Category: Uncategorized

I feel somewhat qualified to write this review having been a Runescape player myself at one stage. To give you some background, Runescape (Run, escape?) is a browser based multiplayer game based in a medieval type setting. Its written in Javascript and runs in full 3D without any extra software which is impressive in itself and the gameplay is kid-friendly and involving.

The Runescape Newbie Guide is a blog devoted to helping players negotiate the gameplay and Valdesta, the 32 year old female player and author, happily answers player questions with helpful and detailed answers. I have to admit, even though I like playing MMPORPGs myself, I always found the dedication of players and webmasters like Valdesta really quite exceptional, if not a little intimidating. I for one, would not have the patience to pen user guides and regularly update a blog such as this but as a player, have always been grateful for those that do.

That said, this blog is not good bedtime reading for anyone except Runescape players and while thorough, is extremely topic-specific. The site is well designed with a customized blogger template and regular updates. Valdesta’s in-game avatar is a nice touch and to alleviate the bother of searching the menu navigation includes a “Noteworthy Posts” section for articles that deserve to be easily found. The link section is also a good resource for players.

Not a bad read at all and Valdesta writes well and informatively, offering the right advice to guide players onto personal Runescape success. Not a site for the all the rest of us non-runescape nerds obviously but a good resource for the uninitiated. NULL

When I first got to fBlog, I noticed that it didn’t look like a conventional blog and looked more akin to a giant content management system. The blog seems to have been established since May of last year, however trying to access the posts during this period was challenge that I eventually succumbed to because of the poorly designed Archive system.

The blogger himself doesn’t really give away much information about himself. Sure, we know that his favourite colour is orange and that he likes bands such as Bowling For Soup but there’s very little personal information divulged and I had to resort to using my detective skills to unveil his first name from his email address. We also don’t know where he’s from. Initially I thought America, because he used the grade system when referring to school but then I noticed that he likes Cricket, a sport that would be unheard of in the US so I’m guessing he lives in a country that’s a dominion of Great Britain, maybe Australia?

What struck me as being particularly strange was that this blog has very short posts. This maybe intentional to prevent people from being bored by long, in depth posts. However, as an over-analytic, it had the opposite effect on me and I soon found myself to be viewing a tonne of posts that were lacking creativity, personality and intellect. Don’t get me wrong, some posts are indeed long, but they too bored me! Maybe I’m just hard to please or maybe this blogger hasn’t quite honed his writing style yet. It’s not all bad though. Some posts were interesting and very thought-provoking (such as his post on Friend-ism) but the majority of the blogs here seem to be just the blogger reporting on his daily life in a not so personal style. This means that as an outsider I have a fairly good idea of whats going on so the blog isn’t just confined to those who personally know the blogger.

As I said earlier, the site appears to look more like a CMS that you’d see on a Tech news site for example and not a blog! Maybe that’s because there’s a lot of extra features down the sidebar. On most other blogs you’d expect to see links to the archives, maybe a profile and a few buttons and not much else. On this site however, you’re treated to a whiteboard, buttons, a hit map, a poll, a chatterbox, a friends list, blog information, links, an image gallery and a calender which makes the word “overkill” spring to mind.

Now it may appear that I’ve been very pessimistic towards this blog throughout the review but that’s just because I find with Personal blogs that you either fall for them straight-away or just can’t get yourself around them. This, for me, was the latter! However not everyone feels this way because of the presence of a small community that regularly comments on the posts which is something I just didn’t feel compelled to do.
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I was supposed to be packing for an upcoming vacation. I wanted to get it done ahead of time so I was not rushing around at the last minute and forgetting things like, um, underwear. I probably could have finished up tonight if I had not started reading “The Secret Brain”. I wanted to read it earlier today while I was at work, but due to it being marked as an “Adult” themed blog, I decided to wait until I got home. As enticing as the site may have been before I even looked at it, my job just seemed a bit more important!

