OT: If you're having a hard time figuring out what to do while waiting for my clearly brilliant reviews, I strongly encourage you to play 2001's Silent Hill 2 (watch this opening and then this trailer) on your preferred system (Xbox/Xbox 360/PS2/PC). I recently played through it for the first time, and it has a seriously amazing story. Now go forth. Read. Play. Go.

In the meantime, you can expect another couple reviews hopefully sometime in the next week or two. I can promise all of you that the wait for both the new review and the upcoming launch will be worth the wait! :)

It's been awhile, gentle readers, and I'm happy to be back. Acknowledging the significant gap between my newest review and my last one, I've decided to hit the reset button and start over on season four. I hope you like the result.

For your consumption: my review of the season four premiere episode "Deep Down" [4x01].

On a side note, I've heard from the Powers That Be that a certain real Ryan over at the Angel site might just be planning a coup against the Ryan that doesn't review anymore! Good news, indeed. Head over there for some more illuminating information.

I must confess that I did not put this much work into the site simply for the sake of my administrative experience and your reading experience. The truth of the matter is that I have plans to build out many more sites like mine for other shows to be reviewed, very likely by other people. Fortunately, you guys have gotten the benefit of me using this site as a web development playground over the years. I'd like to spend a moment to specifically point some of these upgrades out:

• A vastly improved site splash image and navigation section.
• A complete visual re-design that, I feel, introduced a bit of professionalism to what was previously a very amatuer-looking site.
• A re-written code base that helped increase site efficiency while allowing me, as an administrator, to much more easily put up new content.
• A comment system that has also now been improved to use AJAX technology for posting without needing the page to reload. Also new is the ability to preview a comment and leave comments on individual articles.
• A slew of unique Review Extras, such as the new Site Search, the Today's Comments page, a Random Episode Generator, and a Buffy Writer/Director Episode Search.
• Some smaller touches that may have gone unnoticed, such as the fact that the navigation at the top and bottom of reviews now also provides instant access to the previous season review, and the current season's comprehensive review.
• A Podcast! And yes, you can expect some new podcasts down the stretch.
• A News Archive that allows you to filter by year and link to individual news posts.
• Dark and light color schemes (in the top-left corner of every page) that will remember your preference.
• An overall more visual and organizationally consistent design.

All those items only begin to describe the effort and little touches I've made to this site over the years. As I'm nearing the end of this series, I just wanted to spend a moment to look back on what has been accomplished besides simply putting out quality reviews. Another reason why I'm bringing it up now is that I've finished almost everything I wanted to do with the site, design-wise. I feel it's nearing the point where the code is flexible enough to withstand very different-looking sites while providing minimal effort to the reviewer.

Now that this work is pretty much complete, I'll be that much more focused on bringing all of you reviews to the final episodes of this brilliant series. Expect a new review up sometime in the next few days.

If you have any thoughts or feelings about the evolution of this site, feel free to let me know via e-mail or forum post! I'd love to hear what other, not-me, people think. :)

My Season 7 reviews have started! Go consume some useful "Lessons" [7x01] from the most important person... that wrote a review for this site tonight. Also, take note of a new feature added to the top-left corner of every page on the site. You can now switch from the default "dark" color scheme to a light color scheme (for those of you that prefer dark text on a light background) by clicking on the appropiate link. Your selection will be 'remembered' by the browser so that when you navigate to other pages and/or return to the site at another time, the styling you chose will remain the same. You can switch between the two as much as you desire.

So, to wrap this news post up: S7 reviews are starting this week, go watch Dollhouse this Friday, and I'm a huge code monkey. You'll be hearing from me again soon!

The reason for my absence is stark: I've simply had other, bigger priorities to contend with, and that's why it's been a staggering 6 (wait, tabulation monkey says 7!) 7 months since I last posted a review. The hordes of daily responsibilities have been multiplying like bunnies, gentle readers, and I need not qualify just how trampley the hordes can get. In addition to an increasingly difficult academic career I've also had to take up a job on the side (so, you know, someone pays me) while performing a large amount of extra-curricular work to ensure a future for myself in which I can afford to eat.

The funereal languor that's befallen the site in the meantime is regrettable, to say the least. I miss you all. I miss stirring the trifle pot of internet controversy and telling people that I write for the Web 2.0. Had I realized there was still such an abundance of interest in my reviews I would have accounted for myself sooner.

For this ignorant disregard above all else, I offer my humblest apologies.

But even in the midst of these apologies, I have to be stark: I just won't be able to continue reviewing until a few things have been cleared off my plate. The commitments I hold, not only to my academic and professional careers, but to my family, loved ones and friends, have to come before anything else.

What I will do in the mean time is make a greater effort to be visible on the forums and keep the front page updated with "progress reports" about when I'll be reviewing again.

Carpe Noctem, dear readers. We'll meet again soon.

• Back-end administrative templates, which will make it even easier for me to post reviews/news/articles from wherever I am.
• A toggleable "light" color scheme. There have been a few people who have expressed that the light text over the dark background is hard on their eyes. This will give readers an option.
• A limited amount of advertisements. This is hopefully a way for me to make a little extra money from the work I've put into this site. These will also likely play into a larger expansion scheme I have cooking post-Buffy. Rest assured that the ads will be fairly limited to content related to what you're reading, and I will not have any annoying ads including pop-ups or flash ads. Additionally, there won't be ads plastered all over the site. I'm talking about a few smallish ads to buy mostly Whedon stuff. I'll reveal more details about this when I have them myself.
• Moving all my reviews into a database. I might not be able to get to this until later, but doing this will open up my playbook of features. For example, searching the site in general would be enchanced by this change.
• A brand new podcast that focuses on song choices throughout Buffy and how they relate to the growth of the characters.

Before any of that happens, though, you'll have four -- dare I say -- excellent reviews to consume. Good times are ahead for this site! :)