Category: Uncategorized

Wow. Other than the occasional mention on the “Real Sex” series on HBO, I was not aware that such a thing as a ‘latex fetish’ existed. Boy, does it ever. And the latex subculture appears to be enormous.

3xL is a site run by a 30-something man from Copenhagen who started this blog back in 2002 as a way to tell his wife about his fetish. He says in his “About 3xL” section, “…at that time, I just didn’t have the guts to let her in on my big secret. So my goal was to learn more about myself and my fetish for rubber, so I could gain some self esteem and speak freely about the subject to my wife.” She knows now, and he said she’s even tried it herself. Ah, true love.

The site has a black background with white type and is a bit busier than I normally like. By ‘busy’ I mean, lots of links, a blogroll, sponsor ads, photos, and other links for latex movies, gallery and news among others. The busiest page is the main page, but 3xL (meaning the three “L” words, Love, Lust and Latex) has a knack for arranging this massive catalog of information with flourish. When you visit the “Latex Links” page, it does get a bit click heavy because the hordes of links are first put into categories. But hey, I’m sure the latex folks out there appreciate this. After all, there is a lot of information to go through.

I have to say that this is the first latex-themed site I’ve ever visited. And I’m happy to learn that the German Fetish Ball has just concluded. (It makes me wonder if the fetishists will only socialize with their own ‘kind’ at these things. The Latex vs. the Foot Fetishists? Is it West Side Fetish? I’m rubber, you’re glue…?)

At any rate, if you like latex, you should definitely add this site to your Favorites menu because it is an impressive undertaking.
3xL : Lust, Love & Latex!

Grand Theft Blogger. The title borders on something between “catchy” and “stupid”, but this blog is supposedly about video games, so I can let it go.

This blog is written by Jessie Lawrence, a 27 year old guy from Fremont, California. And his blog isn’t bad, but it isn’t great either. So let’s talk about the ‘why’ question.

The design is blogger. The header graphic is custom, which is nice; but the content is what seems to be lacking. Jessie doesn’t have any links to his archive pages from what I could tell, so I could only read his most recent posts. Some talked about his family, a few about gaming and the rest was personal opinion stuff. He has moments of comedy, but they are scarce.

Jessie talks about the death of his friend Angelo quite a bit; he was shot and no one has found the killer. Sad stuff. But the thing that is great about Jessie’s posts is that they are usually short and sweet. He doesn’t try to bog you down; he just writes what he has to say and nothing more. Done Deal.

I gave Grand Theft Blogger a 3.25 because of the lack of accessible content; also, it is marketed as being a blog about gaming, but I couldn’t be totally convinced of that based on what I had to read. He’s a good writer and I see great potential for this blog…but the things that I would like to see just aren’t there yet. Grand Theft Blogger

I was thinking about maybe skipping over reviewing The Captain’s Log as this is not my first visit to the site and I thought it might be a bit weird to go back as a reviewer. However, I am glad I did get the opportunity as it was nice to revisit a pretty solid weblog about a (now ex-) Canadian and his every day life.

This is a Big Blog Tool blog and when I started out as a blogger (way back in er… 2003), I cut my teeth on BBT as it was pretty straight forward to get going on. Another thing I noticed from exploring its “Recently Updated” list was that nearly all the sites which used it had absolutely awesome templates. Captain Spanky was already well under way with his blog by this stage (it dates back to March 2002) and his blog is certainly no exception in terms of impressive design.

It is a custom, two column template with a witty titlebar and stylish fonts used in the sidebar. The blog itself is tasteful and easy to read with differentiation between the comments and blog entries, the comments being displayed inline. There is no “About Me” page but there are a few cool links to be found including one to a site where the author sells his own custom car stickers and the like. You can also find out the local weather, read the archives or browse the “Recently Updated” list mentioned earlier. My only minor gripe is that the site doesn’t look quite so slick in Firefox, due to slight alignment problems, but it does not make the site unreadable by any means. I also really liked the “Front Pages” which are always clever, funny designs and add another touch of individuality (click in the top right corner to go see).

So, top marks for the way it all looks, but can the content match up? Well kind of. This is very much a personal blog about the day to day stuff going on in the life of the author. As the archives go back a couple of years, there is no way to get through them all unless you have A LOT of spare time. I decided to read the first few months, then picked a few pages at random after I got fed up with the Republican bashing which has been particularly rife in the blog recently. It’s not that I like Republicans or disagreed with what was being said, it just got a bit wearing. Other topics to be found in the blog include pool tournaments which The Captain takes part in, programming stuff (his career), some cool links, rants and some photos of social events – the usual blogging fare in fact. There is some swearing, but none of the content is really offensive, just opinionated and often funny too. Overall, it is of a high quality, but nothing particularly out of the ordinary.

