Month: March 2002

Most of the weblog entries begin with the title of a song and who sings it, which I’m assuming this is what Amber’s listening to while she writes in her weblog.

From time to time, Amber will do what she calls “social logging”. This is a concept of comments, opinions, or just casual blurbs aimed directly to specific people that Amber knows and reads at her website. I’d never heard it called anything like “social logging” before. Amber does it from time to time, but certainly doesn’t go overboard with it.

Her posts are very well written. Everything revolves around the typical teenager’s day, but Amber spares us the drama of all the “he said, she said, but then he said that I said” business and just updates readers how school is going, what’s going on in her life, and just general musings.

The chosen layout colors of this site are certainly bright. That was ultimately my first thought when this weblog loaded on my screen. At first, I thought it was a bit much, but it eventually grew on, and I realized the fluorescent pink, red, and orange were a nice dynamic contrast to the white background that’s used through the rest of the design. The font is quite small, but there’s always the option of making it bigger through your browser’s tools. I tried this, but due the stylesheets that were used, the lines of text ran together making it just as difficult to read as the tiny text.



All of the external links that the author has linked to – mainly other weblogs – are listed in the right hand column. However, the URL or the title of the site isn’t available, instead there are almost 50 “X”s listed that lead to a different site. While artistically, it does add a little something to the site (perhaps mystery?), I found it to be slightly annoying as I was trying to find an about section, or something more to this site than just a weblog.

Amber does do a lot of web design. As I browsed through her weblog, I found several links leading to other sites that she’s responsible for. A shrine for the anime character Cowboy Bebop and a site devoted to making desktop wallpaper were two that I found to be the most eloquently designed and easy to use. Amber does have top notch design skills.

Overall, this is absolutely a site worthy of visiting. Amber posts often, and she does a nice job maintaining her site. I’d put this weblog in a category for people 16-21 to read, but it’s still one I would recommend checking out at least once.
Nuclear

What is an asiliat exactly? Hmmm….sounds a lot like a well developed bowel complex I think. Could it be a religion? A book club? An elite group of stamp collectors? Highly classified gardeners who mow government lawns perhaps? Should someone be proud of being asiliat or should their actions be frowned upon in today’s society? What happens if you’re non-asiliat? Was Elvis asiliat?

Well I don’t know, there isn’t any such definition of the word on the website. But whatever it is, being asiliat doesn’t sound too bad because this blog is brilliant. Don’t let all the cute cartoons on the main page fool you into thinking this will be a cute blog by some 16 year old girl because under all that is a hilarious guy who goes by the name of LoSir.

Enter into the world of LoSir where stories about work are plenty and motorbikes are mentioned often too. This I think is one of the most enjoyable blogs I’ve read in a while. The author comes across as a down to earth person with lots of real life(“RL” as LoSir refers to it) issues just like everyone else. You can’t help but sympathise with the guy as he writes lines like “More than once have I picked up a piece of clothing, admired it, only to have a friend or worse, the sales, lean over and tell me ‘It’s for girls.’” and “I’ve been crazy before, but I’m a little girlie-man when it comes to rain.” Just what the world needs for sure, another feminine man.

However, the black-grey-white motif of the site is nothing close to womanly. The site works best in IE which means those who use other browsers like for example Opera will have to switch browsers to view this site in it’s full glory. I’d also like to suggest to invest in a commenting/guestbook contraption of some sort so people can provide some feedback. The design is simple and boxy, lacking the finesse the actual blog has mastered, but I think content definitely overrides any quibbles about the appearance here.

While you’re there you should take the time to check out the other sections of the site containing pictures complete with commentary of LoSir at parties, baby pictures and pictures of cars and motorbikes.

So I liked it, I thought it was very entertaining and I’d definitely go visit it again.
being asiliat

The first thing that I noticed on stevenhasty.com is the design. I like it. There is an interesting photo packed against the left side, underneath which is the menu, and the archive list. The very last blog entry made is on the right side. To get to the posts before the very last, you have to go to the archive entry for the current month.



