Wars of Compassion starts out with the following Blog description: "A Gentleman's Guide to Career, Romance, and Nation-Building". Sweet.

But that's just the beginning. The author, Ryan is a member of Overlord, a pop band and he lives in Philadelphia. Funny, this is the second musician I've had to review in the course of a day.

Ryan's blog is beautifully written (his first entries from 2003 are worth browsing just for the kick of reading words used with such elegance). Although his posts are digressions on a series of topics (as his blog description states), he has interesting things to say on matters ranging from his dating life to his views on politics. He handles narrative well, his vocabulary is impressive and his political thoughts, I for one, found appealing.

It's nice to run into these kinds of blogs, where English is used so stylishly and people like Noam Chomsky are admired. Call this man the Fred Astaire of the blogosphere with a political standing.

He's been blogging since 2003 and I really regretted not having all the time in the world to read every entry.

Regarding layout and design, the template is standard blogspot, simple; but the content was so appealing that I soon forgot my aesthetic tendencies. Not that he didn't choose a white (elegant) template.

The right-hand side bar has links ranging from Overlord (his band) FAQs, to "people links" including Chomsky and others of the author's interest.

I very much appreciated the quote at the end of the side bar (Goering, Nuremberg Trial). So true. It strangely reminded me of Leo Strauss. Well worth putting a quote like this into a side bar.

Overall, I loved the site. I only wish it had a beautiful layout to do it justice. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in good writing and passionate stands.

This site was reviewed on 2004-08-30 by answer-seeking gal.
They felt this site belonged in the Personal category.
answer-seeking gal felt that wars of compassion deserved a rating of 4.75.

When you first visit wars of compassion(woc), you can't help but notice how simple and clean it looks. Empty, in a way, devoid of frills and decorations. Minimalism at its height. Some might find it a sign of the blogger's incompetency or laziness, but others might, like me, find it refreshing.

woc is not your typical personal blog. There are less things-that-happened and more personal opinions and thoughts on a wide spectrum of things, from The War to music to sex. Another big distinction is that Ryan writes every entry like an essay by itself. He uses a more extensive vocabulary than most bloggers under the 'personal' category do, and the effect is at once stiff and formal, and also coherent and charming. The winning point of woc lies in the subtle, sometimes heavily veiled sarcasm and slight exaggerations of Ryan's entries. He is a little quirky, he is straight-faced deadpan, he is cheeky in a sophisticated way. Occasionally there are pictures that may be related, some quite mysteriously, to the entries. Ryan never captions them. They make a nice distraction on the otherwise barren site, though.

As mentioned, the design of woc is bare, simple black and white. Even the title is just the three words spelled out in plain black font. The archives are located at the bottom of the page, along with a total of three links and a tagboard.

woc is not for everybody, certainly not for those wanting to take a glimpse into a person's everyday life. It is good, intelligent reading, however, and will bring a chuckle or two.

This site was reviewed on 2003-08-30 by yz.
They felt this site belonged in the Personal category.
yz felt that wars of compassion deserved a rating of 4.

Wars of Compassion is about as minimalist a site as it is possible to find. J. Ryan is the writer, though little more is known than an email address; there's no about page, and the only additional content on the site includes the archives, dating back to the start of June, a message board, and a few choice external links.

Okay, so I've covered what there isn't (design, extrablog content), so now for a closer look at what there is, and why Wars is worth visiting.

The entries mostly require your undivided attention; there are no one-line updates promising more updates soon; links to external sites are given but only in the context of longer passages and never as the reason for a post.

Mr Ryan is a spiritual man; he writes about God and religion and its place in modern society, discussing subjects like chastity and obedience. His style of writing is simple, clear and intelligent.

He covers other topics too, writing about music and relating personal tales. For example, read his entry at the start of August about Philadelphia - this entry perhaps more than most will give you a good understanding of the site. The narrator is not shy about talking about his private life, including areas that most blog authors are reluctant to cover. Whether or not you want such insights and access into the life of an anonymous other is something you would have to decide for yourself.

With a tighter design, Wars could really do well. It needs an image to bring the text and pictures together, to present the blog as something more than poorly photocopied musings. Haphazardly placed elements spoil the flow of the posts; with a little more thought (and really, these days there's no excuse, with the number of high quality templates available) the site could really broadcast its content and make a welcoming read. As it stands, it feels half-finished, though certainly readable and at all times interesting.

This site was reviewed on 2003-08-30 by chrisw.
They felt this site belonged in the Personal category.
chrisw felt that wars of compassion deserved a rating of 3.

3 reviewers gave wars of compassion an average rating of 3.9167

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