99th unrequested review is of Journal of a Girl
Rating out of 10: 0

Layout etc. (2: 0)
I really hate this on so many levels I don’t know where to begin. The black font on a dark blue background? When I first opened the page I thought maybe there was not text. But if you highlight the blue box in the middle suddenly you can see the text because it is highlighted white. And the dark blue clashes with the brighter blue in the leopard print background.

The links to the left are fine but do we really need yet another style of font? The banner title has one style then the text of the journal has another. The links header has a different one and the links themselves have yet another. And how many links do you have to create to receive email? Less is more. One font. One link for “stalk me.” You get the idea.

The archives page has this annoying pop up window. How many times do I have to say now to view the archives? If I have to say no too many times, I might lose interest. So might a lot of other people.

Annoying Writing Habits: (2: 0)
Where do I begin? Ellipses. Spelling errors. (Does anyone know how to spell check anymore or are we so lazy nowadays?) Questions that end in exclamation marks. Little smiley faces (as if her mood icon were not already annoying and clichéd enough). You name it, this girl does it.

Also, I am not sure if this is an ellipses: ..

Anyone care to enlighten me? Is this a period with a hiccup or a stunted ellipses?

Unique: (2: 0)
Not especially. She claims to be mature for her 14 years but I don’t see it. Maybe I didn’t read far back enough. Maybe when she first started writing she was mature and just sort of degenerated as puberty set in. I don’t know.

There is nothing to make this unique from any other journal written by a teenaged girl with angst.

Quotes from the diary: (2: 0)
“And my brother, well, he's wearing a periwinkle shade of blue pants and a bright red-orange shirt and acting stupid. If that's not enough to piss anyone off more when they're already pissed off..”

See what I mean? Is that a period or an ellipses? I am guessing ellipses because the sentence is incomplete.

“I need to write smething. I'm guessing everyone is getting bored with this. Wel, you're in luck! I'm writing another stupidly stupid entry.. RIGHT NOW!”

And this is supposed to make me less bored? If you can't correctly punctuate or spell and you are boring, am I supposed to keep wanting to read?

“That new Rob Zombie song. Also, I like that new System of a Down song "Chop Suey" but I swear, I don't believe I heard the words chop suey at all during it.. Oh! Also today I Gwen Stefani's b-day. Happy Birthday! Oh gosh darnit they're playing that Sum 41 song again. I think I'm the only person that doesn't like that band. My friends and classmates rave about them. But I still think that they're a "wannabe punk band." Anywho, I also like that new P.O.D. song "Alive". That's the exact opposite of how I'm feeling.. I'm sleepy..dazed..and sick.. nauseated.. ARGH!”

Hey! If you spotted any maturity in the above quotes, maybe you need to read them in context because I assure you, the maturity of which she boasts so often is hard to find.

Would I go back for another read? (2: 0)
Nope. Back in fall of 2001 she was writing more often. Maybe a little more practice and she might have an interesting journal. Change the layout of the page first, so it is presentable. Then learn how to communicate on some deeper more mature level. This ranting and raving about nothing makes no more than a banal journal with nothing new to offer. You can find at least a thousand other journals by teenagers like this one. And the internet hardly needs one more.

posted by Talulah Lamb on Friday, March 15, 2002

98th requested review is of Bent
Jazlan my dear, have I reviewed you before? I think this is a sneaky way to get a 2nd review from yours truly, but in any case here it is:

Total out of 10: 4

Layout etc. (2: 1)
I thought the diary was pretty plain without any pictures but then I realized it just takes as really long time for the graphics to load. I’ve viewed the webpage on several different connections and it is slow no matter where I am.

After the full page was loaded I found it to be very eye-pleasing. The only thing I thought needed to be changed about the picture is the title. It blends too well with its background and is hard to see. I like titles so much that I think they need to be clearly seen and have some attention brought to them that this doesn’t do.

Let me say first that it isn’t a plus for her that her current entry is her results from a web-test. I decided to give her a small break and go straight to her link titled important entries.