“The Secret Brain” is a weblog started just a few weeks ago by ArtfulDodger, who wisely keeps his name, location and names of other completely anonymous. He lives somewhere on the East Coast, is married, has a son, and has a very regular girlfriend on the site. A good deal of his posts deal with marriage that is in shambles and how the relationship with his girlfriend balances out the bad times he endures while at home. His girlfriend provides him with an escape from his wife, and this weblog provides him an escape from keeping all of his actions and thoughts bottled inside.

ArtfulDodger just started writing in his weblog on December 1st. While that’s given him less than three weeks from the time the site started until this review was complete, he’s already gained a very loyal audience and is able to capture readers very easily with just one post. He mentions several times that his “day job” requires him to maintain a professional blog, which explains why it is very palpable the author isn’t new to the blogging scene.

The author samples different types of writing in his posts. Typically, after a romp with his girlfriend, he’ll post their experiences. While, if he hasn’t seen or been with her for a few days, he’ll explain why he’s still married or how he met his girlfriend. There are even other times where he’ll try tapping in to writing something from a woman’s point of view of even some poetry. Each entry is certainly not like the next one, but they all stick to the same topic, for the most part, and that topic-driven format is what will turn readers loyal to this site.

Design-wise, the site is just … okay. It’s a site hosted by Blogger, which is ideal for the author looking to remain completely anonymous from the public. In addition, of course, since Blogger hosts it, a standard Blogger template is being used. Different shades of greens are used throughout the site giving it a calming appearance. It’s an average design, but a site such as this one has a myriad of opportunities for a much more personal and/or unique design.

As I’ve mentioned and as ArtfulDodger has gone out of his way to mention on his site, “The Secret Brain” is an adult-oriented weblog. If you’re above 18 and not at work right now, definitely read it. The author has a way of yanking you in with each post and not letting go until you’ve read from start to finish. Even then, you’re still left wondering what his next post will contain and, ultimately, which directly his life will go.

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I’m not sure what I was expecting when I saw a site named The Fifth Dentist. I am fairly certain, however, that I didn’t expect political satire.

The site uses a basic Blogger template with white text on a black background. Simple, but at least not distracting. On the sidebar, the reader can the archives and a few links, but no extras beyond that.

There are only a handful of posts on the site, which has been around since September, and reading the entire archives takes just a few minutes. The weblog is a political satire site, focusing almost exclusively on the Bush administration. It is not a site for political discussion but rather for pointing out the idiocies of ones opponent. The posts are humorous, if somewhat more vitriolic than would typically be my preference.

While the site focuses almost entirely on anti-Bush material, the likes of which can be found almost anywhere on the internet, it is pretty funny. The author has a writing style that is creative and shows talent, but which in the end cannot make up for the lack of originality in the content of the posts.NULL

I really wasn’t sure what to expect from this site – the title gave nothing away. First sightings didn’t give much away either. It’s subtitled as art, graphic design, cultural criticism, psy-ops. A glance at the owners profile failed to offer any further clues. Enigmatic.

So I dove in and dedicated quite some time in an attempt to find out more about the site and the owner. And it has to be said that I am still none the wiser. The posts generally consist of some kind of image – occasionally photographic but mainly graphic design. These are sometimes, but not always, accompanied by narrative and occasionally this narrative incorporates a foreign language – mainly French but also another language which I didn’t immediately recognise. I found this use of another language to be confusing. Most of the posts left me a little non-plussed in fact. Apart from this one – not only was I thankful to finally understand it, but I also found it to be perceptive and just plain old good advice.

The majority of the artwork here is undoubtedly excellent, but it isn’t made clear whether the owner is the artist or not. I’d have liked clarification on that. I consider myself to be reasonably intelligent but most of the narrative went way over my head and hence I’m not entirely sure who this blog would appeal to. Most likely it would be of interest to other graphic designers.

In terms of the design, there’s nothing offensive here. It’s a standard blogger template, reasonably tidy and doesn’t detract from the posts. There are only a few links and these all work well. The sidebar overall is short, with a cluster of buttons towards the bottom. Not my personal cup of English tea but nor are they overly distracting.

All in all, this site didn’t really captivate me. I didn’t feel that it caters for the mainstream reader but if you have an interest in graphic design then it’s probably worth a look.

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