My end of Year One blog review

It’s the end of the year, so I thought I’d review the first year of my blog, for myself if nothing else.

 

Followers: 87 – no idea if that’s good or not…I’m pretty sure it’s not great 🙂 Although thank you to everybody who’s followed me so far!

Total views: 853 – I was aiming for 1000, so I’m not too far off.

Best day for views – 28 on August 5th thanks to a 14 view surge from Three Chord Queen.

 

Top 3 “likes”:

3. Cellophane Man https://jbjfan2009.wordpress.com/2013/08/07/cellophane-man-a-poem/ – 8 likes

    The Vampyre: Canto One https://jbjfan2009.wordpress.com/2013/08/20/the-vampyre-a-gothic-romance/ – 8 likes

2. Her: Part 3 https://jbjfan2009.wordpress.com/2013/09/29/her-part-three/ – 10 likes

1. Here’s to you, kid https://jbjfan2009.wordpress.com/2013/11/23/heres-to-you-kid/ – 11 likes

 

Most views:

Although most of my “likes” come from my poems and lyrics, two of my top three views are from quite dark articles I wrote about Euthanasia, and the death of actor Cory Monteith from a heroin overdose.

3. Euthanasia https://jbjfan2009.wordpress.com/2013/07/31/euthanasia-if-youve-read-none-of-my-rants-so-far-please-read-this/ – 31 views

2. Three Chord Queen – https://jbjfan2009.wordpress.com/2013/07/27/three-chord-queen/ – 49 views

1. The Hollywood Addiction https://jbjfan2009.wordpress.com/2013/07/15/the-occasional-rant-formerly-daily-rant-episode-six-the-hollywood-addiction/ – 81 views

P.S. The answer to “how many Taylor Swift song titles” are in Three Chord Queen is…44!

 

Fan favourites:

Grandad https://jbjfan2009.wordpress.com/2013/05/04/grandad/

Alabama Blues https://jbjfan2009.wordpress.com/2013/03/14/alabama-blues-a-poem/

Survivor https://jbjfan2009.wordpress.com/2013/08/14/me-myself-and-i-a-poem/

 

My favourites:

The Present https://jbjfan2009.wordpress.com/2013/02/04/the-present-a-poem-2/ – the first poem I ever wrote.

Sweet Beatrice, My Muse https://jbjfan2009.wordpress.com/2013/10/01/sweet-beatrice-my-muse/

Welcome To The Honky Tonk https://jbjfan2009.wordpress.com/2013/08/28/welcome-to-the-honky-tonk-2/

Back To The Summer https://jbjfan2009.wordpress.com/2013/12/12/back-to-the-summer/

 

Unexpected Disappointments:

Back To My Roots https://jbjfan2009.wordpress.com/2013/06/02/back-to-my-roots-version-one/ – 0 likes

I’ll Always Be Your Hero https://jbjfan2009.wordpress.com/2013/09/06/ill-always-be-your-hero/ – 2 likes

Party Town https://jbjfan2009.wordpress.com/2013/06/22/party-town-or-one-of-those-nights/ – 2 likes

 

A lot of my other earlier poems like “Grandad” and “Alabama Blues” have got 0 likes, hopefully due to the fact that I had barely any followers, so I’m not too disappointed. 

 

I guess that’s it. All in all a pretty good first year I think. Roll on 2014!

 

Happy New Year!

 

 

The Occasional Rant (formerly Daily Rant) Episode Six: The Hollywood Addiction

So, another year and another young, up and coming Hollywood star has lost his battle against drug addiction.

On the 13th July 2013, “Glee” actor Cory Monteith, 31 years of age, was found dead in his Vancouver hotel room, along with a substantial amount of alcohol and “other” currently unidentified substances. This comes just weeks after Monteith left his current stint in rehab during a drug addiction that has plagued the actor for over a decade.

So, was it years of consistent abuse that finally caught up with him, or was the stress and expectation that comes with being a household name in one of the biggest TV shows on the planet, that finally tipped him over edge? Surely he couldn’t have been so unhappy that he would have OD’d on purpose (successful career, adored by millions, happily engaged to “Glee” co-star Lea Michele).

Given his past, why was no-body keeping an eye on him? Why was he able to get his hands, so easily, on the drugs that may have killed him? Where were his friends, family, agent, manager, the night he died?  I know being rich and famous can get you things a lot easier than normal people, and the people supplying the narcotics don’t care one way or another, but I’m amazed there wasn’t somebody with him that night who may have been able to keep an eye on him and prevent this tragedy.

Sadly though, Cory is only the latest in a long line of young actors and actresses that seemed to have had the world at their feet before the time of their death. The most recent, of course, was Heath Ledger who died five years ago. If one person had the world at their feet it was Heath. At the of 25, Heath was nominated for an Oscar for his performance in Brokeback Mountain. After that he gave a number of well received performances in movies including, Casanova, Candy (snubbed another Oscar nomination) and I’m not there, to add to his earlier roles in the likes of Ned Kelly, Monsters Ball, A Knights Tale and Ten Things I Hate About You. But it was his role as The Joker in Christopher Nolan’s “The Dark Knight” that people will remember him most for. Many people believe that it was his preparation and execution of that role that contributed to his death, along with the constant hounding of the press. For the private Heath it was all too much and he was subsequently subscribed a number of drugs to help with his anxiety and sleeping problems. It was a mixture of those drugs that eventually led to his accidental overdose. He was 28.

Of course there have also been many others.

Marilyn Monroe is probably the most notable.  In 1962 at the age of 36 she was the most famous and recognizable woman on the planet. But the constant and relentless hounding by the press and fans alike led her to, possibly, take her own live with an overdose of sleeping pills.

In 1993 River Phoenix, brother of 3 time Oscar nominee Joaquin, died of a heroin overdose in front of his brother, at the age of just 23!

In 1982 John Belushi, aged just 33, died after injecting himself with Speedball, a mixture of cocaine and heroin. The same fate that befell Chris Farley, at the same age, in 1997.

Just one month before the death of Heath Ledger in 2008, Brad Renfro died of a heroin overdose at the age of 25.

All of these actors and actresses had the chance to not just be the best of their respective generations, but to be some of the best actors anybody has ever seen. Aside from the obvious accidents, why indulge in the likes of heroin and cocaine, despite knowing the possibly side effects and consequences? Did they feel they weren’t getting enough from their lives? Did they feel they were invincible? Were they just curious and unfortunately got addicted? Or were they just stupid? What ever the answer hopefully others will see sense before it’s too late…I’m looking at you Lindsay Lohan.