Blog Reviews by Bloggeries

You Are Not So Smart is a blog by  journalist David McRaney, who also “loves psychology, technology and the internet.” Its area of focus is dedicated to showing us how we are not actually the rational, logical beings we like to think we are.

Written in plain English and free from unnecessary technical terminology, You Are Not So Smart manages to make pretty complex, high level decision making theories and the idea of cognitive biases easily understood by the average Joe. His journalistic background means the writing is of an exceptionally high quality and filled with pithy statements that stick in your mind long after you’ve clicked back to Youtube. McRaney also manages to make his potentially dry subject matter highly entertaining by peppering his posts with modern-day, contextual examples that just about anyone can relate to – ranging from Farmville to Halloween costumes – to illustrate the points he is making.

In one of his latest posts, The Sunk Cost Fallacy, McRaney uses the popularity of Facebook games like Farmville to explain why humans experience loss more acutely than gain, and manages to do this in a highly engaging manner without trivializing the subject matter. By the end of the post, readers have a clear idea of why they inevitably are compelled to “throw good money after bad” – a concept that frequent gamblers would gain much from grasping.

Other brilliant posts include Confirmation Bias, which posits that your opinions are not the result of rational, objective analysis but rather “the result of years of paying attention to information which confirmed what you believed while ignoring information which challenged your preconceived notions.” And Deindividuation, which suggests that under the right conditions, people are prone to losing their individuality and behave in a manner they otherwise would not.

A really easy, enjoyable read that won’t make your brain hurt, but will certainly make you smarter.  Without a doubt, this blog deserves a 4.3/5; considering it’s a great read, hopefully the activity and posting frequency increases.

Bloggeries is looking at a blog pertaining to the music industry today, and you can find ‘My Life My Music’.The blog is owned by 22 year old Carl who is blogging from the Phillipines. The blog is entirely about the music industry and entertainment news related to music in popular culture. Carl expresses his love for music in his blog header, which says, ‘Music speaks what cannot be expressed, soothes the mind and gives it rest, heals the heart and makes it whole, flows from heaven to the soul’. You can see this philosophy in action by checking out any of Carl’s latest bloggeries: My IMS Family; Winehouse Scraps Awards Gig, Heads to Rehab; Beyonce, Rihanna, Underwood Performing at Grammy’s; Keys Still Atop Album Chart in Slow Sales Week; Florida Remains No.1, but Brown Closes in, Heath Ledger Found Dead in NYC at age 28; American Idol Ratings Down from Last Year; Brad Renfro, 25, found Dead in Los Angeles Home; and Meet the Funky People.

The blog is well organized and nicely laid out which makes it very easy to navigate. Bloggeries are in white text on a black background with red colored musical bordering and links are in red. I personally found this theme to be difficult on the eyes and made reading difficult, so this may be something the blogger wants to look into changing. Bloggeries are left marginalized and there is a right navigation bar. In the navigation bar there is an advertising offer, Recent Posts/Archives Menu, Interesting Blogs Menu, Feeds Information, Blog Directory Buttons, Comments Window if you would like to add something to the Blog Main page, MyBlogLog Readers widget, Friends List, and an About page. Each bloggery is accompanied by relevant pictures, which works well for the blog and adds meaning to each piece of content. What I do not see is a Categories Menu which would be a great addition to this blog with its niche being in Entertainment. Categories would definitely add to the searchability of the blog and provide the blogger with more search engine traffic.

I am going with a 3/5 for this blog. My first suggestion would be to remove the annoying pop-up that occurs as the blog is loaded. This is extremely distracting from the point of the blog and as a result, affects both the overall appearance of the blog as well as navigation. The content scores well for the blog as it is written by outside news sources. Despite the fact that the blogger does not write his own content, he does cite each source which, while it loses some of the point of a personal blog tone, he still maintains active content. I would suggest the blogger hire someone to write his About page if he does not speak English, as the about page is not in English and thus the blogger will be unable to connect to his English readership through this about page. Otherwise however, despite not having a true personal voice and having some appearance issues, this blog is a good read for those interested in the music industry.

-Chrissie

If you are a movie buff, then you definitely want to check out this blog that is dedicated to movies. The blog is called Tomorrow’s Entertainment. This blog is a blog dedicated to becoming a premier destination for both the casual movie goer, as well as the proficient movie buff. Tomorrow’s Entertainment provides its visitors with news, previews, and reviews on anything related to Movies, Television, or Entertainment related. The blog will be soon pursuing Television Series, Games, Books, Comics, and Music News, but is currently dedicated to reviewing upcoming movies. You can see this for yourself by looking at any of their most recent bloggeries: Bee Movie Review, Margot at the Wedding Review, Stop – Loss, Hellboy II: The Golden Army, Terminator Salvation: The Future Begins Update, Book Review – V: The Second Generation, and Punisher: War Zone Update.

The blog is professionally laid out and this makes it very easy to navigate. I do suggest for easier navigation to use Mozilla Firefox when viewing this blog. Bloggeries are centralized with white text on a black background and menus are bordered in maroon. The blog header is designed after a movie ticket stub, so ‘Admit One’ when entering Tomorrow’s Entertainment which I thought was very clever. The blog contains both a left and right navigation system, as well as a top navigation bar. In the top navigation bar you will find links to Home, News, Previews, Reviews, Movies, Television, About, Contact, and Advertise. In the left navigation bar you will find Recent Articles Menu, Archives Menu, and site stats accompanied by Subscription links. In the right navigation bar you will find Awards, Recent Viewer widget, and blog directory buttons. You will find also a comprehensive Categories Menu that lists categories such as Books, Fan Short Films, Interviews, Movies, News, Other, Previews, Remake, Reviews, and so much more. Each bloggery is also accompanied by relevant pictures from or showcasing the movie in question.

I will go ahead and give this blog a 4/5. The blog is doing well on all counts of scoring criteria. The blog has been professionally designed which makes navigation very easy and earns it excellent appearance scores. Navigation scores are high due to the content of all essential blog meat that readers like to see – About page, categories, recent articles, and etc. All of these things make navigation on any blog much easier. Activity scores are not bad, bloggeries are coming in every couple of days it seems, and some days even contain more than one entry. The concept of the blog is standard, however it is presented in a unique fashion that gives the blog some creativity. Content is well-written and I had no issues with the content however the context of the content needs to be looked at, and this definitely affect content scores.The blog has a copyright disclaimer claiming all content is original, but upon closer examination of the content it in fact was not 100% original. I saw almost identical reviews on other websites, and the blogger needs to be wary of this. Not only is he claiming 100% originality, but there are some content issues. If the blogger has writers working for him, he may need to double-check their reviews. Otherwise my suggestion would be if the reviews are taken from somewhere else that those sources be cited at the end of every review. This will protect the owner of the blog from any infringement issues. Otherwise, the choice of content is excellent, and I found it to be an easy read that would be very appealing to movie goers. Overall I enjoyed visiting Tomorrow’s Entertainment, and as a movie buff myself, expect to see myself returning.

-Chrissie