Year 6!

Say it three times fast and it's the Number of the Beast - 6! That's the number of years I've been doing this here blog, and at generally two posts a day, I've dropped 4567 word-bombs on you in 2192 days, which means it's really 2.08 posts a day. Same difference. (Not counting those on Hyperion to a Satyr, Your Daily Splash Page, or my work blog, of course.) All my thanks must of course go to each and everyone of you who swung by for a quick read, who left a comment, or who mentioned this little corner of the internet on their own space. I believe it's a Geek's mission to share the pop culture goodness that is our particular niches with others, and I wouldn't be doing this if I thought no one wanted me to. Six years may sound like a long time, but I've felt more dedicated to the blog than ever this year, so no end in sight as far as I can see.

Year 6 Highlights
-The year's main project, of course, has been the daily Doctor Who review, which started on November 23rd of last year (the 48th Whoniversary). Every Whovian must, at some point, make the pilgrimage of watching every episode in order, and this is my time. In a little over a year, I've gotten through only three Doctors, but one must consider that the first two had twice as many episodes per season as the ones that came after, so things should start speeding up after the Tom Baker years. His record stretch as the Doctor starts tomorrow! Parallel to this, I've described each season as a role-playing campaign, complete with character sheets for each of the regular characters, and this has captured the imagination of several Doctor Who gamers. It's a neat thought experiment and I'm glad it caught on. As per one of those gamers' request, I've added a direct link button in the sidebar so that people can get at the project more quickly. It's the first of several, no doubt, so if you have a feature you have trouble finding, let me know and I might make a quick link for it.
-Reign of the Supermen, the former daily series, became a Saturday feature instead and continued apace. You know what? When Doctor Who wraps next year, I could revert to daily Reign and have enough Supermen to last a whole year and more. It's crazy.
-From January to May, I did a weekly radio show on the university station called Geek Out, which fed off whatever the blog was doing, and in return, I posted my playlists on the following day. Haven't had time to start it up again, but thanks for asking.
-The Old 52 project, which had me reading a series I completely missed first time 'round each month stalled when work pressures made it impossible for me to even read the current comics output I'm interested in. Made some great discoveries though, so it's not over, I just need to find some time to do it. More or less replacing it is a feature called Who's This?, in which I take obscure characters from Who's Who and check out one of their appearances. It's 1 comic instead of 12-30, so a lot more manageable.
-When Dial H was announced, it reminded me that I had a Dial H feature going some time before and I jumped into it again, almost on a weekly rhythm. I finished Case Files for the rest of Robby Reed stories, got through the entire Adventure Comics run, and am now looking at Chris and Vicki's back-ups in New Adventures of Superboy.
-As I'm always trying to find short but entertaining features for days when I don't have much time for blogging, I tried a number of ideas, like Aliens Say the Darndest Things, Machine Man Motivationals, and monstrous recipes. It may be up to you if we see a lot more of these in the future.
-They're not all successes. This summer I tried to do a silly travelogue of D&D's Forgotten Realms, but when I realized there was so much FR material out there, and it had all been done before, I let my boat sink. Literally!
-This is also the year I finally (and forcibly) switched to New Blogger, kicking and screaming, you might say, but I got the hang of it relatively quickly (mostly because my work blog switched first and that time I threw stuff at the walls), and now wouldn't go back. I like the features and the way Blogger gives me up-to-the-minute stats. According to its engine, I crossed the million-hit threshold late this year, and I guess that's exciting. In large part because people Google Image the damned Ceiling Cat, but what are you gonna do? There also seems to be a fascination with my review of the Enterprise-D blueprints, and of course, River Song.

So, what's next?
Usually, I've got plans, but to tell you the truth, aside from continuing the work I've already started, I don't really have any this year. I hope you're Doctor Who fans, cuz that's going to last at least until the end of 2013. I'll probably be insulting a couple more issues of Batman and the Outsiders over the holidays and/or summer, and doing work on all the features above, plus whatever the day's comics, films, TV shows, role-playing games and news provoke. And I hope you'll join me on this 7th year. It's a magical number!

Comments

Anonymous said…
Happy anniversary, Siskoid!

But it's been six years, perhaps it's time to reboot yourself to appeal to the younger audience. Do reviews of "Twilight" fanfiction. Start a feature called "Reign of the Bronies". And pouches, lots of pouches.
MOCK! said…
Happy Anniversary!....and I second the call for pouches!
Siskoid said…
I was old when pouches were new! (Well... old enough to vote at any rate.)

My appeal to the kids has been listening intently to the memes the university students I hang out with are into and then gauchely making use of them. So the SBG talked about Gangnam Style weeks or months before it went mainstream, and there was that article on The Room. Yeah, I'm not fooling anybody.
snell said…
Congratulations, my Canadian brother!! You're the first blog I turn to each day!! Keep up the fine work!!
Siskoid said…
Same here, my American cousin. (No, the family arrangement doesn't make sense.)
d said…
congrats Siskoid - your Daily Who is the 1st thing I check when I get up at 5!
Siskoid said…
Thanks! Then I guess it's a good thing I post it at 6 AM Atlantic Time! (or -4 GMT). I guess it's mid-morning in Europe by then.
SallyP said…
Happy Anniversary! You are always a joy to read.
De said…
Congratulations on going 6 years strong. As always, this site is a delight to see first thing in the morning.
googum said…
Love the Dr. Who reviews, and everything else you do. Congrats and looking forward to years to come!
Michael May said…
Happy Birthday! My Internet wouldn't work without you.