Lady Bloggers of the Week - Okeoghene, Toinlicious, Ay & Daughter of Her King

Chronicled by Afronuts @ Friday, April 19, 2013

I remember I made a promise and I intend to keep it.

And that’s to review some of the blogs that answered the photo quiz titled ‘Who are they?’ which I posted some time back. It was a collection of old photos of celebrities in their baby or younger days before they made it.

Those who got most of the questions were Debby Baro and Okwuchi. Unfortunately, Okwuchi didn’t have a blog registered on her name and I accidentally reviewed a blog she was following instead which happened to be Aisle Perfect. Guess it’s their luck then.

I gave both Debby & Aisle Perfect full reviews while the others – Okeoghene, Toinlicious, Ay and Daughter of Her King - get joint reviews. 

So here we are!

Lets start with Okeoghene.

Okeoghene’s blog greets your eyes with its flowery background motif and transparent thread for the posts. It’s simplicity and arrangement makes it a pleasant and easy blog to read; you have too many items conflicting with your vision. Her  blog looks like some mild and pleasant eye candy. 

Okeoghene’s tagline reflects the issues discussed on her blog – ‘God, Parenting, Family Life and everything in between’. The blog focuses on topical issues that are enlightening as stated on the tagline. She also does one thing which I’ve always stated is important for any blog – she makes use of pictures to illustrate her points and she does select apt ones and equally credit it to source.

My only grouse with Okeoghene is consistency. The blog is not consistent; sometimes an entry can ride for just a month only. Besides that, it’s a nice blog.

Toinlicious

Like Toinlicious’ tagline says, her blog is all about ‘everything from a wondering and wandering mind’. She does a lot of wondering and wandering on her blog posts as she relives her personal experiences as well as share external features.

While her blog adorns a artistic rock star template, it retains a readable simplicity in some of its interesting and precise entries. Toinlicious does happen to have a list of entries which are quite an interesting read and even though she lacks in keeping some consistency on the blog, she has managed to garner online blog awards via friends and tag games. I hope the blog doesn’t die off like a number of other good blogs because it’s becoming characteristic of most blogger’s interest in blogging to wane; hope she doesn’t wander off.

 Ay

The tagline on Ay’s blog tells us she’s on a journey of self-discovery. A smart one which makes the existence of a blog very important.  She gives us points of view on life from the perspective of a upcoming pharmacist.

With a pleasant orange template and eye-friendly font, you get to read Ay’s blog with ease. I guess the colors add to the warmth.

Ay’s love of books (which is obvious from her posts and even her site's url) equally helps enrich her content. From my experience both as a writer and a reader,  I’ve come to understand how reading can influence the way you write; and the more avid you are as a reader, the more you are bound to be expressive and sometimes creative when you blog.

You’ll see this evident in the fact that Ay also does poetry at times. The way I see it, this is one blogger who make an interesting follow…if only she were more consistent with her blogging,

Daughter of her King

From the title of her blog you can tell she’s all about the Lord. Her tagline emphasizes on stages and timing as per living life. DOHK’s blog stands out like an counselor online; one that shares the bits of words of wisdom she has learnt in her own life time. The blog is a personal blog just like the others discussed. Her updates at times come with her own personal pictures which tells us that she’s got nothing to hide and is as open as possible on the blog.

DOHK is practically a teacher because there’s a lot of stuff you can learn from her blog posts; she kind of counsels you and gives answers to a myriad of questions you may have never thought of asking. The richness of her material would account for why the blog posts are not a daily feature on the site.

I only wish she had a nicer looking template. For a blog that’s got rich content, it deserves a better template that would make reading the material more enjoyable. While the present template isn’t exciting enough to make me want to stay glued to the blog, the content keeps me staying there to read.

Keep doing your thing ladies...blogging is cool.

Now I can breathe...I kept my promise!

Blogging Girl Image courtesy

www.zafiranabilah.com

A Slice of Onepageafrica

Chronicled by Afronuts @ Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Anytime I come across a blog owned by a journalist, I always expect something either something professional or something that is on the lighter side of life. In the case of Debby Baro’s blog, ‘A Slice of Life’, she mixes the two and it makes the name of her blog apt.

