So long, but only for now

This is my last post for True/Slant. The site has been acquired by Forbes Media and is in the process of ramping down; it will stop publishing new content on August 1, although archived blogs will remain accessible for a while. Some of the content that has found a home here will move under the Forbes umbrella. True/Slant’s excellent editorial team is already there.

Sixteen months ago I approached Lewis Dvorkin with a proposal for a blog that would explore the ways tech was inflecting pop culture, and vice versa. This was an idea that had two advantages: It was lively enough to guarantee a stream of content and analysis, and broad enough to help me maintain my own interest, even as I found my attention span crumbling under the onslaught of microcontent from sites like Twitter and Facebook. (Both of which I use every day — Twitter as a fan, Facebook as one of the grumbling millions who sort of hate it but are chained to it anyway.) Social media themselves became a popular topic on this blog, which was a little reach, but not much. Blogging about issues like the influence of Twitter helped me think harder and more clearly about the online world I move around in every day, and I’m grateful True/Slant afforded me the opportunity to do that.

Regrets? Oh, I don’t know. “Garfield,” maybe, and the fact that I published this very mean thinkpiece on Internet celebucreature iJustine at Huffington Post, not here. I suspect it got lost in the increasing clamor of HuffPo, and would have found a more appropriate audience here. I did manage to describe iJustine as “Joey Heatherton on meth,” which was a good day’s work, so there’s that. Besides, plenty of the posts I wrote here did find their audience (see left). I’m proud that three of my Top 5 posts were on The Old Spice Guy, Patton Oswalt, and “South Park.” It tells me that readers of Buzz, Boom & Sizzle have excellent taste, and I’m not just pimping myself for your applause when I say that.

{crickets}

Two last things:

1) I’m grateful to Lewis Dvorkin, Coates Bateman, the terrifyingly efficient and cheerful Andrea Spiegel, and Michael Roston for being such unfailingly encouraging people to write for. Their professionalism and good humor have made this experiment in entrepreneurial journalism a pleasure to participate in. I’m proud to have been a part of it.

Come on! This way for updates on Buzz, Boom & Sizzle!

2) This blog will return, and be hosted at the site of a major American business publication. (No more of those offshore business publications for me. I mean, “Fast Times Bangalore Inc. & Company”? What the hell was I thinking?) Arrangements for that move are ongoing, and that’s really all I can say about it right now. Follow me at Twitter for updates.

And seriously, no fooling: Thanks for reading. I’ve appreciated your comments, and I hope you’ll follow Buzz, Boom & Sizzle to [NAME REDACTED] later this year. There’s more fun to be had.