Well SydLexians, this week I finally achieved my life-long dream of becoming a professional writer. OK, "professional" and "writer" may be stretching it, but I did get hired as a columnist for the San Antonio Heavy Metal Examiner. I'd like to thank everyone here on the forums who ever supported my writing (Moggs and Ross especially), because what started off as some punk kid ranting about bands on his blog has now turned into something notable. You guys are awesome!

Anyway, on to the column itself. Here's my page, links to my first three posts are on my main page: http://www.examiner.com/x-44499-San-Antonio-Heavy-Metal-Examiner

Basically, I'll be writing reviews featuring classic extreme metal bands, doing interviews, etc. Technically, San Antonio already has a metal examiner, but the idea is that I cover the underground bands while he does the more mainstream ones. In the interest of professionalism, I would recommend his page if you're into that sort of thing. I'll be updating 2-3 times a week, and that will be a much more consistent schedule than my blog, because I actually have a financial incentive to post on schedule (I get paid by the visitor, it's a pretty sweet gig).

I also made a Facebook page for it as a means to generate more traffic and get the word out, which can be found by searching "Jacob Holmes: San Antonio Extreme Metal Examiner" (a direct link wasn't working for some reason).

Once again, I'd like to thank all the Lexians who supported me in this, and if you have any comments or constructive criticism, let me know, I'm all ears. If you have any bands you'd like to see me discuss, also let me know, although they have to be bands that I can say good things about. I quit trashing bands a while back in the nature of professionalism.

NOTE: I wasn't sure whether or not to put this in "Music" or the OPP, so I figure if JRA's radio show thread is in music, then my column thread can also go in the music forum. If the mods see differently, move the thread as they see fit.