Category: Uncategorized

I wasn’t sure what to make of the title. As it happens Jenny is Greek… ah!

Thankfully I take notes when I’m reviewing as I’ve stopped getting access to the site… “Hi this is Jenny and thats my personal weblog. On here I write about my family my country and our every day life Because of the personal content and the plethora of weirdos out there you must be registered to view the content If you are already registered on any of my pages then just log in. If not please take the time to register below. Registration must be approved and it usually takes up to 24 hours.” I don’t have twenty four hours. I think I’ve read enough though to give you a flavour of what’s on offer.

On reaching the site I was greeted with a not too pleasant colour scheme. Red and cream I think, but I am colour blind and don’t always get these things right. The design was okay. A banner which acted as a home page and underneath it a link bar to other areas of her site. These contain the perfunctory archives and links to other blogs and sites. There is an about me section, 100 things and nine layers. Nine layers being a new one on me; on inspection it was another way of detailing a life. A kinda of quiz thing based on questions and answers. There was also a right hand panel with a members section, mailing list, stats, credits and a random picture.

In terms of getting around this was the most hassle I’ve had reviewing a blog. You have to go back to the archives each time you want to read a post. When the posts are less than enthralling this becomes tiresome.

There is an extensive family photo album which has some lovely family photos in it. Family is big in Jenny’s life and it informs most of her posts. She has a big desire to have another baby; I don’t know if she has gotten pregnant recently as I was cut off somewhere in April! The web log started in January this year and Jenny has posted regularly since.

She details her life as a wife, mother of two, guide leader and occasional worker. Her writing skills are poor, but she does well as English is her second language. On the whole she gets her message across well enough. She is an honest, enthusiastic lady and has an enthusiastic supportive readership and would appeal to anyone interested in the minutia of the daily grind. A soap opera.

One high spot for me was the regular chuckle as I came across another “I’ve just bought this” or “I’m excited about buying that” from the self proclaimed non materialist!

This was in no way a blog I would return to. However it does have its merits I guess, so for me just a two out of five.It’s All Greek To Me

On first glance, this blog looks like a whole lot of fun. The colors are eye appealing and not your typical blog-fare, which is nice to see. I really enjoy the banner, the term “originalism” and the other sayings incorporated into the design. I get a feeling I’m going to be hit with politics due to the first entry, but I’m hoping there is more to read than that. This site appears to have it all. There’s a poll, the obligatory linking, and a photo gallery. It also appears as if the author, Jeremy, incorporates graphics into his entries on a consistent basis. On first glance, this blog looks like it has it all, I’m just hoping part of that includes decent writing to go along with a great looking site.

This man writes beautifully. He is philosophical and humorous in the same breath. He uses compound words and complex sentences. He takes a situation at looks at it from many different angles. You can almost see the thought process go through his mind as you read his words. Jeremy leads you through his current events as well as dives into some of the more interesting aspects of his childhood. Chewy milk? Ewww. Now how many blogs can describe milk so dead on that it churns your stomach? Not only that, but the man used the word “colloquially” and he used it in the right context! He not only writes smart, but I have a feeling he IS smart!

Jeremy Neal makes you think with some of his entries, laugh with others, and wonder where he’ll take you next. Maybe it will be to the store where they will not allow him to park his car because it isn’t “good enough”, maybe on one of the cub scout excursions that he experienced as a child, or maybe he’ll just stare into the mirror and explain to you what he sees. With this blog, anything is possible.

This blog is interesting, well written, and comical. There is a wide expanse of topics touched upon and never a lack of philosophical speak to get your mind thinking. I was afraid to find nothing more than political gibberish and I was ecstatic to find such a wide range of subject matter. Religion. Genealogy. Memories. Life on the job. An eclectic work history. Geography. About the only thing you won’t find in this blog is any specifics in relation to his relations. He rarely mentions his two children and it took me nearly two weeks worth of entries to realize that this fellow blogger is his wife. Maybe I’m slow. If the man can write such moving pieces on his beliefs and his thoughts, I can only imagine what he could do with stories regarding his family.

The design fits this author’s writing perfectly. Both components are unique, interesting, and eye catching. I found no missing or broken links, but it was a bit of a challenge to find the archived entries, due to the fact that I’ve never even heard of ModBlog, much less attempted to navigate one of its blogs. Other than my ineptitude, this blog has it all without overdoing it and drawing attention away from the entry text.

This is a great blog for anyone with the need to dive straight into another person’s head. I admire the way he dissects the world around him and brings you along on his thought process. Jeremy is a thinker and he makes you think right along with him. I’m beginning to believe this is why there is so little “personal” content included in his posts. He writes about what he thinks, not necessarily how he feels. This blog is full of insightful and intelligent material, not to mention humor at it’s best. I highly recommend this blog and will be coming back to check up on Jeremy every now and then!

