The Atlantic isn’t just an ocean.

An exciting annoucemet!

Beginning February 7, I’m going to be spending a week as one of 3 or 4 guest bloggers standing in for James Fallows at The Atlantic magazine website during one of 10 weeks he’ll be away finishing a book. Needless to say, it’s a great honor, and I’m more than a little excited.

A broadcast e-mail went out to me and the other 20+ guest bloggers outlining the parameters and expectations; which in a nutshell was “write about what you think our readers would be interested in.”

I have been writing on the internet, as Tony Comstock, and in my capacity as the director of the Real People, Real Life, Real Sex documentary series for something like 8 years. In that time I’ve participated in online forums public and private, chats, kept my own blog, commented on other people’s blogs, Twittered, etc.

And in that time, every single word, every single keystroke, has been in service of one purpose: to impress the reader with the quality of my thought and the uniqueness of my perspective, in the hopes of convincing them that my approach to cinema and sexuality might be something new and noteworthy.

Think about that for a moment. That’s hundreds of blog posts, thousands of tweets, and who knows how many blog comments in service of a single purpose; to get the reader to think “Hmmm. I’ve never heard anyone put it quite that way before. I like the way he thinks. Maybe I should take a chance on one of his DVDs.”

That is not the sum and total of my life (thankfully!) But it is a large portion of my life, and it is the sum and total of my online life. And if living online isn’t quizzical enough, living it the way I have lived it is positively bizarre.

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I’m not sure what I’m going to write about during my week. This morning in the shower a series of thank you letters to teachers whose lessons and kindness are still with me seemed perfect. There’s my pet-theory of free surface effect in socio-economic-information systems. There are thoughts sponsored by living 17 out of the last 36 months a boat.

And of course there’s sex and cinema, and the recognition that this is a tremendous opportunity to tell a wider audience about what I do, why I think the way I do it different and special, and why I think it’s important.

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BRETT AND MELANIE is having its premiere tomorrow night, a benefit screening with proceeds going to The Center: The NY LGBT Community Center. It’s the first time we’ve ever had a film screen publicly before it came out on DVD — you know, like it was real movie or something. Fancy that.

The film has a lot of laughs, real burst out laughing funny stuff, perfect for seeing in a theater with an audience.

And the sex is hot. Really hot.

I hope I’ll see you there!