Author: admin

When will people learn what it is I don’t like with weblogs? Splash pages need to go. They were popular back in 1998, for about a month or two. There is no reason to have them on a blog in 2004. With that said, lets move onto the blog itself.

I have to admit that I have been an off and on frequenter of Colleen’s Den. I have to say that this current incarnation is by far my favorite. While I am not a big fan of white text on a black background, it is much better than the twinkling star background there used to be, or the one previous which didn’t load properly in my browser and I had to highlight all the text just to read it. So kudos goes to Colleen for improving her design.

The weblog itself is very personal. She posts about what is going on in her life with her kids, her husband, her friends, etc… She goes into detail about what is going on in her life. For instance, she went into great detail about her husband loosing his job because he was sick and what was going on at the work place. Other times she posts about things she has built or relationships with other people. All of it is told with a great deal of detail and emotion. And of course she posts about her blog and the changes she is going to make and what have you.

The posts to me read like someone wanting to talk but couldn’t find the right audience; so she went searching for it on the web. The people that frequent her site seem to be that audience that she needs/wants in that they listen and respond to questions, concerns and what have you within the comments of her blog. Its very rare that you can find a good audience for such means, but she has done it.

The archives are a bit tricky. One thing I like with archives is the ability to read them all by date. They are that way until January of this year and then they switch over to by headline. This was weird, because I would click the link for one headline, and get a completely different post. This needs to be fixed to ensure less confusion. In addition, she has set it up so that all of the links open in a new window, which is not needed if we are staying on her site since all the pages have links to all the archives (except old vs new archive system).

The about me page leads to another off-site page with just 60 things about Colleen. No intro, no actual this is what I do type thing, just 60 little factoids about her. She also has a small photo album on her site to give you a glimpse into her friends and family and her pets.

Overall there is a lot to read and feel at Colleen’s Den. Unfortunately for me, the posts are a little too much on the personal side of things and I tend to stay away from blogs like this. While I was able to understand what Colleen was going through, I am just not the type who wants to be taken on an emotional rollercoaster. I hope that Colleen will fix her design so it is easier to navigate. As I said, this isn’t the type of blog for me, but if you are looking to go on a journey with someone through all of the emotions then this is the site for you. Colleen’s Den

Mistress Passion? You’ll have to wait. The page may take quite a while to load. I’m not sure why. Could be the handful of pictures on the rather long home page. The pea green background looks odd surrounding the picture of a pair of feet in toeless shoes.

I got confused right off the bat here because the page was taking so long to load, I clicked on a link just under the toes, and in a cyber-undertow, was taken to another site. I thought for a while that this opening page was just a ruse for “Dean’s World” where I ended up, but turns out after coming back to Mistress Passion’s site, it had loaded. This kind of confusion, I don’t need.

Anyway, there are only 6 posts on this blog, and most are long. The content is a rather muddled combination of supposedly real life stuff, and lectures about what the author calls “bdsm”. For those in the know, now you know. I found the writing rather patronizing and pompous considering the subject. But I suppose if one is into this kind of thing, you might be able to have a dialog with the author. Although in reading one of the few comments left on the entries, it seems like people who might comment, have trust issues.

There is no real “About Me” page that I could find. And frankly I did not check out the other links as I was not into seeing stuff I wasn’t prepared for. I only decided to review this adult site because it was not loaded with offensive images.

It’s hard to say what direction this site might take. If a real conversation about this lifestyle develops, it could be interesting. I admittedly don’t know jack about bdsm, but would not mind hearing how people get involved in it. I feel less threatened by reading these kinds of things than by being bombarded by shocking images. And if this site does not go in that direction, it could become something fairly interesting. But it’s way too soon to tell.

Mistress Passion

I was drawn by the title. The voyeur in me perhaps? I was greeted by a nice looking pair of feet and a very green site. Black text on as green background which is readable.

The design is very simple with the blog on the left hand side under a title banner and the aforementioned photograph. The right hand side has a panel with a variety of links and adverts which is too cluttered for my taste. There are some interesting things there, a weather graphic, her mood, archives and the usual links to her blogs and blog related things. There are news and search engine links too. These work but don’t appear in a new window. I like to be able to stay in the original window and go find the links in a new window. There is also a poll concerning mistressy things of which more later. Fourteen folk have thus had an opinion.

There is a use of some cool photographs throughout the web log and although no links in the text there is a comment facility. However this doesn’t always appear to work with an indication that there are comments made with no actual comments present.

The blog is written by Soul who I guess is a dominant woman or mistress. It has been in existence for a mere five days and she has posted several times a day each day. I was the 166th visitor. The posts concern the relations between a dominant women and her submissive male both in general through introductory pieces to the lifestyle choice and what I think are Soul’s diary entries concerning her particular dominant submissive relations. These diary entries being in the form of erotica.