Originalism

Brain Lint. A Bloggar site. Hmmm, has something changed at Bloggar? This page looks better than the last one I visited. I like the two toned green scheme. It’s simplicity is soothing to the eye and puts the focus on the entries where it belongs.

For some unfathomable reason, on the current entry page the side bar doesn’t seem to have enough room, so it loads way down below the last entry. But on the archives pages the side bar appears in its proper place. A small adjustment will probably fix this.

I checked out the 100 Things About Me link and found a humorous and informative list where I learned that our author is a High School English teacher (for 25 years no less) and lives in Manitoba Canada. She is a published author and has a scan of the check to prove it. (I thought this was cute.) Our author has been blogging here since May 2003.

I decided to begin at the beginning and headed for the archives. Most of the entries are essays about the author’s childhood. A theme that continues throughout the blog, though in recent times, she writes more often about current events in her life.

Her writing style is casual and mildly humorous. Very readable and I found myself being drawn in to an interesting and varied compilation of memories. I recommend this entry in particular, May 23, 2004 in which she tells us about her father, and how he coped with life under Nazi occupation in Holland. Worth a read.

I had a great time visiting here. If you enjoy reading memoirs, this site will delight you. Check it out.

brainlint.blogspot.com

Upon my first visit to this site, I gathered that the title would pretty well sum up what this blog was all about. Basically, I expected a straight-forward accounting of the world as the blog writer saw it. No more, no less. I was both correct and incorrect in my assumption… Allow me a few moments to explain.

I was greeted by the standard generic blogger template and my eyes automatically darted over to the left margin where I could find the “About Me” portion of the blog. I learned that the blog was written by a lady named Debra, and I quickly got an overview of her current life and one word seemed to jump off the page at me – “Christian”.

Upon further examination of the page, I noticed that there was Psalm quoted directly under the main title. The woman was obviously very devout in her faith, so I was curious as to what extent religion would play in her blog entries. Onward I forged.

The blog basically chronicles the day-to-day life of Debra and her family, as well as her occasionsl commentaries on her faith, society, and humanity in general. Through the three months of archived entries, I noticed two main things while reading:

1. Debra is a very good writer. Her writing style automatically put me at ease and I found very good flow with her words. It was an easy read for me, and I got to feel very comfortable with the author during several posts.

2. I found the first two months of postings to be very religiously heavy-handed. At times it felt like more of a Sunday morning sermon than a blog read, and this made me somewhat uncomfortable and disinterested at times. I noticed it has tapered off significantly as of late, but it was a very present theme during the early stages of this blog. I’m not saying this is a bad thing, per se, just something that doesn’t appeal to everyone… Myself included.

I do understand that religion may play a big part in Debra’s life but, without discussing my beliefs, I was put off a little bit my the ever-present feel of it here. The writing is great, no doubt of this, but the topics weren’t diverse enough to keep my interest for very long.

Debra is a very charming, likeable lady, it seems, and her choice of topics may be great for some others who think along this vein. For me, it wasn’t exacly my “cup of tea”, unfortunately.

The writing is superb, choice of topics… often not for me… 3/5 it is.

As I See It

One Stop Thought Shop – that sounds promising….

The opening paragraph displayed on the palest blue header reads:

“the web log of Brian Hayes, a personal blog about ideas or biographical views sometimes written in the first person by a hardworking fellow who is big on love, tolerance, freedom and the human potential. • My interests shift from tech and science and politics to craftsmanship and building. Here are a few interesting tools, techniques and ideas.”

That would be an understatement. The most current entry of September 23rd is front and center on the page, and declares proudly: “Mark Twain For President 2004”.

So we know we are in the theoretical realm right off the bat.
In my admittedly rather short Weblog Review career, I have yet to run across a blog that discusses such a variety of subjects. Our author not only writes about Mark Twain for President, but gadgets of all kinds, soil testing experiments, discussions on the meaning of Nirvana, pet food label rules, Noam Chomsky, plus a consistent smattering of political topics.

Added to this dizzying array of interests, he also maintains two other blogs. One he calls “Construction” and the other is a computer/technology blog. They are crammed with even more amazingly diverse things. Both are worth a look.

I wanted to browse the archives which go back to September of 2003, but not one of the links were functional on the day of my visit. Even though they were not working, I noticed that they are listed by full date, thus making for a rather long list. A month my month archive link would be less cumbersome in my opinion. Also the sidebar had been relegated to the bottom of the page, making for awkward navigation. I’m sure a small adjustment would take care of it. There is no comment function, which I thought was curious.

My overall impression was that the author is a quite intelligent and complex person with his fingers in many pies. But that very quality, plus a rather oblique writing style made for a kind of muddled picture. Now, I will admit that taken one day at a time, this blog might be a lot more user friendly. But read all at once, it was a bit overwhelming.

This blog would appeal to the technophile and those with wide ranging realms of curiosity. To me this site and its companion blogs are the epitome of the word “eclectic”.

http://brianhayes.com