Visual Aesthetics – 10
The scheme of Hayes Hudson’s House of Horror blends in well with the content. The background’s dark, and the header is perfectly creepy. The individual posts also do their share in promoting the horror feeling.

User Friendliness – 8
Hayes Hudson’s House of Horror loads up very quickly – practically no wait at all! What I like most about the posts is that links are provided to point the reader to more information. It is very user friendly! One suggestion: the archives can be placed higher up for easier navigation within the site. The font for the posts can also use a little tweaking – they are kind of hard on the eyes after a while.

Reading Enjoyment – 10
I am not much of a horror fan – I have no stomach for it. However, this blog caters to a very specific niche, and I believe that horror enthusiasts will have a blast reading through the pages of Hayes Hudson’s House of Horror.

Useful Info – 10
This is definitely a strong area of Hayes Hudson’s House of Horror. The posts are targeted towards people who are looking for anything and everything horror – and they will find it here.

Overall Experience - 9
Hayes Hudson’s House of Horror is a great place to hang out at if you are into all things horror. This blog will whet your appetite and send you running to the store in no time at all.

Visual Aesthetics – 10
Dollar Bin Horror’s look is perfect for the theme. The background is black, splattered with splotches of red. The header is customized – a mixture of gore and a dollar bill. The font is in bright red as well, blending well with the rest of the blog’s looks. You will not find a lack for images all throughout the blog. In fact, they serve to whet your appetite for more gory stuff.

User Friendliness – 8
There are no problems regarding load time when you browse through the pages of Dollar Bin Horror. I do have two points to bring up, though. One, the shade of red used for the font makes it a bit hard on the eyes. Maybe a darker and bolder red might be better. Then again, it could just be my eyes! Two, the archives and categories sections could be placed in a more accessible location. The blog has a lot of content and one will have to scroll down a lot to find these two navigational tools.

Reading Enjoyment – 10
If you’re into horror flicks and stories, then Dollar Bin Horror will provide you with all the enjoyment that you crave. Rhonny writes in a very conversational manner, making you feel as if you were talking to a friend who just watched or read the story. I am not into horror, but reading her posts kinda got me interested.

Useful Info – 10
This blog definitely gets a perfect score in this regard. Dollar Bin Horror dishes out information on horror movies and books that you may not even have heard of – I know I hadn’t heard of most of the stuff she talked about. The next time you find yourself yearning for something of this nature, you know where to go!

Overall Experience – 9
Dollar Bin Horror is a great resource for the horror fan. Whether you’re looking for books to read or movies to watch, Rhonny will point you in the right direction.

Visual Aesthetics – 9
Simple, clean, and effective look. Celebrity photos are chosen well and is always relevant to the post (unlike other celeb blogs that simply rip old photos). One of the things I appreciate about the look is that the Google ads were placed in a prominent position but still managed not to stick out like a sore thumb.

User Friendliness – 10
As always the simple clean look makes for a user-friendly blog.

Reading Enjoyment – 10
Another celebrity blogger with strong opinions? You bet. This time though this celebrity blogger also knows how to put those opinions into writing in such a way that will entertain.

Useful Info – 8
If you love celeb news this blog will give you stuff to chew on. Being a new blog though we have yet to see if it’ll continue on being a good source of up-to-date celeb commentaries.

Overall Experience - 9
Razor sharp wits and razor sharp tooth Shark Tongue . This blog is indeed a promising one and something to keep an eye on.

Visual Aesthetics – 9
I like the dark theme that The Pit And The Pendulum makes use of as it matches the idea of Edgar Allan Poe’s works. However, I found the contrast between the font and the background is a bit hurtful to the eyes. In other respects, The Pit And The Pendulum provides enough visual pleasure in terms of graphics and videos.

User Friendliness – 8
The pages of The Pit And The Pendulum load up with no problem at all. There are also relevant links that can be found on the right column. I did have some trouble finding out more about the blog’s general nature in a summarized form. The archives section could also be relocated to a more accessible position.

Reading Enjoyment – 10
The Pit And The Pendulum is well written and provides for an easy read. Though I am not particularly interested in the topic that the blog focuses on, I believe that those who are into it would find this blog very enjoyable to read.

Useful Info – 10
Fans of The Pit And The Pendulum will definitely find a lot of useful information in the pages of the blog. From what critics have to say to DVD releases – all these can be found in the blog.

Overall Experience - 9
The Pit And The Pendulum is a good niche blog catering to a very specific audience. It presents a lot of information in a pretty good way that those concerned will find very useful.

Mental Pornography

David Corpuz is a freelance writer taking up film studies. He is an aspiring filmmaker and you can see his eye for the arts in his blog postings. While the author’s blog does not have only one specific topic, it is evident that his interests revolve around film and the arts in general. One of his recent write-ups is a commentary on the contestants of Philippine Idol, which shows his interest in music and musical performers. Mental Pornography seems to be a very apt title for this blog, because one can practically read what’s on the author’s mind from what he blogs about.

