Month: January 1970

I must say that my curiousity was definitely piqued when I saw the title for this weblog. I half-expected to be bombarded with ads and pop-ups about CD’s and video games when I loaded up the site. Much to my surprise, however, I was presented with a clean and simple front page that was pleasing to the eye.

The Mediaburn Radio Weblog is a companion to the online magazine at http://www.mediaburn.net. Consequently, the links and news on the weblog revolve around the same topics as the magazine does – namely “news, information, music, and the arts”. However, the weblog itself is primarily news and information about music and the arts, and technology. In fact, many of the news stories did focus on technology, such as the recent acquirement of blogger.com by Google. There are occasional sparse comments by the author, but the weblog is primarily a collection of links to different articles, albeit interesting articles. For example, the blog’s February 3, 2003 entry had a link to a site which tracks the national debt (which unfortunately is over 6 trillion dollars as of 2 minutes ago).

I couldn’t seem to find any information about the author, or perhaps authors, of this weblog. Gary Santoro appears to be the sole commentator of the blog and director of the magazine. I had to dig through many of the entries to find some of Gary’s comments, and I was disgruntled by the fact that many of his comments were short and unrevealing. Although this is primarily a news and links site, it is nevertheless a weblog, and the author’s insight and feelings are a key element in blogging.

The Mediaburn Radio weblog is essentially a collection of various links, some interesting and some not. The blog doesn’t have a specific target group – it’s content ranges from everything to current events to technology. If you’re a fan of mediaburn.net, then I recommend you visit the blog. Otherwise, you can find most of the information on the blog on the pages of Yahoo.com and CNN.The Mediaburn Radio Weblog

Let me introduce you to Vector Matrix. A 19 year old male living in Canada whose goal is to get into show biz in some aspect. Ok, now that the introduction is done with, lets move on.

The page loaded up and I am given a lot of information to deal with. A three column layout is presented, with Navigation on the left, the blog in the middle and a news reader on the right. The first time I visited the site I admit I was taken aback. But with a repeat visit I was able to figure out what was going on.

The first entry of the site is used as a guest book so to speak. This threw me off because I had not seen anyone do this before. At first I thought it was the most recent post, but then after looking I noticed it was an older one.

The posts are about a lot of subjects, all of which the author likes. These range from personal life, to Buffy, to Star Trek, to movie reviews. Pretty average stuff for a teenage male who likes computers and all the stuff that follows.

Vector Matrix is a very talented writer. He has this ability to describe a situation as if you are watching it there in person. On some of his posts I felt as if I was the one going through the situation as it was described so well.

Of course I did have some complaints about the site. The first being that there isn’t a clear explanation as to what each part of his site is. There are so many internal links that I almost go lost. However after going through most of them I realized that he was categorizing his entries and then has direct links to those. A clearer explanation of this would be nice. Second, 95% of the post itself is not shown on the main page. There is a link to a “read more” which typically people use for a second little blurb but it also brings us to the comments. His posts had a short blurb on the main page, followed by essays in the read more. While it is nice that he keeps it so tidy so we do not have to scroll past lengthy posts to get to a post we are looking for, it is also a pain as I had to read the post, click the back button, read the post, click the back button. There should be a more fluid way to read the posts. Final complaint is that the date is posted inside the “Read More” section. On the main page I had no clue when each entry was posted.

Vector Matrix has a very good site and is a good read. The difficulties with navigation and lack of explanation of aspects of it take away from it. I think that with a better design, defined sections of the site, and some sort of improvement to the “Read More” section, he would have an amazing site. Even if there was just a way to read the weblog itself (without all the other links) and without having it sectioned off would be a good thing. Long thought out posts are nice if the author is able to write. Vector Matrix is able to write.
vectormatrix.net | ramblings of a teenaged canadian

avast interj. Nautical
Used as a command to stop or desist.

Sometimes you wonder about a title of a weblog, and this time I had to find out. So with the definition given above, I was ready to dive right in.

First thing about this site is the green background color. I am all for the color green, but this was taken a little to the extreme. But none-the-less the rest of the colors work for the site. We are given a simple single column layout, that could also have a second column if chosen. The author has chosen to not put up much information on the weblog, as the only links available are home and archives. The logo is just simple text, and the only real image is the blogspot ad.

