Author: admin

I really like finding a blogger that isn’t afraid to post his name and geographic location. So often the blogger is anonymous and doesn’t even post an email. Mark has a distinctive voice, and I wish his posts were less sporadic. He writes a bit about politics and the weather from a Brit perspective.

It was nice to click on the complete profile and find out a little more about him, and know there are 68 posts and a website. The photo included in the bio was helpful, it really helps you get a sense of who the person is.

I wasn’t crazy about the colors, on my machine they looked like rust and dark khaki. The black text was difficult to read. I appreciated the layout with ample white space and photos.

All the above said, this is a unique website that is worth a visit if you are interested in the British every day perspective.Bertha the Earthtruck

I was immediately impressed with Busy Moms. Not only is the design spare and professional, the content is useful too. Ideas for Father’s Day gifts, recipes, and other advice on everything from soup to nuts.

The site describes itself accurately:

Busy Moms Online came about from my desire to help other moms who are as stressed as I find myself all the time. Many times we could use some information right now, but it’s so hard to find what we are looking for. Here you will find information on just about anything a mom could need: from parenting tips, to beauty tricks, to money matters, and more.

It does look like this site was designed to promote the book The Single Mom’s Survival Guide, but the ebook is reasonably priced and looks worthwhile. If you’re a mom, this site is definitely worth a look.Busy Moms Online

The at-a-glance description of “The Girl Behind” would be clean, somewhat plain, with an early-morning breeziness. The second thing that hits a split-second after the initial color-scheme take-in is, of course: “SQUIRREL!!!” As of current, the newest post contains a photo of a plush squirrel toy in natural surroundings. This, of course, is a surefire way to get my attention. Is it just me, or do squirrel-lovers generally have cute and interesting blogs?

So, personal preferences aside, I move on to the rest of the blog. A quick glance at the subtitle tells me that the author is a “33 year-old English girl.” Hmm. Sounds interesting! Scrolling down to take in a bit of the content-to-link-to-photo ratio, it turns out that our English author (she chooses to remain anonymous, and simply calls herself ‘The Girl Behind’) has a nice combination of all three. There are a few posts with just one photo and a caption, as well as a proper scattering of links where appropriate. The rest of it is pure text. Girl Behind ranges from reviewing theatrical productions and other blogs, to reminiscing on earlier years, to current happenings in her personal life. What is written is spontaneous and does not follow a specific “chronology”. In fact, my favorite post so far is “Five tips for a woman…” It’s short, funny, and has absolutely nothing to do with anything posted before or after it.

As I mentioned earlier, there isn’t much to the design and layout of the site. It’s a premade template (I worship premades too, so no qualms there), and a very simple one at that. Like I said before, the site possesses a breakfast-in-bed sort of zing to it. Maybe tea-time in Great Britain? The colors are nice, practical, and easy on the eyes. Not much else to the design. Personally, I would have liked to see a layout centered around that stuffed squirrel! It would have definitely added to the at-a-glance appeal, but even without, the blog is just fine.

Checking out Girl Behind’s profile, I can see that she has four separate blogs. However, ‘The Girl Behind’ is the only one with actual content. The other three have a single post: “x”. This is endlessly confusing to me. Perhaps she decided to integrate all three of her older blogs to create ‘The Girl Behind’? Back to the main blog, Girl Behind links to some of her favorite blogs, a webpage full of squirrel photos (squirrel lovers must-see), blog-ranking sites (TWR included), and her current leisure reading.

Overall, I can say that ‘The Girl Behind’ is a nice blog. Decent, clean, and well-written. There is something appealing about the way it jumps from one topic to another from post to post. However, it comes off as perhaps a little too light-hearted. Or maybe simply not “earthy” enough? I keep mentally comparing ‘The Girl Behind’ to a scone. Is it a blog? Yes. Is there anything horribly wrong with it? Of course not! But I can’t help but think that a little pat of butter or jam would do it a world of good. I give it three out of five stars. Good effort, nice for dreamy reading, but nothing overly extravagant or “new”.The Girl Behind

I couldn’t tell what the blog was about at first…was there some meaning I was missing in the title? Is it due to the author’s plan to be a Medical Examiner? I think so. This is Hilary’s personal blog, with a rather different and more negative take on life than I’ve run into in the blogosphere. Not that most blogs are all sweetness and light, but this blogger revels in her negativity. If I could piece the “storyline” together a bit more easily, I would find it a lot more interesting.

The writing style is thick and breathless–the author never pauses. It’s hard to like her, but I don’t think she cares. Ironically, that makes her more likeable. I’m not sure what her purpose is in writing–venting? Polishing her writing skills? Therapeutic value? This puts the reader at a bit of a disadvantage–it’s hard to position yourself. Hilary expresses herself with humor and a lot of anger. She is brutally honest about motherhood. It is refreshing. Some of the posts are a bit overlong and unfocused and could use more editing, but the content is almost always excellent.

I couldn’t find it at first, but there is list of archives hiding on right sidebar. Each post is tagged, but I couldn’t find a list of topics, but maybe this is coming. Some of the sidebar headings are confusing, but amusing, such as using “Deceased” to head the list of most recent posts.

As I delved more into the blog, I found it to be rather poignant. The author is a “suicide survivor,” which means that people in her family committed suicide. In this case, it was the author’s younger brother in 2000 and her father earlier this year. I find this–heartbreaking. Yet, Hilary is a survivor. She is tough, knows what she wants and is not afraid to speak her mind. After reading just a handful of posts, I overcame my initial doubts and started to really like this blog.

Despite some navigation issues, the blog is worth your time. It is well designed with a spare aesthetic. The content is primary on this blog. Hilary is a unique character. Take some time and get to know her. She’ll surprise you. I give it a 4.5.Mortality Inc

I thought: what is this about? Small businesses? No. In fact, it’s written by Jonathan, a self-styled entrepreneur, who just sold his business (type unspecified) in order to go on a “trip around the world” with his wife, Soyan.

This is a brand new weblog. In fact, there are only seven posts. It might be interesting to read about someone planning a trip around the world, but so far, this weblog isn’t interesting. It might, possibly, be a lot more interesting to read about someone taking a trip around the world. It would also be a lot more interesting not to read about Jonathan’s 30th birthday skydiving trip three times. (One full exposition, two additional mentions. That’s three separate posts that mention one event. That must be some important event.) The skydiving has clear symbolic meaning for Jonathan, but he never explains what it is to the reader. The first post about the skydiving is the best. Further mentions are not necessary. They are, I fear, boring.

In fact, this whole site is boring. I so wanted it to be interesting, but it’s not. There is no humor, no perspective, just a lot of smug back patting. How sad Jonathan is about leaving his company, how excited he is to start his trip. Yawn. I clicked through to Soyan’s blog and she thinks Jonathan is pretty great too. Then again, her blog only has three entries. A blog about a trip around the world is a great way to keep in touch with family and friends. But it’s not clear that this site holds any interest for a wider audience.

The design is fine, but overly busy. There is a huge logo in the upper right hand corner. It is kind of pretty, but mostly just takes up space without adding to content. There are no ads, which is nice. There are a couple of links, a handy search box (at least it will be handy when there is content), and a few buttons for feeds, all intuitive and inoffensive.

The weblog has potential to be interesting because there is something inherently interesting about a trip around the world. However, I won’t be coming back to read about it. The self-congratulatory tone and uninformative writing style leave a lot to be recommended. A vivid style and strong voice are needed to make travel writing interesting. When the author of “World Unfurled” develops those, it might be worth reading. I give it a 2.5.
World Unfurled