My Favorite Failing Five

Two articles ago (Before the Saturday Morning Cartoon interlude) I had three unbiased professionals review the first year of this website. I asked them to pick their favorite articles, and they did a fine job. Now it’s my turn. Here are my top five articles which—just like Velma from Scooby-Doo (according to Can’t Hardly Wait)—never got any play.

You Guys are in My Five

Holi-Duped: Retail Rebellion – This early December article was all about how retailers use psychological tricks to influence your buying patters, especially around the Holidays. It was fun to research, and maybe became a little research heavy as I was so interested in the topic. Still, I think it blends journalism, psychology and fun quite well. Plus, it has a pallet-knife style modified title picture. I love that tweak.

How to Have Creative Intercourse – This article was in my mind for months. Creativity is such a mystical quality in our society. This was an exploration of the cognitive phenomena in the written word. The discussion was shouldered by Rick Carroll, Julie Summerell and Martin Henley—three most excellent writers. Bonus: an innuendo title which concerned my mom over Facebook.

Keith Karabin, BADASS – It’s no “On the Road,” but it was my attempt to define where I fit in the world of professional therapy while also highlighting the ambiguity with which a journeyman therapist is confronted when simply trying to discover what to call himself. Final answer: Psychotherapist is most accurate and inoffensive to authorities.

Christmas Rock United – The most recent installment in my Holiday crusade on the behalf of the 24 Hour Christmas Eve Marathon of wild music, hosted by Jon Solomon on WPRB in Princeton, NJ. This year focused on interviews with fans of the show and turned out super awesome, thanks to those fans: Julia Factorial, Courtney Bennett and Beth Baldwin. The fan page on Facebook also provided quotes, and much kind feedback, but it never hit the article.

Behind the Red Nose (One and Two) – A two part exposé on Clown Fear (Coulrophobia), the phenomena of Clown-selors and the history of clowns back to the proto-era. I thought this would be a Halloween slam dunk, and attacked it as such, to the point of interviewing three clowns: Steamboat Joe, (The unfortunately named) Skats the Clown, and (the less creatively named) Alex the Clown—who was hilarious. Alas, perhaps it was the size, but it just didn’t garner the buzz that I had expected.

I think sometimes writers, especially bloggers, never know why some articles tank and others soar. Still, each was a joy to write, even the more labor intensive ones. Usually that was because of the great interviewees. I’d welcome any feedback as to why you think these articles didn’t soar so high, even though they did receive some attention.

Next week: Bonus Fiction Post! I doff the fedora once again and stab at Noir for a Do Some Damage contest. Be there, sweetheart, for Debt takes a Holiday.

K