The Weblog Review

Templated sites of any kind generally don’t get me too excited visually. As Megalthic Portal is a Post-Nuke site it certainly qualified. It is clean and functional, but nothing has really been done outside of color to really spice it up visually… (Mega what? I had to look it up, mega·lith : a very large usually rough stone used in prehistoric cultures as a monument or building block’)

The site is about megaliths, prehistory and archaeology of Great Britain and Ireland. If this interests you, you’ll likely think you hit the jackpot, there is a ton of information here.

Photos, articles, maps, a forum, downloads, guest book, recommended books on the subject, chat…it is rather overwhelming. Some pages seem very busy indeed. A few sections display poorly, with too many font colours, sizes on one page they border on being an eye-sore…Possibly a result of the template limitation.

The closest I found to a blog was the news section which contains megalthic related news snippets from local newspapers (with some written articles). Which are truly excellent for locating megaliths in Britain. An example:


County: Co. Mayo Type: Wedge Tomb

Alternate Name: Tobernahaltora

Nearest Village: Louisburgh

Map Ref: L793746 NEW: Megalith Map Square L

Discovery Map Number: D37 – Order this map

Wedge Tomb in Co. Mayo

9.6 km S of Louisburgh, immediately NE of the road and Lough Nahaltora (Altar Lake), this well-preserved sepulchre is in a very beautiful situation by the roadside. A single large roofstone covers most of the main chamber of the gallery, which is 4.2 metres long. Double-walling, a fine large septal slab, and traces of the cairn survive. As ‘The Altar Well’ (Tobernahaltora) it was formerly venerated as a holy well!

There is no question if megaliths, prehistory or archaeology interest you that you’ll find this site an amazing resource. It has monumental resources for those interested in talking about, visiting, learning or protecting these treasures of the past. In spite of the over zealous nature of how the data is presented… clearly the work and passion that went in to this site is apparent, and that must be commended. A great resource.
The Megalthic Portal

Apple Coda is the weblog of Duckwing, who, if he had his way, would have us all doing this: Take your hands, or just one so that you have one left to scroll the screen with. Now bend your thumb and little finger down into the palm of your hand so that your three middle fingers are left sticking up, kind of like E.T’s hand. Now you’ve definitely got three fingers up, not two? Good, because two fingers would make a peace sign, and we all know how horrible peace is, don’t we? Now spread out those three fingers to make some sort of a W and wave them above your head. Feeling stupid? A lot of you will be, because that’s how Duckwing tells us we should show our support for George Dubya.

Duckwing loves Bush. He’s also darned proud to be American. And he thinks we should all be just as patriotic as he is. As I’m English I’m not sure where that leaves me. He mocks one of his links, World War Bush , saying, “We hate George Bush. We like childish name-calling. Perfect.” Meanwhile, he calls liberals,”hippy bastards.”

If whilst perusing Apple Coda you forget where Duckwing’s true loyalties lie, there’ll always a reminder along in the next post. This more than bizarre entry, for example, “I kicked the guy on the ground a few times as he started to get his bearings…and I left the scene, full of pride for being an American.”

The sad thing is, I don’t think he’s joking. What a waste, because if his opinions and perceptions were intended to be humorous or ironic, he’d have all the material he ever needed to rival The Simpsons.

There is no page about the author, which I really felt was needed, considering how full of personal opinion the site is. A standard Blogger template is used because it reminds him of painter Wit Piet Mondrian, and so he chose it over a custom layout. It’s nice to have this explanation, because at least this way it gives the template a connection with the author. The page did take several minutes to load, although the author mentions that he is aware of this problem.

If my reaction to Apple Coda seems a little strong, it’s only a reflection of the how strong the opinions on the site are. And there is very little else but political opinion. Duckwing states everything as fact. There is no room for those who see it differently. Those that do are stupid. The emperor is wearing clothes. So if you didn’t enjoy all the finger waving, my feeling is that you won’t like what you find at Apple Coda. But if you’re an avid supporter of Bush and you feel that kicking someone in the head is what American pride is really all about, the link’s right there. Go nuts.The Apple Coda

(Un)surprisingly enough, Sarah describes the site as the “weblog of a weed-eatin’ herbalist”.. whatever that means..perhaps a short description of that would have helped? The layout, simple as it is, was too simple for my liking, and although the colour scheme is relevant to the title of the weblog, I’m less than keen on it.

Whilst reading through the weblog, I progressively noticed that there were a fairly even mixture of rants, poems & also featured an extended letter and reports regarding the likes of pharmaceutical companies, the legalisation of cannabis, and the legitimacy of war. Some of which I would have appreciated if I was tempted not to skim-read the rest due to the sheer length. Highlighting the key points and then clearly stating your thoughts on them would have provided me with a concise & clarified take on the situation.

