Category: Uncategorized

When I saw the title “That Colored Fellas weblog” I had an inkling that this would be written by someone who had some strong beliefs, and I was certainly right about that.

Upon entering the page I was fairly pleased with the site design- a photo of the “colored fella” with his arm round someone, archives and the blog itself. I always like seeing photos – I think they help tremendously to connect with the blog and its author. The simplicity of the design and lack of distractions helps to draw the reader straight to the content, which is by far the strongest aspect of this weblog. Admittedly a few more colours and “eye candy” might have improved the layout a bit, but not essential.

So on to the content itself then. The author is certainly informed, intelligent and opinionated. I found some of the entries almost too informed- not living in the States, (or being especially clever, come to think of it) I found some of the acronyms and terms used went over my head a bit. However the entries are worth persevering with and full of interesting ideas about politics, as well as revealing more about the author’s personal life. Although I won’t espouse any of his opinions here, suffice to say that being a black, gay American has certainly helped to shape these opinions, making them that much more stimulating.

I was slightly disappointed with the number of entries – I managed to get through them all in about 20 minutes including the archives which went back to January 2003 and felt that more frequent updates would make for more frequent visitors. I also simply wanted to read more of this clearly literate writer. “Comment” links were offered on each entry but they didn’t seem to be working and therefore no one had done so- a shame really, as I feel the site would really benefit from this extra input. A couple of typos were noticed, but not many.

In conclusion then, “Colored Fella” is certainly a cut above your average, run of the mill weblog in terms of the quality of content, but could perhaps do with some more frequent updates. Also, less use of jargon would make it more accessible and attractive to a wider audience. And finally, get the comments fixed!

That Colored Fellas weblog

The first thing that caught my eye on this blog was the neat background and the interesting header image. After that, it looks like your standard personal blog/journal. The title, “Stephanie’s Online Diary,” verified this assumption.



Random Scribbles is the diary of a gal named Stephanie. Her entries are pretty interesting and honest, but they are few and far between for my standards. After going through the archives, it looks like Stephanie doesn’t blog as much as she used to. I’m sure there are reasons, but infrequent updates don’t make for a good daily read. There’s a good variety in her writing, but there’s nothing that really sticks out for me.

The blog is well organized and is well designed. It’s a Movable Type blog, so it has organized archives and integrated comments, which are always a plus. Stephanie also took the time to customize her template with a nice looking background and a captivating header. Very nice.

Overall, this is a very well designed personal blog, but there isn’t really anything special to warrant it a daily read. I’d definitely come back though and see what Stephanie is up to. Random Scribbles

There isn’t much to say about my initial instinct on this blog. It’s not necessarily plain, but it’s not eye-boggling either. I wasn’t sure about what the title of the blog, “Bleeding Burgandy and Gold,” until after I started to read the earliest entries. It all seems to make sense now, as this is the blog of an avid sports fan. Not just any sport, but football. And not just any team either. This author is a huge Washington Redskins fan.

The blog is in it’s infancy stages as there are only two months worth of entries. However, the month of August is filled with quite a number of entries a day. The problem isn’t that there’s a lack of content because, as I’ve said, there are a ton of entries. The problem is that most of the entries send the reader somewhere else. This blog signed up for a review under the “personal” category, but there’s little that’s actually personalized in those early entries. These entries simply seem like news/links entries with little feedback on the author’s thoughts on the subject matter. As you get further into the Pre-Season the entries become longer and focus more on the feelings and thoughts of the author. Once you get beyond all the football talk there are some movie reviews and other intersting thoughts from this author. If you’re not a huge fan of sports you might find this blog rather boring, and it seems most of the entries revolve around sports of some kind. The blog author follows a direction which is mainly directed in some sports-affiliated direction. The entries, when not sending the reader in another direction, have some insight into the thoughts and ideas of this author.

The design is workable, though somewhat plain. It’s not a template that you see often, so that makes it all the more pleasing to see that it doesn’t look like every other template out there. The archives work and are organized into different categories.

The author gives you glimpses into a photoblog, which is always nice to see the world through someone else’s eyes. The author’s landscape photography is quite beautiful and worth a look. The design of the photoblog is quite beautiful as well. Otherwise, there are the usual spattering of outgoing links to other blogs and recent entries; nothing out of the ordinary.

The author posts a lot. Usually this is a good thing. If we had a category for “sports” this one would definately fall into that category, as it’s mainly about sports rather than anything more. The posts about his life and observances are interesting, but the sports posts will drive many other reader’s away. You’ll find yourself enjoy the more recent entries than the older as you get to see the author through his words… finally.Bleeding Burgundy and Gold

Its been a little over a month since The Illusion of Safety was first reviewed. Having read the original review back when it was written, I had some expectations going into this site. Hopefully there have been some improvements to the site since then.

