. He was having a lot of fun with it until he had to spit out the spermicide into a piece of paper. Shmuck. This kid drives me nuts. I don’t know why he comes to class at all.”



The site has some pretty interesting posts and I think it’s great the author discusses their frustrations and even adds a little humor to the tough job of teaching kids who have probably had no structure in their lives.



Good site.A Bronx Tale

The site was a slap in the face with its combination of bold and refreshing

blues. It leapt at to me and begged to be read! All the information was

packed into nice neat boxes, so you can see the information you want at a

glance. The boxes were titled and well thought out to match the links

within them.



If you are into the trance/techno/electronica music then this is the site

for you!! The owner is aiming to supply as much information about releases,

news and reviews on this type of music. Most of the information has links

to its original source, as well as the links to other music and DJ sites.



I felt that the design of this site reflected what is contained. It is, I

think, a funky site which promises to grow and become very popular within a

select music group. I liked the way that everything was sectioned via the

use of boxes, and that the whole effect of the site was very clean and clear

cut. It was refreshing to see nice bold colours all together in one place!



There is the opportunity for you to register and be able to contribute to

this blog, which takes alot of pressure off to supply fresh information

every day! The links to DJ’s and news sources will provide inside

information to its readers, though I suspect that anyone already into this

music could find the information themselves. The concept behind this site

is to provide all the information in one place which is always a bonus.



My overall opinion was, although not a dedicated fan of this music, the site

was well designed and worked very well. It is a site dedicated to a

specific music type, so if you are not a great fan, I should not imagine

that you would be overly impressed. It gets a thumbs up from me though as I

think there is lots of potential there.

TranceAtlantic