Her writing style is straight forward enough and reasonably understandable. There are some spelling and grammatical errors which I guess is neither here nor there, but it irks the perfectionist in me. The content is pretty basic and tries to put an almost spiritual slant on this particular form of man on woman dysfunctional relationship. I’m not buying that.

The content is not up too much, it certainly didn’t titillate my voyeur or interest my intellectual and the design itself is too busy.

If the poll is true I should have urges to lie at Soul’s feet but hey I don’t do submission so I’m afraid it’s a 1 out of 5 for me.

Mistress Passion

At first glance, ‘you must be very bored’ looks like many other weblogs — the author, Linda, appears to be using a standard, commonly used template with minimal, if any, modifications. While the site’s look and feel isn’t particularly unique, however, it’s not cluttered, either. There’s a reason this particular template is so popular — it offers a clean, easily readable two-column format, without a lot of fuss or distractions.

To learn more about Linda and the site, I dug into the archives, which — impressively — go as far back as August, 2001. From the very beginning, Linda lays down the law — her entries are going to be frank, personal, and ‘if you’re going to get offended, get out!’ And time after time, she delivers honest, often raw, slices of her life, filled with passion and energy. Many of the entries are either centered around, or directed to, Linda’s friends and loved ones, but most are still accessible by those of us who don’t know her personally. It’s not always easy to relate to her experiences, emotions, and fears, but I believe that’s true of just about anyone who’s really being honest and trying to write about the things closest to his or her heart. If nothing else, it’s a wild, wild ride.

As mentioned earlier, there’s little here to distract the reader from Linda’s entries. There are a couple of ‘extras’ — links to other weblogs, to Linda’s photo site, and to the archives — but overall, the site is free of many of the features you might find on other blogs, including comments and trackbacks. Perhaps the author is limiting feedback only to those who know her, to match the subjects of many of the posts.

At a high level, I have to admit that I had a bit of a hard time getting a handle on ‘you must be very bored’. It’s listed as a ‘Humor’ site in the review request, but that doesn’t seem to be the main focus. Also, while it appears that Linda has historically posted on a regular basis, there have been only three entries since the end of March, including a three-and-a-half week stretch in April with no posts at all. It’s not necessarily a sign that the site is losing momentum, but it does make it tough to say what direction it may go in next.

In the end, ‘you must be very bored’ generally delivers what it promises. The specific contents of the entries are probably most relevant for close friends of the author Linda, but others may find the stories from her life interesting, thought-provoking, or entertaining. I’m a bit concerned about the recent drop-off in posts, but Linda has been pouring her soul into the site for nearly three years, and somehow, I think she’ll pick up the pace again soon. If you’re up for an emotional, personal, voyeuristic read, then you’ll probably enjoy ‘you must be very bored’. I give the site 3.5 our of 5. Go give it a shot and get, as Linda would say, ‘on with it’.…you must be very bored…

I must admit, my first impression of this site was that it had the look of an Insurance company magazine article, and I was about to read all about their quarterly meeting in Omaha. The fonts are plain, and frankly dull. Added to that, they are incredibly small. I even went up to View and made them as large as possible in my browser and still had a hard time reading comfortably. I felt apprehensive about continuing to read, but forged ahead.

The author does not post frequently in any given month, but has been writing since August 2001, which is an impressive run I have to say. As to the entries themselves, I must admit I found them articulate, and show a brilliant mind, but are of a VERY personal nature that made me blink more than a few times. The newer posts contained complex, multi-layered thoughts about her medical condition and raw emotional confessions about her relationship with her husband. There were many entries with lyrics and musical analysis, which showed an adept mind. But after digging through the archives, the repetitive nature of the themes began to wear thin. I was sorry too, because I was admiring the articulate execution! I wanted to connect, but found that I was having to work too hard. And oddly enough in a recent post the author was bemoaning the fact that no one in her life would take the time to really try to understand what she was going through. And while I read quite a bit in the archives, I still was left feeling like I didn’t know much except that she thought her life was pretty awful.

On the plus side, occasionally there was some pretty scathing commentary on television programs, that once again had me admiring her powers of observation and ability to articulate her thoughts.

There was no welcome page or About Me link that might have helped me get oriented. I did take some time checking out some of the sidebar links and found a picture page that contained several rather risqué photos of the author, along with some original pencil drawings and some computer enhanced photography that was interesting. I also found a “guest writers” link that I thought was a nice addition.

I don’t think I will return to this site. But I feel sorry that I won’t. I admire brilliance, but I became exhausted trying to find some kind of common ground with the writer.

I would rate this site as a 3.
…you must be very bored…