CraftHub

Before we start, if you don't know what Minecraft is, please see the Wikipedia article, the official site, and a  good wiki. Perhaps even buy the game (we all know you want to, now!).

Minecraft, the official sponsor of Minecraft.

Minecraft -- the massive, überawesome game of Legos that we always wished for. It's a sandbox for that six year-old boy or girl at the back of your mind (or the front, for some manchildren and ladykids). Thanks to the skilled game developer and programmer Notch, this game is constantly expanding into something that is more than just a sandbox game. For some people, it's becoming a bonafide hobby of it's own.

FML - The Blog of Fail, a.k.a. the Deadmau5 blog

For those of you who may or may not know the incredibly popular artist deadmau5 (though, if you don't know him, I am honestly a bit surprised), you can actually read some of his very random ramblings in blog format. Yes, deadmau5, a.k.a. Joel, actually has his own blog that he updates with what I can only assume is one of the slowest update times of any blog I have read.

The blog doesn't have any really official name on the site -- going by '0.5 - blog' and simply 'Deadmau5,' and going by 'FML - The Blog of Fail' on Blogger -- so I titled this post 'FML - The Blog of Fail, a.k.a. the Deadmau5 blog' for the sake of simplicity, and simplicity seems to be the name of the game with the overall design of the blog itself.

The first thing I notice is the minimalist layout - no ads, no sidebar, no dates or twitter feed. Just the posts themselves, in rather smaller font. This isn't too bad though, because it's fairly symbolic of deadmau5's ability to simplify and 'tune out' the unimportant stuff sometimes.

Though I don't always agree with the stuff he is posting, it seems that he has his opinion and feels strongly about it. Gathering from his most recent post on a piece of fanmail, he doesn't really care if you like it or not, either.

Interested in reading up on deadmau5? Check out FML - The Blog of Fail, a.k.a. the Deadmau5 blog.

USB Gadgets

 Not surprisingly, today's blog post is tech-related; specifically, fun little gadgets to plug into your computer USB port and have fun with! Oh yeah, that's right -- there's interesting gadgets that are powered by your computer alone. Think of the implications!

Or, let USB Gadgets think of them for you. There's a whole variety of fun little technological wonders on the blog with each post. Here's a few examples of what you can find:

• USB Mini Fridge
• Optimus Mini Three
• USB Rocket Launcher
• USB Mailbox Alert

Still interested? Then plug in at USB Gadgets and experience a world of tech fun!

icycooL's: Revisited

Almost three months ago, I reviewed a blog that was, at the time, new and upcoming that goes by the name icycooL's. The blog writer, the eponymous icycooL, is a close friend of mine outside of the blogosphere, and when he created his blog, I felt that I definitely needed to let people know about it. If you don't quite remember how the blog went, here is a bit of a refresher:

"Today's blog spotlight gets shined down upon icycooL's, a gaming blog that is set to feature reviews, rants, and whatnot about the gaming industry. It's fairly new, but the first post is definitely a promising read if games are your thing (even more so if you're a fan of Mass Effect or their developer, BioWare)."

 The blog has been running strong since, and there are quite a few new quality posts about the latest and greatest in the videogaming industry. Game on at icycooL's!

PhotographyBLOG

Photography has always been incredibly popular since it's conception, and humans have been finding ways to take photos of just about anything in an any way possible through the recent years. However, photography has boomed incredibly in the past few years, and it has quickly become an inundated industry that continues to crank out beautiful stills of things from far and wide.

PhotographyBLOG is a blog about such a topic. The blog features many interesting parts of the photography business, from the equipment and strategies down to the very photos themselves. None of the blog, however, is boring, and keeps the reader in-tune with present photography.

Here is a sample from the blog's post about "Tamrac ZUMA Series Camera Bags:"

"ZUMA is the latest series of bags from Tamrac. The Zuma 2 Day Bag is a superslim, vertical-style day bag, the Zuma 4 is a compact, fast-access shoulder bag, and the Zuma 7 is a highly mobile, fast-access backpack. The Zuma 2 costs £57.99, the Zuma 4 £131.99, and the Zuma 7 £164.99."

Interested in becoming photo-savvy? Then point your lense over to PhotographyBLOG!

Tuned In

Have you ever plopped down on the couch, in front of the television, to watch a new show that you've heard about, only to realize thirty minutes in that this show is so terrifically uninteresting that you may call up the producers and ask for your half-hour back? Trust me, we all have had to go through this miserable ritual to find a good show.

