Month: January 1970

Mortality, Inc. first grabbed me with it’s bright yellow background and intriguing photographs taken in a cemetery.

I started reading the blog, and more than a little disinterested in the content, which focuses on death and corpses.

I was really interested in her bio, which states she’s the author of a controversial book that everyone hates. Normally, people that write blogs sell their product, so I was a little disappointed not to see a link to the book. Their were book links on the front page, so maybe the book was there under an alias.

I think you’d have to be interested in goth or death to love this site, but it still has something to offer the casual reader. I was fascinated to read “Medical Examiners always make the “down cut” to the left of the belly button when making a Y incision at autopsy. This is done because there is a leftover tendon on the right side from the ambilical cord. They won’t cut it to show respect for the way we are born.”
Mortality Inc

Kudos to yet another of the rapidly blooming blogs appearing out of the UK! Okay, so maybe they have been around for quite some time and I just am now noticing for myself. What does that say about me, personally? Absolutely nothing! But I digress.

The Girl Behind really impressed me right from the start! This blog is presented in a rather upbeat, jovial manner. A speckled plethora of intriguing photographs that accompany most of the recent posts definitely brightened up the basic blogger template.

The posts are well written and provoking for such a young blog (the archives date back merely to April 2005), which leads me to believe that maybe the author has blogged previously or at least kept a physical journal. Her mild rants were amusing and I laughed out loud more than just once.

I lost myself for a while in the “London posts”, which were a delightful glimpse into a bus tour of the city. I’ve never been to London, myself, and all of the colorful descriptions and photos really re-sparked my desire to travel.

The author’s interest in the theater really caught me by surprise. When she first mentioned seeing a ‘matinee’ of Mary Poppins, my initial reaction was that she went to see the film. It was in her next post about seeing David Schwimmer on stage, when I realized the full effect of what she had written. (Then it hit me. Different country. Duh. The language, although VERY close, DOES have its differences! That tickled me because it kind of woke me up to the culture and made me want to visit England all the more!) These were theater reviews. And really good ones at that. Of the plays she reviewed in her posts, I had seen only one, Guys and Dolls. I did find myself reading each of the reviews twice, just in case I had missed anything. I felt that the review content was good enough to be printed for the public to experience.

I do still remain a bit puzzled about the squirrel hand puppet. Although it is rather cute, the background story would have been helpful for me to fully grasp the concept.

All of the links that I tried were in working order, which was nice. The only thing that was not in order (that I could see, anyway) was the ‘On My Bedside Table’ bit which seemed to have taken a bus trip of it’s own. I would have loved to have been able to see what kind of reading perks this author’s intellect.

Overall, I enjoyed reading this personal, yet pleasant photo journal. I will be certain to check back in periodically for more ‘Tours of England’ and maybe the story behind the mysterious squirrel?

I think it takes a certain type of person to recommend a site like this to. Many people might find the read bland, so all I can really say is read for yourself. You know what they say about opinions! I can say however, that I personally liked this blog because it gave me a peek into a person’s life who thoroughly enjoys learning about their own society and cultures. Cultures that I very much would like to experience for myself! You really don’t see that as much with bloggers in the states.

The Girl Behind

I thought: what is this about? Small businesses? No. In fact, it’s written by Jonathan, a self-styled entrepreneur, who just sold his business (type unspecified) in order to go on a “trip around the world” with his wife, Soyan.

This is a brand new weblog. In fact, there are only seven posts. It might be interesting to read about someone planning a trip around the world, but so far, this weblog isn’t interesting. It might, possibly, be a lot more interesting to read about someone taking a trip around the world. It would also be a lot more interesting not to read about Jonathan’s 30th birthday skydiving trip three times. (One full exposition, two additional mentions. That’s three separate posts that mention one event. That must be some important event.) The skydiving has clear symbolic meaning for Jonathan, but he never explains what it is to the reader. The first post about the skydiving is the best. Further mentions are not necessary. They are, I fear, boring.

In fact, this whole site is boring. I so wanted it to be interesting, but it’s not. There is no humor, no perspective, just a lot of smug back patting. How sad Jonathan is about leaving his company, how excited he is to start his trip. Yawn. I clicked through to Soyan’s blog and she thinks Jonathan is pretty great too. Then again, her blog only has three entries. A blog about a trip around the world is a great way to keep in touch with family and friends. But it’s not clear that this site holds any interest for a wider audience.

The design is fine, but overly busy. There is a huge logo in the upper right hand corner. It is kind of pretty, but mostly just takes up space without adding to content. There are no ads, which is nice. There are a couple of links, a handy search box (at least it will be handy when there is content), and a few buttons for feeds, all intuitive and inoffensive.

