Looks like my evil plan to become the world’s worst blogger has come to pass; although it turns out that being the world’s worst blogger just means never writing anything. Consequently, me and the Queen of England are total badasses.
I feel bad about this state of affairs, and friends, it’s time to end the pain. I need to blog or get off the site, so it’s time to retire Radiation. Those heady days when I had a surprising amount to say about television are behind me; some of you will know that all that energy has been used for my day job at the Listener, writing what’s known in the trade as a shitload of copy, as well as overseeing the TV listings. It doesn’t leave much brain-space and I have to say, my blogging mojo has been on the blink. Any left-over energy has been going into my actual real life. You remember, the one that exists outside the internet.
But in cyberspace, no-one can ever really leave. Lately, the stately New Zealand Listener has been coming to grips with this newfangled internet thingy, and I, a late-forties mother of two from Pt Chev, am exactly the right person to lead the charge. There is a new, fancy, 21st-century website, with actual things to read. It’s not out of the question that Radiation could be resurrected in another form (note to self: try not to make promises you may be unable to keep). There are going to be “comments” and “online only” content. Like those cute kittehs, I will be in ur internets, edtng ur webzite.
It’s been about nine years since Russ and I sat in our old kitchen trying to think of names for a website that could house a new version of Hard News. Russ came up with the name although, from memory, publicaddress.com was taken, but not the slightly less cool .net. These days, when IP addresses are running out, it doesn’t matter. I’ve been happy to be part of this community of blogs, and the site has had unexpected spin-offs for a lot of the writers. He likes to pick ’em, does Russ, and he had confidence in me even when I didn’t.
So thanks to all of the bloggers, commenters, Twitterers, clever monkeys and the webheads at Cactuslab who literally make it possible. Thanks to my sweetheart, and the conversation that has been going on since we were at school (true!). See ya over at the Listener.