.

Needing Better Copywriting

2007-09-29T06:36:00.000-07:00

Graphics -- Not enough Buddhist exotica to intrigue us, but this is fair enough for an online fundraiser, I guess.

Content -- From mysterious Bhutan (with Honk Kong and New York depositaries) comes this web version of a Buddhist alms bowl for a project to build a giant Buddha statue with 125,000 Buddha statuettes inside. This would-be eighth wonder of the world will be part of heritage preservation for the Bhutanese version of Buddhism.

Blurb: Bhutan is the eight happiest nation on the World Map of Happiness and the happiest among the less developed. A study ranks happiness status on health, wealth and education parameters. Life expectancy in this high-terrain territory is reportedly 52.4 years, but Buddha said it's not how long your body lives but how much good you do on earth. And 126,000 more statues of him would spread more good vibes all around. Sold out already?

Recommend -- We'd guess most people online don't know much about Buddhism, so your sales pitch should explain how the 126,000 goldplated figures would rank us higher on the World Map of Happiness. Hint: these days sites on Myanmar and its monks are getting the highest hits, so get with the persecution sob stories!

Rating -- 7.0

Brain Twister

2007-09-26T09:20:00.000-07:00

Graphics -- Under renovation with the header still in surgery? The new layout could turn out better than the old one.

Content -- Profiles/comments on the entertainment scene, some reprints, etcetera rants on student life. Too early to tell what else could happen since there's only four pages.

The English seems literally translated from Tagalog and comes off awkward.

Recommend -- Get an editor. Some good mags, newspapers and bestseller books added to your reading list will give you a handle on idiom. Pidgin will put you at the bottom of the ladder when you go jobhunting.

Rating -- 4.0

Home Ideas: Adding Color and Pattern to Natural Stone

2007-09-22T10:58:00.000-07:00

Beautiful natural stone (marble, granite, sandstone, soapstone, etc.) is porous, so with it comes the drudgery of sealing jobs from time to time to ward off stains.

Want to add color and pattern to a plain stone surface? Tinted cement as sealer lasts for years. You can mix the same color as the stone or take your pick of other shades.

For our bathroom makeover we sealed creamy coral stone tile, called Mactan stone hereabouts, with a peachy mix. How it's done:

1. Unpolished stone is best (costs less, too) for the results we have in mind. Hose down the stone surface or soak the sample tiles to remove dirt from their pores, and rinse off.

2. Mixing colored cement is like mixing paint, so you might need to take a sample of the shade you want to a paint store and get help coming up with it.

3. Test-mix colors, adding two or three tablespoons of portland cement for every kilo of colored cement for more hardness. Apply on the stone surface and dry with a hairdryer on warm setting for about two minutes.

4. Sand with no. 80 sandpaper to remove top layer of cement. Switch to no. 100 for a semifinal finish.

Voila! A gorgeous pattern highlighting the stone's natural texture (shown above over granite tile. Looks brownish here, though). Coralstone carries traces of fossilized sea plants and creatures, which add interest. It's also skid resistant even when wet, which makes it ideal for floors.

Freshly applied colored cement can dry on its own for twenty four hours before sanding -- slow drying is best. The same cement mix should be used as tile grout for a seamless look. A final sanding after grout gives polish and as much smoothness as natural stone can muster.

Fishing in a Dry Wash

2007-09-21T20:58:00.000-07:00

Graphics -- The set-up has one of the better color combos of any blogs around. The nifty rustic 'woodwork' sidebar shows the pains taken for a feature that's a constant. The archive platoon spoils the view, though.

Content -- Lists the blogger's shrink could look into, essays on nature, religion, name-calling, parenting, all-in-a-day tidbits --inlaid with irony, which makes this not a boring blog.

Random stabs at fiction (showing potential, and he has the writer's neuroses to prove it) and cozy family pics round off the menu.

Recommend -- this blog as a demo on the right mix of spontaniety and craft. But then again, you either have it or you don't, Prozac or no Prozac.

Some longish paragraphs could be broken up with graphics.

Ratin -- 9.0

Asterxel

2007-09-03T18:58:00.000-07:00

Graphics -- This blog shapeshifted from kiddie to teeny and the layout's really grownup for someone the blogger's age. Makes the posts look like deep thinking at a business meeting or something. The sidebar even looks unintrusive. A cut above the old layout, anyway. The header is wide-eyed cute.

Content -- Got some laughs out of the doggie horoscope. Axel's in a self-examination mode with birthpaths and what's in a name arithmetic. But her real feel is for color 'styling', something useful in graphic designing or commercial art.

Recommend -- More original content, and would love to see you experiment more with poster or card-type posting where you position (might read: scatter) text inside a graphic design that vibes with the words.

Rating -- 7.8

Trucker Travels

2007-08-25T09:39:00.000-07:00

Graphics -- Highway vistas of the US and Canada make up most of the graphics, giving a pocket tour from the window of a moving vehicle.

The antiqued blogskin and Roman font don't add to the zoom zoom travel theme, though.

Content -- The blogger's hubby takes off on dream hauling trips on an eighteen wheeler, with her as the onboard log of this 'drive' of a lifetime. Crisscrossing statelines as truckers is no walk in the park but sights and sounds of work/breaks on the road get them a real life and make up for the glitches along the way.

Recommend -- Switch to a header/template with more zing to go with the zest you show for the drive.

Rating -- 7.5

Middle East jobbing

2007-08-25T00:17:00.000-07:00

Graphics -- Local color, 'what's on my mind', snapshots good for letters home. The firing squad lineups might be balm for loneliness but not for our viewfinder.

Content -- Good to hear from MidEast workers who don't feel straitjacketed, or would posting the ankle-cuffed feelings be awkward? Is it all clean living or do we get to sneak in some affordable dirty living before we get centerfolded in the calendar of saints?

Anyway, squeaky clean can be refreshing, a seminary hangover isn't bad. Glad to meet someone, too, who likes my most fave glossy, Vanity Fair- a good salad of mudslinging and intellectual pretensions.

Recommend -- People shots are a must, so get creative and collage them, or set them up in colorful graphic collages (black and white sample shown above). Or cut off bodies and paste the heads to funny Arab constumes, whatever.

Can you hide some of the kilometric blogroll or at least break it up into clumps? A long solid line defeats spotlighting them because the eye skims and skips over same-color unfamiliar items.

Rating -- 7.0

Sports Theme for a Paid Post Blog

2007-08-18T06:20:00.000-07:00

Graphics -- Isn't the visitor worth some work in the visuals dept? We've seen prettier company reports and prayer books.

