2011 Blogging in Review

It's still January. Not too late to post the annual review of my blog.

1. The most popular post of 2011 was not even a contest, with 4 times more page views than second place. I am quite satisfied with this, because the content of the post was also one of the defining moments of the year for me. Tree of Life: Nature vs. Grace was a reflection after watching the trailer 6 months before the movie was released.
2. The Church is a Whore but She's my Mother has consistently driven traffic over the years. In fact, it easily took the crown for the most page views of the last decade.
3. Third most popular post was from a series I began in 2010; an analysis of Mumford and Sons album Sigh No More. It quickly rose the ranks in page views for 2010 , and has continued to consistently drive traffic a year later. The most popular song analysis in the series is I Gave You All ("I gave you all meaning" is the single most common search phrase driving traffic to my blog)
4. It was closely followed by another Mumford and Sons analysis, The Cave (Any landing I have in the series has a below average bounce rate. Translation: They drive a lot of traffic to each other.)
5. My reflection after seeing Tree of Life.
6. Still glad I found this tool two years ago, and still glad to help others find it! 
7. Amygdala and Aha Moments was one of the more stimulating blog posts for me to write in 2011 because it involved a lot of introspection about the way that I learn. 
8. 10 Principles of Good Design by Dieter Ram. Ponder these points and it will add a whole new layer of meaning, appreciation, and maybe dissatisfaction with objects in the world around you. 

9. and 10. Two more Mumford and Sons posts round out the top 10; Sigh No More and Timshel. As a whole, the series easily takes second, but still doesn't come close to hits for Tree of Life, which goes to show just how much traffic was driven by that one post.

While it is rewarding to see some of my most meaningful blog posts driving so much traffic, I definitely don't write this blog for satisfaction in stats (or I would have stopped years ago).

I have a few personal favorites that only ever see a trickle of traffic, but were extremely rewarding to write (which really gets at why I do write this blog):

• Reflection on Haroun and the Sea of Stories. This was one of my favorite books (a children's book!) that I read in 2011. It is an amazing metaphor of our time.
• 2011 was a busy year for us, but we were able to sneak in a very satisfying vacation to attend the Shakespeare Festival in Ashland OR. Equally satisfying was writing my reflection on Julius Ceasar (and discovering Asimov's Guide to Shakespeare). 
• My series on the Cost of Freedom was a mental exercise to solidify my understanding of  intangible philosophical concept.
• Obviously, In Time was not my favorite movie of 2011, it didn't even come close. But I had a blast deconstructing the story and contrasting it with Gattaca, one of my all time favorite movies by the same writer/director. 

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