Category: Uncategorized

When I skimmed through “the bone”, beginning to nit pick at little details I wanted to point out in my review, the first thing I noticed was the abundance of quotations. Not necessarily profound or remarkable quotes from people worth quoting, just lots of quotes. I also noticed the use of the word “Huzzah!” more than once. It made me smile. I mean, how can you not smile when you imagine someone in front of his or her desktop exclaiming “Huzzah!”?

The layout was simple. An olive toned header, featuring the first and most notable quote paired with an off white background and a right side bar for links and the archive, which goes back to mid-2002. A bit unimaginative but clean and to the point. This blog is more about the entries than the design.

Christopher Rieder posts on many different subjects. He is very clear on his political views yet doesn’t force them upon his readers. He is very literary and it shows throw both the linguistics of his posts and the content of them as well. He also possesses a very unique taste of music. An example being that he thoroughly enjoys They Might Be Giants. When to me, that’s only the group that sings the annoyingly catchy theme song to Playhouse Disney’s new show “Higglytown Heroes”.

The weekend I spent reading his blog, his Sunday post was a critique of America’s patriotic songs. It was wonderfully written, and with experiences from his music class and other references to back up and point out his views. It wasn’t something I’d normally be interested in reading, and probably wouldn’t have read if I wasn’t reviewing, but it was amusing, and I’m glad I did.

Overall, I found this weblog to be dull, and not one that I would find myself revisiting. Yet, I can see how others would easily begin linking to it, and making it a daily read. It’s smart, well maintained, informative, and likeable. Yet to me, it’s just not very interesting. It’s one of those blogs where everyone who comes across it will probably have a different opinion. It’s definitely worth a visit in order to see what opinion you yourself will form.
the bone

I have officially been to a website that has one of the most interesting ways of using a weblog that I have seen. “Horse Training Tips” is exactly what the title says; it gives horse training tips in weblog form. When I realized this, I was intrigued. How did the author make this kind of format work? I immediately delved in deeper, first going to the profile so I knew something more about the author.

His name is Andy Curry, but what I found disappointing is that his profile doesn’t tell much about his background with horses. All it says is he loves animals…especially horses. Well, I can see that, there’s a whole website devoted to the animals. What I wanted to know was, is he a professional trainer or is this a hobby? How many years has he been doing this? How many horses has he trained, or does he own? This is information that should be in a profile about a weblog dedicated to horse training.

Next, I began browsing the entries. A lot of these entries are structured like letters, ending with “Sincerely,” etc. And, there are a lot of external links for more information on the subject broached in the weblog. For example, there was a short tip about bucking horses, and at the end was a link to more information. However, these external links have to be copied and pasted into the URL bar! I found this very inconvenient; it isn’t very hard to add a link command into the html, I think of it as a common courtesy.

Now, I don’t know much about horse training. I did a little bit of riding when I was younger, but that’s about it. However, from what I read from the content, Andy seems to know what he’s talking about. But, it isn’t all tips, there are a few anecdotes, too, and I found these especially enjoyable. It gave the weblog a more personal feel and made Andy more human. It also made the weblog fit into the “Personal” category.

Unfortunately, there was one huge detrimental fact that reduced the overall score: when I clicked on the archive links, I received a “Page cannot be found” error, so only the posts under “Previous posts” were open to me.Horse Training Tips

When I loaded this site, I observed a very clean layout that appeared well put together and easy to navigate.

Upon further examination, I found that the posts were quite interesting. The writer displays a very biased, thought provoking angle on many products found all over the web, from sources like eBay to the Elvis Museum.

The author does not stick to just one topic but, talks about other things like eBay stocks and ads on MTV. My opinion is that the layout, while clean and easily navigated, is lacking some well-needed small frills such as a graphic logo and maybe a more subtle color scheme.

All in all, I would recommend this site as a blog to read on a regular basis and maybe save to your favorites folder.

Rummaging

The first thought when I got to this site was Wow! What a great, simple, unique layout.

This blog is made by Alvin Woon, a university senior in computer science, which explains his innovative use of the latest technology in his blog. He updates every few days, and his posts vary from gushing about his friends and girlfriend (loved your Valentine’s Day gift to her by the way), a few tidbits about what’s going on in his life and a sprinkling of computer technology related news. He obviously spends a lot of time writing his posts, because they are usually long (but not too long so they are boring), detailed and acompanied by pictures and illustrations. He is also obviously smart but then again, which computer science student isn’t?

The design is what I like the most about this blog. It is minimalistic but very functional. It is a typical two column layout with a not-so-typical flash header image which changes seamlessly every 30 seconds or so to another image. One column has his blog and the other column only has a little about him, recent posts and links to a flash book and photodock. The flash book is amazing. It is a mini autobiography and very well illustrated.

Like I said before, the thing I like the most about this blog is the design and nifty use of technology. The thing I would improve upon is a little more content for the visitors, perhaps a “this is how I did that” section. Overall, I loved this blog. The posts are witty, the blog is well designed and informative. You should definitely check this blog out even just to see how nicely it is designed and to read a few of the entries. Daily Misery

I sat and thought about the title of this blog for a little while before I actually clicked the url to venture within. I tried to invision what images “The Letter D” brought to mind and, I incidentally came up with well, nothing. This one actually was going to require further investigation, so I decided to dive right in with a relatively blank canvas for a first impression.

Reading the ‘about me’ blurb, I discovered that this blogger is not only an attorney, but he also currently publishes a monthly humor column for a rag entitled “The Metro Male” in Grand Rapids, MI. Further reading reveals that he has a won a few stand up competitions, and subsequently was titled the ‘funniest person in Grand Rapids’ for two consecutive years. Immediately I was intrigued that I had a potentially great read ahead of me.

I was not disappointed! This guy is ‘pretty darn funny’ to quote a local television station’s advertisement. I read easily through his entire archive of posts to not only test the links, but also to see if “D” came by his comedic personality honestly. I was going to be very disappointed if he merely had produced a few funny fluke posts. I found that I was pleasantly pleased! He has a smooth writing style that flows well and keeps you interested and wanting more. He writes thought provoking posts about daily life that can and do regularly happen to Everyman, not just his own experiences.

If you have not read this blog, I recommend highly all of his posts about the mentally challenged ‘Stalkers’, his daughter ‘The Cub’ and the ‘Open Letter to Michael Jackson.” I felt that I was there laughing with him watching these events as they conspired, and shaking my head in mutual consternation.

He utilizes a basic blogger template with no frills, bells or whistles on a stark white background. To some readers that might leave a lot to be desired. However, I honestly feel that what this site lacks in design, it ultimately makes up for in content.

The Letter D