I Just Read About That…

On July 25, I reached 90,000 hits.
It took me seven months to get from 60,000 (Dec 25, 2009) to 90,000.
It took me nine months to get my first 30,000 hits.

There are some obvious contributing factors to this improvement (not the least of which is links from referrers that make absolutely no sense whatsoever (and which are pretty clearly spam, but hey, numbers are numbers, right?)  But the most obvious is the huge outcry at the failure of Scholastic to continue publishing the Ulysses Moore series.

If you Google “Ulysses Moore” I am the first post (after the official Scholastic site, Amazon, and fantasticfiction).  I have received so many comments from people who are frustrated that the can’t finish the series. It is amazing that so many voices are ignored.  As you can see, this series has garnered me 4020 views.

At 60,000 views I posted some theories as to why I thought these posts were so successful.  Since very little has changed (mostly just a little shuffle of the top ten), I won’t bother repeating that.  But, there is one post (see the bottom, hee hee) which has absolutely skyrocketed in just a few short months.

1. 4020 views posted April 25, 2009 [was #1 at 60,000: 1663 views]
Pierdomenico Baccalario–Ulysses Moore series Books 1-4
SOUNDTRACK: PEARL JAM-Vitalogy

2. 1634 views posted November 26, 2007 [was #3 at 60,000: 1005 views]
Pseudonymous Bosch–The Name of This Book is Secret (2007)
SOUNDTRACK: FLIGHT OF THE CONCHORDS-The Distant Future EP

3. 1410 views posted April 4, 2008 [was #2 60,000: 1263 views]
Gordon Korman–Son of the Mob (2002)
SOUNDTRACK: GORDON LIGHTFOOT-The Complete Greatest Hits

4. 1,101 views posted August 12, 2009. [was # 8 at 60,000: 667 views ]
Clash of the Gods (The History Channel, 2009)
NO SOUNDTRACK

5. 969 views [was #9 at 30,000: 658 views]
About me
NO SOUNDTRACK

6. 961 views posted June 21, 2008 [was #5 at 60,000: 766 views]
Jeff Kinney–Diary of a Wimpy Kid (2007) & Diary of A Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules (2008)
SOUNDTRACK: DROPKICK MURPHYS-The Meanest of Times

7. 952 views posted February 12, 2009 [was #6 at 60,000: 739 views]
Jeff Kinney–Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw (2009)
SOUNDTRACK: THE FLAMING LIPS-Waitin’ for a Superman [US maxi single]

8. 906 views posted June 1, 2008 [was #4 at 60,000: 798 views]
McSweeney’s #27 (2008)
SOUNDTRACK-THE AIRBORNE TOXIC EVENT-4 songs from MySpace

9. 768 views posted July 13, 2008 [was #10 at 60,000: 652 views]
David Goldberg, Seth Rogen & Evan Goldberg–Superbad: The Drawings (2008)
SOUNDTRACK:  Paul F. Tompkins-Impersonal

10. 746 views posted September 21, 2009 [was #12 at 60,000: 529 views]
David Foster Wallace–[Week 14/End] Infinite Jest (1996)
SOUNDTRACK: SONIC YOUTH-”Rather Ripped”

I’m including a few beyond ten.  In part because I wanted to mention that the Edmonton Folk Festival has received but 9 hits (and of course why would it have, if it was last year?)  I’ve included “The Magic Olympics” because it was huge at 60,000 (and even sparked some arguments), but it had barely 100 since then.

The last one I wanted to include was Vonnegut’s Cat’s Cradle.  I have no idea why this entry is so huge.  The book is old, it’s not terribly popular, as far as I know (surely Slaughterhouse Five is more famous).  But Cat’s Cradle, and God Bless You seem to be consistent hits.

11. 728 views posted March 4, 2009 [was #7 at 60,000: 719 views]
The 2009 Edmonton Folk Festival
NO SOUNDTRACK

13. 698 views posted March 4, 2009 McSweeney’s #30 [Rejoice! Forge-Ahead/Throwback Issue]
SOUNDTRACK: THE FLAMING LIPS-Fight Test EP (2003).

14. 698 views posted July 16, 2008 [was #11 at 60,000: 599 views]
Alex Stone–”The Magic Olympics: with tricks explained! (Harper’s July 2008)
SOUNDTRACK: JENS LEKMAN-Night Fall Over Kortedala

15. 686 views posted July 29, 2009 David Foster Wallace–This is Water [2005 commencement speech from Kenyan College] (2009)
SOUNDTRACK: SONIC YOUTH in concert from NPR (July 7, 2009 at Washington DC’s 9:30 Club).

16 677 views posted June 2, 2009 Kurt Vonnegut–Cat’s Cradle (1963)
SOUNDTRACK: THE DECEMBERISTS-The Hazards of Love (2009).

And the final one, the big surprise is this:

491 views! posted March 28, 2010 Awkward pauses [Ass Möde]
NO SOUNDTRACK

I have gotten so many hits on this in just 4 months–and it increases daily.  It’s so funny to me to see the search term “Ass Mode” and to know that you’re looking at me.  Thank you Craig Ferguson for being funny and inexplicable.