My first impressions of Rambling Along are not quite positive. Just finding out that the weblog is run by BlogDrive took away my high hopes of a good design and/or layout. So loading the page was done. Indeed, it was the typical BlogDrive template, but I see that there was at least a small effort made with the top image.
Later on, I skimmed, not read, his sidebar and his entries. I saw some very uninviting pictures and text which made me worry about making a review and for the first time, giving someone a score below 2.
Fortunately for Kai, the author, I thoroughly read his weblog and the procedure I did was only for the first impressions part of my review. When I finally got reading, I found out that he is as gay as his humor, which is ironic since the last review I made was that of a lesbian’s.
Well, moving on. After the not so positive first impressions implied on me, I actually found myself absorbed reading Kai’s entries. They are generally sarcastic and cynical and can even be offending at times but there’s always a good point in Kai’s realizations. Plus, for a self-confessed homosexual, he doesn’t talk about men as often as other gay people I know. Instead, he’ll blast out humorous opinions about the government, his pet dogs, a number of celebrities and even his grandparents. Most of all, with the way he puts it he enjoys his gayhood more than anything, which is a good thing because it makes his entries more personal, interesting and less sugar-coated.
And so I’ve mentioned, he uses visual aids as well. He uploads pictures and I’m not so sure if I want to know where he got them from. At first glance, you’d say they were very tasteless, but once you see the text that supports the picture, you’ll probably realize that if a picture paints a thousand words, words make them a masterpiece. If I could give the crown for “Caption Queen of the Year”, I’d most definitely hand it down to Kai.
His entry styles vary from long narrative ones, lists of whatnots and cracking one/two-liners. The good thing is that no matter what the length of his entry may be, there’s always ann added spice to it, which makes you want to read on and on and on.
Well, I have been positive for the past few paragraphs. Now let’s deal with the down sides of Rambling Along. I believe that Kai is very street-smart and wise, but I think he lacks knowledge about himself. He is very observant, and he outputs his thoughts with very playful words, but rarely do I hear him speak with more intimacy about what’s really inside. Maybe I’ve missed it but it seems to me that Kai knows more about the world around him than the world inside himself. Sure, he knows he’s gay and he knows what he likes and what he hates and what he thinks is stupid, but somehow he doesn’t push himself beyond the line of personal access or however you may call that.
Also, words, no matter how great their meaning, will not mask out the dullness of the design. Even if he moves to a better weblog provider, with his self-confessed lack of HTML skills, I don’t think he’ll be creating some journal eye-candy any soon.
Another downside is his English skills. I’ve seen lots of mispelled words (even if he says he’s good at spelling) and he has a problem with grammar too, specifically with punctuation (commas are very important, you know). Fortunately, those problems are still at a minor level and it wouldn’t distract you much as it would do with those who sPeLL diZz WaY.
To sum it all up, I’d give the thumbs up for Rambling Along. The author has a great way of sizzling up this dog-eat-dog world with the humor that all gay men, I believe, are blessed with. His lack of depth and the boring template are lapses in his weblog, but if that’s not what your there for, I’d recommend Rambling Along strongly.
(By the way, Kai, I have one of those butt washers at home.)Rambling Along