Top five posts — end of 2011 report

Six months ago, I offered a second snapshot of this site’s performance by publishing the top five pages for both the visual and printed media. On this New Year’s Eve, I’ve decided to look back again since there does seem to have been yet another change.

For the record, the site had just over 1,500 hits in January, 9,000 hits in June, but this December is comfortably over 17,550 hits. It seems I’ve become rather more visible on the all-powerful Google rankings. What makes this somewhat fascinating is the interest in “foreign” material. I don’t consciously pick subject matter thinking this will get a lot of hits. I write about what I happen to have seen or read. My decision to write about Dong Yi, a very good Korean serial, has proved a major success with all the pages dominating the top quarter of the page counts. Indeed, there’s a chance the next top five in six months time may be all Dong Yi pages. The current top page is over 4,750 hits with the top five having 12,590 hits between them. This ignores the 36,500 hits on the Home Page which are anonymised on WordPress. The figures in brackets are the positions in the last listing.

Dong Yi — a review of the first 22 episodes (1)
Space Battleship Yamato or Uchū Senkan Yamato
Sex, manga and anime (2)
Conan (2011)
Dong Yi — a review of episodes 23-29

The average page hits for the top five books has gone up from just under 200 to 421 but this remains a pale shadow of the average for the top five visual media at 2,518 hits. It says something about the way the rankings work that a review of Conan, a film based on a written work, can get three times the number of hits for Troika.

Troika by Alastair Reynolds (1)
The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson (5)
Songs of Love and Death edited by George R R Martin and Gardner Dozois
Feed by Mira Grant (4)
Daybreak Zero by John Barnes

The average hits per page across the entire site is 278 which is a fairly dramatic increase from 112 hits six months ago.

So there we have it. I’m finishing the year on a high note. It will be interesting to see whether I maintain the momentum or drop back down into the doldrums. Frankly, this internet phenomenon all seems rather arbitrary and disconnected from what I do. Perhaps I should invite a publisher to send me a book for review that explains how the ranking system works and maximising performance. Not that it matters that much since I’ve not commercialised the site. I suppose setting up my own domain and trying to sell advertising would make a difference. Until then, I’ll bumble along and see what happens.

A happy and successful New Year to all who read this.

The Great Queen Seon Deok or Seondeok Yeo Wang — episodes 26 to 32

television

This is a spoiler-rich discussion of what happens in these episodes so do not read this post if you want the experience of watching the serial unfold onscreen. Further, these episode numbers are based on the terrestrial broadcasts I have seen and not on downloaded or DVD episodes. It’s possible that these numbers do not match your experience.

I suppose I’m the wrong gender to appreciate this but if I found out I was a royal princess, the last thing I would do is sit on a rock for 24 hours and howl like a banshee. First, people would think someone had died (banshees have a terrible reputation) and second it might attract the wrong people to find out who was making such a racket. I might get a bit upset that people were trying to kill me but finding out I was brought up by a palace maid does not seem to justify this degree of despair. But if that’s how the script writers want to keep Deokman (Lee Yo-Won) out of the palace for a day, I suppose I’ll just have to accept it. While she’s away, everyone works out who she is except King Jinpyeong (Jo Min-Gi) who seems to be living in a bubble protected from outside influences by Eul Jae (Shin Goo) who, if I understand him properly, is one of these guys who will stop at nothing to defend his view of what the royalty should be, no matter what they think about it. Queen Ma Ya (Yoon Yoo Sun) meets her other daughter and is now lining up to protect her as best she can.

Kim Nam-Gil and Uhm Tae-Woong lining up with Lee Yo-Won

Meanwhile, Juk-bang (Lee Mun-Shik) gets kidnapped and spills the beans to Seol Won (Jeon No-Min). It was Doekman wot made me plant the petition, the battered figure gasps. Chil-Sook (Ahn Kil-Kang) conveniently gets his eyesight back just in time to see Deokman riding out of the palace with Kim Yu-Sin (Uhm Tae-Woong) pursued by Al-Chun (Lee Seung-Hyo) and Im-Jong (Kang Ji-Hoo). Passing on the news of the surviving twin to Mi-Sil makes it another perfect day for her.

