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Twenty Years Later
Many have done it better, few have done it longer
A note from management
The world online was a much different place in 2005. If you logged on back then you did so on a computer, as God intended, probably over a phoneline, maybe using a service provider installed off a CD-ROM that came with the junk mail. There was no Twitter, Facebook remained closed to the masses, YouTube had yet to be acquired by Google, and people still trusted Jeeves with their problems.
From the primordial swamp of Web 1.0 emerged the unearned era of the blog. Suddenly, anyone could be a publisher. Against this backdrop came the dream of assembling the sharpest, funniest minds of West Texas to produce a journal of culture, sports, and satire. When that dream quickly failed, the OrGiveMeDeath blog was born instead, launched on September 15, 2005. I’ll spare the in-depth history of the site and origin of the name, which was covered here 5 years ago,
After twenty years, OrGiveMeDeath has come full circle to Substack, the latest iteration of the blog. And the OrGiveMeDeath catalogue continues to grow. I'm excited to announce our next venture into yet another dying medium: the first stage play from OrGiveMeDeath is coming this fall. Stay tuned.
Now for some navel gazing.
The Blog
Here are some highlights from twenty-years of sporadic production.
SHOCKING DISCOVERY IN THE HEART OF AFRICA (SEP 27, 2005)
The one that started it all. The Weekly World News influence runs deep in this early post.
Teen’s Death Shocks Few (DEC 2, 2007)
A satire on moral panics.
Snuff Film Industry Unaffected by Writer’s Strike (JAN 3, 2008)
Still relevant after all these years.
1884 Adult Film Now Earliest Known Motion Picture (APR 16, 2008)
Possibly the most read article on the site thanks to faulty early search engines. Classic misinformation!
Houston Astros Now Exclusively Courting Ironic Fans (AUG 29, 2013)
Sports were once a mainstay of the site. This scathing rebuke of the Astros was written near the end of their worst season in franchise history. Some say the organization was so embarrassed by the post they turned things around and won two World Series.
The Books
Seeing the writing on the wall for blogs, OrGiveMeDeath Industries shifted gears, becoming an award adjacent indie publishing company. Books are available for purchase in the gift store.
The Website
For years, OrGiveMeDeath.com simply redirected to the original Blogger site. Finally, in 2017, a real site (of sorts) was launched. It’s gone through a couple re-brands over the years.
The Logo
In the old days, the blog shamelessly used an image of Alex Ross’ Uncle Sam as the logo. The move into publishing necessitated a proper logo. The logo first appeared on copies of Sierra Blanca in 2016 and has evolved slightly since.
The Future
In the twenty years since OrGiveMeDeath launched, the Internet has been downgraded to the internet, steamrolled by social media, and shoved onto phones. Through it all, OrGiveMeDeath is still here, outlasting Hotmail, MySpace, and even Twitter. And now, thanks to the latest online fad, Substack, we’ve returned to semi-regular posting, complete with non-fiction and long-read fake news.
Whatever the future brings to the World Wide Web, you can expect OrGiveMeDeath to linger in the background, bringing you intermittent deep dives into niche subjects and questionable fiction for decades to come.