Jan 28, 2009
Sad news from my local Blockbuster
I've learned today that as part of a nationwide reduction, Blockbuster is shortening its daily hours. Now Mon-Thu it's Noon-9PM and weekends 12A-12P. So it looks like my reviews may be a little delayed on Tuesdays as I can't get my flicks at 10 AM anymore. I'll keep you updated.
Jan 23, 2009
Introducing... GIGANTOR
Hey, just thought I'd give you guys a behind the scenes glimpse here at Tabula Imago. Today I'm going to introduce this reviewer's best friend for film: Gigantor.It's a Stanley insulated mug and does a pretty good job. It holds 20 some ounces and gets me through some real stinkers. Of course since it's usually filled with room temperature soda, I don't really put it to a test.
You can buy a similar model on Amazon here: STANLEY CLASSIC MUG
I got the name from the remote control robot off of an old cartoon called Gigantor.
Here's a vid of the opening of the cartoon.
Here's to Gigantor, getting me through bad movies by always being full of soda,
milk, juice and the occasional alcoholic reinforcement. More movie reviews coming soon, so many movies so little time. Hope you enjoyed this brief behind the scenes glimpse of my and Gigantor.GIGAAAAAAANTOOOOOR!
Jan 18, 2009
Busy Busy Busy
Oh, so many movies, so little time. I've been trying to stay busy. My initial application for disability has been denied by Social Security. Apparently I'm not disabled enough since I can communicate and perform certain daily activities. Oh well, it's on to the first appeal. As I understand it takes 2 appeals, a lawyer and a judge and about another 6 months or so. Fortunately I have things to keep me busy, like this website.
My brother in law yesterday asks me, "are you going to review movies that people actually watch like family movies and kids films?" That was actually a good question. I'm sure anyone who's been reading my reviews have notice a dearth of family friendly entertainment. The fact that it's mostly foreign films and documentaries doesn't help much either.
SO with that in mind, I've decided to review a few family films including: Kit Kittredge: All American Girl, Journey To The Center Of The Earth, WALL-E, Nim's Island, and Veggie Tales Presents: The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything. (all links are IMDB).
Of course I'll have to fit these in with regular weekly releases (family films don't come out every week) but I'll shoot for one a week starting out and we'll see how it goes from there.
So, I'm branching out to watch movies I don't usually, not just chick flicks and period dramas (although those are bad enough). I guess it comes with the territory. I promised myself I wouldn't be a snobby site that only reviewed films that came out on one screen in your town (if at all). Guess it's time to live up to my promise.
Enjoy, more reviews coming soon!
My brother in law yesterday asks me, "are you going to review movies that people actually watch like family movies and kids films?" That was actually a good question. I'm sure anyone who's been reading my reviews have notice a dearth of family friendly entertainment. The fact that it's mostly foreign films and documentaries doesn't help much either.
SO with that in mind, I've decided to review a few family films including: Kit Kittredge: All American Girl, Journey To The Center Of The Earth, WALL-E, Nim's Island, and Veggie Tales Presents: The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything. (all links are IMDB).
Of course I'll have to fit these in with regular weekly releases (family films don't come out every week) but I'll shoot for one a week starting out and we'll see how it goes from there.
So, I'm branching out to watch movies I don't usually, not just chick flicks and period dramas (although those are bad enough). I guess it comes with the territory. I promised myself I wouldn't be a snobby site that only reviewed films that came out on one screen in your town (if at all). Guess it's time to live up to my promise.
Enjoy, more reviews coming soon!
Jan 15, 2009
One goal reached, another moves away
Well, I have reached my 50th review with Gaspar Noe's Irreversible! I can't believe that in less than a month and a half I've generated so much content. It's been a lot of fun and a lot of work. Every review brings me closer to my goal of being on Rotten Tomatoes.
Unfortunately it looks like that goal has moved a good distance into the future now. I examined the by-laws of the Online Film Critics Association and it says that you not only have to have 50 reviews in the last year, you also have to have a minimum of one year of experience. So it looks like I can't join until next year around this time.
So, things are tough but I'm making it. I figured I can slow down and review new releases over the course of the week instead of doing a whole bunch on Tuesday. That said there will still be the latest and biggest releases reviewed by Wednesday. Coming up I've got Swing Vote (when it comes back to the local shop) and Brideshead Revisited. Stay tuned faithful readers, I'm in for the long haul.
