When You're On The Internet, and Your Brain Is Suddenly Wet...

url: http://thebraintrots.blogspot.com/

The creators of “A Bad Case of the Brain Trots” claim that their blog is “a creative outlet for whatever half-baked daydream any of us has concocted to pass the day” and that “there are no promises on what you'll find as you blindly grope through our blog.” These statements could not be truer. Full of random stories, jokes, plays, and rants, you are never sure what you will find posted each week. Not every post will be for everyone, but giving it a chance is worth the click.

Sadly, however, the creators of this blog appear to not have computer skills when it comes to creating a more vibrant and interesting look to their blog. Everything is pretty straightforward looking, and black. Lots of black. Also they tend to only blog once a week, which is weak. Also, as that last sentence portrays, they like puns.

I say give it a chance, especially if you have nothing else to do.

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contributing reviewer/ee
Lewis from http://thebraintrots.blogspot.com/

Brief Note From The Editor on Blog Design

A note to prospective reviewer/ees:

I've noticed many of you in your reviews take potshots at your blog designs and layouts for being unimaginative, boring, or just plain ugly. Yet in each case, the blog in question looks considerably better than this blog, here.

Just what is it you're trying to say?

- The Editor

p.s. new review up tomorrow.

Acronyms Can Really Only Narcotise Your Mindset!

url: http://see-you-next-thursday.blogspot.com

"Just because they're never done doesn't mean you can't be disappointed by them."

The astounding lack of content accompanied by the let-down of knowing you can't even get into a (rare) good story without it ending abruptly, sometimes mid-sentence, is the hallmark of the importance the author places upon remaining true to the theme of his blog. Crappy Unfinished Novel Time is a place where even dullards and half-wits can feel accomplished, having completed more in their day than the author ever will in a lifetime. Even 'author' is far too serious a term for one whose previously incomplete fiction has graced the pages of - well - nothing, since no reputable publisher will put unfinished work into print. Perhaps 'hack' is more suitable.

One might think that the broadcast of this perpetual failure across something as worldwide as the web might act as a catalyst to complete a project for a change. HA! Think again. Said hack has spent an undisclosed but amazingly large percentage of his life being a disappointment to his readers (and probably his parents), you think that's going to change now? Honestly, the most you can hope for are the occasional references to explosions, dwarves, carnies and stolen glances at breasts. And even that might be expecting too much.

That said, you probably shouldn't visit. It'll only serve to undermine any hope you have of enjoying your day.

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contributing reviewer/ee
Elliott from Crappy Unfinished Novel Time

We Have Ways of Making You Review Your Own Blog

url: http://caffeinated-rory.blogspot.com/

Well, It's kind of hard to be asked to review my own blog. To cut a long story short, it's just a place where I go to talk about what happened during the day, have fights with coffee, my complicated relationship idol and just a place to be random really. So much goes on in one's life and sometimes it's inhumane to vent it out on another human being because everyone has enough to deal with in the first place, hence it's woven into a sarcastic, slightly masochistic post of anti-karma complaints and just, well, human stuff. I don't like this, I'd rather you just go there, read on and decide for yourself. I'm not up for marketing my vent-outs. I'm a fellow human, with a head made of coffee beans and held together by maths equations. I'm allergic to UFO, an Unknown Food Object. Clocks hate me and Pillows don't like me that much.. I'm just another 17-year-old living on the other side of the universe who thinks rap is soothing, trees are aliens and is in love with Erik Satie's work. If Danny Elfman did not exist, I can honestly say I would have dismissed this blue ball for a world and moved on to another parallel dimension. You know what? whatever. I will not review my own blog. You have a head, work it.


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contributing reviewer/ee
Mirette Osama from Caffeinated Rory

In Randomness, a Surprising Design

url: http://continuallysurprised.blogspot.com

Interested in obscure books published at least 10 years ago? Cooking experiences that closely resemble Dan Aykroyd's parody of Julia Child? Adventures in multimedia wiring and other odd and occasionally off-putting topics? If not, this is definitely not the blog for you; otherwise, check out Continually Surprised! on blogspot.com.

