Month: January 2003

First impressions were good, the design of the site is simple, clean and well organized allowing easy navigation, content on the index page shows a good style of writing, yet I remained unsure whether I found the content appealing or not. Left hand navigation menu containing links to ‘about’ section which explains the intentions of the site as well a very brief (actually non existent) introduction to the author. Although each entry lacks the standard entry comments that come with most weblogs the owner seems to encourage interactivity from its readers in other ways – a forum and a clear contact link. Perusing the left hand menu also reveals some interesting diversions, three songs under audio and 2 films.

I approach most reviews in the same way, and so after reading the about section and quickly perusing the first page I headed straight to the archives in search of that crucial first entry, in this case I was to be disappointed, because the October 2002 brought up a error 404. Ideally that should be looked into and fixed. So, I headed to the next available month, November 2002 and was immediately presented by a whole host of short and concisely written entries supported by images. The author writes very well, he doesn’t mince with words and he comes to the point quickly. Quite often there is a very strong political statement in his entries; readers not agreeing with his every word must still admire the ability to put a point forward concisely.

A good design isn’t important when the content of a weblog is good, but it helps. This authors design is much like his writing; it is well organized, clean and suits its content. However, I would liked to have seen a navigation system which would have allowed movement from month to month in the archives, as opposed to having the reader return to the archive menu each time s/he wishes to move onto the next month.

The additional features complement the content of this site well, the additional audio and film material in the left hand column may not be to everyone’s taste but I found them rather interesting from a technical point of view. Absence of a comment system in the weblog itself is replaced by a forum, and while I personally like to have the ability to comment on a specific entry I can understand why someone would opt for this format. Other weblogs attempting to utilize forums have failed, often left unused by anyone except the author themselves, this is not the case with crushkill.com – an active community seems to have been established here, and it is definitely worthy of a look in.

I wasn’t sure what to expect when I arrived at crushkill.com, much less whether I would enjoy reading it, but I discovered quickly that, while I may not agree with his stance on some issues I enjoyed the way in which he puts his point across. His style of writing is catchy, to the point and wastes no words. The design of the blog reflects similar principles; it is clear, well organized and attractive. I do believe closer attention to navigation between archives can only benefit its readability. I’m not sure whether the content will appeal to everybody, but it is worthy of a look in for those of you who enjoy strong opinions put forward eloquently and in few words!

Now the rating, I really was not sure where to place this site. His approach to blogging has a certain uniqueness, his entries are well written and concise, and he’s funny. It wasn’t flawless, improvements to navigation, ensuring there are no bad links could only improve the readers experience. While I admit that the author’s choice of a forum works for him and his current readership I personally like to be able to comment on specific postings. It is for this reason that I award a rating of 4.5crushkill : digital cynicism

I clicked on to a very black and white site. It was like looking at a nighttime vision of a blog! I noticed that it looked quite well laid out, navigation on the left, title and the main text section. The text was comic sans and quite large which made it easier to read. Quick to load, though somewhat startling on my eyes! Nice and easy navigation to follow, it looked very user friendly to use.

There was a lot to cover in this review as Matthew has 3 blogs. The bible blog has a reading for each day and Matthews thoughts on the reading. The tech blog covers everything that you can image to do with computers!! I have to be honest and tell you that a lot of it was over my head!

The blog that I read the most of was Matthews personal blog. There are a lot of reference in there to God and Matthew is in the middle of making a big life decision. It appears that Matthew is one of the world’s greatest optimists, and a lot of his entries have a moral within the posting. He is also a very open man, and I was touched when I read about his cat dying, which lead him to tell you of his inability to cope with death. Some of the posts are long, but they make an interesting read and really allow you to get to know Matthew. The posts are all very varied. He sometimes posts links, posts silly items and sometimes posts really deep thoughts. You can meet his rabbits, that are in magic training too! They do get more personal as the blog gathers age.

Matthew is also a magician and he makes references to this in his blog. He also has a section on his site relating to his magical side! If you go back to the May archives, you can see a photo of him with his magical face!

When you first enter the blog, you only get to see entries for a few days, so in order to see all the current months entries, you need to click on the current months archives.

I liked the fact that when you clicked onto any other pages, they all carried the exact same design. I liked that as you knew that you were still in Matthews World! Matthew has 3 blogs, a personal, a technical and a bible blog. All have the same template. All the links worked, and all the archives were there carrying the same template. It was a very organised and very easy to use site.

The continuation of the design was the biggest bonus for me. You knew that you were still in Matthews World. The archives were well organised and the site was clutter free. I liked the fact that you can read all about Matthew and read some very personal and inner thoughts. He also offers you various magic performances!

I really enjoyed reading this site. He is a magician, he studied the performing art of mime and is also studying a major in computer programming! This is all added to his love of music and love of X-box gaming! All of this comes through in his posts and makes an interesting blog! This blog does have a religious theme, and Matthew is an optimist, and a magician, so you can imagine just how interesting this blog is once you start reading. I think, that over time, Matthew will get a following of die hard readers.

Mystical Matthew’s Wacky Weblog

Like I do with any site I review, I immediately found the “about” section of this site. The first two paragraphs in this part of the site indicate exactly the author’s intent of this site. “This site was intended as a portal into the toronto digital hardcore scene, an opportunity for people who share similar interests in electronic music & dHc to read regular pointless updates, promote events, and converse”, which is followed closely by a paragraph explaining that different ideas and inspirations for the site are constantly changing and keeping the author very busy.

The layout is a simple, standard one. A gray banner at the top, with a bit of original looking artwork, heads a two column layout, including different links on a right hand sidebar. The main menu, the CrushCam, Crushkill Radio, and Media are all different links to other areas around Crushkill.com. All the links found under the heading Toronto Digital Hardcore are external links the author has accurately found that relate to the content at Crushkill.

