Author: admin

Sometimes when I go to a site there’s just something that draws me in. This time, with this blog I couldn’t shake off the odd feeling of deja vu. The site looks beautiful with the images of flowers along the top. I stopped by the profile and disclaimer to see what she had to say.

The blog itself goes back quite a few years. It’s always interesting, at least for me, to read where the blog began, and often what happened. Though I’ll admit, the first entry I actually read was the most current one, and I was easily captivated by this author. Trinity has a different way with words, and she shares her feelings, without holding back. I have to give it to an author; anyone who can talk about poor eating habits and body reactions in one entry has to be worth reading. Her entry on religion should awaken the masses, but probably won’t. I can’t help but understand where she’s coming from in her story of her “awakening.” So it finally hits me, why I’ve been to this blog before. Remembering Scott.

The design is functional. It works. Knowing how diaryland is about templates, there’s only so much available to each blogger. You’re only able to read the most recent entry when you get there. The archives all work function properly. Actually, the archives are actually laid out nicely, letting you see the actual date and the entry title. The colors are pleasing on the eyes with soft lavender’s and purples.

There’s a profile page, but you don’t get much about Trinity there. You find out some of Trinity’s favorite diarist’s are, as well as favorite books and things of that nature. The only disappointing thing is that there isn’t anything by way of who she actually is, or any personal tidbits that’ll give you a glimpse into who this author really is.

This blog is a good one, overall. It’s a little more personal that some people might want to read. Trinity tells you how it is in her opinion and she tells it well. There are a few grammatical and typo errors, but not enough to make a big stink about it. She tells a damn good story, and I’d highly recommend this blog to others.Trinity Sixty-Three – The Escapades of me

It was a a very pastel site with a small text box in the middle. It sat nicely in the middle of my screen and it was a clutter free first screen. It looked very subtle with very subtle colours. A few links across the top and nothing else to distract from the main text box.

The weblog is relatively new, July this year, so there are not that many entries. We hear about the fact that Suha has lost her job, got a kitten and see what really lurks inside a prozac capsule! She is obviously a football fan, and makes reference to the ongoing progress of Switzerland. She is having an inner battle and speaks freely about it.

The design is very simple. There are a few links, archives are available. I have to say that I did find the archives slightly frustrating as when I selected one, I then had to reclick the archive button and go through the list again. I could not find a way to prevent this, but maybe I was using it all wrong! There is a gallery but you have to register to see larger images of the photos.

Overall, this site is very easy on the eyes. The actual text box is quite small so you need to have your finger ready on the scroll bar. There is plenty of facts about Suha and her honest writing gives a good insight into her mind. I wish her well with her stay in the clinic and think that this will make an interesting blog to read once it has matured alittle bit. HerStory

I had no clue what to expect going into this site since the name is so simple, and the category given was Entertainment. Maybe it would be about movies, tv, music, partying, who knows. So let’s find out.

The page loads and it has a standard 3 column layout. Red left and right columns make up the navigation and other parts of the site, and a big white column in the center for the blog itself. At the top of the white column is a logo of sorts which doesn’t help explain the site at all as it is just a blue face with red hair in the middle of brendoman.com. But let’s have a look around and see what we can find out.

Immediately my eyes were drawn to the About Us page. This let me in on the fact that it was a group blog. This could be a good thing or it could be a bad thing. I am still not sure. So the about us page is just a photo of all the group members. Obviously they know each other outside of the blog which is cool. This can make for some interesting interaction between them on the blog itself.

So onto the blog itself: Yes it is a group blog. And guess what it is about? Movies, music, tv, and stuff they either did or plan on doing. Most of the site is devoted to movies and entertainment which is good to an extent. The problem I had with this is that they all seem to talk about the same thing over and over and over again. For instance, in the month of October there are 5 different posts for the movie Kill Bill. That seems like an awful lot. I am not even going to start on the number of posts about the number of LOTR posts.

Thankfully it isn’t just about movies. There are posts about tv shows, music, video games, daily life as I said. These posts serve as a distraction from the movies almost. This is very similar to that small subplot that just keeps popping up every now and then in a movie. It keeps the site from going down the drain quickly.

My biggest gripe is with the archives. The only page that has an original design is the front page. Every other page has the standard movabletype template. This is annoying. The template makes it very hard to read the archives as there is barely any formatting, and the difference between a headline and tagline and the body of a post are almost interchangeable. This needs to be fixed. Even if they just tweak the layout for the archive so that it is easier to read, that would be a good thing.

The group aspect of the weblog doesn’t really play into the site too much. There isn’t very much interaction between the people who post, which is probably due to the fact that they all know each other outside of the weblog. They all are obviously into the same things because without the taglines I wouldn’t really be able to tell you who posted what.