Her v-link color is exactly the same as her text color or it is so light I can’t tell the difference. That needs to be fixed. It just blends into the blue background and I can’t tell what I have and haven’t read by a simple glance, which would be nice.

The entries would be less squished if more of a margin was added around them.

Unique: (2: 1)
I don’t really like how all of her links are java-scripted pop-up windows, but it is unique to any I’ve ever seen. I personally think that they should open up inside the same page. Also where did that white scroll-bar come from that makes it impossible to see where you are at on the page? That’s yucky if you ask me. And the biography is basically a book. What is the diary for if not to tell the reader about you?

Annoying writing habits: (2: 1)
If you are atheist and misspell savior does it mean you just don’t believe in one enough to spell it right?

She hasn’t stopped using the ellipsis since the last time I read her diary.

I don’t understand why she feels the need to put her titles in quotations in her archive, or why the link is an X.



Quotes from the diary: (2: 1)
"I come here, telling myself that I will be honest. That I will say everything I'm thinking, and I do, but then I read through it and it's insane. I sound like a chronically depressed, self-centered, "everything annoys the fuck out of me," teenage girl."

"Go on with your little religious needs. Fine. But don't call me a communist, don't force your religion on me, don't think I need your god or your saviour. Most of all, don't read this entry thinking "Oh, what a poor, misguided little teenager. If she doesn't find Jesus her life will be horrible." It won't."

Just out of curiosity, I’m not a religious person myself, but who are you to call others needs “little?”

"I smell good. My hair smells like good shampoo and I have yummy perfume on. And I got some silver bangles for my wrist, and one of those belly-button lights that you can put in your ear too. It flashes red, green, and some other colors."

Thank you for sharing this with us, at least you don’t stink.

Would I go back for another read? (2: 0)
Last time I reviewed this diarist I said that I wouldn't come back for another read. Cunningly she has tricked me back here by asking me to review the latest incarnation of her journal.

Although it is not completely horrible, I still am not compelled to visit it on a regular basis. She does bare herself at times and is full of opinions. As for having lots to say, she does that too. It is just not my cup of tea, it wasn’t then and it isn’t now either.


posted by Eli Moose on Thursday, March 14, 2002

97th requested review is of X-dissent
Rating out of 10: 4

layout etc. (2: 1)
I’ve never really liked green on black. For one it is hard to read and another it is just not a good combination on the computer screen in my humble opinion. Then, he had to throw in red, which just makes me think of Christmas. To top it all off he adds a bright blue. This guy needs major color scheme help.

The banner although somewhat unique is in no way gorgeous, in fact I think it is a Photoshop nightmare. I extremely suggest he get someone else’s help in creating a new look for his angry rambles.

The picture to the left is quite funny though, even if it is in green. I also think this guy needs some help with his picture posting abilities. Who told him that incredibly huge pictures were okay to put on a web page? Of course, there is a woman showing her naked breasts on his picture page that should do away with any bad attention it would get otherwise.

As far as navigating through all his extra pages that aren’t journal related at first I was a bit confused. I finally figured out that clicking on the banner at the top takes you back to the current page. I wish that people would start creating more navigation friendly diaries. I mean, why do you think I am here reading this thing? Help me out people.

Down at the bottom left corner please do not forget to check out his test results. The fact that I’ve never heard of stay hard long cream and that I almost typed stay long hard cream makes me laugh.

One last thing, the screen size is too large. I shudder every time I see that bottom scroll-bar period. That much space is just not needed for a diary.

Annoying writing habits: (2: 1)
Here is someone that needs to eliminate the words dunno and gotta from his vocabulary. The site would still be funny without it.

There are of course many punctuation errors in this thing, but I’m not in the mood to list them.

Unique: (2: 1)
This site offers a lot to its regular readers. It is a web-blog extraordinaire full of lots of funny and interesting extras like his restaurant, club, and retail reviews. There is a problem with these pages though in regards to formatting that I haven’t already mentioned. I have no idea why the font is so small and barely legible, but it is.

One more thing, even his guestbook has some funny entries that I’m convinced were written by the author.