So now everyone has to decide what to do. Eul Jae decides Deokman has to die so that the line of succession can be maintained. He therefore plans to marry Princess Cheon-Myeong (Park Yeh-Jin) to Kim Yu-Sin and offers this as a bribe to Kim Seo-Hyeon (Jeong Seong-Mo) to track down his son, rescue him and resolve the problem. Reluctantly to protect the interests of his clan, Papa Kim agrees. Mi-Sil decides she wants Deokman alive so that the whole story of the twins can be exposed, the King deposed and the country fall into her hands. She has spies everywhere and follow Papa Kim as he sets off to meet his son with loyal mercenaries by his side. They are poised to wait at a hut close to villages where the plague has hit. Papa Kim will send Deokman there to hide.

Kim Nam-Gil deciding who to support

Now Bi-Dam (Kim Nam-Gil) wanders into view (it’s about time we get to meet him) and, more importantly to catch a glance of Moon No (Jung Ho Bin) trying to help those sick with the plague. Now with everyone converging on the hut, battle lines will grow more clear. As befits a pupil of Moon No, Bi-Dam drives the first wave of kidnappers away and rescues Deokman. However, when Seol Won offers him access to a quantity of wild ginger, he agrees to deliver Deokman. He therefore locks up Kim Yu-Sin and ties Deokman to a tree.

Meanwhile, Mi-Sil is making her first moves. She produces Chil Sook in public where he testifies there was a twin and she’s still alive. However, the script writers have signalled Mi-Sil getting too sure of herself. When Se-Ri (Song Ok-Suk) the high priestess and a wise counsellor suggests Mi-Sil may be defying Heaven’s Will, our lady curls her lip in contempt and denies the power of anything supernatural to disturb her plans. Obviously, there will be a price to pay for her overconfidence. At this point I feel the need for another rant. I understand Mi-Sil is supposed to be the super evilest person on the face of the planet at this time in history, but the endlessly melodramatic slow close-ups of her as she plots her next wicked moves and twitches that little smile as she imagines all her enemies falling to dust — well all that’s growing really annoying. It drags out the minutes when we could be getting on with the story and just makes her look silly.

Lee Seun-Hyo as hwarang Al-Chun getting a little more screen time now

Back on the battlefield, Bi-Dam hands over Deokman to Seol Won and then decides to rescue her when Moon No is distressed at the price he paid to get the ginger. I suppose this is Mi-Sil’s bad blood warring with hard training methods from the good Moon No, but this boy is swinging wildly between twerp and hero with nothing in between. Anyway, between them, Yu-Sin and Bi-Dam rescue Doekman who was planning suicide by Seol Won. They jump off a cliff into a river and then hide in a cave. When challenged as to why he’s risking his life, Kim Yu-Sin comes close to saying he’s in love with Deokman — now there’s a surprise. In the palace, the Princess commissions Al-Chon to accompany her to discuss matters with Kim Seo-Hyeon. There’s now the makings of a small army lining up to rescue Deokman. As a good seer, the Priestess foresees bad omens and, when Mi-Sil refuses to listen, she persuades Mi-Saeng (Jeong Woong-In) to take action to kill Deokman before it’s too late. This leads to a long episode when the sisters variously dress as a warrior and women, thoroughly confusing all those in pursuit. Variously Seol Won, Bo-Jong (Baek Do-Bin) and Suk-Poom (Hong Kyoung-In) wander round the countryside and the assassin (Dae Nam-Bo — Ryu Sang-Wook) one of Mi-Saeng’s many sons) with poisoned arrows finally manages to shoot the Princess.

Park Ye-Jin bids farewell as the Princess

We now have an attempt to get into the Guinness Books of Records for the longest death scene on television. While Deokman and Bi-Dam do the miraculous dash across the landscape filled with soldiers looking for them, the Princess and Kim exchange a few acting pointers in a cave as Al-Chon goes out looking for herbs to help slow the poison. Needless to say, Deokman is too late. The Princess has finally given up on her record-breaking attempt. This leaves Al-Chon to ferry the body back towards civilisation while Deokman does her imitation of a shivering jelly for three days and nights.

Meanwhile Seol Won has captured the assassin who’s not saying too much, and then has a stand-off with Kim Seo-Hyeon that would have turned nasty had the Princess not been wheeled into view. Urgent word is sent to the court. King and Queen are devastated. Eul Jae says he’ll take the blame. Mi-Sil is frustrated because she can’t really pursue the question of the twins with the Princess dead. Mi-Saeng and the Seer are in fear because they have caused the death of the wrong twin. I suppose it’s all boiled up to a pivotal moment but I’m underwhelmed by it all.

