So the clock on my calendar tells me that Popwell’s been alive and kicking for two years now! That certainly calls for some kind of celebration, and nothing says “celebration” like rehashing past glories. As hard as it is to believe, there might be folks out there who haven’t read all of these! With that in mind, and considering that compiling “best of” lists is a fun and easy way to fill column inches, we now present our most popular posts of our first two years:
1. Rethinking Prince’s “Under the Cherry Moon” – There are a lot of Prince fans out there, and I got a lot of great feedback from folks about this piece. It seems there are quite a few other people out there who like Prince’s rarely-seen black & white opus, too.
2. Ladie’s Night: Kool & the Gang’s Unheralded Feminist History Lesson – This eye-opening essay continues to resonate more than a year since its first publication. It’s a fascinating exploration of the feminist messages hidden in Kool & the Gang’s funky 1979 hit.
3. Balance & Motion: Keanu Reeves’ “Man of Tai Chi” – A couple of mentions on Keanu Reeves’ fan sites helped propel this piece up the list of Popwell’s most-read posts. This is a pretty film-schooly takes on Reeves’ directorial debut, so tread lightly.
4. Spaghetti Westerns Beyond Leone – The good folks at the Spaghetti Western Database pushed this article into the site’s top ten. Once the link hit their Facebook page, Popwell enjoyed its biggest single day ever. Thanks, Tomas Milian!
5. Long Beach to Build Colossal Cher – Clearly, this is an idea that resonates with the people, judging from the response this piece continues to get. Or maybe there are just a lot of Robert Garcia fans out there. Anyway, can’t wait to see them start working on this!
6. The Sable Cape: A Sweary Tale – It turns out that people love swearing almost as much as they love Prince and Keanu Reeves! This ribald tale of haberdashery and intrigue ranks as the most popular fiction piece we’ve posted.
7. Mr. Mortimus’ Thursday Afternoon – This breathtaking story pulled the lid back on office life, substance abuse and pants in new and intriguing ways. Attesting to its importance, it’s been nominated for the 2017 Peabody Awards!
8. Def Leppard’s “Pour Some Sugar on Me” – A Stealthy Dose of British Naval History – Who knew that so much history was packed into the lyrics of this robust crowd-pleaser? Popwell, that’s who!
9. Ozymandias II: Always Bet on Black – The most popular poem on Popwell is this little ditty, which takes the original poem and turns it on its head by not referring to it or relating to it at all.
10. Pop Life – This intriguing look at bus stations, mutton, and CHiPs fan fiction clocks in as Popwell’s tenth most popular posting. Read it three or four times and you might start to see why.
So that’s that. I hope you’ve enjoyed this casual look back at some of our best work so far. Our long-promised site redesign really is just around the corner this time, so keep your eyes peeled, your feet on the ground, and keep reaching for the stars.
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