Category: Uncategorized

Some blogs just make you laugh, just like some people do, you don’t really know why and you can’t explain it, they simply do. This is how ‘Where the hell was I’ was for me.
Arriving at the site you are greeted with a slightly boxy but certainly not unpleasant design, it’s well structured and organised and everything has its place. I like that in a blog. I spot the first post, noticing it mentioned The Weblog Review, and there was this little chuckle. I’ve no idea where it came from or even why I laughed, I just did – that set the standard for the rest of the site to be honest, frequently drawing a chuckle. The ‘about this’ and ‘about me’ sections of the site give you a lot of background information on both the author and the site, they too sparkling with just a modicum of humor and wit. I venture on to those crucial first posts with the impression that this blog might actually be worth reading.

Right or wrong a URL with Blogspot in fills me with dread, but ‘Where the hell was I’ breaks away and actually produces content which is quirky, amusing with a real modicum of wit. There is no real theme here beyond humor, and humor it seems from this author exists in everything, which is very true. If you can’t see the funny side you may as well quit now, or read this blog, it’ll be educational for you. I particularly enjoy the posts that begin on one topic, and then suddenly without warning fly off at a complete tangent.

The design is familiar, yet has to be commended for its simplicity, well structured and organised, managing to not be the typical generic Blogspot template. It suits the content well, not detracting anything from it. The site is easy to navigate, and the archive system suits the often elongated postings. It’s not the best most individual template I have seen, but I really don’t think that is important here – if what you want from a site is light hearted humor then this is the place for you.

Also worthy of a mention is the links on the right hand navigation, containing some worthy reads definitely worth exploring further.

The author here has managed to create a simple, straight forward life humor type of blog. It’s a break from the norm as far as Blogspot sites are concerned and is definitely worthy of further investigation. If you can see the funny side of life, this is the blog for you. Definitely has some pulling power, a worthy 4.

Where the Hell Was I?

My first impressions of “Life in the Crescent” were ones of surprise. I originally surmised that the crescent in question would be a suburban one and this would simply be another personal blog outlining activities of the author’s daily life. However, I was pleasantly surprised to discover that it actually refers to “Juniper Crescent” – a web comic (one of three) which the author produces and publishes online. The blog was set up originally as an alternative to the forums, and it is always nice to see something a bit different being done with the blogging format.

The design itself is fairly unimaginative – no graphics or snazzy title bars, but the green colour scheme is very pleasant and it is certainly easy to read, so no real worries there. All the links seemed to be working, so technically it seemed fine too.

As well as producing web comics, the author is also a writer and designer of video games, and although I am not personally familiar with any of the games he has worked on (adventure games), they all got great reviews. Some aspects of his work are discussed throughout the blog, though the majority of the content focuses on the web comics aspects. One of the nicest features is the “Web comic of the Week”, where the author selects his current favourite and states why. Being a web comic producer himself, he clearly knows his stuff and these reviews are always well informed and in depth. They would be particularly useful for anyone (like me) who knows little about the subject and would like an introduction.

Other than that, there are a few personal entries about what he has been up to and various news items which have caught his attention. While these entries tend to be a bit superficial, they nevertheless break up the rest of the content well.

Generally then this is a great weblog for anyone who has an interest in web comics, or adventure gaming. I am not sure if there is enough content here to hold the attention of a general readership, but it is all pleasantly written and inoffensive nevertheless. Incidentally, the comics themselves seem to be held in high regard too and are definitely worth taking a look at if you visit the blog.
Life in the Crescent

My first impressions of “Yikes!” were not so good actually, despite the high score I eventually gave it. Firstly I was confronted by a rather disturbing picture of a guy in his underpants, with an even more disturbing slogan on it. Secondly, the “About Me” page basically states that the author has nothing worth saying and people would be stupid to read the blog anyway, with a lot of swearing thrown in for good measure.

I have mentioned these first impressions because they do not in any way reflect the rest of the blog and had I been a casual browser, I may have let them put me off what is otherwise an outstanding blog. To be fair, the disturbing picture just happened to be part of the most recent post and it (along with the slogan) are both meant in some kind of ironic sense anyway, which the entry text abundantly confirms. The (rather unnecessary) self-berating in the “About Me” is actually false humility too – the author clearly has some interesting, intelligent opinions which are backed up by degrees in both religion and politics and his blog is, in my opinion, most certainly worth reading.

