I don’t know what I’m doing.

Yep, that was the very first sentence that I wrote on this blog one year ago today and I was prepared for the possibility of just talking to thin air and that that first post would be “the only thing I write”. Direct quote. Just for giggles, you can catch that very first post HERE!

But here I am exactly one year later, people are actually listening to what I’m saying and I’ve managed to write loads more reviews and whatnot. So I guess I should start by saying: thank you! Youse guys are an awesome community, your knowledge of film/TV is amazing and I’m glad that I’ve found such a positive, super cool bunch of people! Thanks for reading what I have had to say over the year, I hope you’ve enjoyed reading and I will continue to bombard you with my plain, simple thoughts. I don’t plan on giving up just yet . . !

This blog has definitely changed over this past year as I have gradually adapted the style of my reviews, trying not to be as distant and analytical, injecting a bit of passion and a bit more “me”, which is important since personality goes a long way, as Jules Winnfield once said. I also think that my reviews look a lot better than they did at the start, including images, different typefaces and the star rating graphic. I’m glad to see that my reviews have adapted and (hopefully) improved and who knows how much they’ll change over this next year.

I’ve also learned to be a bit bolder with my negative opinions; most of the time, I’m a bit of a sellout and blindly go along with popular consensus for fear of offending anyone and while that’s still partly true, I’ve gained a greater understanding of how there are beloved films that some people don’t like and that’s okay (some people don’t even like Goodfellas, if you can believe that!), that people are indeed different and as long as you’re honest and fair, your opinion is valid. I guess that I’m too much of a Monica Geller: “I have this pathological need to please people!”

I’ve enjoyed participating in several blogathons, I finally got Netflix (mainly because this year, I moved to a house with a proper internet connection, one that doesn’t move at the speed of a Zootropolis sloth!) and, in a major change, finally joined Twitter, which I previously rolled my eyes at, not seeing the point. But now, the little white bird has got its claws into me and Facebook is slowly becoming a thing of the past!

And how about some end-of-year stats?

• 127 posts (76 film reviews and 23 TV reviews approx.)
• 1,165 tweets
• 159 WordPress followers
• 392 Twitter followers
• 4 Liebster Awards, 7 Sunshine Blogger Awards and 1 Real Neat Blog Award (thanks to FlickBox, Hammy Reviews, Popcorn and Film, Drew’s Movie Reviews, Keith Loves Movies, Brendan Bellavia, The Marcko Guy, The Vern’s Video Vortex and Film and TV 101!)

Most viewed posts:

1. “Deadpool”: “What’s my name?!” (148 views)
2. “War and Peace” Episode Three (102 views)
3. Plain, Simple Tom reviews . . . “Arrival” (2016) (71 views)
4. Plain, Simple Tom reviews . . . “Suicide Squad” (2016) (67 views)
5. Top 10 Films of 1990 (66 views)

Most liked posts:

1. Top 10 Films of 1990 (28 likes)
2. Plain, Simple Tom reviews . . . “Arrival” (2016) AND Plain, Simple Tom reviews . . . “Suicide Squad” (2016) (25 likes)
3. Plain, Simple Tom reviews . . . “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” (2016) (22 likes)
4. Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Sunshine Blogger Awards and Fourth Liebster Award! (20 likes)

So, that’s it. Thank you so much for reading and here’s to another year at !!!!!! Plain, Simple Tom Reviews !!!!!!