Content -- The blog is run by a fan of Indian cricket star Mahendra Dhoni, and posts (mostly downloaded?)news on Dhoni's career and Indian cricket. (also dloaded?) Paid posts are mixed in.

The blogger is on the right track paidposts-wise because he sticks to one topic (cricket) meaning there's less chance of this conflicting with host advertising agenda and the more varied subjects of paid posts.

It would seem the 'singular' content blocks out the those who don't go for the game, but cricket is India's most popular sport and Dhoni has a following overseas. The paid posts are well-supported by searchlists for the most part.

A related compo or discussion before each paid posting might taste better so the latter wouldn't look too off-tangent, but this would mean more work. And the blogger is into cutting costs, who said anything about looking good?

Recommend -- Love us with more pics of what your press releases yak about.

Rating -- 4.5

Too High Up In An Ivory Tower

2007-08-18T01:39:00.000-07:00

Graphics -- The page opens to an eyefilling fantasy header with ivory towers, probably a reference to the blogger's student life. Cartoons and some videos make up a lot of the entertainment, with little else.

Content -- Seems mostly idle musing, or the posts are meant for the blogger's buddy circle only.

The web is a mass medium, Franco. Out there they need a song and dance short of hitting them over the head with a bat to rouse them from the sleep of the dead.. Even when you're being nice.

Recommend -- Get down from your ivory tower, it makes you the life of a very small party only.

Rating -- 6.0

Graphic Groove

2007-08-11T20:31:00.000-07:00

Graphically -- Pow! Bang! In your eye! What a gallery. Wish all sites were this picturesque - this one gives new meaning to the word.

Content -- The limits (or limitlessness) of creativity in any media captured in a photo blog. Cut to these pages if you're feeling low, jaded or just out of ideas.

Case in point: the witty outdoor ads. For their money, most businessmen make do with no-brainer idiot commercials, because they think we were on the toilet seat with them when God almighty was handing out right brains.

Does this blog affiliate for some items here, Andrea? If it does, here's a pat on the back for you, for getting together one of the more mesmerizing show windows in cyberspace. You know your stuff, huh?

And the pics are keyworded on the right sidebar so searching is easy.

Recommend -- A new template one of these days. No hurry, because the images and links walk enough talk. We have professionally designed sites out there that blab about nothing, so we'll go for naive design that pleasures the visitor.

Rating: 9.5

Blog Nursing

2007-08-11T08:20:00.000-07:00

Graphics -- Lately overhauled for a bigger browser, to the right the roomier layout looks relaxed now that not too many ads have set in. The left bar marks the number of ex-link deals with a cascade bloglist that looks about to get out of control. The header says the blogger has no time/inclination to choose/visualize images other than his own name.

Contents -- Student male nurse life, cliche family and friends scrapbook stuff, faves and peeves, very little to raise blips on a scanner. The video posts add color but not necessarily substance because it takes study to use a medium well enough to get something striking across. Unless the point is just to plug something or someone.

The blogger has to go the distance with how not to look and sound too much like the rest of the bloggeteria lineup, but there's time.

Recommend -- Make student nursing sound eye-opening, hair-raising or what have you. Hospitals are a lode of stories, jokes and 'did you know thats' because for us outsiders 'the life medical' is not exactly an open book. Come up with more graphics if it takes raiding the morgue or setting up a ghost camera.

Rating -- 5.5

Single Mom Blues

2007-08-04T00:49:00.000-07:00

Graphics -- Two thumbs up to the summery scheme, headered by a beach scene to take us away from the daily grind. The sky blue pages bring down stress levels by 100 psi!

Content -- Vacations, separated mom blues, dreams/nightmares, weight loss woes, making a living on the net, money hassles and assorted rants. Some interesting links.

Sometimes the blogger comes up with fresh angles on these common themes. A few times times posts sound trite/redundant, in large blocks of text with no image relief.

She's into writing jobs for spare income but sometimes blows off pressure with 'talking to myself' posts that forget there's an audience and that this is not a private blog for friends and family only.

The saving grace is the brisk mile-a-minute pace that keeps up tension. And a sense of humor that stays in strong winds.

Recommend -- More attention to proofreading, and ease up on the family album pics unless there's a particularly fascinating story to go with them.

Rating -- 8.0

Lecons en Francais

2007-07-29T13:39:00.000-07:00

Graphics -- The header shows something of the blogger's locale. The rest are mostly photo album and nude sketches, a few videos, a few ads. A few sections have very low text vs. background contrast and are almost unreadable.

Content -- Family and friends, inner conflict, travel, news, political, social and religious commentary. Posts are in English, Tagalog, Visayan and French. It looks like a therapy blog, although the posts do invite response. What's unique here is a Filipino commenting in French, which allows a look into Filipino thinking for foreigners who speak French only.

Recommend -- A little more proofreading, less posts per page.

Rating -- 8.5

Cashing In

2007-07-28T13:12:00.000-07:00

Graphics -- Didn't know how ghastly mango yellow on black could be. The layout is flea market and banners make up 90 per cent of the images. If you're blogging for business, where's the show window flair, Sana?

Content -- We'll hand it to the blogger for coming up with a quick index to moneymaking opps online. Even the sidebar links turn tricks. This is a real deal bazar and all this research will pay off for many people. The headlined 'free money' is not real, though, because you'd still have to break your back before making a buck.

Recommend -- Major surgery like a heart transplant to make the blog seem less like a calculator. Come to think of it, an antique cash-register sound effect everytime you turn a page would go with the works.

Rating -- 6.0

Alternative cooling, contd.

2007-07-28T05:09:00.000-07:00

Awnings, window or roof overhang shades can lower inside temperature and reduce glare.

19th century Filipino builders knew what they where doing when they placed sliding doors and grills below windows. This can be done today, adding sliding or open-out insect screens. Can your generator run an airconditioner on power-failure days?

Outside walls or wall trelises on the east and west sides may be covered with climbing plants (sample above) that take the heat. The leaves give off oxygen to counter pollutants, too.

If your housebuilding or remodeling budget can stand it, a courtyard, small terraces outside bedroom doors that open out, an indoor water feature (photo above left from www.backyardcity.com) or good-sized aquarium will fight the heat specially when fans are positioned near the water.

Use heatblocking roof paint on the next repaint session. This type paint costs a little more but will save on coooling costs for the long term. This is better than fire-hazard roof insulation used in fully airconditioned buildings.

This wraps it up for Josh's room problems, so anyone else have house budget problems, solutions or decor ideas to share ?

