Happy Birthday...and Hello To My New Blog

Below is my Shotgun Reviews goodbye, copied in full. I'll be hosting my vlogs here and will probably let myself be even more opinionated now that no one can possibly be caught in the crossfire.

By the time any of you read this, it will be February 5th. My 33rd birthday and a bittersweet one. Why?

Because I am taking a sabbatical from Shotgun Reviews and have asked that my account at Newsarama.com be closed (which was honored by the site administrator).

Why did I resign? I'd like to think it is because I have principles, while others would probably suggest I just have a big mouth and don't know when to shut it.

I had what amounted to a largely civil discussion with a writer about the WGA strike. During that discussion, another writer (one who I've been getting continued requests to call because he wants to tell me how I was wrong in my review of his work) appeared and kind of lowered the level of discourse, in my opinion. It agitated me to the point that I took things up a notch and reported the WGA writer for what I believed to be actions detrimental to the ongoing writers' strike.

This upset more than a few people. I mean REALLY upset people.

I was accused of trying to damage someone's career. I'd submit that, if my report led to any damage of a career, it was the ACTIONS that I was reporting that would be to blame for any damage. It would be like suggesting calling in a crime tip damaged the criminal's life, instead of, you know, the crime they committed.

So, I am not apologetic for reporting it. Given the people that got upset about the whole event, it would appear that I should have just followed the example of at least one of those writers and just reported it without publicly admitting to it. Because, you know, some very important people got upset. Unfortunately, that carried over to people who weren't responsible for my actions and people my actions weren't meant to represent at all.

I don't work for Newsarama. I haven't for awhile, actually. My reviews appear here on Shotgun, not on Newsarama. Troy advertises them in the column each week, but he advertises other things that aren't affiliated with Newsarama, too. Perception is the problem, though. People still perceive me to work for Newsarama. My interview of Raven Gregory, turned in as a favor and initially meant to run months ago, didn't help that perception.

So, rather than let my principles hurt anyone I considered to be a friend, I told Matt Brady that I'd be happy to take some time off so that maybe there could be a change in perception...a realization that I don't actually work for Newsarama anymore. I felt, in fact, that it was a principled thing to do. Matt begrudgingly accepted this offer.

It has been mentioned to me that my speaking my mind across the internet while a member of Shotgun might reflect poorly on the team. Let me be clear: this is not Troy Brownfield's opinion. I have nothing but love for Troy and Matt. They are class acts and I still like to consider them friends. But I don't want my principles to hurt anyone else and I'm not willing to just stifle my thoughts and opinions, either. Again, neither Matt Brady or Troy Brownfield have actually asked me to keep my mouth shut. I fear, however, that others will continue to hold my actions against both of them if I continue to speak my mind while being affiliated in any way with their fine sites.

Again, having principles means taking a stand for what you believe in. It doesn't mean forcing others to suffer for those stances, though.

I'll be honoring my commitment to the debate with Steve Ekstrom over Marvel's track record of outright lying to their readers. After that...who knows? I've enjoyed my time here, but, if I had to guess, I'd say the sabbatical won't be ended anytime soon.

Thank you all for being such great people to work with. Thank you to the readers who checked out my blogs and sometimes commented on them. Good luck to you all...and God bless.

PS - I'll probably continue doing vlogs. I'm scared to see how few views I'll actually get, but you can find them at http://www.youtube.com/khuxford if you'd like. Just in case you have insomnia and need a non-addicting sleep aid. Works well, from what I hear.