The weblog has potential to be interesting because there is something inherently interesting about a trip around the world. However, I won’t be coming back to read about it. The self-congratulatory tone and uninformative writing style leave a lot to be recommended. A vivid style and strong voice are needed to make travel writing interesting. When the author of “World Unfurled” develops those, it might be worth reading. I give it a 2.5.
World Unfurled

I couldn’t tell what the blog was about at first…was there some meaning I was missing in the title? Is it due to the author’s plan to be a Medical Examiner? I think so. This is Hilary’s personal blog, with a rather different and more negative take on life than I’ve run into in the blogosphere. Not that most blogs are all sweetness and light, but this blogger revels in her negativity. If I could piece the “storyline” together a bit more easily, I would find it a lot more interesting.

The writing style is thick and breathless–the author never pauses. It’s hard to like her, but I don’t think she cares. Ironically, that makes her more likeable. I’m not sure what her purpose is in writing–venting? Polishing her writing skills? Therapeutic value? This puts the reader at a bit of a disadvantage–it’s hard to position yourself. Hilary expresses herself with humor and a lot of anger. She is brutally honest about motherhood. It is refreshing. Some of the posts are a bit overlong and unfocused and could use more editing, but the content is almost always excellent.

I couldn’t find it at first, but there is list of archives hiding on right sidebar. Each post is tagged, but I couldn’t find a list of topics, but maybe this is coming. Some of the sidebar headings are confusing, but amusing, such as using “Deceased” to head the list of most recent posts.

As I delved more into the blog, I found it to be rather poignant. The author is a “suicide survivor,” which means that people in her family committed suicide. In this case, it was the author’s younger brother in 2000 and her father earlier this year. I find this–heartbreaking. Yet, Hilary is a survivor. She is tough, knows what she wants and is not afraid to speak her mind. After reading just a handful of posts, I overcame my initial doubts and started to really like this blog.

Despite some navigation issues, the blog is worth your time. It is well designed with a spare aesthetic. The content is primary on this blog. Hilary is a unique character. Take some time and get to know her. She’ll surprise you. I give it a 4.5.Mortality Inc

The at-a-glance description of “The Girl Behind” would be clean, somewhat plain, with an early-morning breeziness. The second thing that hits a split-second after the initial color-scheme take-in is, of course: “SQUIRREL!!!” As of current, the newest post contains a photo of a plush squirrel toy in natural surroundings. This, of course, is a surefire way to get my attention. Is it just me, or do squirrel-lovers generally have cute and interesting blogs?

So, personal preferences aside, I move on to the rest of the blog. A quick glance at the subtitle tells me that the author is a “33 year-old English girl.” Hmm. Sounds interesting! Scrolling down to take in a bit of the content-to-link-to-photo ratio, it turns out that our English author (she chooses to remain anonymous, and simply calls herself ‘The Girl Behind’) has a nice combination of all three. There are a few posts with just one photo and a caption, as well as a proper scattering of links where appropriate. The rest of it is pure text. Girl Behind ranges from reviewing theatrical productions and other blogs, to reminiscing on earlier years, to current happenings in her personal life. What is written is spontaneous and does not follow a specific “chronology”. In fact, my favorite post so far is “Five tips for a woman…” It’s short, funny, and has absolutely nothing to do with anything posted before or after it.

As I mentioned earlier, there isn’t much to the design and layout of the site. It’s a premade template (I worship premades too, so no qualms there), and a very simple one at that. Like I said before, the site possesses a breakfast-in-bed sort of zing to it. Maybe tea-time in Great Britain? The colors are nice, practical, and easy on the eyes. Not much else to the design. Personally, I would have liked to see a layout centered around that stuffed squirrel! It would have definitely added to the at-a-glance appeal, but even without, the blog is just fine.

Checking out Girl Behind’s profile, I can see that she has four separate blogs. However, ‘The Girl Behind’ is the only one with actual content. The other three have a single post: “x”. This is endlessly confusing to me. Perhaps she decided to integrate all three of her older blogs to create ‘The Girl Behind’? Back to the main blog, Girl Behind links to some of her favorite blogs, a webpage full of squirrel photos (squirrel lovers must-see), blog-ranking sites (TWR included), and her current leisure reading.

Overall, I can say that ‘The Girl Behind’ is a nice blog. Decent, clean, and well-written. There is something appealing about the way it jumps from one topic to another from post to post. However, it comes off as perhaps a little too light-hearted. Or maybe simply not “earthy” enough? I keep mentally comparing ‘The Girl Behind’ to a scone. Is it a blog? Yes. Is there anything horribly wrong with it? Of course not! But I can’t help but think that a little pat of butter or jam would do it a world of good. I give it three out of five stars. Good effort, nice for dreamy reading, but nothing overly extravagant or “new”.The Girl Behind