'My life feels very strange': TechCrunch founder Michael Arrington's demands refused; AOL fires him instead

After a week of extreme turbulence surrounding the state of affairs with TechCrunch founder and editor Michael Arrington and his employer AOL (see here and here, for starters), it appears that it has come to an end. Sort of.

Michael demanded either complete, uncompromised editorial independence for TechCrunch—effectively flipping the bird to Huffington Post's Arianna—or for AOL to sell the company back to him.

AOL has decided to do neither, and instead fire him.

According to an exclusive report by Fortune, AOL execs intend to officially terminate Michael in the immediate term. How this will happen is the next stage of the game, but something tells me that, whichever method is employed, it won't happen quietly.

Tonight, Michael tweeted the ambiguous but telling phrase, "My life feels very strange to me."