Newsletter Leaf Journal CLXVII 〜 Top-tier new year 〜
The final edition of The Newsletter Leaf Journal in 2023 features links to 5 new articles from the NLJ and short posts from its sister project, 21 links from around the web and 6 from the NLJ archives, and notes from 52 weeks of article rankings followed by a look ahead to January 2024.
Welcome to the 167th edition of The Newsletter Leaf Journal, the official newsletter of the perennially virid online writing magazine, The New Leaf Journal. This newsletter comes to you as always from the waterproof keyboard of the editor of The New Leaf Journal, Nicholas A. Ferrell. We had New Years Eve for the last newsletter of 2022, but we will have to settle for New Years Eve Eve in 2023. But while we missed the holiday this year, I think we nevertheless have some holiday-tier content to bring 2023 to a close.
Leaves from the week that was
We (actual "we" this time) published five new articles since mailing Newsletter 166.
Victor V. Gurbo's "Christmas & You"
Victor V. Gurbo. December 24.
I included links to Victor's two YouTube videos of his recording of his original song, Christmas & You, with last week's newsletter. Little did I know that he was actually working on an article. Here, you will find his article about his recordings with links to the recordings.
Gowanus Green Car With Christmas Presents
Nicholas A. Ferrell. December 24.
I had planned to leave Victor's article as our only New Years Eve piece. But then I walked by a green car that has been previously seen in these pages with a witch's hat and my plans changed.
On Review Scoring Systems
Nicholas A. Ferrell. December 27.
An essay on the best way to establish a scoring system for media (with some now-defunct anime website archaeology).
The Dangers in My Heart S1 Anime Review
Nicholas A. Ferrell. December 28.
I wrote a short post on one aspect of The Dangers in My Heart, an anime series which aired in 2023's spring season, that went on to be one of our most-read articles of the year. I had not planned to review the whole series -- but with the second season on the way in January, I decided not to let an opportunity go to waste.
Bottom-tier Character Tomozaki S1 Anime Review
Nicholas A. Ferrell. December 29.
Tomozaki received a cameo mention in my 2021 anime review article and a note when its second season was announced. Similarly to Dangers, I decided to seize the moment with its second season starting next week.
I also published four short posts over at The Emu Café Social, a couple of which were related to our new New Leaf Journal articles.
- Friend With Music Prompts and School Days Hot Takes (I reveal that the college friend who gave Victor the prompt for his Christmas & You song was something of a renaissance man)
- Merry Christmas – Openclipart Santa Owl (As advertised...)
- Snapchat Referral to NLJ (I'm fairly sure this was a first)
- PoorlyConfiguredWebCrawler in Logs (Maybe my finest piece of writing of 2023)
Leaves from around the web
Let's check in on the world wide web one last time before we turn the calendar to 2024.
The world of music
Blind from birth, Sister Chiara Antonella shares her story of music and prayer
Catholic News Agency. December 26, 2023.
"Now 57 years old, the Poor Clare sister has lived in the beautiful Monastery of Città della Pieve in Umbria, Italy, since 1988. A graduate in piano in 1987 from the Bergamo Conservatory of Music, she studied as a private student with a teacher who is also blind. Her fellow Poor Clare sisters have benefited the most from her musical talent. In fact, she composes music and scores for celebrations at the monastery."
2 Ways to Make Custom Electric Guitar Knobs : 7 Steps (with Pictures)
Mike Robert Godfrey. December 11, 2023.
Seems very complicated for a knob.
Grounded birds
The real story behind this NYer toting a live pigeon in a Chanel bag: ‘Didn’t want to get robbed!’
Asia Grace for the New York Post. December 21, 2023.
The real story here (the headline is the lady's joke story) is that the pigeon toter issued a challenge to our own Victor V. Gurbo for the status of top pigeon rescuer of 2023.
Inside New Zealand’s Quest to Save Its Rotund, Flightless Parrots
Rina Diane Caballar for Knowable Magazine. November 29, 2023.
They prefer "pleasantly plump" thank you.
Pocket Monsters
Vol. 1, Issue 47 - Interview with The Cave of Dragonflies
Johto Times. December 28, 2023.
An interesting interview with the admin of a long-standing Pokémon website that I relied upon for a somewhat recent article.
Experience Pokémon Like Never Before with POKÉMON × KOGEI
Pokémon.com. August 16, 2023.
That Jolteon in the top photo is neat.
New Years requests and orders
In 2024, please switch to Firefox
Roy Tanck. December 23, 2023.
Way ahead of you, Mr. Tanck.
To See What the Upcoming Year Holds, Take a Solo Walk in a Dark Forest
Kelly Catalfamo for Atlas Obscura. January 5, 2018.
Or not. Maybe your New Years Resolution is to not do what Atlas Obscura tells you to do. Far be it from me to tell you what to do.
Misleading cause & effect headline arrangement
20% of the anime industry’s profit comes from outside of Japan
Verity Townsend for Automation West. December 26, 2023.
