Jacking in the blog?

Hello everyone,

I hope you have all had a great week. Ours has been pretty normal with not that much to report. I would probably give it an 8/10 as I‘ve had some nice dinners, we’ve been out a bit and ‘Lost’ & ‘Flight Of The Conchords’ have been very good. I watched The Oscars the whole way through for the first time in my life too. It was brilliant! And even though I am as heterosexual as can be, I now love Hugh Jackman. He is the best presenter I have seen in my life. And his song and dance numbers were brilliant. Who knew Wolverine could sing? Everyone apart from me apparently…

Anyway I have posted a picture of Hugh above for you all ladies out there. I think every woman in the world loves Hugh Jackman. I have noticed that Emma goes all funny when he appears on the screen, but I forgive her for that. He is a very nice young man. And he was brilliant in ‘The Prestige’ which is one the greatest films ever made.

We also went to see A.C. Newman (from The New Pornographers) at The Troubadour this Thursday. He was very good though I got a bad tummy. I think it may have been from the pizza I had earlier at Robert DeNiro’s restaurant (which was a great place so I forgive him). The Troubadour was a fab venue. It holds around five hundred people and is like The Highbury Garage in London (but better).

I have also got some good sleeps in this week. I am sleeping very well at the moment; I must have a clear conscience. Sadly Emma isn’t and she has had some restless nights. I think some of this is down to the fact that I have got her to read Cormac McCarthy’s ‘The Road’. I think the bleakness of the post apocalyptic world is giving Em nightmares. Nobody ever said great literature was fun.

I would like to thank you all for sticking with this blog and that is the main topic of today. My little video of my Doctor Who talk is up to 250 views in under a week. I thus went to Google Analytics to check the web stats for this site (which I haven’t done for a while). 320 people a week read this blog fact fans! I know that kind of number will not change the internet world but it really makes it worth doing. I don’t even know that amount of people so it’s actually pretty touching. I know you are all here for Emma’s occasional musings really but I shall cover myself in her glory (!).

I thought I would do you a chart of where people had come from in the last few months. This will allow you to see how truly global ‘The Ollington’s Oracle’ has become:

1.United Kingdom 2,383 (00:01:38)
2.United States 951 (00:03:25)
3.Sweden 99 (00:00:44)
4.Mexico 76 (00:02:48)
5.Australia 39 (00:02:24)
6.France 24 (00:01:56)
7.Germany 20 (00:00:20)
8.Canada 10 (00:00:29)
9.Spain 8 (00:00:48)
10.Cyprus 7 (00:02:16)

The first figure is page views and the second is time spent on the site. As you can see while I may get more British dudes reading these entries, the Americans love me! They spend an average of three and a half minutes on here per visit. They either love it so much that they read every word or they are a bit slower mentally than the Brits. I go for the first option as I love the Americans nowadays. I think my Swedish numbers are mainly from my friend Steven Brown. He misses me so much that I think he must log on every day. I miss you too Steven Brown (even if your football team are more rubbish than a big heap of rubbish).

I don’t know anybody in Mexico. If you are a Mexican reader please leave a comment to tell me how you found this blog. In fifth place is Australia. I know a few Australian Carter fans tune in, and of course I imagine Hannah Lowes hangs on our every word. I’ve no idea about my French, German and Canadian readers, once again please get in touch.

In 10th place is Cyprus. My cousin Theresa and her fiancé Brian moved out there just after Emma and I came to LA so I reckon most of the visits come from them. They are getting married later on in the year and we are going out there for a week. When I see ‘we’ I mean The Ollington’s are all going to share a Villa. It will be my first family holiday in years. And this time not only will there be Mum, Dad, Sarah, Jonathon and me, but we will of course be joined by Emma (who is my wife in case you didn’t know) and my sister’s fiancé Neil. Cyprus watch out is all I can say.

I got to thinking if I would carry on this blog when we get back home to olde England. I don’t think that I will (though the Emster may want too?). It’s actually been quite a discipline to write a thousand word weekly entry (which I’ve more or less kept too) but there was always an end in sight to keep me going. I think I will do a final entry when we get back home (or perhaps Emma will) which will be all about our holiday to Chicago and New York. Then that feels like a good place to stop. I originally set this blog up when I lived in the UK and I wrote something about once every two months. Without a new country and life to explore then the focus is lost I think. It will also let me finish off my novel. I made a great start on it, and I have some bonkers ideas for the rest so that needs my full writing attention. So make the most of the last few entries, we are only in the US for another thirty seven days. Crazy!

Marc x

p.s. One of the greatest songwriters this world has ever produced (seriously) mentioned me is his blog today. It is an honor! I love my debates with Chris which he touches on here. http://blognostic.wordpress.com/ We had a debate over his column for the ‘Morning Star’ where he questioned some of Morrissey’s views. There is a link to the original article on the blog (or will be). See if you agree with it.

p.p.s Happy Birthday to one of the bestest friends you could have - Neil Witherow. Have a great day mister.