Month: January 1970

When I think of a rudder, I think of the thing at the back of a boat to help steer the boat. So thus rudderless would imply no rudder, or no thing to help steer. This is a very good name for this blog as you will see.

When I first got to rudderless, I was impressed with the clean and crisp design. It looked like a lot of other sites, but still had its own flair. The standard two column layout and the entire thing is centered look is really taking off.

At first glance it seemed to me that there was an excessive amount of writing per post. The author was telling long stories with a lot of details. So I checked out the about page, and found out that there were actually two authors, and one sure enough was a copy editor.

Reading the posts was almost mundane. Yes there were differences between the posts based on topic and who the author was, but aside from big details mentioned in each post, it was almost hard to distinguish one author from the other. Most of the posts are about what is going in their life at that point in time. This can be anything from movies, to people they interact with, to music. Music is one thing that both authors have a serious passion for and it shows in their tastes.

The blog itself was never able to fully capture my attention. The long stories always seemed to have a depressed look on the situation, and the short posts are pretty standard. I don’t know of what the authors could do to have grabbed my attention better, I think it just wasn’t a good fit for me.

Overall this blog has its good points, and has its bad points. I was not able to connect with the authors for whatever reason, but I don’t expect to connect with every author. I would recommend checking this blog to see if you enjoy it. Don’t base your opinion on this blog without even giving it a chance. You might be surprised. rudderless.org

My first impressions of the site were not good. What I now know to be a negative image of Tom’s visage stares back at you looking like something nasty from a B horror movie. I imagined reading the witterings of a sci fi geek or worse the ramblings of a violent thug.

I had been looking forward to reading through the web log after seeing the title, hoping for some wit and self deprecation. Fortunately the title gives a better indication than the picture.

The design is straightforward, simple and effective. The page has black text on white making it easy to read. It has a left side panel which contains the usual archives, about me including a disclaimer and lists of his stuff, most read web logs and an active most recently updated list of web logs. There are a host of adverts too and it was a little busy for my taste. The about me section was great however and an indication that the wit I was hoping for was present. There is some use of pictures and a gallery of pictures is referred to but has now been removed.

Tom’s site has archives back to August 2003 but I sense that this site has been going longer in one form or another. The first post certainly isn’t one of welcome or introduction and there are other hints to this throughout the posts.

The theme of the blog seems to centre on Tom’s life as a working family man trying with some success to bring up his brood. The posts generally report on the tribulations of living a busy life in a busy home. He regales us with stories of his wife, kids, pets, neighbours and his days at work. He is very self aware and honest and his almost 100% daily posting keeps us up to date with life in Illinois. He collects and discards enemies over time and his latest spat with a neighbour and his lawn mowing activities are highly amusing. His vernacular style works well and the posts are enjoyable and easy to read.

There was a letter from a “fan” decrying his occasional shift into self analysis and references to current issues or interesting asides. I liked this side of the blog and found his wit and style carried over from his reportage well.

The site makes occasional use of links but they open in the same page which is a hassle. They work and on the whole the site is easy to navigate around. There are some pictures and links which do not work further back in the archives however. A space issue perhaps?

There were occasional comments and a couple of regularish commentators. He occasionally asks for reader’s input and on the whole gets it.

On the whole I found this a great read and refreshing. Given more space in overloaded schedule I might become a regular reader.

As Tom suggests stupid is as stupid does. Give him a visit. I might keep coming back and I’d give it a well deserved 4 out of 5. It’s well above average.

stupidtom.com

I liked the look of this site when I first clicked on to it – a simple, design with a picture of the author casually leaning against the titlebar, along with a menu. All the menu contains is the posts, an About Me page and an email link. The About Me reveals an author who wants to write – the veracity of the posts may be somewhat suspect, but the aim is to do a bit of creative writing, so truth isn’t really the point here.

So the content itself is a collection of stories by the author, with a few posts containing little observations/ jokes etc thrown in for good measure. The weblog hasn’t been going long – a couple of months now, but there is still enough content to look at for a good hour or so. The stories themselves are well written and easy to read. They are usually about things that have happened recently or reminiscences from childhood/ adolescence, though as stated earlier, some are obviously more fictional than others. All contain a creative use of vocabulary and I couldn’t find any spelling or grammatical errors. I enjoyed reading all the stories- there was a certain simplicity and unpretentiousness about them and they conveyed timeless themes and ideas.

