Month: December 2002

“And this one time, at band camp…” Ah, high school. I usually find high school blogs difficult to read, if not incomprehensible — full of in-jokes, obscure acronyms, and for some reason, negative leading. But cucumbers and strife is an enjoyable read, although perhaps not one I’ll return to often.

Celeste is a freshman at LBJ High School in Austin, TX. She’s self-described as “Shy; Obsessive; Dreamer; Redhead; Oboe player; Hopeless romantic; Half-blind.” She updates her blog with an almost alarming frequency. She writes about struggling with her double reed (hey, I used to play the oboe [badly], and that’s one tough instrument), the triumphs of her marching band, her homework, her friends, her family and her cat, and the mysterious new holiday of Grodmas.

Celeste has a good writing style — she writes more clearly than some adults who blog. (Don’t they teach the subjunctive anymore? That should be “I wish I were Mr. Peabody. Whoever Mr. Peabody is. Sorry, pet grammar peeve of mine.) The blog is clearly meant as a personal journal, written for herself and her friends. As such, there may not be much there for the general reader. But sometimes, there are entertaining stories, or reflections on her own life, and these make the blog a cut above those of her peers.

The design is a standard template (one that seems to waste a lot of screen space on a color border, but that’s just my opinion.) Celeste has included a bunch of links, and has a comments system. The only thing I’d suggest on the design front is the addition of a “Home” link so you can find your way back to the front once you’re in the archives.

I think this blog will improve with age.cucumbers and strife

I generally am not overly fond of splash screens. However, the splash screen at liquidmax.com is simple and not flashy and gives the basics for an optimum viewing experience. In this case, I’d say it’s warranted and prepares readers for an otherworldly experience with the Ohm symbol and the quote “enter freedom from the known.” With that, I was expecting an interesting read.

Unfortunately there isn’t much in the way of entries to review. There are exactly eight entries, all of which are really short and not particularly interesting. I have a feeling there’s more to the story than what the writer writes, but we only get to hear about the surface of things. I really want to like this blog because the layout is so nice but there isn’t much going on.

Yes, the layout is gorgeous. The navigation is a little tricky, however – the numbers to the right of the very small window for blogging text are the navigational buttons. In order to figure out where you’re going you have to read the alternative text. I might recommend re-doing the layout slightly to make the text space slightly bigger, as it seems slightly out of whack with the rest of the layout. And why do we visit blogs? To read them, of course! I’m of the opinion that the text should be the real focus.

Liquidmax.com has an “about me” page, brief page with photos, a page with a bit of religious philosophy, a links page, and a guestbook. He’s also got a link to something that promises easy money. Well, OK.

I doubt I would make another visit to liquidmax.com until there’s more content. The layout is really wonderful, but there’s just not much there to read.

liquidmax

Front Range Bible Blog is a blog from Mark, the pastor of Front Range Bible Church in Denver, Colorado. In the title banner of this weblog, Mark refers to Colossians 1:28-29 which reads: “We proclaim Him, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone perfect in Christ.” Obviously, Mark uses this weblog as a tool to spread the word of Christ that runs parallel with his church and its’ congregation.

Personally, it’s difficult for me to follow any one particular religion. Because of this, I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to fairly judge the weblog at hand. Mark does an interesting job of peppering the weblog with enough humor to keep even the judgmental reader (such as myself) entertained.

Originally, the weblog was started for Mark to keep the “members and friends of Front Range Bible Church” updated on general thoughts and news that would affect them. While the site looks like it might have strayed from specific just to Mark’s congregation, it looks and feels as if it’s now used for Mark to share his spirituality and knowledge with a broader spectrum of people.

The layout of the site is a standard Blogger template, and there’s no real site navigation simply due to the fact that the weblog is the only portion of this site. The other links go to the archives of the site or to external links that Mark feels are interesting and helpful to those coming across this site.

In all, Mark does a very nice job of putting his thoughts and messages into words for people to read in this weblog. It’s not a subject matter that will interest most people, but for those that do find religion and spirituality something they enjoy reading and learning about, I would certainly recommend this weblog.

Front Range Bible Blog

If there’s one thing I’m a big sucker for, it’s a site with a funky design. Max is a 20 year old college student who has very recently began studying different forms of religion. His weblog’s layout reflects this with the layout being referred to by Max as “version truth”, primarily based on the religious/spiritual teachings of J. Krishnamurti. More information on this can also be found in an additional portion of Liquidmax, which I found to be quite enlightening. The design is done all in different shades of oranges, which are complimented by a white background. It’s a small design, meaning it doesn’t take up a lot of room in the browser, but it definitely gives the site a sleek appearance.

The navigation system used for the site may be a little tricky for some. Other than the normal words that would direct a reader to find a specific section of the site, Max uses just the numbers 1-6. While it does make for a nice clean look, it may not exactly be clear for some readers to know where to click to find more information out on this site.

Whether the site is really this new or if it’s due to a technical problem, the site lacked archives. With only eight entries made onto the site, it made it very difficult to give a fair rating. I can tell by other portions of the site that Max is an excellent writer, and has great opinions on a barrage of different topics. Eventually, I can see this becoming a great weblog with the types of entries that make people come back to see how their opinions match up with Max’s.

liquidmax

This is a pretty flashy site for a blog, and the aesthetic seems odd for a site who’s central premise centers on mysticism. The design is functional and intuitive, but the style didn’t really ‘work’ for me; it’s just sorta like like “whoa, there are monks everywhere.”

The intent of this site is a diary of the various happenings in the author’s life in relation to his philosophical beliefs: a life in the spirit of a philosophy. Krishnamurti’s mysticism was a life-altering find for the author, who is fed up with tradtional organized religion and dogmas of all sorts. The ideas will seem jaded to those familiar with enlightenment philosophy; However, I doubt that’s the intended audience

This blog is directed at unfamiliar, possibly curious people. There isn’t much content. He would be well served by further distilling the views Krishnamurti to his audience. He talks about how great it is, but he really needs to get specific with it in his entries to make the ideas interesting. For a weblog, it is an interesting find, but it really needs to be developed into a more riveting account of a life and a philosophy.
liquidmax