Watch it go to 21% now that I published a few new anime articles.
17 percent of anime workers in survey have/have possibly had depression, other mental issues
Casey Baseel for SoraNews24. December 5, 2023.
I would have guessed more than 17 percent.
Let's check in on Amazon
Red Hook is overrun with trucks and delivery vans, residents say
Mary Frost for Brooklyn Daily Eagle. December 11, 2023.
I remember being surprised at how fast Amazon threw up their Red Hook warehouses.
Amazon receives FDA warning letter for supplements with undeclared ingredients
U.S. FDA. December 20, 2023.
If we can't trust "Big Guys Male Energy Supplement"...
It's still Christmas
Want an easy way to eat Christmas turkey in Japan? Mr. Sato finds it, tries turkey for first time
Casey Baseel for SoraNews24. December 23, 2023.
Searching for turkey in Japan.
Reindeer Sleep and Eat Simultaneously, Saving Precious Time in the Short Arctic Summer
Brian Handwerk for Smithsonian Magazine. December 22, 2023.
No one said preparing to work for Santa is easy.
Headline question and answer
What Does Free Software Mean for Students?
shemage. August 23, 2022.
The case for free software in schools.
The Rule of the Legions
Graham McAleer for Law and Liberty. December 19, 2023.
"The capacity of the legions to exercise extreme violence was the necessary precondition for the Pax Romana."
Ask not why, but why not
2TB microSD card is on the way early next year
Chris Bandrick for Overkill. December 23, 2023.
On one hand this is impressive. On the other hand I hope your 2 TB of SD card content is backed up somewhere.
Trying out Amazon Japan’s lowest rated magic wand
Master Blaster for SoraNews24. December 17, 2023.
Sure, why not?
Unexpectedly
Gaza hospitals morph into military strongholds, confirms Director Ahmad Kahalot
Mike Glenn for The Washington Times. December 19, 2023.
NGO-backed doctors in Gaza are really something else.
The Old Leaf Journal
Let's dig into our archive...
Justin & Justina: Most-Read NLJ Content of 2020
Nicholas A. Ferrell. January 1, 2021.
This is my favorite of the year-in-review dialogues even though (or because of) there was not too much to report.
Justin & Justina: The Most-Read New Leaf Journal Content of 2021
Nicholas A. Ferrell. January 1, 2022.
Are you sensing a trend here?
Justin and Justina review 2022 at the NLJ
Nicholas A. Ferrell. January 1, 2023.
What I will publish on January 1, 2024.
Reading Tea Leaves: The Symbolism of the Guitar and Other Instruments
Nicholas A. Ferrell. January 4, 2022.
As good a way as any to decide on a New Year's resolution.
Two Downed Stop Signs in Brooklyn Heights
Nicholas A. Ferrell. October 20, 2020.
Sometimes I need to remind you that this is the newsletter of a serious local news outlet.
On Children’s Car Seats and Bike Trailers
Nicholas A. Ferrell. February 24, 2022.
I should add that we are also a serious local commentary publication.
Most-turned leaves of the newsletter week
I list our most-read articles from the previous newsletter week (Friday to Saturday) in each edition of The Newsletter Leaf Journal. These statistics come courtesy of Koko Analytics, our local, privacy friendly page-counting solution (see my review).
This is our final newsletter week of 2023. After next week, I will reset our weekly statistics so that we can start with a clean slate for 2024. Let us see if any articles made the most of the last chance to make a mark on the 2023 weekly ranking...
(1) The Angel Next Door Spoils Me Rotten - Anime Review
Nicholas A. Ferrell. March 30, 2023.
4 appearances. 1 top placement.
(2) Recommended F-Droid FOSS Apps For Android-Based Devices (2021)
Nicholas A. Ferrell. November 28, 2021.
10 appearances. 1 top placement.
(3) An In-Depth Look at Norton Safe Search
Nicholas A. Ferrell. October 18, 2022.
11 appearances. 5 top placements.
(4) The Story of Billy Possum, President Hoover's Pet Opossum
Nicholas A. Ferrell. November 30, 2021.
3 appearances. 1 top placement.
(5) The Pokémon Special Split in Generation 2 - Statistics and Analysis
Nicholas A. Ferrell. January 18, 2022.
39 appearances. 4 top placements.
We end the year with our 14th unique weekly ranking winner -- my review of The Angel Next Door Spoils Me Rotten anime series. I foreshadowed that I saw the potential for this to happen a couple of weeks ago, and Angel Next Door delivered thanks in part to its own strong week and also due to the threshold for the top spot being a bit lower than in recent weeks. There were no other major surprises in our last weekly top five -- but I did note that my history of Herbert Hoover's White House possum was in the mix for the top spot and returned to the top-five after its surprising breakout performance in the penultimate newsletter week of the year. We did have a notable in sixth -- my article on a hacky fix for a broken optical audio cable door.
