flickering pictures

One year ago today, the very first post went live here at Flickering Pictures, and I leapt headfirst into the great unknown of the blogosphere. I’d wanted to do this for a long time, but kept putting it off, like I’d put off a lot of things I wanted to do.

Since then, I’ve been trying with mixed success not to put things off anymore, and 365 days, 377 posts and some 160,000 visits later, I’m truly happy to say that one of those successes is this little slice of webdom.

It’s been a heck of a year. CNN linked to us several times, CBC picked us up too, the number of visitors here grew monthly, and some lively debates were had. Researching underreported news and neat-o tidbits all over the world, I learned a little more about this fantastically diverse planet of ours and a lot more about myself.

To mark this birthday post, I thought I’d post links to the ten posts that accumulated the most pageviews over the last year. Here they are, in the order you chose them:

1. japanese drawer-style beds
   To be honest, I never really thought much of this rant, which was all about Seinfeld-style drawer beds that look more like Easy-Bake Ovens than actual sleeping quarters. Still, it’s up at the top of my traffic rankings thanks to the apparently influential fellow who Dugg the heck out of it. So thanks, whoever you are!
2. mapquest, 1920’s-style
   I love maps, and I love history, so I went nuts for this dapper-looking set of wrist-mounted map scrolls that provided step-by-step directions for British intercity travel in the roaring 20’s. I’m happy to report that a lot of you did too.
3. famous airbrusher says he photoshopped dove’s “real women” big-time
   Maybe I’m naive, but I was surprised and disappointed to learn that Dove’s “Real Women” ad campaign, which went out of its way to showcase women whose bodies didn’t fit the runway stereotype, used a lot of heavy airbrushing to whittle away the models’ imperfections. The idea, according to the artist who handled the campaign, was “to keep everyone’s skin and faces showing the mileage but not looking unattractive.”
4. siege weapon fun for the whole family
   Who doesn’t want their very own trebuchet?
5. panties for peace
   I suspect that this post’s popularity had more to do with the word “panties” than the actual story, which is a really neat international initiative that aims to demoralize Burma’s tyrannical generals by exploiting a Burmese superstition about ladies’ “used” undergarments.
6. “special edition” monopoly game helped wwii british p.o.w.s escape
   One of the great underreported WWII stories. Who’d have thought that so many prisoners of war would find freedom because of a simple board game?
7. inmate always escaped on friday the 13th
   The remarkable (and romantic) story of Steven Jay Russell, who escaped from police custody an astounding four times — each time on Friday the 13th.
8. montreal holds boardwalk position in international monopoly game
   Take that, Toronto.
9. “subprime primer” mortgage crisis explainer, complete with stick men
   Obama should make this required viewing for every bank executive in America. I wish I could take credit for it.
10. google tool for comparing obama/mccain quotes
    I’m not sure Google has ever put out a gadget that’s neater or more limited in scope, but this thing was great before the election made it obsolete. It’s still live, if you’re interested.

So there you have it. I gotta say, most of my favourites didn’t make the top ten, but then I decided at the outset that this site would be a hodgepodge of quietly important news, heartfelt outpourings, indignant appeals, good music and random WTF miscellany. I knew I’d be writing some of it for you, but I didn’t know I’d be writing all of it for me, and I’m bloody glad I did.

So to all of you who pop in now and then to see what’s new around here, who support the site by checking out our sponsors, and who contribute to the discussions on the comment boards: thanks for coming by, and thanks for the education.

Time and again, you’ve made a little blogger happy. : )

Image via Jama Rattigan’s Alphabet Soup.

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