A particular feature I was fond of can be found in each entry. At the bottom of individual entry, the author has conveniently placed a link users can click on to email out the particular weblog entry.

Certain entries touch base with the international or political aspects alive in the media using extreme satire. And while reading through the rest of the archives, there are other entries which use extreme satire, and could possibly be found offensive to some people, such as an entry called god bless reality. While some, myself included, may grasp the type of humor that’s displayed in this site, I think the majority of the subject matters at hand aren’t topics that a large portion of people will find as things that can be made fun of or taken lightly enough to laugh at.

There’s both an audio and a video section available at Crushkill.com featuring some of the author’s original works.

Overall, I enjoyed the random photos that the author had posted on every single post. There were often times that I felt a bit lost when reading different entries, but those that know more details about the author may be able to follow those posts and better enjoy or understand them. I certainly wouldn’t count this weblog out of the sites that I read frequently; it’s just more of a site that needs to grow on a person.crushkill : digital cynicism

I like Flash. I always have. (ok.. I’ve developed in flash…:P) So when I come across a site that *tastefully* utilizes flash I’m naturally quite impressed. Jaymorgan.com is such a site. Using a simple flash banner at the top is neither combersome or distracting, but rather enhances the flow of a clean, well structured web page.

So I dove into the Archives… Oddly the archives pages are listed differently than the main blog. The archives are one long list for each month, which is a great overview. It took me a minute to figure out the archive navigation. To advance to the next entry you click on the ‘title’ of the next entry at the top of the page. I think this should somehow be made clearer. Such as Next Entry : Cable and Previous Entry : Birthday photos. Just a suggestion. It functioned fine. Just isn’t apparent since I didn’t write the blog. 🙂

Jay writes about things he does and enjoys. Like programming, the Internet, playing with flash :), his family, pets, vacations. His writing is clear and easy to understand, sometime a little techy as well.
Such as this on kimble.org:


‘His website was the first website to inspire me to start learning Macromedia Flash.’ Ironically I had the same experience. I still remember the crazy voice overs and, sports car animations from kimble.org. Hehe.

There are also some more personal reflection, such as this sentimental reflection about his vacation in Okinawa:

“What is it about Okinawa that I love so much?
Well, I can say its just about everything. I love the Atmosphere, I love the people, I love the roads, the buildings, the trees, the flowers, the warm weather, the language, the hospitality, the culture, the beach, the island, the stores, the nightlife…There is something about Okinawa that just gives me this warm, comfortable, happy, free feeling. I love Okinawa. When I am there I am happy and carefree. I can feel it in my heart….To experience Okinawa, hearing the sounds of Okinawa, the smell, the touch, to see it in front of you, you can feel it. It can’t compare to reading about it and seeing its pictures. The pictures represent a moment in time, that we try to capture and remember again when we view it, but to actually FEEL it and experience Okinawa, is incredible.

Until I live in Okinawa again, I will keep it in my heart and keep dreaming.”

The blog content is heavy with GREAT web developing links (heh, thanks man – not everyone shares their great finds 😉 ), images and web goodness. I think anyone in web development would benefit from pursuing Jay’s blog archive. There are also many parables, and some entries with some religious content. Not my cup of tea, but may appeal to other readers. From one entry:

“Religion has basically two strikes against it – it isn’t true and, instead of making people more tolerant, compassionate and humane, it
seems to have precisely the opposite effect.”

Dig and you will even find a recipe for Tempura (batter fried veggies). Mmmm. Tempura. I found it interesting to follow his documented court case with the massive toll fines. Gah! In spite of my obvious personal geeky bias -grin-… I think that most people would enjoy this blog, especially the tech savvy among us. An enjoyable, useful, colourful, engaging blog which I will definately be bookmarking. Great job Jay!The Blog of Travis Morgan

My initial reaction to the site is that of “simplicity.” Nothing jumped out and made a great impression on me, but the site had a very different feel to it which I couldn’t place an actual word on. Maybe it’s the colors, or the large contrast to the link colors. It might draw more readers if there was something a little more to grab someone’s attention.

Initially thought this was more of the “personal” type of blog, but as I started reading through the recent entries I realized there was a chance this blog might be considered “news” instead. That being said, I started to think I might find more about the author through the archives. Starting with the oldest month I realized that there is a definite change in the feel of the blog from the older entries to the current ones. The older entries are littered with the controversial and newsworthy. All great things, but I was hoping for a bit more insight into the author. He litters the weblog with many links to many different kinds of things, ranging from politics and religion, to things that could easily take up a lot of “fun” time. The weblog itself is extremely well written in clear English. His rants are worthy rants and his news is often very interesting.

There’s nothing breathtaking about the design of the site. The “all white” background can be a bit of a strain on the eyes, but more so the link colors on his sidebar are difficult to read because the contrast just isn’t quite right. It’s simple, but everything seems to work correctly.

Some of the better features of the blog are that you get a feel for the author based on the out-going links and the other random content on the net that he posts about. I easily found myself visiting a lot of the external links to see what he was talking about and what made them so note-worthy in the first place. It’s easy to find that the author has a very eclectic sense of humor based on these links.

The overall feel of the blog is almost lost. There’s not real point to it, be it that it’s meant to share news, or have a more personal atmosphere. There’s a scattering of everything there. My honest opinion is that this blog isn’t meant for the younger reader. Some of the entry subjects probably can be placed in the “adult content” category. It doesn’t feel as though the blog is the kind that I’d visit on a regular basis, but it would be the kind I’d stop in and read once in awhile.this is the samaBlog