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ruzz.ca
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This is a re-review of ruzz.ca
I’d glanced at this site several times before it was submitted to The Weblog Review, often finding it linked off of someone else’s site. The content is hard to jump right into and grasp. Some background of where Ruzz is coming from and what he’s about is helpful, and I was able to latch on to that through reading the archives of the site.
In the very first month of journal archives, I knew Ruzz would be covering a huge variety of topics when he quotes Bette Midler and not more than five minutes later remarks about Nine Inch Nails. That is variety at its finest.
The design fits this site quite well. Never does Ruzz proclaim to be cheery or bright, and the dark layout he uses certainly doesn’t portray that. It’s a pretty simple layout and it’s easy to navigate. The colors that were chosen work great together. The daily photos that run down the left side of the weblog are a clever addition and present some nice photography work, as well! Another feature that popped out as one of my favorites is the “inputing” section of the site, where Ruzz gives us brief reviews on the books he’s reading. I’d normally point out the spelling error in “inputing”, but thought it might be intentional, sort of like a combination of the words input and computing… A couple of the older archives are a different format then the rest of the site.
Ruzz has been adding bits and pieces to this weblog for almost three solid years. And by solid, I mean multiple posts every day, rarely having a day go by without some words of wisdom to share with his following. From reading the comments and posts, it seems that those that have been following Ruzz and all he blogs about are people that have been reading up on him for quite sometime.
When the weblog first started taking its shape in the latter months of 2000, Ruzz was a wordy guy. Posts were paragraphs and paragraphs long, but they meant something. They were deep and they had you thinking.
This guy, who always seems to be in the middle of some type of website coding, takes time out to really let readers get involved into what’s going on in his head. It could be something as widely discussed as the latest in world events, a new personal goal for himself, or even how he’s battling with his own emotions and self trials. You find it all and you can’t help but really get into it all either.
Not all of the posts are as deep and philosophical as others, but they don’t need to be. As I said earlier, variety is certainly a key element with this site. Snippets from chat transcripts fill some posts, and usually these are the posts that have you chuckling to yourself or just shaking your head because it’s such a contrast from the multi-paragraph post to entries before discussing Thoreau.
It’s hard to discover that which is Ruzz from just reading a couple of posts here and there. It wasn’t until I’d gone through month after month of entries that I felt like I might be “getting” the guy. The only thing I can think of that would aid in getting brand spanking new readers to “get” this site would be an about section. Having said that, I don’t really think that the purpose of Ruzz’s site is to draw as many new visitors as he possibly can.
It’s definitely a site worth checking out. But if you were to check this site out, I would definitely recommend going back in time through the archives to find out a little bit more about creator behind this weblog.
This site was reviewed on 2003-03-09 by Wendy.
They felt this site belonged in the Personal category.
Wendy felt that ruzz.ca deserved a rating of 4.5.
This is a re-review of ruzz.ca
The first thing I keep looking for (often in vain it seems) is a context for the blog I'm about to review. Why do I care what you have to say? Tell me about yourself so I can relate to what you have to say. Even a few simple lines to contextualize your blog for the reader IMHO is essential. Please add an 'about' page! (I'm a skipping record on this issue aren't I? Bah...)
Ruzz’s let it all hang out philosophy on blogging:
"I see blogging, inter-blog discussion, comments, debates and the like as an organic entity which is uncontrolled. I don't trim my bonsai bush I let it grow how it grows. My focus, my concern, is not on the resulting controlled perfection, man over his elements, type beauty. Rather, my blog is a seedy bar where every night someone gets shot, gets stabbed, falls in love, finds out their wife is their cousin and so on." .
I felt ruzz.ca had a decent layout. The photos along the left column were different and interesting, as was the background image. Ruzz updates the blog many times a day, often with short little observations and additions. What seems a little different about this site is comments to ruzz.ca form the main content of the blog (with Ruzz's comments as well...). So, basically anyone can contribute (and is encouraged to contribute) to ruzz.ca.
"See. I trade you writing for writing. I write, you write. This is the system we have going here dear readers. Nothing is more annoying than pounding out 1300 words, most of which are blatant lies, only to end up with one comment. If I simply posted "Hello" I suspect my comment script would break from the frenzied replies. Nothing more annoying.. well, actually there is: Heartburn. " It leads to a far bit of discussion by the regular readers of ruzz.ca. For the most part, I didn't enjoy, the soap-opera like banter of his *regular* posters, but you may.
Ruzz has a lot of pointless entries in his blog which he is happy to admit, "I have no real content right now.". But there are also many great entries where he makes some honest observations about life:
"If I treated my daughter the way some people who claim to love me treated me I couldn't live for the shame. Love is not a condition. It's not a mood. It's not something you pretend to award when you are lonely and want to be around somebody. It's something real and tangible. But it can end. It is not infinite. That Disney-esqe idea has ruined more than one person I know. But if its there, when its there, you just don't offer and retract it based on the level with which you can tolerate your life or yourself. It simply does not work like that. That isn't love. That's using a person in the worst way. For those of you who do this, in your defense, the people who lap that shit up and keep taking it, like an abused house wife -beaten then rewarded- deserve what they get. I deserve what ever I allow another human being to put on me. In fact, the entire purpose of the relationship would seem to be nothing more than a construct in which to act out the parts and serve each other's unhealthy needs. So don't go pitying the housewife and hating the husband. They are together because one of them has the ability to be cruel and one needs the cruelty to validate their own worthlessness.
