Wednesday, March 01, 2006

The Ego Has Landed: Best Of Blog

This post is likely to be a combination of unbearably shameless self-promotion and unbearably self-effacing bewilderment.

I’m really my own best publicist, aren’t I? Still reading?

Today, a couple of Blogcritics kudos have got me thinking I don’t have a clue what people will respond to - I can’t even imagine being in charge of a TV network or movie studio – and I decided to use the sudden warm fuzzies as an excuse to highlight and mull over posts on this blog that have proven popular in different ways.

Most clicked on

For the second day, my That Damn Ball Torments House Fans post popped up on Blogcritics’ “most popular” list – a new feature that showcases a fascinatingly different selection from the ones on the most-commented-on list.

I had debated whether to post that one, fearing it was too much of an inside joke, and proving I have no idea what people will be motivated to click on.

(Which reminds me, someone poked fun at me for framing my BOUO, so I need to clear my name – he’s just placed in the bottom of my chalk/magnet board thing, with Señor Jalapeño, Subcommandante Marcos, and Le Petit Prince. I'm not that obsessed.)

I don’t have access to stats for Blogcritics posts, but on this site, my most popular is the continually updated list of all House posts – not surprising, since it’s linked to and from every other House article I write. And I write a lot of them. That’s followed closely by the Q&A with House writer Lawrence Kaplow. And since most of the referrals come from the Blogcritics article based on that interview, Constructing House, I’m guessing that’s probably my most popular article there.

The popularity of anything House doesn’t surprise me, because the show has such a huge online following. More surprising is the success of the Q&A with Bones Creator Hart Hanson. There’s a lesson here for future interviewees: work Joss Whedon into the conversation if at all possible (the Q&A was linked from whedonesque.com). In fact, try for the home run: write for House, mention Joss Whedon and David Boreanaz, and ask me to put “sex” in the title, like I did for Love Monkey.

Most commented on

I’m not controversial or (sob!) loved enough to get a ton of comments, but my most-commented-on posts bear no relation to the most popular, or what I or anyone else seems to think are my best. The Oprah’s Book Club Brought Back to Life and Emmys: Reveling in Irrelevance posts gathered the most verbiage on Blogcritics. On here … I can’t tell at a glance, am way too lazy to check, and most comments come from the other site anyway so I’m not that motivated to try to look for water in the desert. Though if I combine e-mails and comments, I’m sure many of my House posts would far surpass anything else.

Most “critically” acclaimed

Also today, my A Tragic Case of Technoamnesia post, where I talk about setting up my new PVR, was selected as a weekly Blogcritics Editors' Pick in the Sci/Tech category. It joins a few other posts I’ve been touched but puzzled to have named an Editors' Pick [I'm going to keep updating this part]:
Most personally enjoyable

Most of my Editors' Picks aren’t what I would name as my best writing ... but then I’m not sure what I would name. I can’t separate out the experience of writing them, my attachment to the subject matter, and the quality of writing, which I’m never happy with. Even if I can get over the discrepancy between the ideas in my head and what came out on screen, the editor in me cringes at the details I would change in retrospect. Did I need that many dashes and ellipses? Couldn’t I have simplified that sentence structure? What was with that awkward transition, or indulgent digression from the topic?

So picking my own favourites is like a combination of Sophie’s Choice and Fear Factor, but here goes:
  • Constructing House: An Interview With House Writer Lawrence Kaplow – I sweated the interview and the writing, because I’m unnaturally attached to the show and it was important to me to get it “right.” There was also a gap between when I did the interview and when I wanted to publish the article (because the show was off the air for the baseball hiatus), so I had weeks to obsess over the details. Just ask my friend Britomart how much angst I generated over how to refer to the final episode of season one. I’m sure it was originally called “The Honeymoon,” but along the way seems to have dropped the “The.” Yes, I agonized over whether or not to include an article in an episode title (it’s the editor in me, again). I’m only sporadically nuts, though. Still, it was a thrill to have a conversation with someone involved in shaping this character and show I adore, to hear his ideas and air some of my own, and it gave me a great opportunity to write even more about my pet topic. As if I need an excuse.
  • Sex, Love, and Rock 'n' Roll: An Interview with Love Monkey Creator Michael Rauch – This one was a breeze, because I had fun interviewing the guy, and fun writing an article about a fun show. It helped that I had very little time between requesting the interview, the interview itself, and when I wanted to publish it, so I didn’t have the luxury of turning into Crazy Diane. The show was put on indefinite hiatus one episode after I posted the article, which was a downer, but it also allowed me to feel I’m rooting for an underdog. It’s not officially cancelled yet – come on CBS/UPN/CW!
  • In Defence of the Trivial - My first ever post, originally from the DVD Verdict blog that was the genesis of me deciding that hey, maybe I like this blogging thing but not so much on a DVD-specific site. I tend not to get too personal out here in the wilds of the Internet, but this one had personal meaning to me. Bad things were happening around me, and I was, as always, grateful to be able to take comfort and insight from the world of entertainment. In retrospect, I realized that was my main motivation for blogging – to try to share that joy in entertainment with others, but also to focus on it myself.
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