Author: admin

Mashby.com is a fairly typical personal weblog, with the particular bonus of having a lot of material to read through and extensive photographs too. The domain name did not give me any information about the site itself, so I didn’t ponder too much and headed straight on in. The design of the site is certainly functional- it’s a movable type blog which is technically sound- at least I couldn’t find anything wrong with it. It could use maybe a bit more colour, or maybe a nice title bar to brighten it up, but it is certainly not inoffensive.

I was pleased to see an About Me page which I went to straight away and was given a fairly extensive life history of the author. This was a slight premonition of what I was to find later on in the blog- one thing that Michael is, is thorough.

On to the weblog content itself then and like I said before, most of the posts are very long and some could almost be short stories. The writing is very readable though and the posts make for a relaxing read. The archives are divided in to both categories and date, so I read the first couple of months and then dotted around the various categories. Michael has a lot to say on various issues- the bigger ones like religion and family life, as well as a lot of in depth technology postings, book and movie reviews and anecdotes about his everyday life.

All the posts are entertaining and interesting, some thought provoking. There are also loads of photographs to look through- Michael recently went on a cycle trip which was covered both with a travelogue and accompanying photographs. He also has a moblog for pictures taken with his mobile phone.

Although this weblog may not stand out from the crowd with regard to any particular aspect, there is certainly loads of material to be found here, all well presented and written, which will keep the avid blog reader happy for hours, maybe even days.mashby.com

I have just read on the site that the author submitted it for review way back in September, so not wishing for him to wait any longer, I’ll crack on. :o)

The site has quite a nice title and the design is pretty straight forward- a Movable Type two column layout with some appropriate linkage and a nifty little titlebar at the top. No “About Me” page though, which means half a point deducted automatically! I could see that the site had a comic book theme to it, which gives it some direction, though it was nice to discover that this is not overpowering.

Now, link sites can be difficult to review sometimes because the content is primarily supplied by someone else. To make a weblog of this sort stand out from the crowd then, the author needs to either provide some great, original links or the links should be embellished with the author’s opinions and made their own.

The author of Alter Egos has accomplished this to a certain extent. I clicked on a fair few links during my review and the subjects covered were humour, sci fi and technology, a few games to play and of course comic books. It probably helped that I have an interest in most of these subjects anyway and a few of the links I had seen before. I should imagine that most people could find SOMETHING here for their enjoyment though and to raise a smile.

The links could have certainly been embellished a bit more though. Usually there was just enough information for the reader to be able to decide whether the link would be of interest or not and in one or two cases, not even that. Blogs can be a great way of getting in to the mind of the author, and I never really felt I did this during my review. A few movie and book reviews were provided which did help and the use of pictures definitely improved the posts too. Some sources were used quite frequently though, which doesn’t always make for variety.

Overall then, this is worth site is definitely worth a visit as there are some very entertaining links here, though the site would probably only have lasting appeal to the comic book fan.

Alter Egos

The load time for this site was a huge pain. I have no idea why, but even with a cable connection, I waited for a few minutes each time I visited the site just for the text to load. The gray background image came up instantly, and while it’s a nice looking background, it was frustrating waiting and waiting and waiting for the actual weblog to load.

Once everything finally loaded, I noticed a banner at the top, which appeared to be somewhat of an original creation. “Hypocrisy & Hypotheses – an acute angle in an obtuse world” was the phrase on the banner, with images of a protractor and pencil included in the banner. The color combination the author has chosen of a gray background with white text is a nice one.

The archives of Hypocrisy & Hypotheses started back in late July of 2003, where Alex, the author, explains the start of this weblog. It seems as if Hypocrisy & Hypotheses switched from Blogger to pMachine as the blogging tool of that choice, and during that switch, the archives that were published via Blogger weren’t joined in with the new.

The entries that Alex made were really all over the board. I was able to finally find someone that appreciated the humor in David Spade movie Joe Dirt as much as I did, read someone else’s reasons why they’re finding it so hard to just sit down and write a novel, and even guest posts by Alex’s teenage son, known around this weblog as Boomer. All of the entries, regardless of what they pertained to, were easy to read. Some more posts were more relevant to casual readers, and there were also posts that would probably hit home more to people that know Alex and his family on a personal basis.