Budget Home Ideas: Alternative Cooling

2007-07-28T03:02:00.000-07:00

Little cents on your power bill add up, so natural cooling methods shouldn't be overlooked:

Plant trees or tall bushes as sunbreakers several meters from your windows. When they're grown all they need is trimming once a year to keep branches and leaves clear of the roof. They give privacy too, and buff against strong winds. Thick hanging plants on the roof overhang do the same.

A house in the tropics should have a roof overhang of at least 1.25 meters for excess sun and rain. Asphalt-tile roofing insulates better against heat if the cost doesn't put you off.

An evaporator fan (sample above, photo from www.electric-fan.com) uses up the same wattage as a regular electric fan and delivers twice the cool if its water tank is filled daily.

Attic rooms these days usually have large electric exhaust fans built in. Your architect will put his foot down (for aesthetic reasons) on the old-fashioned roof windmill shown above, unless it's on a concrete roof deck or one of those new roof designs where you see a roof from the outside but it's hollow with a deck inside. Louvres on the upper and lower house ceilings direct air flow to and from this ventilator. Hinged shutters cover the louvres if airconditioning or heating is used. In the Philippines roof windmills like this are custom made out of galvalume, aluminum or stainless steel.

Contd. next post.

Review: http://fattybearyus.blogspot.com/

2007-07-27T21:26:00.001-07:00

Graphics -- The white on black notebook design spells style. Text and images are packed close but the empty black spaces at the sides somehow lessen the clutter effect. I'm always a sucker for cartoons and animal pics, they lighten up the heaviest/dumpiest place.

Content -- Random rambling that thankfully doesn't focus too much on school doings, which would shut out the visitor. The material is more viewer-aware than that in most student sites. Fave food, jokes, skincare tips, heroines, song lyrics and peeves. Nothing much to move comeback traffic, however.

Recommend -- More controversy, drama, intrigue, tension, hair and blood-pressure raising like the cofibean and Atienza items. Adrenalin shots to make them sit up and comment. A little nitpicking here: reduce font size for post dates, make headline font bigger.

Also, your header's kid stuff, shop around for something more your age. And next time, design vacation footage around sights and sounds -- firing squad shots are a no-no!

Rating -- 7.5

Review: http://sleepingkittendancingdog.blogtoolkit.com/

2007-07-22T08:12:00.000-07:00

Graphics -- Getting more colorful in the newer posts, with pastry pics and paintings by the blogger putting a personal stamp on the site. Navigation is a bit of a hassle, though, since there's only one long page at this stage. The ticker tape is an attention getter, messages aside.

Content -- There's no particular theme yet to ID the blog. Not much effort is made to make post titles more lively. You know, people call the Weekly World News and the National Enquirer trash, but their flashy headlines sell.

But yum, the lipsmacking goodies are riveting, calling all dessert junkies! I should replace them with a bathroom scale in my subconscious.

The discussion boards enable touching base with visitors on the day's issues, which gives a good balance to the otherwise blogger-focused entries.

Recommend -- Since the recurring topics here are food, personal art and commentary/discussion on current events and issues, why not enlarge and redesign your header to feature these, Theresa? (In the style of the abstract on the mouse!) The possiblities are exciting, I can hear your brushes rattling in their holders.

Also, the number of posts will increase to a point where you'll have to organize them in pages at six or seven per, so we can get to the bottom depts. easier.

Rating-- 8.0

Commercial site criteria, contd.

2007-07-22T00:04:00.000-07:00

We made the previous post so bloggers requesting reviews could rate themselves, too, and set up their own standards and goals at their own pace. The reviews here will rate blogs according to their current major strengths and weaknesses, which may or may not be in the virtues and vices listed in catsnip and timeforblogging.

If the blogger likes, he may average both ratings and get the best picture.

Do commercial site criteria apply to personal blogs?

2007-07-21T22:32:00.000-07:00

Catsnip.com, a temporarily closed commercial site reviewer, lists some criteria for commercial site review: site focus, color and site design, images, fit in browser window, use of space or amount of clutter, non-intrusive ads, organization, navigation, and under the content category:

- understandability
- language, writing style
- ease of links
- content current?

Under the multimedia category: sound effects, effective use of music, and animation. Under functionality: use of interactivity, and does the site suit the target audience? Also, interesting links, first impression, and other strengths and weaknesses.

Of course, not all of these elements would be appropriate for all websites because style would depend on the site subject matter. Would animation look good in a place that's out to look dignified, like the official Vatican site? What about personal blogs? My two cents' worth is that most blogs are not out to sell anything, so bloggers don't feel the need to pull out all stops and try to ride high in the above categories. That would put on the pressure and take the fun out blogging, right? Basics might apply, but trimmings are strictly optional (or, we're just making excuses for our shortcomings, ha ha). Contd. next post.

http://maryannemoll.blogspot.com/

2007-07-17T14:49:00.000-07:00

Graphics -- Your blog theme , Maryanne, is reading books, something you learned to do back in the old days when you were sickly, and the template skin is old yellowed parchment. So alright, it hangs together for you. But I thought books were brain waker-uppers, not neuroses. No more closeups of book stacks, please!

The army action shots were nice, though.

Content -- Progress reports on work for the military, personal life, 'me, mom and her flowers', reading lists, author links to the side. Sample: "But rather than list down the things I was supposed to read but have not read, I'd rather list down what I did read since my last post about reading." Is there a doctor in the house?

Okay, for some people books are a better escape than drugs, alcohol or one-night stands. Don't we envy them who have time to read.

But I totally agree with what they say about you needing to have some marines take you to the seedier side of town, Maryanne. Some of those books can wait til you're sixty and all you have is a creaky old husband smelling of eucalyptus.

Recommend -- Less on books, more on the seedier side of town.

Rating -- 7.5

Stretch That Buck

2007-07-15T10:43:00.000-07:00

Graphics/Layout -- A little prettier than the newsletter version on about.com. but just as pictorially 'frugal'.

Content -- Topics just like those in the newsletter formerly hosted by Pat, presented blog-style. She's a regular genius at cooking and digging up new ways to cut the cost of just about anything, one 'voice in the wilderness' of impulse buying and status spending. And she makes it sound fun.

There are helpful links like 'Learning Credit and Debt Management', 'Associated Content' and other sites listed in the sidebar. Something everyone would agree with is the post where she discusses the morality of credit card companies' granting credit to teenagers and to those already in financial trouble. Where I live, the banks deliberately send credit card bills by regular post so delivery delay racks up penalties.

