Author: admin

I really loved Weevil Stepmother’s blog description: “Let’s see what do we have? A son, steps (daughter and son), partner, pesky cat, pond full of newts, loft full of junk, two motorbikes. And the Ex just down the road. Oh, and no job at the moment. Blimey.”

As soon as I read it, my curiosity level soared. I wanted to know more about the author. So I headed to the side bar looking for the about page. No about page, but two links made up for it: 100 things and Who’s Who. Weevil’s hundred things was quite easy to read and most fun. Her Who’s Who, I found to be almost brilliant, with her amusing way of giving her family members aliases and her descriptions. Many of the Who’s Who cast members also have a link to the post written about them. This was fun to browse through. You read amusing anecdotes about Weevil’s husband, her ex, her son, her stepchildren, her ex’s ex-wife, mother, brother, pet and even her neighbor a.k.a “the Brazil Nut”.

Besides the links mentioned above, there are other links to blogs she reads, sites she enjoys and games she likes to play.

The blog is easy to browse through: a tidy blog. The template is white and purple, nothing very fancy in terms of design. Simple. Perhaps too plain in visual terms. I feel it could use a little make-over.

Overall, the blog is well thought-out. You don’t get any surprises. She blogs about what she mentions in the description and her Who’s Who page. Most of what she writes deals with daily family anecdotes or the thoughts inspired by them. It may sound simple but her writing style is very effective and she can make even the most trivial things seem amusing.
Weevil Stepmother

Weevil Stepmother opens to a very plain white page with a small cartoon drawing of a weevil that we are told was executed by Ed, with a link to his email address in case we would like to get a logo made by Ed too, one assumes.

I was pleased to see that the author chose a large font for her entries. Why we should be putting out web pages with microscopic fonts remains a mystery to me. That’s what customizers are for my friends. And a larger font gives me the impression that the author is welcoming you to read, not daring you.

I liked the simplicity of the page and appreciate not having to plow through some encyclopedic list of links. She has a list of 100 things about me and a truly impressive cast of characters list with corresponding links to posts where said characters are mentioned.

She writes in a light, humorous style of family goings on, childhood memories and some very British pop culture references that I got a little muddled over, not being familiar with the terminology used. Which by the way is a lesson to all us bloggers. If you have a rather wide audience outside your own country, it might be good to define some terms now and again. (I’ll make a note to myself on this one)

This blog has only been in existence since April of 2004, but the author has posted frequently and has already amassed quite a backlog. In her links she includes some oddball places to go on the web for quirky flash sites and goofy information. Though I’d stay away from the “pie” site with the weebles if I were you.

All in all this is a lighthearted place, and I was mildly amused with the author’s entries. It would probably appeal most to parents considering the many entries about the children in her household, and to those who want to know where to go on the web to find out that there are 170 feet of noodles in a package of ramen.

Weevil Stepmother

It’s curious you know. Whilst I was thinking about how to write this review, I realised that this weblog has all the potential to be a complete flop in my book. It hasn’t got the prettiest template in the world, it is a blogspot blog, it is purely personal, has a lot of stuff about family life and is written by a middle aged woman. I have slated blogs before now for having one of these characteristics, let alone all at the same time.

However, I am not going to slate this blog. Oh no. And here’s why.

Firstly about how it looks. Ok, it’s blogspot, which has almost become a by-word for lazy blogging in my book, but not in this case. Firstly there is no advertising box. Good start. Secondly there is a really cute little weevil (which I think has been designed by one of her friends) which adorns the title bar and the sidebar throughout the blog. Granted, the rest of the blog is a bit drab, but all we ask here at TWR is that people make a bit of an effort, and clearly this has been done. She also only has stuff in her sidebar which should be there, i.e. links, favourite blogs and some more information about her. No javascript gimmicks or flashing things thankfully. So my mood lifted slightly as I perused the site initially.

Spotting that a few of the links were the same as the links on my blog, I thought I might have some stuff in common. So I had a look at the “100 things” and found out that this woman is clearly a happy, bubbly, positive person and also lives in the same home town as me! Blimey. It was weird reading through the blog and here her talk about places and streets which are familiar to me every day. Did this affect my objectivity as a reviewer? Yes, absolutely. I found it very refreshing. However it wasn’t just congruent geographical locations which enabled me to warm to this author.

Like I say, it is mostly personal, day to day things she writes about. She seems to post every day and a lot about her family. Some of the posts are in fact rather pointless. One tip though, is to bear in mind the “who’s who” link at the top – the author uses nicknames for various people she knows and it can occasionally get very confusing – “who’s who” clarifies it all.

