Month: January 1970

Another page of parchment! I could not believe my luck. Two sites in a row with my favored background. The weblog stars must be smiling on me this week!

“Other Men’s Flowers” I thought to myself, what in the world does THAT mean? Thankfully I was answered straight away by the author.

“Comments on language, literature, the arts and almost anything else. But mostly quotations.”

But my friends, trust me in this, he is too modest. There are quotations to be sure, but couched in his fascinating, quirky, if sometimes enigmatic prose. (An example of the latter to be found in the entry “Ernest” May 22, 2004.) But just because I don’t get it, doesn’t mean you won’t.

I read entries commenting on all manner of subjects ranging from how many people are injured each year opening canned oysters, to the author’s chagrin at having chided a friend years ago, for misquoting a bit of poetry and then finding out he was wrong to have done so.

A more quirky and varied and worldly wise blog, I have never encountered. Some entries had me laughing out loud, and others scratching my head. But usually if you follow the link or links supplied in the post, you may finally get the joke. It doesn’t hurt to have Babelfish from Alta Vista bookmarked on your browser so you can look up the foreign language quotes. And believe me, it’s worth looking some of them up!

In the About section he gives us a very brief resume’. I was impressed.
The page itself is clutter free, only containing recent posts and archives.
And I ALWAYS give points for straightforward simplicity! There are occasional photos to spice up the text, which is always a nice touch.

This site would appeal to the bookish among us. The lovers of multi-layered tongue in cheek writing, or commentary on the absurd in the modern world, that is presented with a liberal dose of quoted wisdom from past masters. The man is a veritable font of literary context for current events. I loved it. Every minute. Even when I disagreed with him, even when I hadn’t a clue what he was talking about. I figured the fault was my own not his, and if I kept reading, perhaps I would be enlightened.

I give this site an enthusiastic 5. The very first top rating of my Weblog Reviewing career. And I can say in truth that I am bookmarking his blog, and will return often. You will excuse me now, I am going back to read some more of “Other Men’s Flowers”.

Other Men’s Flowers

I was greeted by a very restrained site. The title was explained by a Montaigne quote.
“I have gathered a posie of other men’s flowers, and nothing but the thread that binds them is my own.” The author, Mr Brooks, is going to collect together the work of others and make a collage perhaps?

The design was simple and the web log pleasant to read. There is a right sided panel with recent posts, archives and some links to blog related sites. There is evidence of an anti spam device which is good to see. The top of the page contains the blogger.com adverts and the quote and links to a very straight forward factual about me section and links to the author’s other online activities. There is also a link to a detailed contents page where an overview of the site and a Roget’s driven statement of purpose can be found.

The aforementioned collage didn’t quite work for me. There is very little in the way of imported wisdom from the great and the good. Mr Brooks is not a very good magpie. There are some quoted words from the obscure and even more obscure. Some contrived comments suggest fraud. I was too disinterested to research that.

There is limited use of pictures, links and some of the comments appear to be ‘set ups’ and the vast majority of the posts are off topic and trivially nondescript.

The writing is eloquent and at times interesting and once laugh out loud witty. However it hit these heights too seldom to maintain my interest. I struggled through the already assembled posts, the vast majority of which were written prior to the publication of the web log in April 2004. Why that is, is not explained.

I struggled to finish my reading for this review to be honest. Not my particular choice of flowers. I can give it no more than a two out of five – it is well written after all.
Other Men’s Flowers

The name confused me. It still does a little. hath i a soul, wonder’d hath i
then saw, ihath. This is a poem sent to the author which explains the title – more of that later.

My first impressions on entering the site were of a sober looking web log. It’s very tidy. The design is uncluttered. A right hand side panel with previous posts, contacts and archives. A couple of ads at the bottom and some site statistics links. She includes adverts for her favourite books and CDs. One of the links in the contacts section didn’t work. The colour scheme is pleasant but in colours I can’t really identify through colour blindness. Oranges and browns I think. The text is readable.

Journeying around the site is straight forward enough although there isn’t a home page icon which is unhelpful. The banner contains a hint of Arabian Nights and Shehrazad’s need to tell one more story each night in order to stay alive. This is confirmed by one of the posts. There is a recently added comments section and a sparse use of links and pictures which work and are relevant to her writing.

The author of the site, Elen, is a thirty something computer programmer and resident of Vancouver, Canada. She is Iraqi and has lived in Kuwait, Israel and Scotland. She is married to a Palestinian and of Czech descent. This heritage and experience informs and drives the content of her posts.

Elen is self aware and her posts detail her experiences as an Iraqi woman in the various cultures she has lived in. The spectre of Saddam haunts her. This cultural melting pot could be an anthropologists dream.

