I am back! I am back where I began in the art of written discussion, which is where I began years ago, throughout high school, and on this blog. I wrote my first post on March 9, 2011, and am still around after five years of posting. I need to ask for your forgiveness, for my posting on Caponomics has fallen behind since I have done so much more with Literary Gladiators on YouTube, reviews on Goodreads, and the need to get back into my fiction writing while also balancing my reading time, work for income, and tasks that involve housekeeping and yard work. I came back to pay a visit and from what I saw, my page view numbers and followers have just about remained along for the ride. I cannot be more thankful for having such a great group of followers. Before I made friends who love books, literature, reading, and writing on Booktube, I made friends with people on Blogger, and I must say that all of you are outstanding! I was fearful was what was going to happen, but I saw that I have 24 followers and 66,502 page views. People are still reading my commentary on different topics and I am getting 1,000 to 2,000 views per month. I need to return the favor by writing more posts and on a more consistent basis. I have put together an uploading schedule for Booktube and I feel that it would immensely help to put together an uploading schedule for Blogger. Booktubers who also blog, such as Katie from Books & Things and Shannon from Shannon Rose Reads, have put together consistent schedules that have helped in the long run. I cannot confirm details just yet, but I will definitely keep everyone in touch.
To celebrate five years, I am going to break from tradition and instead of sharing my ten most popular posts in details, I am just going to recap everything that has been going on, as it relates to what I have posted on Caponomics. This will include my top ten popular posts, but will summarize everything I feel you should know.
My Short Work Reviews Have Surged in the Top Ten- My poem review of Anne Sexton's "The Starry Night" is my most popular post with over 5,000 views. While other noteworthy posts have remained in the top ten, this one is consistently surging and picking up attention. It is quite a surreal feeling when you Google "the starry night by anne sexton summary" and this is the third thing you come across. Emily's Poetry Blog also put together something quite nice. I enjoy and recommend her blog as well. My reviews for "The Lottery Ticket" by Ventura Garcia Calderon and "The Monkey's Paw" by W.W. Jacobs also saw an immense surge, which is spectacular, for it brings attention to works of literature I feel that everyone should check out, especially "The Lottery Ticket," because it currently does not have the attention it deserves. My original surge on this blog came from my review of Ebert Presents At The Movies, where viewership has since become dormant and has dropped to eighth place. My distaste for orange juice pulp is still grabbing the attention of readers, while my post about the Hey Arnold! Jungle Movie has caught the attention of readers. This leads me to this...
The Jungle Movie is Being Released in 2017- Nickelodeon gave the green light to the much awaited Hey Arnold! conclusion following the end of the series, which ended with a two-part special called "The Journal." In this special, Arnold comes across his father's journal and it goes over how his parents left to help the Green-Eyed people, but their plane was never heard from since. This special will provide answers as to everything that happened, but was not disclosed. There will also be mention to Arnold's last name, which creator Craig Bartlett hinted to as "Shortman." This special will definitely lead me back to Nickelodeon for the first time since I have no idea when.
Response to NFL Predictions- My NFL predictions for 2015 were a bit of a mixed bag. I predicted the Super Bowl would be the Seahawks over the Colts and that certainly did not ring true. The Seahawks reached the divisional round before being defeated by the Panthers, while the Colts barely missed the playoffs in a crappy division battle. As for what really happened, I felt the Broncos would make the AFC Championship and lose to the Colts, while the Panthers would regress. Both the Broncos and Panthers have a good chance to continue with their success, while at the same time, dark horses could definitely emerge. As for what is to come, I am quite happy that Hue Jackson is getting an opportunity to coach again, while many of the other coaching selections leave me in question. I also feel that Peyton Manning retired at the right time, turning 40 this year, shaken up to the point where Brock Osweiler started a good chunk of the season, and being able to exit with a Super Bowl victory that was heavily associated with a strong defense. Peyton Manning will leave football as the player I would argue to be the greatest.
Literary Gladiators- Our show has seen a drastic amount of growth. We have been on Booktube for two years and since May, we have been able to release videos at a greater rate. In addition, we have been releasing individual videos that do not follow the structure of the standard episode involving a discussion panel. These videos allow us to go beyond the topics of discussion and talk more about our personal reading expeditions and take part in the Booktube activities. As of this morning, we have 340 subscribers and over 12,000 views. This is ten times the amount of subscribers from last year at this time and six times the amount of views. Our fourth season is currently active, while we are planning a fifth season that will be taped this summer and released in September. We have 52 episodes planned at this time. In addition to many of the regulars, we have new interested individuals that will likely take part, while we are also planning to have interested Booktubers on our panel. Our next episode to be released will be a discussion of "The Starry Night" by Anne Sexton, which will hopefully garner the attention that my blog post has garnered. Our channel can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZ6qvTMy4NPqaRnVdsuJLLg
What Have I Been Reading- During the months of January and February, I read both a mixed bag (as I did in January) and more themed reading (as I did in February). I read The Little Giant Encyclopedia of One-Liners by Gene Perret and Terry Martin and Andrew's Brain by E.L. Doctorow in January, then went on to read A Happy Death by Albert Camus, The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo, and Great French Short Stories edited by Paul Negri for French February, a reading challenge I set for myself during the particular month. I started She Came to Stay by Simone de Beauvoir and continued Les Miserables by Victor Hugo, but have yet to finish them. I also started and finished Harley Quinn Vol. 1: Hot in the City. I read this during late February and early March. I am currently engaged in a buddy read with Lauren from Lauren and the Books and we are reading A Time to Kill by John Grisham, which I am really enjoying. John Grisham puts everything into what he writes and I get a lot out of what he has to say. I will be doing a lot of reading for the fifth season of Literary Gladiators, which will definitely be something I look forward to. Here is a video where I go into greater detail about what I have been reading: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qj9mnnwKve8
What is to Come?- Much of my online activity has been shifted to Literary Gladiators, which I am really hoping to grow into something great! We upload videos three days a week and we are looking at uploading between the fourth and fifth season, as well as the structure of how things will work when we begin filming and then uploading the fifth season. Regarding my blog, I plan to continue my traditions of making NFL predictions for 2016 and naming the ten best books I read in 2016. Outside of that, it sounds like reviews for books and shorter works have picked up attention most recently. I definitely plan to take more notes and do more research in order to put together the best posts I am possibly able to on this blog. From there, I am hoping to write more fiction and read as much as I am able. The question will come down to the balance that comes with my changing work schedule. I will definitely keep everyone posted.
I appreciate everyone's support and readership during the last five years and hope to continue entertaining you with witty, but most importantly informative posts that encourage you to pick up a particular work to read or just catch your attention for the time being. I am happy to be back and while I am not sure when I will be posting again and what I will be posting about, it is definitely my intent to provide with blog with the necessary reading material. As I close off my Booktube videos, Keep Reading!
