What I plan to do here

As I wrote yesterday, it's been a long time since I posted here. I was just looking at some of the regular features I used to run, and some of them seem impractical now. I enjoyed writing about trips to the bookstore, for example, but I don't make it out there as much anymore, and, let's face it, the bookstore might not be around much longer. I used to write a lot about magazines--remember those? In particular I blogged often about how silly "Entertainment Weekly" was, but while I still try to read it, I don't subscribe, and I don't think I'll be mustering too many posts about that. I was trying to find a way to write about music, but I just don't listen to it as much anymore unless it's a song my kids like hearing over and over again in the car (and over and over...again).

I spent a lot of time discussing the retro-oriented digital subchannels like RTV, and though I don't have that one anymore, I do have new ones like Cozi, Bounce, and soon ME-TV. Yet I can't work up too much righteous indignation about them. We know what we're getting: Heavily edited/time compressed classics with a mix of inane lifestyle programs or--hey, hold that thought; I might be working up a post about that after all.

My main emphasis on Cultureshark going forward is gonna be on the older stuff. It's harder for me to stay as current on modern pop culture these days, and there are plenty of other places that obsess over what's out there now and give you that perspective. My goal is when I DO post about modern stuff, I want to at least offer a different take or something halfway interesting--no writing about, say, the Grammys just to write about the Grammys.

As far as the old school, I love the classics and the un-classics, and I'm fascinated that I enjoy things from, to pick a year, 1957 that I might well dislike were they to appear in 2013. So I hope to explore that and bring a little irreverence to the approach without contributing to the vast amount of "snark for its own sake" out there in the mainstream as well as the Blogiverse. I want to have as much fun writing about the stuff as I do consuming it, and if you have a little fun reading about it here, then I think we're all getting it done.

And of course you'll see all kinds of self-indulgent posts (he wrote as if this very post wasn't proof of that) such as Half-Assed Gourmet and musings on other things in my daily life.

In the blog's previous incarnation, I used the Shark Bytes section on the right to throw out brief comments and "reviews" that didn't warrant a full post; I still plan to do so, but maybe more of the wise-ass comments will go on my Twitter feed (@Cultureshark), which you can now also see on the right, and the Bytes will be more of the reviews and recommendations. Shark Bytes and Twitter will be where I'll put a lot of my thoughts on modern TV, movies, etc. I'll try not to duplicate those feeds.

I will not be posting daily, and sometimes it might be more like weekly, but I do plan to maintain a regular presence here and make it worthwhile to follow me or at least check back here every now and then.

My sincere thanks to readers past, present, and future, and please give me your suggestions, ideas, and your 100% honest feedback--as long as it's 100% positive, of course.

Next post here will be actual content! In the works are some new recurring features, plus the debut of the Cultureshark Hall of Fame. Stay tuned, and thanks for reading.