Me Talk Simply One Day: Part 3

Welcome to The OverDrone's special investigation on blog readability. This was once one long post but because of Blogger's fascist maximum character limit it has been split up into a six part series on readability. Will your blog be featured? Maybe. Probably not actually, I only used three or four examples per level but you can get in on the fun by posting your readability in the comments.

High school is often compared to poking yourself in the eye with a sharp stick every day for four years. Let's hope High Schooler's find some relief with these three blogs. The Encyclopedia Britannica is written at a High School reading level. The works of Edgar Rice Burroughs are also recommended for High Schoolers.
'T Niuewe Werck, 'T Niuewe Werck, 'T Niuewe Werck, The OverDrone is always going on about 'T Niuewe Werck. If you haven't been to the site you are missing some of the dopest, kickingest, most awesome music you have ever heard and all of it is readable by a High Schooler (High Schoolers love free music).
WonderMark, the twisted creation of The Comic Strip Doctor is a decoupage comic which is always absurd (High Schoolers love the absurd).
Another surprise classification is 3 Quarks Daily, an erudite and well thought out lit-crit blog which The OverDrone would have pegged as College level (High Schoolers love literary criticism).
New on the leaderboard since yesterday is Archie's Archive, an Australian view of general culture.
The Blog Readability Test

Me Talk Simply One Day: Part 2

Welcome to The OverDrone's special investigation on blog readability. This was once one long post but because of Blogger's fascist maximum character limit it has been split up into a six part series on readability. Will your blog be featured? Maybe. Probably not actually, I only used three or four examples per level but you can get in on the fun by posting your readability in the comments.

This is the level which the average American reads at. It is the level which traditional media writes at. Sitting in this ideal spot are three blogs with three different purposes. The OverDrone plugged in John Chow's site just because he is all over the blogosphere. Although it hurts to promote him more than he already has himself you can see his appeal. He has made his blog accessible to the widest possible audience like the sleek jungle cat of a marketer that he is. SuperPunch is a blog containing interesting art, graphic design and cool projects found on the internet. It too is readable by an eighth grader. NoodlePie is an food blog which is international in scope. The OverDrone was surprised by it's ranking as it deals with complicated subjects.
Does a blog's readability make a difference? Why don't you post your blog's reading level in the comments.
The Blog Readability Test
Trackback

Me Talk Simply One Day: Part 1

The OverDrone came across this very slick readability test and ran his own site through it. According to Wikipedia the average American reads at an eighth grade level so ideally, to garner the largest audience, writing should be readable by a Junior High schooler.
Unfortunately The OverDrone scored above that, limiting my market share. The OverDrone has entered url's from other sites so as to place myself and the others. The results are below beginnning with the Elementary School level.

Although The OverDrone entered many url's he was unable to find one which scored below this so this seems to be the lower limit. If anyone knows of a site which reads at a pre-school or Kindergarten level please post it in the comments.
The popular site I CAN HAS CHEEZBURGER? is readable by 1st through 5th graders. As is LOLTheist, which may offend some due to it's religious content. SpaceSick is a blog which contains original art, music and a new cartoon. It too is readable by Elementary schoolers.
Thus ends part one of The OverDrone's blog readability special investigation.

P.S. Whatever your blog's readability , why don't you post it in the comments.
The Blog Readability Test

Top 5 'T Nieuwe Werck

The OverDrone was looking through his music today and realized that a large percentage of his music was from 'T Nieuwe Werck. So here are The OverDrone's top five mixtapes from 'TNK.

1.Wannabe-star
The OverDrone has played this one to shreds. There is a seamless integration of song after song. Each one building upon the last until the mix ends, far too soon. Replay Value: 10
2.TNK All Stars
At only one thousand seconds this is the shortest of the mixtapes at 'TNK but it is an intense blend of electronic and analogue music. The slow-motion explosion at the end when Da Doo-Ron-Ron-Ron goes head to head with a Daft Punk track sums up what 'T Nieuwe Werck is all about: New musical experiences created from existing music. Replay Value:8
3.Cold Sweat
All reggae, soul piercing vocals and massive bass, this mix sticks to the brain. Replay Value: 9
4.Tom Waist
This pumping electro mix definitely delivers. Replay value: 8
5.Typsy Gypsy
Balkan beat and Klezmer Klassics mixed into a frenetic stew. Replay Value: 7

'T Nieuwe Werck
Wannabe-star
Cold Sweat
Tom Waist
Typsy Gypsy

Chupacabra Not A Chupacabra

Sadly, the chupacabra found in Texas was not a chupacabra.
Tests end Texan goat-sucker stir

One Hundred Demons by Lynda Barry

Five years ago a book by Linda Barry was published called 100 Demons. In it, she exorcises some of her own demons through a painting exercise of the same name (example to the right). Throughout the book she uses Sumi brushes and an inkstone.

This choice seems to have struck a harmonic chord in her because the freneticism and mad patterns which ran between the words of Ernie Pook have sublimed into a delicate froth of brushwork. She has that Zen knack of seeing the strokes on the paper while seeing the image they make as well. Add to that the collages which make up the title page to each demon. Folded paper animals, glitter, doodles on legal paper, all working together to make a glorious whole.
The stories making up each demon feel as if they are taken from life but, as she asks in the Introduction, "Is it autobiography if parts of it are not true? Is it fiction if parts of it are?"
Does it matter? Not in this case. Fiction or not, it is hard not to be carried back to childhood through these stories.
The OverDrone remembers looking forward to "Ernie Pook" in the nineties. The OverDrone puzzled through the dreamlike web of words and images just to see how Marlys was doing that week. In 100 Demons, Lynda Barry covers some of the same ground without ever repeating her self.

One Hundred Demons by Lynda Barry

Excited to read this fabulous book? click below to purchase it and kick a little sumfin sumfin to your humble reviewer.

SuperDuperAss Music at The ill-ec-tro-nic

The ill-ec-tro-nic is an aggregator of electronic music. Mp3's presented there are for consideration only.
The ill-ec-tro-nic