I’ve been stuck in a dilemma that many bloggers find themselves in. I have been busy at work and can’t find the time to write anything. And I’m not the only one. Look at Steve Yegge’s blog. He hasn’t written anything in about a year. Of course he has a huge readership and I have almost none — which tempts me to just leave the blog fallow for a while.
At the same time, what’s the point of paying ten dollars a month if I don’t say something? As this thought occurs to me every few days, I start on the five or six ideas I have for a blog entry, but typically these ideas grow out of my control, and I find that I can’t start talking about a movie I like without at least discussing Aristotle’s Prime Mover, and I don’t want to do that without mentioning Heiddeger’s analysis of final and efficient causes in the Essay Concerning Technology, and so on and so forth… Clearly, pretension is my Achilles heel.
Nevertheless, I need to write something, if only to get those fornicating monkeys off the top of my main page.
I considered posting an observational post, as many people do. Just a few words about how I have been listening to such and such a song so what do you think about it please comment? — but this seemed a bit too pathetic.
Next, I thought of resorting to what many bloggers do when they run out of ideas. They post about how they aren’t going to write anything for a while, which both informs readers of the situation and furtively counts as an actual post.
And then I came across this surfing blog, of which I am very fond for sundry reasons. At this blog, the authors occasionally post about something they plan to write about but haven’t yet found the gumption to actually pen. Perhaps the convention has been around for a while, but I have not come across it before. It’s a brilliant notion. So here goes … my first “trailers” post.
Aristotle In Love — in which the author contrasts the notion of efficient causes in ancient and modern times, as well as the way in which the ancient notion still exists in the attempt to find the cause of public works in private inspiration, and how this reveals an on-going concern with teleology and the metaphysics of essences — with a side-discussion of contemporary cinema.
Zombies III — in which the author attempts to extend his exploration of this cultural phenomenon from the perspective of privacy, with a further discussion of different notions of privacy over the centuries, revolving primarily around Kant’s treatment of the subject in his political essay What is the Enlightenment?
Hillary’s Knee — in which the author discusses the films of Eric Rohmer and his own fascination with the inner life of one of the most public figures in American culture.
Catch Twenty-Two — in which the author interweaves a discussion of war novels with the problem of threading deadlocks in software programming. Hilarity ensues.
Why the Phantom of the Opera Is So Cool and The Cure is are Overrated — in which the author writes about some of the music he has recently been listening to.
I like this; it reminds me of Swift’s mock-advertisement of his own upcoming titles (including "A History of Ears"). Someday I’d like to write these imaginary essays. But: "The Cure IS overrated" or "The Cure ARE overrated"?
Conrad,
A tricky question. The Cure are/is a corporate entity, after all. Surely ‘The Beatles are overrated’ is correct, as is ‘The artist formerly known as Prince is overrated’. But how about ‘The J. Geils Band is overrated’ and ‘Jethro Tull are overrated’?
I think I will take your recommendation, though, and change this ‘is’ to an ‘are’.