The Weblog Review

Whenever I review a blog, I’m typically able to guess something about the writer just by looking at the title. Not in this case. The title ‘ruzz.ca’ was obscure enough to make me want to go and delve into this site and find out more about Ruzz, the writer of the blog. When you load up the blog, I found myself facing a plastic bottle over a black background – more obscurity. As I began to read some of Ruzz’s entries, I remained puzzled – the titles of his entries are vague – “blah” , “gah”, “.”. However, after reading for several minutes, it dawned on me that this obscurity is what makes ‘ruzz.ca’ the type of blog that I enjoy – one that encompasses the author’s feelings and thoughts, whether or not anybody else can understand them.

One of the things that confused me about Ruzz’s site is that reader’s comments are listed underneath that day’s entry. For a moment, I thought I was dealing with a schizophrenic blogger. Even after coming to this realization, I often found myself wondering what Ruzz was talking about – he can be highly philosophical at times and downright artless other times. Many of his entries make references to friends, which sometimes makes his blog incomprehensible to outsiders. Not to say that there is anything wrong with this style of writing – my own site is written in this manner – directed towards a smaller circle of friends and acquaintances. It is, however, something to keep in mind when you are reading Ruzz’s site and thinking to yourself, “What’s he talking about??”

Ruzz.ca has a very boxy design and the yellow and black complement each other well. I enjoyed looking at the daily photos, many of them of everyday objects – a picture of a bench, for example. Another feature I liked on Ruzz’s blog was the mouseover that accompanies each link. I found myself running my cursor all over the place to find out what Ruzz had to say about a link. Ruzz also has an interesting box entitled “inputing” in which he discusses material he is reading – sort of like a personal book review.

I recommend you visit ruzz.ca primarily for the interesting perspective he offers and the occasional comment on current events. The pictures are also a part of Ruzz’s site that you will want to check out while you’re there. All in all, Ruzz’s site is apparently ordinary at first, but becomes more innovative as you delve further in to his world.

ruzz.ca

Narcolepsy has a cover. And that helped me realize that reading Narcolepsy is much more like reading a book than a weblog.

And it is extremely well written. Each and every post is interesting in it’s own way. Reading through the life of Yz is addictive. Everything seems to fit nicely in this blog. Yz is an excellent, and naturally gifted writer. Her posts are never too complicated or too long. They seem just right.

Lately Yz has added the possibility to comment on entries which is always interesting, but in this particular blog it really doesn’t feel necessary. Everything you’d want to read is already there, posted by the author.

Narcolepsy’s design is very good. An organized look is accomplished without using any type of dividing lines. The color and the graphics really add to the whole site. Clearly the strongest feature of this site is the quality of the writing, but the design keeps up the pace very well.

The nicely done archives give Narcolepsy an even stronger book feeling. Each post is like a chapter, but they can be read in any order and a reader will still get to know the writer.

Narcolepsy is an excellent blog, so take some time, and open the cover, you probably won’t be able to put it down for quite a while.

Narcolepsy

I really like weblogs where you can see their history and development, and Ruzz.ca has definitely come a long way since its debut in September 2000. From a sparse white page full of posts on the frustrations of starting a new blog, it is now a fuller, more rewarding weblog, with more links, short, to-the-point posts and digital photography.

The weblog seems less personal recently than it is in some of the older archived posts, but some posts would still be of more interest to those who know the author. There are still enough posts linking to interesting sites, expressing [sometimes controversial] opinions, or giving an interesting view on the world to make this worth a look.

The colour scheme of Ruzz.ca didn’t work for me. I found it too dark. However, there are nice extras to the site that caught my attention. I liked having the comments displayed under each post, rather than in a pop-up box, and I also enjoyed the short reviews accompanying each item on the ‘inputing’ list of books and films/movies. I couldn’t find an ‘about’ section but you can find out everything that you need to know about the author from reading through the archives.

Whilst this site didn’t absorb me completely, I did find it enjoyable and the shorter posts meant it was easy to scan for something that interested me. Even if you don’t know the author, Ruzz.ca is worth visiting to watch the debates unfold via the comments after a controversial post, to read the recent reviews or to take a look at the photography.
ruzz.ca

Blanksblog right away gave me the impression of being the home of a new blogger, and it is, but that doesn’t imply anything bad at all.

Being a relatively new weblog, the first post written in february, it can be difficult to realize where Blanksblog is aiming. But it is clear that the writer has already learned an important lesson. Some of the first posts are just too long even if they are still good, but the newer ones really show an improvement in lenght and quality.

The design is a standard template from blogger.com, but it’s still one of the best standard templates to use while starting a blog. It allows easy and clear reading while providing a nice and ordered space for links and extras.

Music is important to the author and it should probably play a bigger part in this blog. The purpose of the site is sometimes lost amidst random postings that are many times smart and entertaining, but there never seems to be a sense of unity in the blog.

This is a blog that still needs work, but it’s clearly getting better and learning from it’s mistakes. It’s still and average site, but the writer has the potential to turn this into a really interesting place in the future.blanksblog

I immediately liked the look of Azarok.com as it opened. Some very nice rotating pictures on the top made me think that the blog would be much more personal and not so friendly to an outside reader. I realized my mistake after reading the first few posts.

Azarok.com is a very entertaining blog, with varied posts, many with photographs that help to make the reading easy and enjoyable. The author is not any sort of poet, and he doesn’t intend to be one. Posts are direct, clear, and not in any case badly written.

Although many posts make reference to web related things, others are closer to the personal front. And the good thing is that these personal posts do not drive a new reader away, instead, they are always interesting even if you still don’t know who each person mentioned there actually is.

This last point brings one of the highlights of Azarok.com. This is, a complete cast list, including pictures and brief descriptions. This is a great help for a new reader that’s just entering the world of Azarok.

The design is simple, and the site doesn’t seem to require much more. The colors are well chosen and the design works well with the site.

Azarok.com has other goodies. Many web games that are actually fun are available, tons of photos, jokes and more. Another high point is that the posts are not only ordered chronologically, but also by category.

The thing that Azarok.com could really use is some more reader comments. Many of the posts deserve feedback and there’s almost none. So take some time to visit the various sections of Azarok.com and you’ll probably find yourself enjoying most of the time you spend there.Azarok.com