Month: May 2002

My first impression upon visiting Nick’s Domain was a pretty gosh darn good one. Blogspot site (one of the better templates) and I immediatley saw on the left side a huge archive section, which I think is so important to any blog.

I pride myself on the fact that every blog I review I read word for word, no matter how long it is, or how long it takes to review it. Usually, the longer the blog, the higher the score (from me). I am a ‘content’ reviewer. I don’t care about how many plug-ins or how much time you spent on design, I like to read a good journal. Well Nick has written a lot, for a pretty long time, and I have to say, I wish he hadn’t, because what I read, just plain disturbed me.

Nicks Domain starts out innocently enough, for a month or so it even toys with becoming a group log. The author ends that and begins going solo with the posts. He seems to obsess throughout the blog on wether people think he is ‘smart’ or not. The author posts incessantly about his personal conflict on wether he is a heterosexual, which would be a great study on someones thoughts about their own sexuality, if in the way the author wrote it did not completley turn me off this blog. There is a section where the author questions himself (quite brutally at times-2/9/02) on many subjects, which on face value seems like a fantastic idea for a diary or journal, but after reading what I did, I wish I hadn’t. Cause I plain found it disturbing. I gave the author some points for that method of writing though, introspection is sometimes a good thing in a journal. Sometimes. The author seems to go out of his way to lash out at his friends.

Than the author meets Allie (the internet girlfriend). I’m guessing he met her on the internet, and eventually the two meet twice. Once in D.C. (where the author lives) and once again in Pittsburgh, where Allie lives. They seem to hit it off on the net, and than they meet each other, and after that things seem to go sour. Than this weblog becomes an ‘all about Allie’ weblog. The author posts numerous times about how his girlfriend is late to internet chats or doesn’t show up at all. (or dates as he calls them). As a matter of fact, for the last two or three months of the blog, all the author focuses on is Allie. Constantly. And that kind of seems weird. (Allie is not reciprocating here). The author even mentions how he has an ‘Allie’ shrine in his room on the bulletin board. Well, Allie dumps him. And thats all you read about for the last month (or two) of this blog. Its just plain weird.

There aren’t any bonuses to this site, no ‘about’ section, just a weblog with archives and links to the weblogs this author reads on a regular basis.

The author’s parents constantly mention to him that he is spending way to much time on the internet. I agree with Mom and Dad. The author needs to unplug his computer for awhile and get outside or something.

Half a star. If you want a guide on how not to conduct yourself in the weblog community read Nick’s Domain, read it from day one like I did. This is pretty weird stuff. Nick’s Domain

This is one of the most fascinating weblogs I’ve seen in a long time. The author, Kelly, is a 21-year-old Canadian who writes about her travels in Asia. As of April 4, she’s in Cambodia.

She writes about getting instructions on traveling from Thailand to Cambodia and the possibility of coming across landmines on the trip. Then there’s this part of one entry … “I got my Thai exit stamp and then was in No Man’s Land between Thailand and Cambodia. Here, people tried to grab my bag, arms and hair. Kids were holding up umbrellas, hoping I’d pay them for their service or buy a drink or just throw money at them.” You just don’t see posts like that everyday.

In addition to logging her adventures on her current trip, the site also has links to travelogs from her trips to the Mardi Gras in New Orleans as well as New York City (pre 9/11). There are also links to other travelogs, reviews of various hostels around the world and other travel-related writing.

She also has links to other essays, news articles and term papers she’s written on a variety of subjects.

The weblog itself is attractive and easy to navigate.

This is a unique weblog and I’m looking forward to reading about the rest of her trip and the insights she shares.

crazy white girl w/ a keyboard

Wow! When I first visited kevinsideas.blogspot.com (Ideas Inc.) I expected to find entries with random opinions on random topics. I did not expect to find the massive amount of focused content that I did.



Kevin Holtsberry is a thirty one year old legislative aide to an Ohio State Senator. He’s a Christian and a conservative. I spent the last two days reading Ideas Inc. and my advice to anyone who does go there is to bring your thinking cap along. Mr. Holtsberry writes about his conservative beliefs in a way that you don’t see often in opinion orientated weblogs. This is not a “this is what I believe in and if you disagree you are ruining this country” weblog. I disagree with the authors beliefs but after I read “Education Reform Rant” I found myself questioning my beliefs on school vouchers. I have a feeling thats what the author intended. Mr. Holtsberry just doesn’t throw an opinion out there. He explains them in a way that is not offensive to someone who disagrees, but in a way that attempts (through well thought out and researched posts) to educate those that disagree with him. Kind of like; “Hey, I understand you disagree, and I respect you for that, but let me explain my thinking.” I found at Ideas Inc. a defense of the Harry Potter books and movie that I wish all parents who were worried about wizardy and witchcraft would read, and this coming from a conservative christian! My two other favorite topics; ‘Conservatives and Sex’ and ‘Humans as Animals’ which is a response to something another author wrote.



