A New Start

My previous journey into the whole "mom blogging" world turned out to be pretty pointless, as I really had nothing to add to the conversation. I wasn't crafty or "Pinterest-y", I wasn't good at cooking (still not good at it, actually), I've only got one kid currently and he doesn't do much all day besides crawl around and drool on stuff, and I have no unusual challenges or dramatic obstacles to overcome.

So, after thinking long and hard about it, I've decided to start again from scratch and talk about the one thing I'm capable of carrying on a lengthy conversation about: media. This is mostly going to be a blog about movies, but I will throw in TV shows, songs, books, and video games from time to time.

I plan on exploring movies both from an artistic perspective and from a Christian/family perspective. I'm sure there may be some objections to this, so let me clarify a few things:

First, I'm a Christian. Totally out and proud about that. But I'm also not a sheltered prude. If you think this is going to be a blog about nothing but faith-based films and Little House on the Prairie episodes, then you're way off. For one thing, I really can't stand Little House. Oh, don't get me wrong, it's a decent wholesome family show and I'm not knocking anyone who likes it. I'm saying I had a hard enough time getting through the ridiculously boring book series. I'm not going to watch it on television. Like it if you want. Just don't expect me to review it any time soon. I will however be including several faith-based movies in my reviews, in addition to the big-time blockbusters.

Second, I realize I'll probably get a few comparisons from veteran Christian parents who are familiar with Focus on the Family's Plugged In reviews. Well, while I am kind of doing something similar to what they do, I'm taking a bit of a different tack here. I enjoy the website. I endorse it wholeheartedly. I even check it a few times a year to see if a movie I'm interested in is any good. But because of who they are and what they try to do, they're a bit limited in their resources on some things. Their focus is on new films, particularly anything that's currently in theaters. This means that they review pretty much everything, even if they walk in knowing it's not going to be any good. Because they focus on the new, there are a lot of old movies that are great family films that they will probably never get to. Since I plan on reviewing stuff that I already know is worth watching (or at least family-friendly), I'm not limited to only the new. In fact, I plan on spending most of my time on older films and shows. So, just think of me as a parallel to Plugged In. We're both running in the same direction (reviewing movies for family friendliness and artistic value), we're just taking two different paths to get there.

Unlike most parental movie review sites, I'm not going to be counting all the instances of violence or bad words. I'm more interested in looking at the film (or show, or whatever) as a whole, particularly when it comes to the message it conveys.

Finally, you're free to disagree with anything I write. This is a free country after all. These reviews are strictly my opinions, and other people will have a different viewpoint. This opens things up for discussion, which is ultimately my goal with this blog: discussion. Still, even if no one ever reads this thing but me, at least I'll have the satisfaction of knowing I got my thoughts in print. It's better than nothing. :)