I’m always sad when I learn about a writer whom I admire saying goodbye to his or her website. Obviously, it’s sadder when it involves someone actually dying, and that’s certainly not the case here. (In fact, it appears some of the opposite end of the life spectrum is involved.) Still, I just learned tonight that Liz Penn (a/k/a Dana Stevens) has decided that she is just too busy to continue writing her great site The High Sign.
OK, so the fact is, she hasn’t been writing on the site too much anyway, and why should she? It was never really a traditional blog — her intent was always to write one post/one review a week — and the quality of her writing was good enough to basically convince Slate and the New York Times to pay her to write TV and film reviews. So it’s hard to be sad for her or us when really it seems like everything’s coming up roses and she produces more content in those two professional outlets than she ever did on The High Sign.
I remember when I first discovered her site and read her film reviews, I thought to myself, “Hell, why doesn’t the Times hire her?” She writes circles around Manohla and especially Mr. Scott. Even when I’ve disagreed with Dana/Liz, at least I’ve always understood her arguments and appreciated her consistent ability to make a point and take a stance while never being pretentious and showy. (Seriously, she’s like the anti-AO Scott.)
So while the demise of The High Sign (at least for now) is a loss, at least we still have Dana. Personally, I’m actually hoping that soon she will be unable to write the leftover film reviews for the Times. With David Edelstein’s pending move to New York magazine, Slate could do much worse than switching Dana’s beat from television to film. I have no reason to believe that will happen, but I’m keeping my fingers crossed nonetheless.
Out of Focus 