The Great Queen Seon Deok or Seondeok Yeo Wang — episodes 1 to 6

The Great Queen Seon Deok or Seondeok Yeo Wang — episodes 7 to 15

The Great Queen Seon Deok or Seondeok Yeo Wang — episodes 16 to 25

The Great Queen Seon Deok or Seondeok Yeo Wang — episodes 26 to 32

The Great Queen Seon Deok or Seondeok Yeo Wang — episodes 33 to 40

The Great Queen Seon Deok or Seondeok Yeo Wang — episodes 41 to 50

The Great Queen Seon Deok or Seondeok Yeo Wang — episodes 51 to 62

The Great Queen Seon Deok or Seondeok Yeo Wang — episodes 63 to 68

The Great Queen Seon Deok or Seondeok Yeo Wang — episodes 69 to 74

The Great Queen Seon Deok or Seondeok Yeo Wang — episodes 75 to end

Top Five Pages

Some six months ago, I published a short piece celebrating Two Milestones. I did my best to be modest about achievements. After all, I hadn’t been trying very hard to promote the site and my postings to it had not been very consistent. But I put up the top five pages for both books and films, remarking in a neutral tone that each of the ten pages had secured more than one-hundred hits.

Six months is not a long time, but there has been a minor transformation. Having decided to share the space more equally between books and the visual arts, I have found significantly more hits for the latter. Indeed, my top page is approaching 1,500 hits with 5,458 hits spread between the top five pages.

Dong Yi — a review of the first 22 episodes
Sex, manga and anime
True Grit
The Lost Bladesman or Guan Yun Chang
Time Traveller — The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (4)

In both lists, the numbers in brackets are the placement in the last top five lists. For the record, Dong Yi is a marvelous historical Korean drama, the main focus of Sex Manga and Anime is the anime serial Zero no Tsukaima, and True Grit is one of only two Western entries in the top ten.

As to books, the top five is:
Troika by Alastair Reynolds
Best Horror of the Year: Volume One edited by Ellen Datlow (2)
Buyout by Alexander C. Irvine (1)
Feed by Mira Grant
The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson

We are only averaging just under 200 hits for these five pages, but the overall average for the book pages is slowly catching up to the films, television and anime pages. There’s hope for the printed media yet. The average per page across the site is 112 hits and, before you ask, there is one page that has stubbornly refused to collect more than 1 hit in some two years.

As a postscript, the stubborn page that had only collected one hit since being published in June, 2009 collected its second hit on August 7th 2011. Perhaps it will now develop escape velocity and rise rapidly to four, or even five, hits.

Acknowledging two milestones

When I started this site, it was really just a way of letting off steam. I spend so much of my time writing what others pay me to write, this was my busman’s holiday. But as weeks have become months, I’ve found myself spending slightly more time on this. Traffic has been increasing to the point I may actually have to take a more professional approach. Not that I’ve any plans to monetise it, but the whole enterprise might have a better feel if I begin to be a little more disciplined. Ah well, we’ll see what happens. If anyone out there would be interested in contributing reviews or opinion pieces, let me know. There’s an e-mail address on the “About” page. The site might benefit from a diversity of views or spreading the coverage to include music, games or more general topics of interest.

So we’ve a New Year approaching and I’ve just posted the 150th review. To celebrate both landmarks, I decided to post the top five posts for books and the visual media. Thanks to your support, all the pages in these lists have one-hundred or more hits. I say this without any real sense of achievement. The top review sites have pages with thousands of hits. But it’s nevertheless satisfying that, without any real effort on my part except writing and publishing the pages, I am attracting hits.

I place no particular significance on the success of these winning posts. I had originally speculated I might do better with reviews of anthologies because each page would mention multiple authors — all the better to hit me with. That there are two anthologies in my top five books is therefore a pleasing result. It will be interesting to see how this plays out over the next twelve months. As to the films (none of the television reviews made it into the top five), with one exception, the most popular are “foreign” language where there are not so many mainstream reviews. I’m popular by default but not proud. I take my popularity no matter why it comes. So, without more ado, here we go:

Top five books
Buyout by Alexander C. Irvine
Best Horror of the Year: Volume One edited by Ellen Datlow
Is Anybody Out There? edited by Nick Gevers and Marty Halpern
Jade Man’s Skin by Daniel Fox
Leviathan Wept by Daniel Abraham

Top five films
The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest or Luftslottet som sprängdes in the original Swedish
Bruce Lee, My Brother
Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
Time Traveller — The Girl Who Leapt Through Time
Les Aventures Extraordinaires d’Adèle Blanc-Sec or Adele: Rise of the Mummy

Patch for a parasite

I am provoked into writing this by a rerun of Patch Adams on TV. The name had registered as something I’d seen, but I’d forgotten how embarrassingly awful it is, displaying mawkish sentimentality on a sickening level. And I got to thinking: how is it that such films get to be made and, having been made, get to be endlessly recycled on our television screens? You would think that something so ghastly would subside into oblivion, too embarrassed by itself ever to reappear. Except there seems to be an audience for it and other films of its ilk, sadly not only as a secret pleasure on DVD. Patch Adams was nominated for a Golden Globe and had the not inconsiderable box office takings of US$202m in 1998.