Quotes from the diary: (2: 1)
"My term of service is an ungodly 90 days, where I have been locked away from the pleasures and necessities of normal people like Greenwich village on a Saturday night or sniffing amyl with my roommate. I was also informed if I ever told anyone they would “Blow me up, the Hell.” I’ve only been writing this because I figure, I dunno, what the hell, I’ve only got 10 days left so I figure I’d celebrate with a little nip of brandy and a couple of cocktails. I snuck in my wireless modem and I'm sending this dispatch in direct violation of restrictions. I'm a temp for Chrissake!"

"Well, shit. I gotta admit, things could have gone a bit smoother in the Jihad to destroy the Western world. I told those overzealous assholes to aim high on the Twin Towers, I didn't want the whole fucking thing toppling down! Sure, after seeing that I thought maybe the Americans weren't so smart if a couple of planes could melt the World Trade Center like a cheap ice sculpture. But then I realized they'd be coming after my ass, and probably the asses of all my friends. I mean, I may seem like a crazed fanatic who hides out in caves and broiles iguanas for dinner, but I'm smart enough to know we weren't ready to fight the whole Fucking United States Military with a couple of brittle sticks and an AK-47 that hasn't been oiled since 1982!"

This is done in the voise of Bin Laden of course.

Would I go back for another read? (2: 0)
This guy’s humor reminds me of someone I once knew, and I’m not to sure that is a good thing.

He often writes in the voice of someone else, and uses news and or world events for writing material. I applaud his creative writing style even though his site is not really mine. I think this is more geared toward a male audience. Can you see what I mean?






posted by Eli Moose on Tuesday, March 12, 2002

Dear readers, What do you think I should do for the upcoming 100th diary review? Have any ideas? Send them!

96th requested review is of Someone else's life
Rating out of 10: 5

layout etc. (2: 1)
That is a pretty picture at the top of this thing, but I don’t know how many times I’ve said that links that are not clearly defined are really annoying. Think functionality not beauty in this case please? I know the alt tag says what it is, but sometimes that is just not good enough. Like for instance the one labeled “about” is a cast of characters. Which is not exactly what I had in mind when I read “about”. It is best to label more clearly. Enough said.

I actually really like the way the picture looks, even though I am not a fan of celebrity pictures on diaries. I like the blocks on the right because it matches the picture so well, but I would not make them links necessarily.

Other than the fact that her previous and next links at the top are hidden at the top amongst the other links, it functions reasonably well. Functionality is key in my mind.

Annoying writing habits: (2: 1)
I like poetry; I really do. I just don’t like it randomly intermingled with diary entries where it otherwise makes no sense whatsoever.

Sometimes quoting other people is effective for writing, but sometimes it can be overdone.

I’m not sure when she decided to start capitalizing, but I am glad she did.

Of course she abuses the ellipsis, my all time least favorite annoying habit.

Unique: (2: 1)
Sometimes her writing bridges on the very creative side. Like this particular entry where she writes in the voice of Gollum from Lord of The Rings. Interestingly unique.

Quotes from the diary: (2: 1)
"Then the certain, specific you came in. Just a few metres, into the locker bay. Looked at me. Unreadable, as always. Not angry, thankfully. Probably remembering another certain specific waterfight that we had, ages long ago (why do we do this? Don’t we learn?)."

"Instilling one huge, repetitive thought in me: oh great, now I have another reason to write an endless tirade about the idiot I’m trying so hard not to write about."

"This is another place I tear my cerebral tissue out – why, in this social order, are we supposed to be the ones conforming to guys standards? Guys, in my school, is
translated ‘pigheaded chauvinistic morons.’ This is illustrated in that yesterday, Brad told me that I was fat, and Brad is ten kilos heavier than I am. So it’s not okay for girls to be anything less than fourteen-year old potential supermodels, but it’s okay if their date resembles swine?"

Cerebral tissue? You might need that.