Unfortunately it looks like that goal has moved a good distance into the future now. I examined the by-laws of the Online Film Critics Association and it says that you not only have to have 50 reviews in the last year, you also have to have a minimum of one year of experience. So it looks like I can't join until next year around this time.
So, things are tough but I'm making it. I figured I can slow down and review new releases over the course of the week instead of doing a whole bunch on Tuesday. That said there will still be the latest and biggest releases reviewed by Wednesday. Coming up I've got Swing Vote (when it comes back to the local shop) and Brideshead Revisited. Stay tuned faithful readers, I'm in for the long haul.
Jan 13, 2009
49 Reviews!
I just need one more review to hit the magic number. By the end of the week I'll be making my application to the Online Film Critics Society! Keep your fingers crossed!
Jan 12, 2009
Almost to 50!
My goal when starting this blog back in December was to have 50 reviews and then submit my application to the Online Film Critics Society and try to get added to Rotten Tomatoes. I'm happy to say that as of January 12 I am 5 reviews away from 50!
I'm not sure what happens next but I'm actually kind of excited. I'm going to keep reviewing the biggest releases on Tuesday or Wednesday while spending the rest of the week picking up my back catalogue. Thanks to everyone who's been reading. Be sure to share the site with your friends. I thought about renaming the site but Tabula Imago is starting to grow on me. I hope it is for you too.
I'm not sure what happens next but I'm actually kind of excited. I'm going to keep reviewing the biggest releases on Tuesday or Wednesday while spending the rest of the week picking up my back catalogue. Thanks to everyone who's been reading. Be sure to share the site with your friends. I thought about renaming the site but Tabula Imago is starting to grow on me. I hope it is for you too.
Jan 10, 2009
Eden Lake Mini-Review
I didn't even finish this movie so I won't give it a proper review. I stopped it when the main character did something so stupid that my interest in the movie was permanently revoked.
When trouble is visited upon you, that is one thing, but when trouble appears and we go looking for it, we get what we deserve. Such a movie is Eden Lake.
Two lovers make their way to a soon to be developed flooded rock quarry and look to spend a romantic weekend away. They are interrupted by a gang of 12 year old hoodlums who insist on playing loud stereos and being little pricks. The gang moves along and when the lovers head back to their car someone has placed a glass bottle behind their rear tire. It of course pops and they have to use the spare.
Now, rather than go to the cops, or even just go home. Our heroes had back into town and find our hooligans hanging out at their home. So the man just goes on in the house, apparently to have a show down with these kids.
This is so remarkably stupid that whatever happened to him or her was really not interesting to me. I just turned the movie off. I'm going to watch something else instead.
When trouble is visited upon you, that is one thing, but when trouble appears and we go looking for it, we get what we deserve. Such a movie is Eden Lake.
Two lovers make their way to a soon to be developed flooded rock quarry and look to spend a romantic weekend away. They are interrupted by a gang of 12 year old hoodlums who insist on playing loud stereos and being little pricks. The gang moves along and when the lovers head back to their car someone has placed a glass bottle behind their rear tire. It of course pops and they have to use the spare.
Now, rather than go to the cops, or even just go home. Our heroes had back into town and find our hooligans hanging out at their home. So the man just goes on in the house, apparently to have a show down with these kids.
This is so remarkably stupid that whatever happened to him or her was really not interesting to me. I just turned the movie off. I'm going to watch something else instead.
Thoughts on Man on Wire
While it probably is the best documentary of the year, I do think it's a little overhyped. The documentary plays more like a heist film, following a very specific time frame (pretty much just the day of the walk) and does a great job.
I wanted to know more about Petit though and what happened to him afterwords. I know that the film had a very narrow vision, I guess I was just hoping for more. I still gave it five stars because it is really good, it just wasn't what I was expecting. Not the film's fault for that.
You can read the review here.
I wanted to know more about Petit though and what happened to him afterwords. I know that the film had a very narrow vision, I guess I was just hoping for more. I still gave it five stars because it is really good, it just wasn't what I was expecting. Not the film's fault for that.
You can read the review here.
Jan 7, 2009
A Hard Review
I watched "The Killing Fields" the other day about the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia. It's based on a true story of a New York reporter (Sam Waterston) and his fellow journalist and guide Dith Pran (Dr. ). When all the non-Cambodians are evacuated from the country Pran gets left behind. He struggles to stay alive in the reeducation camp and eventually walks out of Cambodia into Thailand.
