This is the first of a pair of articles
to conclude Awkward Mixture's 2018. This is also the third year of
Awkward Mixture, and it's time to assess the successes and failures
of the recent past.
In 2016, I started Awkward Mixture with
the goal of producing three, one-thousand word articles each week
about video games, short stories, and politics. In the first year, I
wrote 107 articles. Last year I wrote 76 articles, and this year I
hope to finish with 77 articles. Even though the original intention
was to limit articles to a thousand words, a significant portion
stretch to two-thousand words, especially in December. Even though
the average over the last two years has been one and a half articles
per week, the goal remains the same, if unattainable.
Despite the failure to write three
articles a week, there were some big successes. February of 2018
garnered the most page views in the history of Awkward Mixture, and
October wasn't bad either with the 3rd most views.
Unfortunately, visitors to the site vanished after the peak, because
my computer died at the beginning of March. Without new articles,
very few people read anything. Just when visitors were returning, my
computer failed again in September. Seventy-seven articles doesn't
look quite so bad, when one considers they were written over ten
months instead of twelve.
With that summary, let's review the
articles.
Top Three of All Time:
Like the previous year, Building
the Best Army in Mount and Blade Warband: Archers and Conclusion
and Europa
Universalis 3 versus 4: Sometimes Simpler, Occasionally More Complex,
and Just As Fun are still drawing the most eyes
every week. While older articles fail to attract new attention,
these two always top the weekly views. The former has more views
than the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th place
entries combined, while the later has earned more than three through
seven. Distantly in third, is Building
the Best Army in Mount and Blade Warband: Infantry and Cavalry,
which obviously is in the same article series as the 1st
place finisher.
Onward to 2018's top 10.
Readers Choice Awards: The Top Ten
articles of 2018's Awkward Mixture, determined by page-views:
In 2016 and 2017, video games earned
seven of the top ten spots. This year, they dropped one. Still they
took the top five.
The most popular article of 2018 was
the first video game article of the year, ATale of Three 4X-RTS Universes: Star Ruler 2 (A),
published on January 9th. It was also the first of a five
article series, reviewing three 4X-RTS space sagas. Even though it
suffered from a lack of beauty, its visual appeal was in utility, and
Star Ruler 2 offered the best gameplay of the three.
Less surprising was Awkward Mixture's
number two, A4X-RTS Comparison: Sins of A Solar Empire, Star Ruler 2, and Stellaris. This article, included in the same
series as the previous article, ended the series by comparing Star
Ruler 2, Sins of A Solar Empire: Trinity, and Stellaris in a helpful
spreadsheet. Readers, at least from my perspective, appear to love
comparisons and data. That's a thought for the future.
Dota is the most common topic on this
blog, as I play about five games a week, and follow the Pro
Circuit System. That must be why, number three is Dota
2 Majors, Minors, and Standings: February 2018.
The article was composed about halfway through the 2017/2018 season
which ended in August. It's interesting returning to the article to
see which teams appeared strong, and compare that the the final
results of The
International 2018.
Look, people really enjoyed The Tale of
Three 4X-RTS series, because the fourth and fifth most popular
articles were A
Tale of Three 4X-RTS Universes: Star Ruler 2 (B)
and A
Tale of Three 4X-RTS Universes: Stellaris.
Star Ruler 2 received two articles because I liked it so much, while
Stellaris was a mild disappointment, considering how much I
appreciate the Europa
Universalis series.
In sixth place appears the first
political article, A
Campaign Without a Campaign. This was the
third of five articles about North Korea. It questioned whether the
Trump Administration was planning for war, without persuading the
American people of its necessity, because the citizens of the United
States didn't believe war was imminent or relevant. The article also
questioned the intelligence of attacking North Korea, considering the
devastating fallout from the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Number seven of 2018, was the first
short story, the fourth in a five part series. Released in tandem
with the 4X-RTS series, it was similarly titled (A Tale of ….). In
retrospect, this might have generated unwanted confusion, but it
still remains, A
Tale of Two Tragedies: The Plight. Of course,
if you haven't read the series yet, I recommend reading from the
beginning, A
Tale of Two Tragedies: The Pact. In this
story, two boys reaching adulthood, are commanded by conflicting gods
to end their city's bloody conflict through more bloodshed. One
protagonist is conflicted about this crime, while the other is eager
to do his duty.
And we can't leave the last 4X-RTS
game, A Tale of Three 4X-RTS Universes: Sins of a Solar Empire Trinity, off the list. In eighth place for
the year, there is much to say about a game which I couldn't stomach
for more than five hours.