"Then you won't have to look at me, just so I can see the dullness inside your eyes. Because it stings like ice, when you try peeling your skin off it. It hurts because of how you remind me of all that crap you did before, and all the questions I wanted to ask you. It hurts because I can't even say that I'm your ex-girlfriend, because anything that could've happened didn't. It was too freaking early."

Would I go back for another read? (2: 1)
For a teen she writes pretty well. She is creative enough that it is not the same thing over and over again. I like that. Mixing things up is a good idea that keeps your readers interested. We do not all have to have interesting lives to write interesting diaries. I think this is worth reading.

posted by Eli Moose on Monday, March 11, 2002

95th unrequested review is of Satia’s journal
Rating out of 10: 3

Layout etc. (2: 0)
Normally I like simplicity. Black background and white works. Font is fine. But there really isn’t anything special about this layout at all. What’s more, the links are too few and far between, especially given how much she writes. There is only one place where you can go to the links. Your choices are limited to recent entries, a calendar, a friends page, a profile, and 20 previous entries.

And there are a lot of previous entries! Go to the calendar page and you have choices from 1996 and then 1999 through 2002. At first I thought she had been keeping this online journal for that long but the fact is she has “only” been keeping an online journal since 1999. The 1996 entries (and some of the 1999) are from her handwritten journals which she is transcribing into her online journal. She also created this particular journal only recently so she has been transferring her journal entries from the other journal to this one. There are gaps, therefore, in her journaling, which are confusing. Presumably, some of these gaps will be filled eventually but the sooner this is done the better, assuming anyone has enough time to read them all.

The friends page is something that LiveJournal offers. Not necessary and I would lose it. The profiles page is formatted differently from the rest of the journal. Why? It ruins the flow.

Also, since the posts are so long, why not reduce the number that appear on the first page. That would make it all so much easier. Last time I checked, if you printed out the first page you would have 19 pages of entries. The scary thing is that this is only for 20 entries and she has learned how to embed her entries so that they are not as long. How does she have enough time to write these entries. Either she is the fastest typist in the universe or she has diarrhea of the word-processor, as Stephen King once said of himself.

I hope she will soon make a page that explains who all of these people are. Between her three children, her boyfriend, her friends, her coworkers, and even her online friends there are so many people it is hard to keep up. Forget about keeping up when she flashbacks to someone who isn’t even a relevant person in her life anymore. (Thank goodness she doesn’t use initials or it would be hopeless.)

Annoying Writing Habits: (2: 1)
Does writing too much count as annoying? I suppose some people want to read this much writing but judging from the lack of comments she gets I can safely assume that the average reader goes in and is soon overwhelmed. You just want to say, “Shut up already!”

So why does she get any points? Because she used to abuse the ellipses and has since learned to stop doing this. She occasionally *emotes* using asterisks but these are few so not terribly distracting.

I just wish she would be more succinct.

Unique: (2: 0)
I did a little snooping through LiveJournal and she is using one of the basic formats. She hasn’t even modified the colors. This would be fine if she were not paying for her membership. Why pay if you are not going to use the tools for which you are paying. She doesn’t even change the colors or the verbage used for the links, which she can do.

Maybe instead of writing so much she could do something about the layout and make this journal look more distinctively her own. Some might even say it would be time well spent.

Quotes from the diary: (2: 1)
“Time for a mammogram and ultrasound. Will I need surgery? Possibly. They need to do a little more testing before they decide to cut me open. On the plus side, if it were cancer they wouldn't wait 2 weeks for the next round of tests, right?”

Huh? What is going on? There is nothing about anything preceding this. I had to read the comments to learn that she has a lump in her breast. This is the sort of thing readers would want to hear more about.

“She is trying to nail her soon to be ex-husband on sexual abuse. She is trying to say that she doesn't trust her husband alone with her daughters. Never has she intimated to me any such concern. In fact, she has often left her daughter's home alone with him, had him pick them up from daycare, etc. For her to suddenly announce that she doesn't trust him alone with the girls is vindictive. I want to tell her to let it go but then who am I to talk? I am just as guilty of holding onto resentment where X is concerned.”

