LATEST NEWS // (Week of 4/8 - 4/14)
Since this website debuted in 1998, it has undergone two domain transfers, a name-change, and, with the addition of the blog, one
major expansion. Through all of that, though, the basic format and design schemes have remained constant, partly out of a fond weakness for my rudimentary,
self-taught html skills (I think of them as "vintage"), partly because I liked the white-on-black color palette that made a lot of people stir-crazy, and
partly because I couldn't find the time or the proper inspiration to make the major overhaul that was increasingly and obviously needed.
I recognize that even with this update, I have only caught up to the cutting edge of web-design circa 1998 (and maybe not even that). And yet! – I do think the site looks
better, works more efficiently, and spreads itself more evenly across the widescreen dimensions of latter-day commputer monitors. Regular visitors will
notice huge cosmetic improvements in the alphabetical listings, not just because the pictures are
pretty, but because it's easier to separate the films I have actually reviewed from those I have only letter-graded, if even that. Also, for the first time, these listings
include links to film writing I have published elsewhere on the web (often, but not always, on the blog) and in special features like the ongoing and
soon-to-be-resumed Favorite Films countdown.
The yearly index for 2007 began in the new, nipped, and tucked version. In addition to illustrated reviews, more
reviews, and (it bears repeating!) an end to the retinal torture of white-on-black, you'll also notice that the sidebar listings of titles are instantly
adaptable to alphabetical, chronological, or preferential order. Non-frames versions of these and other features, including "permalink" pages for the film
reviews, are available and generously linked.
Several features (the year indexes, recent special features, the Top 100 and Favorites countdown, etc.) have not
yet been upgraded to the degree I intend, though many of these changes will be briskly forthcoming. Others, including the gargantuan task of retroactively souping-up all
the previous reviews into the current design templates, will take a lot longer, and may not ever be fully finished. I hope you'll keep checking back, though,
enjoying what you read, and dropping me some feedback about the content, the look, and the architecture
of the site. It's always exciting—an almost embarrassing pleasure, really—to have such loyal, sympathetic, challenging, and articulate readers, and
it's a joy, too, to welcome some new ones, including you Wildcats who read the article about this website in
today's Daily Northwestern! As my writing energies and creative juices flow back toward the site, I'll look forward to more conversations, fuller and
more frequent updates, and lots and lots of movies. Compliments, of course, are also being warmly accepted at this time.
Cheers!
The Management