Happy Birthday to Me? One Year of "Reflections" on the Blogosphere!

Well, four hundred and thirty-one posts later, I've completed my first year on the blogosphere!

I blogged my first post on Saturday, April 23, 2005. So I'm devoting today to patting myself on the back. Nice, huh?

Let's flashback for a minute and recall how it all began back in the spring of '05. These were my first words on the blog:

Hello everybody, welcome to my blog. And to start us off, I quote the illustrious Admiral James Stockdale: "Who am I? Why am I here?"

Good questions...

My name is John Muir. and I'm a published author who writes under the name John Kenneth Muir, not because I'm pretentious or anything (though I am...) but because - for some reason - there are a lot of writers out there named John Muir.

Specifically, there's the great American naturalist from the last century, and also a fellow who writes about fixing Volkswagens. Others too, I think. In the age of the Internet, I realized I had to distinguish myself a little for Google, Yahoo, Lycos, Ask Jeeves and other search engines, so for the record, I'm the John Muir (the John Kenneth Muir...) who writes about film and television for a living.

And I know nothing about Volkswagens, so don't ask...

To let you know a little bit about my work, I'm the author of fifteen published books and several articles and short stories. I live in Monroe, North Carolina and work out of my home office penning books on film and television.

You may (or may not...) know some of my titles. From Applause Theatre and Cinema Books I've written: An Askew View: The Films of Kevin Smith (2002), The Unseen Force: The Films of Sam Raimi (2004), and Best in Show: the Films of Christopher Guest and Company (2004).

McFarland, a publisher here in North Carolina, has published eleven of my books, including award winners Terror Television (A Booklist Editor's Choice, 2001), Horror Films of the 1970s (A Booklist Editor's Choice, 2002 and ALA "Best of the Best" Reference Book '03), and 2004's The Encyclopedia of Superheroes on Film and Television.

I've written about prominent horror directors (Wes Craven: The Art of Horror [1998], The Films of John Carpenter [2000], Eaten Alive at a Chainsaw Massacre: The Films of Tobe Hooper [2003]) and several TV series studies, including Exploring Space:1999 (1997), An Analytical Guide to TV's Battlestar Galactica (1998), A Critical History of Doctor Who on Television (1999), A History an Analysis of Blake's 7 (2000), and An Analytical Guide to TV's One Step Beyond (2001).

I've also written an original (licensed novel) based on the TV series Space:1999 called The Forsaken, from Powys Media, and freelanced for magazines including Cinescape, Filmfax, Rerun, Collectors News, and The Official Farscape Magazine. On the web, my home page is here, and I'm the regular media columnist for the web-zine Far Sector, which features original fiction and great editorials and opinion columns...

That answers the first question, who am I? The second question, why am I here? involves pop culture, film and TV. I hope I can utilize this space to discuss, debate and ponder trends in movies and TV programs. I'm open to all subjects - fantasy, horror, science fiction, Bollywood, musicals, you name it. Basically, I just hope to create an ongoing journal about contemporary and classic entertainment.

Since that post, this blog has included the following:

20 cult tv flashbacks

37 "retro" toy flashbacks

42 essays/reviews about movies

05 comic-book flashbacks

07 interviews with actors/directors/writers

I've also blogged partial seasons of Invasion, Lost, Surface, Medium, Masters of Horror, Night Stalker and Threshold, plus episodes of Supernatural, Ghost Whisperer, Extras, etc.

I've done "cult TV" blogging, completing three series in the process: Space Academy (1977), Push, Nevada (2002) and Logan's Run: The Series (1977). I've also posted several "Guess the Movie" posts, and more than a few Sci-Fi "Quotes of the Week."

"Reflections on Film and Television" has also covered monthly McFarland publications, and created a "fantasy" spaceship crew. There's been Saturday morning blogging for Land of the Lost, profiles of many of my books, several "links of the week" and I even started (but never completed...) Star Wars blogging. Why'd I stop doing the latter? Well, I began to see Revenge of the Sith in almost purely contemporary political context, and I knew I would really offend people if I started calling out today's political figures as "The Emperor" or "Anakin," and I lost my nerve. Some day, I'll get it back...

My most controversial post came a week ago Friday when I suggested Battlestar Galactica (the re-imagination) should have a different title. I didn't intend to be controversial, but once things get out on the Web, they take on a life of their own. That's for sure.

My snarkiest post was probably the first review I did of Ghost Whisperer. My best post? Who knows? (perhaps The Phantom Menace post...).

The good news is that the readership for the blog has steadily grown over the year. The first few months it was a desert, but by late summer '05, it was hopping. I lost some momentum in March '06 when I had to sign off for a little over a week to tend to a family medical crisis, but the numbers are climbin' again now that I'm bloggin' again. It looks like this might be the biggest week yet as far as hits.

What's next? That would be telling! Actually, I'm going to blab about it here, and very soon. I'll be beginning a new creative enterprise in the next two months, and it's very exciting. The best is yet to come...

But for today, I just want to say thanks for spending this time with me. Without y'all, this would be a lonely place...