Category: Uncategorized

I had no sense of what “What doesn’t kill you…” would be about, but the current post plunges the reader into some general ramblings. The next post on the page is rather more personal and is part of a longer story line about the writer’s current sex partner/love interest. The details are explicit, the tone is engaging and after just a few minutes, I was hooked.

The writing style is relaxed and personal. WDKY’s personality shows through his writing. He is a divorced 45-year-old man with a couple of kids living outside of London. He is frank and expresses himself clearly. The blog is his personal story. He occasionally comments on blogging in general and points readers to sites he enjoys, but the interest here is in the serial novel that is his life. I have a particular fondness for this type of blogging (it’s essentially what I do, minus the sex) and I was drawn to WDKY’s story. His enjoyment and discussion of blogging is refreshing.

Apparently, while the site has only been used regularly for a little less than two months, it has gone through a few redesigns. I’m not particularly fond of the current design. I’m not sure what the skyline at the top of the page has to do with the content of the site. Also, I don’t like white type on a black background; I find it harder to read than black text on a light background. The author has included a tag board on the sidebar and a few links and badges, but there is nothing remarkable here. However, the design is not the reason to visit this site. The reason to visit the site is the content, which is excellent.

For great storytelling and clear, interesting writing, this is a fine blog. There is a lot of writing about sex, but it’s not a sex blog. It’s about the author’s personal life and his thoughts on dating and the world in general. If you like personal blogs, I highly recommend it.NULL

When I first arrived at this blog, my thoughts were that it was just your average Blogger blog, but… with a deviously ingenious layout? And links that actually have a point? OK, so this isn’t just your average blog, and you can tell right away.

Let’s take a moment to think about the layout. As I said, it’s somewhat devious, but ingenious. Why? Well, it’s not your basic, everyday, run-of-the-mill Blogger template, and I love that. It’s got a dark edge to it, but it’s bright enough to not make me want to dye my hair black. Goth templates aren’t cool, no matter what anyone’s told you.

Then we get to the writing… while the lack of capitalization struck me as odd at first (I’m a stickler for spelling and grammar), it didn’t detract that much from the posts. The writing is quite intelligent, and much above the average blogger out there. There are some cuss words, which I don’t entirely agree with but also don’t entirely object to. It’s definitely not a blog for the timid.

The links and other whatnots we have are actually relevant… big plus there. There are links to the author’s favorite games, webcomics, other blogs, and various 80×15 banners that you could click to give referral points. Everything just fits so nicely together.

In the end, I loved this blog and have just now added it to the link bar on my own blog. It’s definitely worth checking out, so long as you aren’t easily offended by swear words. That’s the only thing that I didn’t find absolutely great about this site, in fact, and that’s not nearly enough to keep me from going in the future.NULL

I read this entire site from start to finish yesterday. There are only four months of archives, so it wasn’t that long of a process. However, since yesterday, I’ve not been able to come up with anything to write about this site. And that’s definitely not like me.

The design is a little more cut and dry to write about, so let’s start with that. Thankfully, the design is unique. The color scheme of grays and blacks obviously go along well with the site’s name – The Gray Tie. At first glance, I didn’t notice the background, but as I scrolled down to read each entry, it became more and more distracting from the actual content of the weblog. The layout is set up in two columns. Weblog entries fill the main column, which is bordered next to an extremely long side column full of a colossal list of links. There are so many links in the sidebar – ranging from categorized archives to links the author supports to random weblogs – that it ends up being longer than the actual weblog portion of the site.

Readers never really learn a lot about the author. I only learned her name was Carol by reading some of the comments other readers have left. From the posts, it’s safe to assume that she leans heavily toward the right-hand side of the political arena, with plenty of links to different Republican party affiliated sites. Sparsely scattered throughout the site are brief mentions of her two kids – Glorious Girlchild and Magnificent Manchild. The posts where she does mention her kids and her every day life are a good break from the serious nature of the rest of her posts.

The subject matter of The Gray Tie isn’t one that will interest everyone. Carol does a lot of linking to other news sites. Sometimes these posts are unique news items, like the kids in Pennsylvania who had to re-use plastic utensils at their school cafeteria. The majority of the time, though, she focuses on more serious issues – Cindy Sheehan chaining herself to the White House, students being suspended for making anti-gay comments, or quite often the severity of sex crimes against children.

This isn’t a site I would visit again. A good number of the posts are just excerpts taken off of a news article, followed by the actual link and maybe a few word about Carol’s personal opinion on the matter. Sometimes, there’s just a link. I don’t want to discredit Carol’s writing ability, because when she posts, it’s very well written. I just think if she would showcase more of her own feelings and thoughts, rather than copy so much from news articles, readers would be able to connect a little more easily to The Gray Tie.
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Seeing the title of “Antique Mommy” gave me the impression that this blog was about an older woman who’d had a child. I wasn’t far wrong in my initial impression. The blog is written by a 44 year old who had her first child, there seems to be no about me page, and the brief user profile that blogger allocates doesn’t really tell you much about the writer. Seeing this blog listed as humour did bias my judgement a bit, in so much as I was expecting the blog to have funnier content.

The only entry that mildly amused me was the “Part-Time Pet” entry and that’s only because I seem to have a morbid amusement with people that have phobias in regards to animals, which I can happily add I am one too! I do believe that this blog would be better placed under the personal blog category as I just can’t find the funnier content in there.

The blog itself is a simple blogger layout. Easy to read and navigate. The links all work as I had no trouble using the archive links at all. There are a few links down the bottom of the blog that relate to different sites and the usual blog list of friends. The good news is that there was no other clutter, which was nice.

Antique Mommy is sometimes amusing and sometimes not, I think the more the author writes in her blog, the more she finds herself and her own writing style, it’s nice to see the development through the entries.

But the blog is basically the journey of the author who is mapping her child’s life online. Some entries are funny, some make you smile and others seem like they are just entries of day to day happenings. It’s interesting reading as there are not many blogs out there that I’ve come across that are written by older mothers who are experiencing motherhood for the first time. I only gave this blog a 3.5 because I just found that it is quite like all the other mum blogs out there, except the different being the author is older. But still it is a worth a check out, see if you like it.
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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