About Looking Closer - Jeffrey Overstreet

Welcome to a new & improved Looking Closer!

A quick note about the design improvements you're seeing on the website.

Looking Closer: A New Blog Awakens

Hello, class! Please find a seat, get out a piece of paper and a pen, and settle in. Welcome to the first day of a new school year. That's what it feels like for me, anyway, as the curtain goes up on a new version of Looking Closer.

Journal

Mystery and Message

Photographer and teacher Michael Demkowicz on "What We Talk About When We Talk About Art."

About Looking Closer

Put Your Name in the Credits

Breaking news! The times, they are a-changin' here at Looking Closer with Jeffrey Overstreet. For the first time in more than a decade of blogging, I'm asking for your help. I hate to do this. It's been a pleasure to volunteer my time, energy, funds,

The Auralia Thread

Sorry! (A Temporary Blog Malfunction)

If you've been checking this blog recently, then you may have seen something strange: Old blog entries suddenly reappearing as if they were brand new, with no explanation. I can explain what's happening, but only in part...

On Movies & Media

A (Temporary) Farewell to Film Review Work

Writing, I find, is a joy and an adventure. But it's not much of a job. In fact, you need another job in able to afford to do it.

About Looking Closer

This Blog's New Address

Thousands of dollars, countless hours in committee meetings, and all kinds of consumer testing later... we have a decision. This blog now has a convenient new address.

About Looking Closer

Welcome (or Welcome Back) to Looking Closer!

Well, hello to everyone here in the big Patheos.com tent! It's a privilege to be here, and thanks to the Patheos team — especially Timothy Dalrymple and Rebecca Cusey — for inviting me. This blog turned eight years old recently, and to celebrate, I've brought it to

About Looking Closer

What to Expect in This Blog's Upcoming Days

The new and improved Looking Closer blog is open for business, but there will be a lot of construction over the next several months. It's going to be strange: As I post new things, I'm also going be restoring old posts. So the blog will expand

About Looking Closer

Number 10,000

Frankly, that number doesn't mean very much when it comes to Twitter. In fact, 10,000 Tweets is probably something to be embarrassed about. But my 10,000th post on Twitter is going to be unusual... So start following me on Twitter. #10,000 is going to be

About Looking Closer

I'm moving!

Big news. Good Letters, the daily blog hosted by IMAGE journal, where many of my favorite bloggers (including Sara Zarr, Bradford Winters, A.G. Harmon, Allison Backous, and others) contribute inspiring work every month, and where my film reviews are posted twice a month, is moving! Good Letters will still

The Auralia Thread

I'm Back. Watch Out.

It's a new day at LookingCloser.org... I've just returned from The Glen Workshop, my favorite week of the year: A seven day celebration of the arts hosted by Image journal in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Readings, concerts, lectures, art exhibits, meals, conversations, parties, excursions, exercise,

About Looking Closer

God Bless Gracious Commenters

Friends and colleagues who leave comments here, consider this a little love note, prompted by things I've seen happening on several other sites today. Conversing on an online discussion board is a tricky art.Everybody knows that it's difficult to know how their words are going

Buckle up: My blog vacation is over.

I'm exhausted, but excited. I am behind schedule on several movie-review assignments, so I'll be catching up as fast as I can. I'll also be filling you in on all of the blog-worthy stories I've failed to report in recent weeks. So

The Auralia Thread

Yikes! Five years, and I Missed the Anniversary!

Last month, I had no idea that I was celebrating the five-year anniversary of this blog. But it's true. The Looking Closer Journal made its debut on May 11, 2004. The first post was a welcome. The second noted that Tilda Swinton just might be cast as the

Site Announcement

WELCOME.

Welcome to the new all-in-one site for Looking Closer. Looking for the blog? It's called "The Journal." Looking for reviews? We're transferring them as fast as we can. Most of the film reviews are up, but the music reviews... well... we've barely

The Auralia Thread

UPDATE: Change that I can blog in.

UPDATE: Have a look! Look closer! Looking Closer 2.0 is coming. Let's face it... LookingCloser.org is a mess. I started building it in 1996, if I recall, with no training in website design. The whole mess has been designed with FrontPage, basically training myself as I

The Auralia Thread

Looking Closer Breaks New Ground in September

In September, I'm rearranging my weekly schedule to find a better balance. Friends have begun to point out that I'm wearing myself out. If I keep up this pace of office work, review writing, and book writing, I'm headed for serious trouble with my

The Auralia Thread

Best Day Ever?

Thanks, everybody, for making today, Tuesday, December 4, the busiest day ever at this blog! My stat counter just updated, and today's visitor total is the highest ever (and still counting!) What's the draw? Mostly this Golden Compass-related post. Interest in the controvery is at a

Through a Screen Darkly

Hiatus!! (or Through a Book Project Darkly)

For the first time in my five-plus years writing the weekly Film Forum for Christianity Today Movies, I'm going on hiatus. The lovely and talented JOSH HURST will be piloting the craft while I'm gone, and I'm sure I'll be humbled by

Looking Elsewhere

Today's Specials: Overstreet on Hiatus! And More...

I've been away for a couple of days, preparing for my presentation at Seattle Pacific University University's UR (University Relations) Staff Retreat. The retreat was yesterday, and I had the incredible privilege of talking to about 75 SPU staff members about my history as a moviegoer,

Gratitude

Many, Many Thanks to Sarah B. and Adam M.!!

Two Looking Closer readers stepped up and showed some especially generous support for the site this month, so I'm sending this little message out to them... Thank you, Sarah B. and Adam M.! Their donations will help cover the costs of the Looking Closer site, and contribute toward

I'll be blogging a bit less this week...

A new assignment has suddenly commandeered my calendar for the rest of the week. The demands of the next few days are going to test my limits, but I am excited to try and meet the challenge. Are you curious yet? All I can say at this point is that

On Movies & Media

All Credit to Richard Seven

I can only thank Richard Seven once again for letting me be a part of Pacific Northwest Magazine. Look at the letters coming in to The Seattle Times. I hope the higher-ups take note of this and give the guy a bonus. I expected the typical Seattle anti-Christian outrage. (Ahh.

At Laaaaaaaaaaaaast!

lookingcloser.org !(or www.lookingcloser.org, if you prefer...) I've moved to an easier address. You'll see some changes made in the next few months. I'm very very pleased to finally be on my way to Chapter Two of the Looking Closer story.