This site has a lot going for it, but unfortunately a lot needs to be worked on. I enjoyed my time here, but as I said, I would prefer if the design carried over to the archives, and I wish it would be possible to tell who posted what. An expanded about page would be really good to have too, but is not needed. So if you want to know about movies, music, and other entertainment stuff, this is worth the surf.
brendoman

This web site is certainly well titled. It is a rant about the injustices of U.S. (and world)government policy on drugs, or more accurately, to quote from the site:

“There’s a war going on. It destroys lives and families, spawns violence, suspends civil liberties, tramples on the infirm, locks up millions of peaceful citizens, costs billions, and subjugates reason with fear. This blog looks at the front lines of the drug war, and adds an occassional rant to the call for peace.”

Clearly this site has a very narrow focus and thus is likely to appeal to a very select audience. Regardless of your position on drugs however, the articles and information Pete (who is a member of Educators for Sensible Drug Policy, and faculty advisor for Mobilizing Activists and Students for Hemp at Illinois State University) quotes is rather disturbing, such as this example:

“District Attorney Jerry Wilson of Watauga County, North Carolina has come up with some unique charges in the case of the bust of a methamphetamines lab: two counts of manufacturing a nuclear or chemical weapon. That’s right, the drug defendant is being charged under a new Weapons of Mass Destruction law passed after 9/11, which carries a penalty of 12 years to life on each count, which includes “any substance that is designed or has the capability to cause death or serious injury and … is or contains toxic or poisonous chemicals or their immediate precursors.” Philip Morris, watch out! That is pretty creepy…

Another good quote from (Sheriff Bill Masters, author of Drug War Addiction, from an interview with Alternet): “After a while, I saw that we spend more and more money and arrest more and more people and have more and more drugs. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that this policy is not working. People need to look at this rationally and ask if this is effective. Do we have a healthier society because of drug prohibition? Drug dealers are certainly wealthy because of it. The reason drugs have expanded so much is there is a profit to be made in drug dealing. We need to eliminate that profit motive. ”

The site looks fine… Nothing new or innovative, just the goods in a clean functional format, and there is nothing wrong with that. Some of the graphics included with the blog entries (whether intentionally or not) I found amusing…Such as a DEA boot stomping a marijuana leaf. -smirk- There are links to other similarly themed sites and you can comment on the blog entries.

If you are interested in how The Man is spending your money in “the war against drugs” then you will likely find this site to be a great resource. All in all the web site accomplishes what it is meant to in a clear format. The articles are well researched and there is usually many links within the blog entries to ‘read more about’ the topic. It is clear to me that some thought and work has gone into this web site. I’ll end with some quotes from my favourite entry:

“Enjoy Better Sex! Legalize and Tax Marijuana

Save our Taxes! Legalize and Tax Marijuana

Protect our Children! Legalize and Tax Marijuana”
Drug WarRant

Now, normally to start a review off I’d write about my initial instincts about a site. This time I’m going to go back, before I’ve even seen the site. When I saw the title, “Lifes Rich Pageant” my first instinct was to think of Denise Richards and Kirsten Dunst. Thus causing me to think that this blog was going to be a female blog. Until, of course, I went to the site and saw that it belongs to a male blogger. Ah, the perfect example of “don’t judge a book by it’s cover.”



This blog is what I consider a “junior” blog. Not because it’s written by a teenager, but because it’s so new. The first entry I read happened to be about painted porta-potties. Something completely different and curiously interesting at the same time. What’s more interesting is to read the entry in which he’s gone in search of these potties. The blog itself reads really well. The topics range greatly from different events that the author is participating in or went to see. I doubt I’ve read a more interesting rundown of the summer as this author’s. You’ll laugh, stare at the screen with a “huh?” expression, and still read because it’s worth it.



The design is light font with darker colors. The Arial is a little hard to read, only because it’s such a skinny font, but otherwise the design works well. It’s functional, readable which makes the blog that much more enjoyable.

The author of this blog offers all kinds of fun things to do, even outside of his own blog. There’s a photo gallery that I will admit, I spent a bit of time browsing through. There are cool links to other New York things, which some might find interesting. The archives are completely functional. There’s a small “About Me.” I wish there were a few more tidbits of information available, but you learn a lot about the author through the entries of the blog.

This blog is a personal blog, without a doubt. You’ll find bits and pieces of this author’s life throughout this blog. You don’t have to actually know him to find it worth reading, but you might not be interesting in the same activities. He’s a good writer, but I suppose that someone who is aspiring to be a writer would have to practice each chance he has. I’d recommend this blog as an occasional reader. If you don’t enjoy this blog, you’re bound to find something else through this site that is enjoyable as well.Lifes Rich Pageant