In the biggest part of the posts, the author uses several hyperlinks on just about anything that can be linked up to an outside website. This feature works out great for topics that might not be as well-known to random visitors, allowing them to read more about what Alex is discussing. Another added bonus to each post is a random quote. For the first couple of months of Hypocrisy & Hypotheses, quotes by different people from Tommy Smothers to Henry David Thoreau are posted at the bottom of each entry. As days go by, however, this becomes a thing that only seems to happen on a random basis.

Aside from the weblog, there’s even more to keep yourself busy. Alex has several things linked along the side bar that can be found within this particular domain. The Windows XP logon screens he’s created himself and photo galleries were very entertaining. There were also links to archives, the most recent posts, and other weblogs Alex frequents.

Hypocrisy & Hypotheses is a very good weblog. Alex posts regularly, his writing is easy to read, and the topics he discusses are timely and entertaining. I would definitely suggest stopping by Hypocrisy & Hypotheses to see how much you find an interest in at this weblog.

Hypocrisy & Hypotheses

Although I have only given “Riri’s Brain Dump” a 3.5 out of 5, it is a nice enough weblog to visit and pleasant enough to read. The template is fairly standard with a few pictures added to brighten it up. The colour scheme is not bad either, being mostly green and pleasant on the eye. Although this is a Blogspot blog, the author has made the effort to get rid of the adverts at the top as well, which is helpful.

The first thing I went to on arrival at the site was the “100 things About Me” section, which was fairly informative. After getting a feel for the author and who she was, I started on the content itself and found a good personal weblog. The author is a mother, software developer and immigrant (currently living in Canada but born in Romania.) Incidentally, if your curiosity is not satiated by the “100 things”, I also discovered another “About Me” type thing back in the archives. These aspects of the author’s life certainly colour her postings and add an interesting dimension to what may otherwise be another run of the mill personal blog. For example, there is an informative post about her experiences with settling in to Canada, lots of stuff about bringing up kids and what they get up to and she also has some interesting opinions about female sexuality as well. The usual commenting system is in place and made use of by her regular readers.

The archives go back to February, 2003 though the author did take a break from blogging for a couple of months. There are a few little perks to the blog too- a little photo montage of the author and her family in the sidebar as well as a list of the music she is listening to/ books she is reading, though no reviews unfortunately.

There is plenty to read here though, despite the break in March and for anyone wanting an insight in to the ups and downs, thrills and spills of family life, this should prove to be a good read.Riri’s Brain Dump

My first thoughts on visiting Riri’s Brain Dump were infuriating ones. At the top of the page, next to the links, is a picture of a painting that I recognise but cannot recall either the title or the name of the artist who painted it. Still fascinated by pre-Raphaelite art, even all these years after finishing school, I was drawn into reading further to see if the identity of the woman in orange is revealed anywhere in the blog.

The weblog itself is relatively new to this world, having only been going since February 2003. The posts are a strange mix of personal diary-style entries about the author’s life and technical musings, fitting the title of the blog perfectly – Riri clearly just types what’s on her mind that day. Although it took her a while to get going there is now plenty here to read but, although it is well written, nothing really held my attention for very long because the main subject matter (software developing and motherhood) is not really of much interest to me. Still, that’s just me.

The overall design of the site is simple and the colour scheme works well, with the vibrant orange of the painting in the header perfectly set against the soothing greens of the template, but the page did take a while to load. This is probably due to the number of photos and pictures scattered over the sidebar and in the posts, but this does help to give the site a nice friendly feel.

Aside from the blog, archives, links and 100 Things About Me, there is not much else to the site. It’s a weblog in its purest form – no added extras, just a pure journal. There are some nice bits in the sidebar, like the weather pixie and a Google search, but nothing much to distract you from the site’s main purpose.

All in all, I’d say that Riri’s Brain Dump is a reasonable site. Unfortunately, it may have limited appeal due to the subject matter, but weblogs are a very personal thing and all do find their audience eventually. This one’s is technically minded women with kids, I reckon. I may just stick around a bit longer though, just to find out who the lady in orange is!Riri’s Brain Dump