However, there are two very important things which this author possesses which make this blog stand out from the crowd. She is funny and she is literate. I can’t express strongly enough how important it is, for a reader, to be able to read a weblog that is fundamentally entertaining. If I can laugh out loud whilst I am reading, it makes so much difference to how much I enjoy a review. Good writing skills are also (obviously) another important facet in a medium which is based almost solely on text. Again, the author excels at this – she is intelligent, knows lots of cool words (I wish I could think of a cool word to describe someone who knows lots of cool words, but I can’t), she is imaginative and she can tell a good story. My only regret is that I wished I had time to read all the entries, not just some of them.

I have scored this blog fairly highly and I think most people will find it as amusing and positive as I did. However, because the author is from my home town, it will be added to my list of favourites too.Weevil Stepmother

I liked this one. The title suggested dreams and I was not disappointed. “When our conscious sinks and our subconscious emerges, we can only witness what the mind truly has to offer in the night.” I am interested in dream interpretation so what was on offer was appealing.

The design is simple and straightforward – a blog*spot template. The look is okay and easy to read. There is a left hand side panel with links to other blogs and blog related sites. There are links to dream related sites and the perfunctory previous posts and archives. There is a link to site statistics. Some of the links open in a new window; some don’t.

The site has been in operation since May 12th 2004. It is operated by two women. Jen and Karen who contribute postings. Jen more frequently at a 2:1 ratio. Jen is 28 and a student. Karen’s profile is not public.

There is a comments facility in which Karen and Jen occasionally comment on each other’s posts. There is a small amount of other use.

Now to the content – dreams. What I like here is that neither Jen nor Karen tries to analyse their dreams. What we get is pure dream narrative. Both write well and provide descriptive dream sequences. The pair only post when they dream. I like this discipline and for the first time appreciated the space between posts. This lent an air of authenticity. I intuit that both dreamers “lie and dream things (and relate things) true” to paraphrase the quilled one.

I read through all the posts and managed to maintain my interest. There a couple of posts which deal with the mechanics of dreaming and blogging. For instance how to remember – “Whenever I awaken from a dream, I try to write down the key elements, things, feelings, sensations, etc. before the dream slips away from my conscious memory.”

I can’t remember any dreams but will be trying to when I wake tomorrow. Perhaps I’ll be haunted by Zaque? He, he.

I liked this web log which has a nice unpretentious feel to it. It made me laugh on one occasion too. Meow Hitler! I will be popping back and hopefully may contribute a dream or two. A well deserved three and a half out of five.Nocturnal Elucidations

Her-realm.com is far, far from the typical ‘what is going on in my life narrative blog’. It is the unique poetic journal of Etcetera’s (or The Abstrakt Junkie or Jilly Hunter — yes she has many pseudonyms, I’ll use Etcetera) ‘thinking outlet and mental toilet. My entries are purely the result of mind regurgitation.’ The site itself is clean, uncluttered, easy to read and navigate…

Etcetera is a lover of music (she is a self proclaimed hip-hop head), likes writing, enjoys AC (year ‘round), her dog and sex. While I won’t say this is a full on erotic blog… her sexuality is described openly with a rather confident provocative sincerity which I have yet to find in another blog. She has been writing Her-Realm for well over a year but only seems to write once a week or less in some months.

I found the older entries full of metaphors and a curious blend of romance novel/essay-like/poetic language that reminded of a dirty Showcase special voice-over… The language is very artistic and expressive. One example: ‘My ink falls without a parachute, writhing in artistic agony once its hit the ground, and no one seems to understand why my blues and blacks attempt these suicides…’. Most of the entries are written like this… and depending on what you like, it can be beautiful or boring. I think some readers might find it stuffy and pretentious, and won’t get Her-Realm in spite of her disclaimer: ’ I’d like to think that I can write freely without a million people misinterpreting and critiquing everything they read here, but that million exists.’.

The more I read the more I was strangely intrigued by the uniqueness of her writing style. I actually had to ‘pay attention’ to fully digest her personal poetic articulations. I believe it would be more satisfying to have been able to read these entries as they were posted, instead of all at once for a review. A small daily dose of ‘Her-realm’ would be very satisfying, potent stuff.

I found the more recent entries to be more accessible as they seem to have become more narrative and less poetic, such as ‘sister dearest pt. I’ or the ‘compensation’ entry. I’m not suggesting a dramatic change, maybe just a slight mellowing, don’t misunderstand, none of Her-Realm’s entries lack her poetic zest.

The content jumps around her ruminations about love, lovers, emotions, feelings… which she often expresses with some moving poetry which is scattered throughout her archives. You’ll also find some interesting ‘mixed tape’ track listings and the odd meme, which seems strangely out-of-place in this poetic blog.

Her-Realm is unquestionably a uniquely refreshing, slightly erotic, cerebral read. Her-Realm might not be your realm…but I recommend reading to find out if it is… If you can hear Etcetera’s muse loud and clear, the music is beautiful, symphonic, break-taking, awakening and will leave you sweaty wanting more, more, more…
Her-realm.com