Satia writes about the drama in her friend’s life a lot.

“There are details missing, obviously. Even without the details this is a long and rambling entry (per usual). I have so much to think and write about as well. But I have things that I must needs do. Priorities and such.”

If you know you ramble why not stop doing it?

Would I go back for another read? (2: 1)
If I had a lot of time on my hands, yes. If you are looking for a journal that is frequently updated, you need look no further. Holy cow, does this woman write! Book reviews. Movie reviews. Comments on friends, life, anything, and everything. I am curious about this situation with the lump she found in her breast; also, it sounds like her boyfriend may have to move to another state which brings another layer of intrigue to the journal. But I think that the average person would find her posts overwhelming. Does anyone really have this much going on around them that they have to write so very much? Does anyone have this much time to write and still get anything else done?

posted by Talulah Lamb on Sunday, March 10, 2002

94th requested review is of J5
Rating out of 10: 8

layout etc. (2: 2)
This is so creative that I was speechless at first. I really love his main page, except for a minor flaw that is purely my personal taste, which are the colors. I’d much rather see something other than purple and yellow together.

His forward and back links are big enough, but I’d still prefer them to be at the top and bottom of the entries for easier navigation. I usually click back after I finish reading is why, but sometimes depending on the entry I like having it at the top as well. I’m lazy and if a simple link can make my life easier, why not put it there I ask?

Upon first inspection I wonder what this green factor means? Do I have to read more to figure this out? Ahh, there it is in the first entry:

Being "green" is my way of explaining how unhealthy I feel. The best way I can explain it is that my body always feels nervous, even when my mind does not. Like it feels when it's had a fright, yet it doesn't normalise when the fright is gone.

What I have to give my name and address to just look at his pictures? Hmm. I can’t believe he didn’t give me a password for this or his other links. How am I to get a full review without access? I am not really fond of password protected diary links.

Annoying writing habits: (2: 1)
Can you believe I didn’t find hardly any? I read every single entry and I think I only found ellipses in things he quoted. His main writing problems appear to be sentence fragments and spelling mistakes.

Unique: (2: 1)
He has a picture for every entry, well almost every entry. I like this idea a lot.

Quotes from the diary: (2: 2)
“It seems that the tuna was not responsible for much of an illness. Thankfully, the nausea passed and I did not end up vomiting. Still, Jim Thompson had alluded me and there was no sex last night and I will hold the tuna accountable for that.”

“Being together for thirteen days has taken a toll on my nerves. Finally I am alone. I have forgotten how good it feels to have my own company. To sprawl out over a bed. To throw my clothes where I want. To consider no one else’s feelings. To embrace the sound of silence.”

“The relationship with Lamb confuses me. There are times when I feel that she's the best thing in my life. Like I've been suffering all day long and the mere sight of her takes the edge off. She's so youthful, fresh and full of health. It rubs off on me sometimes. Then others when I feel that she's almost the entire reason my nervous system is so fucked. It's frustrating that no matter how many times I have tried to explain it, she just doesn't get it.”

Would I go back for another read? (2: 2)
Absolutely! His writing is so honest and refreshing that I found myself wondering if I was really reading a diary that had been sent to me by request. Lately I’ve not been able to find this kind of writing and it is truly a blessing. I can’t believe this is a guy. He is humorous and honest at the same time. I tell you this is a must read.


posted by Eli Moose on Wednesday, March 06, 2002

93rd requested review is of Logbook in the air
Rating out of 10: 3

layout etc. (2: 1)
Does anyone else need a magnifying glass to read this? I know I may have 20/20 vision, but I definitely do not need something on my computer screen to strain my eyes while I try to read for pleasure nonetheless! I even tried to change the setting on my computer to see a larger font and that didn’t work. Fix that, and do it quickly.

This woman designs for the web? With columns like that you’d think she was designing a newspaper with a lot of print, but from what I can see all she has is one column of tiny text. Break out of this tiny table please and give your writing the space it deserves. This is a diary, not the daily journal.

