Today, Panfilocastaldi turns 1. We have survived a full year of blogging. We continue to adhere to our manifesto of thrusting ourselves out into the worlds of architecture, art and photography, and we continue to critically discuss our experiences. We remain dedicated to the value of engaging with creative communities.
Thanks in part to this dedication, in part to your support, and in part to the mystical power of Google, we can boast the following modest, but encouraging, statistics:
- 112 posts, with a maximum of 12 each in May and September of this year.
- 16 post categories ranging from Food (1 post) to Architecture (51 posts).
- 672 tags, ranging from Charles Holland (1 post) to Australia (17 posts).
- 116 comments, with a maximum of 6 for two of our posts (The many disguises of the film trilogy and BPG-Motors’ Uno 3).
- 408 spam comments, advertising everything from Nigerian banking opportunities to penis enlargement.
- 18,315 page views, with a freak maximum of 942 on 10th May this year and 2,445 for the most popular post, The Leaning Tower of Pisa.
- An increase in readership from 9 page views a day in October 2010 to 85 page views a day so far in October 2011.
- 8,955 referrals from search engines, comprising 499 unique search terms in english, hebrew, vietnamese, swedish, russian, arabic, serbian and italian.
- 1,578 referrals from other sites, with a maximum of 545 from Facebook.
- 11 active followers by email and WordPress.com.
Apart from these statistics (which are intensely interesting to us and most likely painfully boring to you, our dear readers), what have we learnt?
We have learnt that Panfilocastaldi is gratifyingly powered by perpetual motion. Being passionate about filling its pages with content encourages us to attend all the events we normally allow to pass us by. In attending those events, we are inspired to write about our experiences on Panfilocastaldi. Writing on Panfilocastaldi re-energises our desire to get out and attend more events. And so it goes…
Looking back at the past year, many of the posts remind us of enjoyable moments both in Melbourne and abroad. It is difficult to narrow down a few favourites from so many, but we’ll do our best:
- Now and When. The Australian submission to the 2010 Venice Biennale, an exhibition for which we worked as volunteers in one of the most fascinating cities in the world.
- MAXXI Museum. A flawed building by one of the world’s most famous architects, Zaha Hadid.
- The Art of Chess. The first article for which we really travelled – from Melbourne to Bendigo and back again to see an exhibition at the Bendigo Art Gallery.
- Radiation chart. The world was aglow with talk of the Fukushima nuclear power plant. We didn’t make much comment, just marvelled at the jeopardy in which much of the world voluntarily places itself.
- Truth, justice and the heroic way. A treatise on a particular passion of ours – the most exciting recent film offerings in the superhero genre.
- Vue de Monde, take 3. An extraordinary experience at Melbourne’s best restaurant.
- Do good work then put it where people can see it. Part 6 of an epic 10-part essay on lessons to our younger selves. Words by which to live.
- Robin Boyd open day. The first article that resulted in a genuine community response – an unexpected phone call from the Robin Boyd Foundation.
Thank you again for your support this past year. If you promise to keep reading and commenting, we’ll promise to keep posting and replying.
Yours sincerely,
Warwick Mihaly, Erica Slocombe and Drew Stewart.