So… blogs are still a thing? I didn’t really know. I thought maybe our society evolved( or devolved) away from the blog like we did with livejournal, myspace and chatrooms. Some friends of mine ribbed me a little when I told I was blogging for class. If it was a podcast on the other hand, they’d probably want to be on it. So this assignment is a challenge not just because I’m doing it last minute-ish but because I don’t know many blogs…especially professional blogs…that I could enjoy and recommend! I mean If this assignment was “Find a blog about professional wrestling that’s insightful with a lot of cuss words in it, then write a blog about it” (https://www.whatculture.com) I would be on it but I’m trying to stick to the program. So I found Bob Keefer’s Eugene Art Talk (https://eugenearttalk.com/) .

Former Register Guard/Current Eugene Weekly writer Bob Keefer’s ad free blog is all about the theater, music and fine art around town in Eugene. His post are not boring and he doesn’t seem like a snotty person. My brother does theater locally and I looked to see if he said anything bad about him, so he’s ok in my book, though its kind of difficult to find older posts because you have to scroll through all of his more recent posts. It’s not like I regularly go the opera or to a symphony, but maybe for a date night I could go on this website and see what going in fine arts locally, read the review and maybe impress my lady friend of a night of wine and rose… or something I don’t know, check it out. Later, check out we hate movies (www.whmpodcast.com), it’s a podcast where they discuss bad movies with a lot of cuss words!

Cheers,

Billy Dyball

Photography is one of those things that everyone has a different opinion on what looks “right”. For some people a crisp clear shot is the way to go. Some might not see it that way. A hazy out of focus, underexposed shot. Which I thought many of the images from this blog could be categorized into nature or architecture photography. I believe those are areas of interest for me. My best photos would fall under these categories as well. I think that’s why this blog caught my eye. Other than the big red bar at the bottom of the screen, red is one of my favorite colors.

         One good resource I found on this blog was under the Photography Tutorials tab.Under this tab you will find videos explaining some general techniques covering almost everything from taking your shot, to retouching it and creating your final piece. Like many other photography blogs, he also includes a list of software and equipment that he uses. This can be useful to find more information on the equipment and software that you could best utilize to create your projects. The Blog is being produced in a useful and entertaining way. It’s useful for beginners as it gives you some tips on setting up your shot. It can also be a entertaining blog for the seasoned photographers by giving them a look into someone else’s view of photography.

www.stuckincustoms.com

By: Nieman Adams-Jackson

The blog I’ve decided to tell you about is called Dawn Photo. Now I personally know this photographer because she was my photographer for my senior photos back in high school. Her name is Dawn and she is a true role model in my line of work. Not only has she made a name for herself over the years, but she is so amazing at what she does that it has allowed herself to travel the world, meet new people, and capture the most incredible photos. You can hear and see all of it on her blog : http://www.dawn-photo.com/blog/

I believe this site gives off a very “go with the flow” vibe. The colors that are given speak of peace and relaxation, which is exactly what Dawn is all about. She gives off great energy when you read her blog because she writes in a way that makes you feel like she’s talking right to you. Dawn has produced a great website and blog. The quality of both her information and product are exactly what they promise to be. She has many resources to back up her incredible service, myself included, along with others worldwide. She is someone worth trusting with your important memories.

For whatever reason, consumer technology is something that has always fascinated me. I routinely spend countless hours reading product reviews of things I don’t even intend on buying, and watching unboxing videos (as meaningless as they are.)

Engadget is a blog that caters to people like me. They offer many different services that include: reviews for new tech-related products as they come to market, providing interesting insight into various current events, offering a comprehensive buying guide, hosting a popular technology podcast, and many more.

The general quality of the content found on Engadget is comparable to most other professional level blogging website. Their product reviews are skillfully made with information graphics and accurate lighting; the articles are written with intellectual insight and a refreshingly low amount of bias; and the overall quality of the user interface is very intuitive. You can tell a lot of work is put into maintaining this blog. I think it’s handy that they have a functioning search bar, and quick links to their social media outlets. I also enjoy that their content is divided up into categories, making navigating the content a breeze.

