16th Sep 2005

Posted in

Blog :: Getting it done

Recently the pace of my blogging has slowed a bit.  I have a lot I want to write about, but all my spare time has been going to other projects.  Today, one of those projects finally launched. 

DecentFilms.com is the film review site of Steven Greydanus.  I've been reading it since about 2002 and have appreciated his writing immensely; few film reviewers seem capable of skillfully addressing a given movie on both an artistic and a moral level.  Steven is one of those few reviewers (parenthetically, the film blog Libertas also has it's share of insightful commentary on the world of film, from, at least a classical liberal humanist perspective that seems to be extinct in Hollywood nowadays).

To get a good flavor of his work, read his review of American Beauty.  Be sure to read it all the way through;  I won't spoil his ending by giving anything away.  This is the work of a skilled craftsmen: skilled at crafting words, skilled at analyzing the messages and themes that film, by its nature as a visual art can slip past the less attentive viewer, and skilled at presenting an answer rooted in the Christian worldview without sounding preachy or shallow.  Steven has also hosted the occasional guest review over the years and these have been solid and entertaining as well (I particularly like the jibe by Robert Jackson that God's and Generals is boring because its relentlessly positive portrayal of Civil War figures turns the War Between the States to the War between the Saints!)

It has been my pleasure and privilege to collaborate with Steven over the last month or two to redesign his site.  Steven has been adding content to decentfilms.com in static html for a long time and the task of keeping up his various indexes (title, genre, rating, etc) had grown too great.  If ever there was a site begging for a database driven content management system, this was it.  I still have quite a few things to do (and yes I know there are a few non-functional links on the site right now) but the newly redesigned decentfilms sports an advanced search feature, RSS feeds to keep up with what's new, and an administrative interface that allows Steven to create new film reviews without editing the site html.

That said, I'm glad that I'm "done".  Look forwards to an increased tempo of writing here again: I have comments on books, php (of course) and web technology that have been percolating through my brain in the last few weeks especially and I'll be sure to share them soon.

Posted on Sep 16th 2005, 06:23 PM