The Weblog Review

‘blame the extended gestation.…’ seemed a rather curious title for a blog, and not one that gave any real clue to the content that was to greet me. As a reviewer one is tempted to groan when a blogspot url leads to yet another genetic blogger template, we just see so many of the same repeatedly. That said I moved on in search of an about me section, there wasn’t one. These aren’t essential to any blog, but they help to give a reader a little background information on the person behind the words. I then headed off in search of that crucial first post hoping that there might be so interesting background information there, again there was none to speak of.

The interesting thing for me was that on first observation of the site I didn’t think it would attract me the way it did. But some people manage to make the dullest things sound interesting, and more often than not Jim manages this here. His posts are often short, to the point and with no word wasted. But this is a definite advantage bearing in mind the subject matters he tends to cover – you can learn a lot about this author with just a few postings, especially his political affiliations and so on. The content in summary is a lot like the title – short and quirky!

There isn’t a great deal I can say about the site design, it is in fact a generic blogger template, which are frequently seen and not very individual. I’m not a great fan of light text color on dark backgrounds, but this one is clear enough and easy to read, so no harm done. All the links work, even the archives thankfully (it is quite often the case with blogspot that archives are neglected leaving broken links).

Amazon advertisements in the left hand column show what the author is currently reading or listening to, and some interesting links to other sites can be found further down.

I was pleasantly surprised by some of the content here, which certainly managed to exceed my earlier expectations. I’m not sure that it would be a blog I would visit on a regular basis, but it would manage to be an interesting diversion every once in a while. Not bad at all – 3

Blame the extended Gestation

“I’m going to America” is a fairly unique blog in so far as it has a point to it. The author even hopes that it will be helpful to someone, though “Helpful Blogs” isn’t a concept I am particularly familiar with. Certainly my own blog isn’t very helpful. Self indulgent, certainly. Helpful, no. Anyway, I digress. The point of this blog is to document the experiences of the author who is emigrating from Dublin, Ireland to New York City. This would make interesting blogging material in its own right, but the author is in addition to this, a sound technician for films.

So, there are two great aspects to the blog to start off with. Also, the overall design is really well done. The site is easily accessible with an intro page (including bio) and a FAQ page about the whole emigrating thing. These both provided me with exactly the information I wanted before I started diving in to the archives. It is an MT blog, so is technically sound and there are a few nice additions in the sidebars too- a “poll” feature which is used extensively throughout the blog, (though when the results are posted up in the entries it is not always clear what the poll was about in the first place). Also there are movie reviews and photo montages of various events.

The entries are categorised, but I found the best way of reading it was to start way back at the beginning of the archives. Because this blog tells more of a story, I found it made more sense to do things this way and start at the beginning. There are just enough blog entries written before the emigration to New York for the reader to get a feel for the author, his life in Dublin and to build up some suspense for the big move itself. There is a goodbye party which is extensively blogged about and in October 2003, it all finally happens. I couldn’t help feeling a little anticipation myself when I got to this point of the blog. The rest of the blog (to date) mainly deals with settling in to New York, trying to find work and other various domestic arrangements.

The work aspect of the blog is equally appealing though. The author seems pretty good at his job- the first few posts do provide a couple of definitions for the more technical words he uses, though these are not kept up throughout the blog and can make some of the posts a bit overwhelming. Anyway, he is obviously good enough to have mixed with a few stars, (though he still gets star struck quite a bit, which is nice.) One of the most fascinating posts of the whole blog though is this one, which describes in great detail the work he does on a 24 hour film making project.

At the moment there is enough content in the blog to get through it all in one sitting (give yourself an hour or so). One or two of the posts about the parties he goes to I found a bit dull and long winded, but generally the entries are all well written and witty. I am definitely gonna keep checking back to see whether things work out for Anthony in New York. Whether the blog maintains its appeal once things settle down a bit more remains to be seen, (Anthony can seem like a reluctant blogger at times) but for now, it’s enthralling stuff.
I’m Going to America

I must admit that I entered the weblog with a small amount of scepticism because of the title but, soon found myself enjoying the posts as if I were actually there to see what the author was describing. Each post seems as though they are spontaneous, yet thought through well enough so as not to appear to ramble about meaningless topics.

