Category: Uncategorized

I read the latest posts of You and Me and Wainbow and noticed, “Hmmm… there’s no punctuation!” (Well, in some places there is and some places there isn’t and the sentences don’t begin with capital letters either) While that is fun to read with oh, let’s say, James Joyce, it’s not so much fun with a blog. Still, I delved deeper, went back into the archives to see whether this was a one-off thing. Nope. Except for the August archives, it pretty much seemed to be the same thing. Which is a shame, because the writing—once you get used to the fact that it’s all one long sentence—is really good: sharp, arcebic and witty. Basically, everything I look for in a well-written blog.

I absolutely loved the picture of a cat streching on the title banner. It sort of made it feel more homely, like, for instance, you were opening someone’s big blue journal, with messy writing and doodles up and down the margins. The “bio” section is a bit intimidating, a picture of a girl’s feet saying,”You don’t deserve to know a thing about me.” Rather menacing, eh? And then she’s got the usual books and music list. I like the movable type design, except, Wainbow, please, get rid of the weather girl box you have becaus eit clashes so much with the rest of the blog.

The writing, as I said before, is very good, and for that, this blog deserves a really high rating. Take this post for instance:

“i like making new friends especially when they are pretty and you have a lot in common and then you start talking and all of a sudden two hours have gone by. i have a new friend who invited me out for brunch it all of a sudden felt so gutsy and like i had just been asked out on a date kind of, people don’t so much ask you out of the blue to do things with them and so it was nice and surprising and then it turned out to also be easy and comfortable too.

also i got a coat with elk antlers on it and it is brown with red stitching and i’m happy with that too”

So often people go overboard in their descriptions so I liked that she kept it to a bare minimum. I could go on copying passages out of her blog to put here, but I really think you should visit it yourself.

You and Me and Wainbows

Initially, I found the site refreshingly simple. Not too many graphics or bells and whistles and no unnecessary features. I figured I would find a blog by someone who was knowledgable in the sport of soccer and someone who tends to keep up with the games and present the highlights as observed by them, and I did indeed find what I expected.

The blog is interesting and was easy to understand. It appears to be well written by someone who thoroughly enjoys the sport. Maybe I’m not that observant but, I still can’t find the name of the author, even in the “About The Author” section. I think the author does have a love for soccer and it shows through his posts.

I think the author is attempting to inform readers about current evens in soccer and present an opinionated view of the sport based on his experience. I do feel however, that there is much to be desired in the area of maintaining the blog. I observed several photos missing while surfing the blog and a desperate need for a graphic logo at the top of the blog. I think the design works for the topic but, it could be “spruced up” a bit to intrigue the reader to continue reading.

Overall, I think this blog is a good read and has plenty of potential for gaining many new readers with a little touch-up to the layout and making sure the photos are working properly.

Soccer Weblog

My initial reaction when the weblog finally loaded was, “Oooh, nice design.” I suppose my joys of finding weblogs that take the time to personalize their little havens on the web will never cease. Yes, the design was a little plain: just black and white, but it was stylishly done. So, with a warm glow in my belly, I began to read.

“Tread softly, lest ye drown in the depths of my insanity” is a personal weblog. It is the writings and thoughts of its author, and it would seem there are a lot of thoughts to catalogue. On the front page is one entry, to read more, you must click on the “recent entries” area, or the “footprints in the sand.” So, I read a few entries and I began to see a similar trend in the author’s writing style: he wrote like he was talking to a specific party of people and I was not privy to that party.

The first entry I read began as an anecdote about some sort of scandal, and provided little or no background information and no links or references to earlier entries. Throughout the whole thing, I was asking myself questions like: What scandal? What website did he get this from? What’s going on?

While this was the worst example, when I read other entries, I got the distinct feeling there was some joke and I was missing it.

All-in-all, the author’s writing isn’t engaging, so it was a difficult read for me. That doesn’t mean he didn’t have good things to say; in fact, some of them were witty and amusing, like pointing out cultural differences between the East Indian culture and the Western culture. However, it’s hard to pick out these little gems hidden amongst the author’s otherwise brisk writing style.Tread softly, lest ye drown in the depths of my insanity

I admit it, I wanted to review Mama Jama Live simply because the title sounded cool. I even said it under my breath a few times, giving it a rhythm and everything – which was ironic, since “Mama Jama Live” is the weblog of (from what I was able to garner from www.mamajama.com) a reggae band member. One of the band members, J. Gladstone, up keeps the weblog portion of the website with personal entries about music, his band, and his life.

When I came to the Mama Jama Live weblog, I noticed the very plain layout, which bordered on ugly. It was a little disappointing, but I quickly pushed onward and begun to read the actual weblog, itself, and immediately found myself engrossed in J. Gladstone’s words. He certainly has a talent for story-telling and weaving words together! His voice was matter-a-fact and, maybe, a little playful and I quickly found myself floating on the imagery his words conjured when he used phrases like “dunes of snow” and “cloister inside and spin smoothies.”

Yes, the layout is plain and the text is small, but I enjoyed reading the entries nonetheless. I especially liked the entry on Jaco, which was extremely touching, and the play on an infamous person’s name in “Inaugural.” Mama Jama Live has wonderful writing, and I’m definitely going to visit again.Mama Jama Live

When Jay-B’s blog popped up on my screen my intial impression was neat & tidy. There is a google ad before the text begins, if it were my blog I’d move that and put it in a side bar somewhere, but that’s my own opinion.

Getting back to the blog itself, after reading the little blurb under his title saying “The only ridiculously opinionated college student youll ever need” I thought, hmm. Spelling error, you’ll. Jay-B should change that. What I expected from this blog was a college student that was writing about experiences, maybe college life and their own opinions. That is basically what you get. A 20 year old college student blogging about various things that happen to him or his friends.

The blog itself has various links along the right hand side and I like the fact that he has categories for his various entry’s. It means surfing through things are much easier than date links!

There isn’t anything that is particularly catching in this blog for me, although Jay-B does have some amusing entry’s I found that the blog made me feel like I was getting to know the nice lad next door. He writes well, gets his point across, sometimes writes in an amusing manner and really, I think that coming back every so often to see if there might be a change is something that I might do. I think the author is still growing, as he grows so too will his writing style and blog.

All in all, I think that this blog has potential. I’m not sure that it should be in the humour section though, I found it more of a personal blog than a humourous one.
Jay-B Says