Month: November 2001

This website is like a messy collision between Victor Meldrew, the guy from As Good As It Gets and a weblog. And, like all the best accidents, you just can’t tear your eyes away.



Why People Suck isn’t, as I anticipated, another average blog with a name chosen to try and make it sound edgy. In fact, it’s a collection of “misanthropic” rants on why people – and things – suck.



In it’s short 5 day history, Rivka has already penned vitriolic entries on people with cellphones in cinemas, “pro-lifers” issuing death threats, Network Solutions and a savage epic on her noisy neighbours.



The design is competent, with the evil face and red and black colour scheme. However, it does commit the sin of light text on a dark background, though it does fit the theme.



So early signs are good, but they are very early. I’m not sure quite why you would keep coming back other than the excellent writing quality, and if you have a blog you can keep posting “I so agree with this” links.



Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. For pure scorn – 4 points!Why People Suck

I liked the layout when the site came up. It has this gold-brownish look to it and the picture at the top of the site is a picture deserted road and a yield sign with a camel on it.



Meredith’s post are okay. The kept me interested for the most part, but nothing to really rave about. She basically talks about your everyday stuff, like going to the grocery store and spending way too much for food, or previous trip she’s taken somewhere, music and other things.



One thing I liked was she has a “Friday Five” where on Fridays she’ll posts 5 questions, or more from one of those email type surveys you’d get that asks you to answer some questions such as, “What’s your favorite tv show” or, “If you could be anywhere right now, where would you be?” It gives you a little more sight about who she is.



I was a bit bummed out about some of the links around her site. Her link that talks about her site and possible more information about who the author is didn’t work. But one thing that was cute was “Mer’s Mirror” which displays a different picture every time you come to her site. There are also links to TV show’s she’s watching, upcoming concerts, current tunes she’s grooving to and of course other blogs.



Overall, this is an okay site.that crazy Casbah jive

Black and white layouts for weblogs have become commonplace to the point of boredom; but the creator of carrie: online has taken her layout to a new and wonderful extreme. Seemingly designed to view best in MSIE, carrie: online is truly an attractive personal site that is sure to draw the reader’s eye. The splash page at carrie: online is seasonal and gives way to a pleasing and subtly feminine weblog layout. The layout invites reader interaction and actually makes the weblog entries fun to read.



The weblog entries, themselves, are personal. Carrie: online reads as a journal or diary and the author liberally sprinkles her entries with related links (including multimedia links) and quotes from songwriters and poets. There is no denying that carrie: online falls into the category of “chick blog”, but it is certainly at the top of said category and will hold appeal for most weblog readers regardless of gender.



The author’s style of writing is casual, yet her spelling and grammar are quite good. The overuse of emoticons and ellipses (i.e. …) is forgivable when compared to the overall quality of writing. One suggestion that the author may wish to consider is the use of a more noticeable font color for links within individual entries, as the current links are hard to detect without roaming the cursor over the whole of each entry.



Other enjoyable facets of carrie: online include a photo album and a well-detailed About Me page. This reviewer encourages prospective readers to fully explore carrie: online, as it is a truly worthwhile personal site.



Reviewer Note: Carrie: online is NOT related to and/or affiliated with the reviewer in any form or manner.



carrie: online

Perfect weblogs do not exist. Everyone makes errors, be it spelling or grammar, layout or design, content or a lack thereof. There simply is no such thing as a perfectly flawless, 5.0 rated weblog.



Yes, there is. It is entitled aka cooties and it is, indeed, perfect. Aka cooties is a substantial blend of keen personal observation, timely content, external links, and original graphics. The layout is playfully sleek, yet reader friendly. It is color blocked to showcase the author’s various talents and the navigation is both easy and attractive in this layout. To note, the site views equally well in NS 6.1 and MSIE 5.5.



Content at aka cooties ranges from recent events to the author’s stock portfolio, and everything in between. The entries are written with panache and wit; and, the style of writing is almost cozy, inviting the reader to dig in and read on through the archives. The author’s lack of capitalization is intentional and helps to impart a wry ee cummings-ish quality to the overall writing. Grammar, spelling, tense and tone are well-maintained throughout the whole of aka cooties, making for eminently readable entries. The author of aka cooties seems to write mostly for his own enjoyment, yet his entries do entice the reader to join in by leaving a comment or two. Other features of aka cooties include the author’s graphics (including Flash animation) portfolio and his cheekily described “world’s most boring webcam.”



Aka cooties is an outstanding weblog well deserving of its 5.0 rating. Its mix of content and style is sure to please even the most jaded of weblog readers.











aka cooties

Pardon me for not being hip enough to know what the site design was all about, but from what I can tell, it was themed after some type of Japanese anime called Saiyuki. I don’t know if this was created by the author of the blog or by someone else, but the site had a very cartoon-esque feel about it. I liked the graphic at the top of the page, and can only hope it was original artwork.



The site was well designed for the most part, though crammed to the left side of the screen, leaving a lot of empty space on the right. I liked the fact that all of the information (links, bio, etc) was presented in a logical manner on one page. My main gripe was with my cursor, which had been changed to a double arrow for me. I tend to get territorial over my cursor, and often don’t appreciate such ‘gifts’. I also didn’t like the fact that when rolling over a link, an overline appeared. I was tricked into clicking the wrong thing more than once.



The weblog entries were typical for a personal site, discussing various issues about school, friends, other web sites and things that seemed to be pertinent to the author’s friends. There were a few interesting links, such as that to Bonsai Kitties, but most of the entries were not very enticing for me.



The site did seem to be doing a lot of things right for what it was. I’m sure it works as a great outlet for the author, as well as a way for her circle of friends to communicate. Not overly exciting for an outsider, but well made for an insider.Peculiar