Author: admin

I’ll try to keep it really brief and see if still this review gets accepted by this entity that I now find myself calling by the epithet “The Editor”. As I read “Bent Back Tulips”, my first thought was: What?” That pretty much summarizes my first impression. I pray that’s enough for a paragraph on first thoughts on a blog title in the eyes of The Editor. If he approves it, then you’ll be reading it. If not, this review now rests in not that much peace in the limbo where rejected reviews go to. Wherever it is.

The design’s not really appealing but it’s for from revolting too. It’s simple. I can totally live with it. Colors don’t match to my taste. I’d never wear, let’s say, a skirt with the background color and a blouse with the pattern of the posts column, but that’s just me. I don’t know much about fashion and after all fashion here in Brazil might be totally be different from where 20-year-old Cathy lives. There are flowers everywhere, tulips, of course and it’s easy to read the posts, as it comes to simply black on white. Of course I haven’t tested all links, but I noticed at least the one referring to the first post doesn’t work.

Posts are long but she writes well enough to catch my attention and keep me going even when she talks about internet/technology, subjects on which I have virtually zero knowledge on. You can get to know Cathy a bit by reading the section “About” and then jumping to “100 things” section where she lists facts about herself. Other sections are “fun stuff”, where you find a few jokes, and “books” (pretty much just a list of everything she’s laying/has laid/wishes to lay eyes on.

Although it’s simply a journal kept by a student of technological stuff, I actually took pleasure in reading it.

bent back tulips

When I think back on the first impressions of Chandra’s Realm, all that springs readily to mind is splash page. I really hate them, they serve no purpose at all, and are a design relic best left to the 90s. I genuinely dislike starting a review off in so critical a fashion, but a page with little more than a picture of two cats (however cute they may be), a few webring links and clique graphics are not serving as a good first impression to this site. My hopes were not set too high for the design, or content, that I was to find within.

On the design front I was to be pleasantly surprised. Why on earth have a design relic sat there when you can produce a design that is so pleasing to the eye – now had I seen this page from the beginning I would have had a much more favourable first impression. This is what I believe is a good introduction to a site – easy on the eye design, clear links, a nicely written about me section, and some links to good causes. If I were the owner of this weblog the first thing I would do is drop the splash page because the home page is much more favourable, but that’s just a personal recommendation.

Now at this stage I am starting to warm to the weblog owner, she learned website design in a similar manner to myself and is an animal lover. Potentially we have some things in common, and so I head into the blog section in the hope of finding some interesting entries. Now I always approach the reading of review in the same manner, I go to the very beginning of the archives first. So when I enter the blog section I hit upon my first snag – where are the archive links? I look around the first page for a while, exploring the links in the left hand column – no archives there. So I go to the first available posts, and read through – and there right at the bottom of the individual archive page is archive links. Not in the most obvious place I have to say, but at least they are there. Normally I like to see archive links on the main blog page – a link to an archives page at the very least.

As I had expected the site mostly consists of personal entries – about her family, her job and random life events as and when they happen. Its sporadic, varying both in terms of posting consistency and quality/appeal of content. Not every post held my rapt attention, but all in all it was an enjoyable and worthwhile read. I couldn’t help but feel that this weblog was going to appeal to someone who shared her interests, was in the same age group – people who would connect with her beliefs and attitude expressly, and enjoy reading about the life of another individual.

I found the content well written I couldn’t with all honesty say that this was a blog I would visit on a regular basis. I do feel it has appeal, just to an audience who could connect with her entries. I’d like to read a little more about her beliefs, how restaurants and shops tailor to her needs as a vegan (I used to be vegetarian, and sometimes there wasn’t much available in restaurants etc). I think she could have a really good medium in this weblog for really letting people know her thoughts. It’s contribution to the weblog world however is an insight into the life of a vet technician, animal lover and vegan, and this, if expanded on a little more could really have potential. An interesting diversion, a potentially good 3.5 Chandra’s Realm

Cats. Photos of cats greet you upon your first visit to Chandra’s Realm. Then you have to hit “Enter” to actually get to the site itself. (Here I was, thinking that the really bad ‘Enter’ trend was over. I was wrong.)

