Category: Uncategorized

Simplicity and Chaos, the name prepares you for the site you are to encounter. Primarily a blog come journal this site incorporates some classical MT design features in a very structured layout, little boxes break up the entries and the links. Its clear and easy to surf.

The journal entries themselves are concise and straight to the point, written in a note like format. It isn’t blossoming with detail, but could be interesting to those who are interested in the lives / experiences of other people, especially women. For Jennifer blogging is an opportunity to lay her life on the line, and to grow as an individual because of it. I didn’t see much evidence of that, but it is still a young journal and I feel confident that he writing style is such that it will grow alongside her confidence.

Rated 2.5 – A nice tailored design with concise entries. Good for those who enjoy the lives and experience of an individual.
Simplicity and Chaos

A self-confessed Egomaniac with an ego approximately the size of Denmark (my guess is that it fluctuates depending on situations), Rhys talks loud and long on his blog, never letting you forget that you are reading HIS BLOG. What, you can’t tell with a name like ‘The Art of Rhys-isms’?

How obsessed with himself is he, you ask? Well, not very much, actually. Just to the extent that he posts his academic results on his blog and compares himself with David Beckham to conclude that they are both leading fashion icons. Sample this sentence from one of his posts: “However, I have never, ever failed anything in my life. Not being arrogent (honest), but my record is flawless.” Occassionally irritating self-promotion aside, Rhys’s posts are actually quite a delight to read, what with his dramatic way of telling stories and usage of ample sarcasm. I found the ‘random’ pictures that come with posts a quirky and welcomed touch.

What makes the site better than average is, well, quantity. Most of Rhys’s posts are lengthy, but most importantly, there are a lot of side features on the site, including downloadable games designed by – who else – Rhys, a glossary explaining names and locations that appear frequently in his blog (comes in handy, but I couldn’t find Roland), a list of what Rhys is reading/watching/playing/listening to, and a message board, among others. At first glance, all these cramped together in a page may seem messy and over-crowded to some readers (Blogspot users, perhaps?), but once you get over the feeling of being overwhelmed, you’ll notice that everything is in order. Navigation is easy and the design is simple, plus there is a color theme; which means that it’s good. Perhaps the only complaint might be that there are too many links to click on?

To put it simply, ‘The Art of Rhys-isms’ is an interesting read. If you are looking for emo journals with plenty of angst and emotions, you can skip this. However if you enjoy Dave Barry-style rantings that causes you to read with an exasperated smile, this is the place.

The Art of Rhys-isms

The author of this site deems it a “library cataloging, classification, metadata, and subject access and related topics”. Without that description, I probably would have had no idea what was being so well written about at Catalogablog.

Layout-wise, the site is very simple. The site is powered by Blogger, and using one of the available standard templates. The particular template that was chosen is a very simple and clean design, and flows throughout the side very well. Basically, there are an entire slew of links along the left hand side, with the actual weblog content more in the middle. The site’s been up and running, according to the archives of the site, since March 2002. There doesn’t ever seem to be a lull in posts in the weekly archives.

The sidebar of the site is full of resources – all the contact information you need if you have more questions about the content of the site, ways to subscribe to Catalogablog, search options, and a great deal of links that touch base with the same subject matter as the entire site.

I’m not the most technologically advanced person out there in cyberspace, and keeping that in mind, I’d certainly consider myself the “average weblog reader”. Other average weblog readers, as far as I can tell, are going to have some trouble staying focused and/or coming back to visit this weblog.

The content is remarkable, though. From what I can tell, it certainly seems like the author is right on top of things in the subject matter at hand, and does a very nice job of displaying nearly all information one could possibly need in this topic.

You could very well call this site a jackpot for those interested in “cataloging, classification, metadata, and subject access and related topics”. For those not looking to read about the world in that realm, this weblog probably isn’t one you’ll add to your favorites.



Catalogablog

My initial impression was, “My goodness. Not another wordy what-is-life-about blog.” As I read on, I am glad to say that I was wrong. This is a group blog, where a team of 3 writers – Sam Kleinman, Chris Knittel and Peter McCabe, share their thoughts and individual lives with the readers (though the main contributors are Sam and Chris). The meticulously written entries, though not without the occasional spelling error, could get wordy at times but these entries brought me into the writers’ lives. While information on the writers is barely there, I learnt more about them as I continued to read the blog.

It’s quite a pain trying to find out more about this blog and its authors. The heading of the blog, “TealArt.com: Don’t worry, we don’t know either“, just gave me a bigger headache. However, a description of this site could be found on the sister site, www.collectivearts.net (which I only discovered through the email addresses listed), “TealArt is a site featuring a log of thoughts, reflections, and introspective essays relating to art, literature, writing, books, and the creative aspect of the world around us.”

The very first entry on the archives, Unsung Heroes, is a tribute to unjustified crimes committed on September 11. It’s a very poignant entry, which tells of Victor Jara, a Chilean man who was executed for singing and writing political songs and poems. Not all entries are of such serious content. Perfect Notebook Bliss is a humorous entry on Sam’s search for The Perfect Notebook, while Chris recounts his experience on being a teacher in a public school as part of a community service program in A View From On High.

The design of the blog is functional, practical and user-friendly. If you don’t like the current layout, you can easily change the skin (an extra which the creators added into the site). On the common blog, you usually only get archives for the posts, but on TealArt.com, you get archives to the quotes and links that were ever posted on the site. Another plus point is that, all the entries are categorised into sections, so you can choose what you want to read.

In conclusion, I really like this blog. It’s highly intellectual, professional and yet manages to remain personal. This is a blog that grows on you as you continue reading. I highly recommend it to readers who appreciate writing that has substance.
TealArt

As the ‘about page’ goes, Jacob met Julie in a chatroom, fell in love and moved from Denmark to live with her in the USA. I’ve come across several sites telling very similar stories and as cheesy as they may sound, they are pretty interesting, firstly because they give original insights into a county’s cultures, and secondly because the people often seem as normal as they come, and how many non-crazy people have you met in chatrooms recently?

Jacob’s about page is pretty comprehensive, which I found useful as it was only in October that he started blogging in English. As I don’t speak Danish I felt like I was missing a lot, and I like to see how a weblog began. Luckily the about page filled in most of the gaps.

So why am mentioning the about page so early on in the review? To me it was of the most interest. Jacob says of the page, “You don’t have to read it if you don’t want to but it will make the content in my web log make a little more sense.” It certainly did. Most of the entries to the site are about day to day life. Nothing dramatic, just mainly work, films/movies and eating out. I think you can get much more out of it once you know where Jacob’s coming from.

The layout of A Dane Abroad is nicely done in blues. It’s not too adventurous but this is not meant to be an adventurous site so it works well, giving space to the writing. There is also a well laid out gallery with lots of pictures ranging from cooked turkeys to kittens [fortunately not cooked].

The only problem I had with the writing was that for a personal weblog it didn’t get personal enough. The writing always seems a little detached from the author, and details such as the latest videos watched or the weather are given much more often than feelings or opinions. Of course this is just a personal preference of mine, my own inquisitiveness. I like personal weblogs to divulge everything, and some authors don’t want to do that, which is fine and doesn’t mean for one minute that the site is any less readable. Jacob still gives us a fascinating insight into his life and it’s well worth a look.
weblog from a Dane abroad