The film is great. The soundtrack, the acting, the writing, the directing. It's one of the best war movies I've ever seen. But why am I having so much trouble reviewing it? I don't know. It just seems that I ought to think about my words with this film more than some of the others I've watched. I want to spend a little time with it.
I know it's not "time-sensitive" or whatever, but this one needs to roll around in my brain a little while longer...
The film is great. The soundtrack, the acting, the writing, the directing. It's one of the best war movies I've ever seen. But why am I having so much trouble reviewing it? I don't know. It just seems that I ought to think about my words with this film more than some of the others I've watched. I want to spend a little time with it.
I know it's not "time-sensitive" or whatever, but this one needs to roll around in my brain a little while longer...
Top of the Shlock (10 Best Horror/Exploitation Films) 2008
Boogeyman 2 - A great slasher with a hard-R that has nothing to do with the original (as far as I can tell, since I didn't see it). It may not be the best but it's definitely above average and worth it for some great kills (including a disembowelment).
30 Days of Night – A vampire movie with a great twist. In Barrows, Alaska it gets dark for 30 days. And there are vampires lining up for the buffet. It's up to a rag tag band of citizens led by the sheriff (Josh Hartnett) to take them out before they're dinner. It's got some wonderful kills, a great sense of energy and visual style. From the director of Hard Candy.
Hitman – A throwback to the great Eurotrash cinema of the 70s and 80s. It's not really a good movie but it has the 3 Bs, which are brains, blood and barenaked actors. We get plenty of the latter two and just enough brains to keep things interesting. It's sort of a bloody poor man's James Bond. Definitely one of the most fun genre pictures of the year.
The Tattooist – Once again a 3B winner. This is a rather unique tale from New Zeland. It's about a tattoo artist that steals a cursed tool from a tribesman at a local tattoo show. When he uses it on people they slowly start to turn to ink and die. Can he save his girlfriend from an angry tribal ghost before it's too late? What makes this a definite watch is that it is a unique story that involves a culture that Americans don't normally get to experience. So it's an education hidden in a great horror flick.
The Ruins – Ah, this one is based on a book by Scott Smith (A Simple Plan) and comes with the red, red kroovy. It's what I like to call crunchy. Lots of bones and gristle and good old fashioned gore. Some tourists are trapped on top of a pyramid infested with man-eating plants. Horror in broad daylight, plenty of crunchy gruesome gore and a topless Laura Ramsey? Sign me up. The ending is a little blah, but the rest is solid.
Diary of the Dead – The great master himself, George Romero, returns to the dead for this lesson in how to shoot a “documentary” style horror film. Handheld without looking like it's strapped to a paint shaker? Cutting edge gore? It may not deliver on the barenaked actors but the script is tight and the gore is plentiful. The only thing I don't like is the use of more digital gore, but that's for another column.
Inside – Best French horror movie this year, probably best since High Tension (I haven't seen Frontier(s) yet) and delivering on the two most important of the 3 Bs – Brains and Blood! It's a story of a pregnant woman trapped in her house with a woman that wants her baby. She doesn't want to wait for the birth either. This film goes places that curled my toes and had me sucking in air. Definitely brutal, with smart characters well portrayed. It seems to jump the shark in the last 10 minutes but it's still great. Scissors to the testicles. 'Nuff said.
Storm Warning – Another nasty little film. This one is from Australia and features a couple in the outback who get lost and stumble across a crazy inbred family bent on killing them. It has some great horror set-pieces, has characters that are smart and desperate to live (especially a strong female character) and hell of a gag involving a baby food jar you won't soon forget. Crunchy and has the 3Bs!
Rambo – I know I gave it a good rating as a film but it's hard not to put this one on the gore lover's list for this year. IMDB estimates the body count at 2.9 corpses per minute. Now most of that occurs in the attack on a village and the end set piece but it does have the kroovy and it isn't shy. It's also clever and well shot so it delivers on 2 of the 3Bs. I don't count the brief rape scenes as they didn't feel exploitative enough (God that sounds horrible). But if a machete decapitation and a disembowelment don't get you itching, well this may not be the one for you. But if it isn't why are you still reading this list?
Zombie Strippers – Destined to be a midnight dorm room classic. This film features real porn stars (like Jenna Jameson and Roxy Saint) who are strippers turned into zombies by an infected patron. The thing is, it makes them BETTER STRIPPERS! Of course a private lap dance usually ends up in some good old gut munching but the film is over the top funny like old Troma pictures. Definitely one of the years best!
