Back in the day, Dick Jameson, who used to edit Film Comment, said Bright Lights was "admirably thoughtful, well designed, all dressed up with somewhere to go!" Well, Dick, you — and readers — will be happy to hear that we finally decided to change clothes. Now we're sporting a brand new outfit that we think is even classier than that previous get-up you liked. Yes, we've joined the contemporary makeover craze, redesigning, restructuring, and recoding every single page of Bright Lights. We've also merged our popular blog, Bright Lights After Dark, with the site. All this was no mean feat, given the sheer volume of material we've put online since 1995 and the challenge of incorporating the blog. But thanks to the new crew — designer Irina Beffa (of Beffa+Bugbee Design), web developer Quimby Melton, and self-styled "code monkey" Paul Facio — it's gone much more smoothly than it had any right to. All three performed like superheroes to help launch the new mag that you "hold" in your (cyber)hands. Heartfelt thanks to this exceptionally talented gang of three. I could kiss 'em, if social restrictions, prior commitments, gender anxieties, and that pesky "character armor" identified by Wilhelm Reich didn't stand in the way! A hearty hug, too, to Patrick Morris, who added much expertise in the run-up; Jon Lanthier, who was always there to advise; and George Brown, who designed and coded Bright Lights (both print and online) until I began taking over those duties back in August 2002. We'd also like to tip our hat to our buddy Jim McDermott, a noted artist whose distinctive style can be found on banners throughout the site.

Watch for more changes as we add focus boxes (like "Meet the Author" and "VanneVision") and more (gasp) advertising on the site. Tell your friends in "the industry" or "that gated community" or anyplace plutocrats congregate these days to contact us if they wish to advertise on Bright Lights and exploit our vast, sophisticated, "with it" readership.

One request: inevitably, there will be broken links or other errors. If you find them, please let us know so we can fix them asap. We always say one of the (many) great things about web publishing is that it's put an end to that annoying little thing called the erratum slip.

Now on to "lucky" issue #67.

It's one of our biggest standalones, with lots of new writers joining the BL stalwarts in one of our most exciting issues. Let's greet some of the newbies first. Brian Michael Goss turns his eagle eye on two of Kubrick's early shorts, Flying Padre and Day of the Fight. Lindsey Hallam finds the fabulosity in "Monster Queen" Divine, with a particular focus on Pink Flamingos. Nicholas Green goes all Ponce de Leon on us to discover a new "new wave" in France's sex 'n horror flicks like Martyrs and À l'intérieur. Violet Glaze offers a snappy take on why, in cinema at least, the eyes — well, blue ones — do indeed "have it." Jason Klorfein dives into the work of one of the most unusual of today's auteurs, Anna Biller of Viva fame, interviewing her and writing up her exotic retro films. Steve Johnson's an old friend and the creator of the legendary zine Delirious. Inexplicably, we've never featured his work until now, and are happy to do so, in the form of a penetrating interview with documentarian George Hickenlooper. Heather Addison makes an ideal tour guide of the misogyny of Perfume, book and movie. Finally, Santiago Rubin de Celis contributes one of Rod Steiger's final interviews (conducted four months before his death), and it's a good one. (Hint: He hated Sam Fuller!) Welcome, comrades!

BL regulars contributed the lion's share of goodies this time. Lesley Chow has penned a fascinating dual portrait of critics Judith Williamson and James Wolcott. Lesley also confronts the confusions of Oliver Stone's W. Andrew Grossman does a dazzling rescue act on Fassbinder's brilliant and surely misunderstood Satan's Brew. Dave Saunders tells you what you need to know about Renoir's Toni and a few other things. Jerry Kutner discusses the evocative statuary of Val Lewton's films in a thoughtful photo-essay. Bob Castle amusingly rails against the madness of attaching star ratings to movies. Perhaps Smokey and the Bandit is "the Citizen Kane of C.B. movies," Bob!

It's been impossible to avoid Avatar, so we just said "fuck it" and joined the parade with two takes on the film. See how much you like it after reading authoritative smackdowns by Alan Vanneman and Lee Weston Sabo. Alan also tackles, in his inimitable style, television's 30 Rock, Belle of New York (the latest in his Balzac-like saga on Fred Astaire's films), and the doc The Jazz Baroness. Lee was equally productive this time with a wide-ranging analysis of the Coen brothers and their place in the tradition of Jewish humor (with special attention to A Serious Man) and a review of The Fantastic Mr. Fox, in which he finds much to love. Jay Rothermel's razor-sharp style and social consciousness inform reviews of the 1989 James Bond film Licence to Kill and The Mist, the tragically bad 2007 film adaptation of Stephen King's 1980 allegory.

Erich Kuersten works "hardcore feminist" ground in a provocative piece called "Toward a New Cinema of Castration." (Move over, Valerie Solanas!) Erich also took time out for reading, and the result is a fine two-fer review of Hammer Glamour and Femme Fatale. Our campaign to get readers to, you know, read accounts for three other book reviews this issue: Matthew Kennedy waxing witty on Leslie Caron's memoir, Thank Heaven; and Alan Vanneman laying the lorgnette on two of his favorite subjects: Hitchcock (David Thomson's The Moment of Psycho) and Chaplin (Simon Louvish's Chaplin: The Tramp's Odyssey).

Paranormal Activity occasioned a lot of commentary, but we think Brian Grady's short but pithy analysis is not one you'll find elsewhere. David L. Pike takes us on The Road in a probing discussion of that film.

Call us star-struck (we just finished a Noah Beery, Jr. festival and are still a bit giddy), but we've got a whopping five actor profiles this issue. Serendipity must have inspired Dan Callahan and Imogen Smith to "do" Mary Astor at the same time, but both are fine jobs and different enough that we decided to feature both. Can we ever really have enough Mary Astor? Dan also wrote up poor, doomed Rudolph Valentino this time, and Christopher Sandford offers a winning mini-bio on the great David Niven.

Gordon Thomas conveys his passion for silent and world cinema (sometimes both in one film) in his regular column "Bright Sights" and a wonderful discussion of Lang's Dr. Mabuse, der Spieler and the intriguing silent Soviet oddity Miss Mend. Matt Sorrento managed to chat up Guillermo Arriaga on The Burning Plain and more. Matt also contributes a pointed analysis of the pre-code classic I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang. Furthermore, he let us reprint his interview "Bright Lights, Big Cine" with yours truly that originally appeared in Film Threat and Identity Theory. Thanks, Matt!

We hope you enjoy the new Bright Lights. Let us know what you think.