When opening Substitute Scene, I immediately see a rather large and yellow graphic to the left of the mostly white page. The design is clean and pleasant until the grungy black letters of the title load on the right. The splotched letters just don’t work well with the clean layout. From this first sight I half expected to begin reading the blog of an angsty teenage boy who will tell me how much he hates his parents with every entry.
Thankfully, my first impressions were unfounded. The thoughts posted within this weblog come from Reen. She’s 19 and her life, as well as her blog, seems to revolve mostly around her friends. Entries range from very mundane to things of a more personal and provoking nature. I suppose, for my taste, I would have rather seen more of the personal entries outnumber the mundane ones. Most of the entries are written with care, but a few are quite confusing. I think perhaps those entries may have been targeted towards a particular group of friends who frequent the log.
Added features to Substitute Scene include a selection of photos from NYC just after 9-11 and various other artistic projects. I enjoyed the montage presented in the visual section and would like to see more from Reen in this area.
I think Substitute Scene and Reen herself appeal to an audience of younger adults with social lifestyles. Overall this site is worth a look, but I hope in the future that we will be able to see a bit more of Reen exposed to the web and exploring her creativity.
Leesubstitute scene.