As I surfed on over to :Dave:, I was struck by how nice the blog looked. Clean, spare, easy-to-read, and organized, it was a refreshing sight. It also features an “About Me” section, which I’m always grateful for when reviewing a new blog. It was the typical “100 things” list, but it definitely helped me get an initial sense of who the author is. That out of the way, I began digging through the archives, which only extend back to August. This is one of the newer blogs on the block.
At the beginning of one of sixteen-year-old Dave’s entries he writes, “If today were a color it would be beige.” I remember quite a few beige days at that age. In fact, a lot of the posts in this daily journal brought back some teenaged memories. Breakups and reunions with his girlfriend, angst over school and his job, his excitement over earning his driver’s license: everything you would expect from a typical teenaged boy you can find here. There are some surprises, however. He hates football, is an avid aquarist, and dislikes a dirty room (and trust me, anyone who think that isn’t a surprise coming from a sixteen-year-old doesn’t know too many sixteen-year-olds.) He’s also a technology buff and has a second blog devoted to the pictures he takes with his phone. It’s new, but worth a peek.
I mentioned at the beginning of this review how nice :Dave: looks. It’s not the most original I’ve seen and it may be a template but it’s easy on the eyes and simple to navigate, making it functional as well as attractive. There are plenty of spelling and grammatical errors, which can at times interrupt the flow of the writing, but it’s an honest day-to-day account of who Dave is at sixteen. While some may find the blog a bit tedious, I think plenty of readers, especially those close to Dave’s age, will find something here they can relate to. If the author paid a little more attention to the quality of the writing and cleaned up his spelling, I think he’d see his audience grow.