Her web log has been in existence since last Halloween and she has posted thirty six times since. Her posts are generally long, well thought out and reasonably well written. They are often anecdotal or in a reportage style. However she has become a little more opinionated of late especially concerning the abuse of Iraqi prisoners. Her recently added comment facility has seen a backlash to some of her more anti American viewpoints.

Some of Elen’s writing has been published and is noted as such, but I would not put this in the Creative Writing category. It is very much a personal journey. Now back to that title. Ihath is the voyage of uncovering, discovering and discarding. Losing yourself to find the real you and live.

I enjoyed reading all of the posts here and would recommend the blog to all open minded folk – it is probably a no go area for any lurking xenophobes. I feel it is worth a four out of five.
ihath-losing myself

Hmm. No graphics, no pictures, no links, plain design – just text. I guess the writing better be good. The blog is written by a woman named Kim Hemmingway, so I was optimistic.

The Ktraveldan Network is a new blog written by an obsessive writer (who says she has writings dating back close to 30 years! And I certainly don’t doubt that one iota ). ‘I must write! Give me a pen, or give me death!’ She seems excited to have found blogging as a medium to dump her many, many thoughts, stories, essays and words into. Her goal is ultimately to be a published writer and after reading KN I’m sure it will happen.

You don’t have to read many of Kim’s entries to recognize there is something special here. Every entry has a point, a passion, a flavour, a take, a message… and the entries are all wrapped with her introspective and enjoyable narrative. Every entry, in some way, shows off the craft of a good writer. Kim’s writing is very witty, articulate, entertaining and full of atmosphere. It is quite apparent that writing for her is a well honed craft. She is one of the best story-tellers I have read online in a blog (or anywhere for that matter). There would be far too many quotes included here if I was to share with you the many lines that brought a smile to my face. But here is one of many, that shows a very honest writer, ‘They say little girls are made of sugar and spice and everything nice? I am made of butter, Crisco, and Twinkies.‘. She also has more serious reflections such as “Status Seekers” which ponders our materialistic society, or the touching ‘Waving Goodbye’. She also has threatened her readers with audio blogs… I listened to the one on the site, and she has some lofty ideas for her blog and her website, with more audio blogs coming and possibly a section with her massive .wav collection. Good luck with them Kim!

I think it would be nice to be able to leave comments and assist her friend Kathy in critiquing her writing. Clearly she wants the feedback. There would be lots of opportunity, especially with entries such as “right to Bear arms” which I would have $0.02 to share.

In spite of the very average esthetic of Ktraveldan Network the writing pulls the grade of this site way up. A remarkable writer with a remarkable insight into human behaviour. I enjoyed reading KN. This is one blog I will undoubtedly visit numerous times, I highly recommend you do the same if you enjoy a good read. Hemmingway? Quite possibly.
Ktraveldan Network

Ktraveldan Network opens on a plain dark blue background with a simple table with Kim’s name, copyright and email. This background is very plain but it fits the website perfectly. There are no bells and whistles to distract you on the sidebars other than a simple archive function. There is one objective of this blog and that is focused on the main articles.

Ktraveldan Network is about Kim Riley’s life. She opens her forray into the blogging world by describing what this blog will be about, “On this stage I will attempt to enact essays, stories, speeches, quasi-plays, jokes, profunidty, Creative Lyin’ Writin’, photo’s, serious observations, MP3’s, and general, overall stuff. ” She also reveals why many of these stories have a bookish feel to them, “I am working on the rough draft to a book, as well as turning out short stories at a manic rate.”

She has a couple different lengthy articles on various aspects of adult life, (raising children, the addictions of the Home Shopping Network, job stories.) She mixes thoughtful ideas and commentary and humor quite well. When I was reading this blog it felt like reading a book on someone’s life. Generally that would not be appealing but Kim makes her articles very interesting and they capture the reader’s interest. This is a excellent blog to read on a rainy day or when you feel a little bored.

As I mentioned previously there are no links, pictures, blog rolls on the sidebars. Yet this does not hurt Ktraveldan Network at all. I believe rather it makes Ktraveldan Network stand out and easier to read. The focus is on the articles and nothing else. The background is excellent and the page design is simple and easy. Kim obviously subscribes to the KISS (Keep It Simple, Stupid) school of web design and it makes all the difference when reading Ktraveldan Network.

What a blog. This is a true web log and I must say this is well written. When one reads this blog you feel like each article is a chapter in a bestseller. Even if female life isn’t one of your favorite subjects Kim Riley makes it seem interesting and fun. You will enjoy your time at Ktraveldan Network, I did.Ktraveldan Network