Month: March 2002

Hi dave is not written by Dave, its written by Sue. Confused ? It gets worse. I thought I had stumbled into a league of gentlemen site, which I am eminently qualified to review as I used to live approximately seven miles from the location of the said comedy. However, the weblog is quite difficult to find in amongst all the other stuff that makes up this site, follow the diary link not the log link.

This blog should be titled the life and times of a forty-something divorced mother of three. So you will not be surprised when I tell you that this blog is only updated once a week, and this is proper diary stuff. You wont learn anything mind boggling here, but this is someones life so Im not going to judge the content. Unless you are over 30 and have kids dont even bother having a look, you wont get it. I am and I have, and what struck me most was this: About half way through the posts Sue stopped writing at me and started talking to me. She has obviously become more comfortable putting her words onto the page as the time has passed. This blog will get better, there is a lot of humanity here.

The site has a very simple design with all the posts in the centre panel of one page, hence no archives, and there is nothing in the side panels to distract you. The only link on the whole blog didnt work, the colour scheme doesnt set the world on fire, and the java mouse trail drove me mad, I hate them.

There is nothing here to keep me coming back to this site, apart from the fact that I like Sue. Unfortunately I have to be objective and I cant see any reason to recommend this blog to anyone other than the writers family and friends. This site would benefit greatly from a lot more posts, and some links to things that the writer is looking at. I give it a poor 2.

Hi Dave

This is another plain looking blog, with mostly white text on a black

background. Obviously this person does not see the need to do much

in the way of presentational design work. And that’s no bad thing, in

itself, but it does lead me to wonder if the content of the blog will

be somewhat banal. The subtitle, “Ramblings of a Bemused

Anthrophile”, along with the brief introductory blurb, do not

encourage me, but do not put me off, either.

Having now read a good number of entries, on the current page and at

fairly random points in the archives, I find it’s not too bad a blog.

It’s an online diary, to some degree, but not limited to just being a

record of what happens each day. Some entries are a little amusing,

and generally, Deb, the author, has a chatty, familiar style.

However, it seems that it’s a blog that has to be read and followed

for everything to be clear. A lack of any pages summarising

information about Deb doesn’t help. A full set of archives, though,

does.

Deb writes about herself and her life, in which high school and

musicals seem to feature quite strongly. She sounds like someone with

quite an active and varied life, both in and out of school, though her

rambly style (as promised in her subtitle) does leave me a bit unclear

as to the contexts of some activities and relationships. It’s

certainly a personal blog, and with the usual mix of entries found in

such blogs.

There is nothing more to say about the site itself, as it’s just the

blog with archives. But some background information on Deb would

really not go amiss.

Overall, there is nothing particularly special about this blog, and

nothing particularly bad, either. It is just what it is: a personal

blog. Some readers will enjoy it, and some just won’t be interested.

looking for answers from the great beyond…

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

Rain-Angel first came across to me as a simple, well presented, no fuss no weblog, that’s inviting from the word go. The best thing about this site from the beginning was that on the right hand side it gave a brief spiel about who the author and her background. If there’s one thing that really annoys someone when entering a stranger weblog is not knowing anything about the person yet having to identify with what they post, Dara gives the reader good insight to who she is, her life and situation. It was a good start before I even set eyes on the blog.

The blog itself isn’t anything mind blowing, I didn’t really expect it to be, but it was interesting and I did enjoy reading it. Posts range from day to day activities, meeting new peoples, local activities and a lot about Dara herself, which may seem rather dull, but has been well written in forms of easy reading lists as either questions or flashbacks. Of particular interest was a ‘Where was I when?…’ (22 March) where the author gives us an insight to her life during different important developments at the time. Overall I was more than happy to keep reading.

The design made reading the weblog easy, nice font selection, font size and pleasing colour selection all contributed towards this. The blog also utilized the entire browser window and wasn’t hidden away in an annoying tiny text box that seems to be all the rage at the moment. Not burdened by too many graphics either the site loaded up promptly and there wasn’t a dead link in sight adding to the joy of the review.

Even though its far to say that there was no one particular area that stood out as amazing in the weblog, overall it was one of the better ones I have had the pleasure of reviewing. My only criticism is the timing between archiving which appears to be every 2 weeks for the main page making it rather long, though without graphics, download time is still minimum, so I can overlook this rather small annoyance. Other than that I couldn’t see much else wrong with the site. I give Rain-Angel a 4 out of 5 rating, two thumbs up and even a toe!

rain angel

Let’s get this out of the way first:
Melissa isn’t going to win any design
awards for Duplicity. The front page
is simple enough, but some of the
links (such as her profile) will whisk
you away to completely different
sites, and it can all get a little
confusing. Better be ready with that
back button if you want to see the
whole of duplicity.

But then, this is a diary site, so let’s
take a peek at the main attraction.
And I have to say I was pleasantly
surprised. Melissa writes very well,
intelligently and with a unique sense
of humor. Her entries are almost
always interesting and sometimes a
real pleasure to read, there’s plenty
here to reward persistence.

My main disappointment was not
being able to find a biography here. I
would have liked to learn a little more
about the girl whose life i was
exploring. There are pictures,
however, for the more voyeuristic
amongst you.

Duplicity is a diary first and foremost,
and if that is what you’re looking for,
you will not be disappointed. Just
don’t get lost.

Duplicity