"
There is tons of content in the ruzz.ca archives. One month of entries on ruzz.ca would equal a year's worth of entries on many other blogs. If you buy into this idea, of having to contribute (and not just passively read a blog) this site will certainly appeal to you. An interesting concept. Check ruzz.ca out and see if it motivates you to write. Ruzz gets the last words: "The highest highs and the lowest lows. The sweet and the sour. This is life. enjoy every fucking minute of it people."
"
This site was reviewed on 2003-03-09 by obz.
They felt this site belonged in the Personal category.
obz felt that ruzz.ca deserved a rating of 4.
This is a re-review of ruzz.ca
I really like weblogs where you can see their history and development, and Ruzz.ca has definitely come a long way since its debut in September 2000. From a sparse white page full of posts on the frustrations of starting a new blog, it is now a fuller, more rewarding weblog, with more links, short, to-the-point posts and digital photography.
The weblog seems less personal recently than it is in some of the older archived posts, but some posts would still be of more interest to those who know the author. There are still enough posts linking to interesting sites, expressing [sometimes controversial] opinions, or giving an interesting view on the world to make this worth a look.
The colour scheme of Ruzz.ca didn't work for me. I found it too dark. However, there are nice extras to the site that caught my attention. I liked having the comments displayed under each post, rather than in a pop-up box, and I also enjoyed the short reviews accompanying each item on the 'inputing' list of books and films/movies. I couldn't find an 'about' section but you can find out everything that you need to know about the author from reading through the archives.
Whilst this site didn't absorb me completely, I did find it enjoyable and the shorter posts meant it was easy to scan for something that interested me. Even if you don't know the author, Ruzz.ca is worth visiting to watch the debates unfold via the comments after a controversial post, to read the recent reviews or to take a look at the photography.
This site was reviewed on 2003-03-09 by Bluiser.
They felt this site belonged in the Personal category.
Bluiser felt that ruzz.ca deserved a rating of 3.5.
This is a re-review of ruzz.ca
Whenever I review a blog, I'm typically able to guess something about the writer just by looking at the title. Not in this case. The title 'ruzz.ca' was obscure enough to make me want to go and delve into this site and find out more about Ruzz, the writer of the blog. When you load up the blog, I found myself facing a plastic bottle over a black background - more obscurity. As I began to read some of Ruzz's entries, I remained puzzled - the titles of his entries are vague - "blah" , "gah", ".". However, after reading for several minutes, it dawned on me that this obscurity is what makes 'ruzz.ca' the type of blog that I enjoy - one that encompasses the author's feelings and thoughts, whether or not anybody else can understand them.
One of the things that confused me about Ruzz's site is that reader's comments are listed underneath that day's entry. For a moment, I thought I was dealing with a schizophrenic blogger. Even after coming to this realization, I often found myself wondering what Ruzz was talking about - he can be highly philosophical at times and downright artless other times. Many of his entries make references to friends, which sometimes makes his blog incomprehensible to outsiders. Not to say that there is anything wrong with this style of writing - my own site is written in this manner - directed towards a smaller circle of friends and acquaintances. It is, however, something to keep in mind when you are reading Ruzz's site and thinking to yourself, "What's he talking about??"
Ruzz.ca has a very boxy design and the yellow and black complement each other well. I enjoyed looking at the daily photos, many of them of everyday objects - a picture of a bench, for example. Another feature I liked on Ruzz's blog was the mouseover that accompanies each link. I found myself running my cursor all over the place to find out what Ruzz had to say about a link. Ruzz also has an interesting box entitled "inputing" in which he discusses material he is reading - sort of like a personal book review.
I recommend you visit ruzz.ca primarily for the interesting perspective he offers and the occasional comment on current events. The pictures are also a part of Ruzz's site that you will want to check out while you're there. All in all, Ruzz's site is apparently ordinary at first, but becomes more innovative as you delve further in to his world.
This site was reviewed on 2003-03-09 by brandon.
They felt this site belonged in the Personal category.
brandon felt that ruzz.ca deserved a rating of 3.
This site is one in its own. The author posts quiet a bit, but they are short posts. Nothing too major to pick your brain at, but if you go over all of them, you can start to figure out who he is.
Lets do a little likes/dislikes thing. First the dislikes. Only one thing... The big picture of his (I am assuming it is his) head at the top of the page. I am just not a big fan of logos taking up 1/3rd of the page.
Likes: The posts are great. They make you read more if you really want to try to figure out who he is. Also, love the art. Hope he posts more of it. Bio section is great. Overall design minus note above is good. Smooth and easy to use.
Overall better than average site. Its a definite need to check out site, up to you to decide to if its a daily or weekly read.
This site was reviewed on 2001-07-13 by Brent.
They felt this site belonged in the Personal category.
Brent felt that ruzz.ca deserved a rating of 3.5.
5 reviewers gave ruzz.ca an average rating of 3.7000
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