Month: January 1970

Assistant starts out with a standard blogspot template adorned with a nice pic of the band’s vocalist, Jonathan Shipley. The template is green and white, nothing out of the ordinary. The right-hand side bar is uncluttered, it includes a paragraph with information on the site and its author as well as links to other blogs and recent entries.

Assistant happens to be a band. Jonathan started the blog in order to document the band’s activity but he states it became a personal diary on the way. There are links to give you more information on the band as well as a band website, but this link appeared to be broken. It’s something that needs to be taken care of as it is probably the most important link on the blog.

Jonathan has been blogging since 2002 and the early entries were related to band gigs, the process of writing songs, on-stage experiences, their first gig ever and posts of the sort.

From January 2004 onwards, the blog begins to develop a broader nature and Jonathan posts pictures, thoughts on Guardian or Times articles, political posts, one-liners, band stories, etc. He posts on a wide variety of subjects but I found few posts where Jonathan gets personal. Of course I didn’t have enough time to go through all the archives as we’re talking more than two year’s worth.

Jonathan is at his best when he speaks of the band and when we catch those rare glimpses into his life: “flat” hunting, house sitting and Vic, the girl he lives with. His digressions on diverse topics ranging from politics to the art of reviewing are also a good read.

I’m not quite sure where Jonathan expects his blog to go. If he wants it to appeal to a wider audience, then by all means get personal, but if it’s just an outlet of whatever is on Jonathan’s mind, then it’s another story.

Overall, Assistant strikes me as a blog still in development, despite it’s years of existence. Jonathan is a likeable, well-read individual. As a matter of fact, he sounds so interesting I really found myself wishing I could read more on his background, personal philosophy, etc.

Anyhow, I enjoyed Assistant and I hope the band finds success. I even added it to my favorites to see what’s up with him every once in a while.Assistant Blog

The Land that civilization forgot loads a nice-looking layout. White background (neat and tidy) and a right-hand side bar with a green military camouflage background. It goes with the header pic (a jungle) and the soldier pic which is in the side bar (even if you’re not a military aesthetics lover, it is a nice layout you have to admit.) The side bar navigation includes his posts by category, a dream-woman pic, a tagboard, his music, google ads, and a little information about himself (very little, just a paragraph; although he does have a post where he gives more).

There’s also a brief introduction to the blog in the side bar where the author says it now takes less time to load (sadly, it was not the case on my browser and some post pics did not load) and it also warns that the blog is in Hinglish (Hindi-English).

The author (name withheld) who calls himself “Insomniac” is a 19 year old born in Delhi who is afraid of Pink and loves his “mum and sis”. He is a likable guy and he usually posts on random, every-day occurrences, funny personal views of the world and amusing events from his past. In his earlier posts, he used the word “coz” a lot. But he seems to have gotten rid of this bad habit in his recent posts. There were a few spelling mistakes, but of course, the author is Indian so they’re forgivable.

While not a spectacular blog, I found it to be well thought-out and more mature in style and content than most teenage blogs out there. So it very well might appeal to a broader audience than just the teens.

In spite of his young age and recent blog birth, I feel Insomniac has potential. His blog is a nice light-hearted one that deserves a visit no matter your age. You know, I would have liked to have given this nice kid a higher score, but the blog loading time was a little too much and I missed the unloaded pics. Nevertheless I’m giving him a nice 3.5 and encouraging him to blog on…

— The land that civilization forgot —

There are a number of layouts/designs incorporated into this site, but I’m going to focus on the main page’s design.

This site is, well, coffee colored! Quite appropriate for the title! The site is neatly organized, easy to navigate, and eye appealing. The text is easy to read and the colors are compatible with one another. I’m expecting a semi-pessimistic author due to the “bitter coffee” ordeal, but the site looks enjoyable upon first glance.

It is slightly irritating that I have to continuously close the Tripod/Lycos side bar that opens up whenever I change pages. There are so many free blogging sites and programs out there, why waste your time on something as archaic as angelfire if you don’t have to? I also have to complain about the design of the archival page. The colors and design are okay, at best, but the text is VERY small and grows more and more difficult to read, as you spend more and more time on the site.

The “Concerning Linz” page (aka about me) section has a slightly different, yet corresponding layout that is pretty neat. I’m assuming the head graphic is the author. The ads at the end of the page take your attention away from the material at hand and are very disruptive. As for the list itself, Linz is very specific about her information, but it’s the typical points of (dis)interest you find on a lot of blogs.

Linz appears to be a young twenty-something in the throws of the dating. She is also on the quest to lose weight and regain her sense of beauty. A huge added feature to this site is a “side blog” aptly entitled, Taking Back Beauty detailing her steps on this journey, her outlook on it, and her accomplishments. To date, she has lost twenty-three pounds and appears to be doing it in a slow and healthy manner! No guru diets for this young lady! I commend her on her weight loss and hope other dieters will see her story as an inspiration.

