One year ago today, I started Atomic Anxiety because, well, because I’m always writing and always looking for new outlets, I suppose. The first post was basically a test post about some grey whales that were spotted in the Mediterranean and in those early days the blog was a catch all of whatever I wanted to talk about – the environment, interesting YouTube clips, sports, and stories. Over time, of course, it’s become a blog about movies and TV more than anything else. The environment and sports posts have been deleted because I just wasn’t going to go back to those topics – I wrote a weekly post for college football this past season but it was more a chore than anything rewarding, so I deleted them.
The first post that gave an indication of what Atomic Anxiety was to become was posted on May 23, 2010: a review of Terry Gilliam’s disappointing The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus. Posts followed on the finales of LOST and 24, the season 2 finale of Fringe, and a larger post on racialism in AVATAR. In those days I took the attitude that I was just going to post whenever something interesting moved me. I wasn’t really interested in doing reviews, which is kinda funny since that’s basically what I’ve turned the Anxiety into since then.
Things changed on July 11, 2010 when I posted a review of the Colin Baker DOCTOR WHO serial, TIMELASH. I’d been watching and writing really short, paragraph or two long thoughts over on Facebook and a bunch of us would chat about it, but when I decided to move and expand the reviews over here, that’s when Atomic Anxiety really began to take the shape that it resides in today.
For all the different topics I post on, DOCTOR WHO is unquestionably the most popular overall. The Christmas specials were surprisingly popular, too, given that people were only interested in them for about a month. I’m still surprised at how unpopular the STAR TREK TV reviews are – so much of the traffic comes from people doing random searches for this topic or that, that I figured STAR TREK would have lots of these searches driving traffic here, but that’s really not the case. The movies are another story.
Here are the most popular individual posts in Atomic Anxiety’s year-long existence.
1. DOCTOR WHO: The Ridley Scott Awesomeness of THE IMPOSSIBLE PLANET and THE SATAN PIT
2. DOCTOR WHO: Bring the Marshmallows to THE FIRES OF POMPEII
3. THE YEAR WITHOUT A SANTA CLAUS: The Year With a Snow Miser and Heat Miser
4. RUDOLPH’S SHINY NEW YEAR: Wait, It’s Okay to Laugh at Kids with Big Ears?
5. DOCTOR WHO: THE IMPOSSIBLE ASTRONAUT is Silent, and Almost as Creepy as A Silent
6. STAR TREK (VIII): FIRST CONTACT: Captain Picard and the Seven Dwarfs
7. STAR TREK (VII): GENERATIONS: Stupid Movie Logic Theater
8. DOCTOR WHO: REVELATION OF THE DALEKS: Who Needs Who?
9. DOCTOR WHO: The Hollow Man Begets THE EMPTY CHILD
10. ALICE IN WONDERLAND: Alice Among the Assh*les
Half of the ten are DOCTOR WHO episodes and it’s a pretty random list. Why are PLANET/SATAN PIT and POMPEII the two most popular? Because a lot of people search for “satan” and “pompeii.” Satan I can understand, but Pompeii? ASTRONAUT’s popularity isn’t hard to figure, but it is impressive that an review I wrote jumped all the way up to fifth place literally within 2 weeks. As for REVELATION and EMPTY CHILD? I don’t know. I have no idea why they’re more popular than all but three other episodes.
What about the ten least popular review posts, you ask? Well, let me answer:
1. With the Addition of a Dog Investigator, GHOST HUNTERS Clearly Wants to be Taken Seriously
2. WAREHOUSE 13: The Hell is Wrong With Me?
3. POLIWOOD: Celebrities Shou- Wait, This is TV’s Fault?
4. STAR TREK (TOS): A TASTE OF ARMAGEDDON: A Job Left to Diplomats
5. FASTER: Where’s the Exit?
6. TOMORROW NEVER DIES: A Decadent Agent of a Corrupt Western Power
7. LADY DEATH: THE MOVIE: Insert Overwrought Dialogue Here
8. STAR TREK (TOS): SPACE SEED: Insufficient Facts Always Invites Danger
9. STAR TREK (TOS): THE RETURN OF THE ARCHONS: The Plug Must Be Pulled
10. SCOOBY-DOO, WHERE ARE YOU!: How Can You Have Heads and Tails on a Slice of Bologna?
A more diverse list, but three STAR TREK reviews are among the 10 least popular? TOMORROW NEVER DIES has been up for a day, so I’ll cut that movie some slack. Heck, by the time you read this it will probably have received the one extra click it needs to be not on this list anymore. With that in mind (and figuring the same thing willhappen with THE SORCERER’S APPRENTICE), the real #10 slot goes to my review of THE A-TEAM.
So that’s that. Happy Birthday to us. I hope you’re here a year from now. Heck. I hope we’re here a year from now!
Thanks for reading, all!
– Mark
