My Year In Review (2011)

Note: my year, not the year, which would require me to write about recent movies, politics, current events and a lot of other stuff I'm not qualified to yack about.

If you're new to the Monkey, this might serve as a good introduction to the blog. If you're a veteran, well, you can warm yourself at the glow of these twice-stirred embers.

10. Reposting
Lazy dreaming led to a lot of reposting this year and these about Georges Méliès, Louise Brooks, Buster Keaton and Clara Bow proved to be more popular—and timely—the second time around.

9. Buster Keaton's Pie Recipe
Speaking of Buster Keaton, this was the tastiest entry of the year, a recipe from the greatest silent comedian of them all for the perfect pie-throwing pie. Mrs. Smith's it ain't.

8. Major Awards
No, not a leg lamp, but almost as good—a box of DVDs from the good people at True Classics for an essay answering the age-old question, "Citizen Kane: Best Ever?" and Blog of the Month at the greatest blog of them all, If Charlie Parker Was A Gunslinger, There'd Be A Whole Lot Of Dead Copycats. Not to mention the Liebster Blog Award, the Stylish Blogger Award and Katie-Bar-The-Door's unexplained but greatly appreciated willingness to let me hang around with her for twenty-two years running.

7. Sharpologist
The Monkey's other cyberspace gig, an infrequent column about shaving in Hollywood movies, starting here.

6. That's Typing Tuesday
A fairly regular feature here at the Monkey, in which I share unpolished, unpublished writings from my vast store of unpolished, unpublished writings (on Tuesdays), That's Typing Tuesday produced my single-most clicked upon post of the year, some random musings about The Sound of Music.

5. Accidental Substance
Every once in a while I actually manage to write about what I profess to write about—movies and people from the past that you should know about.

4. The Dick Van Dyke Show At Fifty
This one-shot foray into the world of classic television was a pure pleasure to write.

3. The On-Going Silent Oscars Series
My attempt to write the history of silent movies through a series of multi-part essays. Wish the effort were going faster.

2.Report From The Willow Manor Ball: In Cyberspace, No One Can See You Dance
Tess Kincaid of Life at Willow Manor throws a mean party and it got a whole lot meaner when the Mythical Monkey, Katie-Bar-The-Door and the cast of The Thing From Another World showed up. Some free advice: if James "Disco Inferno" Arness shows up at your New Years Eve bash tonight, keep a fire extinguisher handy.

1.Cary Grant Has A Cold
A case of writer's block meets an odd-ball celebrity quote and results in my favorite post of the year.

Happy New Year!