The Sound of the Crowd

This blog is struck. Lately it just seems harder and harder to keep the things that are mine, mine. Ink 19 editor and publisher Ian Koss wants to integrate my blog with the rest of the Ink 19 site, and this means that outside design and outside linking will be imposed on it. I don’t want him to. But as he’s the one paying the bills and I’m only the one providing 100% of the content, he’s got the big club.

To those of you who’ve enjoyed the blog, thanks. If you don’t already know I’ve got your email address, feel free to write me a note at ben@ink19.com if you’d like to know if or when I go into business for myself with another blog.

I dunno if I will or not…this has left me with a real bad taste in my mouth.

And unfortunately, the news won’t change much while I’m gone:

No one will want to represent me as a screenwriter.
People who were important voices in my childhood will die.
President Bush’s ratings will continue to sag.
But the “MSM” will continue to present him as a popular, well-loved President.
Republicans will remain hypocrites.
Iraq will remain a quagmire.
I’ll still have songs that reflect how desperately unhappy I am running through my head, 24/7. I just won’t post the lyrics anymore.
Homophobia and gay-bashing, virtual or literal, will still be on the rise. Doonesbury will still be scathing satire and Madonna fans will still be pathetic and slow.

Here’s just a few other places to get your news in the future:

Doonesbury

Orcinus

Political Wire

Pandagon

Mark Evanier

Goodbye.

In June of last year, I made an entry to this blog criticizing Madonna for what I saw as her desperate attempt to remain controversial, relevant and influential past her sell-by date.

Well, it seems that a local Madonna fan–Ben Creekmore, Star Security Officer, Pacific Place Plaza and Theatre, Seattle, Washington–just is not having that. He’s posted a reply to my entry which is notable as much for its literacy as its timeliness.

Maybe it is time to go.

Q. Isn’t blogging basically for angry, semi-employed losers who are too un-talented or too lazy to get real jobs in journalism?

A. What?

Q. I mean, if the market really valued what you have to say, wouldn’t someone pay you for it?

A. Are you kidding? Advertisers are banging down our doors!

Q. To reach whom? The fellow crackpots who have time to respond to your posts?

–Doonesbury