May 29, 2004
Hmpf! Must be the French Cavalry.
Which leaves 2 competitors left standing. Bill of Walloworld and Songstress7 of News From the Great Beyond.
Only 2... standing in the middle of the dusty street, hands poised above holsters, waiting for the clock to strike noon...
This week's challenge question... Oh crap. I seem to have misplaced it, and neither of the contestants quotes it verbatim. Something about, imagine you're a superhero. What powers would you have, what would you do with them, blah, blah, blah.
Since there's only 2 this week, I'm going to skip the usual "good points"/"bad points" spiel & go with a more direct comparison model.
First, both of these entries are excellent, and show of level of talent and creativity that new bloggers would do well to study. Bill gets creative points for making an oblique reference to Mr. Bill, from the prehistoric days of Saturday Night Live. Unfortunately, he loses those points because he failed to provide a courtesy link to explain the whole "Mr. Bill" thing to those readers who aren't as ancient and decrepit as himself. On the other hand, not actually mentioning SNL by name added to the impact of the humor, so maybe he gets the points back.
But who cares? S7 pulls out all the stops and actually DRAWS A SUPERHERO COMIC! And you can click each frame individually to get a better view. She must've put HOURS into this. Someone wants to be Queen of the Blogs REALLY bad. Not to mention the fact that it's fairly decent for an amateur comic. Still beats Beavis & Butthead. Anyway, good touch on using your powers only for good, with the exception of rigging the KotB contest. Which IS kind of a good thing... I mean, overthrowing that despot Bill... yesssss.... a gooooood thing.
RANK:
News From the Great Beyond #1
Walloworld #2
The Whole Blog: Technical Merit & Personality
Here are some technical things I like to see on a blog:
Comments enabled
Permalinks working
E-mail contact info available
Blogger's name/pseudonym prominently displayed
Site search feature enabled
Link to an "About Me" post on the sidebar
Blogger's gender is easily discernable
Blogroll
Readable font style & size
Readable color scheme (for example, NOT bright red type on bright green
background)
Divisions between posts clearly marked
Paragraphing in entries (NOT just writing one fat block of text)
Aside from the tech stuff, I also like to see a blogger's personality shining through, to
remind us of the person behind the words.
KOTB-SPECIFIC ITEMS: These aren't both required by the official rules, but Bill has them, so you'll need them, too, just to stay even:
King of the Blogs javascript sidebar logo (see KotB host Nick for the script)
Brown-nosing links to KotB judges
This part of the judging process sucked. Both sites have all their technicals in order, and both sites exude all kinds of personality. So I had to look extra hard to see if anyone had an edge. Or perhaps a weakness. Bill's site is bulletproof, looking so neat & organized & brightly lit, with those simple, yet charming decorative flourishes... Well, I suppose I could ding him for having a really g... uh, let's call it "festive"... pink background for his blockquotes. Kinda clashes with off-teal of the sidebars a bit.
WAIT! Here's a fatal blow - my brown-nosing link still points to my old blog! Down you go, Bill! MUAHAHAHAHA!
Just a quick check of NFTGB to make sure there's nothing fatal here, and I can get on with the business off stuffing this tyrant into his own dungeon...
I really like the Pat Tillman link in the sidebar.
I really like the countdown javascript thingy. I may have to steal that in the future.
Uh oh. That Arizona Diamondbacks link pic gets cut off by the middle column... well, I'll just pretend I didn't see that. I mean, I have hypnotic orders to destroy Bill.
So, the winner is...
Oh... crap...
Somebody forgot to put the KotB logo in her sidebar.
Damn.
*sigh*
RANK:
Walloworld #1
News From the Great Beyond #2
It's going to be interesting to see how this week shakes out.
Posted by: Harvey at
07:12 PM
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May 23, 2004
By which I mean that the results have been posted at Patriot Pardox in Exile:
Walloworld, News From the Great Beyond, and Chase Me Ladies IÂ’m in the Calvary all advance, while View From the Pew and Red Beetle make themselves comfy on piles of filthy, rat-infested straw in one of the darker corners of the Royal Dungeon.
Posted by: Harvey at
10:47 PM
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May 22, 2004
This week's challenge question is:
A Hollywood studio is going to make a film of your life. What's the
title, who is the star, and what on earth is it all about?
Chase Me Ladies I'm in the Cavalry
(challenge)
GOOD POINTS: ROTFL!
BAD POINTS: "wounded bear"? Now THERE'S a clunker of a phrase that should be avoided in comedy writing.
SCORE: 9.5
RANK - 2
(submitted)
GOOD POINTS: short, snarky, to-the-point hit on the obscenity of moral equivalence.
BAD POINTS: gratuitous use of the word "nuts" in a family tournament. Next time please consider a more child-friendly term like "big Jim & the twins".
