Author: admin

All That I Can’t Leave Behind has a very stark and bleak feeling to it. The eyes of the main logo graphic are a perfect visual to give you the feeling of what this journal is all about. Those eyes watch you, and even the “Odin cam” proclaims that Big Brother is monitoring the situation.

Odin, author of All That I Can’t Leave Behind, can write. He writes in such a gripping way that it’s impossible not to read every word. This journal is a philosophical and often frustrated look at what’s going on, not only with the writer but also with the world. Most of us would say: “It snowed today.” Odin says, “The first snow has finally fallen. About a month late, I’d say. I don’t know why, but I’ve been waiting for it like it was an old friend coming back into town. And like an old friend, now that it’s here, it’s as if it never left.”.

There’s not much to say about the layout of the journal – it’s simple. The layout and colors fit this journal in a way that makes me not able to imagine this journal in any other way.

There’s a lot of good extra stuff here. Odin offers a glossary of the terms he uses most often, which is a great idea and something I haven’t seen anywhere else. There is a section that lists song lyrics, along with a link to download the song, and a section of Odin’s poetry. You can also purchase “Odinwear” – tshirts, mugs, coasters, mousepads, and frisbees with the All I Can’t Leave Behind logo. You can also directly instant message Odin’s cell phone using his tagboard. I might suggest a guestbook or commenting section in case someone has something to say that isn’t urgent enough to page Odin. All That I Can’t Leave Behind might also benefit from some sort of official About Me page.

All That I Can’t Leave Behind is smart and insightful. Odin is a wonderful writer, and I highly recommend a visit to the journal. I will definitely be back for subsequent visits!
All That I Can’t Leave Behind

With a name like Green Fairy, I expected this site to be green. Instead, it’s a calming blue with stars. This journal is anything but calm, however. The writer of Green Fairy is not afraid to tackle controversial issues. Like her or hate her [her link to her hate mail proves that many do], she’s always got an opinion and something thoughtful to say.

The writing at Green Fairy is captivating and thought provoking, and often abrasive. Every once in a while I get the feeling the writer is intentionally trying to get reaction. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but just something noticeable. Overall, this is good writing and an interesting look at the world through someone else’s eyes. Not all posts are about world news – some are just about the writer’s daily life. Regardless of the topic, the entries are always entertaining with excellent links.

The layout doesn’t exactly grab the reader’s attention, but it also doesn’t detract from the writing. It’s a perfectly functional design. Almost all the links work and I didn’t encounter any real problems. I did notice that some of the older graphic links are broken.

Green Fairy doesn’t really have a lot of extras, but it doesn’t really need them. There is an About Me page that isn’t overly informative. There are Forums and a Guestbook. With Green Fairy’s often contentious entries, it might be a good idea to install some commenting entries for specific entries. I would imagine that there could be a lot of great debates going on in her entries, although the Forums serve the same purpose.

Green Fairy is a good read. The writer is opinionated and not afraid of laying it all out for everyone to read. I recommend Green Fairy, and plan to become a regular reader.

green fairy dot com

Roger L. Simon, mystery writer, novelist, and winner of both the John Creasey Award (Crime Writers of Great Britain) and Mystery Writers of America Special Award, has a weblog! He started his blog as a means to promote his latest novel, Director’s Cut, but it has become a place of political observation with occasional morsels of miscellany.

The site was designed by Charles Johnson of Little Green Footballs and is nice to look at and easy to navigate. You’ll find reviews of his work, book signing schedules, and some nice links in the right column of the homepage. At the top of the page are links to his `about’ page, books, films, pictures, and `words’.

If you aren’t familiar with the author, I recommend checking out his `about’ page first. It is well-crafted like all of his blog entries, and you get to see what he looked like as a child. In full cowboy attire. The `words’ section is full of reviews and commentary of Roger’s work in downloadable PDF file form. Worth checking out.

Anyone who followed the myriad `War Blogs’ floating around during the `Operation Iraqi Freedom’ days may have grown weary like I did of reading poorly thought-out opinions on it all. Fortunately, Roger reads a lot, and when he shares his views on the war, its aftermath, and anything else of a political nature, he has done his research. His entries are always germane, and he provides links and articles and quotes from diverse sources.

BLOGGING AND ITS USES (found in the April archives) was my favorite entry. I plan to shamelessly use his words: `I’m no Nostradamus. (In fact, Nostradamus was no Nostradamus.)’ in conversation as soon as I can. In Roger’s own words apropos his weblog: `For the first time in a long life of scribbling, I am writing with no one over my shoulder but you, dear reader–no editor, publisher, producer, executive, star, director, agent, underpaid development girl, studio elevator operator, etc.’ I rather like reading over his shoulder even though he’s hiding nothing.

