Category: Uncategorized

As soon as I arrived at today’s adventure, I was impressed. A Likely Story is a blogger template, but it just looks nice. Maybe I’m bias and I like it because it’s pink but hey I think it looks great. The site is laid out very simply, which is good, as anything more extravagant would detract from what you find as you dive in.

Our writer is a married woman with 4 children, and a love for movies, literature and shopping. The fact that she shares these loves in each of her posts make it very easy to get involved in her life. I started my reading at the best place – the beginning – where she starts her blog. Watching these first posts of frustration and ambition to get the site up to her liking, all the way up to the most recent, more informed and confident posts are like watching a child go from her first steps to watching her walk down the aisle (okay I may be a bit dramatic here, but you get my point). Reading each post seemed to take no time at all, and by the time I was done, I wanted more.

Most posts are about her family, which she obviously adores (and why not, they sound pretty great), and about her interest in literature. She posts links to several books she is reading, has read or is looking for. I’ll admit it, I fell in love at that post. There is no real target audience, as she seems careful to give enough detail to keep the interest of those not included in her immediate life, and not so much detail to offend those who are. It’s a hard line to walk, but she does it – and does it well. Something I have to commend her for.

The actually site is neat and tidy, with no dead links and nothing that really distracts you from what you are there to see. There are a few perma links to blogs the writer enjoys, an interesting quote of the week (no really, the week of January 21 is pretty great), and archives going back to June of last year. The customized colours make the site a little more sleek and stylish and a little less blogger-ific. There was no about me page, but if you start at the beginning, you will find all your info right there in plain site, so I’m not holding my usual pet peeve against her.

Overall this site was a great read. Nothing too deep, and nothing too flighty. It’s the yin and yang of blogging. It’s made my morning read, so I’m hoping the posts will be often. I really have nothing to suggest as far as improvement, as I found no flaw with the site. Keep up the writing and we’ll keep reading.
a likely story

The first thing I did was go to my dictionary and look up the word Abecedarian. Funny that the definition is one who studies the alphabet or one who is just learning, a beginner and I am looking it up. Ok, maybe not that funny that I didn’t know what it was and it said I was a beginner.

Anyways, I wasn’t sure what to expect now that I had a definition for the word. Is this blog going to be about the daily life of someone contemplating the impact of the letter H on our society? Or was this going to be more along the lines of a life’s lessons learned type blog in reference to the second definition? I had so many questions, but no answers, so I went on in.

When the page loads, there is an amazing design for the site. There is a wonderful banner of dried roses that set the mood and the color scheme for the site. I loved the design as it is very original. The only problem I had with the design is that the css loads the links all funky in Mozilla. To make sure it was just a browser thing, I opened up IE and the page looks better in IE. So she needs to fix the css problems and the site will look as good as it reads.

The site is amazing. From the very start I could tell that the author was well read. She has a way with words that just make you want to keep reading. She tells a story within her posts, I felt like I should be wrapped in a blanket next to a fire while reading this blog. To change things up she does have some “standard” blogger posts which are nice and give us yet another view point into her life.

Normally I would give you all kinds of details about the author of a blog. I don’t think I could do her justice by trying to describe her. Sure I could pull random things out of her 100 things, or take certain parts from her posts and describe her to you, but part of the joy of this site was actually reading her and learning stuff about her. The only thing I will mention is that her occupation of a bookstore owner completely shines as I said she is well read.

I really enjoyed my time here. I only had one real problem with the site and it was the design issue I mentioned earlier. I couldn’t justify giving the site a perfect 5 because I would have to put this on my weekly read list instead of my daily read. The reason for this is that she writes so well, it would be a shame to only read one day at a time. Imagine your favorite author only releasing 1-2 pages of a chapter at a time. You would rather enjoy the entire chapter than just a couple of pages. This site is a great read, and I recommend that everyone check it out.
Always the Abecedarian

Meet Mizmo (pseudonym), a 57 year old woman from the United Kingdom, diagnosed with breast cancer.

With each new day of her life, Mizmo is surviving and ultimately living to write about her experiences and her ups and downs. Here’s a woman who is undergoing surgeries and radiation treatments, and yet is keeping a log of it all, day by day, week by week, month by month.

As most people become when they’re faced with such a life-threatening disease, Mizmo is extremely educated about breast cancer, including the treatments. This site is a glimpse into the window of a strong and fighting woman whose every new day is a celebration and every new accomplishment a revolution — but this is also a place to become educated about a subject that I, as a male, and I’m sure most females without breast cancer don’t know much about.

When you think of something that’s dying, or clinging on for life, you get the image of disparity and sadness. You will not find this image at Beyond Contestation. The title, itself, is quite significant, in my opinion. A contestation, with root contest, is subject to debate, and implies uncertainty. Mizmo is beyond uncertainty and now she must face an ailment that all too many women have to face.

I believe that a web log like this and its readers, can really make a difference to find a cure for this disease. Right now, treatments and possible cures are being contested. Together, we can all bring the cure Beyond Contestation. Mizmo, and women like her, are proving that the human nature to survive and help others is very much alive.