SCORE: 8
RANK - 2
Walloworld
(challenge)
GOOD POINTS: I swear, this question is just perfect for more of Bill's self-absorbed narcissism. He does not disappoint. I'm also impressed by how, every tourney, he answers a simple question more than once. Must be a lawyer thing.
BAD POINTS: Tragic dearth of self-linkage.
SCORE: 10
RANK - 1
(submitted)
GOOD POINTS: What's this? A post on John Kerry's daughter's boobies without a picture or a gratuitous nipple comment? [checking Bible] Yup. Sign of the Apocalypse. Anyway, thoughtful & informative. Excellent post.
BAD POINTS: Tragic dearth of self-linkage.
SCORE: 10
RANK - 1
View From the Pew
(challenge)
GOOD POINTS: Takes the dialogue approach and zips off some very funny lines
BAD POINTS: Kinda trails off at the end. More like a "quitting" than an "ending".
SCORE: 8.5
RANK - 4
(submitted)
GOOD POINTS: While I was reading it, I wanted to argue vociferously in some spots, and shout AMEN in others, so he definitely got my attention.
BAD POINTS: The post seemed to lose focus and switch topics somewhere in the middle. They were both good topics - whether Christians have a duty to try to effect change in public schools, and what a quality education consists of - but they would've been better and clearer in separate posts.
SCORE: 7
RANK - 4
News From the Great Beyond
(challenge)
GOOD POINTS: The New York Times review is hilarious, and bonus for the picture.
BAD POINTS: Not so much a thing to point out as the absence of a thing. This piece felt a little unconcluded, and could've used some sort of comment at the end to give closure to it. Things are usually funnier in threes, and a third section would've helped here.
SCORE: 9
RANK - 3
(submitted)
GOOD POINTS: I really like the intro on this, since, although it assumes knowledge of Abu Ghraib and Nick Berg, Songstress7 provides lots of links to get the reader up to speed, just in case. A very thoughtful gesture. And I like that she denounces the Ghraib-Berg moral equivalence in potent terms.
BAD POINTS: The rhetorical questions in the middle are a useful device for making a point, but I'm not sure Songstress7 is hitting the target she's aiming for. Most of the essay, especially the conclusion, seems to aim for the notion that the troops are mostly good and that they're doing a lot of good things. Yet in the rhetorical section, she seems to be suggesting that American society is corrupt and degraded in many areas, and that, as a result, the bad soldiers at Abu Ghraib shouldn't surprise anyone. This essay would've been stronger if she'd used the rhetorical section to suggest that, while certain forces are applying pressure to corrupt decency in society, the majority of citizens & soldiers manage to be good, anyway. In short, this piece, while well-written, was not as well-focused as it could have been.
SCORE:6.5
RANK - 5
Red Beetle Road
(challenge)
GOOD POINTS: It's short, and I like the witty allusion to the Heisenberg Principle.
BAD POINTS: A little too short. I don't know the author, so I'm not sure which parts of the entry are strictly for entertainment purposes, and which are self-revelation. A simple link to an "about me" post would've been very helpful here.
SCORE: 7
RANK - 5
(submitted)
GOOD POINTS: "new Heisenberg Translator for Corporate Speak" - points for originality with the picture of the Palm
BAD POINTS: Points off in quality of execution. There are plenty of funny jokes to be made off the sterotype that corporations are greedy and don't care about their employees. These weren't them.
SCORE: 7.5
RANK - 3
Posted by: Harvey at
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May 10, 2004
As you can see from his bloviating Post d'Triumph, he gives Susie all the credit. I smell a bribe somewhere.
On the other hand, he does make an interesting point in all his blathering.
One might ask why I bother considering the judges' comments since blogging is a form of "personal" publishing (and shouldn't I just do what I want with my site), but the question misses the point. When designing something for publication, useability and reader satisfaction/interest are critical. If nobody likes what you write you have a problem. You also have a problem if they might like what you read but find the site design cumbersome, clumsy, or downright difficult to navigate. If nothing else, what I've learned through winning this tournament five times is a bit more about how people might perceive my blog and my writing.
When I started my first blog, I had no readers, so the only value the blog had to me was that it put my words in print. Over time, that changed. There arose also the value of bringing pleasure to people I liked. After a while it became a LOT of people, and it's now a major factor for me in the blogging experience.
Don't get me wrong, I'm still tickled to see my own words on the internet, but it's not the only factor anymore. It MATTERS to me if my site looks (or loads) like crap, because I want my friends, acquaintances, and lurkers to enjoy themselves when they stop by.
I'm sure a LOT of people are WAY ahead of my curve on this point, and think about their readership from day 1, but... well, I guess I'm just a slow learner.