So this is really a blog of the old school variety. Great design, and consistent content about a 30 something, socially adept, tech savvy American. Nothing more nothing less. As with so many thousands of blogs out there, this is obviously great for his social circle, but it is hard to think of many things which set this apart and would draw in the casual reader.The Captain’s Log

When I first entered the site of (fblog), I was actually quite impressed. It was a very clean and neat looking layout and the combined colors of orange and white, seemed to do the weblog justice.

The blog is hosted at “modblog” , (which I haven’t been very familiar with), but it was a pleasant change from the very familiar “blogspot” templates. But with that being said, it is basically the entries that are most important. At that point, I began my journey into “fMatt’S” world.

The first thing I looked for was a section where I could find out a bit about “fMatt” (the author. At the top of the page was a link to his profile among several other links. fMatt, has several tidbits of info about him in his profile. Arranging from what kind of music he likes to what kind of books he reads. Really lets you get to know him .

As I started to read FMatt’s actual posts, I noticed that a lot of them were about cricket games he has had. Well, after all, in his profile he does mention that cricket is his favorite sport. He also talks about assignments he has had in school and basically just your everyday life. After reading fMatt’s entries, I got the impression that he writes whatever comes to mind. He also seems to like playing the Sims. (One of my fav past times as well.)

The entries are written very well. The writing is very neat and very easy to read.
He has several links etc on the left hand side including a poll. He also has an image gallery which I was very interested in viewing . I clicked on the link, but to my disappointment, all the images were broken. A few of his archived pages took a little long as well. Those were basically the only faults I had with this weblog.

Keep in mind, it may not be to everyone’s taste. No weblog is. But I for one enjoyed reading it. So if you have some time on your hands, stop by and pay the author a visit. You won’t be disappointed.[fBlog]

Considering my entire gambling career consists of blowing $25 on slots in Atlantic City, I was pretty excited to review this blog. I’m scared of “real” casino games because I don’t know how to play them. Billed as “your ultimate guide to gambling,” I figured this site was my ticket to riches. I grabbed a pen to take notes and dug in.

Jo runs this blog and according to the “About the Author” section, she knows the business. Jo has been working in the online gambling industry for over 5 years and currently works for “an independent casino games design company that develops products for the land-based and online casino industry.” I particularly appreciate that there is also an “about the company link” (Creative Weblogging, Ltd.).

This is a new blog that was launched at the end of November, so there are presently only about 31 entries. At first I was very impressed with the apparent research that goes into each post. Every entry contains a list of “Related Entries” and “Related Research Reports.” It wasn’t until I read several entries that I noticed that the three research reports for every post are exactly the same. They include a MarketResearch.com report on Proctor & Gamble, a company called Gambling Services and a third report from MarketResearch on Proctor & Gamble in the OTC healthcare market. Color me confused. What does this have to do with gambling? Probably something, but nowhere does Jo give an analysis of these reports nor does she tell the reader why they’re important. The “Related Entries” links pertain a bit more to the actual post, but not always. The majority of these links are to articles on other Creative Weblogging owned websites. For instance, in an article about the launch of a gambling hedge fund (please Jo, enlighten the uninitiated masses. What is a gambling hedge fund?), one of the related links is to a story entitled “Presidential Candidates Lay Out Lifelong Learning Plans.”

For a site calling itself the ultimate guide to gambling, I had a hard time finding any actual guidance. Most of the posts are news articles containing lots of links, in addition to those mentioned above. Trump Casino’s recent bankruptcy filing gets a mention, as does the 2004 award winners from Gambling Online magazine. I enjoyed the post “Botnets, Zombies and Botherds – How DDOS Attacks Work” because of the author’s helpful commentary. I’ll probably try to squeeze the word “botherd” into conversation at holiday parties this season just for fun. I’m still trying to figure out where the post reporting reviews of the movie “Ocean’s Twelve” fits in.

The site design is minimal, which is a plus for this type of blog. Most interesting on the sidebar is an ad for “News Spotters.” The company offers to pay US$5 for each breaking news story you send in that they publish.

Overall this is an interesting site if you are really into gambling and want to keep current on the gambling world. I think calling this site “Your Ultimate Guide to Gambling” is a bit misleading. This is strictly a site for gambling news. For the general population more explanatory commentary from Jo is required. There is really no need for links to the research reports on every post and quite frankly related entries links should actually BE related to the post. Perhaps with more posts under its belt “The Gambling Weblog” will find its stride. There is definite potential here.
Gambling Weblog