Recommend -- More graphics per page and a more arresting header, specially because for the younger people frugality is a glum subject. The title 'frugal living' sounds too 'grandma' to the latest generation of big spenders and is associated with about.com. A a new blog name with more zip could get a fresh crop of visitors, name recall value aside.

Rating -- 8.0

Review:aika.tinig.com

2007-07-14T10:19:00.000-07:00

Graphics -- It's good more effort at illustration is being made in the newer posts. What's with dimming the links? You have to play hide and seek before finding the right one.

Content -- College life highlights in and out of school, budding political awareness, friends and family, rants, opinions on books and movies. Mostly in Tagalog, so you limit your audience to the people who speak it. Is this blog just for your UST webring?

Amazing how you can go on and on about things that don't mean anything to anyone except you. You should be on Tagalog radio or somewhere you can adlib as much as you like.

Recommend -- Lighting up your links, less Tagalog when you want a wider audience.

Rating -- 6.5

Review:allthatcomeswithit

2007-07-13T22:53:00.000-07:00

Graphics -- Male domestication in capitals, almost a pictorial on how to be a houseband and father. The wife's hobby pics shows she can be more into things outside the kitchen and laundry!

Content -- A real guilt trip for parents working doubletime and overtime to pay for one more car, house and the whole upward mobility thing. Deep cocooning in the countryside with subheaders on gardening, books read, family outings and child- rearing stages.

This blog makes you rethink your priorities, keeping in mind, however, that the UK is a welfare haven with the people in higher tax brackets answering for the perks of the people below. So choosing love over money is fine if you live in a welfare state or if you have a huge trust fund.

Recommend -- Details on teaching behavior at home, because British children are called some of 'the best-behaved and well-mannered'. This is learned partially by example, of course, and what about the schools? How does your country keep the balance between real child abuse and turning out monster brats you can't slap on the wrist without them screaming child abuse?

Rating -- 7.0

Review: friedreich

2007-07-12T20:46:00.000-07:00

Graphics -- The header tells all about mall rat Friedrich. Add 'places I've been to, bags, boots, my credit card bill', and other must-haves in the life of a shopaholic.

Content -- How name brands give him emotional satisfaction and meaning in life (you selling this stuff, Friedreich?), how 'my work's getting to be work' and meaningless. Some telling comment on kiddie books. This is better anyway, than nondescript pubic hair, whining and eyestraining color schemes.

Someday, Friedriech, we hope to read you've found out what you're here for as in 'The Purpose-Driven Life'. Princeton and those other schools teach substance as well as form, don't they. Someday you'll find out giving of yourself makes you happier than all those bags and clothes.

Recommend -- Nada re the blog, more social awareness for the blogger. Shopaholic rehab?

Rating -- 7.0

Small-Room Problems, contd: Storage Solutions

2007-07-09T19:32:00.000-07:00

Some more tuck-away help to add to the wall to wall cabinet and double service furniture mentioned in previous posts:

Move some things from the clothes drawer to hangers. Screw hooks onto the back of closet doors and inside closet walls for hanging small items.

Use the bottom of small gift boxes to compartmentalize drawers so they'll hold more.

Roll-out cabinets under the bed, benches and other stationary furniture will keep your junk out of sight.

Bulletin boards and chests like the painted ones shown above can be made over as often as you like with new motifs. A removable cushion on the chest can make extra seating.

If there's at least two feet between the ceiling and your roof and the ceiling is
sturdy enough, a hinged lid on the ceiling can open to a storage space good for
heat-resistant items.

Store stuff seldom used in large waterproof containers like bakery lard tin barrels, and move these outside your room.

Review: The Utenzi Blog

2007-07-08T09:04:00.000-07:00

Graphics -- Going through the avocado green (the most restful color for the eye) pages is like rafting down a lazy river, and everyone will enjoy this blog for its lush imagery.

Content -- The blogger takes the middle road between posting personal items in the first person (snore-inducing if you're not Paris Hilton) and straight third person feature reports (can get impersonal).

His engaging journal-style narrative starts out chatty, moves on to the lecture part and ends up back to earth with comments inviting response. This makes his science and review posts readable. Other bloggers should learn how to pull this off. For instance, inflicting your wedding anniversary photos on the audience takes craft, like telling an intriguing story behind the story to keep them onsite. Take note, firing-squad shot posters out there.

Back to Utenzi, there are down-home style book, movie and product reviews, stock market tips, science news, local weather and health reports. I'm not sure if the mention of irritable bowel syndrome will sit well with my lunch at the keyboard. Content aside, what would move the visitor to open other posts is the glorious photography.

Recommend -- Moving the 'recent posts' and 'archives' buttons to page bottom so we don't have to scroll back up to jump to other pages.

Rating -- 9.7

Review: Can't You Read?

2007-07-07T06:35:00.000-07:00

Graphics -- Hectic as the blogger's world of stage lights and bustling Hong Kong. The layout spreads photos without looking albumish and the the header shows style. The ballerina videos are a treat.

Content -- The high and low points of a dancer's work life, relationships, and assorted gay community happenings. Rye posts a moving birthday tribute to his mom, which will shame you brats out there who take everything for granted.

A bloglink slams the Pope for his stand against same-sex marrriage, but Rye's comment shows no resentment. The whole site comes out like the 'about me' part that says, 'I am just a common man with common thoughts', cheerful and unperturbed.

You close the pages with some compassion for this self-effacing person who works and loves as hard as he can with no holding back. You will have a full life to look back on, Rye.

Recommend -- Keep telling it like it is, and always be as upbeat as you are. Also, you could find more carefree-looking page colors to go with your content.

Rating -- 8.5

introspection and rants

2007-07-04T06:29:00.000-07:00

Graphics /Layout -- Generic but pleasant enough, relieved by mom blog pics and Americana.

Content --Baked beans, camping trips, Hershey Park - highlights in the life of a middle class American working mom. Bland and safe, nothing jolts or surprises except maybe the cost of pet care in the US.

Thankfully there's no slobbering over kids or torturing the viewer with full page spreads of the last family vacation. This is a picture of a woman at peace with herself, serene yet in control of her life in an affuent society where marriage doesn't take away a woman's individuality.

Recommend -- Can't think of what would spice up this journal (short of a Desperate Housewives turn of events) to make it stand out from the rest of the mommy blogs, except maybe some more local color. I found some pressed leaf jewelry (photo above}. A header with some New England in it might seem stereotypical to you, Merrie, but not to an international audience. Some local seafood recipes might be nice.