I admire Sarah’s capacity to write several entries a day and appreciate her ability to paint a seemingly precise picture of particular days; namely the Eugene Saturday Market, which almost reminds me of Camden Town. I’ve noticed she quotes in detail, exploits conversations effectively & some of the poems & lyrics published are varied in content, depicts her somewhat whimsical manner, but again, fairly long. Although there are a month’s worth of entries on the index page, it would be advisable to cut down the number, simply because some of her entries are particularly extended & some people prefer things in small portions!

Although there is no commenting system available, Sarah interacts with some of her regular visitors via a forum. It is fairly difficult to follow subject conversations as each entry is ordered chronologically, and if you wanted to reference a particular entry from the weblog, there are no titles, only dates, and remember that she posts several times a day on average.

The archives are collated in weeks rather than months, which I find odd, as it would be more appropriate to have the index page in weeks, and the archives in months. Unfortunately there is an error in the template for the archived entries, resulting in visible broken links. The entries themselves give you more of a clue on what a herbalist is, and follows the consistency of her interest in current affairs regarding herbalism.

In summary, the content itself is good, however Sarah needs to focus on the presentation of some of the material (ie. letters, reports) and shorten them. In addition write a separate section about her general background and perhaps some links to other sites on more information about herbalism. I wouldn’t necessarily return to this website, however I’m sure that if you have a keen interest in herbalism, it may be something that will attract you.herbivorous

A personal blog is all about personality. Check out twodolla.org and you’ll know what I mean.

The site is a fresh green, and a cute guy in a lying position smiles at you rather coyly when the page loads, which kind of prepares you for site owner Wendy – fresh, optimistic, and always on the lookout for all guys cute. Proof: She runs a site called Hottie Of The Month. Go on, click on it and check out the March Hottie. You know you want to.

What I find most endearing and exciting about twodolla.org (and what I assume most people like about Wendy) are the sarcasm and at times in-your-face attitude prevalent throughout. Even when she complains or blogs about not-quite-good news, she manages to come off as sassy and spirited. You grin when you read about her feeling great. You grin when you read about her being nasty. Sometimes, you don’t know whether to grin or not, but by the time you make up your mind, you find that it’s too late – this huge grin is already all over your face. Of course, this doesn’t mean that twodolla.org is all silly entries; there is food for thought, packaged up nicely. None of that preachy, the-world-should-listen-to-me nonsense. Sometimes there are some nice surprises too, like the entries about Wendy during her birthday, posted by her friends.

If you still don’t get the idea, then let me put it in one sentence: twodolla.org is interesting. Wendy is at times bubbly, at times wicked, and always interesting. Usually, when I come across a good blog, I urge others to go “check it out”. For twodolla.org, I can’t do that. I have to say – “go check her out”.

twodolla.org

So you’re in your room, cranking out top 40 songs on your stereo while surfing blogs and you say to yourself, “I’m sick of all these trendy, pop songs. I need to find some new stuff and see what other folks think is good.” How about pointing your browser to e-zog.com?

E-zog.com is a site about music and a group of folks who have opinions about music. The site has gone through several layouts over the last few months, which made it a bit difficult to follow; however, I liked the vocal posts given on music. The bands discussed and reviewed are mainly non-mainstream (e.g., Ben Folds, The Flaming Lips, The Lemonheads, etc.) artists, but if you check out the bios of the critics, you’ll find that their tastes in music vary.

You’ll get to read up about what these guys think about up-coming albums by other artists, including concerts and current news. They sometimes post albums they just bought to let readers know what they’ll be listening to and reviewing soon. I also liked some of the recent posts contained other reviews from other sites were incorporated into the review.

Other perks to this site are the sections where you the reader get to voice your own opinion on music. The “recommended” section is cool because you can post a quick review of why people should check out an album. I personally found “The Top Five” section funny where you can post the top five of anything you want. Some folks posted the usual “Top Five Songs” type lists, but I liked the more creative lists such as, “Names My Friends Have Given My Vehicles Growing Up” and “Types of People I’ve Seen at the College Gym” lists. “Zog’s Mix” section’s cool. You can check out what stuff Zog (creator of the site) and other critics have put on mix CDs.

This site’s pretty cool and the fact that it’s an interactive site gives it extra points. The organization and layout could be much better and the content in some areas should be moved to other sections, however, the ideas and opinionated critics is what makes this site worth visiting. Check the site out if you’d like to read up on some new music. I think this site will totally be rocking in a few months after some tweaking is done.

Two thumbs up.
E-zog…Confessions of a Former Pop Junkie