Nope. No improvements. Well wait, I take that back. The author did get rid of the bouncing titles. Other than that, the site looks exactly the same. Same black background, same white text, same red links, same parental advisory above every single post.

Ok, so the author didn’t change the design, maybe the content improved. Nope it didn’t improve much either. The weblog is still about what is going on in the author’s life, as told to his brain. He writes what he thinks, but the thoughts are on what has happened during that day, week, month, or however long it has been since his last post. Topics vary from school to friends to video games to movies. One good thing is that the author can write well. With a little better direction I bet it will be much improved.

One thing that really annoyed me was the fact that the author spoke as if he was the coolest blogger out there. Um sorry to break your bubble, but no. You are not God, you are not all knowing, you are a teenager! In one of his posts recently he states that he has been single for a while, and asks females to answer his little survey. Well when you have a question of the form “Have you posted your picture on Hot or Not? – If yes, send me your picture and proceed, otherwise stop cause you will be rejected” or something along those lines. Um let’s think about this one for a second. On second thought lets, not.

One of the features that is supposed to be funny, but really isn’t is his Hot Or Not captions. This is where he takes pictures from Hot or Not and then comments on them. This had potential to be good, but unfortunately all of the comments are predictable and kind of mesh together. Nothing too original there.

One last note I would like to make about this site is the lack of updating in the past couple of months. For someone who has written about wanting more comments, emails, and traffic, he doesn’t fulfill his end of the bargain. Granted, the way the posts are written, I am glad there are only a few a week instead of a few a day as it made my job easier.

Overall this site is targeted at two types of people: friends of the author and teenage males. Anyone not fitting into either category is more than likely not going to enjoy their time spent. I understood the goal of the site, and I have to say that the author does achieve it, but unfortunately the goal just isn’t what I am looking for in a weblog. The author can write well and is funny when he is not trying to be. I think after a couple more years of living, he will mature, and his blog will be something to read then. I hope the author takes these words seriously because he really is not testing his talents.
The Illusion of Safety

Sweet And Sour certainly is a blog. And there’s really nothing else to it. It’s written by a guy called Eric (I am guessing, since that’s what he says in his minute “About Me” sort of spiel in the top right-hand corner of his blog). In hopes of gaining some insight to the person that is Eric, I jumped to the very first entry, maybe there’s some more information about him there? Nope. I almost took offense to his labelling of journalling as “juvenile”, but apart from that, there was no hint nor clue as to why this blog was started other than to keep track of things he would otherwise forget.

A good reason for blogging if ever there was one. A logical reason for blogging. A boring reason for blogging.

The blog is a standard Blogger layout, well defined headers, dates, and a song that he’s listening to whilst writing is listed for each entry he makes. The code is clean and the site loads very quickly – because there’s nothing there! There’s one really spffy thing about blogging and that is the control you have over your personal space. This blog is about you, Eric – make it yours! Go nuts with the design – especially since I am assuming you’re an aspiring actor (or enthusiastic about getting a job in the entertainment industry). It’s a pity that many people who write well in their blogs don’t think to create or use a design for their site that really reflects their own personalities. There’s no links showing personal interests, no links to blogger friends. There’s no decent information about him or the characters in his blog that feature so heavily in his life.

It’s bland! I read through entry after entry. Eric doesn’t attempt to be funny, he doesn’t say anything extraordinarily poignant or particularly wonderful. It’s a recording of his day-to-day life, a thing that this particular reviewer (and fellow blogger) doesn’t really appreciate. Readers don’t want a simple recording of what you’ve have for breakfast, or what you’ve done after that last exam. We want to know the nitty gritty. Why are you hanging out with that girl from work? Why are people wanting to take your picture in restaurants and hook you up with their daughters? Eric’s life reads like a typical young man’s life, but you don’t get much more information other than that.

The whole problem with the blog I find, like I said before, is that there’s nothing personable in the design. To really get the whole story with Eric, you need to read the blog from beginning to end. Maybe if it was written with a little more flare I’d get into it more, but I couldn’t. So whilst there was a number of entries I read in depth, it was matched by an equal number that I could only skim through.

However I do have to point out that Eric is well written and there’s nary a spelling or grammatical error to be found, that’s pretty spiffy. The other redeeming feature of Eric, as I found out in an earlier entry in the blog, is that he likes ska music (which can often be described as big band punk rock) – Reel Big Fish. He also likes that gothique classique – The Cure. Good boy. I forgive you.

Overall, this blog has terrific potential to be really enthralling for it’s audience, but it falls short. That’s not to say that it’s an awful read, just a little bland with the repetitive “I did this and then I did that” entries.Sweet And Sour