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caffeine_sparks
This is a re-review of caffeine_sparks
Wow! Simply, wow! I can see how the design could have a chance to be visually appealing, but initially, this blog is very hard on the eyes. Very cute coffee cup picture, but the colors simply don't mesh well. You quickly find that the author is from Manila, and I honestly hope the content makes up for my initial reaction.
The archives seem to have the "correct" look that the blog is supposed to take. The content is supposed to have a tan/yellow background instead of the black. So I'm going to assume that this is just a tiny error in code and can easily be fixed. The content is good. The content is interesting. I'm curious about her. She leaves me wanting to read more and more. The author seems like so many other blogger's only she can write. She can write well. She tells the stories of her life the way that a book filled with short stories would read. You pick it up, start at any given point, and find yourself reading... and reading. Her entries are well thought out, and well designed. They make a point, and leave the reader thinking. I couldn't take my eyes of the content of this blog. I couldn't stop reading the pain, and happiness, and anger of the author. There are times when you get mad at her and other times when you sympathize with her. The author is an emotional writer and while some people don't like to know what's going on with the deep internals of the author's, I personally think that it gives more depth.
The design, as I said, is probably not being executed correctly via blogspot. I don't know if it's in an incorrect image tag, background color tag or the css, but I see (in Mozilla and IE) a lot of black with white text. This makes the links impossible to read. When you wander towards the archives you see exactly how the layout should work, however, that's now what it looks like when you actually read.
You can learn more about the author as she has a link that leads you to another blog that has some vitals, and explanations of "Character" or people in this author's life. There's a tagbox for people to leave comments to the author, and a poll I'm assuming changes. Otherwise, it's your standard looking blog with a few links, lots of content, and the ability for strangers or friends to comment.
This blog reads rather well. You feel for the author. You empathize and sympathize with her. She writes extremely well, even if there's an inconsistency with punctuation, capitalization and spelling. It's an intense emotional read but in a very clean way. While this blog could probably use a little bit of work on the design level, this author has got the content part down. Worth a read.
This site was reviewed on 2003-09-20 by firefly.
They felt this site belonged in the Personal category.
firefly felt that caffeine_sparks deserved a rating of 3.5.
This is a re-review of caffeine_sparks
The first thought I had upon arriving at caffeine_sparks was "fabulous background image, now where are the archives?" They appeared to be missing. I spent a few minutes poking around and finally realized what happened. The author has chosen black as her link color. Unfortunately, she has also chosen black as her background color. In order to see the links I had to highlight the text. Obscuring your navigation is a pretty lousy way to greet new readers to your journal.
Once I finally found the archives I began reading. The author is Sparks, a twenty-three year old student from Manila, Philippines. She began the journal in February of this year. Most of her entries are concerned with her love life. At the beginning of caffeine_sparks, she is dealing with a freshly broken heart. As the months go by she enters several new relationships, each just as confusing as the last.
Most of what Sparks details is typical early twenties confusion: dealing with old heartbreaks, new loves, dashed expectations and the various slings and arrows that come along with young adulthood. The most affecting writing she offers deals with the loss of her father and the strained relationship she had with him before his death.
As I read through the entries, I come across more black links against the black background. I found myself highlighting everything to make sure I missed none of the links. Sparks also has the habit of writing completely in lowercase, something I see a lot of on journals and blogs. It's a minor annoyance, but proper capitalization would make everything a bit more readable. Aside from that, the design itself is fairly attractive. The lovely background image is a nice touch.
Overall, I found caffeine_sparks a fairly typical read. There's nothing here you won't find on a hundred other young women's journals. If you enjoy reading about the ups and downs of young love and can find your way around the obscured navigation, Caffeine Sparks may be worth a peek.
This site was reviewed on 2003-09-20 by Eternal Fool.
They felt this site belonged in the Personal category.
Eternal Fool felt that caffeine_sparks deserved a rating of 2.5.
Caffeine_Sparks is a very new blog on the block. It's only been around for about a month, and the author has some major work to do.
One thing going for the blog is the author's writing style. It's very introspective writing, but well-written and thought out nonetheless. "Liberty", as she calls herself, starts out every post with a short, simple sentence and then elaborates. I think this works very well for the subject matter she writes on. As for the actual subject matter? Well, it's a little choppy. Because the posts are so introspective, it's very hard to tell what Liberty is talking about sometimes, or it's just hard for the reader to really care. One constant subject for Liberty is Jerome, who she usually refers to as "HIM". She has a serious love-hate relationship with HIM, and so spends a lot of words moaning about it.
There's not much else we can find out about Liberty from Caffeine_Sparks. There is no "About Me" page, no posts explaining any of her persona. She could be 17, or she could be 27. There's really no way of knowing. Some added content to Caffeine_Sparks would be appreciated.
The layout is from a standard template at Blogskins, a much overused palette of pond-algae green. There's really no originality, and the pleas of "RATE ME!" on various blog compilation sites at the top of the screen really don't do much to improve the look of Caffeine_Sparks.
I would say that given more time, Liberty could do some great work with Caffeine_Sparks and transform it into a great blog. Until then, I can't reccomend it.
Editors Note: Becuase of the infancy of this weblog, the writer was forced to dock a lot of points off of the rating.
This site was reviewed on 2003-03-13 by melly.
They felt this site belonged in the Personal category.
melly felt that caffeine_sparks deserved a rating of 1.
3 reviewers gave caffeine_sparks an average rating of 2.3333
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