Asian Blog Review

Important announcement

2006-03-05T14:38:00.000+08:00

When I first started this blog, I was jobless and aimless. I thought I'd be able to do some public service with free reviews. From an initial 3 reviews requested, the list quickly grew to nearly 100. My intention was to review them all as soon as I could.

However, things have happened in the past couple of weeks. I have a new job, and my personal life has also become busier :)

Unfortunately that means I am unable to do reviews on a regular basis. I will not give up entirely as I do enjoy what I'm doing here, but will probably review only once a week or less.

To all those still waiting for their reviews, I ask for your patience. And for those who are thinking of getting a review, please note that there will be a pretty long waiting period.

Davious and Athena, thanks for your help so far. You are free to continue helping out if you wish, or stop if you want - I'm ok with either decision. Also if anyone else wants to offer their reviewing services, feel free to email me with a sample review. Helpers are always welcome :)

Any inconvenience is regretted. But my life comes first ;)

Mental Jog

2006-02-26T16:45:00.001+08:00

Lucia Lai has been blogging since Sept 2003 and is still dedicated enough to blog practically every day. That is a big plus in my books. She blogs about socio-political and current issues and although her English isn't very good, she gets the message (and her opinions) across well enough.

However, the blog layout is where Lucia loses points. It's a Blogspot blog which has been customised, hence the garish header which might have looked all right except that the background contains the words 'Mental Jog' multiple times, in bright blue font. Plus there's some coding on the left (tr>).

This is a 3 column layout, each of which contains images and colourful fonts, creating a busy, confusing atmosphere. Google ads after every post. The images in the post are mostly small, but they are sometimes placed on the left, sometimes the middle, and sometimes the right, making the whole column look haphazard. The multitude of colours only makes things worse.

There's just too much going on and it distracts from the main content. Lucia, I think people will come to your site just to read what you have to say. Get rid of the distracting bits (like your ICQ and Gmail address which you can place in text format, the ads, the site counter images, etc) and your blog will improve tremendously. After all, your blog is of a serious nature, and it deserves to have a layout that's less cluttered and distracting, not one that looks like it was created by a teenager.

My rating: 4/10

Anjali Speaks

2006-02-26T16:45:00.000+08:00

Anjali has done some creative work on her blog. It's a Blogspot blog but not one of the usual templates. It's really attractive, especially the header.

However, the number of pictures is mind boggling, and slows down the loading of the page. All those thumbnails of books, movies, singers and yummy men on the right - are they really necessary? The posts also contain photos and pictures, although most are thankfully small.

For some reason though, the images don't really look too much. On another blog they may look cluttered and a waste of space but here they actually add to the overall 'atmosphere'. My suggestion would be to just remove the 'yum yum 2004' to reduce loading time.

Anjali's English is really good and she writes well, mostly about her personal life. I liked the post about Boon Cit, that was hilarious! Too bad she doesn't blog more regularly as I think the posts are quite entertaining and she has a wicked sense of humour.

Not much personal info about the blogger, in fact none at all - as in, there's no blogger profile in the left or right columns. I know what she reads, listens to, watches and the kind of men she likes, but apart from that, nothing. I wouldn't know her if I passed her on the street and that's a shame cos I'd like to congratulate her on a good blog.

My rating: 8/10

Carboncopy

2006-02-26T16:42:00.000+08:00

Carboncopy has been blogging since July 2004 - a pretty long time in terms of blogging. He just got his own domain too. Congratulations on that :)

This is a Wordpress-powered blog, with grey and white as the only colours except for the occasional red font and image. Pretty dull look, but it seems to be ideal for this blog since it's a serious one. Mostly political posts, which never really attract my attention.

I only read the posts on the main page and didn't feel any urge to read older posts since the content isn't interesting to me. However, those who are keen on reading his politicial/other opinions may find this blog worth bookmarking.

I did notice that other content categories included Heart Matters, Apple and Technology, etc, but honestly the style of writing isn't great. The English is so-so.

The blogger seems to have his own opinions, but they just don't seem to be coming across (to me) very well. Still, I appreciate that he has taken the time to write about serious issues instead of creating just another personal blog.

