Don’t worry, you don’t have to get me anything. But Ocelopotamus celebrated its one-month anniversary last week, and since I’m still figuring out the recipe for this place — what kinds of things I’m posting in what proportions, and what the readers most likely to visit a place called Ocelopotamus are actually interested in — I thought it might be a useful exercise to look back at the posts that have generated the most comments, links, and/or Technorati-Google traffic in these first few weeks. And so we hereby present the first edition of the Ocelopotamus Buzz Report.
Music
• Roddy Frame, Western Skies
It’s good to know that Mr. Frame does have some fans out there, since this post has gotten a lot of Google search traffic — although tellingly, most of it is from Europe.
• The Waterboys: Mike Scott in The Guardian, and new album Book of Lightning
There are also lots of people out there searching for Waterboys video links. Probably not so many looking to read about my experiences meeting Mike at concerts, but hey, that’s the value-add we deliver here at the OcPot.
• Honorable mention: The Best Kind of Madness
It hasn’t particularly gotten a lot of traffic or anything, but hey — new Madness single and video! In a better world this would have the masses flocking to our gates.
Culture
• Comedy and the Art of Dancing Backwards
Thanks to Dire Nerd posting a link to this on the Chicago Improv forum, my mini-essay on Kevin McDonald, Billie Piper, and the art of cooperation in comedy is the most-read post on Ocelopotamus.
• Ian McKellen Tackles King Lear
Who doesn’t love Ian McKellen? Nobody, that’s who.
• 300 Director Pushes Gay Panic Button
Another good traffic generator. It may be a box office hit, but boy do a lot of people hate that movie.
• Tolkien’s Children of Hurin: Break a Leg, Professor
Are there Tolkien fans on the Internet? That’s crazy talk.
• DVD: Shortbus and the Joy of Deleted Scenes
As we speak, the words “shortbus deleted scenes” are being typed into search engines all over Scandinavia.
• 30 Rock Is Finally Starting To
Got us on the blogroll over at the Will Arnett Research Project. Our first blogrolling by someone who doesn’t actually know us! Such a milestone.
Politics
• Last Week’s Three Best Video Kerfuffles
Video! Kerfuffles! Can’t fail. Only two of the three were political, though.
• The Invisible Front Runner in the Living Room
He’s so far ahead they think he’s behind.
• Mia Farrow on Darfur, Divestment, and the 2008 Olympics in Beijing
I cross-posted this one as a diary over at the Booman Tribune, because I think this is one of the most important issues of our time. It only got one comment there, probably because I’m a new poster there. (And besides, who the hell am I?) But it has gotten some search traffic here.
Catblogging
• More Adventures in Pet Food
• The Big Pet Food Recall, Continued
I’ve been regularly posting about the pet food recall since it started, and it’s the topic that’s provoked the most discussion here, as well as Google traffic — there are a lot of worried people out there searching for info on safer pet foods. Also, people like cat pictures! And I have cats. So I suspect catblogging will always be a key part of the Ocelopotamus experience.
Finally: I’d also like to issue ocelot-spotted shout-outs to Ocelopotamus’s most regular commenter Aaron, best traffic director Dan Telfer, and earliest blogrollers Earthgoat, Rubber Nun, and Underverse.
Has it been a month already? The time has flown by…I simply MUST stop drinking those Dexatrim/Magic Mushroom smoothies…:-)
You’ve blogged more in a month than I did in my whole first year. I don’t know where you find the time, but you have leaped out of the gate with a truly impressive effort here. Nice work, sir. Carry on!
Thanks, your Grendelship. I’m not actually sure if I’m finding the time or losing it, if you know what I mean … and I’m not sure how long I’ll be able to keep up this pace. But thanks for the encouragement!