DC FORUM Special: #DCBLOG - 1000 Posts and Counting

A Word from the Editor...
BY DC CUEVA                      

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB

And so, here we are. With this post here on a Friday in the last weeks of the dog days of summer, we have now officially reached four figures in the amount of posts that DCBLOG has been able to offer. And this can't come at a more busier and hotter time than during a California heatwave and in the midst of the busiest year for this person to follow the primary focus of this site... something that I have been following now for the past twenty years.

It was six years ago this spring that a good Twitter friend of mine who shares common Northern California roots with me, and who just got engaged to his girlfriend last month, sent me a suggestion in the DM's. There, Andrew Kirk recommended to me that, instead of blowing up everyone's timelines with live tweets of episodes of MTV Reality programming as I see it watching episodes later, just simply launch a blog where I would be able to cover them without annoying everyone else on their app... back when things were fairly calm in this world of ours.

Little did I know back then that just writing on the shows I have watched and loved, as well as some occasional stuff outside of it, would become than just a hobby on the side. Since it launched on Mother's Day weekend in May 2013, me and this DCBLOG site have grown, but yet I continue to treat it and nurture like the pet you have in your room everyday, and who devotes time, effort and focus to make it as good as it can possibly be. And both this fan and those of you in the web who read this site and share these shared passions have enjoyed a regular weekly date ever since.

Whether it's on this site or when I'm given a task outside of this universe, I give everything I have, maybe 110%, to whatever the assignment may be... and it shows when it comes to this site. It might be no secret that I might consider myself to be a hard-edged, no-nonsense kind of blogger... one who is not afraid to push people to get the job done or else, and who occasionally has used this site to call out people for their B.S. like other fans do on their social accounts. If you've seen the work of fearless journalists like 60 Minutes' Mike Wallace, then that epitomizes my drive to excellence and doing everything possible in my own right to get the story... even as the circus taking place in our nation's capital has put the media in dire straits.

But when you get down to it -- beyond the thousands of hours in these six years devoted behind the scenes to researching, to watching the episodes, compiling all the social interaction and everything that comes with this craft of writing & editing this stuff, it's the content and the outstanding work that is posted on here that matters more than anything else. DCBLOG has been able to churn out 1000 posts in the course of 75 months covering mostly these shows I watch religiously -- plus occasional off-topic and non-MTV related material such as me winning $2,000, and it has become in my mind (and in some ways, you reading this) the gold standard blog site for this MTV fandom. There's no better beat to cover, one that seems to have been tailor made for a page like this.

In the past, I've had a chance to explain how this site handles its work and detailing the approaches I take to make this site stand out in this world full of Twitter beefs, Stans, the many podcasts and webcasts that recap the shows and interview the hundreds of people we've watched for so many years, and dozens of other sites that are in this field of covering this MTV Reality beat. There's no need to rehash things from the past, but from writing about the commitment to quality, attention to detail, and an emphasis on storytelling and looking for fresh angles no other site can get, they help to define what this site is. So are the hundreds of original, well-told stories too many to mention, and being able to document the biggest moments as everyone saw it that also number in three figures.

This is not always a perfect self-profession: there are still a lot of posts that I worked on that have still not yet seen the light of day because, just like the 24-hour news cycle, things can change quite a bit and we plow along in this jungle like everyone else whenever anything comes up. Even earlier this summer, I took a break from the grind of posting things regularly to take a several weeks' hiatus in between seasons and my last vacation since, after all, I do need some time to reflect and relax before getting back into this - I am like everyone a normal guy but one who deserved some R&R. So much work put in over six years deserved to have a month's rest like I had in June.

When I was asked in a paper what my dream job would be when I was ready to graduate high school long ago, I wrote that working in journalism or in the media would be my ideal environment. Officially, that dream is still very much that: no company related to broadcasting, journalism or digital media, large or small, has yet to have this well-skilled person on their roster... but thanks to the hard work I put into this site as well as my work in the video & photo world (as seen on my YouTube and my other platforms), then it's just a matter of time before that will come along -- I do have the talent and the skills to be able to have that dream job.

For now, there is no better element for me to be in than doing what I do best: getting to have this site for all of you to see, read and enjoy my outstanding work. Being able to do this for what is now 1,000 posts in the course of the past six years & three months is a blessing, a privilege and a great pleasure. As evidenced by the messages I get frequently from social media, it's your support that makes this all happen -- and without that, reaching this milestone would not have been possible.

So, thank you for checking out this great site that keeps on getting better... it's been quite a ride, and we're not anywhere from being finished. And the best part about doing DCBLOG is: we get to begin the next 1000 posts of this incredible journey this weekend. Talk to you then.

(Mic Drop)

- I AM DC
#DCBLOG