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Birthday Thanks

Posted: November 21, 2005

By Kevin Forest Moreau, Editor-in-Chief

With all the big, terrible things going on right now -- war, political scandals, people struggling to rebuild their lives in the aftermath of disastrous hurricanes, Madonna releasing another album -- smaller, happier events tend to get overlooked. One such event that happened earlier this month was, believe it or not, the fourth anniversary of Shaking Through.

Yep, it's been a little more than four years now since Laurence Station and myself started bringing you up to speed on the movies, music, books and comics worth taking note of, as well as the ones worth avoiding. And although there's no shortage of pop-cultural sites out there competing for your time and attention, you've continued to patronize Shaking Through, to come to us for the straight dope. And your numbers have grown: In October, we averaged 1,300 unique visits per day, nearly double October 2004's numbers. This near-doubling trend has held since our inception.

True, those numbers may not be much by the standards of national magazines, or fully staffed music-review sites named after farming implements, but I think it's pretty impressive for a part-time labor of love run by two guys with demanding day jobs and full, busy lives. Yes, we get help -- from our skewed commentator and B-movie maven Clemenza and our action-movie expert Vincenzo; from our resident music and comic geek the Gentleman; and from occasional contributors. But Shaking Through rests squarely on the shoulders of Station and myself, which is both a curse (thanks for being patient during those intermittent lulls between updates) and a blessing (in that the site has retained a distinct identity due to a lack of cooks overwhelming the broth).

But enough about us. With Thanksgiving looming large as I write this, we here at Shaking Through World Headquarters want to dedicate this belated birthday card not to ourselves, but to you, the visitors who keep us posting -- and keep us humble. One reader recently told me that when he peruses the music reviews over on Metacritic, he saves ours until last, to get the unvarnished truth. That kind of testimonial means a lot to us, and we want you to know it. As corny as it sounds, we're grateful for your presence, because otherwise this is just a masturbatory exercise that dominates our e-mails and instant messages, and occasionally annoys our patient wives and families, with no payoff.

If you've read any of our past birthday or Thanksgiving columns, then you know where this is headed, but I'll say it anyway: We'll strive to continue providing "humorous and insightful commentary on matters of pop-cultural relevance" as long as you're here to read it, and we welcome -- nay, encourage -- nay, crave -- your feedback. Drop us a line and let us know what you'd like to see more (or less) of; we do read these e-mails and we carefully consider each one. And with that, I'll cut this short. Thanks for stopping by, and we'll see you soon. Oh, and please pass the cornbread.

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