Now for the worst of the year. There are only six as I really couldn't find 10 that were really, really bad. Most were just average. The films on this list just didn't deliver, even if they did have all three of the Bs.
Them (Ils) – This is a French thriller in the vein of The Strangers. Beautiful people doing stupid things and then getting killed by less than skilled antagonists. It's well shot but it sucked.
Zombie Diaries – I have a full review of this one but I think it helps to say again, this movie is abysmally made and if I didn't have to review it I wouldn't have finished it. It was terrible, badly shot, badly acted, badly written, just terrible.
Saw IV – An unnecessary sequel to a franchise that, at episode 4 is feeling long in the tooth. The third film was a solid ending. This film is just a producer's indulgence to milk the bloody cow. Really just delivers on the blood because no one gets naked and the plot is overly complicated.
The Rage – Another wannabe zombie movie that just can't pull of the gore. It was bad writing and bad acting. Granted I could only get the Rated version at the time, but that wouldn't have helped. I'll admit that the only thing I remember about this movie was that I didn't like it.
Aliens Vs. Predator Requiem – It had two of the greatest gory sci-fi pedigrees available and it managed to screw it up, even with an R Rating. Say what you will about Paul Anderson, at least his movie was comprehensible and had characters and some plot. This movie was just a rehash of any zombie movie they just stuck Aliens and Predators in it.
Rest Stop – Don't Look Back – A terrible sequel to a movie that was just plain bad. The original was small and starred Jaime Alexander (who I like) and revolved around a haunted rest stop. The second one tries to cash in on the so called torture-porn craze but fails miserably. It has a little grue but the other 2Bs are missing and there's not enough of the blood to cover that up.
30 Days of Night – A vampire movie with a great twist. In Barrows, Alaska it gets dark for 30 days. And there are vampires lining up for the buffet. It's up to a rag tag band of citizens led by the sheriff (Josh Hartnett) to take them out before they're dinner. It's got some wonderful kills, a great sense of energy and visual style. From the director of Hard Candy.
Hitman – A throwback to the great Eurotrash cinema of the 70s and 80s. It's not really a good movie but it has the 3 Bs, which are brains, blood and barenaked actors. We get plenty of the latter two and just enough brains to keep things interesting. It's sort of a bloody poor man's James Bond. Definitely one of the most fun genre pictures of the year.
The Tattooist – Once again a 3B winner. This is a rather unique tale from New Zeland. It's about a tattoo artist that steals a cursed tool from a tribesman at a local tattoo show. When he uses it on people they slowly start to turn to ink and die. Can he save his girlfriend from an angry tribal ghost before it's too late? What makes this a definite watch is that it is a unique story that involves a culture that Americans don't normally get to experience. So it's an education hidden in a great horror flick.
The Ruins – Ah, this one is based on a book by Scott Smith (A Simple Plan) and comes with the red, red kroovy. It's what I like to call crunchy. Lots of bones and gristle and good old fashioned gore. Some tourists are trapped on top of a pyramid infested with man-eating plants. Horror in broad daylight, plenty of crunchy gruesome gore and a topless Laura Ramsey? Sign me up. The ending is a little blah, but the rest is solid.
Diary of the Dead – The great master himself, George Romero, returns to the dead for this lesson in how to shoot a “documentary” style horror film. Handheld without looking like it's strapped to a paint shaker? Cutting edge gore? It may not deliver on the barenaked actors but the script is tight and the gore is plentiful. The only thing I don't like is the use of more digital gore, but that's for another column.
Inside – Best French horror movie this year, probably best since High Tension (I haven't seen Frontier(s) yet) and delivering on the two most important of the 3 Bs – Brains and Blood! It's a story of a pregnant woman trapped in her house with a woman that wants her baby. She doesn't want to wait for the birth either. This film goes places that curled my toes and had me sucking in air. Definitely brutal, with smart characters well portrayed. It seems to jump the shark in the last 10 minutes but it's still great. Scissors to the testicles. 'Nuff said.
Storm Warning – Another nasty little film. This one is from Australia and features a couple in the outback who get lost and stumble across a crazy inbred family bent on killing them. It has some great horror set-pieces, has characters that are smart and desperate to live (especially a strong female character) and hell of a gag involving a baby food jar you won't soon forget. Crunchy and has the 3Bs!