The site is a basic blogspot one, nothing wrong with that though, especially if you have a content orientated site. The author is working on kevinholtsberry.com (as yet not available) so this is pretty much a work in progress. All the the links in the site worked well. No broken links at all.



Three bonuses that I would like to give the author kudos on; 1) all the links the author provides in his posts are to articles that help you understand what the author is writing about, not just thrown out there randomly. 2)There is a tool to subscribe to Ideas Inc. that I tried out and worked. 3) An ‘About Section’ that was written on my first day reading the site. The archives are ‘iffy’ though. On my first day on the site I was able (through the archives) to find the Harry Potter post, but was unable to on the second day I was there. I’m sure though, with the authors attention to detail, he’ll get around to fixing that.



I give Ideas Inc. a 3.5 because 1) its a work in progress, 2) I wish I the archives worked better, 3)I wish I knew more about the author (he’s working on it so thats cool). I’m sure if I reviewed this site in a month or so I would give it a higher rating.



In summation, I would recommend this site if you are not a conservative (which I am not) because the author does something not often seen in many of the conservative politcally orientated blogs out there; he doesn’t try to tell you that you are dead wrong in your beliefs, he explains, very intelligently, what his beliefs are, and challenges you to disagree with him. If you do disagree, you won’t be ‘flamed’ or ‘skewered’, you’ll get someone who respects your beliefs and only wants to point out where he thinks you are wrong in a very mature and intelligent manor. But my gosh, bring your thinking cap! Ideas etc.

The first time you arrive at the ‘Neural Net’ blog, you are required to enter a user name and password for some strange reason. This initial obstacle is an unpleasant surprise; so just hit the Cancel-button in order to continue. Some random images appear and in the upper left-hand corner is the logo telling you where you are. The entry page explains something about the time being ripe to join a members’ section. I do not want to join anything, don’t feel like emailing personal information in order to be part of the so-called “fun and debauchery.” I just want to read the darn blog, wherever it is. Where is it now? I am already lost in the Neural Net.



This is an unusual blog in that it is never really clear where you are going to, nor where you are coming from. Perhaps this was the original intention of the author, and if this was his goal he did a pretty good job of achieving it. Confusing but also aggravating.



If I get lost and find my way back to the home page, I am again confronted with that login window. Hit the Cancel-button in order to continue for the nth time. Okay, there is a dropdown list-box centered at the top of the page, maybe I can find something in there. Yes, journal is in there, so I select it.



The real journal comes up, okay I have finally made it. At first it appears pretty empty, this journal, sparsely populated with words and an occasional picture. Lots of white space, nothing really interesting, and there are parts which seem not yet completed, perhaps still under construction?



Here’s a typical entry: “Hey, I’m sorry I haven’t posted anything lately, but I have nothing to offer the journal lately, and it has had nothing to offer me…” Need I say more? The only form of navigation is jumping back and forth 20 entries via a link at the bottom of the page or using that dropdown list-box I told you about.



One part with some semblance of a personality behind the artist penning these words few-and-far-between is the biography. Introspective questions like “how old are you?” or “where are you at?” or “do you have any brothers or sisters?” give the reader unique insights (yeah, sure). There is however a pretty nice collection of interesting photographs (which unfortunately takes time to download), giving one a much needed and refreshing break. They are actually pretty good I have to admit.



Certainly it is not my intention to sound overly critical, but there is no avoiding it. This blog still needs a lot of work, more structure, and improved navigation features. There are blogs out there for one’s own self, and there are even better blogs created with feeling especially for others to read with pleasure. This is definitely not the latter. Just a Neural Net is all.Reality Rendered.

WOW! What a design!!! Big, bold and colourful. I was looking forward to the blog being of the same fashion! There were no obvious links to the outside, but there were plenty of pieces of artwork down the side of the main blog. So off I went..



The blog itself is the story of a girl (I guess) who has a fixation with Harry Potter. The writing was brief and tells the story of the author and everyday life. There are a few quiz results but mostly it was general chat on life in general.



The design is fantastic and the designer has out alot of work into it. There are links about the domain and an about section. Though I never actually found anything out about the author, which I found abit disappointing as I would have liked to know who was behind all the artwork. The links are on a set page of their own so as not to clutter up the main design of the page.



The artwork is very good on the site, and it is interesting to look at. The way that you can browse through weekly and monthly links is also a bonus. You can navigate round, though I did find it alittle difficult to find the main links out of the main page.



I loved the design, and the writing is the story of the author. I would say that I was disappointed not to find out more about the author, but realise that not everyone wants to be identified.



I think this will appeal to teens of a similar age and going through the traumas of getting homework done on time. I just hope that the author is a teen!Dreamscaper