Author: admin

I feel somewhat qualified to write this review having been a Runescape player myself at one stage. To give you some background, Runescape (Run, escape?) is a browser based multiplayer game based in a medieval type setting. Its written in Javascript and runs in full 3D without any extra software which is impressive in itself and the gameplay is kid-friendly and involving.

The Runescape Newbie Guide is a blog devoted to helping players negotiate the gameplay and Valdesta, the 32 year old female player and author, happily answers player questions with helpful and detailed answers. I have to admit, even though I like playing MMPORPGs myself, I always found the dedication of players and webmasters like Valdesta really quite exceptional, if not a little intimidating. I for one, would not have the patience to pen user guides and regularly update a blog such as this but as a player, have always been grateful for those that do.

That said, this blog is not good bedtime reading for anyone except Runescape players and while thorough, is extremely topic-specific. The site is well designed with a customized blogger template and regular updates. Valdesta’s in-game avatar is a nice touch and to alleviate the bother of searching the menu navigation includes a “Noteworthy Posts” section for articles that deserve to be easily found. The link section is also a good resource for players.

Not a bad read at all and Valdesta writes well and informatively, offering the right advice to guide players onto personal Runescape success. Not a site for the all the rest of us non-runescape nerds obviously but a good resource for the uninitiated. NULL

When I first saw the title of this “blog”, I thought it would delve into webdesign secrets and offer tips on how to create a functioning website and spruce it up a bit. Unfortunately what I got was a lot different to that!

Looking through the site which looks to be of a primitive design (not a good thing, for a web design company) we learn that the site is maintained by a man called Darren who’s been running MediaMystique since 2001. The blog itself has some really neat features such as the ability to be able to download every post as an Adobe .pdf file which would be perfect if the site offered informative tutorials but unfortunately, the feature isn’t used to it’s full potential as the posts lack concrete information and help!

Everyone of the valid posts are all trying to entice you into seeking the expertise of the web design company that maintains the blog (MediaMystique). I say valid posts because I would not classify some posts which only state contact details and consultation prices to be part of a blog. The actual posts themselves do reveal some information which would help you and I was interested in some of the posts which were explaining the uses of a CMS. They all posed questions which would give you food for thought when creating a site. The blog is very young however and there aren’t that many posts. More worryingly, there hasn’t been a post since mid-November.

If the blog had more specific posts such covering a wide spectrum of categories such as CSS, PHP, HTML etc then the blog would no doubt be a success and would probably attract a lot more traffic to the site and therefore potentially more customers to the business. As it stands however, everything that is posted on this site could be found on other sites that would also got into much more detail! Although I doubt they have a “download as pdf” feature – something I still think is brilliant!
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What an interesting blog! Every now and then you come across a blog which is earnest and sincere to the point where you know the author has true conviction. In the case of Alabama Improper, a patriotic southern girl lets it rip.

She espouses her conservative catholic values, which can sometimes seem contradictory as religious dogma often does, but she does it unashamedly denouncing premarital sex in one post, and singing pro-war sentiment in the next. Although it makes my left-wing blood boil, its this kind of free speech that we all have to value and that really emphasizes the unique nature of the blogosphere.

Interestingly, despite being a devout and pious catholic, wife and mother, she swears like a salty sea dog! She writes well and I cannot fault her relaxed style which is consistent and strong but the blog often tends towards local clubs, sport or events so true to the site name, it really is an Alabama blog with a global audience to bear witness to some southern comfort.

The site is easy on the eyes, although the header photo is somewhat blurry and odd looking, the layout is familiar blogger fare and extremely long, with an exhaustive list of blogs, and patriot logos littered over the right hand side.

If strong right wing, liberal Americana rants by an ultra-conservative southern catholic girl is your cup of tea, Alabama Improper will do it for you. The authors combination of political opinion, religious fervor and almost fundamentalist pro-south zealotry certainly make interesting reading.
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Self confessed geeks unite! This blog from the UK is brought to us from another proud “new skool geek” who isn’t afraid to voice his opinion on the hard hitting issues like, what’s on television and why it sucks, 3d engine performance on recently released first person shooters and poorly documented Internet Explorer CSS bugs.

Popular culture is all important for geek kind, and our author lets us into his tech bubble to share his thoughts and ideas on the modern world. Written with true geek egoism, we are enlightened in the Mac vs PC debate and our authors favorite films of all time. I’ll give it to him, he has good taste and a good reviewing style. Again, I wish this blog had more regular updates.

One post in particular struck a chord with me perhaps due to my newly found role as TWR reviewer – “Mindless Blogs” and I quoth “I have a question for these people… WHY THE F**K DO YOU THINK WE GIVE A S**T?!!!” That’s a very good question. A good blog will make us give a s**t, whether we want to or not!

The design is clean and well presented with easy to read text, but the guy is a seasoner web designer so your eyes are in good hands. The New School Geek Cynic is a well written blog for all lovers of popular culture and is not UK-centric either. Worth a visit and with more frequent posts, worth a re-visit.NULL

Cutesy is not a real word but if it was it would be a good way to describe my first impression of the design of this site. Pink, pretty, flowery, girly. I go straight to the authors blogger profile and see a huge amount of info about our hosts interests and favorite things and one of those mysterious photos you sometimes see. Is she hot? She kinda looks hot.. although I can’t really tell because the postage-stamp sized photo has her looking away. But thats ok, privacy and tact are a bloggers license after all.

Jessica loves her music and culture and her blog is thick with lists, photos, portraits, reviews and news. She sums them up pretty nicely and gives us her views on all these things interrupted only by news about her life and movements. She writes well but it doesn’t suck me in totally, and the site has not been updated for several weeks now. When she is on a roll, she will write long blocks of text without breaking them up into paragraphs to make them more readable, bite sized chunks of information.

The content basically revolves around not so much “the world” as “Jess’ world” and the things she is into at any given point in time. For example at the time of writing this there is a lengthy post on handbags that is probably fascinating for bag aficionado’s but doesn’t register on my fun-o-meter. But then, I’m not a girly girl like Jessica either.

World According to Jes is a nice looking site with heaps to see and read. It is a mish-mash of popular culture and Jessica’s day to day stuff with the potential for improvement, not a bad read but could be better. NULL