Category: Uncategorized

Butterbug is a journal written by a young aspiring writer. From the initial posts found on the first page it is easy to forget that the writer of this blog is only a 15 year old high school student. Her posts are an interesting combination of her experiences as a wannabe writer and her personal reflections. From the extracts on her page this is truly someone who expresses themselves best in the writen medium, as she all too readily declares herself.

The design of the site is simple yet classically pleasing to the eye. The fact that it is so clean means it does not distract from the content. Examples of her work are there but are not actually part of the site, which can make navigating between journal and her writing examples a little tedious, albeit worthwhile.

“A lone sail whitens for an instant
Within the fog of the blue sea!..
What does he seek in countries distant?
In native lands, what did he leave?..”

This is a mere glint of the talent this young lady is bound to develop in the future.

The author’s posts encompass all manner of subjects from literature to the big screen, and her comments whilst short are often well developed and thought out. Personally I look forward to reading more about the authors own writing, so that I could learn a little more about her genre and style. Perhaps incorporating her existing work into the journal itself would draw more visitors to those sections.

Butterbug all in all is a site I would recommend to those wannabe writers, existing writers who may lend a helpful hint along the way and of course those among us who enjoy a quality read.
ButterBug

Someone called James? Someone called James. This weblog comes to us from someone called James.



The ability to capitalize letters has apparently escaped someone called James, but it could also be that the shift key just doesn’t work on James’ keyboard. Normally, it really bothers me to read through paragraph after paragraph and not find one capital letter. Someone called James, through his writing, made me completely forget about the lack of big letters throughout each entry. I got so wrapped up in nodding my head in agreement or comparing an event that has happened in my life to something he writes about.



The design gives off a very calm look to the site. You’re met with a white background, and oranges and grays are sprinkled around via hyperlinks, or tables. The colors compliment each other well, and the design does a good job by not taking away from the actual content.

I like it when I read “authentic” British phrases like “i did bugger all at work”. I don’t know how much £31.99 is, but I get a kick out of reading it. James, being from England, had a few phrases like that throughout the site. Silly, easily-amused Americans, right?

James’ dating (or, lately, lack there of – Sorry, James!), his likes and dislikes when it comes to movies and music, or just the general scoop of what’s going on in his life are just some of the various topics he touches base on in this weblog.



The things you learn about James you learn solely through his different weblog entries. He makes it perfectly clear from the get-go that he doesn’t want people led to think he’s an egomaniac. According to him he’s not, and if he were he’d “have lots of pages detailing myself and my life, but I don’t want that”. So, what you get out of each entry and the information that gives you about our author is all you have to go on. It’s almost like one of those “Choose Your Own Adventure” books. Only here, we get to choose our own weblogger and have him in our heads however we take each of his entries.

Someone Called James is just in its infancy stages, having only started this little diary detailing James’ “life as an adult” in December. And while it’s still fresh in the market of weblogs, it’s definitely one I can see catching on and probably being at the top of everyone’s “must read” list.

someonecalledjames

This blog, from a guy named Adam, isn’t given any particular name. When you go to adamswansen.org, you’re met by a nice picture of sun beating down through clouds and the words “you don’t have to believe everything you think.” Interestingly, I find this statement to be oddly profound as I think it’s ultimately true in life; despite its simplicity. This statement, to me, touches on the fact that we’re all our own worst enemies — and how often times, it’s what we think that limits us and/or hurts us. Without a doubt, this statement was incredible at welcoming me to Adam’s blog.

Adam is the posterchild, or atleast could be, for The National Everyday Blogger’s Assosciation (NEBA) — if such an organization existed. He writes in an everyday fashion and pulls it off surprisingly well. Here’s a taste of his style for writing …

“February 06, 2003

Haircut

haircutting for me is a spiritual experience. I love to get my haircut there’s something about it that just feels really good. I got it cut today because it needed it badly. The guy did something that I have never had anyone do. He strapped this vibrating thingy(yes I see the joke) to the back of his hand and gave me the best head massage that I have ever gotten. Wow.

On a side note it’s still snowing here. It’s really white.” (adamswansen.org)

Now, I find this entry to be quite entertaining just because of the pure realism it offers. Adam’s real with his readers and I think that’s appealing — it certainly is to me.

I don’t like giving 5’s … in fact, I think I’ve become notorious for being harsh and overly critical … But this guy covers all of his bases, by being genuine. I like the design, I like the writing … it’s as simple as that. Well done Adam.Adam’s Mile high Blog

When I think of Japan, the last thing that comes to mind is the blues.



The Blues Blog is part of Tokyo-Blues.com, which is a site about the blues scene in Japan. While the main part of the site is full of loads of information ranging from interviews from BB King and Dr. John, to concert tours, the blog is updated regularly about any news related to blues.

Launched in January of 2003, The Blues Blog is still new to the blogging world. But from reading up to today’s post, it looks like it has a promising future. Les, who runs the site keeps his readers informed about upcoming gigs around the country of Japan, links to articles relevant to the blues music scene and new album releases by noteworthy artists.

Visually, the layout of the blog is a standard Blogger template. I think the structure of the posts could be improved a bit. They seemed a bit messy, but that could be easily fixed by doing a bit of organizing. Apart from that the writing is fairly easy to read and not too wordy at all, which is a plus.

What makes this blog stand out from the thousands of other blogs out there is it has a completely different topic and is informative for a subject many may not be aware of. I think this is good site and also a unique one, which is often hard to find. Once in a while you find them and it’s quite a refreshing read.
BluesBlog

Jim Howard’s ShowMe was a roller coaster of first impressions. I was intrigued by the title – Jim Howard’s Show Me what . Then I realized that the blog was at xanga.com, a slight disappointment as I knew I would be dealing with a lot of standard details. Even worse, the colors that Jim chose clash. Or maybe I just don’t like brown.

However, I do not take into account (well, not much) the design of a blog. Content is superior – I’d much rather read an interesting blog with green and purple borders than a mundane site that is beautifully designed. What struck me about Jim’s site was his thought flow, very matter-of-fact. I’m sorry to say that this did not appeal to me either. Jim’s ideas come at you like gunshots – BAM, BAM, BAM. I don’t feel a sense of streaming consciousness – a.k.a. sentence flow.

The majority of Jim’s entries are reactions to the world around him, specifically the news. Yes, there are entries that pertain to his personal life – quite a few actually. But the view I got of Jim as I read his blog is that of an intelligent man from Texas who bluntly states his opinions on current events.

One interesting aspect of Jim’s blog was that it linked to another site, called his notebook. The notebook is actually a webcam along with a message board. The webcam was interesting in that you could move around the picture instead of the stills you always see on other blogs.

Should you visit Jim’s Howard’s ShowMe? In my opinion, I don’t know exactly what Jim Howard is showing me. I rarely say “no, don’t ever visit this site” because people will have different reactions to the same blog. I say give it a try – perhaps it will appeal more towards you then it did on my visit.

Jim Howard’s ShowMe