Author: admin

When I saw ‘Word War Bush – anti war humor”, that was exactly what I expected from World War Bush (WWB) – humor. Some George Bush jokes. I was disappointed.

Humor is arguably one of the most powerful weapons to advance your arguments, especially when you are dealing with a rather serious topic. It gets people to lighten up, become less tense and thus more open to other ideas and opinions which might normally insult and anger them. Not to mention that it makes boring issues easier to digest. That is why “Stupid White Men” became a bestseller. That is why WWB has so much potential.

If WWB sticks to humor when it sends whatever messages it wants to send across to readers, then it will be convincing, entertaining, powerful. Unfortunately, WWB frequently falls to childish anger and insults. Taking subtle, derisive jabs at the antics of a president is funny, calling him a fuckhead is not. The latter only succeeds in making you look small and bitter. Because of where my sympathies lie, I would very much like to give WWB a good rating, but after reading through the site I feel annoyed rather than triumphant. Many of WWB’s posts read more like a ranting space for the author to succumb to name-calling rather than a sarcastic and clever attempt to show us what is wrong with Bush.

No one was ever convinced by being called a fucking loser. Of course, if the purpose of WWB is only to be a emotional trash can, then fine, it has served its purpose. However, if WWB wants to make people think about the situation the world is in, wants to convince people that George Bush is really a joke, then there should be an attitude adjustment. I suggest the author take deep breaths and put off posting in WWB immediately after watching the news or receiving hate mail. Take some time to organize thoughts and think up witty comebacks. This way, the entries will sound less like the rantings of a man in rage, spitting disorganized and self-righteous words in a jumble.

There are some funny stuff on the site, most of them made up of linked articles, a few penned by the author himself. If the author will lessen the needless name-calling and concentrate on presenting his arguments in a logical and sane way, then WWB can be a great anti war humor site. Mature adults (readers of WWB probably fall into this category) will be won over by sophisticated humor and good essays, like the one about the definition of patriotism. Whereas excessive usage of the word ‘fuck’ will bring giggles only from 3rd graders (who are not likely to read WWB).

The author says this: Personally however, I like to talk with a complete idiot so that I am reminded I am at least smarter than someone. You know what the characteristics of a complete idiot are? They include resorting to calling people ‘fuckheads’ when they can’t win arguments. WWB has issues. The author has some good points. It’s all just a matter of presentation – to come across as a mean, angry person, or a clever, angry person. So stop being daft and start the serious work of showing us why Bush is ridiculous. A lot of us are willing to be convinced here.

WorldWarBush

Spriteboy is a 20-something actor living in a New York apartment with “Gorgeous Roommate” Jen. He says “yay” and talks about “boobs.” Often. Remind you of anyone? Unfortunately, this NY actor [and star of “Mission: Idiot”] doesn’t have the censorship of a large US TV company, and I did find a few comments that I, personally, found offensive. Overall, though, he seems a pretty amiable bloke.

He mostly writes about daily life, such as an upcoming audition or the actresses staying in the hotel he works in [porn and regular]. Unlike most personal blogs, I never got any sense of his personality through the writing, which seemed contradictory in places. In one post we are told that the author disagrees with the war his country is fighting, and the next we are told how proud he is to be American followed by a picture of the American flag and a few quite ignorant comments about the Iraqi people.

I have to admit that from the pictures at the top of the screen Spriteboy does look quite elfin, but then they have all been heavily altered with a run-of-the-mill image-editing tool. I like to see sites where people make the effort despite not having a degree in graphic design and £900 of image editing software [I, myself, am included in this ‘work on a budget category’], but it does mean you don’t get the crisp , professional look. Still, this is a weblog and by its nature is not professional.

The layout of the journal doesn’t run like other journals. Instead you are faced with the archive page, with descending dates and titles, and you read through a page at a time. This makes it hard work and would only take a minor adjustment to improve the readability a whole lot.

Spriteboy World is your average weblog. If you have something in common with the author, or are really desperate to get with an aspiring actor in the hope that someday he’ll make it and not dump you for a size 2 blonde, then this could well be the weblog for you.Spriteboy World

Okay, I love this blog. It’s filled with some of the funniest and (excuse my language) bitchiest posts I have ever read. There are actually 3 blogs on the page. One could be found under “Journal”, the other under “Rants”, and the last under “Raves” (the titles are sort of self-explanatory).

