function theme($template_file, $v = array()) {
  if (!file_exists("./$template_file")) {
  	return "[$template_file does not exist]";
  }
  if (is_array($v)) {
	  extract($v, EXTR_SKIP);  			// Extract the variables to a local namespace
  }
  ob_start();                      // Start output buffering
  include "./$template_file";      // Include the template file
  $contents = ob_get_contents();   // Get the contents of the buffer
  ob_end_clean();                  // End buffering and discard
  return $contents;                // Return the contents
}