From the aesthetic green template with a symbolic masthead down to the informative content, A Slice of Life is a blog that’s cute and unique in its own way. One thing that can’t be ignored is the fact that it carries rare articles that you may not easily see on other blogs. I’ll say this must be the advantage of Debby being a journalist and a PR expert; she most definitely would have access to info a regular blogger may not have. Apart from feature articles and news, she also does true-life stories on the blog. If you are equally looking for stories on the arts, cultural heritage, events and exhibitions, you find stuff on them on this blog. Thought provoking materials are not left out – articles that examine true life situations and experiences can be found on the blog.

‘A Slice of Life’ sits on the url of www.onepageafrica.com which equally points to the fact that Debby took steps to professionalize her blog by registering a domain name. I have seen many blogs on the internet and many are not seriously run due to epileptic postings of its owners and lack of reasonable content to blog about but with onepageafrica.com or A Slice of Life, it’s not like that. This is actually a blog that could be useful to someone researching on stuff on Africa and mostly Nigeria in general. I’ve had cases where someone once sent a mail or comment to me thanking me for doing a post entry that really helped him in a school assignment he was doing; he found useful information and references on my site. This is the kind of stuff Onepageafrica offers.

The site is well laid out and arranged. Normally one would want to credit that to the template designers but even when you get a template, you’d still have to work on it to suit your taste. These type of changes can be seen on onepageafrica in the labeled menu under the masthead which helps for easy navigation to any preferred topic of interest.

To be honest, it’s not easy maintaining consistency on a blog that has a lot of info or detailed features. It takes a lot of effort and can almost require you having someone do it for you. Popular sites like Linda Ikeji’s blog has that, others like Myne Whitman’s blog have guest writers or feature credited works to keep up the pace. For sites like this one (and mine) who are managed by an individual, it requires a lot of diligence. Maybe Debby’s training as a journalist has helped in keeping the consistency but nevertheless for a blog that started off late last year, it’s an effort worth noting.

I’ll take it that the masthead was the default that came with the template because it would have been better if it had read onepageafrica for uniformity with the URL address.

Keep up the good work Debby, most especially the consisntency. 

Aisle Perfect's Perfections [Blog Review]

Chronicled by Afronuts @ Thursday, March 14, 2013

Like I promised on the 'Who are they?' photo quiz, I said I would review the blogs of those who made good efforts at guessing the names, especially those whose blogs are up to date. Okwuchi and Debby 'Baro had the most up to date blogs so I'll be doing full reviews on them. Today, I review Okwuchi's. For others whose blogs were not up to date, I'll just do a joint micro review. So here goes Okwuchi's.

A female friend of mine who runs her own blog once said of my own blog that I run the blog very professionally. I was flattered though I the thought of being professional actually never occurred to me. I only wanted to run a blog that was well organized, arranged, constructive and creatively written in such a way that anybody who comes there won’t find the moment boring.

So, if you asked me about my blog, I probably wouldn't have thought of it as professional. But if you asked me of Aisle Perfect, now that’s definitely a professional blog.

From the name, you can get the idea of what this blog is about and from the look and site aesthetics, you are taken into the glamorous and romantic world of nuptials. From the simple masthead which consists of stylishly written header amidst falling confetti to the white expanse of the site body, Century Gothic fonts and vivid photography display, Aisle Perfect is a site that says a lot with its simplicity. It’s put together in such a way that it’s easy to view and relaxing to read; you don’t have too many things conflicting with your line of vision. Photos that showcase the creativity of weddings help add to the beauty in their digital splendor.

The payoff under the masthead title which says ‘inspiring romantics one click at a time’ is so apt and works very well for the site. This alone adds more spice to the professional look of the site; it’s a marketing statement that is true to what the site is truly about. I know this so well as an Ad man.

Unlike some blogs who make use of images they don’t own without crediting owners, Aisle Perfect always credits the photos used; especially when it’s a certain photographer’s work.