Rambo – I know I gave it a good rating as a film but it's hard not to put this one on the gore lover's list for this year. IMDB estimates the body count at 2.9 corpses per minute. Now most of that occurs in the attack on a village and the end set piece but it does have the kroovy and it isn't shy. It's also clever and well shot so it delivers on 2 of the 3Bs. I don't count the brief rape scenes as they didn't feel exploitative enough (God that sounds horrible). But if a machete decapitation and a disembowelment don't get you itching, well this may not be the one for you. But if it isn't why are you still reading this list?
Zombie Strippers – Destined to be a midnight dorm room classic. This film features real porn stars (like Jenna Jameson and Roxy Saint) who are strippers turned into zombies by an infected patron. The thing is, it makes them BETTER STRIPPERS! Of course a private lap dance usually ends up in some good old gut munching but the film is over the top funny like old Troma pictures. Definitely one of the years best!
Now for the worst of the year. There are only six as I really couldn't find 10 that were really, really bad. Most were just average. The films on this list just didn't deliver, even if they did have all three of the Bs.
Them (Ils) – This is a French thriller in the vein of The Strangers. Beautiful people doing stupid things and then getting killed by less than skilled antagonists. It's well shot but it sucked.
Zombie Diaries – I have a full review of this one but I think it helps to say again, this movie is abysmally made and if I didn't have to review it I wouldn't have finished it. It was terrible, badly shot, badly acted, badly written, just terrible.
Saw IV – An unnecessary sequel to a franchise that, at episode 4 is feeling long in the tooth. The third film was a solid ending. This film is just a producer's indulgence to milk the bloody cow. Really just delivers on the blood because no one gets naked and the plot is overly complicated.
The Rage – Another wannabe zombie movie that just can't pull of the gore. It was bad writing and bad acting. Granted I could only get the Rated version at the time, but that wouldn't have helped. I'll admit that the only thing I remember about this movie was that I didn't like it.
Aliens Vs. Predator Requiem – It had two of the greatest gory sci-fi pedigrees available and it managed to screw it up, even with an R Rating. Say what you will about Paul Anderson, at least his movie was comprehensible and had characters and some plot. This movie was just a rehash of any zombie movie they just stuck Aliens and Predators in it.
Rest Stop – Don't Look Back – A terrible sequel to a movie that was just plain bad. The original was small and starred Jaime Alexander (who I like) and revolved around a haunted rest stop. The second one tries to cash in on the so called torture-porn craze but fails miserably. It has a little grue but the other 2Bs are missing and there's not enough of the blood to cover that up.
Jan 2, 2009
One Minute Roundup!
I've not been able to get full reviews up since I've been messing with this damned search engine (that finally works, thank you). So here's some briefs as I write the full reviews.
Zombie Diaries - 1/2 Star - It's like someone duct-taped a DV cam to a paint shaker and turned off all the light except one little flashlight. Horrible.
Eagle Eye - 2 Stars - A competently made thriller with handsome LaBeouf and Michelle Monahagn that features an enemy and means that are not possible. PERIOD.
Michael Clayton - 4 Stars - This is a good one from last year, a solid thriller in the vein of The Verdict, stars George Clooney in a great dramatic role and Tilda Swinton as his nemesis (one of my favorite actors).
Zombie Diaries - 1/2 Star - It's like someone duct-taped a DV cam to a paint shaker and turned off all the light except one little flashlight. Horrible.
Eagle Eye - 2 Stars - A competently made thriller with handsome LaBeouf and Michelle Monahagn that features an enemy and means that are not possible. PERIOD.
Michael Clayton - 4 Stars - This is a good one from last year, a solid thriller in the vein of The Verdict, stars George Clooney in a great dramatic role and Tilda Swinton as his nemesis (one of my favorite actors).
Jan 1, 2009
Search Engine Blues
Damn getting a search engine to work is a pain in the ASS! I'm using the google search but I'm having a hell of a time getting results. I'm having my page indexed and trying to make something happen. I didn't think it would be this hard. I'm giving up for tonight, try again tomorrow. Hell, I might even watch a movie.
At least the site is browsable and as far as I know the links work. there's a few I need to work on, some broken deep links. I'm determined to finish though. As soon as I get this working it will be easier for future iterations. I just didn't know that setting up a website would be such a Herculean effort.
Thank the gods I have this blog that is so nice and easy to use. While I wait for my site to index. Christ this is a nightmare. I just want to watch movies. And write about them. I'm just too damn poor to hire someone who knows what they're doing.
Hang in their faithful readers. We'll get it going.
PS: Anybody else think it's funny that spellcheck doesn't recognize Google in lowercase?
