Month: September 2003

Narcolepsy has a cover. And that helped me realize that reading Narcolepsy is much more like reading a book than a weblog.

And it is extremely well written. Each and every post is interesting in it’s own way. Reading through the life of Yz is addictive. Everything seems to fit nicely in this blog. Yz is an excellent, and naturally gifted writer. Her posts are never too complicated or too long. They seem just right.

Lately Yz has added the possibility to comment on entries which is always interesting, but in this particular blog it really doesn’t feel necessary. Everything you’d want to read is already there, posted by the author.

Narcolepsy’s design is very good. An organized look is accomplished without using any type of dividing lines. The color and the graphics really add to the whole site. Clearly the strongest feature of this site is the quality of the writing, but the design keeps up the pace very well.

The nicely done archives give Narcolepsy an even stronger book feeling. Each post is like a chapter, but they can be read in any order and a reader will still get to know the writer.

Narcolepsy is an excellent blog, so take some time, and open the cover, you probably won’t be able to put it down for quite a while.

Narcolepsy

I really like weblogs where you can see their history and development, and Ruzz.ca has definitely come a long way since its debut in September 2000. From a sparse white page full of posts on the frustrations of starting a new blog, it is now a fuller, more rewarding weblog, with more links, short, to-the-point posts and digital photography.

The weblog seems less personal recently than it is in some of the older archived posts, but some posts would still be of more interest to those who know the author. There are still enough posts linking to interesting sites, expressing [sometimes controversial] opinions, or giving an interesting view on the world to make this worth a look.

The colour scheme of Ruzz.ca didn’t work for me. I found it too dark. However, there are nice extras to the site that caught my attention. I liked having the comments displayed under each post, rather than in a pop-up box, and I also enjoyed the short reviews accompanying each item on the ‘inputing’ list of books and films/movies. I couldn’t find an ‘about’ section but you can find out everything that you need to know about the author from reading through the archives.

Whilst this site didn’t absorb me completely, I did find it enjoyable and the shorter posts meant it was easy to scan for something that interested me. Even if you don’t know the author, Ruzz.ca is worth visiting to watch the debates unfold via the comments after a controversial post, to read the recent reviews or to take a look at the photography.
ruzz.ca

Blanksblog right away gave me the impression of being the home of a new blogger, and it is, but that doesn’t imply anything bad at all.

Being a relatively new weblog, the first post written in february, it can be difficult to realize where Blanksblog is aiming. But it is clear that the writer has already learned an important lesson. Some of the first posts are just too long even if they are still good, but the newer ones really show an improvement in lenght and quality.

The design is a standard template from blogger.com, but it’s still one of the best standard templates to use while starting a blog. It allows easy and clear reading while providing a nice and ordered space for links and extras.

Music is important to the author and it should probably play a bigger part in this blog. The purpose of the site is sometimes lost amidst random postings that are many times smart and entertaining, but there never seems to be a sense of unity in the blog.

This is a blog that still needs work, but it’s clearly getting better and learning from it’s mistakes. It’s still and average site, but the writer has the potential to turn this into a really interesting place in the future.blanksblog

I immediately liked the look of Azarok.com as it opened. Some very nice rotating pictures on the top made me think that the blog would be much more personal and not so friendly to an outside reader. I realized my mistake after reading the first few posts.

Azarok.com is a very entertaining blog, with varied posts, many with photographs that help to make the reading easy and enjoyable. The author is not any sort of poet, and he doesn’t intend to be one. Posts are direct, clear, and not in any case badly written.

Although many posts make reference to web related things, others are closer to the personal front. And the good thing is that these personal posts do not drive a new reader away, instead, they are always interesting even if you still don’t know who each person mentioned there actually is.

This last point brings one of the highlights of Azarok.com. This is, a complete cast list, including pictures and brief descriptions. This is a great help for a new reader that’s just entering the world of Azarok.

The design is simple, and the site doesn’t seem to require much more. The colors are well chosen and the design works well with the site.

Azarok.com has other goodies. Many web games that are actually fun are available, tons of photos, jokes and more. Another high point is that the posts are not only ordered chronologically, but also by category.

The thing that Azarok.com could really use is some more reader comments. Many of the posts deserve feedback and there’s almost none. So take some time to visit the various sections of Azarok.com and you’ll probably find yourself enjoying most of the time you spend there.Azarok.com

The first thing I keep looking for (often in vain it seems) is a context for the blog I’m about to review. Why do I care what you have to say? Tell me about yourself so I can relate to what you have to say. Even a few simple lines to contextualize your blog for the reader IMHO is essential. Please add an ‘about’ page! (I’m a skipping record on this issue aren’t I? Bah…)

Ruzz’s let it all hang out philosophy on blogging:
“I see blogging, inter-blog discussion, comments, debates and the like as an organic entity which is uncontrolled. I don’t trim my bonsai bush I let it grow how it grows. My focus, my concern, is not on the resulting controlled perfection, man over his elements, type beauty. Rather, my blog is a seedy bar where every night someone gets shot, gets stabbed, falls in love, finds out their wife is their cousin and so on.” .

I felt ruzz.ca had a decent layout. The photos along the left column were different and interesting, as was the background image. Ruzz updates the blog many times a day, often with short little observations and additions. What seems a little different about this site is comments to ruzz.ca form the main content of the blog (with Ruzz’s comments as well…). So, basically anyone can contribute (and is encouraged to contribute) to ruzz.ca.
“See. I trade you writing for writing. I write, you write. This is the system we have going here dear readers. Nothing is more annoying than pounding out 1300 words, most of which are blatant lies, only to end up with one comment. If I simply posted “Hello” I suspect my comment script would break from the frenzied replies. Nothing more annoying.. well, actually there is: Heartburn. ” It leads to a far bit of discussion by the regular readers of ruzz.ca. For the most part, I didn’t enjoy, the soap-opera like banter of his *regular* posters, but you may.

Ruzz has a lot of pointless entries in his blog which he is happy to admit, “I have no real content right now.“. But there are also many great entries where he makes some honest observations about life:
“If I treated my daughter the way some people who claim to love me treated me I couldn’t live for the shame. Love is not a condition. It’s not a mood. It’s not something you pretend to award when you are lonely and want to be around somebody. It’s something real and tangible. But it can end. It is not infinite. That Disney-esqe idea has ruined more than one person I know. But if its there, when its there, you just don’t offer and retract it based on the level with which you can tolerate your life or yourself. It simply does not work like that. That isn’t love. That’s using a person in the worst way. For those of you who do this, in your defense, the people who lap that shit up and keep taking it, like an abused house wife -beaten then rewarded- deserve what they get. I deserve what ever I allow another human being to put on me. In fact, the entire purpose of the relationship would seem to be nothing more than a construct in which to act out the parts and serve each other’s unhealthy needs. So don’t go pitying the housewife and hating the husband. They are together because one of them has the ability to be cruel and one needs the cruelty to validate their own worthlessness.
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There is tons of content in the ruzz.ca archives. One month of entries on ruzz.ca would equal a year’s worth of entries on many other blogs. If you buy into this idea, of having to contribute (and not just passively read a blog) this site will certainly appeal to you. An interesting concept. Check ruzz.ca out and see if it motivates you to write. Ruzz gets the last words: “The highest highs and the lowest lows. The sweet and the sour. This is life. enjoy every fucking minute of it people.”
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ruzz.ca