The weblog itself is rather interesting. Here we have a mix of a gifted high school student who know what he wants (for the most part) and is also a stereotypical teenage boy. We have Josh who is applying at Ivy League colleges and sounds like he has a good chance. But then we also hear about Josh and all of his porn. Ok, so maybe this is a natural thing for guys to talk about.

I was able to connect with what Josh was saying in most of the posts. Probably because I am a guy and I understand what is going on. However, he seems to air a little too much information at times for me. I do not need to re-live my days in high school. But I do give him credit because he even realizes that he has a wider range of readers than he thought.

Over all we have a some what interesting, but stereotypical teenage blog. It should be interesting though to see how his college plans turn out, and what happens when he does go to college. Because of the openness to some of the things that he posts about, this could become a very entertaining blog to read.
Avast!

I really think that I should open this review with the opening post of the weblog:
“For those of you who are truly disturbing and are reading this info without having any idea who the heck I am (because you just like to go from stranger’s blog to stranger’s blog because it makes you feel as though you actually have a real life when in fact your family has disowned you and you live in a cardboard box in a deserted alley where even the rats don’t go and your only connection to the real world is through the local library’s internet access machine which you can only use on occasion because you constant reek of urine ), prepare to become further disturbed.” This sets the maturity for all the posts that follow.

Reading on did not leave me disturbed either. It only confirmed every teenage boy stereotype, archetype and cliche out there. Naked women are mentioned, Pamela Anderson is mentioned, porn mags are mentioned, being grounded when your mother discovers your porn mags is mentioned, doing something with your girlfriend for half an hour in the corner of the playground is mentioned, wanting a sticker for getting good grades at school is mentioned.

The whole site is quite confusing. I felt as though I’d been sucked into a 13-year-old boy’s world and couldn’t find the escape hatch. There were no external links, no explanations for the purpose of the blog or anything about the author [which I would have liked], and some posts just went on and on. A large amount of posts were just transcripts of IM chats with his friends, all similar to this one,

“Q: What happens when there are four guys and one girl in a chatroom at 10:15 on a Tuesday night? A: This…
josh9600 (10:15:18 PM): so….vaseline or k-y
Mcdaddy404 (10:15:32 PM): dudes i just watched a 50 minute porn vid from first minute to payload, it was grueling
(10:15:45 PM) Ruchita03 has left the room.
Nick 42160 (10:15:48 PM): hahahaha
Mcdaddy404 (10:16:04 PM): teamwork
josh9600 (10:16:06 PM): heh…”payload”
P1Dawg (10:16:07 PM): high five
josh9600 (10:16:43 PM): sweet.”

I have given Avast! a rating of 2, because although there isn’t much reason for anyone who doesn’t know Josh personally to visit, it seems that he uses his weblog to get all his early teen angst out of his system, and I’d rather he did that on here than offline. Think of Avast! as an online BMX park: let the kids do what they like in there but just don’t look .Avast!

Welcome to Death’s Door. Or so the aptly titled weblog claims it is. First loading of the page, I was immediately drawn to the mini about section on who was Greg Beck. A fair amount of good information was crammed into that little paragraph which is a must read before you read the weblog.

The design of the site is a template that I really do not care for. I am still not sure what the purpose of the design serves, but oh well. Greg should find a new template or create his own design to further enhance his site.

The weblog itself is not for the weak of heart. Greg swears an awful lot, but it makes it that much easier to connect with him. His range of topics varies, but it is typically something that is currently going on in the media.

I liked the weblog because I was able to read it for what it is supposed to be: Funny. About 80% of the posts I was laughing extremely hard. I can just imagine a person actually saying some of the stuff at a bar after a few drinks. This is a site I would visit when I wanted a quick laugh.

Over all we have a funny site with a lot of bad language. If you are offended by a foul mouth, then do not visit this site. If you are looking for a good laugh in a George Carlin sort of way, then here is the site for you. Actually I saw George Carlin in person, and I found most of this site to be more entertaining than the comedian.

Death’s Door, The Spanish Announcer’s Table