Some interesting aspects of Aisle perfect are feautured stories behind the wedding preparations or sometimes engagement ceremonies which all come in either photography or videos. For intending couples who may be wondering what to do on their wedding day or how their wedding should look like, this is a site that will most definitely help. There are categorized links on the site that will take you to pages should you be specifically looking for entries that address a certain need from inspiration to planning to honeymoon suggestions or showcases.

There are also the periodic features with the same title as the site – Aisle Perfect – which features any actual wedding event of certain couples which was outstanding and commendable. They are usually features that offer tips one can learn from a well put together wedding or simply experiences that you may want to replicate in your own wedding.

I would have said that Aisle Perfect is a blog that’s as perfect as its name but I feel there’s one thing lacking – no reference as to who runs the site. Normally, blogs would have a side docket which introduces who runs the site. For Aisle Perfect, the only way I got to know who runs the site was by checking the comment section – to see the name of the respondent to the comments. On my blog it was ‘Okwuchi’ but on the site its ‘Binie O’. I can’t be sure if they are the same person or a team.  And then  again this omission could be deliberate.  I would have said there was also no contact address but I guess that has been taken care of by the twitter handle, facebook, mail etc icons on the upper right hand side of the site.

On the whole, Aisle Perfect serves its purpose very well as a wedding site and maintains the attraction with lovely photography and illustrations that complement its intelligently written posts.  If you’re not married and you haven’t been there yet, you’ll be missing the opportunity to do yourself a good favour.

NB: I eventually found out that the site does not belong to Okwuchi but I'll still leave the review.

The Proposal - Starring Vera & Seun

Chronicled by Afronuts @ Friday, December 21, 2012

I've seen a lot of movies where you come to that scenario where the guy is about to propose when the lady least expects it. She's suddenly caught unawares and bursts into tears of joy as the man brings out the ring and she finally realizes what's going on.

Yes. That's what happens in the movies...but it also happens in real life.

Vera & Seun

Recently, a fellow blogger, Verastic, got engaged to the man of her dreams (I know he's the man of her dreams because of the way she blogs about him on her site) in a way that looks like a romantic movie scenario come to life on the 2nd of December. I'll give it up to Olu Adewunmi of Lynksdrivers, he did a good job of catching the whole show on video in such a way that it almost looked like a movie was unfolding. The music choice was so apt I could almost imagine it was Seun, Vera's fiance that was rapping with Vera doing the singing...oh, it was M.I.'s 'Whether na 1 Naira'. I must say, I didn't realize how good that song really was until I heard it in this video...the power of strong visuals shey.

Congratulations Vera on your engagement; it's not that easy finding someone who you can spend the rest of your life with but you did the right thing when you saw that this guy was one, you held onto him till he couldn't resist the urge to spend the rest of his life with you. Many women have met the right man but still passed them by, thank God yours was not the case.

I just went through the year timelines on my blog and realized that I've known Vera online for 5 years via her blog. She's managed to stay online when many other bloggers have given up on blogging and also maintained her periodic online radio show. I remember I once did a review on her blog before she moved it from blogger to Wordpress. Click here to view the review. She really did improve on the blog after the review.

Watching Vera's proposal video was interesting because it had a play on Vera's friends (she happens to have matured and descent folk around her) and I took time to do a commentary on some her friends from what they said or how they acted in the video...lol...this is beginning to look like a movie. Here goes...

This lady obviously loves Vera with a passion. She sounds like the type of friend who prays with you and for  you when you're going through trying times; a friend that's eager to see you settle down with the right man. You can see her excitement that Vera finally made the first step into matrimony.

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This is another person that cares about Vera and is excited about them all being in the same club of people who have committed to one man for life. She is able to relate very well with what's going on because she was once single but now mingled. She sounds like one who has been a watchdog friend on Vera's status. Her man just smiles, sort of blushes and says nothing. Sweet couple.

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This one is a no-nonsense lady. She made an emphatic statement that shows she's a woman that's very protective of her man - "Congrats! Now you have your own man, you need to stop texting mine." Hey, she's not wrong, in fact she sounds like my own wife!

