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Earthly Passions
With a name like Earthly Passions, I didn't know what to expect. I thought long and hard about this, and the only thing I could think of was that the author was going to talk about his life and what he loves. Wow. I was almost dead on. He even says this in his "Why Earthly Passions?" post.
So I get to the site and I notice right away there is an about page. Of course I went to this to find out more about Mark to see what I could connect with him on. Mark is married, has 4 children, is a Christian, works for a radio station, is a financial planner, and is involved with his church. This is probably one of the most detailed about pages I have ever read, less those 100 things about me pages.
So now we know he is going to talk about his life, and we know all about Mark, so guess what the posts are about? You're right! About his church, his radio show, his family, etc... So what separates this average topic from everyone else? The quality of the posts is one aspect. Mark writes very well and with great attention to detail. Posts have the ability to make you laugh, cry, and think - which is something I always look for in a blog. While some topics get repeated (updates to what is going on), this doesn't deter you from the weblog like others have done in the past.
The design of the site is your standard 3 column layout. Thankfully he used a color scheme that fits the title and the weblog. Its a calm yellow and olive greenish color scheme that fits in with the fall season, though I don't know if that was his inspiration or not. The archives are accessible by a calendar or by week. I am glad he decided to add both ways of accessing the archives, since just using a calendar is a major pain. He has done a good job of separating the content that should be in each column which lately is rare.
As far as extras are concerned outside of the about page, we have a photo album. This is built into the typepad service that Mark is using and he is using it very well. I am glad to see him using it the way he does. In addition to the photo album is a list of books he is reading, all with links to Amazon (again a typepad feature). Unfortunately the books do not get a mention in the weblog itself which would be nice.
I have to say that I enjoyed my time at Earthly Passions. Mark did not force feed his Christianity beliefs upon me, but he did not hide them either. This is good because he is able to bring in people to his weblog with different beliefs and thoughts and not turn them away. The posts about his family are probably my favorite, as they are told with such great detail. I recommend checking out Earthly Passions even if it is just to check out what Mark has to offer. Enjoy your time there, because I know I did.
This site was reviewed on 2003-10-13 by Brent.
They felt this site belonged in the Personal category.
Brent felt that Earthly Passions deserved a rating of 4.
I was torn between whether or not to give this site 3.5 or 4 overall. So perhaps 3.75 then. My first impressions were good- I always like it when someone has sorted out their own domain name and some thought has gone in to the name and the design of the sight.
I have also just transferred my own blog over to Typepad, so am aware of its capabilities and it is fair to say that the author, Mark has made use of many of them. There is an “About Me” page, a couple of photo albums, books he is reading (though no reviews unfortunately) and the usual links to other sites. There is also a link to a blog entry which explains the reasoning behind the site itself. Some work has been put in to the design too- the template all looks very sleek and tasteful and includes its own customised title bar which finishes the effect off nicely.
Having decided the design was more than acceptable, I started ploughing through some of the content. Now Mark has only been blogging for a month or so but there is more than enough content here to keep readers busy for a while. Entries have been made every couple of days or so and some are pretty long, though on the main page, use has been made of the “Read more…” facility, which shortens entries for those who only want a sample. The posts have been divided in to categories, though I found the content mostly fell in to “family and friends”, “Christianity”, “economics” and “politics”, with the occasional movie review and observations on blogging. Now I don’t want to criticise the content too much because it is still early days, but I found that these four main topics were covered in great depth and often with humour, but for the reader who may not have an affinity with these subject areas, the weblog may be of little interest.
I guess the argument comes down to “Is a weblog written for the author or its readers?” and if it is for the readers, does it matter if only a small group may find the subject matter engaging? Well I don’t know, other than if the author wants to appeal to more readers, perhaps he could employ a greater subject area in to his posts. A few more links to other sites may improve things too.
On the other hand, I enjoyed the witty observations on blogging, found in Baby Blogger Blathers and the generally relaxed style in which other entries were written. Including photos of the family was helpful too, as I occasionally found it tricky to keep up with who was who in Mark’s family!
In conclusion then, this is a great blog if you want to experience someone else’s life and viewpoints in depth, but may be might not appeal to those with other beliefs and interests, or the casual browser. Technically sound though.
This site was reviewed on 2003-10-13 by ODAAT.
They felt this site belonged in the Personal category.
ODAAT felt that Earthly Passions deserved a rating of 3.5.
2 reviewers gave Earthly Passions an average rating of 3.7500
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