Stoke are doing ok, but they have slipped a bit from a good start.
I agree Birmingham aren't great to watch, but think Stoke are worse, and don't rate Pulis as a manager at all. In terms of results he has done ok but there is no flair to his teams at all, it's kick and rush football at it's very worst. For instance he's got rid of talented attackers like Tuncay and Gudjohnson and instead builds his strikeforce around tall target men (Carew, Kenwyn Jones) - at least Birmingham play with a more mobile 2nd striker (e.g. Cameron Jeromé or Martins) and Z
igic himself is a classier player than Carew or Kenwyn Jones in terms of skill and touch. The quality players they have (Pennant and Etherington) would struggle to grace a top 10 team.
It's worth having a look at the form table here:
http://www.premierleague.com/page/FormGuide/0,,12306,00.html
Looking at that I'd say Birmingham should be ok (probably Villa too) - dont forget Birmingham have played fewer games than anyone else (25 compared with 26/27) and with the FA Cup this weekend and Carling Cup next weekend, that will give them 2-3 games in hand compared with the rest of the league.
That form table would seem to indicate Blackpool are doomed, I'd tend to agree with it. Hodgson might be able to turn West Brom around, I think they have some decent players (Jara, Tamas, Odemwindge, Dorrans etc), the same applies for West Ham - they've added some experienced players in the transfer window.