End of Month Review – July 2008

Behind The Scenes

It’s the 30th of the month, so time for another End of Month Review. I know July has 31 days, but WordPress’ stats work on a 30 day cycle, so this will be more accurate. A lot has happened on Pop Culture Christ this month, with the site receiving more than twice the hits it received during June.

Top Five Posts for July 2008

1) Fight Club Rules

The only entry from last month’s Top Five to survive this month. More than just surviving, it has risen from #3 to #1. Like last month, I’m still unsure if people are reading this post because they’re interested in small group management or because they’re a fan of the movie. I’m pretty sure it’s because of the movie, but I could be wrong. There’s a temptation to abuse this power and put up a post that starts off listing the Fight Club rules from the movie with a gospel presentation inserted between each rule… (take it easier, I’m not going to do it :) )

2) Annoying World Youth Day Laws

There was a constant stream of people arriving at this article from various search engines. I’m thinking that people were in as much disbelief about these laws as I was. I actually sat in my parked car for 10 minutes listening to Hack (on Triple J) that afternoon, not wanting to miss any of the article I posted to. While I don’t agree with the No To Pope organisations goals etc, I am grateful to God that they fought these laws and won. On a side note, I was in Melbourne on holidays during WYD and missed the whole thing. So sorry, no posts about my WYD experiences because I didn’t have any.

3) Alice Cooper: It’s Much Too Late

While on holidays, I managed to get onto the net and check my email, etc. I logged onto WordPress and checked my blog stats (checking my blog stats is almost an OCD obession for me…). I was shocked by what I saw. In one day my site hits had increased by ten times. What had caused this spike? Someone who had discovered my site had posted a link on an Alice Cooper website (www.sickthingsuk.co.uk) to my articles exploring the Christian usage of Coooper’s songs. The response in the forum wasn’t exactly encouraging. While I am sure some people there earnestly wanted to discuss the issue, I was confronted with people calling me a bigot for saying that non-Christians are going to hell and that religion has no place in Alice Cooper music. I was surprised that anyone could say that with a straight face when Cooper has sung songs with titles like “I Just Wanna Be God”. Ultimately, the thread was closed. But I appreciate the reader who started the conversation in the first place. I don’t look for controversy but for some the truth of the gospel is controversial.

4) Movie Review: The Dark Knight (2008 )

Not much of a surprise here. One of the biggest movies of the year (deservably so) leads to one of the most read posts.

5) Comics: Supergirl and The Fall

To be honest, I’m unsure why this post is so popular. Is it because of Peter David’s run on Supergirl? The run was a while ago and Supergirl is a very different character today then she was then. Is it because there’s a demand for Christian exploration of comics? Or is it just because people want to look up sites about a hot teenage superhero? I’m keen to write more about comics here on Pop Culture Christ. What’s stopping me is that I’m a bit intimidated. A majority of what I read on the web is about comic books. What would I have to add? I’d have to really think about it.

I’ve decided not to disect the search requests anymore. There’s so many of them and they’re not as interesting as I once thought. If something weird shows up, I’ll write about it.

On the right of the screen there is a link to a page where I’m slowly uploading sermons I’ve given. Have a listen and let me know what you think. I’m always up for some constructive criticism – I’ve a long way to go as a preacher.

Also this month, I’ve signed up to Twitter. I’m still making up my mind about micro blogging. I think it would be more fun if I had more friends on my liste. That would create a bit of back and forth discussion. At the moment, I’m not aware of anyone I know personally being on Twitter. Am I wrong? I’ll also try and post on Twitter when I’ve updated the site. So if you prefer using Twitter rather than the RSS feed you have that option.

As always, I appreciate any feedback people have about the site, topics for review/comment etc.