My rating: 5/10

Ang Anino Ni Abaniko

2006-02-25T13:37:00.000+08:00

Durian coffee. That's the first time I've ever heard of such a thing. And I found it in this blog by a blogger in the Philippines(!). Tell me Abaniko, does it taste good? I can't imagine the taste! (I'm not a durian fan by the way).

Ang Anino Ni Abaniko (The Shadow of Abaniko) is mostly grey, with dark red (for post headers and links), and orange (in the header) being the only colours to break the monotony. I noticed that the header seemed out of alignment with the middle and right columns. But since one of his posts said it's been fixed, I thought it could be a Firefox problem. Checked in IE and sure enough, the header looks fine.

Abaniko blogs pretty regularly, mostly about his personal life. Only two posts in the main page had photos, which is all right with me. If you write well, like Abaniko does, you don't need a multitude of photos and pictures to capture your readers' attention.

He's got a pretty long blogroll in the right column but since the main content is longer, it doesn't do any damage. In fact the entire right column is neat, without unnecessary ads/buttons/banners. The five small buttons on the bottom, under links, actually add colour to the column so they're pretty welcome.

My rating: 8/10

The Zebra

2006-02-25T13:18:00.000+08:00

The Zebra is not your basic Blogspot or Wordpress powered blog. Some creativity has obviously gone into its creation. The background is black but in no way is it dull. Shades of orange and a splash of lime green on the bottom liven things up.

There is a somewhat evil yet cute looking creature next to the title, some sort of anime character perhaps? The sub header says "I eat you". Just looking at the header makes me smile.

Another character on the left, holding a sword and covered in blood. Hmm, something tells me The Zebra is into gory cartoons.

The posts are a bit hard to read as the font is small and I had to focus hard. If that wasn't bad enough, conversations are posted in an even smaller font. And that's a shame because the posts are really interesting and worth reading. Good English to boot. Too bad I lost interest after a few posts because my eyes started to hurt.

There was no information about the blogger in the side column besides the fact that he's discovered the wonders of ready made sauces and is currently reading 44 Scotland Street by Alexander McCall Smith.

From the posts I deduced that he's in Perth. And the fact that a security guard wished him Gong Hei Fatt Choy reveals he's Chinese. Beyond that I know nothing about the Zebra except that he writes well and I would really enjoy reading his blog more if he made it easier on the eyes.

For now, the rating is 6/10.

Just My Thoughts

2006-02-25T12:55:00.000+08:00

Reviewed by Davious, the Apprentice Blog Critic

This blog reveals the life of Jo, a self-proclaimed silly girl who holds on to past relationships and believes in fairy tales. Hopefully, she won't see this review as just a fairy tale.

Anyway it's the 1 top header, 1 content and 1 sidebar format on this blogspot site.

The posts are sometimes short and sweet, and sometimes long ... and still sweet. The English is so so, and she comes across as an innocent girl through her posts.

The sidebar is short and neat, but it does not say anything much about her. Maybe she's keeping a low profile.

Overall rating: 3/10

Beautiful Newsmakers

2006-02-25T12:48:00.001+08:00

Reviewed by Davious the Apprentice Blog Reviewer

Beautiful Newsmakers is a sight to behold for those who enjoy the physical attributes of the fairer sex. Hyperdx, the author of this site, places images of hot and sexy ladies who have made headlines in the mass media with their looks, smarts and everything in between. Thus the title Beautiful Newsmaker is apt.

Anyway, this Blogspot powered site uses the 1+2 format, 1 header, 1 content column and 1 sidebar.

The content includes photos and a post about each featured artiste, and details such as how she began her career. I'm not sure if the information is copied and pasted or Hyperdx actually searches the web to get the information and writes it in his own way.

Anyway, above every post, there is a Flickr of Asian-Flickrbabes. The photos used are in a potrait format and are uniform throughout the site, which is good. But too many pics killeth the bandwidth.

The sidebar, I consider it very clean. Links to Hyperdx's previous posts and archives, recent comments and the profile is easily accessible. And there is even a search form, good job. The Get Google Adsense didn't interrupt the flow of reading the side bar. On the header, just below the title, are Google Ads which look very weird there in my opinion.

