Category: Uncategorized

When I first opened The Impulsive Buy, I was pleased to see clean lines, easy to read text, and a fitting header. This reviewer feels that there should be a whole museum dedicated to shopping cart art, but I swore to myself that I wouldn’t be partial because of it. The blog is done with Word Pad and it is simplistically fitting for what it sets out to convey to its readers.

The blog’s Disclaimer states, “The Impulsive Buy is dedicated to providing quasi-reviews about various consumer goods.” Many of the reviews are of those products that look interesting, but you hope that you never actually allow yourself to purchase. The products that are reviewed are across the board. From Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Pop-Tarts to The Daily Show With Jon Stewart Presents America (The Audiobook) I won’t mislead you, most of the reviews are on food.

The reviews are all interesting in their own right. Each one seems to have its own background story. There is a nice tally of facts at the end of each review that offer the items price, the rating the reviewer gave it, and the pros and cons. The author is apparently an English major, but not the kind that is a stickler for impeccable grammar. Each review is an easy read and you really do learn something about the products that get time in The Impulsive Buy’s spotlight.

Again the layout is simple. You can search by Month, category, or just peruse the products that catch your eye. There were no special features that made the site stand out. The personal touch given to each review would land this blog in the humor section. However, I think a “Review” category would be a better fit. The entries are humorus, but with some of the odd products reviewed I think they could have been a tad funnier. Again this is only one reviewers opinion.

All in all the site is a good read. It is sort of like a personal blog that talks about products. Within each review you tend to learn more about the author than the product, but that’s not a bad thing. I really liked the weird items that were reviewed. Should the author focus entirely on those out of the ordinary items they may carve themselves a new niche.

Item: The Impulsive Buy
Purchase Price: FREE!
Rating: 3.25 out of 5
Pros: A witty way of looking at items on the market.
Cons: Could use some fun extras and a bit more monthly reviews.

The Impulsive Buy

My Eyes is done with TypePad and has the typical three column layout. There are a lot of pictures that caught my eye and the posts were not overwhelmingly long. Basically it codled the short attention span version of me. There was nothing in the initial viewing of this blog that stood out or made it different from all the other blogs I have seen. However, it’s clean layout was refreshing in a world full of blinky blogs that are full of java aps.

The author of My Eyes is a 22 year-old graduate student at the University of Cambridge in the UK. The blog is filled with sports commentary, life events, and gives an honest view on how someone from the UK feels about the US elections. Like several other UK blogs that I have read the author’s posts are witty, cultured, and full of complaints about George W. Bush. As an American Citizen I am proud to say freely that there isn’t anything wrong with that. Many American’s dislike bush too. The great part about reading blogs is learning that you’re not alone. I would like to assure the author that when it comes to his thoughts on Bush he is definitely NOT alone. In one of this last US election posts the author writes, “It’s all made me think I don’t really care about the US election anymore and I don’t think I shall be posting much about it from now on. Let them elect Bush if they want, they’ll have to live with it, unfortunately, so will the rest of us…”

As far as the quality of writing is concerned the author has a short and sweet approach. All of his posts are very much the meat and potatoes of his current events, thoughts, or life lessons. It was nice not having to read a three hundred word post to get to the point that the author was attempting to make and I commend him for that. The photos catch your attention and the text is worth staying around for. Yes, there are many posts about football and other sports, but in between those is some great information. I can sum things up by saying that the author is an Englishman, so whatever he writes sounds very intelligent. Even the references to The Simpsons. The blog contains a few of the normal extras. A clock, the bloggers local weather, and a Blogroll. All in all it has the basic building blocks of a blog that can convey what’s written as opposed to what’s seen.

This blog tells the story of a life. A life that without the internet and without the art of blogging I would have never known existed. I love to learn about new cultures and new views on the world. As an American I will admit that we do tend to get caught up in our own little worlds. Reading a blog like My Eyes will open up your eyes to the world around you. The view is far wider than the distance between your local 7-11 and the Denny’s up on Main St. Reading My Eyes will help you open yours.

My Eyes

Christien’s a 27-year-old guy from Canada. His weblog, Cat Whisperings, has been up and running since May 2004, according to the blog information listed on his site. Readers can learn even more details, though, by clicking on “Full Profile”. The only reason I’m even pointing out that link is due to the links being the extremely close to the same color as the text on the site.

The layout of the Cat Whisperings appears to be set specifically for a 1280 x 1024 screen resolution. Anything smaller resolution results in visitors having to scroll from right to left to navigate the entire site. Everything is done in some shade of gray/black – the text, the background, the links, etc. Gray is great. In a blog entry, however, it’s extremely difficult to distinguish between the sentence and the link readers are encouraged to explore.