I recall someone in a science fiction novel saying with a perfectly straight face that entropy is the tendency of any system to devolve to its lowest level. While Patch Adams is not quite of Razzie standard, I think it deserves honorary status. For me, it’s yet one more symptom proving the Hollywood system is in full devolution mode. Why, then, are such films made? Obviously, the studios and the producers who bankroll them must have faith their products will show a profit. In this case, Williams was a star with drawing power and the script contained the right number of clichés. Remarkably, with a production budget of US$90, their faith was rewarded with a profit. Free market capitalism is a wonderful thing. It assumes that, with all transactions voluntary, customers decide what survives to make money. If a supplier routinely offers a bad product, customers will react as Pavlovian dogs and take their business elsewhere. This will drive out the bad suppliers and favour those that offer good products. There were enough people to make a market for Patch Adams, but not all products are so fortunate. Not all customers are the same.

The point of an average or the more infamous lowest common denominator is that they are distillations from a potentially wide range of values. Famously, when dissolving their business partnership, Robert Owen said to W. Allen, “All the world is queer save thee and me, and even thou art a little queer.” So, from one person’s perspective, everyone else is different or strange. Life is something we do on our own. We accumulate experiences that shape our opinions and sensibilities. Some of these experiences may be shared but, when added together, the whole tends to be unique. How unique? The degree of strangeness between people may only by marginal in the main, but it can produce radically different responses to the same stimuli. What I like need not be what you like or we might like the same thing but for completely different reasons. You might find something serious and uplifting, the same might make me laugh, or vice versa.

Why, you might ask, was I watching Patch Adams. Boredom threatened. I had a few minutes on my own. I did not want to start a new book. There was no choice. . . Most of the time, there is no choice. You either go to the cinema to see whatever dross Hollywood has produced, or you stay at home. You switch on the TV and channel-flip until you find something vaguely watchable. In the arts, there is no guarantee that any work will be any good. The latest album, the latest book, the latest film. . . All you can do is hope. A momentum builds up. The most recent offerings from this band, this author or this director have been good. I will try the next. This may not be very rational but, once formed, habits are difficult to break. This inertia is what the marketers rely on. I should wait for the reviews before buying, except whose reviews do you trust when so many websites are involved in marketing? Reviews on major sites like Amazon are gamed.

When it comes to cultural products, there’s a group of people who appoint themselves style leaders. Think fashion and the marketers have programmed the names of the current top designers to pop into our minds. The same applies to most niches. A combination of messages aims to persuade us that this product is the best, better than all the rest. So the mass media manipulates coverage of the “facts” and shapes opinion, telling us that, to belong to the in-crowd, we must all like such-and-such or all do this special thing. No-one questions whether belonging to the in-crowd has any real value. It’s apparently a given that there’s safety in numbers — it’s better to be one of us and not one of them. Yet, curiously, the limited interest in Patch Adams lies in showing one herd’s mentality as cruel and uncaring, while only an eccentric clown can know what is best for all.

People are not the same yet the status of authority figures and the power of peer pressure are forged into a force that drives consensus. So millions are convinced that Robin Williams is entertaining. Similarly, J K Rowling is the greatest children’s author of all time and Dan Brown is the best writer of mystery stories since whoever put pen to parchment and produced the Dead Sea Scrolls with the intention of stirring up religious controversy. I suppose all this makes me a culture snob, born to sneer both at films mired in bathos and at books by authors who cannot write reasonably original content in coherent English. Fortunately, there are some films made for the small audience that thinks. Some authors do rise above the routine. But those capitalists who make the commissioning and contractual decisions prefer content that aims at the lowest common denominator. That gives the work crossover appeal and the chance for mass market success. With all the money flowing from the mass market, there can be subsidies for works that will only sell more modestly. So what all this comes down to is that I’m a parasite, pathetically grateful to the masses that like Patch Adams, J K Rowling, Dan Brown and all the other milk cows of the arts world. Without all you, the industry would never make enough money to be able to subsidise publishing the stuff I like to see, hear and read.