Before I say more about the content though, let’s get the technicalities out the way first. It is a Typepad blog with its own individual title bar and fairly plain (but functional) colour scheme. There are the usual links and archives in the one sidebar, along with extensive photo albums. Incidentally, I would like to have known the relevance of the five pictures in the title bar, or whether they are simply just some random images.

I will move swiftly on to the content, because the content is what the site is really all about. As I hinted earlier, I really cannot praise this guy’s writing enough. He writes about a variety of topics- the usual blogging fair of interesting links, quotes of the day, personal entries and stuff about his job, but what raises this content above the norm is the fact that a) the author is well educated and politically astute, b) he is a practising Jew (I always like to see bloggers prepared to write about their religious beliefs with conviction) and c) he is also very down to earth and fun to be around. I made a note of the links relating to the posts I loved, so here goes – firstly the underpants one, which is actually highly critical of the Deep South in the US, an interesting discussion about the use of ‘Auschwitz’ as a flippant analogy (especially with the comments too), a rant about the inappropriate use of language in the British Sporting Press (as a Brit I found this particulaly funny), the difficulties the author has with blogging, some outside criticism of an earlier post (and the author’s response to the criticism) and finally some great opinions on the Arab/Isreali conflict. I could write a paragraph on each of these entries in turn, and there are others which I enjoyed too (even the occasional joke thrown in for good measure), but time and space prevent me from doing this. The best thing to do is check them out, as the quality of the writing speaks for itself anyway. My only minor gripe is that the swearing (which is peppered throughout the posts too) may put people off. It didn’t bother me though.

Overall then, this is another example of a really well written blog. I laughed, I was entertained, I was educated and I was given an insight in to someone else’s world. What more could I ask for?Yikes!

My first impression of this page was.. well, I felt a little out of space. Things are quite mish-mash on the main page. After a little while, you get comfortable and realize that this menu which appears on the right on mouse-over is in fact quite cool.

No About Me section. Even the first entries just start out without an introduction as such, so before you know it you are looking at pics of a party at West Virginia University. And below that is another pic from the party, two girls kissing with the caption ‘Can you believe it?’ Well.. I CAN believe it. It seems very naive that in this modern age someone should find lesbianism ‘unbelievable’.

Further reading ascertains the fact that NeoCld9 (no nick yet, so let’s call him NeoCld9) has definitely not won any of the spelling contests ever. With all due respect, some of the spellings in fact make you giggle and doubt whether NeoCld9 is intentionally making these mistakes. (eg. sertificate, board [for bored], etc).

The frequency of the blog is disappointing. Hardly four to five entries per month. The content is a typical teen blog. Dominated by the usual teen stuff like asking out, poems, etc. Not that such things are boring to read, it all depends on how you present it to the readers.. and let me tell you, there is absolutely nothing about this blog that would want to make you wanna come back. Of late the frequency has even worsened, with three entries in Feb, and just one until now this month.

Template is OK. The mouse-over menu is quite nice once you get the hang of it. But what can you do with the template if the content is not worthwhile.

Overall the blog is not recommended unless you have too much of time to kill.

The Private Files of NeoCld9

I hate being honest sometimes… but, well, here you go: My first impression on this one was plain and simple “Jesus, not one of *those* again!” – what I saw was a very basic blog using one of the most used (but still boring) standard templates, with a few links and a small archive that somehow told me “this is not gonna last long”. Another major thing that annoyed me is I couldn’t find an “About Me” page, so I had no idea who my host might be (besides what I guessed from the title and tagline).

Anyhow, you know what they say about books and their covers, don’t you? I do, and so I forced myself to actually read the entries by that “girl living on Cape Brenton”. As she states in her first post, there’s a lot of ranting, rambling and raving going on, spiced with a high density of typos.

A lot of the bitching is very personal, and although this is sugar for all slightly voyeuristic blog hoppers, it’s getting a bit old after a while since I often had no idea what she’s talking about (and, as I stated earlier, had know idea who/what) she actually is. It was funny and entertaining at times, but got old soon.

So let’s be done with this: I really think the author could turn this into an above-average, even quite good blog; she’s funny, and there’s things going on in her life that would surely make good stories. This transformation, however, is going to be hard work (especially considering the design issues), and I assume her “blogging-style” just needs to evolve.

Numerical, it’s just a 3 for me now, with the option to make that a 4 or even better when Jamie decides to stop underachieving.capergrl.blogspot.com