Readers never learn the myth behind the name of the site: Cat Whisperings. Perhaps it’s better left untold, or perhaps I just didn’t find it in the six or so months of archives on this domain.

The sidebars of the site do have some interesting tidbits. There’s a poll that changes from time to time and my personal favorite, Christien’s own concoctions for his favorite alcoholic beverages. There are also the usual archives, a chatterbox, and the typical links to other sites on the web.

I don’t remember the last time I reviewed a weblog that had this many quiz answers or other various memes. The author’s appropriately stuck these posts in a category called “Dumb quizzes, etc..”. Christien has many different categories, as well, which give people an idea of how wide a variety of topics he covers from day to day – Geek stuff, Hotness, Stupid White Men, and finally something to do with the name of the site, Cats.

There are posts that contain Christien’s interests, which are often very well written and become quite passionate in meaning. Enjoyably, he gives readers the chance to comment on the things he writes. According to his disclaimer, he’s more than happy to participate in a debate type atmosphere about any given topic, but would rather avoid discussing anything with anyone who isn’t open minded and in Christien’s words, has an IQ of over 100.

When Christien actually takes the time to write a post from his thought or his experiences, readers will be in for quite a treat. He’s conveys his thoughts clearly on very serious topics like gun control and politics, and is very confident and well-informed on the subjects of his writing. These posts don’t come often enough, though, and people may lose interest in the copied and pasted text from other sites and the very regular results to the current quiz.
Cat Whisperings…

Upon first opening Thoughts of Mike and finding a picture of a dog, I figured that I would be reading yet another “things I did today” blog. Instead I was pleasantly surprised. Mike’s thoughts encompass a wide range of topics.

Mike is a 22 Yr. old student who also works at a local deli as a delivery driver. This author posts about whatever happens to interest him. He comments on mundane everyday occurrences with a dry wit that is reminiscent of Seinfeld. In a post about purchasing shampoo he says, “I’m trying to find the one that says ‘Dirty Hair.’ It doesn’t exist. Shampoo now does everything from color to curl, except clean. Where is the shampoo for me? The one that just says, Cleans hair real good.” In a post about car features, the author laments about not being able to find the “Automatic Detonation Feature” that all cars in movies appear to have. Probably his most entertaining posts come from his experiences as a delivery driver. He describes the joys of delivering to a local gentleman’s club and contrasts that with his many deliveries to nursing home employees.

A bit disconcerting is this writer’s participation in “Blog Jihad” where he visits other sites using Blogger’s “Next Blog” feature and leaves random and sometimes insulting comments on the blog he happens to land on. He openly posts about this practice and invites the retaliatory visits and comments he receives. He admittedly does this to up his own hit counter. It is a shame that he resorts to this, as his content would stand on its own.

The site uses a standard Blogger template. While I normally dislike a black background, as it is sometimes hard on the eyes, Mike uses pictures effectively to break up the white on black monotony. In fact, his pictures enhance many of his posts. The previously mentioned dog pictures are Mike’s proof that the dog in question is actually an alien. Archives go back to June of this year and the site includes the standard links one finds on most sites.

Overall, Thoughts of Mike is an entertaining read. The blog could be improved with more regular updates. I am sure Mike has more thoughts than he has time to post. Perhaps a little less time spent on his “Blog Jihad” would allow him more time to update. I plan to check back with Mike to see what is on his mind in the future.

Thoughts of Mike

I honestly didn’t know what to expect when I came to this blog. Gambling is an addiction I know nothing of, and a risky hobby that I don’t see the glamour in or purpose of. That being said, if I wanted to learn any and everything about it, Gambling Weblog is the place to do it.

The content consists of only Gambling information, from Poker tour dates the results of Gambling Magazine Online’s award winners. There is an abundance of links to different places in the online gambling world, and at the end of every entry, there are related, archived entries and research reports.

Yet, there is a generic air to this site. It seems to be manufactured. I didn’t like that. And the recently reviewed soccer Weblog reveals an eerie resemblance. And low and behold, the Gambling and Soccer weblog link to one another, ie. the same author, or company, or whatever. The layout is just boring. There was no imagination and no effort put into it’s design.

I myself, do not consider this a blog. It’s simply a website, attempting to attract more traffic to itself by luring unsuspecting blogger to it under false pretenses. If you enjoy Gambling and want to stay in the know, then this will be an excellent site for you to visit. It seems to be consistently updated and well-maintained. But, if you are anything like me, don’t waste your time.

Gambling Weblog