I definitely found plenty of humorous aspects to this blog. While not “gut busting” funny, it has lots of subtle bits of dry humor spread randomly throughout the posts. The overall feel of the blog is in my opinion, of someone who genuinely enjoys what he’s writing about and puts forth a good amount of thought before simply typing anything that comes to mind.

The layout is a bit generic because it is obviously a Blogger template but, it’s a clean layout without any unnecessary scripts or graphics. I believe this blog has true potential to be a daily read for many people and will attract even more folks if the layout is spruced up a bit.

Overall, I think I’d have to give this blog a “thumbs up” because it is very easy to read and follow each post. The posts are closed in a tasteful manner and there is no generic rambling to speak of. I would recommend this blog as a daily read for anyone looking for an interesting read!

Freddy From Yorkshire

Upon arriving at The Hopeful Cynic I first thought, ‘Whoa, that is a mountain of content!’. The site borders on intimidating and the eye gets lost within the reams of copy, links and choices. Can you have too much of a good thing?

The focus of this blog is news and politics. The author offers his take on these issues both cynically and hopefully. The author is very articulate and intelligent, his opinions are well formulated with content from news sources from all over the web. It was difficult to find much information about the author himself however.

Most importantly, ergo the name of the site, he is cynical. As a closet cynic, I can appreciate much of what the author says (whether I agree or not). One might expect a news and heavy content blog to be dry. THC is a refreshing and often humorous look at news. The author doesn’t take his cynicism too seriously either, from ‘A Horse’s New Best Friend’ : ‘I don’t think the horses care too much about the industrial design, but they probably like that it is ‘designed for comfort, security and maximum ejaculatory response.’ Check out the step-by-step guide to the EquiMount, including the all important step #4: “Introduce stallion to the EquiMount.’ I’m just picturing Mr. Ed saying ‘Aw, guys, you shouldn’t have.’ -smirk-

The news content focuses on whatever has interested the author on any given day. There were entries about racism in Minnesota, being a Hooker for Halloween (this story was simply disturbing) and of course the election. The author is an admitted Republican but has a great entry entitled, ‘A Message to Kerry voters and Democrats’. It is an interesting read regardless what side of the fence you are sitting on.

The entries themselves offer different options to use his research/content as well. You can e-mail an article, comment on an article and link to an article. The website design is rather spartan, clearly content here is king. There is an occasional picture to complement the story but there is primarily loads of text, quotes and statistics. The colors used are primarily gray and white, this makes reading off the screen pretty easy. *Note, there is at least one link to a site with ‘adult oriented material’.

If news and politics is your cup of tea, you can enjoy a pipping hot pot of it at The Hopeful Cynic. I certainly didn’t think there was too much of a good thing here. The author tries to balance hope and cynicism (heh, good luck) with more success that I thought humanly possible. Regardless of your views this site will challenge you to think, which I believe fewer people seem to be do these days. Kudos to the author, you have some really insightful stuff here.The Hopeful Cynic

The Hopeful Cynic. What a great title for a blog. And a life. A very clean Typepad template, this blog started in late 2003 with some major gaps in posting here and there. Lately it leans toward political postings (doesn’t every blog, it seem?) but its design is to present ‘news’ and ‘links.’

I’d really like to know more about the blog’s author. I searched and searched and could only find his name and the city he’s from but very little else. This frustrates me about bloggers sometimes. I mean, you are out there reading blogs which are, by design, a personal journal for the world to see, and then you don’t get any of the personal info you need or want.

Why is the Hopeful Cynic hopeful? Why did he start this blog? His first post is about the Motion Picture Association of America’s war on digital piracy, which doesn’t tell you much. It certainly doesn’t explain why this blog was started. He goes on to talk about the FDA, National Public Radio, Abu Ghirab, and most other current events–even movies he has seen. His posts are well informed and include plenty of links to his sources.

With such a well designed blog, you’d think he’d want to let you in on him just a little more.The Hopeful Cynic