Written by a 24-year-old New Yorker, Chris, who goes by the alias of Spriteboy, Spriteboy World is a highly absorbing read. Most of the blog entries are mainly about his daily life, but the author’s sarcastically witty narrations make his supposedly sad life sound really exciting and glamourous (e.g. his encounters with celebrities and wannabes at his front desk operator job with uber chic New York hotel, Hudson).

The writing is vigorous and highly engaging, and is the type of blog that I wish I were writing. The layout of the entire site is pretty amateurish but it doesn’t really matter because the blog is just so good. There are the standard links to his bio, the guestbook; and some other goodies like “music” and “All Up In My Business”, where Chris answers some questions posed to him by his readers. Only thing that kinda bugged me was the archive. Most blogs have monthly or weekly archives, while his was a post-by-post type. Meaning, there’s an archive page with individual links to all his posts. It is not too bad, only that every time I am done reading one post, I have to click back to the main archive page because Chris didn’t link up the posts. It wouldn’t be that big of a problem if he didn’t have quite so many entries, but he did, so maybe some improvements could be made in that area.

Seriously, if you are looking for a personal ‘rant’ blog that is entertaining and doesn’t drone on and on about one’s life, you should go for this one. The writing is so lively, it almost sparkles. The blogs are updated regularly, so it makes a good choice if you want something you can check on weekly. This one is definitely joining my list of favourites.
Spriteboy World

When I first saw the title of the next site to be reviewed, I was almost tempted to skip it and write a review for someone else. I was sure it was going to be a political diatribe about President Bush and his cohorts. I wasn’t really in the mood for reading that kind of site, however, upon reading the first paragraph of the site I found that this is a guy with a sarcastically cynical sense of humor — something rare indeed.

This site was highly hilarious, and completely funny. I couldn’t stop chuckling to myself when I read through almost all of the links within the site. Through all of the writings I was able to get a glimpse into whom the guy behind the words really is. He cares about many things, intelligence being one of them, and he shows his own without hiding behind the computer screen. He shares his nasty emails for each of us, giving us his own opinion to these emails as well. He is opinionated and strong-minded. Painfully real and honest. These are the kind of qualities that I think many people might find offensive, even though I found it all quite amusing.

As for the design of the site, this could use a little bit of work. Plain on the exterior, you’d almost assume that the quality of the writing would be a reflection of the quality of the design. The archives aren’t necessarily archives according to how most bloggers are used to seeing them, though they do take you to previously written stories, essays and other interesting things. There are a good number of popular outgoing links, however some of the scripting makes it a little difficult to find out what goes where, and why.

I was a little disappointed to find that there wasn’t an about me page, or somewhere else to get to know little things about the author that you can’t get from the writings. There isn’t any way to leave a comment, though he does provide an email address if you feel the need to write. There is only one poll, though funny, for readers to interact with the author.

His intelligence speaks for itself, and his sense of humor might be seen as rather dark or cynical. For the open-minded of the blogging bunch you might find him rather hilarious, as I did. His writing is not for the demure and quiet kind, though he speaks with real honesty and truth (as he knows it). I recommend this site to be read as entertainment rather than to be taken too seriously.WorldWarBush

The interesting title sparked my attention from the get-go, and that made me ultimately curious to do this review. The first thing I noticed was the quite by Ghandi, “Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will.”

She’s a wonderful storyteller in her blog entries, which makes for a pleasant read. She has a wonderfully light sense of humor (dressing up cats and Engrish). She posts links to things of interest, and I mean really, honestly interesting. Her entries are plotted like mini-stories, and you can’t help but find something touching and real in them.

The design is very pleasing to the eye, and easy to read. Though she may not have done all of the design work herself, it’s a unique layout that flows very nicely with her quote. The colors seem to promote a sense of tranquility, which you find in her writings as well as the other parts of the blog.

She provides a commenting system, which is always great for reader interaction. She also has a second “sideblog” (April 16) that seems a bit more random than the Dim Sum Diaries. Archives only go back to mid-March, though you’ll find some very touching entries (March 20) that appear to be fiction; only they’re very real. There is a balance between the funny and ironic, and the touching and tender moments.

The author links to many great sites that I found interesting and thankful to have had a chance to experience them as I read through the site. Her site is poignant and alive with her writing. Her about me page explains why she started a blog in the first place.

Everything flows together like a well-written novel, and that makes reading countless entries all the easier. She’s an asset to the blogging community and a joy to read.The Dim Sum Diaries