Joel Johnson and His Penis Obsession
My two-week temporary position turned into a four-week one, then a six-week one, until Denton finally realized that my special brand of cock jokes were as good as Gizmodo deserved and made me the full-time editor. [...]
I planted myself in front of my computer from five in the morning until midnight, breaking only to shovel General Tso Chicken and delivery fajitas down my gullet. I gained thirty pounds. I couldn’t sleep at night, my back contorted with worry. My girlfriend and I barely slept together; she would gently try to coax me into relaxation, but I’d be too preoccupied with conceiving my next linkbait story to register her supplications.
I’d post 30 stories a day. Engadget would post 45. I’d post 45. Engadget would post 60. They were winning. [...]
I was fucking nuts. [...]
And I was about to be the first blogger to which Bill Gates would grant an interview. [...]
Engadget might have a small team of hardworking, talented reporters out-writing the rest of the industry and transforming the face of technology journalism, but could they insert penis references into thirty posts a day? I and my penis think not. [...]
We exchanged pleasantries which have been obliterated from my memory by terror. I sat down on the couch and removed my laptop — my brand new 12-inch PowerBook — and placed it on the coffee table between us. I will not lie and say that it did not seem like a small act of rebellion to record an interview with Bill Gates with my Apple laptop; it also felt like the twerpiest thing I could ever do and I regretted it immediately.
That sudden shame also knocked out a large portion of my snarkiest prepared questions. I literally scratched out “Does Steve Balmer eat babies?” from my notepad, leaving me with precious few questions to ask.
From Interviewing Bill Gates on Boing Boing Gadgets
I’ve read Joel Johnson at every site he’s written at for years. Probably for four years. I think he’s a great writer and I just….. like the guy. The article he wrote for BBG is worth a read. Super interesting. Cock.
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