Author: admin

Having an idea about the weblog I’m about to read is something I enjoy. Almost like a movie trailer, it gives me an idea of what to expect. The author(s) of this weblog “aim to entertain a general audience with short stories and essays. Our publication schedule is irregular, but we do try to put up something new once a week.” At least that’s what it says in the about section of the site. So, that’s the idea I went on – irregularly posted short stories and essays.

When I clicked on the archive link, I was taken to a page where there are only nine entries. There are no dates indicating when these entries have been written at all. I decided to start at the one listed at the bottom and work my way up.

The essays are mundane. Describing in detail the process of “stop, drop, and roll” should you find yourself on fire and defending the integrity of the planet Uranus could both be topics that can turn into something fun or lengthy, but the author is content to just give four or five brief paragraphs about the topic. As I progressed up the list of archived essays and short stories, they got better with time.

The layout doesn’t consist of much. It’s a three-column layout and doesn’t appear to be based off any standard template. Hooray. The site is missing any bells and whistles, but they truly aren’t necessary and the design works just fine with this site.

The author’s “Instrument of Joy”, in this case, seems to be the keyboard (or the pen). He makes note in his “about” section that he wishes to remain anonymous until he becomes a better writer. With that, readers learn nothing else about the author.

I really never feel comfortable critiquing or reviewing someone’s creative writing. What someone else may find magnificent, I may find as something that cannot keep my attention for more than a few minutes.

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I was a little confused when I first visited this blog. I couldn’t figure out if the blog belonged to Curiosa or Wildchild. When I clicked on the links to their profiles I could only find out a bit of info about Curiosa. Apparently she lives in Sweden but is American. No mention of where she grew up or how she ended up in Sweden, at least none that I could find. The blog seems to start off in the beginning about dating in Sweden but sort of loses direction after a few posts. Some of the posts are in Swedish so I couldn’t understand them at all. If you speak Swedish maybe you can get more out of them then I did.

The blog is a basic blogger template, nothing fancy but has some links down one side to the archives, favorite posts, and links to other blogs. There are a few links to some blog tools but that’s about it as far as extras go.

This blog wasn’t bad and I did enjoy some of the posts and pictures but it didn’t really capture my attention or make me want to dig deeper into the archives although I did so I could be fair in my assessment.

I give this blog a 2.75 rating because it lacks originality. Maybe if the author or authors gave a bit more info on themselves I might get more of a connection with the posts.NULL

The first thing I usually do when I’m reviewing a blog is go to the profile area and see who’s writing what. It really helps to get some background information on the author because then I can get a feel of how and why he or she is writing. Well, when I checked to see who was “Vincenzo” and why the author and his wife are chasing him, I was met with a charming anecdote. Apparently, there’s this really good Italian chef named Vincenzo who have graced their lives, even meeting the author’s wife a couple of times, serving something special on the side. But after each encounter, they are left with a closed (or open) restaurant, with no Vincenzo. The author has never met the man, but his wife has more than once and he thinks that through this blog, he might be able to once again find Vincenzo.

I was excited to read the entries. I mean, after the background information I read, I was certainly intrigued on what’s been going on during the “chase” of Vincenzo. I found, though, that most of the entries aren’t personal works detailing the chase. Instead, they were composed of informative articles about anything and everything entertainment. There are the books, the restaurants, the travels. But they aren’t impersonal copy-pasted articles. Oh, no. The author gives a full story on the what’s, how’s and why’s. He also adds how his experience went. If you visit, I’m sure that there are a lot of interesting things that will catch your attention (those Nation States sure did hook me).

The layout, overall, is nice. I thought it had a comfy kind of elegance. It’s nice. The other thing I found awesome was the fact that I can translate each entry into a number of different languages. I thought that was a great perk. The simple (or not-so-simple) things sure are amusing and certainly entertaining at times.

I give this site full points. I mean, it was just wonderful. It’s fairly new but what there is right now was enough to certainly entertain me. I suggest everyone give it a visit because there will be something that will catch your eye and hook you. The entries themselves are well-written and witty that I personally enjoyed. Kudos on the great blog. NULL

I’m not sure what I was expecting when I saw a site named The Fifth Dentist. I am fairly certain, however, that I didn’t expect political satire.

The site uses a basic Blogger template with white text on a black background. Simple, but at least not distracting. On the sidebar, the reader can the archives and a few links, but no extras beyond that.

There are only a handful of posts on the site, which has been around since September, and reading the entire archives takes just a few minutes. The weblog is a political satire site, focusing almost exclusively on the Bush administration. It is not a site for political discussion but rather for pointing out the idiocies of ones opponent. The posts are humorous, if somewhat more vitriolic than would typically be my preference.

While the site focuses almost entirely on anti-Bush material, the likes of which can be found almost anywhere on the internet, it is pretty funny. The author has a writing style that is creative and shows talent, but which in the end cannot make up for the lack of originality in the content of the posts.NULL

When I started to think of all the possibilities of what Chasing Vincenzo meant, I started to get dizzy. Was it children, was it a book, was it just some random word that the author threw together? Then the other question of why is he chasing Vincenzo? What did Vincenzo do to him? Does Vincenzo owe him money? Is like the modern day mob only on the internet?

The first thing I noticed when I got to the site was that there was a link that asked the question “Who is Vincenzo and why are we chasing him?” Finally I get an answer to all of my questions. Vincenzo as it turns out is a chef in a restaurant in Chicago. Er, actually he was. Currently the author is looking for Vincenzo again as he is now on his 4th restaurant in 3 years. Of course Vincenzo makes the best Italian food the author has ever had, and well he wants to always know where the chef is.

Unfortunately the chef keeps switching restaurants and for some reason no on at the old restaurants knows where he moves on to. This is a great premise for a blog, a book, or even a movie. I think this could fall under the comedy section for either a book or a movie. The posts are about different restaurants and different things going on in the author’s life though most are about food. This blog is new and he has not found Vincenzo yet, but hopefully he will.

The blog is well written. The author has taken quiet a bit of time researching all his different possibilities when it comes to presenting a blog. He has flags from all around the world posted at the top of each blog which will translate the page for you into that language. He also has seven different ad banners in the navigation column which I found distracting. I understand that people want to make an extra buck or two while blogging, but this is starting to get out of control. It took me two glances to find the archives since it has only been open for 2 months. Between all the other stuff in the navigation column it sort of got lost.

I really liked this site and I think it has a great premise to it. My biggest complaint however, is that the author uses the “more inside” type thing with his posts. I personally HATE having to click to read every single post. These posts are not like 10 pages long and deserve to have a little “catch paragraph” then the rest inside. Like a fine wine, let the posts breath. I am also a little curious as to what the author will be posting about in let say a year from now regardless of if he finds Vincenzo or not. I hope he does not distract too much from the idea he has because that will ruin this blogs quality.

There is fate, but it only takes you so far, because once you’re there its up to you to make it happen. That is why I really like this site because he is making sure that he is doing everything possible to find Vincenzo.
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