Visual Aesthetics – 5

The blog uses a default Blogger template, which is light brown-themed. While this seems easy to the eyes at first, it would prove that the copy is quite difficult to read because of the low contrast. Also, a large Google search box blocks the upper portion of the blog right below the masthead. This seems redundant, because all Blogger blogs already have a top-bar with a Google search box. A popup window also appears when you visit the site. I would consider this to be a turn-off and a potential security threat.

User Friendliness – 8

Mental Pornography is relatively easy to navigate, with the blog post titles serving as the permalink to the static posts. The sidebar also has easily-accessible links to the archives and the most recent posts, as well as the blogroll.

Reading Enjoyment – 7

David‘s commentaries on music and movies are insightful, but aside from that, one would not find much interest in this blog except if the reader is a personal acquaintance of the author. The blog is well-written, though, and is an easy read. Look forward to light reading when you visit this blog.

Useful Info – 8

Art and music lovers might find the music and film reviews and commentary on Mental Pornography useful and interesting. As earlier mentioned, the blog’s author is into the arts, hence his keen eye for good movies and music–both mainstream and indie.

Overall Experience – 7

Mental Pornography rates above average, considering the well-written blog posts. What sets this blog apart from most of the other blogs out there is that the author actually gives value with what he writes, and does not only echo everyone else on the blogosphere. The site could use some improvement in the design and usability aspect, though. This notwithstanding, I consider the blog to be a good, light read, particularly if you’re looking for opinions on movies, music, and a bit of life in general.

Technorati Tags: movies, film, arts, music, mental

Tribal Pictures Japan

Rich Loffman is an independent film-maker in Japan, and his blog mainly journals the un-Hollywood-like realites of getting his latest project “Girl Alone” off the drawing board and into the screen.

Visual Aesthetics – 6

For a media man, the site is surprisingly plain – dark, greyish tones with little done in terms of template-tweaking. The interesting photos however, add some spice to the entries.

User Friendliness – 8

Considering the large number of visual candy available – like video footage, photos and so on, I were treated to incredibly fast loading times all around. Getting through the posts were a painless experience, and the short posts should give even the most impatient readers a good feel of this blog.

Reading Enjoyment – 7

As already mentioned, the entries are short enough not to become boring, and if you enjoy films (but don’t necessarily want to make them), there are a fair amount of readable bits and bobs about Rich’s daily travails. However, the visual add-ons and clips are really the most interesting things here, rather than the entries (well, he is a film-maker!)

Useful Info – 7

Aspiring film-makers should learn a lot from this site, as Rich de-mystifies what it really means to make a film – from the script to production, and even the musical score – all on your own.

Overall Experience – 7

Struggling as a filmaker in a foreign land is an interesting topic in itself, and this, along with Rich‘s atmospheric film and sound clips certainly made me curious to see how “Girl Alone” turns out, and for that, I’ll be bookmarking this one.

Technorati Tags: japan, films, filmaking, japan, girl alone, filmaker

Fragile Musings

In our blog-crazy world, Fragile Musings pleasantly surprised me as “what a personal blog should be like“. Written honestly and interestingly, designed in an attractive fashion, and with the right dose of “extra stuff‘ as well as a fair amount of banter from visitors comments, this simple yet highly readable blog was in essence what we like best about blogs.

Visual Aesthetics – 9

One of my favourite things about this blog was its design. No annoying, flashing things, done throughout in a lovely mossy green shade with tastefully artistic touches, and with a good smattering of well-chosen photos. Really was a pleasure visually.

User Friendliness – 8

As with its great design and visual harmony, Fragile Musings had no problems navigation-wise, with all its sections (i.e. all me, because you love me, friends, enjoyable, etc) simply and cleverly titled, and neatly arranged, just waiting to be clicked upon. The only visible glitch was the “take my quiz” bit, which failed to do anything when clicked.

Reading Enjoyment – 9

The 27-year old author of this blog is a self-confessed movie and television buff, and a highly opinionated one as well. Which is a good thing, as she gives some excellent film reviews, which are candid, heartfelt, and well-thought out. Much better than the ubiquitous “thumbs up, thumbs down“, I think.

User Info – 8

I often wonder how personal information like this should be rated (unless you’re the CIA or Hercule Poirot, perhaps), but as I obviously really liked this site, and found the quotes ( “It takes courage to show your dreams to someone else” Erma Bombeck) to be especially useful, and rather inspiring, it still gets high marks in this category .

Overall Experience – 9

A great personal blog, we thought, one of the best ones out there. Good reading, superb design, and best of all, very refreshing. Definitely a place to bookmark and enjoy with a cosmo.