The author of this blog is a web and graphic designer, so the blog is littered with her doodles. The blog's tagline is "venting random thoughts before they injure my brain;" she claims to be letting off steam by posting material her humor-challenged Significant Other wouldn't consider funny. Some of her posts are genuinely witty; others are apparently just attempts to keep to a daily schedule. So far the most traffic has been generated by an article about buying a giant box of Japanese soup stock ("250 Servings of Soup"), but the OAQ ("Occasionally Asked Questions") postings have also been popular.

Here's an example of her writing from OAQ #2:

How did you decide on the design for the header?
I was originally going to post a photo of myself, but I decided I would rather use a cartoon, because even though it looks like Betty Boop's less-sexy older sister, some deluded reader may still have a mental image of me as tall, svelte, and mysteriously attractive. A photo would remove the mystery by revealing that I actually do look like Betty Boop's less-sexy older sister.

Check it out if you're desperate for new reading material.


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contributing reviewer/ee
Designing In Surprise from Continually Surprised!

Blog Like An Egyptian

url: http://whatafekra.blogspot.com/ by Laura R.

As soon as you arrive, you will notice that the blogger has got a very girly theme with lots of purple. Do not fret, though, for her posts are not gossip-y or fashion-y... she just likes purple, that's all.

The title might confuse you (actually, it most probably will), and so allow me to explain that "fekra" is the Arabic word for "idea". The author claims to be Egyptian and indeed has posted and probably will post some pieces about Egypt, but it's hard to be sure whether she is telling the truth.

Other than the "Egyptian" tint to the blog, there is also a slightly childish tint, you will find, for the author is not yet 16 and has a lot to learn. However, many who have met the author in person claim she is more mature than her age would suggest, so don't worry, while the blogger will panic a bit about going back to school, nothing else about the blog will suggest that the author is a child. There are no boy-crazy posts, no sightings of the words "Duh", "OMG", and such, and no immature whinings.

Upon further investigation, you will find that the author has pledged to never use the backspace key. She warns you that she will not refrain from saying everything on her mind and will not edit her thoughts, however they may turn out to be. This warning, however, proves needless, as it is obvious from the character of the author that she would have said everything on her mind (even with controversial topics of whether Twilight is a bad book or a horrible book!) even if she had not made this promise.

Besides the theme of Egypt, another recurring theme in the blog is the writing exercises. It is very clear that the author of this particular blog has always wanted to become a writer, which she has achieved by joining a teen's magazine in her home country, and has now extended her goals to becoming an actual published author.

One drawback you will find, however, is that the author posts a little bit too much. This is due to her excitement of having a blog (she tends to get carried away when excited) and will either wear off within a few weeks, or once the author goes back to school.

Regardless of the hitches, this blog will prove to be an intriguing, if not enjoyable, read. The author has been told that her perspective is different, so you might want to check it out.

Yarn: It's Not Just For Cute Kitten Pictures

url: http://5elementknitr.blogspot.com/

5elementknitr is a blog about knitting. But not really. It’s a blog of tales of my current life and memories of my life thus far.

It’s written by a 40 year old woman obsessed with knitting, so you think there’d be more actual knitting content. She’s also an Atheist and likes to have conversations with the door-to-door religious salesmen who come aknockin’. And she likes to make up words like “aknockin’”. She has had a very strange and amazing life which makes for some interesting stories. She recounts them in great detail which can result in some long posts but she always warns you by telling you to get a snack and have a seat. When you see those words, be sure you’re in for a bit of a ride. She tries to keep these long posts to a minimum.

One of the blog’s more popular features are her Military Mondays (which happen only occasionally but always on a Monday) where she recounts her meager 5 years in the Army. She was only in Basic Training for 8 weeks and is still recounting them after having started Military Mondays two years ago. The problem there is that she’s pretty sporadic with them.

Another popular subject is her Alphabet Soup – she starts sometime in January with A is for… then after some time ends with Z is for…, you get the idea. She’s in her third year of this nonsense. It started accidentally three years ago, seemed pretty popular and so she did it again last year and yet again this year. She seems to drag it out longer each year (finishing in March the first year, April the second, and as of the current date (May) hasn’t finished this year); by the year 2012, she expects it to take up her whole year and then the world will end. You’re welcome.

She likes to make sweeping statements that she later recants and has a strange love affair with the fragmented sentence. She writes like she talks so it can get a bit mumbly and incoherent at times. She blames lack of sleep quite a lot but I suspect she’s just full of shit. Like this review – she’s not sure why she started out in first person then switched to third person but it seemed to give it more credibility as an impartial review so she’s giving it a shot.

