Sweet And Sour certainly is a blog. And there’s really nothing else to it. It’s written by a guy called Eric (I am guessing, since that’s what he says in his minute “About Me” sort of spiel in the top right-hand corner of his blog). In hopes of gaining some insight to the person that is Eric, I jumped to the very first entry, maybe there’s some more information about him there? Nope. I almost took offense to his labelling of journalling as “juvenile”, but apart from that, there was no hint nor clue as to why this blog was started other than to keep track of things he would otherwise forget.
A good reason for blogging if ever there was one. A logical reason for blogging. A boring reason for blogging.
The blog is a standard Blogger layout, well defined headers, dates, and a song that he’s listening to whilst writing is listed for each entry he makes. The code is clean and the site loads very quickly – because there’s nothing there! There’s one really spffy thing about blogging and that is the control you have over your personal space. This blog is about you, Eric – make it yours! Go nuts with the design – especially since I am assuming you’re an aspiring actor (or enthusiastic about getting a job in the entertainment industry). It’s a pity that many people who write well in their blogs don’t think to create or use a design for their site that really reflects their own personalities. There’s no links showing personal interests, no links to blogger friends. There’s no decent information about him or the characters in his blog that feature so heavily in his life.
It’s bland! I read through entry after entry. Eric doesn’t attempt to be funny, he doesn’t say anything extraordinarily poignant or particularly wonderful. It’s a recording of his day-to-day life, a thing that this particular reviewer (and fellow blogger) doesn’t really appreciate. Readers don’t want a simple recording of what you’ve have for breakfast, or what you’ve done after that last exam. We want to know the nitty gritty. Why are you hanging out with that girl from work? Why are people wanting to take your picture in restaurants and hook you up with their daughters? Eric’s life reads like a typical young man’s life, but you don’t get much more information other than that.
The whole problem with the blog I find, like I said before, is that there’s nothing personable in the design. To really get the whole story with Eric, you need to read the blog from beginning to end. Maybe if it was written with a little more flare I’d get into it more, but I couldn’t. So whilst there was a number of entries I read in depth, it was matched by an equal number that I could only skim through.
However I do have to point out that Eric is well written and there’s nary a spelling or grammatical error to be found, that’s pretty spiffy. The other redeeming feature of Eric, as I found out in an earlier entry in the blog, is that he likes ska music (which can often be described as big band punk rock) – Reel Big Fish. He also likes that gothique classique – The Cure. Good boy. I forgive you.
Overall, this blog has terrific potential to be really enthralling for it’s audience, but it falls short. That’s not to say that it’s an awful read, just a little bland with the repetitive “I did this and then I did that” entries.Sweet And Sour