Category: Uncategorized

The focus of ‘Chew’s Place’ is clearly on the words of its author, Chewie. The design is simple, with little to distract the reader’s attention from the most recent entries. At the same time, many of the usual weblog features are here, too — links, archives, credits, an ‘About Me’ page, and more, hidden by default but expandable with a click on the appropriate link. It’s a simple, clean look, and it worked for me; the posts are ‘front and center’, but the extras are easily accessible, too. Very nice.

I first took a look at Chewie’s About Me page for some insight about the author, and found that she is — among other things — an avid reader, a chemical engineer/biochemist, and an aspiring teacher. I dug into the archives, wondering how and whether those topics would come through in her writing. I didn’t have the opportunity to read the very first posts; only the past six months of archives are available, and it’s clear that Chewie was already in a ‘groove’ in September of last year. It would have been interesting to see how her posts and writing evolved during the earlier stages, but that’s a minor quibble.

The good news is that the archives are filled to the brim with content; Chewie posts daily on a variety of subjects, ranging from commentary on recent news stories to personal anecdotes to book reviews to (more recently) a ‘Photo of the Day’ feature. Most posts are substantial, covering several topics; the monthly archives are huge, with stories and links and opinions to satisfy the most avid readers.

It’s clear that the author puts a lot of time and effort into ‘Chew’s Place’. Those looking for a new weblog to try out should be very happy with this site — with a wide variety of topics and links, there’s a bit of something for everyone here. And if Chewie has missed a day’s posting in the recent past, I didn’t catch it. It’s that commitment to delivering the goods that sets ‘Chew’s Place’ apart. I give this site 4.5 out of 5.Chew’s Place

My first impression when I first seen this blog was not a very good one.It looked like so many other pages I have seen as of late, very ordinary..
But as the saying goes, “You can’t judge a book by it’s cover”. In the case of “Irrevelent Press”, the above phrase rings very true.

At the top of the page in the right hand corner, is a photo of a teddy bear which apparently is supposed to be the author . The author’s name is Roo…(aka. Roo Bear”) The first thing I looked for was an “about” page which I realized at that time that there wasn’t any. But then again, I really didn’t expect to find one because the author is posing as a 7 eyed teddy bear.

The writing was very easy to read, and the page itself was very neatly laid out. The only problem I had, was the template looked like so many of the other templates you see , plain and boring.

On to the entries. Roo started his blog on February 11, 2004. Once I started reading, I basically had to pull myself away from the blog in order to do my review. It was obvious that Roo’s entries were thought out before he started writing them. Roo talks about several topics that are very stimulating to the mind and will really make you think. Take for instance this particular entry.. Roo wrote….

So last night I had this not-so-amazing thought about the amount of buttons in our lives. I actually considered waking up this morning and counting how many buttons I push throughout the day for the sake of blogdom. Remotes, cars, computers, phones, the list goes on and on. It seems we have a fascination with pushing stuff. I think it all comes from the earliest moments of being a child when you get all these toys with things you can push, or toggle, or pull. I am reminded when I first got my car and my little 2-year old buddy sat on his mother’s lap in the drivers seat to check it out, and the first thing he did was start pushing every button his little fingers could reach. Is there just something satisfyingly tactile about depressing a piece of plastic and making something “happen?” Truth be, you can NOT go through your day without pressing some kind of button. Try it! You wouldn’t be making any phone calls, typing any emails, making any fruit smoothes – nothing. How devoid would your life be without using buttons?

Now this is something I have never thought of. But it gives us something to think about. I found each and every post very interesting and entertaining. On some of the entries, Roo adds a bit of humour. Roo’s posts are very well written . What is interesting to some, may not be interesting to others. But I for one, truly enjoyed reading Roo’s entries. I will also be book marking his site,.

To conclude my review, as I have stated, Roo’s blog is a very interesting and entertaining read. Maybe he could just work on the template a little bit. Add some more design to it. He has several photo’s added to his posts which give it a very nice touch. Work on the template a bit more, I am sure it would have the potential to get a rating of 5. Irrelevant Press

A fairytale castle at night with a rising full moon greeted me upon entering Genuineblog’s realm. I noticed at once the links to the first three chapters of a romance novel. I also saw a small reference to Mrs. G. and made the leap that this was a blog written by a woman. It took me a while reading and poking around on the site to realize my mistake. This is a man’s blog. There IS an ‘About’ link, but it was not working at the time of my review. That would have been VERY helpful to get oriented.

I began to read the entries. It took me a while to get my ‘genuine’ legs as the first ones I read were cryptic references to other entries and some very short entries that didn’t reveal much, but as I read on I found a delightful sense of humor emerging.

He writes quite a bit about being a Dad to his two children and the one on the way. His description of a game he plays with his children called ‘monster chase’ was hilarious. He has several entries with links to pictures or other people’s blogs that are fun. My personal favorite was a link to his idea of the perfect job, a ‘deck holder downer’. Check it out March 26, 2004. There are entries on a variety of subjects, some touching, some are raunchy and very, well. . .’guy’. But most are quite humorous. Especially the recurring reference to him trying to stay off his wife’s LIST.

I read the first chapter of his romance novel and very soon was reminded of Tom Seleck in that movie…. what was it?, oh yes, ‘Her Alibi’. The writing styles seem similar to me. (Loved that movie by the way). In any case by this time, I was thoroughly enjoying my visit.

He is involved in something called ‘blogrolling’ which someone is going to have to catch me up on. I’m not sure what it’s all about, but it seems to be time consuming and he was making jokes about it. He DOES have an impressive number of commenting readers.

