What I do is list a site; you critique it. But here’s the catch: to induce the most honest reactions, don’t leave the comment using your normal alias/login – instead, go anonymous, and be as brutally honest (or complimentary) as you wish to be. Also, be specific, and naturally, don’t be rude. If I deem anything inappropriate, I’ll have no problem deleting the comment.
Site: French Toast Sunday
LAMB#: #727
URL: http://www.frenchtoastsunday.com/
And remember: Blustering should be a two-way (Lindsay, hahah couldn’t help myself) street; if you’ve asked to be blustered, you better be a blusterer.
If you would like to have your blog blustered by fellow LAMBs, please send me an email containing your site’s info and “Bluster Me!” in the subject line.
This blog suffers from a fairly common problem: the appearance is professional but the writing is amateurish. The reviews lack the degree of depth and insight indicative of good criticism, while the prose is plagued by the sorts of grammar issues typically found in freshman comp papers: poor punctuation, run-on sentences, tense issues, and paragraphs containing unrelated ideas. A blog with such an unusual name — not to mention such a nice appearance — should offer a slant on film that isn’t exactly the same as every other blog.
It sounds like you might not be in line with our site’s blogging goals but that’s ok, to each his own.
An ironic comment for a post called “Brutally Blog Blustering”…
As a regular reader of the site, I find that the contributors are refreshing. From reading their content and listening to their podcast, they strike me as people who love film and don’t want to be burdened by the ideas of what a film blog “should” be. I think their strongest asset is the podcast, it showcases thier knowledge of movies with humor and personality.
Wow, that’s a lovely compliment. Thank you for reading and listening to our podcast.
The design is excellent, but they don’t offer anything new in terms of reviews and features. Given that the site looks good, they should work more on creating better content.
We are trying out a lot of different types of features. Hopefully we can work on establishing better content for them. Thank you for the comment.
I frequent the site and while I enjoy the running posts like Drinking Games or What’s The Deal or Best Picture Series, I feel they don’t run those segments enough. Versus The Scarecrow is pretty good at having a schedule and Sounds of the Summer and Gore Report are on the right track to being on schedule. They need to have more consistency I guess is what I’m trying to say.
Site looks great. I too enjoy the podcasts but feel that maybe they need to add another one to the mix beings that there are so many contributors to the site.
Awesome! Thank you so much for continuing to check out the site.
Great advice on sticking to a strict post schedule. That’s something we will certainly try to work on.
Another podcast is currently in the works.
I feel a site with so many contributors needs a more consistent schedule for its posts and features, so readers know what day and what time to expect them.
Again, working on a more clearly defined schedule is a great idea.
Thank you for taking time to comment.
I’m visiting this one for the first time thanks to this post (so obviously I’m not a regular reader), and I agree with all of these comments, the first one included. I don’t think the site is “amateurish” at all, but the writing is often rough and it can make it difficult for the reader to want to continue reading the post. There’s never a reason not to put your best foot forward. Every blogger should have a copy of Strunk & White by their computer!
I have to agree with the first comment. The site is beautifully designed but badly needs an editor. Take this sentence for example: “A great Summer movie is one that can quickly grab my attention and keep it, makes me care about its characters, and doesn’t make me think too hard.” Horrific from a grammar perspective.
So, this is my first time visiting the site.. I’m not gonna comment on the grammar or writing, cause I feel like I’m not qualified as a non-English speaking person, but I felt the things other comments discussed.
My criticism would be the consistency, for instance the three large blocks (featured, lists, podcasts) – the first image opens up a list of posts while others click to the last one which feels a bit uncomfortable. I prefer to get the list of posts.
While the whole look is clear, it tends to get too much for me. But it might be my own preference of liking the minimalism. Huge blue boxes at the beginning and at the end seem too much, maybe only in the beginning so each blue box represents the beginning?
Blogroll is good, but it seems to take up so much room and em powers the site- why not put it under a page or something?
Does so much info (the bottom of the whole page in the brown area) on one page is really that necessary? Less is more, as they say.
I agree with all of the comments. There’s some serious information overload going on, and while the design looks nice, there not enough hierarchy to the way the information is presented.
I don’t feel that it’s fair to criticize a site for not being what people would like it to be. I enjoy the FTS site because it matches the laid-back, fun mood of the podcast. The entire group loves movies and enjoys talking and writing about them. The design is great too. I have no problem getting around the site, and there’s plenty of material.
I think people might be taking the grammar thing a bit too far. I am all for not having a blog filled with spelling errors and what not. However, I am looking to read posts about films and film news. Since the majority of people read and write at about the level of junior in high school, having a blog filled with pontificating prose might not be the best way to go, if your trying to reach a large audience.
Correction I looked it up, the avg person reads and writes on an 8th grade level.
I think people might be also confusing a site with film reviews for a more scholarly site of film criticism. Those are very different things for a different audience.