Anyway, Bill's right. Sometimes being pretty is as important as being talented.
Meanwhile, I'm STILL wondering where the hell he got the 3W from
[ducks]
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May 08, 2004
Who are you? Explain what it means to be you, and why you are good for the blogosphere and the world.
Hint: Remember this is not meant to be a psychology paper. Have fun with the question, and don't just quit.
WalloWorld
GOOD POINTS: ROTFLMAO! Crassly manipulative in that he uses the best lines from my favorite movies to make me like his entry. Nice Machiavelling, Prince.
BAD POINTS: You're a window, eh? That would explain the bird that just flew into your head.
RANK: #1
News From the Great Beyond
GOOD POINTS: Probably a good sign when tears well up in my eyes by the time I get to the end of a post. Also, copious quantities of gratuitous, narcissistic self-linkage. An arrogantly unshakable belief in ones own words as an infallible reference is an asset for a would-be monarch.
BAD POINTS: None visible. The only reason you're coming in second is that Bill finished his piece off with a reference to his intro - I love callbacks. That, and the quarter came up tails.(Seriously, though, it was a tough call. Consider giving it another shot in the next KotB Tournament, if you're so inclined)
RANK: #2
This Liberal
GOOD POINTS: Answered the questions thoroughly
BAD POINTS: A little dry, perhaps could've use some sort of over-arching theme to make the post more cohesive.
RANK:#3
The Whole Blog: Technical Merit & Personality
Here are some technical things I like to see on a blog:
Comments enabled
Permalinks working
E-mail contact info available
Blogger's name/pseudonym prominently displayed
Site search feature enabled
Link to an "About Me" post on the sidebar
Blogger's gender is easily discernable
Blogroll
Readable font style & size
Readable color scheme (for example, NOT bright red type on bright green
background)
Divisions between posts clearly marked
Paragraphing in entries (NOT just writing one fat block of text)
Aside from the tech stuff, I also like to see a blogger's personality shining through, to remind us of the person behind the words.
News From the Great Beyond
GOOD POINTS: Technically perfect. I REALLY like that Songstress7 has her picture, "about me" post, and e-mail link prominently displayed in the upper left. In my opinion, those things BELONG above the fold on the front page. Let the world know who they're reading as soon as they arrive. It gives the blog a very welcoming feel. I also like bold use of colors. It's vibrant without being overpowering, and shows a lot of personality.
BAD POINTS: The sidebar fonts are a little bit on the teeny-weeny eye-strain side, but they contrast nicely with the center column, so who am I to complain?
RANK: #1
WalloWorld
GOOD POINTS: Got all the technical requirements. Nice minimalistic design. Restrained use of different colors adds emphasis without being distracting. Good touches with little symbols & icons, although I have no idea how you get "3W" out of William E. Wallo.
BAD POINTS: Probably not his fault, and he probably wasn't even aware of it, but there are some glitches in Mozilla and Opera (sorry, but my IE went terminal months ago, and it's no longer an option for me). In Mozilla, the wide white background loads last and covers up the whole front page except for the edges. I can see two letters at the left side of the links in the left sidebar. In Opera, the front page displays fine, but the permalink pages have the text scrunched up in a one-inch wide column on the left side. Between the two browsers, I can read everything, though. I'd suggest having someone knowledgable in multiple platforms give it a once-over & see if there are some simple fixes. If you don't know anyone off-hand, ask The Bartender (aka Madfish Willie, aka Mike), who did my site design and just oozes tech-savvy (see the little envelope in the HammerHead designs logo box on my right sidebar).
RANK: #2
This Liberal
GOOD POINTS: All the technicals are in place & functioning.
BAD POINTS: Nothing horrible, just some little things with room for improvement. The background image, even though pale, is a little distracting while reading, and makes me a little motion sick while scrolling. If you like the image (and it is a good one), consider using a form of it as a header in the banner. Also, some more colors, or at least more vibrant colors, would give a snappier look. It's a little bland right now. Finally, consider putting the "about me" & e-mail address at the top of your sidebar and the calendar at the bottom. I can guarantee you that not a single one of your readers ever clicked a calendar link, so there's no reason to let it eat up some of the best real estate on your blog. Put something up there that you want everyone to see first thing when they arrive. If not your information, at least some of your more favored affiliative links.
RANK: #3
Posted by: Harvey at
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Also: would you do me a favor and check it in Opera now? I think I fixed the problem, but I'd like to know for sure.
In Mozilla, the problem appears to be related to the division at the very bottom of the page (where I have copyright and Moveable Type information. In that browser (and only that browser), it treats the as covering the entire page instead of operating relative to what's gone in front of it. Have to do a bit of tinkering there yet. Again, though - thanks for the heads up.
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