Author: admin

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

New Untitled Page really isn’t all that new. Well this version is somewhat new, but the site has been around off and on since the early part of 2001.

New Untitled Page, or NUP for short, is a group weblog that knows what it wants to do – entertain. The posts are typical daily events or thoughts whatever they feel like posting about. However, I hope that the stories are somewhat fabricated because some of them seem like something you would read in a good book or see in a movie.

The posts in general are very well written. As I said, they are based on events or thoughts through out the day. Some of the more recent posts include Ivan going through an interesting time with his girlfriend (who has another boyfriend) and his little dilemma of staying faithful. Other posts include topics such as Men using Body wash (quite funny and true), poetry and random entertainment news.

The design is very basic: 3 column layout using black, white, gray and red as the colors. As simplistic as the design is, there is a major content management system that is in place as the back end. There are many features of the CMS that they take advantage of.

The first of which is that you can create your own account. I know, what’s up with sites requiring you to have an account? Anyways, once you do create an account you can post comments and post to the forum which is open to all (pending you have an account, but you can read it without one).

The second of which is modifying how the page looks. You can pick between two skins, and then you can hide navigation columns and other parts. This is nice if you don’t want to look at all of your user info when you log in.

I only had a problem with a couple of things. First was the only navigation to older stories was atop the main column which meant reading the entire page’s worth, then scrolling back up to the top. Obviously this isn’t a major thing. The other being that when I created my account I was given a homepage. However when I tried to access it, there were a number of errors on the page which prevented the page from loading at all.

Overall NUP is a good site if you want to be entertained. The authors don’t try to hide anything, they just post it how it is and let the situation be funny. I recommend reading NUP as it is very well done.
* New Untitled Page *

Since unfoldedorigami scored a 5.0 with the last reviewer, I was surprised that Kevin Hale submitted his site for a re-review. But I suppose it’s because he moved from Diaryland.

I feel a need to gush here. I love the layout. I love the grays and blues and the thick black frame and the unfolded origami (Actually it looks folded to me. It looks like a child’s party hat meant to look like a jester’s crown.) Everything looks professional and thoughtfully designed.

There’s plenty of content; a delightful mix of thought-provoking entries and the occasional senseless, exasperated complaint. On the whole, I found the entries engaging, though the excessive dramatic melancholiness in certain entries turns me off somewhat.

Plenty of ‘cool’ features here, among them a search engine for readers to sift through his archived entries. unfoldedorigami has obviously been through evolutions – nothing can be this near-perfect on first try. I am suitably impressed. A tiny complain: the dates of entries are not displayed in the archives page. Other than that, a brief biography would be nice, and would pull the reader’s interest in reading about his life.

All in all, unfoldedorigami is a mature site with plenty to offer. Well worth a visit.
unfoldedorigami

The URL of this domain may reflect Dave as being the guy who put this site together, but there are a total of eight different guys who are responsible for the different information you’ll find at dave2n.com. With the compilation of entries I read, this weblog easily fits in the Entertainment category.

First off, the writers/contributors – what an eclectic mix of guys. Not only by reading the posts they throw up on the site did I learn this, but also through the contact link provided for all of the authors. Granted, I’m sure a good portion of that part of the site is purely for entertainment value, I did get the feeling that perhaps Eugene does have some issues with Mrs. Jurinski’s 12th grade calculus class, and that maybe Dave’s fondness of Korean boy bands goes a bit farther then what he lets on. Nonetheless, it’s a fun, yet somewhat obscure way to give us some information about the people that do the posting.

The layout and design wasn’t something I had anything but an indifferent opinion for. It worked great for the site – weblog entries were easy to read, navigation was simple, and everything worked like it was supposed to.

Underneath the random adorable photos of a little boy (with the exception of a Jet Li headshot) that I’m assuming might be Dave or one of the other guys, you learn that dave2n.com is split up into five parts. The weblog, of course, along with a portfolio, a music related link called Okay Samurai, Second Nature (a comic strip), and Second Nature World, where you can play a video game with your keyboard.

The weblog is certainly entertaining. And above that, it also keeps you abreast on current events you may not have any clue about. Video games, which I don’t have much interest in, are a hot topic at dave2n.com. Somehow these fellas managed to keep even my attention when writing about the latest and greatest in the video game arena, so something certainly has to be said for that. The music industry is another often discussed area, with updates of their personal music taking off, or even the latest rants and ravings of the “professional” music world.

The other previously mentioned portions of the website are entertaining and worth visiting, just as are all the archives for the site since it began. A first visit to this site wouldn’t be complete without fully exploring all aspects of it.

I liked this site. It was funny, it kept my attention, and you just can’t help but like the guys that write from time to time. It’d one I’d definitely recommend visiting once or twice just to see if it tickles your fancy.

dave2n – imagination in reality

It wasn’t until October 2002 that Peter started really giving us some posts to go on. Since September 2001, when the site rolled out, it was extremely hit and miss with entries until October of this past year.

Peter reviews books from time to time. Driving to and from work, he listens to audiobooks, so we not only get a good idea of what the book is like, but a very valid review about the person that’s reading the book.

The reason Peter started this site was to demonstrate to this family and friends that he’s still alive and relatively well. The exact description he gives us at the top of his page is as follows: “the page also serves the purpose of showing off my travel pictures and dive log, when I fell cranky I’ll put up a few rants. This place isn’t perfect but it is home.”

In addition to the regular weblog that’s mainly updated with various external links, there’s also a photolog full of travel pictures and a dive log that keeps a written record of all the scuba diving Peter does.



As mentioned earlier, the majority of the entries made in the main weblog portion of the site revolve around links to elsewhere on the World Wide Web. While these links are often something very interesting and certainly work checking out, I enjoyed the weblog even more when Peter would share his opinion of the current events he linked to, or keep us posted on his personal world around him.



The layout of the site isn’t too impressive. It doesn’t all line up the way it could and probably should, so it’s a little awkward to look at sometimes. Maybe I’m too much of a “lines must go together” person, but it looks a little rough around the edges as far as the exactness of the layout goes. The colors used go very well together, and the navigation is very well laid out, so you can definitely find your way around the site.

Overall, yes, this is an informative site. Entertaining and personal, though? I’m not so sure about. Peter’s a good writer, and his writing is very easy to understand. If, after taking a look at Vazdot, you find that you share common interests with Peter, then I’m sure you will enjoy this site.

Vazdot – Bloggin Tokyo and diving Asia