To be honest, while a little ashamed, I didn’t really give much thought to such a campaign until I continued to read Mizmo’s stories and started to think of all the women in my life whom I would hate to see go through such a horrible thing as breast cancer. You know, the real purpose, I think, of art, is to captivate the audience and really allow them to use the art as their own. This site is like that, because you start to put yourself and the people around you in Mizmo’s shoes and it’s then that you feel a sense of empathy.

Obviously, the design of this blog hardly mattered, but in this case, is very fitting. The site is pink, embroidered with a pink ribbon as a sign of breast cancer awareness. It’s very simple and easily navigated.

Frequent readers to this web log are going to celebrate when there is an up, and cry when there is a down. But after all is said and done, one gets a real sense of hope from Beyond Contestation.

Let’s celebrate Mizmo and her cause: Beyond Contestation.Beyond Contestation

“The Mermaid Tavern”. Upon entering this blog, I was greeted with a banner at the top of the page, with several little colorful mermaids going across it.

This was the only thing that caught my eye as far as the appearence of the page. The rest of the page was just one of those simple boring templates that for some unknown reason, seem to be so popular these days. However, to the right hand side, is a small section with some info on the author which I enjoyed reading. As the saying goes, “don’t judge a book by it’s cover”, is very true in this case.

The author of the blog is a grad student obviously with a great sense of humour. She has had her blog running for a little over a month now. I read her posts on her main page , then went into her archives. I will be totally honest, at first I found her entries a bit boring. But as I continued to read, the more I began to smile. The author would tell a joke or a funny story in each entry. I didn’t find all of them funny, but a good majority of them. One of my favorites was one she wrote about the “cookie monster”.

SHE WRITES…

An inside source tells me that Mr. Cookie Monster is especially partial to chocolate chip cookies, though he has been known to partake of the oatmeal raisin ones now and again. And the milk! We mustn’t forget that, like Santa Claus, the Cookie Monster likes milk with his cookies. Besides, why do you think internet websites are always asking if you’ll accept cookies? Think about it! The computer just wants you to be happy like the Cookie Monster. He knows what’s up.

That is just an example of what you will see on her page.

Some people may find it a good read and some may not. Everyone is entitled to his/her own opinion, and everyone has their own taste.

The writing is very clear and easy to read. It’s well spaced and not all crammed together. Maybe in the future, she will spruce up the look of the page a bit.

All in all , it is a good read and will make you smile/laugh. Sure to brighten up your day. On a final note, I think the author has the potential, to make her blog very outstanding in the future. I wish her all the best.The Mermaid Tavern

This was not my first stop at ‘Patriot Paradox’; I actually first saw the site a couple of months ago (around the time of the site’s last review), but haven’t visited since then. From the first look, it’s clear that this weblog will center around conservative American politics and values, from the American flag and quote in the header to the suggested reading list to the name of the site itself. This is a blog that immediately suggests it will contain views and opinions from a very specific and very strident viewpoint.

I dug into the ‘About’ page to learn more about the site’s author, Nick. The information is presented in an interview format, and definitely reinforced my first impressions — many of the answers deal with conservative politics, America, Christianity, and the author’s rather strong opinions on those and related topics. Browsing through the archives, I found mostly the same, with occasional posts used by Nick to introduce himself (in the very first entry), discuss his favorite comic characters, and advice regarding RSS technology, for example. But Christian conservative commentary is the order of the day at ‘Patriot Paradox’, and the vast majority of the recent entries deal in some way with American politics, religion, or patriotic themes. If that’s your bag, you’ll find much content of interest within this site.

In terms of design and features, ‘Patriot Paradox’ is fairly standard, with a three-column layout featuring a central region for text framed by areas dedicated to blogrolls, a poll, archive links, ads, and more. Comments, trackbacks, and search features are also enabled and easily accessible. Deserving special mention is an ‘extra’ called ‘King of the Blogs‘, which is a blog contest run separately by Nick, but linked in the sidebar.

To be honest, it’s difficult for me to review a site like ‘Patriot Paradox’. I have little personal interest in politics, find that I have few opinions in common with the author, and am a bit taken aback by the fervent partisanship evident in many of the posts. It’s simply difficult for me to relate to many of the entries personally.

That said, I feel that a good review should reflect how well the author accomplishes his or her mission. Nick certainly gets high marks for consistency and persistence in that regard — there are few surprises here, and my first impressions of the site were echoed throughout the posts I read. I do, however, feel that as a blogger concerned largely with politics, Nick could provide and encourage more discussion and debate over the topics he introduces. I found quite a few entries containing quoted news items and minimal or no personal commentary — I would prefer to see more discourse and individual perspective on the stories, rather than just a catchy title and perhaps a quick one-liner. Nick’s unique viewpoint and opinions show through in the longer, more analytical posts, but these are too few and far between for this type of site, in my opinion.

With Nick’s strong and passionate views, I would have expected a more involved readership (both for and against his point of view, most likely), but I don’t see strong evidence of this in the recent comments on posts concerning current events. I believe that a political, highly partisan weblog such as ‘Patriot Paradox’ would be enhanced by more in-depth and compelling analysis by the author, and a stronger sense of community throughout. Nick seems to be on his way there, but may have a bit further to go. I give ‘Patriot Paradox’ 3 out of 5.Patriot Paradox