The Weblog Review

The Big Picnic can best be described as a type of group news blog, an open forum of ideas. Upon entering the site, the massive green banner of close-up view of blades of grass makes it clear that it is picnic time. The whole idea is clear: you have been invited to a big picnic. Come and can sit out on this big expanse of a green lawn, out in the middle of nowhere, alone or with a bunch of friends, eating good food, drinking and sharing ideas by talking alot. The main inspiration of the activity on this site is just that, not only reading input from others but also contributing your own stuff.

This weblog is a self-proclaimed news and opinion journal whose creator refers to him self as a shiftless character (for some unknown reason). The advanced user interface uses a content management system together with PHP technology and provides a slick front-end to the site. Navigation flows naturally and smoothly, and the reader is easily transported from one area of the site to the next. The various news topics include a wide range of interests. On the more conservative side you have access to down-to-earth topics like technology, politics, law and religion. On the other more extreme side of the spectrum, one is delighted to discover topics about alcohol and drugs, sex and violence. While I would not consider the articles themselves very deep and profound, they nonetheless provide material that is fun to scan through. You are not expected to be some expert in the field nor a professional journalist, just being yourself is good enough. There’s also even this big picnic store where you can purchase all kinds of t-shirts, mugs and the usual stuff.

Things really start to shine once you decide to create your own personal account. After joining and then logging in, you receive a number of additional benefits. As a registered user, you may choose themes and avatars, edit and update information on your account, etc. I tried it out myself, and the whole registration process went flawlessly. Within no time I was a full-fledged fellow picnic person. So far at the moment of this review, there were no less than eighteen registered users. There I was receiving special attention as the newest member of the clan! Nicely done.

The most exciting aspect for me of having your very own account is that you can contribute your own articles. You choose a title and a news topic, type in the article (optionally using HTML), and when you are ready you can review it before pressing the final submit button. The editing staff then checks the article contents for proper grammar, perhaps even editing it to make it look nicer or more acceptable, before making it public. A nice system and very well organized.

While for the time being most of the entries have been submitted by the creator, occasionally other authors (like myself) are coming and going. So I expect things will in the long run pick up nicely. The link “top list” provides a view according to most read, most commented, most active categories, etc. The “most read” category indeed shows alot of activity, so this picnic is becoming more popular after all. C’mon down and join us.

I can recommend this weblog as worth a visit and as providing a good and healthy portion of reading material. It is very informative, but at times verges on the chaotic. This is perhaps inevitable when you allow authors from various places and backgrounds to contribute various types of material, so the extra editing by the staff provides the needed control. Personally, I would say that the true theme of the site should be more focused, and rather than being some massive collection of information tidbits with generic content, more structure would be an improvement. Unless of course the true purpose of this news group is to provide a completely open forum of ideas, then the site hits the mark and is achieving its original goal.

The picnic is growing as more people join in, and everyone is welcome to drop by. But there is still some time needed before the site really lives up to its name as a “big” picnic. I am sure it will live up to its many expectations.Big Picnic

I like a well-organized, well-designed blog. Big Picnic was immediately attractive to me for this reason. It has a simple yet interesting feel. It has a professional look to it, which clued me in that there would be some good writing.

Big Picnic is only a few months old [or, at least only has a few months worth of entries]. It offers commentary on current events, links, and various reviews. The commentary is involved and interesting. An interesting piece is the writer’s contemplation of sumo wrestling. A good percentage of the entries are well written and thought provoking.

Extras include a section of links, ability to post news bits, member listing [those that have accounts], good search capability, a store with Big Picnic merchandise, and categorical archives. There is an About link, but it doesn’t really link to anything that could be construed as informational. One could consider the ability to create an account at Big Picnic an extra, but I found no good reason to create an account. If you want to leave a comment that includes your name, you have to create an account and log in. I’m an instant gratification type of girl, and needing an account to properly comment interferes with that.

I really do like the look of this blog. It’s a clean and professional look, and site navigation is obvious. I do recommend making a change to the archival setup. You have to scroll through six pages before getting to the first post, and I’m not sure that all entries even came up through the archives list. I think I would prefer just a list of titles with the dates. One other thing I would recommend is putting up Next and Previous links with each entry to make navigation just a little friendlier.

I might visit Big Picnic again in the future. The thing that’s stopping me from really being enthusiastic about the blog is my confusion over navigating the archives. Overall, Big Picnic is a good blog and worth a read.