Hyperdx, tell me, what is that underneath the footer?

All in all, this site is recommended only to those who loves the fairer sex's physical attributes.

Overall rating: 6/10

Missing posts

2006-02-11T16:34:00.000+08:00

Some of my posts are missing. Blogger must have stuffed up. A couple of reviews are gone, plus my post about my hiatus.

Damn it.

Anyway I am still on hiatus, and will be back in full force next week or so. In the meantime, people, enjoy Valentine's Day, make love, not war, and spread some peace around.

And for God's sake, let the cartoon furore die down. Don't let the mob mentality take over in Malaysia!

Victor's Edge

2006-02-02T08:01:00.000+08:00

At least, that's what I think the title of this blog is. It's a bit hard to tell since the entire header says:
Victor's Edge
Nothing Seems to Matter Anymore Around Here
Presents
Sucker-Punch
When You Don't See It Coming

See why I'm confused? Then there's an image of orangutans in a boxing ring. One's been knocked out.

On the right column is an image of a newspaper reader being punched in the face. The profile tells me Victor is from Singapore. There's profanity everywhere, including in the disclaimer which tells us, among other things, to "Read at your own risk... Discretion among children required".

I don't like blogs where profanity is used loosely. Swearing at anything and everything does not make you cool. Victor rants and raves about some locksmith, even going so far as to post his phone number online, inviting readers to harrass him, and dedicates two posts to him, complete with every swear word under the sun. Just goes to show how mature this blogger is. He also rants and raves about fortune tellers, TNA Wrestling and this and that. Such an angry young man.

I liked the template, but I didn't like the content at all.

My rating: 2/10

Digital Memory

2006-02-02T07:59:00.000+08:00

Everyone welcome the newest reviewer for this site: Athena the Blog Reviewer. She joins Davious the Apprentice Blog Critic in helping me with the reviews.

This is her first review:

Probably another one of those blogs which blogs heavily about IT and software, was the first thing I thought when I saw the title of this blog. I assumed wrong as I was greeted by a very plain white background with a not very well photoshop-ed Chinese New Year banner.

A two column blog, the side bar is clean, short and concise. Very few links which makes the blog easy to navigate. This blog looks good in both Firefox and IE, so no problems there.

Wilson (that's his name) writes in average English with grammatical errors here and there. His blog, which is generally about every day mundane life, is filled with photos. Nothing anonymous about him as almost all the photos show his face.

One thing I found odd was the captions that came along with the photos. Take for example his birthday post where there's a photo of two chicken drumsticks - the blogger actually took the time to caption the photo: two chicken drumsticks. I'm sure most of his readers are aware that they are two chicken drumsticks. He really didn't need to do that. Likewise with the other posts.

Wilson claims he has poor memory in one of his earlier posts, that may explain why most of his posts are overloaded with photos. Well, it's a little too many for my liking. It takes awhile for the page to load, as a result making the reader wait. Photos can be reduced in size and linked to the actual size or he could put up only the very 'interesting' ones and make a collage out of it.

Content is so-so. Nothing much to brag about. If the blogger has more time, he should try sprucing up his blog to make it look nicer.

Athena's rating: 5/10

Absolut Alumni

2006-01-31T19:55:00.000+08:00

Grey background and an image of a bottle next to the header "Absolut Alumni". First thing that pops into my mind is Absolut Vodka.

The blogger, Blinque, names his posts like episodes of Friends (The One With....). Comments are listed as Olives in a Martini. So I'm guessing that this blogger likes alchol and loves Friends. Correct me if I'm wrong.

I was loving the template of this blog until I scrolled down and my eyeballs nearly popped out with the colours of the text. Red, purple and blue in addition to hues of grey.

The posts below the top post on the front page all had a timeline reminding us about Chinese New Year (12 days to Gong Xi Fa Cai!! etc). And after all that exciting build up, Blinque blogs on Chinese New Year starting with this sentence: "Totally don't feel the Chinese New Year vibe wei". Talk about an anti-climax!

After a few minutes Firefox told me the tagboard was still loading (transferring data from www.tag-board.com). I looked around and couldn't find any links to archives or categories. Maybe the tagboard was screwing things up.

