....LMB: "Happy Birthday LMB!"....

April 14, 2003

The Lying Media Bastards weblog turns one year old today.

You can read that first anemic post here.

Been an odd year for sure. Odd and depressing. And maddening, don't forget maddening. Jeez, I've been writing about the US plan to invade Iraq for almost a solid year now (and ranting about it on my radio show for even longer). I should pick a new, more enjoyable topic. Like ice cream. Yes, from now on, all LMB entries will be about ice cream.

I had been away for a while. I'd spent several years working on a newsletter called "NewsWatch" (yes, sucky name, thanks), but stopped back in 1999 when overwhelmed by grad skool. After a long hiatus, I returned to the quasi-journalism biz after 9-11, because I realized that the people who were the most frightened were the ones who were the least informed. I felt that I could help educate folks about the world around them, and maybe they wouldn't be so fearful.

I created StrayBulletins.com, which was intended as a compendium of investigative news articles. LyingMediaBastards.com was to be a place to let off steam, to set aside the objectivity and call a motherfucker a motherfucker.

As time passed, I found that I had less and less time to spend on the sort of research that SB articles would require. Add to that the fact that LMB was becoming pretty damn popular, and that LMB articles were a hell of a lot more fun to write, and, well... SB languished while LMB bloomed.

The LMB site is intended as a way of spreading news that I think is important that I don't think many people are hearing, and a way of venting my fury at some of this news. Every day cuts me to the bone, so the least I can do is bleed on my keyboard for y'all.

Some folks lately have accused me of bias here on the site. Duh. I write about what I think is important, about what makes me angry, and about what makes me laugh. All of those are highly subjective. I work on the assumption that my readers consume heaps of mainstream media, and feel that my site is a good counterbalancing supplement to that.

Lots of people like LMB, which makes me feel good (half a million hits since I moved the blog to its own domain in early May)(which sounds so impressive, until you learn what a lousy and inaccurate statistic "hits" is). I'd probably be doing this even if no one read it, but the visits and emails help validate my work (and stroke my ego). Thanks for that. Thanks for reading.

On Emma's site today, she talks about blogs as collectives, that single weblogs are unimpressive, but the way that your brain intersects with the various blogs that you read in a day changes the way you understand the news of the day. Interesting point. I have no real interest in musing on the nature of weblogs right now, so that'll have to do.

I'll also remind you that there is a Lying Media Bastards radio show. Every week. Mondays. 2-4pm PST. Hosted by me. About 75% music, about 25% the sort of material that you'd see on the site. The music's probably about 60% political music. Maybe 50% punk and hard rock, 30% "alternative", 20% rap. I think it's a very good show, but, well, bias. Listen to it online at KillRadio.org, or on the air in Los Angeles at 104.7 FM (note: it's not broadcast by Kill Radio, it's downloaded and rebroadcast over the air by some mysterious radio pirate in the L.A. area. Don't know who they are, but I appreciate the effort).

If you have money burning a hole in your pocket, and you want to get me a congratulatory (and educational) gift, you can click here for my "wish list" (don't worry, that's the first and only time I'll plug that). Also, I'm putting a lot of thought into redesigning the site. If any skilled muchacho or muchacha would like to volunteer to help me with that, please drop me an email.

I should probably put a bunch of "thank-yous" in here, but my brain is seriously misfiring at this time of night. So my lazy-ass'll just link to all the thank-yous and fuck-yous from my 2002 close-out post.

It's been a rough month for me, that could possibly turn into a rough year. But I'll do my best to keep the site in the manner to which you've become accustomed.

Thanks for reading.

[edit]

In a bizarre coincidence, fellow lefty blog The Rittenhouse Review also turns one year old today.

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