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:Dave:
Reading ":Dave:" was an interesting insight into what appears to be the life of a high school kid. Reading the news, watching TV, and listening to the radio, you get a soured impression of the state of our youth in the world. It's refreshing to see a "normal" person, going through life without the hang-ups of the average adult, and without the preconceptions the years of living in the world tend to thrust upon us.
The majority of the entries in the site are short quick thoughts of the author. Occasionally, it's just "I'm bored" or words to that effect. Strangely enough, I actually enjoyed the short five line post about the Pizza Hut delivery which, after an hour, had not yet arrived. The P.S. on the post was that it had just been delivered as soon as the post had been published, and how although the pizza was cold, the wings were great. I think I had a little flashback to my high school and college days.
Coming back to present day, I really enjoyed the first look at the site. The picture at the top of the page really says a lot. At first, I simply thought it was a nice image, and then I started to read. I realized the picture really fits well. I don't know if it was intentional, but I'd like to think so. The color choices and layout make it easy to read and navigate. The overall feel of it is somewhat static, but not jarring. You feel like you can get a nice little trip in the Way-Back Machine.
This site is a nice jaunt down memory lane. Every post will help those of us who have graduated from school, remember the good and bad times, and help us to realize we survived, and so will :Dave:.
By the way, Dave, get the PowerBook. You won't regret it.
This site was reviewed on 2003-11-07 by savowood.
They felt this site belonged in the Personal category.
savowood felt that :Dave: deserved a rating of 4.
As I surfed on over to :Dave:, I was struck by how nice the blog looked. Clean, spare, easy-to-read, and organized, it was a refreshing sight. It also features an "About Me" section, which I'm always grateful for when reviewing a new blog. It was the typical "100 things" list, but it definitely helped me get an initial sense of who the author is. That out of the way, I began digging through the archives, which only extend back to August. This is one of the newer blogs on the block.
At the beginning of one of sixteen-year-old Dave's entries he writes, "If today were a color it would be beige." I remember quite a few beige days at that age. In fact, a lot of the posts in this daily journal brought back some teenaged memories. Breakups and reunions with his girlfriend, angst over school and his job, his excitement over earning his driver's license: everything you would expect from a typical teenaged boy you can find here. There are some surprises, however. He hates football, is an avid aquarist, and dislikes a dirty room (and trust me, anyone who think that isn't a surprise coming from a sixteen-year-old doesn't know too many sixteen-year-olds.) He's also a technology buff and has a second blog devoted to the pictures he takes with his phone. It's new, but worth a peek.
I mentioned at the beginning of this review how nice :Dave: looks. It's not the most original I've seen and it may be a template but it's easy on the eyes and simple to navigate, making it functional as well as attractive. There are plenty of spelling and grammatical errors, which can at times interrupt the flow of the writing, but it's an honest day-to-day account of who Dave is at sixteen. While some may find the blog a bit tedious, I think plenty of readers, especially those close to Dave's age, will find something here they can relate to. If the author paid a little more attention to the quality of the writing and cleaned up his spelling, I think he'd see his audience grow.
This site was reviewed on 2003-11-07 by Eternal Fool.
They felt this site belonged in the Personal category.
Eternal Fool felt that :Dave: deserved a rating of 3.
Dave has a Typepad blog with a fairly effective design- a nice picture at the top and it is easy to read. Looking through the posts, Dave obviously has difficulty with the more technical aspects of blogging and I guess that if his skills could improve, his blog would be a lot more striking than it is at the moment. There are a few typos and duff links which could be tidied up too.
Now Dave, the sole author of this blog, is 16. There are 100 things about him in his "About Me" page, which he obviously found trouble filling (with humorous results!) There are loads of photographs which improve the blog and let the reader in to the life of the author more.
As I was reading the blog, I was reminded very clearly about what it was like to be 16. All the posts are of a personal nature and most are fairly short, which means you could get through the archives in about 45 minutes quite easily. The trouble is, being 16 everything seems rather boring. I am sure in actual fact, the author's life probably isn't boring at all- he has some interesting views on music, goes to see quite a few films, has a healthy social life and girlfriend. Most importantly, being 16 he is about to enter in to (potentially) the most exciting years of his life.
Unfortunately though, because the author thinks his life is boring, this is reflected very much in his weblog. More detail would liven the posts up a great deal- there is lots of potential here which would be improved if the author only had some faith that people want to read about his life in glorious Technicolor detail. He clearly has a sense of humour too, which should be built on.
I was also disappointed to find out there was a separate private blog which needs a password. Take a risk Dave, and put some of your private blog up for us all to see!
Now I am sure being 16 isn't easy- I know I was a mess of hormones and insecurities at the time. However, growing up could make for great blogging if the author could put some more effort in to the content and give us some juicy stories and observations to get our teeth in to!
And one more thing, whoever started the "Friday Five" questions should be shot. Finding out what is in your bathroom cabinet does NOT make for interesting, creative blogging!
This site was reviewed on 2003-11-07 by ODAAT.
They felt this site belonged in the Personal category.
ODAAT felt that :Dave: deserved a rating of 2.5.
3 reviewers gave :Dave: an average rating of 3.1667
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