Rating -- 8.0

Review: ade magnaye

2007-07-01T13:47:00.000-07:00

Graphics and Layout -- are so organized and clean they make me feel guilty. The only litter was the underheader ads on the homepage.

Content -- This blogger's head is where your funnybone is, but don't be fooled because comedy is harder to do than gooey melodrama. You have to be born with it. Good to meet someone who doesn't take himself too seriously, and Ade's humor has universal appeal.

This is one humor blog that isn't crammed with jokes and anecdotes copied from outside.

Recommend -- Someone was suggesting a new header but this one is like, deadpan and maybe could stay as is. The content is tongue in cheek, anyway and there's no need for overkill. We'll take the retard any day over serious brilliance.

Maybe you could replace the ads under the homepage header with big funny headlines? Your posts jump to other pages, anyway, so this where you could position ads first thing on the page.

Have you looked into comedy screenwriting, Ade? My crystal ball tells me that's where your money is.

Rating: 9.4

Review: Harry McFry Investigates

2007-06-30T20:30:00.000-07:00

Graphics -- The antiqued note on every page hints at mystery in the Sherlock Holmes mode. But no giftwrapping can take away the bang from the content here, which is designed to draw comeback traffic per episode of the cliffhanger tale on display.

Content -- In hard copy Harry McFry and his 'missing family' case would be something to cuddle up with on a rainy afternoon or under a beach umbrella. The first chapter made me get a subscription, because it cranks up your curiosity like anything. Mr. Hamburger has hit on a really crowd-drawing idea.

Style -- What the literati would call kitschy in the way Harry Potter is, but who cares when you're hooked on McFry's adventures?

Recommend -- How about one illustration per chapter, even if it's only from online image files? Electronic media needs more visually, don't you think, Mr. Hamburger, because it's not a gold-leafed, leather-bound artprinted book that smells good and feels luxurious.

Rating -- 9.0

Black Hole

2007-06-30T19:59:00.000-07:00

Graphics/layout: The gloomy setup tries to take the viewer into the bleak isolation and despair a gay feels at not being like "everyone else". Amateur photogs like us should take note of the haute photography, light and dark studies of the human form.

Content: The blogger moans and groans about how society marginalizes gays and the daunting task of getting loved for what they are. This is a cry-on-your-shoulder zone for people who feel for one reason or another that they're not acceptable.

Includes the usual gayblog sidelights on "what happened to our love etc", lots of calendar shots of pretty boys, porno links.

Style -- Theatrical melodrama.

Recommend -- What about a good news page where you climb out of the self-pity mudhole and lay out the ways some gays got respect by being successful in a line of work (like Alexander the Great, Michaelangelo, Yasser Arafat and Pitoy Moreno), having loving friends and family, and doing something good for the world we live in? After all, if all the world's a stage, act the best you can.

If it's that much of a hell and you want out, why not show the way and look for some stories you can publish about how psychotherapy successfully remade gays into heteros.

Rating -- 8.0

Review: Punkndisorder23

2007-06-30T05:36:00.000-07:00

Graphics -- Funky and spunky - The poster art homepage rocks! But function should NEVER take a backseat to form, Nao, and your links, scroll arrows and other clickables should be highlighted, haloed even, to contrast them against the blogskin more. Make it easy for navigators who are not Magellan and Columbus.

Content -- Teen angst/anguish and a sprinkling of school updates. Contents are in early development and could stand some plumping up.

Recommend -- Don't be so inward-looking and spooky. Two weeks on biotin and B-complex megadoses will lighten up your blog. The asteroid we're on a collision course with is still years away and they have plans to blow it up.

Rating -- 7.0

trompe l'oeil

2007-06-29T19:13:00.001-07:00

French for 'fool the eye', trompe l'oeil paintings and murals have been used since Roman times to give the illusion of a bigger room through scenes with distance perspective.If you can't paint or hire a muralist, a graphics shop can blow up the scene you want.

Next Post: Storage problems

small-room decor solutions, contd.

2007-06-29T18:40:00.000-07:00

Orangey tints can be on your furniture, window shades, lamps and other decor. If you want woodstain go for lighter shades all in one color.

2) Calm colors, unfussy furniture and subtle patterns can be dull if you don't add excitement, like a colorful bedspread or wall art (with your orange as an element).

3) Keep junk and small pieces at a minimum. Use walls by filling them with shelves and bulletin boards. One pic you sent in, Josh, shows a window on the 2.5m wall. You can fill the idle walls around the window with a floor-to-ceiling wall to wall closed cabinet. Roomy bottom drawers on casters (wheels) will stash all trash and more.

4) Paint all bookcases, chests and other large items the same color as the wall to make them seem less bulky.

5) Keep only the most important furniture, specially those that do double or triple duty, such as a chest/table/stool (when you need a table, you remove the cushion) or a file cabinet instead of a night table.

6) Slim see-thru furniture like director's chairs or a bench with throw pillows for backrests will take up less room than upholstery and heavy carved wood.

7) Avoid heavy textures like a very furry rug.

8) A small room seems larger if decorating activities are concentrated on two walls at most.

Next Post: Trompe l'oeil

Review: The Life of A Would-Be Designer

2007-06-27T22:45:00.000-07:00

Blog reviewed: The Life of A Would-Be Designer

Layout /Graphics - Black for the homepage and other colors for following pages shows good sense. Layout is clean with more than enough blank spaces.

Content - Was expecting more than a few snatches about design. This is more like a contact site with some paragraphs on party and club life. If you're in design school, Vivek, that'd be interesting to hear about, wouldn't it.

The cyberabuse pages are really relevant. Most of us don't know what's legally online abuse and what isn't.

Style - Asian teen.

Recommend - You could post some design sketches to show where you're at. And change the header to a non-photo graphic because you already have this beautiful blowup on the homepage. Otherwise leave things as they are, the blog's off to a good start.

Rating - 8.0

Review: Atomic Girl

2007-06-27T21:53:00.000-07:00

Blog reviewed: Atomic Girl

Graphics/Layout - Don't care what they say about purple, the lavender skin grabs me! So does the big bold color headline. And ads above the headline feel better than those below. Less anticlimactic.

Contents - Some links feel like City Hall where you're shuttled from cubicle to cubicle then asked to come back an hour later. But this is better than having large ads splat in your face.

Contentwise, we wish there was more substance here for those not in the blogger's circle of friends and family. For what it's worth, the blog is a window into the mind of someone who's been prematurely shunted into a major life change. And disappointed at having some dreams compromised, but trying to bounce back.

Recommend - Go easy on the pics of friends and family even if they're your support system because nobody besides you cares about them.

