Author: admin

Merialc opens to a very pleasant muted sage green color scheme with a photo of the seashore. Very restful and elegant. There are two thumbnail photos of books she is currently reading. I can say she, but it took me quite a bit of reading and searching to find out about the author, as there is no about page.

I know we here at Weblog Review harp on this feature or the lack of it, probably more than any other thing. But trust me, one little sentence in your header can encourage people to read further. The most cursory of reference points can go a long way to welcome new readers.

I found out bit by bit from reading the archives, that our author is an engineering student in her last year of college. And to my great joy, about a year ago, her father loaned her a camera. She set out to learn how to use it. And learn she did.

If you do nothing else at this blog, you must go investigate her photography. I was thoroughly enchanted by what I found there. I explored the literally dozens and dozens of photos of everything from a study of wine corks to wonderful shots of the English countryside, complete with artful shots of decaying castles. There is also a section devoted to pictures taken during a trip to Pakistan.

Her blog entries center around a few recurring topics. Movies and books she has seen and read, what’s doing at college, work, and a some personal observations about the world around her, all done in a readable style.

There is a link to a commercial site hosted by Cafepress, where you can purchase some of the author’s photography. A nice touch, especially if you see something in her photo log that strikes your fancy. All in all I had an enjoyable visit. And I encourage you to do the same.

Merialc.com : Life in Reverse

Lost Together opens to a black and white photo background of a child watching some ducks in the water. The photo is nice, but it makes a rather busy backdrop for the text of the entries. A larger font size would be helpful to the reader.

I read the first entry of this blog, which was in April of 2003 and found that the title comes from the lyrics of a song that is meaningful to the author. But I could find precious little else to help me get to know who was writing. It took me quite a bit of reading just to decipher the gender of this blogger. Even the most rudimentary profile is helpful to the new visitor.

The entries center mainly around the author’s work situation. The good days and the bad days. But again, they reveal only small hints about the writer. Holding your cards this close to your chest makes for rather. . . how can I say this? Floating entries. There was very little real flow or connectedness to them. So they become uninteresting after a while. Not to say that ALL the entries were this way. From time to time, there would be one that delved into some aspect of the author’s life, or an observation about society in general. I wanted to read more entries like that.

While the writing itself was certainly clear and understandable, I came away with the feeling that the blogging was a bit of a bother, or that the author didn’t really care that much about it. And so to a certain extent, neither did I.
Now it is entirely possible that this is not at all true. But this was the impression that was projected. Ah, I think what I am trying to say is that for me at least, this blog lacked “passion”.

There are only the barest minimum of other features here. Three drop down menus with links, blogs our author reads, and the archives. All were in working order at the time of my visit.

I think this blog has the potential to become more engaging if the author chooses to share more openly. Just because there has been a certain pattern up until now, doesn’t mean things can’t change. After all, in the immortal words of Scarlett O’hara, “Tomorrow is another day…..!”

Strange and Beautiful

I didn’t know I arrived at the right site to review when I selected Strange and Beautiful. There isn’t a site banner and the URL is ‘lost-together.blogspot.com’, maybe the site should be named ‘lost-together’? The site functions well however in its cramped two column layout. The menus are all drop down menus so everything is easy to access.

Things became clear after reading the archive. The site is named after ‘Lost Together’ by Blue Rodeo, which starts ‘strange and beautiful are the stars tonight that dance around your head’. Great song! Then the author admits to a lack of web coding savvy… so the blandness of the site is understandable. I would still like to see a site banner and an about page. It is hard to enjoy a blog when you don’t know who is writing.

The namless author (entries are signed as Lost Together) works at a Call centre, in spite of an admitted fear of the telephone. She reflects in one entry how ironic that is. Indeed! At the start of the blog she was working the night shift and longed to get out during the day. You can learn a lot about this author from her blog, her interests, passions, things she likes, dislikes and what annoys her. The topics covered in entries are as diverse as I’ve seen. From wondering how women can pee standing up to reflections on a translation of Plato’s Republic. I couldn’t make that up if I tried.

She also talks about her job, to quote, ‘I hate my job. I hate my job. I hate my job!’ which gets upgraded to ‘I hate my fucking job’ a few months later. She later says, ‘ For a company who prides itself on providing great customer service you would think they would know a thing or two on how to treat people nicely, and with respect. If I had a dollar for every blog I read that mentioned how inept management was, and how poorly most companies treat their staff I would be rich. Clearly there is a lot of truth to it, which I have never understood. Let’s hire staff, train staff then treat them poorly so they will want to leave…I think the author is on to something. Family is also mentioned, ‘My whole life growing up I haven’t heard my father say anything overly positive about any of us kids’. Clearly sentiments reflected by many bloggers, sometimes family isn’t as supportive as it could or *should* be.

This blog was great to read. It made me feel like everything was ok with the world. That someone else has crappy days, hates their job and wonders about their relationship with various members of their family, their friends and their significant others. There is comfort in reading you aren’t alone in what you are feeling. Now the blog title ‘lost together’ makes a lot of sense. One of my favourite lines: ‘ I can train my dog how to rollover in an hour, but I can’t teach a human how to go to www.hotmail.com.’

Don’t let the uninspiring appearance of Strange and Beautiful deter you from checking it out. Reading it reminds you that in this big world, in some way we are all lost together.
Strange and Beautiful

This site looks very fun. I love how everything pulls together. It looks girly in pink but a little more sophisticated with the martini glasses and shoes. The colors themselves I think are great. I wanted to see what was in store.

