The Weblog Review

Upon arriving at ArklahomBoy I was greeted with an average looking blue & white blog based on a blogger template. It appeared to be well used with many links (including The Weblog Review) and images on the sidebar and within the blog content itself. Then I read the blog’s sub-caption ‘..like a well-bred coon dog’ and I had a flashback to my forgettable trip to the ‘ol saawouth.

The author is a 20-something Iraqi Freedom Veteran who enjoys drinking Led Zeppelin and Lynyrd Skynyrd. His name, ArklahomBoy is based on another name for the Fort Smith region in which he lives. I was expecting the writings to be laced with vinegar, and they were.

ArklahomBoy talks about his patriotism, the war in Iraqi and he shares various life experiences such as meeting the band Lynyrd Skynyrd and of course, his love for France. (grin) The author diligently monitors his ranking at truthlaidbear.com, sorry AB, still a Marauding Marsupial. I like reading blogs that have links everywhere you can follow, in case you don’t know what the author is talking about. If you want to read more you can… Arky does this very well, and always represents. Once you get around the southern rhetoric you find an honest, sincere and interesting read.

If you’re interested in enjoying a large slice of southern hospitality with no Bravo Sierra, just the goods clean and true, then this would be a great place to feast. Hopefully, ArklahomBoy won’t lose his internet connection anytime soon.
ArklahomBoy

My first impression of “Red Ted Keeps a Diary” was that it was well thought out and easy to manage. I wasn’t too happy to see how small the scroll bar was, indicating that site wasn’t split into smaller divisions and more into large chunks, which can be hard to read. The colors were basic, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but I was impressed to find that, even though it was a blogspot, it didn’t have your general template. He obviously worked on it to make it better, which earns him brownie points.

Eeek! After reading six days of posts I was pooped. Although Edward has some very interesting things to say, I found that nearly all his thoughts were written in an essay form! I pushed my way through these six days and found that I knew the author’s point of view quite well. He writes what he thinks, regardless of what people might think of him after he hits the “Post” button. He obviously puts a lot of thought into what he is writing and directs his attention at a very mature group of scholars. This is expected, though, because he is a history professor after all.

His presentation is a simple red, black, and white layout with links scattered down the sides. There is nothing particularly impressive about his template other than the fact that it isn’t a usual blogspot template. That’s about it. I think I would suggest adding some color, just to liven it up a little bit.

His links on the right side of his blog are rather impressive. He has a long list of different books and even the week’s coffee! I think that this adds to the experience because even if you aren’t interested in his blogs, you can definitely check out the sites he’s linked in his blog.

Overall, I think it’s safe to say that anyone under the age of 30 wouldn’t appreciate this blog as much as an older, more mature audience would. Be prepared to be reading a lot if you visit this site, however, but all the information there is self-produced and very thoughtful. The template is common, though the thought isn’t.
Red Ted Keeps a Diary

My first impression of “The Cracker Carnival of MrMaggoo” was that it was a fun site. The background wasn’t the prettiest color but it didn’t clash with the other colors in the scheme. There were a few animated smily faces at the top and a lot of links down the side. I figured this blog had been around a while, therefore had time to flourish and grow.

The blog was very simple a contained a few short posts on what he was doing at the time or what he was working on. I guess I was a little disappointed to find that many of his blogs weren’t interesting at all, more a little tab to keep people knowing what he’s doing. I think his set up is really nicely done, and he has a lot of things to look at on the sides but his substance leaves something to be desired.

His layout was your normal, run-of-the-mill template; nothing really stood out as impressive or attractive about it. The color scheme is easy on the eyes, which is a plus, but I think it could be enhanced by picking a different color pallet. I did enjoy some the navigation of this site because it was very clear.

Overall, I think that this is more of a blog for the author himself and perhaps a few close friends than a person who doesn’t know him at all. He seems to be just your average blogger with no special edge or style of writing.

MrMaggoo.US GeekLog

A plain design is sometimes fitting for a blog and of course free is always a good thing. Tim Eaton, the author of 47 uses Blooger and his template of choice or indecision is Minima. Very plain, very free. With a title like “47” I had no idea what to expect. This blog’s layout is basic and very clean. Clean to the point of overly plain. The only add-on I could find was a site tracker. The rest was pretty much what you see is what you get.

Tim says he, “is a wanderer and would-be writer, living for the moment in Seattle, WA. Making coffee and looking for a place to live.” After reading his fairly new, yet not his first, blog I think he should have put at least a mention of drugs in his about section. Over half his entries involve talking about the drugs he’s on, the ones he’s done, or which one’s make him write differently. In one post he proclaims that “Drugheads are people too.” I can’t help but think that that phrase would have been a more appropriate title for this blog.

Tim is a talented writer. It seems that he can share his thoughts clearly even while on speed or heroine which is a respectable feat. The posts have a smooth and insightful flow to them. Tim seems to be very bohemian individual at heart. I came to this conclusion as he talked about buying Ramen Noodles with his last dollar and discussed his views on random women he sees throughout his day. The only problem is that you can never tell if it’s the real thing or not. Had he not activated his comments after saying that he didn’t care what people thought in his first post I would have been more prone to trust him. Proving once again that people do want to know what others think of their words. No matter how beyond that recognition they may think they are.

This blog is perfect for drug addicted twenty-somethings that still manage to function in society all the while never wanting to truly be a part of it. Each post is interesting and telling about the person that the author is at heart. More than anything it seems that Tim wants us all to know that people who do drugs are people too. The template isn’t really a catchy one, but the posts kept me reading. The more he writes about his world and the details within it the better this blog would get.

Forty-Seven

Believably Blog has a kind of 60’s style Blogger template that was not unpleasant to encounter. The green and white with orange accent looked rather harmonious. As you scroll down you are left with two shades of green, which has always been a soothing look in my book.

I began at the beginning, as I am wont to do. I found that the archives start in July of 2003. The entries are sparse for many months. Sometimes one, two, or three entries for an entire month. They focused on work and relationship issues and were frankly rather uninteresting. But as we move closer to the present, our author seems to be finding his blogging legs, so to speak. Rather than complain about some petty aspect of his life, he decides to “come clean” and tell us what is really going on.

This is when I began to connect with the author. And this blog is actually a textbook example of the evolution that can come about by keeping a diary. For a while it’s just bull s _ _ _. And that might go on for quite some time, but at some point you realize, Who am I fooling? I’m going for the truth. Even if it’s ugly, or painful.
Not everyone reaches this fork in the road. But our author seems to have come upon it and struck out into new territory.

It was interesting to see this pattern of growth. And it just confirms to me that blogging can be a valuable tool for self-discovery. It takes time, and commitment to write.

Just one little annoyance in the design department, the sidebar does not seem to have enough room on the page and appears below the last entry. I’m sure all that is required is a small adjustment to set this right.

There are other portions on Believably Blog.com that I will not comment on except to say that there is more than just this blog. There are links to a number of other pages, Links, Stuff, Silly Stuff, Britany watch, Report, etc. that contain other areas of interest for our author.

I hope that the trend of openness continues here. Not only will this be useful for the author, but it will make for much more interesting reading for the rest of us.

Believably Blog