You could focus a little more on general-appeal content.

Rating - 7.5

Decor Answers for Small Room Problems, contd.

2007-06-26T04:04:00.000-07:00

This is the "pictorial" grillwork we put in (they cost less than a mural!) with the retractable screens outside. The concrete wall outside looked like Bilibid Prison before we put in plants and bird feeders made out of GI sheets leftover from gutter construction.

Decor Solutions

1) Keep it simple and serene, use calm colors. For the color scheme you want we suggest:

-- light gray for the 6m walls, light blue gray for the 2.5m walls. The blue gray
comes out slightly darker and will even out the slightly elongated room shape.

-- baseboards, cornices, doors, windows and their jambs, same color as the
2.5m walls. If the windows and doors are on the 2.5m walls they'll have to be the color of the 6m wall for contrast.

--the ceiling can be off-white or lightest gray. If yours is plain the lowest-cost
trick to dress it up is to put together lawanit (fiberboard) moldings in a pattern
you like (may be a rectangle, diamond or freeform shape) and stick them on before painting.

Test to see if the lawanit bears up under your paint. If not, ask at the paint store
for a protective primer before the moldings go up.

Contd. next post

design tips for size and shape problems in a room

2007-06-25T20:40:00.001-07:00

Hi Josh, glad you liked the mirrors we used to make our living room look wider (previous decor post). The widest point of our living area is only 3.9 meters but everyone always says the place is spacious. Opposite the mirrors, glass walls open to a porch. Left or right the eye is not dead-ended, and we replaced the bulky old sofa with a smaller one. And the higher than average ceiling is a bonus.

You were griping about your room (shown here) so I made a list of what you think's wrong with it:

1) Room is an irregular shape, only 2.5 meters wide and 6 meters long.

2) Wants a repaint, preferred colors gray, blue and orange.

3) No place to hide clutter, takes too long to clean.

4) Needs more cooling, only electric fan is available.

The good things about your room is its roof garden location --more breeze-- and it opens to a deck with plants and birds (in the city, so consider yourself blessed). We looked up files for standby answers to the problems so here are some short and longterm options you can choose from:

SIZE/SHAPE PROBLEMS

Architectural Solutions

1) Open up about two-thirds of the wall facing the deck and replace with grillwork inside and acordion screen doors outside. Curtains or shades will close off this off at night.

The outside view will expand the room's inside perspective and make the small
space seem bigger. Added bonuses are more light and air. Your roof overhang would have to be at least one meter, though, so the rains don't come in.

Our dining alcove (shown next post) is an example.

2) Do the same with sliding glass. Glass is an insulator, though, so you'd need airconditioning.

Next Post: Decorating Solutions

Review: The Transformation of America in the 21st Century

2007-06-23T21:35:00.000-07:00

Blog Reviewed: The Transformation of America in the 21st Century

Graphics - Easy on the eye, the clean layout uses colors to go with the subject matter. No ads is a relief, so if the blogger decides on some, we suggest he keep them low key. The absence of pictorial elements seems deliberate.

Content - Bulletins and features on US and overseas political developments, posted for 'entertainment'. Topics could be for conversation over a drink, but they're not presented this way.

Style - American news and feature writing you can get in any newspaper or news site/channel, without the visual extras or variety.

Recommend - Try a header size about an inch bigger. Speak more in the first person. If entertainment is the object, after every news item try and add some opinions that may be aggressive, light, sarcastic or humorous. Show audience response for a more interactive feel.

This is to try and even out on the 'heaviness' of the topics chosen. This blog wears such a long face, and people go online to lighten up after the day's battles. For instance, Fox News would appeal to a wider audience than CNN because of their more frequent fillers on topics such as the latest in skin care, pet care and minute by minute developments on who gets Anna Nicole Smith's loot.

What about photos, political cartoons, videos and other items you can post and the audience can send in?

Rating: 7.5

Review: The Original Me

2007-06-23T06:30:00.000-07:00

Review: The Original Me

Graphics - Black is dramatic, alright, Ramo, but could you heighten the color contrast between the white letters and black background? Low contrast is a strain on the eyes. Your header's a knockout, is the good thing re your graphics.

Content - Essay type pieces starting with impressions of life in India up to the blogger's first few months as an office worker inthe US, laced with a gay's schoolgirlish fantasies about sundry movie star images, and some political and religious commentary thrown into the soup.

Otherwise, what's of some significance here are his feelings about bowing to his culture's marriage tradition (the parents get a matchmaker in India, don't they?) even if the opposite sex draws a blank on his emotions. Dutiful Ramo plays the devoted hubby in India, but starts feeling that he might get the chance to be himself in the more open society of the land of the free and the home of the brave.

Fate steps in with a declaration from his wife that she has no plans to leave her job in India and join him in the US, so let loose the cannons, boom boom boom! Will the first stop be a lingerie shop, Ramo?

Style - College sophomore essay from the Brit school system they have in India. Not altogether bad, can sound elegant or archaic depending on your mood. I ratha feel like some tea and scawnes, your lawdship?

Recommend - A color scheme that doesn't leave all the regions of my body squinting and straining. And some effort to remove two words from my mind - "pious geek".

Rating - 8.3

Blog Review: Wentle's Sojourn and Thoughts

2007-06-23T00:56:00.000-07:00

Blog reviewed: Wentle's Sojourn and Thoughts

Graphics/layout - A little bare (still under construction?). Not much of a header, no blogger's info, etc. The blog displays only a few personal posts recently started. The staging will need some serious attention from the blogger, before your eyelids will lift a millimeter.

Content - Another mishmash of entries with the grand theme of 'how my week went' segueing to 'how my weekend went' replete with whining, gasping, and squealing.

Style - Fourteen year old manic attack?

Recommend - Change display ratio of brain activity to: 70% left brain, 30% right brain. Get a friend to help with your site, if things are that hectic.

Rating - 5.

Blog Review: Gibbs Cadiz

2007-06-22T20:02:00.000-07:00

Review: Gibbs Cadiz

Graphics - could do better if the ratio of ad and content visuals were changed to: ad visuals--30%, content visuals--70%.

Content - One of the best Pinoy blogs online catering to music, theater, film and books, it writes up a storm to keep you on to the buzz. Are some items reprints? Whatever, this site actually takes blogging a notch higher as a literary form.

Style - A bit gushy sometimes, but you can see Mr. Cadiz' mastery of contemporary feature writing.

Recommend - A resize of the right column to about one fourth the page could make reading the posts easier. And no ads under the header would do wonders for the layout.