It’s funny though, because I have reviewed a number of similar weblogs – i.e. ones which contain purely funny/interesting stories about someone’s life. For some reason, all have been written by 30ish, American, “successful”, socially well adjusted men. This one probably is one of the better ones though as the extra dimension of creativity certainly helps and so far, it hasn’t degenerated in to self-congratulation or egoism, though with the recent addition of comments and friends telling him how wonderful he is, I fear that this may not last. Although this weblog was pleasant enough to read, I always find it hard to interact with weblogs like this beyond “Yay, what a great story”. I never really feel part of somehow. Hell, maybe I just can’t relate to people who are successful, socially adept, financially secure, confident and good with women. I never really have been one for mainstream society, somehow.

Still, that’s just me. I think most people will find the stories found here a great read and the author clearly has some talent in this area. Those who enjoy personal weblogs should enjoy this one too if it continues along the same lines. Others however, may need to find something else with content they can get their teeth in to a bit more.
Autograph

I liked how bright this site was when I first saw it. It’s a spot on the web for the author, Jay, to share his creative writing with the world, so I thought the black letters on the white background to be fitting.

The stories themselves are well written, and interesting. The author’s style comes out in each of them. Some are shorter, some are longer, so there’s one for every attention span. I read through the author’s favorites (listed on the about the author page) and they were great. It’s hard to tell what is true and what is made up, but a good read nonetheless.

The black writing on a white background gives the feel of a typewriter, like an old fashioned writer, very suiting to the theme of the site. The graphics, although few, are clean and make a point. I like how the author personalizes each entry with his signature.

While the stories are great, there’s not a lot of info about the man behind the words. There is an “About the Author” link, with a few stats and a lot of writing about writing.

I’ll definitely be coming back to this site, I thoroughly enjoyed reading the stories. There’s little spelling or grammatical errors, so it’s an easy read. The layout is great and easy to navigate. I wish I knew more about the author and what he’s about.Autograph

Stupidtom.com is, funnily enough, about a guy called Tom. Whether he’s stupid or not is up for you, the reader, to decide for yourself.

I rocked up to the side expecting some whizz-bang stuff from someone who has his own URL dedicated to his blog. I was to be slightly (just slightly) disappointed. There’s not much going on there, save for the blog. For the minimalists among us, you’ll love this. White, with a hint of a grey and black. A smattering of links out and links to Amazon.com showing what he owns (lucky man has an iPod – I think I’m the only one left in the universe who doesn’t own one, thanks for rubbing that in a little more, Tom!) and the odd picture in his daily ramblings. As I said, pretty sparse, and though I don’t think it detracts from the content of the blog in any way, I think sprucing it up just a tad would certainly not hurt either.

So onto the blog itself, or more precisely, the effervescent “About Me” page where I thought I was going to get to learn all about Tom. Not so…

I am interested in why you would come to this page. I have never read an about page that told me one thing “about” the author or owner. I guess I could post my home address and phone number like a dumbshit but what would be the fun in that. The best way to find out about me is to read the nonsense I write on this site. Other than that I can’t really help.

Alright, I know I’m lazy, but in all honesty, I hate stuff like that. If you’re going to go to the trouble of having an “About Me” page, then have something written there about you, or re-label it to “Disclaimer” and be done with it. In said disclaimer however, it was good to know that Tom prescribes to the “once it’s there, it stays there” way of blogging. It takes a lot bravery to keep something that might show the not-so-good sides of ourselves on public display to the world at large.

The actual content of the blog was quite interesting, with general meanderings of daily life or moments within the daily routine. The most recent post on the decontamination of the house due to the somewhat gross activities of a certain animal and a certain kitty-litter tray gave me the giggles. Same with the mowing barcodes into the lawn stunt – and I have to say I’m on Liza’s side there, Tom. No good. Nix to the checker board idea too. Each entry is a pleasure to read as they focus on different areas of Tom’s life rather than just a running commentary of life at work or home, or even with his animals. He stops and reflects on certain subjects – ones that we normally wouldn’t even blink twice over. There was one particular entry earlier on in my blog which had me chuckling quietly and another that gave me pause for thought.

Overall, I found that whilst this is one of the nicer personal blogs out there in the great blogosphere, it’s not a particularly meaty blog. For people who might like full-on drama in their blogs, you won’t find it at Stupidtom.com. What you will find is a well rounded, easy to read, and pleasant offering of personal posts that describes the guy behind the amusing URL.


Between you and I, I don’t think he’s stupid at all. Thanks Tom!stupidtom.com