Big Picnic

Bust out the corn dogs and the forties and lets have ourselves a Big Picnic. (Blatantly stolen and modified from their site) But seriously, take the time out of the day to visit Big Picnic. Why you ask? For a number of reasons.

First we have the stories that are posted. They range in content categories from News to A & E to Tech to Comics and more. Each post is either backed by a fare amount of knowledge or the main poster (JNelsonW) is very good at feeding us BS. My guess is the former of the two.

The site is powered by Post Nuke which is an open source CMS. JNelsonW takes full advantage of all the features of the CMS including having notes about the posts, extended entries, free registration for the site, allowing others to comment on the site and submit their own news. Most people do not use the Nuke software to the fullest, but like the posts that are written – the knowledge is shown.

The design of the site is rather interesting to say the least. Of course when I think of Big Picnic I think of grass. So what better than to have a picture of blades of grass with the words Big Picnic across them as the logo? But then the site goes into a slate color with white text which doesn’t seem to flow with the “picnic” idea. However, given that a logo has very little to do with the sites ability to perform, it is nothing to worry about. Over all the design works for the site.

Big Picnic really is just that, a Big Picnic. Fun times can be had while reading this site, and you can even partake in it yourself by registering for an account. Make sure you check out the Big Picnic for an enjoyable day.
Big Picnic

This was the first travel-type weblog I’ve ever seen, let alone reviewed.

Our author takes us through his many journeys over the past years, traveling from all over Asia, South America, and Australia starting back in February of 2002.

The first entry started out on the flight to Delhi. Rhymer gives us information about the passengers he meets on the plane and those he encounters in the airport. I’ve always felt like airports and any group of people traveling are just thousands of stories waiting to be written, and Rhymer certainly takes advantage of these opportunities.



The menu of different travel entries you can choose from have a “P” in front of the entries, indicating there are supposed to be pictures in these entries. Finding the photos wasn’t as easy as it sounded, or maybe I just wasn’t thinking. It was until I started randomly clicking on things that I found the yellow arrow next to the word photos was actually a link to the photo section of each entry. And come to find out all of the little yellow triangles are different ways to navigate around the site.

After figuring everything out, I found Rhymer.net to be full of all kinds of information. You learn about not only the cultures and geography of foreign places you may never get to visit yourself, but you also get the chance to read about a traveler’s experiences, both good and bad, that give you an overall view of what it’s like to be in a different country. I, for one, don’t have any plans in the near future to do this kind of extensive traveling, so personally, this site was an educational experience of the utmost.

Rhymer’s writing, while very informative, is also very casual. Instead of reading like a tour guide pamphlet, Rhymer.net does read like an actual journal, making it an interesting to check back in on as Rhymer continues his travels around the world.

rhymer.net

You can imagine the thoughts that were circling through my overactive imagination when I saw the title for this weblog. I was more than excited to click on any link that said Leather Condom. And I’d already prepared myself for it being strictly a shock-value title, but I liked that. It worked. It got me in the door – but could the writing make me want to stay?

This site did have condoms and it did have leather, but not quite what you would expect. The leather portion of the title was covered by a graphic used at the top of each page of a leather seat. I’m sure it has a fancy name, but I can’t think of it right now. And were there ever condoms! I was quite impressed with the Condom Trivia along the left hand side bar. I’ve never learned such information about this lovely form of contraceptive as I had by reading this information. Towards the end, I was half expecting a guide on how to wear one. Another nice touch to this site.

Through my entire visit of Leather Condom, I found many things that were very entertaining on a wide array of subject matter. I was glad to see that I wasn’t the only one that found Lord of the Rings to be boring – Emma experienced those same feelings when the Leather Condom first opened up shop in Dec 2001. I was also amused by Emma’s tales of bra shopping, her take on the slang that Americans use, and my personal favorite, an entry called “Was Jesus the result of heavy petting?”.



To touch base on the layout of the site, I would have to say it certainly worked for this site. No, there weren’t pictures of condoms slapped all over the site, but the black and white made things very clean to read. You’ve got an “about” section that’s quite thorough, other links that are definitely worth visiting, over a year’s worth of archives, and also some links to different posts that contain reviews on movies, music, etc.

Entertaining writing, great personality, and a dry sense of humor are some of the things that make this weblog one I’m adding to my bookmark list. Emma makes you laugh, makes you think, and might just have you coming back day after day to check things out. I’d give it a shot, and you might just find a new “favorite read”.

Leather Condom