First Year Anniversary

Welcome, to the celebration of one year of Red Television!

Let me be honest about this blog. In the past year, it has not been successful. It has not become insanely popular and it's content has never been ground-breaking. This blog is and has always been merely an outlet for my interest, and often rage, regarding music, literature and little else.

Over the past 12 months, I've had 682 views, which is about 682 more than I expected. I hope those who have and hopefully will continue to browse this blog will enjoy what you read, whether or not you agree with what I have to say.

Now, I tossed around several ideas for the celebration of a year of blogging, and decided the best way of talking about the past year would be to take the five most viewed of my posts and talk about their creation. I doubt I'll have much to say about the majority, but let's see what comes out:

Post #5: Palookaville (Posted December 6th, 2011)

Now, this post, in brief, was an album review of Fatboy Slim's offering, "Palookaville". For a little bit of context, I like my sleep. I go to bed around 11 most nights, because after that time being on the internet becomes risky. This post was completed around 2 in the morning, so I really don't know what I was thinking by that stage. Alright, at about Track 10 I had ceased to care in any capacity, but by the end of the album I was at that stage where I cared way too much. I had a rant about fucking kittens. What was I thinking? Anyway, a lot of the strange content of this review stems from my own lack of familiarity with the music-making process. I don't know anything about music. My real interest is in how it makes me feel and what the lyrics say, so half of my discussion material is out the window just by choosing to review a Fatboy Slim album, which typically is very light on coherent lyrics. I had to write about something, so I really just wrote the first things that came out of my head. In all honesty, they really should have stayed in there. This review is honestly one of my absolute favourites, because it just makes so little sense, but is genuinely amusing. I don't drink, but I figure this is how I might sound if I were ever to get drunk. The other reason I like this post is the fact there is a comment on it. A genuine, unconditional comment. I've only ever had two comments on this blog, and I guarantee that ever comment like the one on this post is giving me a reason to write for at least another year. Thank you, Desertdew, sincerely. In another note, I still hold the deletion of one of the tracks against you blogger. That really pisses me off, although when I was actually typing, I was too tired to really care.

Post #4:  Ten Great Songs of the 2000's: Part 1 (Posted April 15th, 2012)

The original idea for this post was just to talk about music I liked then and there, rather than music I would have to defend my enjoyment of years down the track. Just music I was enjoying the novelty of, right then. Of course, if something is too easy, I get bored, so I decided to make sure all of the songs on this list had not been released as singles. Which was surprisingly hard, especially when I didn't repeat groups and then tried to do a second part, which was a terrible idea. I notice I mention the "ratings" I gave music at the top of the post. I don't really know why I stopped doing that. It was frustrating, looking at two songs in completely different contexts, which I had given the same score to, and trying to work out if they both deserved it. Ultimately, I just forgot and I don't think anyone's really complaining. Or reading. But I'll see things how I wish to see them. In retrospect, six months later, all of the songs stand up, bar "Inspiration Island". Honestly, I just wanted to put Drapht in there, but realised all the songs I liked by him were singles, so just threw a random track in there. I'm not saying the tracks bad, but I think it doesn't quite deserve to stand amongst songs of such high a calibre. I called this post filler, but it really ended up being a hell of a lot more effort than a normal post, really. The tally at the bottom was way too optimistic, and I really shouldn't have bothered.

Post #3: Triple J Hottest 100 of 2007 Part 1 (Posted December 23rd, 2011)

I still feel a little guilty about this post. I mean, I'm perfectly aware no-one bar myself gives a shit, and it's not like I wrote ten words and gave up, but I still would like to go back and finish it one day. Yay, retcons! Yeah, if I fix it, that phrase will be gone too. And that one. And that one. I'll stop. I did go on holiday, as described, and didn't have internet access. By the time I got home, the library was on my back to return the CD, and I didn't really want to risk fines. I sort of forgot about it afterwards. Of the six songs I didn't cover, I'm only familiar with "Hang Me Out To Dry" by the Cold war Kids, which I really like, but can't actually say that much about off the top of my head, so you really aren't missing much. I still own my discman, although it's getting a little old, but I use an MP3 player just because it's lighter, has more storage, doesn't skip when I walk and the batteries are a hell of a lot easier to recharge. The content of the post is pretty much what I think now. I have a higher opinion of Bloc Party, a lower opinion (if that's possible) of Soko and now wince when I see that I attributed Chemical Heart to Gyroscope (I now know that it's by Grinspoon. To be fair, the names are pretty similar and Chemical Heart doesn't sound like many other Grinspoon tracks.) It's not an unforgivable mistake, but still a little embarrassing. Why don't I retcon it? Morality, or as I like to call it, laziness. I still don't get that fucking Salmon song. Were they actually trying to start a dance craze, or am I missing something?

Post #2: 3 Songs: Frank Sinatra vs. Noise Addict vs. Sam Cooke (Posted October 3rd, 2012)

I don't get why people liked this particular post. I like my writing, and sort of get why people would like my 3 Songs as a whole, but why this one? It's not the only time I mention Cooke or Sinatra, and I really don't think Noise Addict have that big a fan base. Whoever it was, I think I pissed them off, because my blog has had as little traffic as usual after that surge. I don't really have much to say about the post, as I wrote it about two weeks ago. If it's still one of my most popular next year (hoping I'll keep this going another year), I'll give it a good going over, with a little time between it and me, to make me feel safer from past me. I still like the SUBTLE LINK line.

Post #1: Top 5 Albums: Part 4 (Posted 22nd of July, 2012)

I really don't know why this single part of my Top 5 Albums saga is more popular than all the other posts in it combined. I don't know if the comment was due to the popularity or visa versa, but it doesn't really matter. I stand by everything mentioned here, especially about Jane Tyrrell releasing a solo album. She has talent, a great voice, a foot in the industry, experience and shares a surname with a character from a Shakespearean play. There is no reason this shouldn't happen. Also, every song she touches is magic. Only time will tell us what happens, I suppose. I realise in retrospect that I really need to break some of my rants into paragraphs, but the post consisting of a solid rant is sort of diminished in effect by breaking up the post into smaller paragraphs. I, again, don't have much to say about this post considering the fact it was only written a few months ago. One thing that stands out is the fact that I was still planning on putting "Lonely Avenue" by Ben Folds & Nick Hornby as my favourite, but a good listen changed my mind. It's weird how that happens, but I still say the album is fantastic. Paul Kelly's "Deeper Water" is just a considerable bit better. Also, the answer to the question at the end of the post is Hole, the Courtney Love fronted band. I bought "Celebrity Skin" on special, but this fact has been rendered redundant by my very ill-advised purchase of a Hoobastank album, which I regret beyond words. The comment I had on this post is the second ever received in this blog, and I really don't get it. This blog is clearly default settings. I think that's pretty obvious. If I had done something specifically for this blog, there would be a little Red Television logo, no birds and just a different style. The fact that Blogger classified this as spam saddened me a bit. I don't know if it is or not, but feel free to spam what you like here. If I don't mind it, it can stay.

I don't know if this is how I'll celebrate next year, but it probably depends on whether or not the most viewed posts have changed significantly. I'll probably have new things to say, even if they haven't, but I'll see if I have any better ideas, or if any better ideas are volunteered. I hope everyone reading enjoyed this brief look back, and hope everyone has enjoyed the previous year. I've had a hell of a lot of fun, and don't plan on stopping my reviewing any time soon.

Feedback is very welcome, and I always love hearing from people, even if they have nothing to say.

H. Rourke: One year and counting, my friends.