One Year Later ...

Listing my most and least popular posts as this Substack hits the one-year mark.

My first Substack anniversary arrives on Monday, August 14, so I thought I’d briefly look back at which posts seemed to work the best and which ones … did not. Substack automatically ranks my “top posts,” so I’m going off of that (and, of course, the results might change as a consequence of re-sharing them here). I’m just posting this web-only, as I don’t want to clog any inboxes with what’s essentially a clip show. (Hopefully, my clip show will be better than this one.)

Thank you to all who have subscribed! Please know that your readership and support are tremendously appreciated. I can’t promise I’ll never post a clunker, but I can promise to never take you all for granted.

The Top Five

5.

I was disappointed to learn that my first Disney movie, Oliver & Company, does not stand the test of time. And it seems I’m not alone.

4.

This was more personal than I usually get. I’ll confess, after a solid half-year of not drinking, I indulged in a little bit of wine and scotch to see how they felt after a substantial break. And I confirmed that these days, I enjoy not drinking much more than I enjoy drinking. I’m still not going to judge anyone for choosing to drink responsibly, though.

3.

Spider-Man really does have the strongest superhero origin story, and that’s because it is a proper story and not just the radioactive spider bite.

2.

Obligatory post about AI, but it was a good opportunity to talk about John Cleese, Monty Python, and his wonderful short book on creativity.

1.

I would not have guessed that a post about a decades-old musical would hit the top spot. Then again, 1776 truly is wonderful.

The Bottom Five

5.

All of my least-popular posts are older than my most popular, so I guess I’m moving in the right direction? In any case, you should watch Cobra Kai if you haven’t already. It’s about to head into its sixth and final season, and that one more season probably is all that’s left in the tank.

4.

I really didn't think they could pull this off, but Sandman turned out to be a solid Netflix series during its first season.

3.

I hope the lack of interest in this post doesn’t reflect any lack of interest in the series. Severance remains the best thing Apple has put out so far. As long as it doesn’t run too long, I’m optimistic that the quality will continue.

2.

This was my first real post on this platform, aside from a general introduction. I emailed it to precisely one person—myself. (Bright side: 100% open rate! I peaked early.)

1.

This was just a quick web-only post, so it probably deserves the bottom spot. But the rebooted DuckTales does deserve your time if you were a fan of the original.

To Be Continued …

And there you have it. A seemingly random assortment of topics across the pop culture landscape. I don’t know if the randomness works for me or against me, but it makes it more fun for me, at least. If there’s anything in particular you’d like to see here, please let me know! (No promises, though.)

Meanwhile, in addition to maintaining this blog/newsletter, I’m continuing to work on two different novels. One will be the third and final novel in this superhero series, and then there’s an entirely different book that I’m not ready to discuss publicly yet. But I might be talking about them at some point over the next year or so.

Thank you all!