So I couldn't really review anything else but the main page. Based on my limited observations this blog is generally OK except the colours.

My rating: 6/10

The Suzette

2006-01-31T19:54:00.000+08:00

The Suzette is a Wordpress-powered blog presented in a clean and neat layout with a couple of butterflies in the header. Ads at the top and on the right but they aren't distracting.

The age tag for her son Ian is presented at the bottom rather than at the top like so many other mummy blogs. On the right is a virtual pet, Siao Zhu, which seems to be a purple hamster or something. It follows my mouse cursor around and is quite cute so I spend a merry couple of minutes playing with it.

Although this is a mummy blog, Suzette actually talks about other things besides her son (imagine that!). Yes, unlike some other similar blogs, you find that Suzette has a life beyond her son and it's pretty interesting to read about it. For example, there are posts about when she went to McDonalds and noticed that the manager didn't use gloves when packing the burgers, and her memories of Chinese New Year when she was growing up.

When she does blog about her son, she does it in a matter of fact way and not in the annoyingly proud manner of new mothers who like to trumpet every achievement their kid makes. I liked the one where Suzette realises she has been protecting Ian too much, to the point where he's scared to try new things, and that it was "time to let go".

Even though the English isn't that good, I enjoyed reading the posts. Pretty regular postings which is good.

My rating: 6/10

But Enough About You

2006-01-29T12:52:00.000+08:00

Narcissistic blogger Jay is currently in London and has an incredibly long blogroll. That's what I find out on the left column of this Blogspot-powered blog. The blogroll can be as long as it wants to though, because Jay is in the habit of writing long posts and the left column is never in any danger of being longer than the main content.

The first post tells me Jay is 31 (happy birthday!), and I find out 31 things about him. This is not as boring as it sounds. Unlike other people who have perfected the art of boring readers to death with mundane details about themselves, Jay manages to turn even the most ordinary bit of info into something entertaining.

Take the next post for example. It is basically pictures and info about his wardrobe, including a tattered looking pair of Valentino boxer shorts. And yet I continue reading to the very end, hanging on to every word. He writes in flawless English, which is so rare among Malaysians these days.

I particularly enjoyed the post which showcases his artwork. It's hilarious, and shows us his creative side. Which brings me to my one and only sort-of-negative point about this blog - why, pray tell, with all that creative juice running inside you, do you use a standard Blogspot template when you can create something so much more exciting and visually appealing?

Templates aside, I thoroughly enjoyed reading this blog. It's a shame Jay doesn't blog daily, because he's so good at it.

Definitely one to be bookmarked!

My rating: 10/10

The Reflector

2006-01-29T11:41:00.000+08:00

Something seems weird about this blog. The columns are blending into one another and the text is all over the place. Must be my 800x600 resolution yet again. So I switch to 1024x768 and voila! Problem solved. The three columns look normal and the text stays where it's supposed to.

Blogger Nick Tay stares at me from the left column. Below his picture is a brief profile followed by a shoutbox and some stat buttons. The good thing about having 3 columns is that it allows you to keep your columns on either side to a reasonable length. Pretty neat columns, plus an important date list which I think is a cool and handy feature.

I turn my attention to the posts. Of all the posts on the main page, only one had no pictures or videos. The rest were just graphic posts with some minimal explanatory text. Event photos, a Yam Seng video and a Chinese New Year greeting. I click on the Personal category on the right to see if I can find some 'fleshier' posts. Not much luck, although I must say the photos with your new haircut are pretty good.

I like the layout of this blog very much (even though I had to change my resolution to see it properly). Can't say the same about the content though.

My rating: 5/10

Wuf! Wuf!

2006-01-29T11:16:00.001+08:00

That's the title of this blog, followed by a question: Are you pondering what I'm pondering? Well, I don't know what you're pondering, but the question in my mind is why you've used babypuppies as your URL and BabyPup as your nick when a pup is a baby? Oh well.

Basic Blogspot template with Google Ads at the top, cute pup pic on the profile, and a right column that's longer than the actual posts on the main page. Maybe it's because the Archives are listed by date and not by month. There's also a bit of code at the bottom (This is a paragraph of text that could go in the sidebar) which should be removed.

