One

Manhattan Offender is one year old today.  So allow me to go meta for just a moment.

The first post here was a mini-biography, which seemed appropriate then.

" So, here I am, living in New York, just like I knew I would growing up as a kid in Indiana. Surely, I was the only kid in my high school with a subscription to Interview. I dreamed of wild debauchery, fun with Eurotrash, and a great life.

But this isn't the city I thought it would be. The red state tourists, the Carrie-Bradshaw wannabes and the silver spoon kids have created an environment that I didn't really expect.

I don't want this to be negative though; that's way too easy. This is a celebration of the underground, the decadent, and the free. I've created a circle around me of amazing people that should be running the world, not running from it. This is about us, and, hopefully, it's about you too."

For the most part, I've tried to stay true to this concept.  This is not a site that will ever have one million hits in a day or a week or a month.  There have been so many times Fang Mr. Offender Mr. Ex told me "did you see what Perez Hilton had to say about Hillary Duff's new album?  You should do something like that," and that I just replied with a look of "Huh?  What?  Right.  Uhh."  And it's not that I look down on mainstream culture or even dislike it.  It's just that I really don't get a lot of it, so I've chosen to try to integrate those elements that I do like (Madonna, Project Runway) with a lot of the lesser known pieces of culture that I love. 

Perhaps (or at least I hope) the best execution of this has been the MO Interview.  The concept was to turn the "softball celebrity interview" on it's ear.  The participants have varied from artists I've idolized for years to just people I've known for years.  Regardless, it has been the one thing that has consistently worked.

And not everything has worked.  The key disappointment has been the failure to create a sense of community.  For some reason on this site people prefer to email me with comments as opposed to posting them.  (Maybe it's like going to Rawhide; most people don't want to leave any evidence that they have been there either (except me, as I sort of think it rocks in it's own anachronistic way).)  Another reason could be the basic flaw of this site which has been the duality of its nature, and similarly, the duality of its author.

This is considered a personal blog, yet it doesn't get too personal.  It tries a bit of a cultural and media blog, but the scope of it is limited to things that I encounter, which, given the chaos I've been through in the past year, has been very limited.  Sometimes it's a photo blog, but my favorite subjects are people - odd and interesting and freaky and fun people which are so much more difficult to get photos of than say, office buildings.  Well-composed pieces are often followed by manic rants or hastily written tripe.  Duality.

All things considered though, I think I know where I'm going with this blog-thing.  No major changes really.  There's less linkage to other sites (mainly due to my lack of time but also as a planned transition to be more dependent on the traffic that can be generated solely on my own as opposed to the "look at me other bloggers" approach that was necessary earlier).   The retardation level is pretty steady although I've started slipping in more sly bits such as song lyrics superimposed into regular text, just to see if anyone is paying attention. 

There have been a lot of guarded defenses up in the last year.  The site started with a pen name (keith karz) and eventually that was revealed as me, Rod Townsend.  Being in a relationship often stopped me from putting too much out there as the other half was a bit more guarded, thus the lack of Mr. Offender's Fang's Mr. Ex's name ever being included.  (Sadly, this new status also means that there will be no more Montana Mondays, which is survivable/devastating.)  Being single after seven years presents a whole new set of challenges/anxieties/experiences/insight.

So the next year will let you, the readers, all four of you, in a bit more.  (I've been doing kegels to prep.)  In a big way this site is more about its readers than it is about me.  The comments, e-mails and photos I've received have made me cry in laughter (and a couple times fear).   

Once upon a time I was excited, after three months of writing to have broached 20,000 pageviews.  Now I wonder what I'm doing wrong if I don't hit 30,000 in a month.  Honestly though, I'm humbled by every visit and I thank you for visiting with me and reading my little stories.

But this isn't the city I thought it would be. The red state tourists, the Carrie-Bradshaw wannabes and the silver spoon kids have created an environment that I didn't really expect.

I don't want this to be negative though; that's way too easy. This is a celebration of the underground, the decadent, and the free. I've created a circle around me of amazing people that should be running the world, not running from it. This is about us, and, hopefully, it's about you too."

For the most part, I've tried to stay true to this concept.  This is not a site that will ever have one million hits in a day or a week or a month.  There have been so many times Fang Mr. Offender Mr. Ex told me "did you see what Perez Hilton had to say about Hillary Duff's new album?  You should do something like that," and that I just replied with a look of "Huh?  What?  Right.  Uhh."  And it's not that I look down on mainstream culture or even dislike it.  It's just that I really don't get a lot of it, so I've chosen to try to integrate those elements that I do like (Madonna, Project Runway) with a lot of the lesser known pieces of culture that I love. 

Perhaps (or at least I hope) the best execution of this has been the MO Interview.  The concept was to turn the "softball celebrity interview" on it's ear.  The participants have varied from artists I've idolized for years to just people I've known for years.  Regardless, it has been the one thing that has consistently worked.

And not everything has worked.  The key disappointment has been the failure to create a sense of community.  For some reason on this site people prefer to email me with comments as opposed to posting them.  (Maybe it's like going to Rawhide; most people don't want to leave any evidence that they have been there either (except me, as I sort of think it rocks in it's own anachronistic way).)  Another reason could be the basic flaw of this site which has been the duality of its nature, and similarly, the duality of its author.

This is considered a personal blog, yet it doesn't get too personal.  It tries a bit of a cultural and media blog, but the scope of it is limited to things that I encounter, which, given the chaos I've been through in the past year, has been very limited.  Sometimes it's a photo blog, but my favorite subjects are people - odd and interesting and freaky and fun people which are so much more difficult to get photos of than say, office buildings.  Well-composed pieces are often followed by manic rants or hastily written tripe.  Duality.

All things considered though, I think I know where I'm going with this blog-thing.  No major changes really.  There's less linkage to other sites (mainly due to my lack of time but also as a planned transition to be more dependent on the traffic that can be generated solely on my own as opposed to the "look at me other bloggers" approach that was necessary earlier).   The retardation level is pretty steady although I've started slipping in more sly bits such as song lyrics superimposed into regular text, just to see if anyone is paying attention. 

There have been a lot of guarded defenses up in the last year.  The site started with a pen name (keith karz) and eventually that was revealed as me, Rod Townsend.  Being in a relationship often stopped me from putting too much out there as the other half was a bit more guarded, thus the lack of Mr. Offender's Fang's Mr. Ex's name ever being included.  (Sadly, this new status also means that there will be no more Montana Mondays, which is survivable/devastating.)  Being single after seven years presents a whole new set of challenges/anxieties/experiences/insight.

So the next year will let you, the readers, all four of you, in a bit more.  (I've been doing kegels to prep.)  In a big way this site is more about its readers than it is about me.  The comments, e-mails and photos I've received have made me cry in laughter (and a couple times fear).   

Once upon a time I was excited, after three months of writing to have broached 20,000 pageviews.  Now I wonder what I'm doing wrong if I don't hit 30,000 in a month.  Honestly though, I'm humbled by every visit and I thank you for visiting with me and reading my little stories.