Category: Uncategorized

“Epicycles” is the theory created by pre-Copernican astronomers to explain away the movements of the planets that countered the accepted heliocentric view. This definition can be found in elaborated form near the bottom of Epicycle’s front page. With that statement and the astronomical map that is the background image of Epicycle, you can see right away the scientific and technological focus of this site.



Epicycle feels more like one of those 1995 personal sites than a standard blog. The “About Me” page gives the writer’s full name as well as a photo, family information, and job history. It also gives a list of the published works of Dominic Thomas, the person behind Epicycle. Other sections on the site include pages devoted to Dominic’s home-built computer, his space models, Dominic’s digital art, his father’s monograms, and his fiction; all are worth a look.



The blog itself is chock full of tech jargon that can turn off a normal web surfer, but not me. Reading about the trial and tribulations of a network analyst as he combats the Yaha worm is refreshing. Every entry is about technology, from recommending a cyberpunk-influencing novel to the solving his sound card problems. Sometimes all the tech-talk can get a bit much, as the writer does assume a certain level of know-how that most people do not have, including myself. But it is still worth a read, if only to marvel at the writer’s in-depth technical knowledge.



Stylistically, Epicycle is not the prettiest thing to look at. It does present the content in an easy to read manner, but there is no sophistication of color or design. Otherwise, it is a very nice site.



Epicycle is unique among blogs. It’s an old-time site that offers the reader much more than daily musings, it gives us the world as seen through a tech-head’s eyes. It is worth visiting, especially if you are at all interested in computers, and even if you are not.
Epicycle

Upon first looking at Lynne D. Johnson’s diary page, I thought, this looks like a juicy one! I think it was because I like the wide main column, the nice little font, and the white background. A glance at the left-side links to her bio and information about her as a professor, writer, editor, speaker, and black scholar told me this is the journal of an adult, and a seriously accomplished one at that.

The site contains much more than the diary, and it all seems to be designed to promote the author’s professional goals and accomplishments. The diary section gives her a place to express thoughts about current events, culture, and her full life. Reading some of the comments tells me she has a steady audience of other culture-watchers and music lovers.

Johnson’s journal entries are usually long and interesting. Sometimes she quotes from books and articles, conversations with friends, or IM exchanges. One particularly entertaining entry transcribed an exchange of adlibbed rap-style rhymes over IM. Others are thoughtful explorations of life’s dilemmas and decisions and professional issues. Both the entries and the reader comments seem to come from upbeat perspectives and stick to the positive. The site is professionally maintained in the sense that though it’s quite large, everything seems consistent and everything loads properly (except for her link to Blogsnob). Johnson has done a great job with this site.

I think anyone, particularly women of all colors, who is concerned with issues facing high-tech workers, higher education, teaching, or New York life would be interested in this online diary. And the variety within the posts makes me think it will be worthwhile to check back often.
Lynne

I love reviewing weblogs, I really do. Its mainly because of sites like this. Most of the sites I’ve reviewed have really good layouts, and when you see that you expect to find a really good blog. Nine times out of ten though the blog stinks and you can tell the author spent most of their time on design or other bells and whistles. Kind of like a Potamkin’s village. Look beyond the shiny paint and and clean streets and there’s nothing at all. Not so here. This is the blog we all wanted to have when we started blogging.

This is Shannon Campbell’s weblog. Folk singer, North Carolina native, recent Pennsylvanian, aspiring rock star. Shannon’s been “aspiring” for quite awhile now. That stinks for her of course, but its great for us readers. We get a first hand account of what it is like to actually try to make it into the music business. Its definatly much harder than I thought. Seems darn near impossible. The author just doens’t talk about trying to become a rock star though. I’m putting this blog in the music category although it could just as easily fit into the personal category. The author writes candidly about growing up in North Carolina, about leaving home when she was fifteen, about the squalid living conditions for the better part of a year or two afterwords, about a brother in jail, about being darn near destitute. The great thing about the authors writing is, while you are reading, you almost feel like you are there. You almost feel like its years ago and you are living in a cramped trailer with a bunch of pseudo strangers. If your like me, it makes you appreciate the fact that you never had those difficulties.