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She's happy for them and seems to be really close to the couple

 with the way she excitedly blows that kiss and says "Love you guys!" 

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He's the well spoken analytical friend who analysed the event. He cuts the picture of someone who'd be a good speaker before a listening audience. He had so much to say but I guess there was limited time. He'd make a good spin doctor or a damage control specialist.

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This is probably the most touching scene for me. This friend actually prays for the couple; she goes the spiritual route which I believe is what every couple needs - God's covering over their relationship. And from the way she delivers it, you can sense that she means it from the depth of her heart.
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There were other commenters in the video but I picked these ones because they sort of stuck out for me and also because I don't want to end up making an extra long post. I think I've done enough justice.

You can catch the full story of the proposal in pictures here and here.

Congrats again Vera dear! I wish you both the very best!

JobClickr - Revolutionizing Job Search in Africa

Chronicled by Afronuts @ Monday, November 26, 2012

I've come across many sites that assist Nigerians in seeking for jobs (in fact I used to have one linked on my site before the site developed template problems and I lost the link in the process of revamping it). And while so many job search sites are springing up, one young man has decided to add a different twist or feel to it; one that will revolutionize the way we search for jobs online.

The site in question is www.jobclickr.com a job search engine designed in the likes of google. Its simply a search engine that allows you to search for jobs in Africa as if you were  just googling it. Even the template of the site bears that clean spacey look most search engines are known to have. It features input for data such as the Job description, the country, your CV/Resume (for employers to find you).

The site is designed to index all job sites in Africa and deliver the results in a uniquely arranged format to any job seeker based on their search. It basically searches out every African job site,  corporate website, blog or social network on the internet for jobs, gets these feeds and provides it to any job seeker based on their search criteria. Whether you are a Nigerian in South Africa, that seeks to work in Ethiopia or Ghana, www.jobclickr.com is the site for you.

This gives you better advantage in your job search. Instead of painstakingly going through the trouble of searching out job sites out of many ambiguous searches online, www.jobclickr.com just simply filters out the sites with Job vacancies.

Now this is definitely notches higher than just logging onto one particular job site to search out the job you’re looking for because this site lists out all sites that are offering just across the internet in Africa.

Jobclickr is owned and operated  by Mr. Neme Muoka, a young Nigeria based in the USA, New York to be precise.  Muoka over time has garnered a lot of experience working for a number of software companies including American Software Resources (An IT recruitment firm based in New York) and Google.  He is a physics graduate from Federal university of Technology Owerri (FUTO) and launched his first business from the age of 16.

How to use Jobclickr

1.     Log on to the site, www.jobclickr.com

2.     Select the country you wish to find jobs in, enter the job description you seek and it will bring jobs in that field to you. If you want to search by city, click the city tab and select the city you desire.

3.     Jobclickr will search over 5,000 job boards, blogs and newspapers (including this blog) and will deliver the results to you immediately.

Mr. Muoka can be reached at cmouka@jobclickr.com 

Happy Searching!

The Lady That Rocks The Truth - Stella Damasus

Chronicled by Afronuts @ Thursday, September 06, 2012

You’ll never hear me say I’m a fan of some celebrity or well known personality. This is simply because I see them as human beings and not some deity that some obsessed fans unknowingly end up turning them into. Aside that, I do admire celebrities that are original, real and true to themselves; because I believe this is something that makes them stand out in their own unique and positive way.

For a long time, I’ve found it hard to really admire Nollywood stars simply because the only thing that one seemed to know them for was just gracing our screens with fabulous or mediocre performances for movies with awkward plots and cliché storylines.

So you can imagine how stunned I was when I came to discover that Stella Damasus actually writes; and that she features her write-ups in some newspapers, on-line magazines and journals. It wasn’t only the fact that she wrote that impressed me but the depth of her writings.

From my own experience and training as a writer, I know a writer’s nature from the way they write. My analysis of Stella Damasus’ writings revealed that she is a woman of depth; a thinker who took time to dissect the status quo and paint reality in its true color. This is something you don’t come across easily in Nollywood stars, at least from all I’ve come across so far.

