“Stalkers Not Allowed” is the name of this weblog. A name like that left the door wide open as to what directions the author could have taken her entries at this site.
To find more about the author, I had to dig up the information from the Blogger profile listed in the sidebar. The author is a 21-year-old female student from Ontario, Canada. I don’t think it could get any more basic than that.
My biggest complaint about weblogs right now are the fact that so many of them are based off one particular template. Unfortunately, these standardized templates are bringing back light colored text on a dark background. Just like you wouldn’t want to read a newspaper or magazine with this type of an appearance, it makes a weblog harder to physically read.
The author changes the appearance of this standard template a bit by adding original artwork by “r. hutcheson”. The images that are chosen do break up the dark background, but still don’t help much with the white text that’s used throughout the site.
I went back to see how this weblog started, perhaps find a little background information about the author. The first post that’s listed on the site is from August 23, 2004. The post consists of the lyrics to a Billy Joel song and a link to a history professor at the University of Michigan. That post obviously didn’t give me any info that I was hoping to find.
Several of the author’s posts contain her reviews and thoughts on recent books she’s read or movies she has seen. Her opinions are very clearly written, and as with any review, they give readers a general idea towards whether or not that particular movie or book is worth checking into. The author does a good job of not intentionally swaying people one way or the other, but giving more of a non-judgemental synopsis.
It was refreshing to find an author who appreciates fine art like poetry and paintings, in addition to modern pop culture. She doesn’t hesitate to expose her readers to new pieces of art that they may have had no reason to check out on their own.
Overall, this isn’t a weblog I would revisit. I couldn’t find anything interesting in the posts that left me sitting wanting to read more by this author. While the writing is fine, it doesn’t do anything to capture an audience. Those who know things more personally about this author than what is revealed on her weblog may have a differing opinion, but for someone that had no idea she even had a weblog until it was submitted to The Weblog Review, I don’t think it’s something I would add to my list of bookmarks.NULL