Goodbye, East/West. Things fall apart; the center cannot hold. Because there were two of you, and because you guys knew how to make yourselves stand out from the crowd and garner attention, and because of the time and energy you guys put into finding links and writing thinks, you guys became the de facto center of the gay blogging community. The one-stop shop for tops and pops and mops. Philo’s warm squishy new-agey Californianess always contrasted nicely with Choire’s crunchy nutty New Yorkathon. It was like a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup on crack and alcohol.

I’ve only met Philo once, and he seemed like a really nice guy. As for Choire, he’s really nice too. Ever since I first met him about two years ago, though, I’ve never been able to get a good read on him. I thought he was one thing, and then he turned into another thing, and then he turned into something else entirely. In fact, this part of his tribute to East/West leapt out at me:

Sometimes there were so many levels of irony in the East West soup I didn’t even know what I actually thought. Neither did readers, sometimes: irony, like sarcasm, doesn’t always play without vocal intonation or facial expression. I also didn’t know after a while if I was making fun of myself or not. Finally, I stopped caring, and let the good times roll.

Maybe it’s all those layers of irony that confused me.

Good luck in your future endeavors, guys. I’ll be reading.
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