I Guess There Is No One To Blame. We're Leaving Ground. Will Things Ever Be The Same Again?

This is, with apologies to Europe, The Final Countdown. It's the final countdown. The final countdown. The final countdown ... ohh ho ohh.

But it's not the end. The links below will always lead you my stuff, and, if anything changes, I can still update it all here. So...

FEEDS! Yes, as some have asked, there is a feed just for my stuff. (It's not perfect, though. Every so often something else get mixed in by mistake.) Here it is: http://rss.starpulse.com/news/xmlsrv/rss2.php?blog=2&cat=92

If you're not a direct feed kind of person, there is always this direct link: http://www.starpulse.com/news/index.php?s=Mike+Ryan&sentence=sentence&submit=Search

And, as always, maybe the best way, there's Twitter. I ALWAYS link to my stuff and I take questions and suggestions for upcoming projects. Which you can subscribe to right here: http://twitter.com/michaelwryan

So, that's that. Honestly, I loved this blog and I appreciate everyone who was a regular reader. I appreciate the people who put up with my "questionable" grammar at the beginning and gave me time to find a voice that, hopefully, is enjoyable to read. And, yes, thanks to Gawker.com who, without, I would sill be sitting here writing (actually, probably not) to ten visitors a day. And with that ... after two and a half years ... after 650 posts ... Midwesterner's Guide is now closed.

The Love You Take is Equal To The Love ... You Make

This is a happy day for me. This is the end of Midwesterners's Guide to Living in New York City -- and yes, we all know this site really ended many months ago -- but, hey, I thought it deserved a proper sendoff. (Though, this is not the last post, there will be one more with a couple of links.) Now, why is this a happy day? Because I was hired full time by a website to write for a living. Pretty insane. And, you know what? That was never the goal (mostly because I deemed it impossible).

My goal was, honestly, to use this site as an outlet for some creative juices that I did not have the ability to expunge at my job at the current time. I mean, for Christ's sake, I worked for a fucking insurance company. I'm not making this up: some of the funniest people I've ever met in my life worked for this company, but it is the definition of "soul crushing" if there ever was one. At least for me. So, in early 2007, I started this blog.

I have a lot of mixed feelings about it (other than the full time writing gig, no mixed feelings there). I met A LOT of people through this blog. A lot. And for quite some time I considered them my friends. Hey, we were all unpaid blogspot.com/typepad bloggers who thought we were a lot more important than we actually were. Oh My God, we're writing on the Internet! To be honest: In the realm of PERSONAL blogs, yes, a lot of ours were quite popular. And we could drink!!! But, fuel for the ego is never a good reason to become friends with someone.

Today, I have maybe three or four people that I consider friends from the entire experience. That's it. At one time I would have said 20. Funny, people just drop others at the drop of a hat with no explanation. In fact, I saw relationships deteriorate worse than any others in my life ... it took one person two months to even tell the person he/she was dating that it was over. Why is this? Because we had personal blogs! Having a blog at all, even some minuscule piece of shit blogspot blog like this one or any other one takes quite an ego to create. In other words: If you have a blog... there is something wrong with you. Seriously. And I'm all sorts of fucked up so this makes perfect sense to me.

Yesterday was one of the greatest days of my life. Only one of my (non-paid) blogger friends congratulated me on getting a full time gig. I have no idea why that is. I received accolades from every walk of life besides them. I'll assume, for now, that they didn't know. Could be true. But, if not, it shows you the ego involved. (And, yeah, I do not exclude myself. I have a HUGE ego. And if it was someone else, I might be saying the same thing, "Hey.. I'm better than that guy! Why him and not me!!" Though, I like to think I'm, at least, a good friend. Maybe not. Probably not.)

I quit my corporate job in August of 2007 looking for this. Now, it's here. Look, I know how lucky I am to have a paying writing job but, at the same time, I've worked my fucking ass off to get it. So ... this is it. This is the end of the blog that started it all for me. I feel like the last episode of "One Day At A Time" when the whole family moves out of the apartment and turns the light off at the end.

"This is it. This is it. This is life, the one you get. So go and have a ball.
This is it. This is it, Straight ahead and rest assured You can't be sure at
all. So while you're here enjoy the view Keep on doing what you do So hold on
tight we'll muddle through One day at a time, One day at a time."

This site meant the world to me. It was mine. I built it. Does that make sense? Even now, I'm a professional writer but this was my site. But, all things must pass. Hey: two and a half years is a good run. And most blogs die of neglect, not moving on to better things, right? I'm obviously still around, so, please still read my stuff on the other website and Twitter. But, until then, I leave you with one last thought ...

Woody Allen and Larry David

Unbelievably I got to say some words in the form of a question to Woody Allen and he looked at me and said words back. May be a highlight of my life.

Woody Allen and Larry David discuss Whatever Works

"Joe Buck Live" in print, on the web

We just posted an interview I did with lead FOX Sports announcer (and fellow St. Louisan) Joe Buck in which he discusses his new HBO show and talks about his critics, such as Bill Simmons.

INTERVIEW WITH JOE BUCK

Zack Attack

Last night I was at Jimmy Fallon's show to watch the return of Zack Morris. After the show, I did this interview with Mark-Paul Gosselaar about returning as Zack.

Mike: When did you first hear Jimmy Fallon was trying to put together a "Saved by the Bell" reunion?

Mark-Paul Gosselaar: I think it was just like everyone else, I didn't see the show but I think it was on one of his first shows that he did. But I heard about it online. We found out kind of like the rest of everyone. My first reaction was, "Dude, Fallon, you're such a motherfucker." In a funny way and that's exactly what I said to him, "You f*cking motherfucker, you bastard, you. You're going to make me do something." It's a challenge. It's when somebody does something and you go, "Okay, what are we going to do here that people are going to like and enjoy?" READ MORE

Hungover

"I'm psyched for you to see this movie, I think you're going to like it. We're really proud of it." Ed Helms to me in a recent interview about "The Hangover."

One of the biggest compliments I can give to a film that I'm reviewing is that I would pay money -- after just seeing it for free -- to see it again. The Hangover, without question, is one of these films and I guarantee that I will see it again. So, yes, Ed Helms, you were absolutely correct: I will try, now, to express in words how much I loved this film. Seriously, I loved the hell out of The Hangover. READ MORE

The Nard Dog

My new interview with Ed Helms from "The Hangover" and "The Office."

Mike: What was it like working with The Champ?

Ed Helms: Unbelievable! It's. Mike. Tyson. for Christ's sake! READ MORE