The average fifteen-year-old’s blog would have bored me out flat, but not Arend’s. He possesses fair writing skills, has interesting things to say, and presents himself quite well. Although like most teens he does whine, a bit, his whinings are actually winningly humorous rather than roll-eyes-irritating. Arend’s ‘teenage angst’ is intimately adorable, with a nice blending of maturity and youthful callowness.
The design of the entire site is black on white – clean and simple, yet classy. Personally I liked it a lot, yet sometimes the huge blank spaces dominating the pages seem to be too much. The blog itself has all the writings squeezed to the left side of the page in two narrow strips, leaving a universe of whiteness on 3/4 of the page. Not to mention forcing me to read with my pupils focused to the left and causing the person sitting on my left to wonder if I was casting surreptitious glances at him. Another minor complain – the font is a bit too small.
Arend’s details can be found in detail on the site, including a lengthy description of the things he carries around in his pockets. If you take the time to click on the text links within his blog, there are plenty of pleasant surprises(Doodles on his biology text, to name one). My favorite ‘surprise’ is his apparently ‘ambitious’ project to send love letters to anyone who subscribes. I did. I’ve never received love letters from a fifteen-year-old.
“Forget” is a light, pleasant blog. Despite his modesty, Arend has a flair for writing, and his blogs show a fine balance between sensible optimism and subtle self-detest, perhaps not atypical of his age. I recommend Arend post up some pictures of himself(or even better, drawings), because I for one felt like knowing him better after reading.
Forget