Awkward Mixture's 2019 Reflection

Last Wednesday was the last one of 2019, so this article was supposed to be posted then, a reflection on Awkward Mixture's articles of the year.

I'd like begin by thanking everyone for reading the articles of Awkward Mixture. January set a record for the most views of any month of the past four years, while the articles of May were the third most popular. In total there will be (as of December 31st) seventy-seven articles for the year, one more than the seventy-six of last year (and the seventy-six from the year before that). Though the article count remains consistent, the goal for next year is for eighty to eighty-five. Of the seventy-seven articles, forty examined video games, whether as reviews, evaluating the Dota 2 professional scene. Another twenty-three articles focused on politics, with fourteen The Presidential Event articles. Ten short stories means I missed my goal of one a month. Add two reflections on the year and one article about a board game convention in Boston to arrive at the final tally.

Total Articles

As if it would surprise regular readers, the three most popular articles over the last fours years remain the same; Building the Best Army in Mount and Blade Warband: Archers and Conclusion, Europa Universalis 3 versus 4: Sometimes Simpler, Occasionally More Complex, and Just As Fun, and Building the Best Army in Mount and Blade Warband: Infantry and Cavalry. Their success can be explained by two factors. One, they answer popular gaming questions. Two, they were written the first year of the blog, and have had more time to accumulate views.

Top 10 Articles by Views

Reader of years past know that the most popular articles on Awkward Mixture are always about video games. The subject has dominated the top 10 of the past three years. Of the top thirty articles since 2016, video games occupied twenty-one with four apiece for short stories and politics the remaining article for Star Wars. In 2019 articles about video games only won four of the top ten, losing to politics, which found strength in The Presidential Events series.

The most read article on Awkward Mixture in 2019 was Bomber Crew: Take Off, the first of three articles about a video game where the player controls the crew of a RAF bomber during World War II. It isn't even a game I'd recommend trying, but the same situation occurs repeatedly because games I wouldn't recommend like Brigador, Sins of A Solar Empire, or Space Tactics, repeatedly seem to garner more views than more memorable experiences.

Politics not only earned five of the ten spots, but the category dominated with positions two through five. The first of politics four article run was Environmental Ethics: The Categorical Imperative, the initial article in a series about, obviously, the environment and ethics. I hope to return to environmental issues, especially as the threat to our planet grows greater, but so does the interest in transforming our culture and economy to solve global problems.
 
Rounding out the top three was The Events: April 2019. The most popular of the Presidential Events series of 2019, it included the President ousting Kirstjen Nielsen, recognizing Israel's claim to the Golan Heights, and featuring in the released Mueller report.

The next most popular Events article was the recap of 2018, in The Events of 2018: A Conclusion, published in January 2019. A recap of The Presidential Events of 2019 will arrive shortly in January 2020.

Halfway through top 10 is halfway through 2019, with The Events: June 2019. That month included the US accusing Iran of attacking two oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman, Jared Kushner refusing to defend his father-in-law against charges of racism, and the President generating a photo-op when he stepped into North Korea.

Video games reenters the top 10 with the Souls-like 2D platformer, Hollow Knight. It captured the sixth spot, though it wasn't as Deadly, or as Dark, as its inspiration.

Number seven also went to video games, with Toby Fox's teasing the follow up to his 2015 fan favorite, Undertale. Named Deltarune, players aren't sure if the game is Unaltered or Unrelated to its predecessor.

2019 saw the introduction of a new topic, Amesbury Additional, which featured local municipal news from Amesbury, MA. While the first one generated interest, and though I went to other events and meetings, I never wrote about them. It's possible they may feature more prominently in 2020.

The last video game article on the top 10, at nine, was the second article about Obsidian Entertainment's evil RPG, Tyranny. The article examined The Mechanics of Combat and the Lore of Spells in the land of Terratus.

Rounding off the top ten was the only short story on the list: That He Should Bleed For It As Well. I am not sure what to make of it myself, whether it was obvious or inane, but I felt compelled to write it after reading a poem. I no longer can remember the title of the poem, even though I hid its lines in the short story. Ok, it wasn't a poem as much as a hymn. Does that help?

Top 3 Short Stories by Author's Choice

Every year I pick my favorite short stories to feature, though with only ten to pick from, minus the one in the top 10 articles by views, the selection isn't what it used to be.

What is Worth Remembering? is a reaction to my 2016 short story, Is it Worth Remembering? While the original supported the notion that memories, even troubling or difficult ones, are worth retaining, the sequel questioned whether people might be better off if they were able to forget traumatic events or actions they took. Both used the background of a totalitarian society which manipulated the memory of its subjects for its own benefit. I prefer the first, but the second isn't bad either.

The title (and core) of Without His Lifelong Friend was inspired by the line from Puff the Magic Dragon, which was also referenced in another 2016 Awkward Mixture short story, Change and Diminishment. In this case, I find the newer version preferable.

The Perfect Life According to Glaucon, was like if all the people who knew you best were asked to write a part of your obituary, and they hadn't a single good thing to say. It felt right to compose the criticisms of a perfectly unjust man from the perspective of all the women he had harmed, in contrast with the 2017 short story Four Voices Vying for Veracity, which used the voices of men to condemn their crudity.

The Year The Presidential Events Took over the Politics Section

In 2016 I didn't comment on the political articles of the year. In 2017 I summarized my proposals, and in 2018 I highlighted my political opinions. For Awkward Mixture, 2019 was the year of the Events, which I rebranded for clarity as The Presidential Events . Not only did I write one for every month, but January reviewed the entirety of 2018, while the months of October and December included bonus articles about the Ukraine scandal and impeachment. That's fifteen Presidential Events articles, nearly half of the political articles of 2019.

Beyond this expanding feature, Awkward Mixture included other informative articles. In January I completed a three article series about the mistakes of the Obama presidency and the focus on the politics of centrism titled: Failures of the Obama White House: Which The White House and Congress Would Repeat in A Second.

Later in the year I wondered at the far left's ambivalent reaction to Trump and Russia's interference in the 2016 election. It seemed as if to Glen Greenwald (and other aligned people), who I admired for his coverage of Edward Snowden in 2013, was against injustice and corruption, unless it befell the United States of America.

And following the release of the Mueller Report, I read it, and did the best I could to shorten Volume I, regarding the cooperation of Russia and the Trump campaign, to a readable size. I hacked away all the unnecessary information from the original 200 page document, leaving four versions of different lengths. The shortest was fifteen pages. Though I believe the data in the entire Mueller Report is enough to impeach the president, his ability to discredit the document so quickly convinced me that repeating the exercise on Volume II was not worth the effort.

The End, But Not Yet

The official end of 2019 for Awkward Mixture won't be until I've written a reflection on the video games of 2019, and a Presidential Events for December.

Again, thank you.

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