After you ‘enter’ and you get to the first page of Chandra’s Realm, you quickly learn that it really isn’t a blog, not like blogs you are used to seeing. For example, there aren’t daily (or weekly) dated entries right up front, just a bunch of categories in the sidebar with very little cohesion to the site. Wait, hold on, I happened to spy a link in the sidebar to “Blog” where I did find some daily musings by Chandra a la blog, but it is so lost among the clutter of the main page one may never find it.

I honestly can’t nail down what the main site is other than a hodgepodge of links and cat photos. The posts on the first page under “What’s New” are several weeks old and include her “Cause of the Month.” I assume this to be a charity or other cause she feels strongly about–most of them relating to animals (nothing wrong with that).

Chandra has done this site for quite some time, and you can tell she spends lots of time working on it. Reading through the “Blog” link, you can get to know a bit more about Chandra herself, but I find the blog content to be so hidden from view that it’s almost impossible to figure out that it is there at all. Chandra’s Realm

I sat and thought about the title of this blog for a little while before I actually clicked the url to venture within. I tried to invision what images “The Letter D” brought to mind and, I incidentally came up with well, nothing. This one actually was going to require further investigation, so I decided to dive right in with a relatively blank canvas for a first impression.

Reading the ‘about me’ blurb, I discovered that this blogger is not only an attorney, but he also currently publishes a monthly humor column for a rag entitled “The Metro Male” in Grand Rapids, MI. Further reading reveals that he has a won a few stand up competitions, and subsequently was titled the ‘funniest person in Grand Rapids’ for two consecutive years. Immediately I was intrigued that I had a potentially great read ahead of me.

I was not disappointed! This guy is ‘pretty darn funny’ to quote a local television station’s advertisement. I read easily through his entire archive of posts to not only test the links, but also to see if “D” came by his comedic personality honestly. I was going to be very disappointed if he merely had produced a few funny fluke posts. I found that I was pleasantly pleased! He has a smooth writing style that flows well and keeps you interested and wanting more. He writes thought provoking posts about daily life that can and do regularly happen to Everyman, not just his own experiences.

If you have not read this blog, I recommend highly all of his posts about the mentally challenged ‘Stalkers’, his daughter ‘The Cub’ and the ‘Open Letter to Michael Jackson.” I felt that I was there laughing with him watching these events as they conspired, and shaking my head in mutual consternation.

He utilizes a basic blogger template with no frills, bells or whistles on a stark white background. To some readers that might leave a lot to be desired. However, I honestly feel that what this site lacks in design, it ultimately makes up for in content.

The Letter D

It doesn’t help a lot that I’ve had a beer before starting reviewing this blog. So be it. Let The Editor decide if it’s worth publishing or not. I do my job, he does his and all I can hope for is that he likes my part on this deal. The Letter D. I don’t know if it’s me with my lack of knowledge on other cultures or this is really an enigmatic title for a blog.

The author calls himself The Letter D. D as in Dan, Dave, Damnit? I can’t tell. His profile doesn’t say anything about his name and I feel weird when I’m not able to know the name of who’s writing, even if people can certainly lie about their names and identities on the internet (not to mention “real life”). All I can say is that he writes a humor column and is a stand-up comediant. I love Seinfeld, the TV show and the little sketches we can watch after it. So, ok, D will certainly score some points if he’s able to make me at least smile and laugh on the inside. (I just think it’s silly to laugh out loud when looking at a computer screen, don’t you agree?)

D uses a blogspot layout which I think is just fine. It tells me he believes in the content and I love the idea that someone these days truly believes the content matters. Ok, Editor, you can say I use cliches in my reviews, it doesn’t matter. I’m drunk. All links work ok. The blog’s not that old (it started in March, 2004) and you can spend some time reading the archives.

I like to laugh. I doubt there’s a person on Earth who doesn’t. As I said, I feel pretty stupid if I’m laughing at the computer screen, so I’d rather laugh in the inside and don’t show my teeth to the screen. Anyways, D is really funny. I mean it. Since I’ve come across this blog, I keep checking for updates. I’m addicted to it.The Letter D