Author: admin

The name of this blog brought to mind first off for me, animals on a drug trip. Yet opening up the blog itself wasn’t anything like that. A nice serene picture of water and mountains takes over the top of the blog, with a black background and blue writing. I found that after a bit of reading through the blog, my eyes are starting to ache and I’m seeing blue on a white page as I type this.

The blog itself is written by Julie a 28 year old dramaturg which is something that I’d never heard of before! It is very much a personal blog, with pictures, thoughts and more pictures throughout- there are entries referring to her cat, her friends, her knitting tribulations, New York, and of course some quiz type things… The blog is written well. The author writes about her day to day life.

The design of the site is quite nice to start off with, but after a while hurts the eyes. It looks like a blogger template. Lots of blue on black, the links seem to all work, as does the archives. There isn’t anything that jumps out to me about this blog. There isn’t really an “about me” page, just a list along the left sidebar of name, age, etc. There’s also the usual list of blogs and links on the left sidebar, so there isn’t much “clutter”.

All up, for a personal blog it’s pretty much what you’d expect. It doesn’t do much for me, but it might for you. The lifestyle and writing of the author might appeal or it might not.

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This site took an extremely long time to load which turns me off quick. When it finally loaded I noticed a lot of problems with the site. I also noticed it had a lot more pictures than words. The site is also easy on the eyes.

The weblog contains a lot of awesome shots from around Alaska, but it also contains a lot of complaining by a blogger who is in a state of depression as she claims herself. There have not been many posts lately due to her reluctance to blog due to the depression. When she does blog it is about something that has happened to her.

The site has typical blogcity template. In the main part of the blog she has her comments then pictures followed by all the comments she has received on each story. Down the right hand side she has a lot of useful links, but it appears most of the pictures are missing. She has links for forums and friends as well as some other random items.

I found the links she provided to be more interesting than the site itself. I feel the site needs desperate attention. It needs a new design and the content needs cleaned up. I would suggest taking the photos off and place them in an online photo album. Place a link on the site to this album. This would not only make the site more like a blog, but it would also permit the site to load faster.

I am disappointed in the site. With the pictures and travel around Alaska this author does, there is high potential in the site.
Shade’s Blog

By sheer coincidence, the first post I saw was the one about meth addicts and how they look after a few months. It gave me the heebie jeebies…and piqued my interest, I’m guilty to say.

After a quick run-through, where I glanced and skimmed at random posts, I went to the “About Me” page. It was an interesting read and I was surprised at how candid Shade was about her alcoholism. By the end of the post, I was thinking to myself, “You go, Shade!” I liked how her honesty hooked me into the blog. Now, I was ready for a full, thorough read.

Shade’s blog, as you may have guessed, is a blog about Shade and her life. The layout is rather plain and the page is long. Luckily, I have a cable connection, but the amount of pictures and text on the page could cause slow loading for people with modems. I would have liked to see a Photo Album section where some of the pictures could have been put, a few of the posts seemed heavily laden with pictures that may have been better in a seperate page.

Otherwise, I found it an enjoyable read. Some people make weblogs about their life and then don’t want to write anything but vague references! Shade isn’t afraid to tell you about Alaska, about her family, and about her life.Shade’s Blog

“Thunder Roadie” greeted me with your average “click-and-choose,” pre-made Blogger template. Seeing the bland layout constituting of a white background, dark gray text, and orange titles made me hesitate, but when I got past this inhabition, I soon was reading the weblog profusely.

“Thunder Roadie” is what I would call a fairly new weblog, even if it has technically been around since August 2004. The author has taken many hiatuses, and only in the last month or two, he seems to be getting into the feel of weblogging. In fact, the author himself said, on his first post, that he needs to find his “blog-voice,” and while there are hints of a voice in his later posts, sometimes the author falls into a common pitfall: telling the reader everything about his day, or details that wouldn’t interest most readers.

However, some entries showed hidden talent and a definite “voice.” These entries were humorous, light-hearted, thoughtful, and generally a fun read. A good example was “Unspotless Minds,” where I felt my heart-strings tug, or “Who’s My Daddy?” where I found myself chuckling.

“Thunder Roadie” deserves a four because of the honest try the author is giving, and how much he has improved. But, like fine wine, this blog needs to develop a bit more before it can be truly wonderful.Thunder Roadie

When I read the title of this blog, I must admit that I got pretty excited. Finally I was going to read a blog about the life of a Harley driving, leather wearing roadie; who hopefully had a mullet and for some reason needed to blog in order to reach his inner child. So right off the bat, I was a bit disappointed that I hadn’t yet found such a blog.

Instead I found a personal blog written by a stand-up comedian from Chicago. There was no information in the “my profile” section, and I had to hunt through the archives to find out who was behind this blog. That’s something I would never do, unless I was reviewing a site. I would recommend more personal info in that section.

I couldn’t find his real name anywhere on the site. Personally, I like to know my bloggers by name, especially those who write personal blogs. I have a hard time relating to someone who simply goes by “Thunder Roadie.” Unless he drives a Harley, wears leather, and has a mullet.

The layout of this blog is very simple. It’s just a basic blogger template with absolutely zero additions. There was a single link to “The Weblog Review,” at the bottom of the blog atop a site counter. I found no other out-going links. It was almost refreshing not to have a million things blinking at me and asking me to go visit other places, but a few links to some favorite sites would have been helpful. There were also no pictures to be found anywhere, and I’m a big fan of pictures as well.

The writing itself was well done. I didn’t find any mistakes, and it’s easy to follow and non-offensive. Most of the blogs are about Thunder Roadie’s everyday life. It’s a relatively new blog (starting in August) with two months only having one post. So I’m not sure if Thunder Roadie is writing frequently enough to keep readers coming back. I would also like to hear a bit more about the life that is specific to comedians, and less about things that I read in every other blog.

All of that being said, I hope that Thunder Roadie keeps up what he is doing. Please take this review and all criticism with a grain of salt, and keep blogging the way you want to. After all, you’re not blogging to please anyone but yourself.
Thunder Roadie