This sort of feels like the end credits of Ferris Bueller's Day Off: "You're still here? It's over. Go home. Go!"
I understand. Old habits die hard. I often wake up in the middle of the night, sheets soaking wet, wondering how I'm ever going to be able to compose a blog post sufficiently brilliant enough to do justice to INXS's "Need You Tonight" or Johnny Hates Jazz's "Shattered Dreams." And then ... I wipe my face, take a sip of water, and go back to sleep.
Not that I don't miss it, necessarily. Nor could I help breathing an affectionate sigh as I momentarily returned to Blogspot's rudimentary web design (seriously, posting here after dealing with the Rubik's Cube that is WordPress is like putting on a comfy pair of old slippers).
But ... in case you didn't catch my last post, and in case you're wondering what Little Earl might have been up to for the last six months or so, I thought it wouldn't hurt to try a bit of cross-blog marketing - in other words, to dust off the old blog from the garage and take it for a spin around the block. I believe someone in the comments suggested that I was "taking a break." Break? Sure, if by "break," you mean "generating three times as much content as I used to," then yeah, I'm taking a break.
Maybe you were in it for the '80s pop all the way, and you're convinced Little Earl has lost his mind. But maybe you're still wondering what this whole new business is all about. You took a quick glance back in March, thinking, "Eh, I'll check this out later, you know, when he's filled it out a bit," and then never bothered to do so. (I suspect I'm getting more views on the blog I haven't touched in half a year than the one I've been tinkering with more or less every day.) Then let this post serve, not merely as a reminder, perhaps, but also as a guide.
Basically, before I dive headlong into writing about my favorite albums and films from the '60s and '70s, I've decided to post an amusingly lengthy and potentially superfluous five-part introductory essay, in which I explain what exactly part-time Buddhism is and what the goals of a part-time Buddhist blogger should be. It’s the kind of intro essay that people who stumble upon one of my future blog posts would circle their way back toward later – but I had to post it first. Does that make sense?
In which, after clarifying how it can be distinguished from full-time Buddhism, I summarize the core tenets of part-time Buddhism (to the best of my ability).
In which I discuss, among other topics, why I decided not to become an English professor, the broader fate of university English departments, and my own idiosyncratic theories on the purpose of an education in the arts.
Intro Essay (Part 3a)
In which I discuss two examples of prominent and respected film writers who I'm pretty sure weren't part-time Buddhists: 1) Pauline Kael and 2) Robin Wood (the latter's uniquely unfavorable and politically-charged opinion of the original Star Wars trilogy may strike certain readers as particularly amusing.)
Intro Essay (Part 3b)
In which I turn my attention toward three examples of prominent music writers who I would not consider part-time Buddhists: Rob Sheffield (of Rolling Stone), Robert Christgau (of the Village Voice), and Pitchfork Media (of ... Pitchfork Media).
[Given that Part 3 was turning out to be twice as long as the other entries (which were already fairly long to begin with), I decided to split the essay up into Part 3a and Part 3b. "Wait, couldn't you have just called this Part 4 then?" you ask. But Part 4 is really its own separate thing, with its own separate flavor, whereas Part 3b is essentially a continuation of Part 3a. In other words, this is still a five-part intro essay; there are simply two parts to Part 3. Just for the record.]
In which I turn the tables and highlight certain writers and pop culture commentators who I would like to declare "Honorary Part-Time Buddhists": film critic Roger Ebert, music website the All Music Guide, obscure meditation teacher Dean Sluyter, and random YouTubers I've come across over the last few years. Plus: a hodgepodge bonus section of part-time Buddhist writing "don'ts."
In which I turn my attention toward three examples of prominent music writers who I would not consider part-time Buddhists: Rob Sheffield (of Rolling Stone), Robert Christgau (of the Village Voice), and Pitchfork Media (of ... Pitchfork Media).
[Given that Part 3 was turning out to be twice as long as the other entries (which were already fairly long to begin with), I decided to split the essay up into Part 3a and Part 3b. "Wait, couldn't you have just called this Part 4 then?" you ask. But Part 4 is really its own separate thing, with its own separate flavor, whereas Part 3b is essentially a continuation of Part 3a. In other words, this is still a five-part intro essay; there are simply two parts to Part 3. Just for the record.]
Intro Essay (Part 5)
In which I announce the unprecedented format my blog is actually going to take (top 10 lists), the decade I plan to focus on first and why (the '60s), the variety of (and purpose of) other "greatest" album and movie lists out there, potential objections to my lists from various quarters that I've attempted to anticipate, Woody Allen's weird taste in music, etc.