Roger Simon’s weblog is always a good read. It is heavy on the political commentary, but always in an engaging way. And for those of you who don’t follow politics, there are some good entries about book signing events and a wonderful entry about his trip to Siberia. This weblog is decidedly worth bookmarking.Roger L. Simon

“Hi. I’m black!” – One can only assume by the title of the site that this weblog is written by someone that’s black. Glenn’s a 22 year old guy living in th San Francisco Bay area. He classifies himself as middle class, and in agreeing with a Brad Pitt quote from “Fight Club”, has accepted the fact that he’ll never be famous. And he just happens to be black. See how that ties in so neatly to the title?

The blog is still fairly new with only about four months worth of archives, but they’re all complete i thought and consistent in the frequency that they’re written. The format of them from time to time can be a little too small to read without squinting, but that was easily remedied by changing the text size of my browser.

Through the different blog entries, readers are able to learn quite a bit about the way Jason is – the things that make him tick and the things he finds to be of interest. He’s the type of person that sets goals for himself, and continues to keep those goals in mind. That personality trait seems to naturally give his writing a bit of positive flair.

The layout is really sharp. Glenn uses a powerful image of Michael Clarke Duncan as part of his design, and the orangish colors he uses for the rest of the site all blend well together. The only exception to the design that wasn’t as impressive or as sharp as the rest happened to be the different archived months that were in a different layout from the rest of the site.

Glenn has a powerful way about his words, and the things he tends to write about don’t just focus on one topic. Sports, movies, current events – Glenn runs across an interesting link he finds, and shares his thoughts, whether for or against the subject matter at hand. He throws in enough humor and personality in each of his posts to really draw readers in and make them want to come back.

“Hi. I’m black!” is a weblog I’d suggest. Once you get you feet wet in this weblog, chances are you’ll be coming back for more.

Hi. I’m Black!

So you’re feeling pretty good about how savvy you are as a netizen? You’ve been around since it was DARPA Net? You can enter the perfect mix and word order on AltaVista, Excite, or Lycos, and get the exact site you need to answer your query? You think you could have written “Google Hacks” better because you know more about how to manipulate and utilize Google?

Think again…

I’ve been around the ‘net for a long time. I remember when IRC was the cool new way the students and researchers at Duke and UNC would “talk” to each other about whatever. I used to be an AltaVista snob as it was the only search engine worth while.

The author of “Google Blogoscoped” has me beat. If there’s anything you want to know about Googling, this site probably has it. And the best part is, it surprisingly well written.

Why “surprisingly” you ask? Most übergeeks are great at being geeks. They got that way by completely ignoring grammar, spelling, and vocabulary in favor of being “733t” by writing things like “ur 2 gr8” and “OU812”. (Okay so the last one is a Van Halen album…sue me.) The author of this site writes very well, and will teach you something.

I found myself still reading the site about 90 minutes later, trying out the various “Googleisms”, totally lost in time, and not really caring. Maybe it’s the geek in me, but I really enjoyed the research, writing, and attention to detail in this site.

Initially, I didn’t think I’d like it much. Truthfully, the graphics and layout weren’t that great, but still not bad. I didn’t find myself running for the closest Boeing 737 looking for a barf-bag. I just didn’t like it much.

Then, I started reading. Once I started reading, I started learning. Once I started learning, I got sucked in. The article about what to expect from Google over the next 17 years is really insightful. I kind of like the idea of telling my computer “I’m hungry but too lazy to cook” and having my computer search Google, let me know there are no tables available at my local chinese food joint, but offer to place a take out of my “usual” or suggest another place close by.

The content of this site is for the geek, or wannabe-geek in many of us. Although I can’t recommend this site for the average ‘net newbie, those of us wearing the Internet Merit Badge will find it interesting, informative, and enjoyable.

A few small suggestions I’d like to make…

1. A clearer definition between the posts. It’s a little hard to tell when one starts and another begins. Especially when you’re really into what’s being learned. It’s a good thing the writing is good enough to keep you interested, but when you realize you’re off on some tangent, you end up looking back a paragraph or two to see you’ve already finished the article and are on a different one.

2. Use a serif font. This is just a personal pet peeve. I much prefer to see a serif font used when I’m reading typefaces that size. It’s easier on the eyes and helps the flow. I wouldn’t count off anything for this at all, though since it’s just a personal preference, and I’ve even worked on sites where I just get a “feeling” about using a sans-serif font.

3. Clean up the graphics. I’d like to see the graphics be as pleasing as the writing. Initially, they were distracting, but that was only until I finished the second paragraph.

Outside of those few little things, I find this site to be written with a level of confidence, and a level of Google expertise. It keeps your attention, and has an amazingly good flow. Keep up the good work.Google Blogoscoped