Weekly leaf ranking stats
With our 2023 weekly rankings done, I thought it would be a good time to review the year that was in the newsletter weeks that was.
32 articles made at least one weekly top five in 2023. Of those 32 articles, 24 made multiple top five appearances. Eight articles made at least 10 top fives, and since eight represents 1/4 of all the articles that made at least one top five, that seems like as good a cutoff as any for listing the articles with the most top five appearances.
- The Mystery of Sōseki and Tsuki ga Kirei (44 appearances, 14 first place)
- The Pokémon Special Split in Generation 2 - Statistics and Analysis (39 appearances, 4 first place)
- Peekier Search Engine Review (27 appearances, 3 first place)
- Tiki paralogue trick in Fire Emblem Engage (26 appearances, 11 first place)
- Installing Ubuntu Touch on a Google Nexus 7 (2013) (21 appearances, 2 first place)
- Height differences in anime romances (13 appearances, 6 first place)
- An In-Depth Look at Norton Safe Search (12 appearances, 5 first place)
- Recommended F-Droid FOSS Apps For Android-Based Devices (2021) (11 appearances, 1 first place)
How well do our weekly rankings predict our overall ranking? As of the evening of December 29, 2023, the top eight articles in terms of newsletter week appearances are the top eight articles in terms of overall views in 2023 -- although not in the same order as above. We could, however, see 8th and 9th flipped without anything dramatic happening before midnight on New Years Day.
All eight of the top eight articles in number of appearances had at least one first place finish, which was not the case in 2021 or 2022. One reason is that we had nearly twice as many first-place finishers as 2022's 8 and twice as many as 2021's 7. Below, I list the six additional articles that scored at least one first place, in order of their first place finishes.
- Biden, Lincoln, and Counting Back From the President's Birth (5 appearances, 1 top placement)
- The Last Stand of Constantine XI (4 appearances, 1 top placement)
- Abraham Lincoln's 1851 Letters on Work to John D. Johnston (4 appearances, 1 top placement)
- My Default Apps as of December 2023 (2 appearances, 1 top placement)
- The Story of Billy Possum, President Hoover’s Pet Opossum (3 appearances, 1 top placement)
- The Angel Next Door Spoils Me Rotten – Anime Review (4 appearances, 1 top placement)
2023 ended with a bang in the myriad weekly winner departments, with each of the last three weeks of the year seeing a new debut winner. It is worth noting that leading a weekly ranking is largely a function of luck. In light of the fact that the average views for the first place article was higher in the first half of the year than in the second (notwithstanding the fact that November and December are our best months in terms of total visits), we could have easily had 5-6 additional first-place finishers had the weeks lined up differently.
News Leaf Journal
I have a number of works in progress -- so for once I can give a somewhat clear idea of what's in store at The New Leaf Journal in the next couple of weeks.
I have a sports article -- completely unrelated to any of my recent writing -- in store for tomorrow before our regular month-in-review post.
On New Years, I will definitely publish the 2023 NLJ Review -- continuing that tradition for the fourth year in a row.
My first priority for 2024 after looking back at 2023 will be to publish my anime year-in-review, which should come within the first few days of January. My draft is just about done and I thought about pushing it before New Years, but between the fact that the year-end site review post is time-consuming and there are a few final things I want to check, I opted to defer it for a couple of days. There will also be at least one spin-off anime year-in-review article here and one or two over at The Emu Café Social, as I resolve to deepen the links between the two sites.
The next priority is the al|together visual novel review summary. I completed my 29th (and what will be final) al|together visual novel review on December 22, and I began work on my project to rank all 31 al|together novels (including two I did not review). That project is about 30% complete and will come to you as a five-part series. It will definitely go live in January, but most likely toward the middle of the month -- both on account of the amount of work required and also because I do not want to publish it immediately after an anime article binge.
I have another completed game project sitting in my folder. This one covers "strategy guide" of sorts that I wrote for Persona 3 FES more than 10 years ago. I delayed it because it inspired me to write another story from my time with that game. A remastered version of Persona 3 (note the game I played made it stateside in 2008) is coming out on February 2, so I will try to publish my two Persona articles somewhere in the neighborhood of two weeks before that.
Interspersed among all of this – I will also publish some new articles on things unrelated to Japanese anime and games. To that effect, I reorganized my local New Leaf Journal planning folders and I have identified a number of projects in the areas of local news, history, tech, and miscellany that I will look to publish in January in between my bigger projects. Speaking of big projects, I have a few fun ideas that I have not foreshadowed – but those will likely begin to roll out in February and March instead of January.
Taking leaf
This newsletter has run a bit long -- but I suppose the year-end newsletter should stand out in some way. Thank you as always for reading and following The Newsletter Leaf Journal. If you have not done so already, you can sign up for our weekly email or add our newsletter's RSS feed to your favorite feed reader (see options).
I hope everyone has a happy and healthy New Years Eve and New Years Day.
Until January 2024,
Cura ut valeas.