At least the site is browsable and as far as I know the links work. there's a few I need to work on, some broken deep links. I'm determined to finish though. As soon as I get this working it will be easier for future iterations. I just didn't know that setting up a website would be such a Herculean effort.
Thank the gods I have this blog that is so nice and easy to use. While I wait for my site to index. Christ this is a nightmare. I just want to watch movies. And write about them. I'm just too damn poor to hire someone who knows what they're doing.
Hang in their faithful readers. We'll get it going.
PS: Anybody else think it's funny that spellcheck doesn't recognize Google in lowercase?
We've MOVED!
Hey, I've got a proper website all made up and you can come check it out at Tabula-Imago.com! I'll still blog here but the reviews will be mostly on the new site. My old site will stay up so you can check the reviews that are here.
I hope you like it. It's been a real effort to get done. I found a free template by cruising the web and edited it with some free editors. I want to use this as sort of repository of stuff that doesn't go anywhere else. I've got a place for essays, a proper archive and everything.
Building the site has been a real pain in the ass. Since I don't have a job right now I've had to use all freeware and unlicensed images. Freeware is cool but it's not the most stable of tools. I use Mozilla's WYSIWYG HTML editor KompoZer and good old text editor Notepad ++. Basically when something didn't work in KompoZer I'd shuffle over to Notepad ++. There was quite learning curve, especially after coming from things like MoveableType/WordPress/Blogger composing that is primarily template based.
All my reviews are written using OpenOffice Writer. It works well most of the time and can do just about anything that you can do with MS Office, though it may take an extra step or digging through an extra menu. Such is the life of the open source user.
I'm especially proud of my banner image. I used images available from Wikipedia that had Creative Commons license and used GIMP 2.4 to make my banner image, and I'm really proud of it and I think it looks great!
I really recommend all the tools I list here and they do the job, even if it's a slow job. Of course a lot of that has to do with my poor web-design skills. I was able to find some great templates (HERE) and picked a nice one that was rather simple and clean.
A long time ago when I was reading about blogging and web design the two most important things I learned were that the internet is content driven and that access to content is the most important part.
In short this means that if you want people to keep coming to your site you have to stay constant with the new content (especially in the ADD world of blogging) and that simple clean site navigation allows people to get to it. So all my designs and template choices are probably considered pedestrian, if not down right boring. But you can read all the content and it's easy to access.
I know it's presumptuous to think that anyone reads this but I enjoy the work and keeps me from sinking into depression or other unpleasantness.
I'm a poster-child for the DIY (and Do It for Cheap) ethic. I hope you guys get something out of this.
Happy New Year!
I hope you like it. It's been a real effort to get done. I found a free template by cruising the web and edited it with some free editors. I want to use this as sort of repository of stuff that doesn't go anywhere else. I've got a place for essays, a proper archive and everything.
Building the site has been a real pain in the ass. Since I don't have a job right now I've had to use all freeware and unlicensed images. Freeware is cool but it's not the most stable of tools. I use Mozilla's WYSIWYG HTML editor KompoZer and good old text editor Notepad ++. Basically when something didn't work in KompoZer I'd shuffle over to Notepad ++. There was quite learning curve, especially after coming from things like MoveableType/WordPress/Blogger composing that is primarily template based.
All my reviews are written using OpenOffice Writer. It works well most of the time and can do just about anything that you can do with MS Office, though it may take an extra step or digging through an extra menu. Such is the life of the open source user.
I'm especially proud of my banner image. I used images available from Wikipedia that had Creative Commons license and used GIMP 2.4 to make my banner image, and I'm really proud of it and I think it looks great!
I really recommend all the tools I list here and they do the job, even if it's a slow job. Of course a lot of that has to do with my poor web-design skills. I was able to find some great templates (HERE) and picked a nice one that was rather simple and clean.
A long time ago when I was reading about blogging and web design the two most important things I learned were that the internet is content driven and that access to content is the most important part.
In short this means that if you want people to keep coming to your site you have to stay constant with the new content (especially in the ADD world of blogging) and that simple clean site navigation allows people to get to it. So all my designs and template choices are probably considered pedestrian, if not down right boring. But you can read all the content and it's easy to access.
I know it's presumptuous to think that anyone reads this but I enjoy the work and keeps me from sinking into depression or other unpleasantness.
I'm a poster-child for the DIY (and Do It for Cheap) ethic. I hope you guys get something out of this.
Happy New Year!
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