All in all I would give this blog a 4. The only reason I am not giving it a 5 is the fact that the About Me link was not working and that this blog was not very user friendly for navigating and getting your bearings. As the authors of this kind of material, we should remember that probably every day someone visits your blog ‘cold’ and it is a good idea to let them know something about you right off the bat. So we can settle in and enjoy what you might have to offer. We don’t need to write a book or anything, sometimes just one cogent phrase can do the trick. But I must say, that I will most likely be checking back in to see how the ‘Monster Chases’ are going at the Genuineblog household.

www.genuineblog.com

Oh dear, a Blogspot template. Really boring. It is dark blue with white lettering. Which is moderately easy to read, but frankly I found the darkness starting to get on my nerves already. But this is a creative writing blog, so I tell myself,it’s not surprising that there is no eye candy.

So okay, who’s the author? Why is the author writing? What’s this blog all about? I found no such answers readily at hand. After I got over my annoyance of having to jump into the deep end of the pool, with nary a hint of where I was or what I was about to experience, I began to read the entries. The first ones I encountered were disjointed and confusing copies of emails to a friend. But as I dug deeper, the storyteller emerged.

The majority of the entries are humorous, and broad humor at that. While fairly well written, there were often sudden leaps that left me thinking, “Did I miss something?” and having to backtrack. Some well-placed punctuation would help this problem in a few instances, but in most, I would say, a willingness to settle down and tell the story without rushing to the next punch line, (Of which there are many, and lots of them are very funny, don’t get me wrong) A little more attention to detail would be a very good thing. I also noticed a tendency to end the story abruptly. A few more final sentences to tie up loose ends would have kept me from ‘readers freefall’.

After reaching the end of the home page, I went back to the top to look at the “Previous Posts” list to see if I had missed anything. When I clicked on a title I was taken to that post, but then a new list of titles appeared on the right of the page that I had not visited. Maybe it’s just me, but I don’t care for the way this site is organized. Ease of navigation is big in my book.

I finally stumbled, by accident on what I think is the inaugural post of May 13, 2004. Oh how I wish I had read this first! In it she describes her compulsion to write and desire to share said writings. There is a very amusing imaginary dialog with friends and family members about her starting her blog. It would have been perfect to BEGIN with this post. One thing that we should remember as bloggers, is that if someone stumbles upon your blog while browsing around, you only have a few minutes at most to let them know what the heck is going on at your place. And convince them it’s worth their while to stay and have a look around.

Overall, after recovering from my initial snit, I enjoyed my visit. The quality of the stories varies quite a bit, but I think Kim has a certain storytelling gift. And I will leave you with what was my favorite tale. “Jesus Is On The Bedpan in 306” May 20, 2004. Read it. But I can’t tell you how to GET to it. Just keep clicking on the Previous Posts until it comes up in the menu! I think it’s worth the click and hunt!

Ktraveldan Network

Chum Bucket. Having been raised by an outdoorsman, I knew what a chum bucket was. In case you don’t here is Webster’s on it : 1. animal or vegetable matter (as chopped fish or corn) thrown overboard to attract fish.

Now you know.

The page is a three column layout, which is not my favorite. I feel all that stuff on both sides is a bit distracting to the main attraction, which should be the writing. But it is well organized and everything seemed to be in working order.

I was amused though by the goofy guy with bugs in his teeth at the top of the page, and was starting to look forward to some fun. My hopes were dashed pretty quickly however as I began to read the entries.

It took me a while, but I finally found an entry that explained a little about where our author was coming from. If I were you, I would read this entry first: Saturday 02.07.04 [12:15 am] .
Here he states his desire to become a stand up comedian. And it sounds like he has had some experience with it too. He also describes a little of his philosophy of comedy. After performing with a group of other people, it sounds like he had an epiphany. He describes it thusly: “It was the realization that most of the people on this planet aren’t aware of what surrounds them. I made it my lifetime goal to show you.”
He compares himself to several comedians, George Carlin among them.

Now, to the writing itself. While I give him credit for an active imagination, (he is very clever at making up names for imaginary diseases for one thing) I am afraid that he spoils his brilliance by being shockingly crude and insulting.

I am no student of humorists, but I can think of two who have been able to pull off this tightrope kind of humor. George Carlin is one, and Don Rickles the other. But you have to admit, that even they go too far sometimes. George is a New York curmudgeon on steroids. He’s grouchy. He’s cranky. He’s pessimistic. But he’s not MEAN.

Now I will admit that what is funny to one person is offensive to another and that we are talking about subjective stuff here. But the reason I am delving so deep into this, is that the author of this blog thinks that you have something to learn and he is here to teach you.

He says:”Nothing is sacred in comedy folks.” Which is a quote from a response to someone who commented on his blog. Well, I disagree. (and so did many of the people who commented.)

What is sacred, is the connection between you and your audience. It is a delicate balance that you enter into when you listen to or read comedy. I feel that our author has chosen a comedic path that, no matter how breathtakingly honest it may be, will probably not resonate with a wide audience. The insulting style, the crudity, and the just plain meanness of it, ceases to amuse pretty quickly. Contempt for your listeners, will never draw them into your circle. Without an audience, there is no comic.

It wouldn’t be honest of me to say that there is absolutely no humor to be found on this blog, because I DID laugh a few times. But overall, I ended up feeling abused by the content, and the delivery.

And there’s nothing funny about that.

ChumBucket