I think I’m losing my mind here. On top of the fact that I have to lean in towards the monitor, I also have begun to have the lines of her paragraphs run together. Whatever happened to at least a double space between paragraphs? I’m not asking for much.

I have a few problems with her links as well. I understand when you are linking to a different site having the link pop up in a new window so that your site remains open for the reader, but why should the links within the site also pop up in a new window. I do not like this. It makes me have 10 windows open all at one time and it infuriates me. Just let your archives open up in the same window please? Plus I have to admit it took me a long time to FIND the archive link in the first place. Everything is all over the place.

Orange is actually one of my favorite colors, so even though I do not go for colored text all that often I think I’d like this if it were larger. I also like the graphic she uses; it goes well with her job and her writing subject.

Annoying writing habits: (2: 0)
Whoa take a breath every now and then would you; there are some really long paragraphs in this thing.

I don’t really know how much of a habit it is, but the word gonna really gets under my skin. I also think she really likes to string sentences together and will find whatever means possible to do so.

She misspells things which you can see in the quotes I chose, but I guess everyone does that from time to time. Yes, even me.

Here is another person that makes me sick of seeing the happy face symbol. No it doesn’t make me happy when I see it. Maybe I am one crazy, grim-faced person.

Unique: (2: 1)
She designs postcards and gives them as a link to her readers. This is really a neat idea. Here is the current one.

Quotes from the diary: (2: 1)
“I'm in Johannesburg writing you from an Internet caffe I found in the hotel! It's wonderful here. The weather is not so hot as I expected and the sky is a bit cloudy but it's ok - at least it's better from Greece {it's raining hard my daughter says} Anyway, I eat too much LoL, I shop too much, PC games the most, I even found Harry's Potter adventure game and of course I got it. I'm gonna take a little nap right now because my feet are hurting me from walking and when I'll wake up I'll see what I'll do.”

I didn’t choose LoL as an annoying writing habit? What is wrong with me?

“So, if I find an Internet connection I'll drop by for a ...coffee with you :o) I'll miss you... See you on 19th smootch xxxxx”

Talk about getting personal with your readers. Thanks for the kisses.

“I was feeling too depressed to write anything. It's not easy to see these things happening in the world and then come here and write about by trips.”

“First of all thank you friends for checking on me. Yes I was here a day before this terrible tragedy happened. I'm here writing to you because I feel helpless and alone. I'm reaching a hand, I feel so shocked, really dissapointed, devastated for this. So many lives. Innocent people, children for sure among them! Why??? I'm asking you why? Ask yourselves why? Is it so difficult to share this planet? Is it so difficult to live together?”

A response to the tragedy of September 11, 2002 from her point of view.

Would I go back for another read? (2: 1)
Actually I did find it pretty interesting to hear about all the places she gets to go to. I’d recommend her diary to anyone that is interested in being a flight attendant or thinks the life is glamorous, other than that I could pass on it for daily reading.

posted by Eli Moose on Tuesday, March 05, 2002

92nd requested review is of Work in Progress
Rating out of 10: 2

layout etc. (2: 1)
I wonder what the finished project is going to look like? The background color is so gray it makes me feel cold looking at it. Seems that the woman in the graphic is probably cold as well since she doesn’t have much on.

The in-line scroll frame works okay with my mouse, but I actually prefer the space where text is located to be much bigger. My dilemma with this is that we are talking about a diary here, therefore I do not get why people want to make the writing area so small.

I’d prefer the font color to be black, but if it absolutely must be gray it needs to be a darker color. It is just too light to read very well the way it is.

Is it just me or are all the ring links at the bottom too confusing to navigate? I’ve never really understood why people join so many rings in the first place.

Why is the type so small on the archive page? It looks really strange because most of the page is empty except the disclaimer and the links. I also don’t like how the archives are completely different from the main page. What happened to the cold gray background and the half-dressed woman on those pages?

I don’t see why she feels the need to have a disclaimer, but that’s just me.

Annoying writing habits: (2: 0)
If you think it is impossible to update too many times in one day, you’d be wrong.