BabyPup is thrilled because he just got a car. What joy! It's always nice to get a new car. Heck, it's always nice to get a new anything :) Other posts on the main page include a rant about some really bad service at a teahouse in Kuching, information about RSS feeds and .... that's it. Three posts since Dec 28 2005.

I glance at the archives and notice that there are only about two or three posts every month. Maybe that's why it's listed by date. Hmm, talk about sparse. I clicked on some dates randomly and read the posts. More rants, a birthday notification (he's 25 - the pup is growing up!) and some other odds and ends.

Nothing compelling about this blog.

My rating: 3/10

CNY Greetings

2006-01-29T06:05:00.000+08:00

Gong Xi Fa Cai!

Wishing everyone a Happy Chinese New Year and may you all be blessed with health, wealth and happiness!

Footsteps in the Mirror

2006-01-26T16:44:00.000+08:00

Blue, grey and white are the primary colours of this blog. Very pleasing to the eye. There's a message at the top saying that the blog is under reconstruction - I think it looks just fine the way it is, but I'm still keen to see what the blogger will come up with.

Please explain to me what that image is in the header. I can see two shoes under the big black blob. It's probably going to be an obvious thing and I'll kick myself for not recognising it, but for now I can't make head or tail of it.

I love the navigation on this page. Kamigoroshi has wisely hidden the links, comments and chat board in neat little grey boxes on the right, which you click on for a drop down list. Nice!

And when you roll over the header or titles, a large tooltip appears telling you exactly what it leads to or contains. Good feature for readers with poor sight or those really clueless ones.

This is a personal blog that's really well written so even a mundane blog about him being sick turns out to be an entertaining read. The English is flawless and the blogger posts pretty regularly.

I can't find a thing not to like in this blog, so congratulations, you get a perfect score!

My rating: 10/10

Face-Off

2006-01-26T16:35:00.000+08:00

Blogspot-powered blog. The first few posts are in italics. Lower down, the font isn't italicised, but some sentences are in horrendously large blue, purple and yellow colours. A few poems, a few memes and some personal musings on the main page.

Lots of pictures which have been taken from somewhere but not credited. Tch tch, you naughty Singaporean girl!

Shimmering graphics on the right column, a football clock, a list of links in italics, and some quotes.

Something about the italicised posts just put me off immediately, and I couldn't bring myself to read much of this blog.

My rating: 3/10

M.I.N.D.B.L.O.G

2006-01-26T14:07:00.000+08:00

There's a Lat cartoon on the top of this blog. I love Lat so this puts me in a good mood immediately. I scrolled all the way to the bottom and found a Calvin and Hobbes strip - another favourite of mine. I like this blog already!

Zed's profile is pretty long but refreshingly honest. As he puts it: "Some (posts) probably makes sense and others may be trash - such is a blog." Well said.

It's a basic Blogspot template but for some reason the layout is wider than usual. I had to scroll to read the column on the right. Perhaps it's the cartoon that threw the layout out of whack?

Zed is not a daily blogger but when he does blog, it's something worthwhile. I like reading the posts, they're well written and insightful, and the English is flawless.

Nice use of pictures and he credits the source which is pretty ethical of him.

I only have problems with the width of the page.

My rating: 8/10

Disposable title

2006-01-26T13:55:00.000+08:00

The URL is really apt for this blog. There's so much bitterness around. Bitterness against the government, bitterness against school, bitterness against foreign thugs ... he's so young and already so bitter. Doesn't bode well for the future.

The blog is pretty OK. Black background with predominantly white font, but sometimes red and bright blue are used as well which isn't very calming to the eyes, to say the least. The column on the right seems good as I scroll down, until I suddenly spot this bright red table under Playlist. That's just horrible. Too bright and too hard to read.

The Overdresser, as he describes himself, says he is "Stupid as hell....but clever as you.." His posts, as I've mentioned above, are mostly bitter. The English is all right except he likes to use the word "fluck" a lot.

I like the good use of pictures - used to complement the post. Apart from that there's really nothing interesting for me personally in this blog. Although some of the posts brought back memories of my schooldays, the rest of them are just OK. I'm not drawn towards bitterness. In fact, I came away feeling unhappy after reading this blog.