After reading one of Stella’s articles where she critically analyzed the wanton deception and backwardness of red carpet events and of a particular movie premiere, my curiosity was ignited and I wanted to know more about this pretty actress and mother of two.

For somebody who writes like that, I was sure she’d have a blog.

I was right. She had one.

And just as I guessed, she had a recent update.

This says a lot about the writer in her; she always has the drive to write something. Also she had inspiring write-ups lined up on her blog. In her personal experiences she comes across openly and with simplicity. You get positively counseled or provoked into thinking by her articles.

I didn’t stop there. I went looking for her twitter page.

Most times when you come across the twitter pages of celebrities, you see titles, awards and achievements displayed on their profile but all you see on Stella’s twitter page is just her name, her twitter handle, the link to her blog, a few digits and the slogan ‘God Pikin’.  That’s a profile that’s plain humble and not screaming out for recognition.

All I found from my search was a humble, simple, honest and down to earth woman who did not let the fame get into her head and thwart her perspective to life.

In a society where values are being corrupted everyday on screen by so-called celebrities and there is scarcity of role models for our kids, I can whole heartedly say that Stella Damasus is a breath of fresh air. 

Nigerian Curiosity - A Blog Worth Checking Out

Chronicled by Afronuts @ Wednesday, December 03, 2008

When I clicked the link, I did it out of curiosity; curiosity as to the name of the blog in question. And indeed I wasn’t disappointed at what I saw. That instant I knew I had to review this blog.

I was surprised to even discover that the blog was managed by Solomonsydelle.
Never did I envision that she had such a site that was rich in social commentary on Nigerian issues. The site in question is Nigerian Curiosity.

The blog has the potential to impact beyond blogosphere; I’m talking of it becoming a point of reference in social circles. Apart from its layout simplicity and arresting masthead, Nigerian Curiosity is a blog that is richly informative on topical issues on Nigeria. This is a strong aspect of the blog because it’s a focused one and makes clear to the reader its objective.

The blog carries with it an air of solidarity in its various content; we see the blog’s part in the protest for the release of a detained Nigerian blogger, Jonathan Elendu. There is also the seriousness of safeguarding the blog’s originality in terms of guarding against plagiarism. I call this blog a ‘no-nonsense blog’ because of its downright tone of being dead serious. I have seen quite very few blogs that carry such tags that state “This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.”
It probably means this is a blog that could hit you beyond the internet if you tried any hanky panky plagiarism.

For any Nigerian based out of the country who has lost touch with the happenings in the country, this blog is a good place to visit to update yourself on the goings-on in Nigeria. The information is so accurate and detailed that I’m so convinced Solomonsydelle must either be an experienced journalist or a good researcher who is in someway connected to sources that supply her with such rich info.

Nigerian Curiosity is an outstanding blog and presently ranks Number 30 on Afrigator’s list of top African blogs. Going through the blog I also discovered that it has a rapid updating record; the delay between each post is very minimal. This indicates that the blog always has fresh information. It’s either that Solomonsydelle blogs for a living or just has that unique habit of keeping up to date with the latest info.

The blog is so rich that it qualifies as a reference material for any person or student doing a research or term paper on any topic that has to do with Nigeria.
I came across this fascinating blog last week and just couldn’t resist doing a review about it. It might be seen as a collection of musings by the blog owner but it’s equally a good example of what a social commentary blog should look like.

Rating for Nigerian Curiosity

I'm digging it!

If your Blog was rated like a Movie...

Chronicled by Afronuts @ Wednesday, November 26, 2008

I happened to be surfing the web when I came across a site that gave ratings to blogs like we have it in the movies. Out of curiousty I posted my blog's url and got a rating. I tried other blogs, especially those with 'risque' content and found the ratings questionable. Apparently the site rates through the use of words and not through the use of pictures. Here are some sites that I tested on the site. Sorry if yours isn't featured. I could only do a few.

