A Shroud of Thoughts 4th Anniversary

As hard as it is to believe, it was four years ago today that the first entry of A Shroud of Thoughts was published. Through it all, I've managed at least three posts a week. That having been said, I won't guarantee that every one of those posts were good...

For those of you wondering where the title of the blog comes from, I took it from Lord Byron's Childe Harold's Pilgrimage canto iii stanza 113, which is quoted below:

I have not loved the world, nor the world me;
I have not flattered its rank breath, nor bow'd
To its idolatries a patient knee,
Nor coin'd my cheek to smiles, nor cried aloud
In worship of an echo; in the crowd
They could not deem me one of such; I stood
Among them, but not of them; in a shroud
Of thoughts which were not their thoughts, and still could,
Had I not filed my mind, which thus itself subdued.

As to the nom de plume I have always used on this blog, it is the Middle English form of Mercury (it can be seen in Chaucer's works, and it survived into Early Modern English to be seen in Shakespeare as well).

As is my custom on the blog's anniversary, I have compiled a list of what I consider to be the best posts of the past year, the "Greatest Hits," if you will. They follow below:

The Week of June 17, 2007 (contains the three part "TV Show Revivals")

The Week of June 24, 2007 (contains the three part article "Defining Generation X")

The Week of July 1, 2007 (contains the two part article "Advertising Mascots")

Total Television (TTV) (July 12, 2007)

There No Need to Fear...Underdog is Here (August 6, 2007)

Week of August 12, 2007 (contains the four part article "African Americans in Comic Books")

Cinema Killed the Radio Star: How Elvis Presley's Movies Nearly Ended His Career (August 22, 2007)

Superman's Pal, the Smut Monger (August 29, 2007)

The Family Sitcom Cycle from 1968-1972 (September 9, 2007)

When Spinoffs are More Successful than the Original Seires (September 26, 2007)

Plagiarism--the Sincerest Form of Flattery (October 7, 2007)

The Horror Movies of Val Lewton (October 20, 2007)

Vincent Price (October 28, 2007)

Mutt and Jeff Turn 100 (November 15, 2007)

The Week of November 18, 2007 (includes the articles " Tomorrow is Thanksgiving...Who Needs Pilgrims." "Boris Karloff's 120th Birthday," and "Black Friday")

The Ghosts of Christmas Past (December 10, 2007)

"Don't Shoot Me Santa Claus": Bizarre Christmas Songs (December 16, 2007)

The Rankin/Bass Christmas Specials (December 22, 2007)

The Week of Yule (contains the articles "Father Christmas," "Santa Claus," and " When TV Cartoons Become Live-Action Movies...")

The Week of December 20, 2007 (contains the four part article "A History of Power Pop")

The Week of January 13, 2008 (contains the two part article " Aurora: the Company That Monsters Built...And Destroyed")

The Credits Squeeze (January 26,2008)

The Week of February 17, 2008 (contains the two part article "Southern Pulp)

Doc Savage Turns 75 (March 1, 2008)

"White Rabbit" by Jefferson Airplane (March 2, 2008)

Home is Where the Heart Is....Even on Television (March 17, 2008)

The Dark Side of the Office (April 2, 2008)

You’ll Never Find Someone Like Her: an Interview with Karen Stever (April 7,2008)

Cats on Film (May 3, 2008)

Winnie the Pooh (May 10, 2008)

Recreating New York (May 23, 2008)