The author, Kelly, seems very smart, but doesn’t fill her blog with things that would go right over one’s head. Due to her age, many of the posts are about school. I was able to relate to many things that she was saying. I even copied and pasted stuff that I thought was cool, like the posting of what Earth would be like if it was scaled down to 100 people (check out February). There is a few rants and rarely a boring post. A lot of the posts are about relationships, whether it be with friends, relatives, or boyfriends. Although sometimes the posts had a serious side to them I could almost never see what Kelly was thinking or feeling – it was more of a storyline.

I can only see the design as it is right now but there are several posts about the design changing. I have a feeling that designs change often with Kelly. However, I do really enjoy the current view. There really is a theme going on. As I said before, the design was fun.

This blog, although not required, has an about section. It does give highlights to what Kelly is all about, but even with her postings, I still don’t know the real Kelly. This isn’t exactly a requirement, but helps to understand things a little easier.

I really enjoyed reading Kelly’s blog. There were a lot of interesting posts about college life. I would recommend this blog to anyone in the 17-23 age category.Stumbling Upon Serendipity

When you open “I Am What I Am”, you find a layout that matches the title. It’s not overly fancy. It’s not super technical. It’s not anything hugely special. It just is what it is. I expected a site that took the form of whatever it was and gave little credit to what others thought or expected. It appears to be written by someone who is a self-proclaimed “bytch”, which could go one of two ways. Either this author is pushy, irate, and irrational, or she’s someone who appears to be a “bytch” because she does what she wants to do and expresses what she wishes without taking into account what others may think or feel regarding her life. Obviously, I’m hoping for the latter here.

I started out with the “About Me” page, which I must say I was severely disappointed with. I wanted to know who the person behind the blog is, not what she reads, her favorite hobbies, or what her taste is in relation to the arts. I want to know the basics. I want a glimpse into the person who’s inner most thoughts I’m reading. I want to know what type of person I’m reading about and who they are at the base of their being. I want information to tell me whether I have anything in common with this person or not. I want information, not a basic run down of what she likes in areas that don’t really tell me anything about what type of person she is. She gets an “F” for her “About Me” section. Let’s hope it gets better once I start reading.

I do enjoy the numerous links in her postings. It gives the reader brief look into the fellow bloggers in her life and the places she’s been. Whether it’s her fiance or a bar the author has visited, it fills the reader in with someone deeper than the author’s words. The graphics also give the site a nice look and break up the monotony of the writing. And I do mean monotony. Although he first few minutes I spent on this site were interesting, it was only due to the fact that I am far, far away from NYC and it was interesting to read about the hot spots, recommended bars, the social scene, and things of that nature. But the blog turned into a basic rundown of “where I went and what I did” without too much to really dig into or enjoy.

The author has SO much going on in her life that I want to know about!! She just started a new job, she’s working on an independent film, and she’s getting married! I had to dig a month into the blog to discover this knowledge! Girl, you need to blog about this stuff! This is what readers from all over can connect with you on. Throw in the NYC stuff to give them a taste of what they don’t have if they live somewhere outside of NYC, but I really think you need to change the focus of your blog. I want to know more about who you are, as opposed to where you go and what you do. For instance, I’m assuming that the “E” you mention and link to is your fiance, but it took me forever to find something that confirmed this assumption.

The weblog is well written and easy to understand, it’s just not all that interesting if you read blogs to get a glimpse inside an actual person. This is more about what there is to do and where there is to go. Interesting if you live in New York or are planning on taking a trip there. Since neither of these apply to a southern gal, I wasn’t all that impressed. The author doesn’t go into who she is and barely scratches the surface of what she thinks about regarding the links she posts.

The general design is eye appealing. It’s not overdone and is quite simplistic, which allows the reader to focus on the content of the entry. However, the site is overdone with a three column layout and it’s difficult to locate the archives in order to maneuver through them. One would expect to find the archives directly under the calendar for the current months entries, but you have to wade your way through the recent comments and the categories before you find the link you need. This site has all the information you could ever need regarding this woman and her life, but it’s tiring to wade through it all to find what you’re looking for. The design works, but it could also use some work.

Maybe I’m being too hard on this site, but it just doesn’t have anything that makes it stick out. There are no touching love stories regarding her and her fiance, there is little written about her family, you don’t really know where she comes from, where she’s been, or what life has dealt her. The author didn’t give me any inclination as to why she refers to herself as a “bytch” and she fails to fit either of my definitions in the first paragraph of this review. I see little more than a nice New Yorker who retells the events of her travels in the great city.

This is more a collection of links for those who are (or will be in) New York. I find it odd that a site entitled “I Am What I Am” fails to tell the reader who she is. She is a clear and understandable writer, she just fails to write anything really interesting. Don’t’ get me wrong, some of her links are interesting to read, but they don’t have little to do with the reader as a person. There are so many things going on in her life that people would love to read about, but she barely touches on them.

I want to know about the wedding. I want to know about the movie they’re making. I want to know about her relationship with her fiance, her friends, her life events, and what she thinks and feels regarding where her life has taken her and where she feels it’s leading her. I want to know more about the author and less about the area she lives in. This blog has promise, but the author would have to take it in a completely different direction. She would have to focus inward, as opposed to outward. Otherwise, she may as well retitle her site “NYC”.

i am what i am