My rating: 5/10

Dustyhawk - Broken Mirror

2006-01-25T16:22:00.000+08:00

A black and white blog with no pictures except the hamster on the header. At least, I'm assuming it's a hamster. Correct me if I'm wrong. It's some sort of cutish creature. Probably that's who Dustyhawk is?

The blogger has a Firefox/Google banner at the top, with another Google banner on the bottom. Sponsors of the site? Or just revenue generators?

Serge Norguard has been blogging since 2002 so he's an old hat at this. The categories are arranged in a neat horizontal bar at the top. I wasn't sure if the categories were clickable as the mouse didn't turn to a pointer when I rolled over them. I clicked anyway and found out that they were links after all.

There's nothing to distract you from the main content, which is how a blog should be. Even the tagboard is on a page of its own rather than in a side column as is the case in most blogs.

A bit strange that Serge refers to himself as a third person in his blog. Hence you get sentences like this: "Well now, serge has been asked to design a banner for Mabel..." and "On a side note, serge maybe considering taking a loan to get a car".

Categories of his posts include Personal, Streamyx/Work, Malaysians, Health and more. I didn't go into each category, but I did click on several of the posts in the archives for a quick browse. Content is OK although of course there's the occasional post that I totally don't understand like the Japanese song lyrics. English is reasonably good. Some sentences are capitalised, some aren't. There needs to be more consistency on this.

A pretty decent blog that would probably appeal most to those who share his taste in music and anime.

Overall rating: 6/10

Allyfeel

2006-01-25T16:13:00.000+08:00

This is another mummy blog by a "female Malaysian living in Petaling Jaya. A mother to a little baby and a wife to a SUPER BIG baby."

A standard Blogspot template with the content on the left and column on the right. Rather plain but some of the posts have pictures to add more colour. I like the way the pics are done, they are tasteful and have been artistically enhanced. I'm guessing this blogger is rather artistic in nature.

The posts mostly revolve around her 2-year-old son, BB (the age tag is placed discreetly at the bottom which is nice). He seems to be a cute kid although some of the posts reveal he may be a handful!

As a young mother, Allyfeel blogs about the feelings that BB evokes in her. She also blogs about his achievements, naughtiness, etc. I liked the post about how she got a scare when she couldn't find him in the pasar malam, I could almost feel the fear and anxiety she was going through.

The English is all right. What most attracts me are the photos. The column on the right is short and neat.

This blog would appeal to other mummies and those who know Allyfeel personally.

My rating: 6/10

Bouncing along in life

2006-01-24T16:02:00.000+08:00

Reviewed by the Apprentice Blog Critic

And bounce we shall to this Blogspot-powered site which i must say needs a WARNING SIGN, as it is definitely not for the faint-hearted and "innocent" folks.

I like the clean black 2 column layout.

The content, as I have mentioned earlier, is not for the innocent. This guy curses like it is his oxygen. Seriously wicked, talks about everything from cars to sex to everything. Plenty of text, some posts are very long thanks to the fact that he places his whole chat logs in them.

What I like about his posts is that if there is a related or similar post in his archives, he'll link to those as well. Good job.

Easy navigation to archives and previous posts. BUT if someone wants to find the blogroll, they have to click on the finger.Yes, THAT finger. The fact that the blogroll is hidden is good since the list is pretty long. But I do recommend that you
put some text to state what that finger does since its role isn't obvious.

Overall rating: 6/10

Something to share...

2006-01-24T15:52:00.000+08:00

Reviewed by the Apprentice Blog Critic

And PS...Only ONE, the blogger, did share a lot in this Blogspot-powered site. He also advises us to live life in the present and not in the past nor the
future.

The layout is clean and works equally well on IE and Firefox. The right column is clutter free and neat. However, the CQCounter seems to be hanging around in the wrong position. Also, please do edit your links section.

The blogger writes in fairly good English but there are some entries in Chinese and sometimes a mixture of both which confuses me. If it's possible, when you write in English and then need to use Chinese, could you write it in pinyin or romaji so we know? And for full Chinese entries...well in pinyin/romaji please.

This writer takes good pics, though I must say that some posts could do with less pictures.

Overall rating: 5/10