One thing in particular that I find useful about this blog is their buyers guide. Upon clicking on the “Buyer’s Guide” tab, you are taken to a page with a grid of various different products that they have written reviews of.

After finding the product you want to read more about, you are greeted with a shortened version of their full review, a list of “key specs” about said product to consider, a link to purchase the item, and a link to the full article if you’d like to read the full review.

Considering that the majority of people don’t want to read more than the bare minimum of what’s necessary to make up their minds anyway, I think this “quick link” type of pop up is very intelligent.

After analyzing Engadget more than just using their services, I’m coming closer to finding my niche in the artistic world. I feel like working for a technology blog like this one would be a dream.

By: Thomas Lemelin

mashable.com

I guess you could say I chose a pretty basic “blog” for this assignment. But I personally love Mashable. I discovered it when Snapchat started to expand their discover dots, it was all about new technology, movie facts and upcoming video game announcements. Easily became one of my favorite new sites. I’ve always been interested in anything regarding technology, so the fact that this website has tabs for social media, videos, technology, lifestyle things, entertainment and a few others all filled with articles makes it a great site for anyone. It makes knowing what’s trending easy by how everything is sectioned out and easily accessible. It doesn’t matter what interested in, you’re bound to find something of  interest here.

Since this is a pretty popular website and updated regularly, it makes the browsing experience smooth. One of the greatest features of this site is it’s a great resource for current news. Unlike actual news sites, it makes knowing current world or local events interesting and not so depressing.

Hands down the best part of this site is the meme sectionWhile knowing current events in the real world and knowing what’s new in the technology world, you can hopefully catch a quick laugh from these relatable memes.

By: Francis Pardo

     For a good portion of my life I have always had an interest in street art and graffiti. Something about the diverse color palette and abstract figures and lettering has always inspired me. Maybe it has something to do with me being raised in Vegas and watching the murals roll by on train cars, as well as huge pieces done on the sides of buildings and freeways. I was just attracted to it and it’s culture all together. That is why today for this blog search I decided to go with Vandalog ( https://blog.vandalog.com/ ) . Vandalog is a blog about graffiti, street art, and viral art. It was started in October 2008. It has six current writers and contributors to the blog. Things I find particularly interesting about the blog is the amount of attention and detail you find it each article. Graffiti has a stigma that is generally negative, because when people think of it, it is usually a sloppy tag on the wall or the lame window or mirror “scribe”. What I appreciate about the blog is that they get in depth about certain topics and even provide links to the art shows for certain writers (NTEL being one specifically, https://blog.vandalog.com/2017/01/a-deep-dive-with-ntel/ ). They handle graffiti and street art as a true respected art form when a large portion of the art community undermines it, unless it’s a Banksy piece. There is just something comforting about each article when you can see that the author of the post is very passionate about the subject and they have well researched facts to back up their opinions. I would highly suggest checking it out if you have some free time, and want to see some great art, and read some well written articles about it.

“100 Best Blogs for New Media Students”

I stumbled upon this site looking for a blog relative to our class assignment, and after spending some time checking it out I realized it could be insightful to others. It exhibits a list of 100 different blog pages that vary from academics, new media art, new media culture and business blogs, technology, and gaming. Although this list was published in August of 2009, I visited several links and they are still up and running and very useful, with the exception that some are “not found” or just very out dated, I found the list to be valuable.

The Initial page displays a numerous collection of links for different online schools, and other links for jobs, and various articles. The only part that interested me is the list of blogs. One in particular, #23 on the list “Moving from me to we” takes you to the page for Kare Anderson. Anderson’s TED talk on The Web of Humanity: Becoming an Opportunity Maker has attracted over 1.3 million views, and the context of information can be considered useful to students in the media industry with great tips on communication.

Another link from this list Art21 Magazine provides a space for insightful writing on current contemporary art and artists. I found this page to be very well placed and nicely put together. Below are just a few of the columns presented.

Get right to it by clicking this link: Art21 Magazine “About”

This was my favorite find because it hosts a variety of media interests and holds archives of some very amazing past publications, writings, photographs, videography, and much more. Enjoy!

By: Sarah Andrews