Hopefully, some (or all!) of those television trials can be resolved with the help of Tuned In, a "blog about television by TIME’s TV critic James Poniewozik," (TIMES). Here's a short piece from Poniewozik's post, 'TV Tonight: The Hour,":

"AMC may have had a hell of a time figuring out whether to bring Mad Men back, for how much money and at what length, but other networks are not hesitating (despite the show's relatively paltry ratings) to put their own versions of Mad Men on the air—or, at least, their own versions of social and personal drama set in a highly stylized midcentury-modernist past. ABC's Pan Am is Mad Men plus airplanes. NBC's The Playboy Club is Mad Men minus the ambivalence about the role of women."

Interested in reading about some new television shows (whether that review is good, or bad!)? Tune in to Tuned In!

Hyperbole and a Half

I browse the internet a lot -- and I mean a lot! From experience, I've learned that sometimes, you just happen upon a blog that is so absolutely out there that you can't stop laughing your socks off (literally, you laugh so hard your body vibrates the socks off of your feet). Though such comic gems are few and faaaaaaaaar between, they are there.

One blog in particular that caught my eye in this respect was Hyperbole and a Half, a totally random blog about the somewhat daily goings in the life of blogger Allie. Very rarely does the blog ever delve into serious topics, but rather tries to take a more humorous approach, especially through heavy use of crude computer-drawn comics (that, to be honest, are really much more funny than many well-drawn ones).

Want to have a great laugh? Then Hyperbole and a Half is your blog!

Kotaku, the Gamer's Guide

Welcome to the third and final post in the Gamer Week series here on Blogographer! The previous two features in the series were Destructoid and That VideoGame Blog; check them out to get up-to-date on the Gamer Week featured blogs.

Today's post is on an incredibly well-known blog, especially in the videogaming industry: Kotaku. This particular blog is actually a part of a larger network of sites known as the Gawker Media blog network. Previously reviews blogs in the Gawker Media include Jalopnik, an automobile blog, and Gizmodo, a technology and gadgetry blog.

Destructoid

Gamer Week here on Blogographer, which featured the blog That VideoGame Blog last update, continues on with today's feature: Destructoid. Looking at the page header, I see the blog's somewhat cliché tagline, which reads, "For Gamers. By Gamers." Being a gamer myself, I say that I'll be the judge of that.

My first impression isn't one of being... well, impressed. My sight is immediately barraged by adverts from all angles, whether it be the background or the foreground. It takes a few moments for my eyes to adjust to determining between what is actually part of the blog and what is Best Buy's attempts at grabbing my attention. Not a great start.

The distracting layout of the entire page confuses me for a moment, so I decide to try jumping into the blog through any point I can, in hopes that I can orient myself in the clutter. Seeing the marquee scroll to featured post #2 on the main page, titled, "How I learned to stop worrying and die," I click the oddly irrelevant picture of Bill Murray having his bottom lip tugged on and I am rushed to the article.

That VideoGame Blog

This week on Blogographer, from Monday, August 8th to Friday, August 12th, is Gamer Week. The next three posts for the entire week will be focused on blogs that are video game relevant. They will be fairly popular blogs, but my hopes is that I will diversify your source for video game news and information by introducing a blog or two you may not recognize from the list.
Today's blog is That VideoGame Blog, a very nice game blog. While it's not really as well known as the other two blogs are and doesn't have a cult fan following like some blogs, That VideoGame Blog is actually quite nice and deserve the views.

What's so nice about this blog? First off, check out the simple but very useful layout of the blog -- the posts are in vertical order, and are simple titles with a short sentence or two of summary. It's really quite nice to be able to scroll through these posts so easily and find want I am looking for in a gaming blog!

Want to check out this simply amazing blog? Then check out That VideoGame Blog!

Gamer Week on Blogographer!

This week on Blogographer, from Monday, August 8th to Friday, August 12th, is Gamer Week. The next three posts for the entire week will be focused on blogs that are video game relevant. They will be fairly popular blogs, but my hopes is that I will diversify your source for video game news and information by introducing a blog or two you may not recognize from the list.

Keep an eye peeled for the posts. ;D

SDG Reviews: Revisited

Time for another one of my 'revisited' blog features, and this one is awesome. A while back, I wrote a feature on a blog known then as "Who Wrote This Crap?" (now known as SDG Reviews) by someone who is now a personal blogging acquaintance of mine. From you can see, I really did enjoy his blog overall and the reviews were top-notch (cinematically educational!).

Well, here we find ourselves back at his blog, and there have been so many changes that I wouldn't know where to start. I think a good place to begin would be on his name change. The writer, known then as Smokin' D and now as SDG, has renamed the blog something more simple and understandable: a wonderfully intelligent branding move.

With the site rename comes another great change: the blog layout has been redesigned. It not features a more cinema-style layout, with the red curtain theme that ties it all together. The blog's layout was good then, and it's even better now!

What can I say? Get watchin' SDG Reviews, and maybe you'll learn a bit about movies!