A Tale of Two Tragedies, returns to
claim the ninth spot, with A
Tale of Two Tragedies: The Pit. This is the
third part of the series.
Finally, the second political article,
Thoughts:
Corruption. There is little that worries me
more about our political system, then that people would rather elect
incredibly corrupt individuals than politicians from the other party.
And this trend works for both parties. In the 2018 Midterm
Elections, Senator Robert
Menendez (D) of New Jersey, Duncan
Hunter (R) of California's 50th
District, and Chris
Collins (R) of New York's 27th
District all won reelection, though with narrower margins than their
previous elections. Corruption isn't the only aspect of a politician
that matters, but it should be considered a significant component.
This article also highlights the return of the Thoughts article. The
purpose of this category was to write an occasional 500 word article
once a week to supplement the regular 1,000 to 2,000 word articles.
Political Opinions:
Last year in the Reflection, I
highlighted political proposals I'd offered during the year. This
year I didn't come up with any creative solutions, so I submit
instead, a few opinions:
The United States is violating the
Treaty
on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons,
because the treaty obliges all countries to reduce their stockpiles,
but instead the USA's is undergoing a one trillion dollar
modernization initiated by President Obama.
A related, and an ongoing series,
President Obama continued
many destructive policies of the Bush Administration,
which allowed President Trump to enhance them.
No
United States President deserved the Nobel Peace Prize,
except maybe Jimmy Carter in 2002. No one directly responsible for
the deaths of innocents abroad or at home can atone for their
brutality with a single deal or some grand rhetoric.
Obvious: Globalism
is good, discussions on Twitter are frustrating,
and it is too easy to blame others.
Trump
won the November Midterm election even if he
lost a few House seats, by expanding the Republican's Senate margin,
and retaining key governorships... Actually, it's more complicated
than that. Maybe
Democrats recorded a minor victory. Still,
President Trump has a reasonable chance of reelection in 2020.
The big development for Awkward
Mixture's political scene was the introduction of The Events.
Debuting in June,
I described the relevant events as examples of “corruption,
insults, ineptitude, the investigation into Russian interference in
the 2016 election, and certain astonishing actions and/or policy
decisions enacted,” specifically relating “to the President, his
family, his Cabinet, his spokespeople, his lawyers, and all other
people he has chosen to work with both past and present.”
Even astonish actions, outside the norm
of American Politics eventually become boring. Once they are
initiated I feel compelled to record the continuing action until the
end. Sometimes I might even agree with incredible deviations from
the expected, even as the style and method of their execution remains
disturbing. For example, withdrawing some forces from the Middle
East is admirable as long as it is conducted properly.
The purpose of The Events, in case it
has never been clearly stated, is to catalog the actions and words of
President Trump (and his associates) so significant events can be
remembered, and a clear line drawn from one to another.
I hope it has been helpful, but if
there are any recommendations for The Events I'd gladly accept
constructive criticism.
The Best Three Short Stories You
Might Have Missed:
If
everything else went well with the blog, (aside from the two months
without a computer), Short Stories suffered. I haven't written one
since the computer broke at the start of September. But worry not,
I'm ready to go for the new year. While you're waiting, take a look
at these:
Does anyone have
an invasive plant in their yard? After purchasing my home, a friend
informed me of the existence of Japanese
Knotweed on my property. It is an outrageously aggressive plant.
And
this is how I felt about it, a sort of Things Fall Apart and
The Road diary.
Sometimes
I try to be too clever for my own good. If I'm being honest, its
probably most of the time. I have a book which someone from college
gave me, which I never read, and I never returned. But in a
philosophy class we covered the outlines of some of Peter Singer's
ideas, and I felt as if I were qualified enough to satirize it in
Impractical
Ethics.
I feel as if YouTube goes through
cycles. Is anyone else being offered too many Kitchen Nightmare
videos? In August, I watched too many Fool Penn and Teller clips,
and The
Walrus and The Magic Man is the result. I sort of fused it with
my growing frustration that the United States has no political
appetite for averting the disaster of climate change. Even if
Democrats won the presidency, sixty Senate seats, and a majority in
the House, there are too many of them owned by oil, gas, and other
establishment branches of the economy, unwilling to sacrifice to
save. In short, we need a solution akin to magic.
In Conclusion:
This concludes 2018's compilation of
Final Three, Top Ten, Political Ideas, and Best Short Stories. If you
had an article which particularly piqued your interest, I'd be glad
to hear about it. Feel free to post in the comments. Next Monday is
Awkward Mixture's 2018 Video Games in Review.
Thanks for reading,
Clayton Brostowin
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