This week, the role of a movie will be played by our old friend The Solute. Because the older WordPress interface is getting increasingly glitchy and nonfunctional, I’ll be posting future articles over at Media Magpies.

But while I’m excited, this is all still bittersweet. This place has been my online home for years now. If anything, I’ve always wanted to spend more time here, and I’ve rued the times that I’ve been too busy or–to be more emotionally vulnerable for a second, as annoying as that is–too depressed and anxious to participate as much as I would like. There are too many fantastic articles I read but never commented on, and too many excellent conversations that I didn’t participate in. The comments and discussion have always been a big part of the soul of this place, and I’m hoping that carries over to the new site.

I’ve spent some time recently going back through The Solute’s history, and damn, we’ve had an incredible run, haven’t we? Just for the sheer joy and satisfaction of it, we’ve collectively spent so many years exploring our passions and frustrations about art, so many years taking stories apart to see how they work. We’ve delved into mainstream and the weird with equal enthusiasm. We’ve had a billion What Did We Watch threads (and all their spinoffs) where we’ve recommended, enthused, despaired, and generally stayed a part of each other’s lives, at least in this small way. The Solute has been such a diverse collection of views and interests that I can talk about some of touchstones of my version–The Shield and Paterson, say–and know that someone else here, just as much a regular as I am, will have zipped by those conversations completely. I started listing out some of my favorite columns and essays here, but it got too long and too unwieldy. If it were up to me, this place would be up forever, so you know what? Read it all. Read everything, including the comments sections. (It might take me a year or more, but I’m going to do my best to save all of those in the world’s most intimidatingly, gloriously nerdy document. Uh, in the meantime, if you know a faster way than going page by page, let me know.)

I’ve been writing this column for a while now, and I’ve never given a more heartfelt recommendation. Even if you’re somehow discovering this article years from now and the site is old and dusty … trust me, you want to embrace The Solute, and you want to follow its community and the various things they’ve gone on to do and create.

Thanks for everything, everyone, and I hope I’ll keep seeing all of you in the future at one place or another.

The Solute is a website created in 2014. You can find it literally right here, or, if that someday fails, on the Wayback Machine.