Using asterisks to emphasize annoys me. like this: (*hugs*) and if I see one more happy face I think I will puke.

Why are some of the paragraphs one sentence long? I mean I know I am pro short paragraphs, but this is taking things a little too far. Plus she takes forever to get to the point.

There should be writing tutorals out there for web-bloggers in which the use of the ellipsis is clearly defined. In fact they should install keyboards with an anti-ellipsis sound that beeps infuriatingly when someone tries to type a sting of periods.

Unique: (2: 1)
She has a listing of archives done by category. Really cool.

Quotes from the diary (2: 0)
"Today is cleaning and laundry. Jackie is going to karate again tonight and Jessica has a mid-term this morning, then she's over at a friends house to scrapbook and relax. I think they are going to be over here for lunch and a movie.
Today was church then home to just relax. Jessica cleaned out her car, yay! Greg and Jess are watching the football game, Jackie is playing on the Dreamcast and I'm fooling around with my files.
It's amazing how many things I have backed-up on cd's over the years. I have found all the birthday pages that I have made since '99. Wow, tons! And tons of other things, like all the backgrounds and tutorials I have done."

“I guess you never know what is around the corner. I was surprised a few times today.

I went to a local restaurant for lunch with Cindy. I was surprised that there was a waitress that didn't know to put silverware on the table! And we had to ask for drinks refills, over and over again. But the company was good and the food was really good!”

Anyone else bored?

Would I go back for another read? (2: 0)
I think that this woman is an over-blogger. I’m not even sure how many different blogs or websites she has. I couldn’t keep up with it all.

She writes sometimes like she is writing a list of exactly what happened that day. I have to admit that I am really not interested in what day of the week she does her laundry etc.


posted by Eli Moose on Monday, March 04, 2002

91st unrequested review is of I’d Rather Eat Glass
Rating out of 10: 10

Layout etc. (2: 2)
Lovely. From the first page to the last. Lovely. You go to the very first page and you are given a calendar for February. Black background with pink and white compliment nicely the picture that is on the main page. Click on any of the links and the format of the pages compliments the home page perfectly. Although she has been keeping an online journal since 1999 you can only go back as far as 2000.

She doesn’t write every day. And if you explore the older entries, you can see that she has learned a few things about making her journal easier to read. (Links in her 2000 entries are dark against a black background. This simply doesn’t work. By 2001 she is making changes.)

Further, the journal has layers. She has a regular journal and a weblog. She also has a more intimate journal that is only available if you join her notify list. Judging from the entries which are public, I am sure that these other journal entries are remarkably personal.

I almost took a point off because the weblog link doesn’t open in a separate window. I think that would be a great improvement. Some of her other links do this and having the log in a separate window would be nice.

Annoying Writing Habits: (2: 2)
You almost want to dare an English major to have an annoying writing habit. Did she use the dreaded ellipses? Yes. Did she use them correctly? Not really. Does she end sentences with prepositions? She sure does. So what? This is good writing and minor errors are not worth labeling as annoying.

Unique: (2: 2)
I am going to give her the full points for this because she has those three layers of journaling. I mean, some people simply may not want to read more than a log entry. And her log doesn’t have annoying quiz results every day. I think it is interesting that her journal is layered for degrees of intimacy.

Quotes from the diary: (2: 2)
“I still feel pretty wonky, but at least the evening's cooled down. The orange tree just outside my front door is full of blossoms and the scent is incredible. I have the door open and that amazing scent is filling the living room. I guess that's a plus about this warm weather; open doors and orange blossoms.”

This is from her weblog.

“We find such obtuse ways of punishing the people we care about! Sometimes I'm amazed at this. My ex-husband used to use sex (or rather, the lack of it) as a punishment. Imagine me going without sex for three, four and five months at a time? The one person we're supposed to be able to communicate openly with, our partner for life, and we play games. Games that can damage our relationship and destroy it if we don't stop and reconsider what we're doing.”

This is from her public journal. Makes you wonder what you might have learned about her sex life if you had read the subscription journal.

