Month: January 1970

Some blogs just make you laugh, just like some people do, you don’t really know why and you can’t explain it, they simply do. This is how ‘Where the hell was I’ was for me.
Arriving at the site you are greeted with a slightly boxy but certainly not unpleasant design, it’s well structured and organised and everything has its place. I like that in a blog. I spot the first post, noticing it mentioned The Weblog Review, and there was this little chuckle. I’ve no idea where it came from or even why I laughed, I just did – that set the standard for the rest of the site to be honest, frequently drawing a chuckle. The ‘about this’ and ‘about me’ sections of the site give you a lot of background information on both the author and the site, they too sparkling with just a modicum of humor and wit. I venture on to those crucial first posts with the impression that this blog might actually be worth reading.

Right or wrong a URL with Blogspot in fills me with dread, but ‘Where the hell was I’ breaks away and actually produces content which is quirky, amusing with a real modicum of wit. There is no real theme here beyond humor, and humor it seems from this author exists in everything, which is very true. If you can’t see the funny side you may as well quit now, or read this blog, it’ll be educational for you. I particularly enjoy the posts that begin on one topic, and then suddenly without warning fly off at a complete tangent.

The design is familiar, yet has to be commended for its simplicity, well structured and organised, managing to not be the typical generic Blogspot template. It suits the content well, not detracting anything from it. The site is easy to navigate, and the archive system suits the often elongated postings. It’s not the best most individual template I have seen, but I really don’t think that is important here – if what you want from a site is light hearted humor then this is the place for you.

Also worthy of a mention is the links on the right hand navigation, containing some worthy reads definitely worth exploring further.

The author here has managed to create a simple, straight forward life humor type of blog. It’s a break from the norm as far as Blogspot sites are concerned and is definitely worthy of further investigation. If you can see the funny side of life, this is the blog for you. Definitely has some pulling power, a worthy 4.

Where the Hell Was I?

The first thing that struck me when I arrived at Shy-Guy was the background, beautiful as it may be in its present form it is a little distracting – actually its very distracting because the font is so small that I actually found it quite hard to read. The detail of the background with the small font on top was giving me eye strain and I had hardly wandered past the first page at this point. I found an interesting ‘about me’ section about half way down the first page which gives a fairly comprehensive introduction to the author and a 100 things linked in the menu bar at the top of the page. Adding a link to the ‘about me’ section would benefit this site greatly.

When I first encountered Shy-Guy, based on first impressions I expected it to be a personal blog but nothing more. In some ways my first impression was quite correct, but there is a little more to this site than meets the eye if you are willing to methodically read the archives like I did – there are some beautiful examples of poetry which despite being few and far between are actually worth looking for, assuming the reader is very patient. The only downside for me on occasion was that quite often I didn’t have a clue what he was talking about, and this is where we hit a problem – limited appeal, I think this site despite holding the odd example of quite beautiful poetry is going to have a problem with appeal. I can really see it appealing to those who share similarities with the author, be it occupationally or within his social circle.

He has the odd interesting post, but nothing outstanding that would call me back time and time again, and I found the method of navigating archives a little too frustrating for my tastes – the site requires the reader to constantly refer back to the archives page – there is no interlinking from one month to the next by any means. I realise Blogspot has its restrictions, but there are ways of working round this to make the archives more accessible without having the reader constantly having to refer to the archives page. Beyond the odd navigation problem the most frustrating part of the design I found was the background, coupled with the small font it rendered the content difficult to read.

In the left hand menu there are some real bonuses for the lover of poetry, and this I feel is where Shy Guy’s strength really lies – in displaying poetry, especially if it was focused on as a central running theme. Alterations to the site design and method of navigation would really benefit the site overall.

It was a mixed bag for me, but am tempted to rate it a 3 – an interesting journey into a personal site with some potential, nothing remarkable yet, but an interesting voyage none the less.

Shy-Guy, Version 2.0

Seeing so many blogs over the course of being a reviewer you see a lot of the same layout again and again. It’s always such a pleasant surprise to see something different, something new, something that hasn’t been overused. My first reaction to seeing this blog is almost the equivalent of deja vu, only a pleasant form of it. There’s a beautiful piece of art that the author is using in the title area along with the navigation. The green is a nice change of pace and I can’t wait to head to the archives to see what is brewin’ in the past entries.

The oldest of the entries explains that the author, nicknamed Riri, doesn’t speak (or write) perfect English. You learn that she moved from France to Canada and is making the adjustment while having kids, a husband, injuries and a life. The author writes with much feeling as you can tell from the entry about the many cats she’s had through her lifetime. Be forewarned, reader, that these are pretty heart wrenching stories and may bring a tear to your eye. You read about the movies her children are addicted to in this entry, and I have to say, her kids have some good taste in movies. In more recent entries Riri starts to add a word of the day, which is often fun (and I read them myself anyway). She starts to open up a little more letting us see a more political side to her. You, as a reader, get a chance to see her family, find out what she did with her day, and get a holiday greeting.