Rating - 9.8

Review: My New Life In Canada

2007-06-22T16:09:00.000-07:00

Review: My New Life in Canada

Graphics - Black goes with introspection and everything else, as Zhu's color scheme shows. But 365 days of doom and gloom can't be you, Zhu. Any second backdrop tints?

Content - Mostly a chronicle of the blogger's settling into French Canada, her adopted homeland. At this point only a few segments tell of her 27-country odyssey from her native France.

Style - Diarist and insightful, somehow the posts manage to entertain. For instance, the 'interviews from hell' piece conveys the tension of a phone job interview.

Recommend - Spill some deep dark secrets about those places you've been to, Zhu, that the travel agencies won't whisper about.

Rating - 8.9

sofa area accent

2007-06-20T23:40:00.000-07:00

We couldn't scrimp on the custom-made living area accent. Would it've cost less to use backlit stained or etched glass panels?

We needed the mirrors for a room-widening illusion, though. If lucky you has a more spacious sala, detachable stained/etched glass panels would make for more variety as they can be replaced seasonally with other designs.

Review: The McVie Show, Season 5

2007-06-20T23:17:00.000-07:00

Review: The McVie Show, Season 5

Graphics - A lot of the photo composition is ad agency whizbang, so put this in a folder, you photog wannabes.

Content - The blurbs for films and 'where we went' pictorials are only asides for what's most titillating here - the pointblank portrayals of bath house drama. To think this is the way it has worked in bath houses for millennia really intrigues.

Style - Who wouldn't be taken with the combo of 'breezy and matter of fact' and erudite wherever you zoom in? This blog is a showcase!

Recommend - Ad positioning that's not too 'in your face' , smaller font for the oneliners maybe?

Rating - 9.7

Review: Misterhubs

2007-06-18T20:19:00.000-07:00

Blog reviewed: Misterhubs

Graphics - a bit laid back for the showbizzy and Playgirl subject matter.

Content - Your garden variety celebrity and entertainment gossip/pictorials, this is the blogger's getaway from his work world of whereases, wherefores and structured legal forms.

Gay funny and witty.

Style - Light and diverting.

Recommend - Graphics with a little pizzazz. And go easy on the girls, darling, a lot of the time being a she can be a helluva scrape to be in.

Rating - 8.5

Blog Review: The Philosophical Bastard

2007-06-18T18:33:00.000-07:00

Blog Review: The Philosophical Bastard

Graphics, Layout - Minimalist-cum-pics of the day. (can a blog be minimalist?) Goes with the blogger"s writing style.

Content - A short-fiction buff, the blogger publishes his output here along with day to day snippets on the life of a young urbanite. Good practice at other forms of writing that can pay the bills.

Style - A vanishing breed of pinoy male writing that comes across masculine. Now and then he tries to sound stupid to steer clear of the nerd herd.

Recommend -- If you could mind your grammar p's and q's, Paolo, and get some training, you could be our pinoy Steinbeck. How about coming up with material for a wider audience?

Rating - 8.8

Blog Review: Pep Up With Pepe

2007-06-17T08:50:00.000-07:00

Blog being reviewed: Pep Up With Pepe

Graphics -- Colors and layout are spiffy and polished. We can see the marketing man in the production, Pepe. The local color is particularly good, and the header rates an A+. Lovvve it!

About the hair down there--everyone's seen a zillion pixels of this stuff, so if you colored the hair green and dressed up as an alien, it would have more wattage, if you get my drift.

Content -- Why do I feel like a Peeping Tom at the keyhole, or like I crashed a party , or sneaked a peek at someone's diary? The upside is this is a really good closeup of gay emotional make-up.

Bueno, I am enlightened. The family sentiments tug at my heart, too.

Style -- Naive, but sweet, really.

Recommend - Keep up the eye candy. Think a little more of your universal audience, nicheing is overrated.

Rating -- 8.5

In focus: Charles' Thoughts and Blogs

2007-06-17T07:05:00.000-07:00

Blog being reviewed: Charles' Thoughts and Blogs

This five-month old blog is one guy's personal catch-all bin confessional that takes readers into his work routine, highs and lows, etc.

Graphics: mostly album photos of travels and excursions. Could be interesting if I knew the people in them.

Content: The blog starts out fun. The items on politicians were really entertaining. Later there's a shift to "true confessions" but he's no serial killer or grandma rapist, so what's new? We want tabloid dirt!

Dong, all of us have lost phones, so we could use like, a really electrifying new angle on this, you know, the old human interest bit? Johnny Depp's or Brad Pitt's publicists work harder than that, k? The good news: Like all Cebuanos, you'd be a hit at political commentary.

Recommend -- Change your blog theme to : the real bottom line ugly stinking truth about your fav politicians and celebrities. Let us know when!

Rating: 8.0

room partition to keep power bills down

2007-06-15T08:41:00.000-07:00

This AC'd work area can be closed off from the rest of the office to save on cooling costs.

space saving, anyone?

2007-06-15T08:19:00.000-07:00

This built-in formica drop table opens onto the porch because there's no space inside the small home office for a large table.

When it folds up, the leg is unscrewed and left hanging by a chain.

Blog Review: The Emancipation of Thadie

2007-06-15T06:11:00.000-07:00

Blog being reviewed: The Emancipation of Thadie

Graphics -- Nudie pix seem an absolute in any presentation by gays. Could be the testosterone reacting to repression, because straight guys aren't this obsessive. Well, if a blog expresses you, express.

Content -- He's in the season of life for kalandian, but here and there are flashes of intellect and the fact that he didn't go to diploma mill schools. Hey, he reads Neruda!

Style -- Bubbly as gays come, but honest. We'll say this for Thadie, he has a raw talent for narrative and seeing drama in everyday events. Mass communication could be in his future, with some ironing out of rough edges.

Recommend -- Less layout clutter, please.

Overall rating -- 8.5

Blog Review: The Vegan Prince

2007-06-14T17:12:00.000-07:00

A quick look at the blog The Vegan Prince gives a glimpse of a person's passion for health, beauty, and pets.

Header: A semi-nude view of the blogger could give the impression that this is one of those soft porn sites for adults only. The predominating black shades in the header projects a gloom which doesn't jive with the blog's professed bright and sunny themes of veganism, beauty, and pets. Some vibrant color would create a more upbeat and cheerful ambiance.

Content: Excellent. One who visits this blog goes out with new bits of info which the writer delivers in youthful style and language. He says his piece (on a set of beliefs not everyone agrees with) without lecturing, so we give two thumbs up to the blogger on this one.

