I'm So Ambivalent It Hurts

Cancer Sticks and Lotto Tickets is today's Blog Du Jour. It's being viewed in IE at 1152 x 864.

I get the feeling that ArseBundren is quite existential and very cynical. He's got three blogs, including this one, all of which have the standard Blogger black template/white text. I personally don't hate this template like others do, however, on the submitted blog, his mp3 links in his sidebar have screwed things up, so that the sidebar is now below his end post. That's strike one, because I happen to know that fixing that just takes a bit of manipulation within the template code in terms of the sizing, to fix.

Strike two for this blog is the general randomness of the content. I can see that he's got an affinity for poetry. Okay, that's fine, you want to be deep and meaningful, I get it, but personally, poetry in this day and age is not what I want to read on a blog, just my opinion of course. Apparently, he's been in the midst of changing jobs, and again, he doesn't post enough to necessarily follow along with what's actually going on in his life. He does have some decent taste in music, and he mentions in the post from July 8 how music became an influence in his life. I can definitely relate to that, and I see in his mp3 list at the bottom of the page that he includes the Hold Steady, and the Clash, which is always a good way to suck up to this blog reviewer.

All in all though, this blog doesn't make me want to come back to it because he seems a bit anti-social (which isn't the best recipe for attracting readers). Also, he posts very randomly, and when he does, there isn't a clear subject matter that he may be covering. Some people use blogging as an outlet for whatever's on their minds at the moment, which I get, absolutely, but most people write in their diaries on a regular basis and don't take months off at a time. I don't know if he cares about readers, but there are certain home truths about the blogging experience, and one of them is that you should attempt to keep up a regular posting schedule.

The constructive criticisms are as follows: Post more often. Soften the anti-social rhetoric. If you're going to post poetry, a quick introduction to the poem and whether or not you've penned it, and perhaps why it's important to you would be nice. Keep the black template, it seems to suit you, and again, I don't think everyone loathes it as some would suggest.

Grades? for the uneven template and this odd, random posting pattern.

for the Clash and Hold Steady mp3's.