“Congratulations, you're the proud owner of an online journal. You're expected to endure the criticism, insults and gossip of anyone who has a mind to assault you with their words. You're fully aware of the consequences of keeping an online journal and mostly because everyone keeps reminding you of this, you mustn't complain too much when anon@coward.com sends you an email full of insults because, you're an online journaller and this is just what happens. Whatever happens, it's all part of the online journalling experience, right?

Yep.

Would I go back for another read? (2: 2)

Good writing from a woman who is intelligent without pandering? Sure. My only concern is that she takes vacations from posting which is fine because we all need a break every now and then. But journal readers often have short attention spans and taking a week or two off, let alone a month, will probably lose the less committed readers. Maybe that is a her intention.
posted by Talulah Lamb on Sunday, March 03, 2002

90th requested review is of aliases
Rating out of 10: 6

Layout etc. (2: 1)
What I like first. I like the picture at the top. She looks like a cute kid. I also like the black background with the white font. Simple. Basic. It works. Flush left. Nothing complicated. I am not crazy about the style of font used but that is my own issue so I didn’t take any points off for that.

The points lost are because of the links. The site is not very navigable. Your options are few. You can go back or forth from entry to entry. Or you can jump to the archives. But if you go to her old journal (link called: old me) you are stuck there. You cannot link to the new journal.

Also, the links are hard to read. That dark red against the black makes them eye-squinting hard to read.

Suggestions: Put links at the top and bottom of the page. Change the font colors. And make surfing more user friendly.

Annoying Writing Habits: (2: 0)

Ellipses are present. Forget that just about everyone abuses this poor punctuation. For the record, you are supposed to have spaces between the periods. It isn’t: … It is: . . . Also, three only unless you are ending the sentence in which case you add the fourth. (Which begs the question: why not just end the sentence with a period?)

She seems to be using the ellipses more than she was using them before. Stop it now! Obviously, this is a habit she has begun to develop. Bad habits are not worth developing.

There are some typos which could easily be avoided if the writer would type out the entry and run it through spell check before posting it.

I almost gave her a point because she used to close her entries with “Otherwise. Bite me.’ She has stopped this annoying closure. Thankfully, because it didn’t suit the overall tone of her entries.

Unique: (2: 2)
Okay. Maybe I am getting soft in my old age but I am really impressed with this young girl’s openness. How many women twice her age are as comfortable as she is discussing her tampon experiences? I don’t know many and I think this is remarkable.

Also, she is an American living in and experiencing Europe. Sure, she is not the only girl out there doing this. But they don’t all have journals online so the culture clash that sometimes comes out in her entries is interesting.

She will tell you she is fourteen and boring. She may be fourteen but she isn’t boring. Her observations on her life are interesting. I was even surprised to find her sharing about her cutting herself. This is vulnerability at its finest and not something you see girls as young as she doing in so open a forum. For that alone I have to say that this journal is unique.

Quotes from the diary: (2: 2)
“I'd rather be an adult, despite the paying bills, having a job...at least I wouldn't be going through puberty. I avoid depressing people because I don't want to be depressed. Who does?”

There isn’t enough money in the world to ever make me want to go through puberty again. And I don’t hang around depressing people either.

“I don't think I regret any of my decisions. I haven't made any stupid decisions, and I'm happy with where all my sometimes fucked up friendships lead me up to. I don't regret the Hannah-Wendy-Kira triange at all, I think I dealt with it the right way.”

Typo and all, this is a remarkably mature statement coming from a fourteen-year-old.

“Yesterday I cried in her arms when she came and visited for a little while. I told her she was more like my mother, not like a nanny. My mother and I could never be as close as Yaya and I. I could tell Yaya the world.”

Would I go back for another read? (2: 1)

Without a doubt. I have the page bookmarked. I want to know what happens in this young woman’s life as she continues to learn about life and herself. Besides, I have never traveled much and I enjoy living vicariously through others. But I won’t visit very often. She updates her entries fairly regularly but I don’t think I would read every day. More like once a week.
posted by Talulah Lamb on Saturday, March 02, 2002