Lay-out/design is tasteful. It is clean and easy on the eyes. Everything is in place and surfing is like a breeze.

Overall rating: 9.5

we thought a straight blog review format would be blah, so...

2007-06-13T06:25:00.000-07:00

At some point many people get the itch to be the great writer/journalist/TV host-- then they get swept in other directions. Blogging gives the feel of journalizing without too many deadlines, and we thought we'd take a crack at blog reviewing.

To add graphic interest we're sharing some budget home design, furnishing and decor ideas, and you can upload your own home idea pix showing your decorating genius on a shoestring budget.

To give the hum of the old newsroom we can edit your gobbledygook (English, up to one thousand words only, please) . Just drop "edit request" in the comments area with the date and your usename. This name should appear in the mail/attachment with your text, sent to unica_hija77@yahoo.com.

To get your blog reviewed , just add its url to the comments section and we'll do the rest.

box planter made from scrap glass

2007-06-11T08:32:00.000-07:00

Here's what to make with leftover glass or see-thru hard plastic that's at least 3/16th inch thick -- a bottomless planter (I had enough glass to make half a dozen).

Potted plants or other decor placed inside are covered with rocks. They're child and dogproof!

back-to-back swinging

2007-06-11T08:19:00.000-07:00

First item for our home makeover - our old wooden swing was replaced with a weatherproofed steel one. The back-to-back design hangs by square bars for max loadbearing.

You could make one with a removable backrest for naps on the back porch.

Who Reviews Review My Blog?

2007-06-10T06:59:00.000-07:00

There's this interesting blog that reviews submitted for rating. Review My Blog, a blog run by 3 (or 5?) feisty girls, pats your back or skewers your obra maestra.

Berate My Blog decided to try its hand at reviewing Review My Blog, using the standards they set:

The template header----Cute. Gives a "we mean business" impression.

Layout/design----Simple, uncluttered. It's easy to find what you're looking for.

Content---Putting other people's blogs to a microscope to try and" improve" the quality of online output is commendable. And this is for free. They do try to give a balanced view and get into all angles, including those the blogger may have given little thought to. Laying your blog under their magnifier may be eye-opening. Or it may give a sense of "I wanted something more in-depth" depending on how nerdy or superficial you are. The once-over they give, however, is free of charge so it would be too much to expect something more comprehensive.

Verdict: Good enough at the price. Rating: 9.

editing abc's

2007-06-08T16:15:00.000-07:00

Am raring to show you some home makeover pix, but my dvd rom drive just declared war on me. We'll keep the fires burning with some text editing tips they taught you in school, that you have trouble remembering :

1) Take a cliche and rephrase it.
2) Choose a short word over a long one. Your
audience might not like a dictionary between
you and them.
3) If it's possible to cut a word out, cut.
4) Active is better than passive.
5) Think of your audience before choosing a
foreign phrase, a scientific word or jargon
over an everyday english equivalent.

Brrrrrng! School's out!

the michaelangelo in you

2007-06-03T11:55:00.000-07:00

Never got an A in art class? Don't you believe them. When part of our house burned down and we had to choose between a) getting an architect or contractor who'd add 30-40% to the real cost and b) brazenly trying to do it with just a foreman , I chose 'b'. I read up on design basics, went up and down the net and stocked up on design mags.

This was to avoid strangling the people in 'a' for dumping scrap from their warehouses on us at regular charges. Where I live, hardware stores ask if you'd like the standard size steel bars which would be a number higher than the old.

And the animals in 'a' could tweak someone else's house plans and bill us to high heaven for these. That would've left them in a coma for five years after I stuffed their plans up their buttholes.

While the work was going on I had to start on making over old furniture or having new ones made. You know, a room can appear smaller or more spacious depending on the furnishings. Notice how most store items would leave your average casa with enough room to swing a mouse in?

And I had found workmen who could work on simple wood and iron furniture and house trim. Oh, okay, bottom line - the budget. Bit by bit I'll upload pix of the results. and I hope you'll send me some of yours, too for comment. See you!

blog that defines gayness

2007-06-03T03:16:00.000-07:00

Scoop: bryanboy's blog

If you haven't read it yet, welcome back to this constellation. This gay-type blog shows us that trashy selling makes for more visitors than more sedate sites. Using "trash" to describe this popular site can't be avoided because it's the main content of this blogger's site. You can't go any lower than the screaming pages of bryanboy's output, in the non-porno league.

Outrageous vulgarity is the name of his game, and he's way too self-engrossed to think of public opinion. He seems juiced up with chemicals that make him lose all sense of proportion. It's a fun site, though. His lack of inhibition can be hilarious after you get over the shock. It can be addicting. He must sell a bundle.

The lay-out's certainly not monotonous. Content, hmmm....yes, he does have content for targeted audiences. Language, well, errrr....may need a little disinfectant. His talent shows, but the style could turn off some audiences.

Rating? 8.5

who cares for the story of your life?

2007-06-02T05:28:00.000-07:00

Your family? friends? neighbors? strangers? Sorry, but if this is what we get from the millions of bloggers, nothing but their whines and rants, then I'm giving up blogging. Can you show some target audience consciousness in your blog please? Has it ever occured to you that people are not waiting with bated breath for the next chapter of your mediocre existence? Unless you're Marilyn Monroe or Britney Spears or Mary Magdalene, lay off the ho-hum journals of your trips to take out the garbage.

It is sad to see how our so-called blogs have taken strange directions---towards thin sales talk and aimless ranting. Is changing baby's crappy diaper really worth talking about? What's this, frontal lobotomy?

my rant

2007-06-01T18:34:00.000-07:00

Most of the "blogs" I've hit on can really grate on you. All they have on the page are banners and ad buttons. Hello, what's the difference between your blog and a classified ads section?

Ppleeeassse...give us a break? Everyone wants money, but don't call it a blog if there's no blog material!

Warning

2007-05-31T05:31:00.000-07:00

This blog is not for the faint of heart. Send in your blog for review at the risk of screaming outrage, tearing at your hair, and chilling in the emergency ward with self-inflicted wounds.

We have little mercy for form and content that's blah, or all blah blah with no meat, too person-centered or crass. But if you survive the carnage, you will be elevated to the seventh level of enlightenment.

To cool the fevered brow you may share your pix of budget home decor ideas, to which we may be kinder. And to bring your temperature to room level we'll throw in a bonus free editing of English text for one thousand words only (send to unica_hija77@yahoo.com, this is for my abruptly-cut journalistic career). Fair nuff?