She can be found at 5elementknitr.blogspot.com and her (my) name is Ruth!

Concise Submission Guidelines

This is a link to the original and rather more detailed than necessary Submission Guidelines:

~ Original and Rather More Detailed Than Necessary Submission Guidelines ~

You don't need to read that whole huge thing. In a nutshell: reviews should be well-written, and should strike a note of balance and impartiality. A review that is simply a rah-rah publicity piece about how great the blog is is not likely to be approved no matter how well-written it is. But on the flipside - a review riddled with unreadable sentence constructions and atrocious spelling is not likely to be approved no matter how fair and impartial the review is. What we're looking for is a quality piece of criticism.

If that sounds like a fun piece to write, by all means, submit your piece to Review Your Own Blog, via the dedicated e-mail address ReviewYourOwnBlog[at]hotmail.com (as a text e-mail, not an attachment - no other submission methods will be accepted).

There are other good tips and background information in the original, huge whole guideline if you are interested. But it probably should not be necessary.

If You Don't Have a Great Title, You're Not Alone

url: http://www.thisblogbelongstojanuary.blogspot.com/

I was simply looking through blogs via Blogger, when I happened upon a blog titled "Insert Title Here." My first thought was, "What kind of title is that?" But then, I noticed the blog description included the words "awesome" and "robots," and I was lured in.

Whilst reading, I did find a bit of humor, among other things, but it just seemed like the author was very inexperienced, awkward, and overly-excited about things that most people probably don't get excited about. She, I believe, comes off as nearly crazy and, like I said, very inexperienced. She can be funny, but otherwise, it just seems like she starts out okay, gets good, then either gets really good or really horrible. It can be almost painful.

The pages that are below the header can be humorous, as well as the blog. For example, the author takes things that she was going to say, or write, I should say, and crosses them out - with the line break thing - and then writes what she seems would be a more proper answer.

The author appears to be slowly, but surely, incorporating elements such as photos and quotes into the posts to highlight them, which they do, indeed, do. There isn't much material yet, but I'm sure that this young author will gain practice and experience with blogging. The newer posts can get better or worse or both, but in time we will see. I've got my eye on this author and I will surely keep up with her progress. I wish her the best of luck, for she seems to have some potential, whether it be in comedy or horror. Or both.

Side note: The author has some sort of abnormal fear of zombies and an almost-obsession with random things like Conan O'Brien, bacon, and comparing things that never go together, like horses and drunken-ness.

Cupboard Bare? Try the Fridge Cupboard

url: http://fridgecupboard.blogspot.com

Fridge Cupboard is a brand new blog which although doesn't have very many posts as yet is still a place you should visit and give a chance. It has an awesome header which although quite plain has a pretty good characture of la (actually done by the author of comics in the Observer Newspaper Australia). Looking at the page layout you would not believe that the owner actually had an IT degree and has worked with HTML before. Despite obviously having forgot everything that I crammed in just for the exams I haven’t forgotten many lifelong stories and other ponders It is a blog about the life of a girl working a boring job and posting random thoughts, fact and events that happen throughout my 20 years on this planet.

The humor can be straight out funny but is mainly a comical outlook on the world, people and events. More of a pessimist than not the blog can be highlighting things that are wrong with the world, but in an amusing way not an “I hate my life and I’m going to kill myself” way.

I must admit that as I’ve gotten older my life has settled down but in high school the girls used to gossip about the OC and then turn to me and ask about my life (which is apparently on par to teenagers who are straight, then gay, then kill themselves). So come read about some funny stories from how I grew up that I’m sure you can relate to.

OK! We Are Again Taking Submissions!

Actually, we never stopped. It just occurred to me as I was stopping by that the previous headline, "All For Now!" might have had rather a "That's All, Folks!" sort of ring to it. Nothing could be further from the truth! I still check the dedicated e-mail address at least once or twice a month. Whatever's in there definitely gets looked at. Even if it's just lists of doctors.

So anyway, if you've got the critical acumen to take a step back, sharpen your pencil and Review Your Own Blog, then by all means - please see the sidebar, a little down and to the right, for


HOW TO BE A REVIEWER/EE!