The page about Steven reads as if he was writing it hastily, but still come off as an easy read, and really serve to let you know what kind of person Steven is: “Straight W.A.S.P. male, dissinter, pessimist, teetotaller, non-smoker.”



The writing is highly disjointed. The same post will talk about school, his website, and anything else that seems relevant at the time, but that’s not a bad thing at all. It winds up coming across as if Steven were talking to you, and he’s known you forever.



There are a few parts that seem as if they’re a little on the inside joke side of things. But not to worry, most of it is completely understandable, and there isn’t a single post that I saw that was more than maybe one forth inside joke.



Overall, the site was fun to read, and the design did nothing to hinder me. The content was slightly geared towards a certain type of audience, which could hurt the general appeal of the website, but not all that much.



Content: 3

Design: 3

Fluidity: 4



Overall: 3.5lousypoetry.net

When jadedju first loaded, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. The background is a rather unique and unidentifiable picture. There’s a picture of a blowfish up top, and the menu is on the right side for a change. If I had to content was going to be like before reading, I would guess that it would show a lot of creativity without being completely zany.



As I began reading the blog entries, I found myself searching for a common theme in her writings, but I couldn’t. The first entry was very thought provoking. The next had almost no content at all. The next was funny, and after that a post that I honestly didn’t find interesting at all. There was a post that only made sense to a few select people (although she apologized for this, which hints that she normally writes for strangers). Overall, though, the posts are interesting, and kept me reading well into the archives without having to remind myself that I needed to in order to write this review.



The design of jadedju is rather simple. There’s nothing to complain about, but there’s nothing to write home about either. A few of the links at the bottom of the page point to pages outside of jadedju, but make up for some of the more noticeable omissions on her own site, such as an explanation of who she is, and why she blogs.



This site is almost entirely general purpose. The only thing worth mentioning that makes this site possibly a no-visit for some people would be that the author is a lesbian. The fact is not driven into every post, and even close-minded people wouldn’t know this unless they read a good bit of the site, but it is worth mentioning for the close-minded that won’t want to read it.



The design is clean, and works, but somehow fails to feel complete. I get the impression that so much more could be done. Something just doesn’t feel right. The entries are on average better than most, but the quality fluctuates a lot.JadedJu

I often complain about not getting to know a person well enough by reading their weblog. Sometimes it is just the lack of an about me page for more background info, other times, the author just posts moronic things that they think are interesting. However with Cocktail Onions we get to know Melanie, not through an about me page, but through her weblog.

To be honest, when I first went to the site, I said, “What the hell is with the onions? I don’t get it.” But the more and more I read; the more and more I got it. We all know that onions have layers; so does Cocktail Onions.

So I started reading, and reading and reading, and even more reading until I wound up at December without even thinking about it. This is a very in-depth weblog, that has its frilly stuff, and then has its deep thought stuff. When you read this weblog, you are in for one hell of a good ride. But be warned, this weblog is not for everyone, because if you aren’t willing to connect with the author, you won’t.

The one thing I thought about not bringing up was her post about her other review from another review site. However, the person who did that review obviously did not get Cocktail Onions. A misspelled word and it all went downhill from there. We are human after all and cannot always spell correctly. Amazing.

But I do agree with one part of the other review and that is the big onion in the center of the page. She says that she has played with the transparency so it is easier to read when the text goes scrolling down the onion, but the text still gets “lost” at the very bottom of the onion. No biggie, just means I scroll a little more, but it is still a little pain.

The overall design of the site is really well done, and easy to figure out. Yes some things go from the left side to the right side between pages, but that is ok. It is still in the order you would expect it.

Overall it is a good read. It starts off (currently beginning of June) like she is almost lost in cyberspace, and she may very well be. However, you learn about her as she is finding her way through it all. If you want a weblog that will make you think, has values, and above all lets you know who the reader is then Cocktail Onions is the weblog for you.
Cocktail Onions