March 6th, 2003:

In order to perpetuate my laziness in developing my own system for content management I’ve evaluated yet another product: Drupal v4.1.0.

I didn’t bother trying to make a theme or alter the look of the output, so I can’t really comment on the usability of that portion of the system. However, the rest of it seems to work pretty well. The default output is pretty clean and is fairly easy to navigate. It is very featureful and would suit the needs of any group or community, large or small, pretty well.

Unfortunately, most of its features I don’t need. And the few that I do need don’t really add any flexibility over the functionality I have now with Movable Type. So, I won’t be digging much deeper into it.

However, if you need a method to allow a group of people to contribute information and organize it in an easy to manage fashion, Drupal might just be the tool for you.

Smarty version 2.5.0 RC1 has been released. Lots of new tricks, code clean ups, variable modifiers and features.

All $smarty vars can now be dynamic, such as $smarty.get.$foo. A new class function get_function_object() gets you a reference to an assigned object, useful within your own custom functions. append() can now merge as well as append with a third optional attribute. A new class function get_config_vars() was added, and get_template_vars() can now be used to get individual vars. Full variable syntax is now supported within double quotes via a backtick (`) syntax. Files created by smarty are now written to a tmp file then renamed to avoid file lock retention. html_radios, html_checkboxes, html_table, html_image, nl2br functions added.

Get it, test it, love it, use it.

Through some conspiracy in planet alignment, two publications that I read on a daily basis mentioned Marcel Duchamp today. Marcel Duchamp was an artist, or so they say. While, according to his fans, he has created many masterful works of art, the one piece that really made his name known, even to the not-so-artsy world, was entitled “Fountain”.

“Fountain”, currently held by the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, is very simple in design. It is merely a lavatory urinal acquired from J. L. Mott Iron Works. Now, obviously, someone can’t merely buy something from a manufacturer and submit it as art, no one would accept that. So, instead, Duchamp rotated the urinal ninety degrees from its useful position and wrote the words “R. Mutt 1917″ along the side.

In contrast, Michael Galkovsky, writer and photographer for The Morning News published a photographic piece with a similar theme entitled “Toilets”. It is a sequence of 17 public bathrooms photographed around Austin, Texas.

I’d like you all to participate in a small exercise in art appreciation.

First, take a few minutes to analyze Duchamp’s “Fountain“. Because his art is so genius it may be difficult to understand at first, so I offer you these tips to help the process along. As you are doing so, think about how it makes you feel and what it means to you. Consider how it might be perceived by someone of the opposite sex. Consider how it might be perceived by someone much younger or older than yourself. Consider how it might feel to actually use the urinal in its current position (women: for this portion you are welcome to force your husband, significant other, best friend, or random male stranger to allow you to hold it for them so you can experience a urinal first hand). Go now. Don’t return until you’re finished.

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Now examine Galkovsky’s “Toilets“. I’ll leave you to your own on this one. Go now.

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At this point, I’m sure it’s clear to you, my dear readers, who the artist is. Taking photographs of a bunch of dirty bathrooms that someone else made isn’t art. The bathrooms were already designed. Galkovsky isn’t even responsible for making them dirty. On the other hand, Duchamp’s work is stunning and amazing. Who, other than the genius that is Duchamp, would have thought to rotate a urinal ninety degrees? The weight of his social and political statement is overwhelming. And the inscription Duchamp artfully placed on it is nothing less than beautiful.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this lesson in art appreciation. Feel free to discuss your newfound knowledge and new appreciation for Marcel Duchamp.