Jon, a.k.a. Apollo, comes off immediately as an individual who knows how he’s been wired, and knows how to work life to its advantages. He seems to be somewhat addicted to almost all things pop-culture. A couple entries here and there gave off a vibe of energy, intelligence, and sometimes self-depricating humor (the best kind, in my book). I’d say that his writing style resembles one you’d get if you crossed living out a character from the movie “Swingers” with the daily rants of Bridget Jones, of “Bridget Jones’ Diary” by Helen Fielding.
The design is clean, and looks good in IE. Simple three-column layout, with the entries in the middle, sandwiched by a sidebar of links on the right, and what looks to be a collection of ‘pop’-y stock photos on the left.
As it turns out, Jon was born in Taiwan, dwells in San Diego, and has been to many points in between. His ‘about’ page is very detailed and candid, providing the reader with a good idea of his interests, lifestyle, and human qualities. Anyone who can appreciate the merits of A Tribe Called Quest, “Death of A Salesman”, “The Wizard Of Oz”, and poking into people’s point of catharsis–all equally–has my vote as a being pretty well-rounded individual.
The blog itself is a personal one. Its entries, whether they be glimpses on daily life, recapping movies he just saw, or touching on his feelings after a night of clubbing, reveal a person who most people his age (24) are likely to relate to i.e., he enjoys hip-hop, video games and many sundry materialistic things, maybe a bit too much. However, I actually found myself wanting to read more, so I went further on into the archives.
Although a small amount of entries are more personal, leaning toward the mundane (talking about cleaning his apartment, dying his hair, etc.,) most of the entries seemed to command my attention. They made me want to take MORE action beyond thinking ‘oh that was a cute story, or joke’, and then moving on to a different site. I say this because he really takes in all that is around him and examines it to its fullest, and his writing reflects this. I imagine he is the kind of person who doesn’t rest a lot in order to not miss a minute. I guess that’s what caused me to want to read more, and I imagine that others come back for more as well.
Although Jon’s sometimes emotionally ‘up’ and ‘down’, throughout his entries, he manages to keep the reader interested, and has us venturing out into the other websites he has, including a blog portal he’s working on, a site for his friends and family to read and view pictures, and his former dance group’s site. He was nearby the area during the WTC attacks on September 11th and gives great insight on just what was going through him and his friends at the time. For me, these entries made reading Inner Life all the more worthwhile.
I think the author has sort of summed up his blog without really realizing it by saying, “…as much as you can rely on [Blogger] to keep updated on people’s lives, remember that is only a tool towards discovering someone’s innards.”
Definitely take a moment to ‘discover the innards’ here. I have, and am likely to continue. innerlife