Let Me Sum Up, 2013

2013 is almost over, and for my last post of the year, as is traditional for this blog, I'm recapping some of the highlights of my year in blogging along with some of the highs and lows in the media that I've written about.

The top three traffic-generating blog entries that I wrote this year, once you factor in the bots, were as follows: In third place, The Jonathan Rhys Meyers Post, where I looked at the career of the Irish actor and my brief time as one of his fans. The post was linked to by at least one of his major fansites, which helped to generate a good chunk of the hits. In second place, which came as a total surprise when I compared the numbers, is The Top Ten Cowboy Bebop Episodes, which I wrote in honor of the watershed anime series' tenth anniversary. There were no direct links that I could find, but this seems to be a pretty popular search, and there aren't many other Top Ten lists out there for the show.

The top entry though, by a vast margin, is Why Can't I Watch "Black Mirror"? which bemoaned the lack of US distribution for the British science-fiction anthology that began in 2012. The traffic really picked up when American reviews of the series started appearing in November in conjunction with DirecTV airing the series Stateside on its Audience Network. However, lots of viewers are still searching for alternative ways to watch it, which is why my post continues to rack up hits. No Region 1 home media or streaming release information has been made available yet, but it should only be a matter of time.

As I've said before, I'm a long, long way from seeing all the films of 2013 that I feel I need to see before making any kind of definite list of my favorites. However, I've seen enough that I'm comfortable putting out a preliminary list. If I had to pick the top ten films of 2013 today, they would be Before Midnight, Upstream Color, Stories We Tell, Leviathan, "Wadjda," Frances Ha, "The Selfish Giant," Museum Hours, The Place Beyond the Pines, and "The Spectacular Now." Some of those are titles I binge-watched over the weekend. Reviews are forthcoming. The Act of Killing is being counted as a 2012 film, and is currently the frontrunner for my saw-it-too-late "Plus One" spot on the eventual final version of this list

On to biggest surprises and disappointments. I wasn't expecting much from Monsters University, but PIXAR delivered a solid film I like a little better than the original. I also got a real kick out of Michael Bay's Pain & Gain. However, two of the big budget summer movies I had been anticipating, Star Trek: Into Darkness and Elysium, were duds. I knew J.J. Abrams had a mixed track record, but I'm really disappointed in Neil Blomkamp, whose sophomore feature was so bad, it made me rethink how much I liked his last film, "District 9." And then there was Nicholas Winding Refn's follow-up to "Drive," the deeply unsatisfying Only God Forgives. And I just don't understand the positive notices for This is the End.

I can't even attempt to be a completist about the television of 2013. There's way too much of it. My favorites include a lot of the old, familiar names: Mad Men, Breaking Bad, a much improved third season of Game of Thrones, Venture Bros., the fiftieth anniversary special of Doctor Who, the Avatar Wan episodes of Legend of Korra, and the final (for now) episodes of Futurama. Newcomers that won me over include Orange is the New Black, Top of the Lake, Utopia, and Brooklyn Nine-Nine. I also want to single out Person of Interest for most improved show, not that it was too shabby to begin with.

The best surprise of the year in TV was Hannibal, which I didn't like as much as many other viewers, but turned out to be so much better than I was expecting. I'm firmly rooting for its success, and I'll continue to watch it to the bitter end. Netflix becoming a major new content producer was also something I don't think a lot of people saw coming. It wasn't just that the content was good, but that watching the new shows online was so quickly embraced by so many people. So far it's a trick that none of the other streaming providers have managed to pull off to nearly the same degree. Disappointments? Mostly avoided. I didn't have any real hope for dreck like Dads, and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. is pretty much what I thought it was going to be. However, I regret giving that positive review to Under the Dome after only a few episodes. It went south in a hurry, and I didn't bother finishing the season.
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Finally, I offer for your casual perusal some of my favorite analysis posts that I wrote this year. These weren't the most popular or the most topical pieces, but they were the ones that I thought came out the best, and that I enjoyed researching and putting together the most.

"21 and Over" is Two Movies in One
What's a Chick Flick?
Any Worthwhile New Streaming Services?
800 Words on the Boston Bombing Coverage
Kindle Worlds and Legal Fanfiction
Don't Sweat the Statisticians
Will Aereo Kill TV?
Are the Disney Princesses a Problem?
Worst Screening Ever
Let it Be For Kids

Thanks for reading, everybody. See you next year.
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