The design is pretty and functional. She’s a webmistress out in Canada and has worked on a couple of other projects you can find in her archives. The design is simple by means of graphics, but simplicity can be a good thing. Like I said before, the green can be a nice change from the gamut of colors that are often overused in the blogging world. There aren’t a lot of images to wait for download, which means the reader using dial-up can get straight to the content without having to wait forever for large images to load.



There are a lot of extra links in the sidebar. Webrings, a blogroll and weather pixie are quickly becoming a standard in blogs, so it’s only natural to see them on this blog. There are some new blogs that I haven’t seen as of yet in her blogroll which were kind of nice to peruse and see what interests the author. In the sidebar, as well, are a few snapshots of her and her family. Sometimes it’s nice to get an opportunity to see who you’re reading about. Riri also has a 100 Things in the navigation at the top where you can learn a little bit more about her.



Overall the blog fits into the category of “general” as she writes about so many different things. You’ll see how much she loves her kids and how she seems to enjoy planning for different events. She sometimes writes about the things going on here in the states and what we’ve done recently regarding the war, but she keeps the political references to a minimum (meaning you won’t be inundated with huge diatribes of her take on the whole war situation). Her blog is a relatively interesting read and worth a look.Riri’s Brain Dump

Everything Sucks is one of those strange blogs that just seems to click with me. It takes a rare talent for someone to write and make the audience feel as though the writer is actually talking to them, or says something truly odd but that makes perfect sense. It also helps that the blogger has the same odd sense of dry writing humour that reduces me to mad cackling in the middle of my working day, and such a writer is that of Everything Sucks.

Unfortunately there’s not much you can gather about the person behind the blog other than his penchant for amusing prose and anecdotes. We know how old he is, that his teeth are brown, and from his latest entry, that he has trouble with his vocabulary, but there’s no real hints as to who he is. Normally, that would really bug me but in the case of this blog I don’t really mind. The anonymity adds to the entertainment – no wait – I should have guessed, he calls himself “Smivey”, he just doesn’t make a big deal about it. If course, if I truly wanted to find out who he was, I would have emailed him and ask a few questions, but that takes all the guesswork and fun out of reading the achieves.

The blog is about a year old, and entries are fairly frequent and varying in length and definitely varying in subject, from amusing tidbits of his job to the hotel room he rented through Hotel.com (and he even discusses Will Ferrell’s teeth, for goodness sake!). It’s a bit disappointing that the blog isn’t dressed up a little more. I’ve seen some wicked stuff done with Blogspot layouts, I think that Everything Sucks would benefit with a layout that represented the style and humour of the blog and it’s writer. As it stands presently, it’s a little dull, but hey, maybe that’s what the writer is going for? You know, so you concentrate on his entries and not any spiffy layout? Anyway, apart from a small list of other sites Smivey visits, there’s not much else to keep the audience entertained in the way of webrings, cliques or anything else for that matter.

Oh…

We alllllll suck!

We all suck!

We drive SUVs and trucks!

We get in your hair

and we don’t care.

We’re just moronic schmucks!

Did I mention he has a talent for poetry? Or at least re-writing lyrics to much-loved show tunes (try singing the above to the tune of “Be Our Guest” from Beauty and the Beast). That came from his first anniversary entry.

So did this:

“…One year ago, on this very day, I had a concept. A concept that I believed would turn the blog community on its ear. It did nothing of the sort.”

I beg to differ. He made me laugh. I personally think he’s a one of those bright comical stars of the blog universe – a little one, but definitely worthwhile investigating a little more. Everything Sucks is a worthwhile read.

Everything Sucks

My first thoughts on visiting Riri’s Brain Dump were infuriating ones. At the top of the page, next to the links, is a picture of a painting that I recognise but cannot recall either the title or the name of the artist who painted it. Still fascinated by pre-Raphaelite art, even all these years after finishing school, I was drawn into reading further to see if the identity of the woman in orange is revealed anywhere in the blog.

The weblog itself is relatively new to this world, having only been going since February 2003. The posts are a strange mix of personal diary-style entries about the author’s life and technical musings, fitting the title of the blog perfectly – Riri clearly just types what’s on her mind that day. Although it took her a while to get going there is now plenty here to read but, although it is well written, nothing really held my attention for very long because the main subject matter (software developing and motherhood) is not really of much interest to me. Still, that’s just me.

The overall design of the site is simple and the colour scheme works well, with the vibrant orange of the painting in the header perfectly set against the soothing greens of the template, but the page did take a while to load. This is probably due to the number of photos and pictures scattered over the sidebar and in the posts, but this does help to give the site a nice friendly feel.

Aside from the blog, archives, links and 100 Things About Me, there is not much else to the site. It’s a weblog in its purest form – no added extras, just a pure journal. There are some nice bits in the sidebar, like the weather pixie and a Google search, but nothing much to distract you from the site’s main purpose.

All in all, I’d say that Riri’s Brain Dump is a reasonable site. Unfortunately, it may have limited appeal due to the subject matter, but weblogs are a very personal thing and all do find their audience eventually. This one’s is technically minded women with kids, I reckon. I may just stick around a bit longer though, just to find out who the lady in orange is!Riri’s Brain Dump