Introducing the Best Stuff of 2017
But First, A Brief Moment of Reflection…
Exactly one year ago tomorrow, Popticon was launched. As with most first attempts at something creative and ill-defined, it came with a very ambitious pledge: to be a place for people who love pop culture to come read about and celebrate the best that the world has to offer. Also, we occasionally ripped on Taylor Swift. Our stated aim was to cover as many TV shows, albums, films, video games, books and even YouTube channels as possible, while also throwing some politics into the mix every once and a while. What could go wrong?
Needless to say, 2017 has been quite a learning experience. This year has seen many of our features rise and almost immediate collapse, either due to a lack of response, time constraints or sheer laziness. Some running pieces were put on hiatus or halted altogether; others are still in rotation, just very incrementally. And, sadly, anyone who has been paying attention will have noticed that the number of posts per week has been steadily declining throughout the year, to the extent that whole months have gone by without new content appearing.
But it’s not been all bad; in fact, most of the time it’s been deeply rewarding contributing to this small, wonderful little corner of the internet. We had a mid-year revamp, with a new site design and original artwork (courtesy of Elly Whiley, who also put together our graphics for today and the coming weeks). We managed to cover some interesting films and albums, a couple of great older novels and the entirety of Game of Thrones and Rick and Morty while they were on the air (though I did follow my physician’s recommendation to give up on The Walking Dead a few weeks back).
Perhaps most exciting, though, is what’s to come in 2018. Our resident film critic Rose Marel will be returning to finish off her stellar 52 Films by Women feature, while Tom-Sebastian Dunlop will be joining us for his own weekly segment entitled 52 Weeks of Music. Additionally, each “Best Of…” list from next year onwards will not just be based on the personal preferences of one sad, severely sun-deprived “man”. Rather, they will become cumulative enterprises, with opinions sourced from a number of individuals with interesting (and often conflicting) tastes.
That said, for now you’re stuck with me. What’s to follow over the next few days is a collection of articles detailing the very best entertainment that was made available these past twelve months. This includes songs and albums, both new and returning TV shows and the meagre amount of movies I found the time to watch this year. I hope you check it out at least one of the upcoming posts and discover (or re-discover) something special from 2017.
To close, though, I’d like to thank you for reading, even if this is the only thing you’ve ever read on Popticon. Your attention is your support, and your support is most humbly appreciated. I can’t wait to tell you about more stuff next year.
Your assured friend,
Tom