Kinsharr's Blog

Black James bond's Blog

The Parakeet's Blog

Aloofar's Blog

Afrobabe's Blog

Vera's Blog

RisqueDiva's Blog

NigerianDramaQueen's Blog

Buttercup & Charizard's Blog

Standtall's Blog

Ibiluv's Blog

Oluwadee's Blog

Princesa's Blog

Emeka Amakeze's Blog

Rayo's Blog

Tina's Blog

Poeticallytinted's Blog

And here is the rating for my own blog!!

I guess the rating may not be accurate because when you visit blogs like Afrobabe's there are a lot of X-rated pictures there but the rating allows general audience (LOL!) but RisqueDiva's site did not get away with it because there was enuff dirty talk featured on her blog.

And I still don't understand why mine got this restricted rating! Honestly, is my blog really a bit offensive in anyway?
Gimme your views abeg.

You can check out the site'and rate your blog here

Blog Review for Today - LadyGuide (LG)

Chronicled by Afronuts @ Tuesday, September 09, 2008

She calls herself LG, acronym for ‘Ladyguide’ which is also the name of her blog – and does a good deal of guiding you into a fit of mindless laughter from the way she dishes the yarns on her blog. Her blog is the type I’d refer to the ‘Fantabulously Sanguine Blog’.

Let’s start first of all with the look of her blog. It chocolate brown – a sweet color to the eyes with a welcoming masthead of the frothing seawater washing next to the drawing of a heart etched into the sand. The aesthetic look of her blog succeeds in its job of getting your attention because of its unique look; its single minded use of just one dull yet inviting color with a soft yet strong look is very striking and memorable. 

I think it would have been more interesting if LG had a tagline below her name that described her as the one to give you a tour guide into a world of hilarious moments. Nevertheless, LG’s blog is one BIG comic relief, anytime, anyday. 

Probably it’s LG’s content that actually takes your reactions to the climax. Her deliberate use of Naija pidgin in the most hilarious manner just blows your mind as you read through. The blog’s conversational manner is so apt that the simplest things she mentions such as observations can activate your sense of humour. For those stressed out folks, for those burned out peeps, for those depressed individuals and unhappy bogons (provided you’re Naija because of the pidgin and Naija references), I’ll recommend a dosage of LG’s blog. This girl is just off the hook. 

One other thing I like about her blog are her social commentaries. LG no doubt is a good observer of things happening around her from the nature of these entries. She takes time to detail happenstances that give you a vivid picture of a brief moment.
LG’s use of pidgin and well-known Naija lingos are elemets that give her blog that desirable appeal; these are the elements that generate that enjoyable nostalgia of our motherland, Nigeria. Despite the wahala in the country, there’s so much material to generate humour from and she achieves that on her blog. 

LG stands out as a good blogger. Her blog is original and has a style of its own. I’ll accord her as one of the most interesting ‘Naijacentric’ blogs I’ve ever read. 


 

Rating for LG

I'm digging it!

Awarded

Chronicled by Afronuts @ Monday, September 08, 2008

Okay! from the comments on my last entry, people don't wanna see reviews. Na wah oh. Yet many of una dey watch dem movies like no man's business.

Anyway somebody already does the movie review thingy. Check it out on Nneoma's nollywood blog.

..............................................................

I got picked by kin'shar on one of these tagging things. I always run from them but I guess I'll do this one because it has a sensible objective - to promote as many blogs as possible in the blogosphere.

Its an award thing and kin'shar gave me one. Well I'm honored to be seen as fit for this. The award is for blogs whose content and design are brilliant as well as creative. Though  I wonder why the picture logo says 'Honest Blogger'. And come to think of it, I've gotten comments that state my entries as being honest. So I guess I'll pass. this thing na work oh!

So I'll pick my own awardees for the 'Honest blogger' award and here they are:

Vera

Black James Bond

LG

Naapali

Archiwiz

NaijadramaQueen

Oluwadee

For you who got picked, here are the rules to follow:

1. When you receive the prize you must write a post showing it, together with the name of who has given it to you, and link them back
2. Choose a minimum of 7 blogs (or even more) that you find brilliant in their content or design.
3. Show their names and links and leave them a comment informing they were prized with ‘Brilliant Weblog’
4. Show a picture of those who awarded you and those you give the prize (optional).
5. And then we pass it on!