She writes with a maturity that seems to pass some of the early -twenties group by and comes across as a bright, intelligent and caring women. However, unlike some who carry the first few attributes, she is not one to be pushed around or taken advantage of. She knows what she wants and she goes after it.

She is outspoken and tends to ride the blog-posting roller coaster that we all jump on. Sometimes she goes on for a great period of time with interesting things to say, and sometimes she openly admits that she has lost the will to write and really has nothing to say. At least she comes out and admits it rather than trying to “fill her space” with garbage nobody would care to read.

Linz gives you a detailed account of the happenings in her life while avoiding the daily list of “I did this, then I did this, and then this happened.” She has a light and cheery tone when it’s called for, but she gets irritated and emotional when appropriate. She goes into how she feels about events and occasions with gusto and there is very little pessimism to be found.

The author is very open and honest with the manner in which she is coming to discover who she is a person. Most people think that you’ve found yourself by the time you get into your twenties, but I tend to disagree with them. Linz is often questioning who she truly is, while knowing all along the true answer. This is personal growth and strength all in one breath. She is simply seeking out the best place for her in her world and isn’t afraid to let on that she doesn’t fully understand or know all the different aspects to her own personality. This gives her an endearing personality that makes the reader applaud her decisions and root for her success.

At times her blog gets dry and boring, but who’s life and blog haven’t hit those times? We can’t all be funny, emotional, and interesting all the time. Her better entries make weeding through her slow times worth the effort. This isn’t one of those all-empowering one in a million blogs out there, but it certainly has a number of attributes. This isn’t’ the “typical” blog of a “typical” twenty-something. I think anyone in the twenty-something generation would enjoy reading about Linz, getting to know her personality, and watching her charge through this time in her life. She is on her way and she’s busting through.

This is a blog to keep your eyes on, folks. This blog may just be going places!

Bitter Like Yesterday’s Coffee

mono[b]logue is a plain looking site. Somehow, however, I find the visual starkness appealing. Maybe its look makes me think of a newspaper with its absence of color.

The blog has submissions by a friend who is a military man stationed in Afghanistan. These entries are an interesting first hand account of life abroad in the Armed Forces. Clearly being abroad is emotional for the author, who seems to be becoming increasingly more disillusioned about being in Afghanistan, : ‘ how many more must die before we feel justice has been served ?’ The author seems interested in exposing the ‘truth’ of what is going on in Afghanistan. It seems in all levels of his experience in the Army he finds frustration. From the President right down to his immediate officers who are ‘clowns’. These entries from abroad add an interesting journalistic flavour to the blog.

One of the first things I found curious about some of the earlier entries was that a lot of details are [omitted]. I wonder if the author was doing the omissions or if the entries were screened… hmm.

The writing in mono[b]logue is very good. The author is intelligent and has some interesting insights into human nature and shares a lot of unique first hand experiences and observations. The tone is usually somewhat serious but considering where the author is, that is hardly surprising. There are also entries, well supported by links, about Art, computers, media, lots of politics and world events… many diverse and important issues are covered in mono[b]logue’s content. The blog is often more about issues than the author himself. You do, however, get a strong feel for the author’s personality through his commentary. There are a few entries that could use a little more commentary (the good stuff) but overall the majority of entries have a persuasive dialogue.

Going through the entries was a bit of a challenge however… you can only go to the previous entry not back. So…I had to manually enter every page since I wanted to read from the oldest to the newest. Just a little thing but…annoying as a reader.

Quite a compelling and impressive author. If you like reading real news this blog is a must. Highly recommended.
mono[b]logue

Pewari’s Prattle opens to a rather confused color scheme. Blue, green, orange and yellow and are just a bit much all on the same page. It’s cheerful, but more than a bit confusing to the eye.

The newest entries are a fairly interesting list of questions to answer. Such as: What are your current views of the United States?, If you were to die, would you go to heaven?, and the more obscure, Monkeys or Pirates? Our author answers all of them in an honest thoughtful and humorous style that is quite readable.

She has been blogging here since April of 2003, but has a long history of on line interaction, via IRC, starting in 1992. This is almost ancient history in the computer world! This site is mostly what I could call a Mommy blog, but with a liberal smattering of other interesting comments on a variety of subjects. Enough so to keep our interest even if we aren’t still changing diapers.

There are some clever blogging ideas here that include the aforementioned questions to answer, plus she blogs about ordinary things like the purchase of a new stroller (pushchair in the UK) enumerating all it’s finer points and does contests like the 26 things photo project. She wrote a very complete review of the latest Harry Potter movie (which was spot on by the way) and not only did she participated in last year’s NaNoWriMo novel writing month, she posted her chapters for her readers to peruse.

As an American, I enjoy reading blogs from people who live in other countries. This author did a good job of giving me a little taste of life in England. Although maybe someone could enlighten me about exactly what a “dummy” is, and why an infant would need to stop having them “cold turkey” I am baffled.

All in all, this is a cheerful and creative blog with enough variety to be interesting. I enjoyed my visit and might have a pop in now and then to see what’s happening with this creative Mommy in the UK.

Pewari’s Prattle