Thursday, March 08, 2007

Exploring the blogsphere

In these days I’ve spent a lot of time exploring different blogs. I’m not used to this type of search, because usually I don’t use Internet to look for blogs but only to look for information contained within websites. At first I did not even know what to look for, I had really no ideas coming to my mind. However, after some thinking, I decided to look for blogs related to what I love, such as books, movies and art. I found many, and, if I have to be sincere, I did have difficulties in choosing those I considered the most complete and better written. Anyway, these two blogs coming below are some of those I prefer:

Paul Klee gallery is a blog devoted to this painter that I really adore. Since the blog is a gallery, one can find Paul Klee’s paintings reproduced, rather than his biography. I “discovered” this artist two years ago, while I was in Austria. There was an exhibition of his works of art in the Klagenfurt gallery and, after reading some information about it, I decided to go and visit this exhibition, which I found not only interesting but also very impressive. If one does not like modern art, well, I think it’s a bit difficult that one appreciates Klee’s art, but I would suggest this blog because his works are present in a great number. Paul Klee’ s official site contains not only information about his life, but also a list of his main paintings, together with many links to web pages containing further information and paintings

Another blog I’d like to suggest you to look at is that about Christopher Paolini and his book “Eragon” and its sequel ("Eldest
", and the third book which hasn't been published yet). This blog presents the first book of Paolini’s trilogy, its characters and the reason why Paolini decided to write these books. The book is about Eragon,a boy who finds a smooth stone in the forest. His family is poor, so he thinks the best is to sell this stone, which however afterwards reveals to be an egg. This egg is not as common as one might think: it contains a dragon. After the dragon’s birth (her name will be Saphira), Eragon discovers that the dragon has chosen him as her companion for a long period of battles within a land called Alagaesia.
The reason why I chose this blog is quite strange. I had bought “Eragon” and its sequel “Eldest” just after it had been published. However,for long time I did not have neither time nor desire to read it. When I knew that “Eragon” had become also a movie, before going to the cinema and watch this movie, I really decided it was time to read it. At first I did not like it so much, but while going on with the reading, I loved it. I love this type of books, like “The Lord of the Rings”, because of the widespread use of fantasy and imagination. Many people tell me that I’m strange, but I love reading this type of books, and not only these, while I’m preparing my University exams. Instead of having a break, I like reading…(But I’m not mad). For this reason I chose this blog, because I’d like to share my passion for books with other people, and I would like to know if someone else has read these books.

Before choosing these blogs, I went through the web to look for some which could be interesting. The majority of them were written in an informal way. Usually blogs contain personal reflections about a given topic, therefore the style is expected to be quite informal. Comments within blogs should be coherent with its theme or main argument; however I was very disappointed in finding out that many comments contained in some blogs I visited were not related to the main argument at all, but also that people used the “comment tool” as if they were “advertisement spaces” (and I was really disgusted when discovering that in a Paul Klee’s blog someone wrote an invitation to porno-websites).
Anyway, blogs do not have a rigid and given style. They can be either informal or formal; that depends on the topic analysed and on the public they are devoted to. Bloggers can create their style when writing a blog, in order to make themselves unique within the web.

Links are important in a blog, since they provide the reader the possibility to find more information about the argument he/ she is interested in. Even tags are very useful, because they help the reader find in the posts what they are interested in.

3 comments:

Alessandra said...

Hi Erica, I was pleased to find out that you chose a book-related blog, like I did. Renee's Book of the Day looks interesting, especially because of the book reviews written by schoolchildren, which I find very sweet. Another interesting feature is the number of links to other book-related blogs and resources. Very nice! I haven't read Paolini's books (I'm not into fantasy very much), but I was very impressed when I found out he had written his series when he was still in school, and how much time, effort and money his parents invested so that he could have his books published.

As for spam in comments... yes, you're right, it's extremely rude and annoying, even when they're not advertising porn. As if we needed a reminder of how much rubbish is on the Net.

Shoun (aka Tania) said...

Ciao Erica!! I like your choice..Paul Klee I mean!I love art but I didn't know Klee very well, I only knew that he founded "Der Blaue Reiter" together with Auguste Macke, Franz Marc e Vasilij Kandinskij, because I love Kandinsij and his paintings, however, I surfed the net looking for Klee's paintings and I found that I'm in love, too, with his paintings!!!
I think that his painting called "Objęcie" (http://www.gnosis.art.pl/iluminatornia/sztuka_o_inspiracji/paul_klee/paul_klee_objecie.htm)is awesome!!!! Tania

Erica Buzz said...

Dear Tania,
I've already gone through the website you suggested me and I think "Objecie" is really nice; I mean, this is not my favourite painting by Klee, but it is beautiful, too...
Ah, my favourite Klee's paintings are: "Schicksal eines Kindes", "Der L-Platz" and of course his most famous one "Der goldene Fisch".