Okay, all that aside, here’s what makes this blog really good. Click on songs.mp3 in the navigation bar on the top of the blog. Once you get there download “Dreaming Of Violets”. Thats just good music. If you do one thing at Pet Rock Star listen to that song.

The site design is superb. There’s a guestbook, a picture section (we all love a picture section), a chat page (although I admit thats one feature I did not try, I’m just not a chat person). My favorite feature is how the blog is categorized. You can read all of the authors posts about her family, about her music, about just about anything just by clicking on the appropriate category.

I even tried one interesting thing the author wrote about. I have four cats that I love more than anything else. And putting scotch tape on the bottom of their paws is gosh darn the funniest thing you’ll ever see. I also agree with the author’s March 25th entry about road trip rules. That post ought to be made into a law.

There are a few broken links. I don’t blame the author for that though. Their mostly to articles written about her music in North Carolina. The author probably doesn’t know that the Fayetteville Observer changed their url.

This weblog is a five, you can’t argue with that. If you read it from day one til the most recent entry like I did, I dare say you would disagree. Five Stars, check it out.

Pet Rock Star

This is a site by a poet. A female poet (or poetess) who believes staunchly in Jane Austen.

With that, one can expect something different, and something different it is. Unlike most blogs that record daily happenings, there are sparsely any records of the writer’s concrete, tangible life. Instead, we follow the writer down abstract paths and hazy visions. You feel like you’re the wall or pillow that the writer talks to when she is alone and yet pretending to be talking to someone else, as you read about her longings to escape. Though it sometimes feels just a little too pretentious, there is an intimacy in her words.

The black-white design of the site is simple and pleasant with nice headings, but the links are somewhat confusing, what with their being all squeezed together and obscurely titled. There’re even links disguised as a whole collage of images. Also, the archive section takes longer than necessary to load. The whole page refreshes itself instead of just the entries section, which is quite annoying. Plus the writer doesn’t blog quite that often.

All said, this is a site different from others, and it is left to individuals to decide whether it is imaginatively beautiful or just fluffy nonsense. I personally enjoyed reading.

the heart of a poet

Ibidem is Latin for “in the same place,” and usually shortened to “ibid.” in footnotes to say “go see that place I just referred to earlier”. Which is appropriate for this weblog, since it’s got links a-plenty. Jesus Gil is a U.S. expat journalist living in Madrid, Spain. His blog is links to news about global politics, culture, religion, the occasional meme, and of course soccer. (His blog’s URL is a tribute to Madrid’s soccer — er, football — team. I also take it that “Jesus Gil” is a pseudonym, and that he is not the same Jesus Gil who is the president of said team and who was recently jailed for forgery and embezzlement.)

Ibidem has a variety of news sources, with many (not surprisingly) from Europe, and so has links to articles that I wouldn’t ordinarily find. His coverage of the recent tanker spill off Spain was really good. As with most news blogs, I enjoy ibidem most when it’s got commentary on the news, as well as the links. He’s got interesting opinions and it would enrich the site if he shared them more often. Occasionally there will be a more personal essay, such as his advice on tipping in Spain or a conversation with his son about skeletons that gets him thinking about innocence and imagination.

The design is functional, but nothing special. It’s not going to win any awards. But it’s legible and appropriate for the site. Ibidem includes a lengthy list of general blogs and another of religious blogs, especially Catholic ones. He has comments, a search function (using Atomz, which I use too — it’s easy!), a Daypop search bar, and on online referral log (using this script — for an alternate one try yaywastaken). He also has the “links open new windows” checkbox from randomwalks which really should be standard on all blogs.

In all, I’d say Ibidem is worth checking out for its interesting perspective on the news. Plus, where else are you going to read about Madrid’s soccer team?Ibidem