Culling The Week | SOTW Update 07/12/2024

Hey guys… I’m sort of disappointed. Reports of my death were anything but exaggerated—not even a whisper of bloody carnage or a blaze of glory.

I can’t really talk about silence, though—my only post from the past month was an attempt at satire where I prompted ChatGPT to generate a Max Todd Dot Com Songs Of The Week (Max! Todd! Dot! Com! Songs! Of! The! Week!) post that had… mixed reception? On one hand, if there was ever any worry over whether or not AI had scraped my blog for data, the results sort of speak for themselves—after that, I doubt I’ll be replaced by an iMax anytime soon. On the other hand, an… opportunity for growth I’ve noticed in my writing over the years is that, for fear of being too obvious (whether it be about a joke, foreshadowing, subtext, or even exposition), I end up being too cryptic instead, which is why I think ChatGPT’s Songs of the Week sort of missed the mark for even my closest readers. I’m not too worried about that itself—you live and you learn—but it’s definitely a weird place to leave my readers before indefinitely disappearing. Sorry, folks—let me explain.

The short version—which, as longtime readers will know, will quickly splorch into something far too formless and amoebic to call “short” in good faith—is that my AI post was scheduled partially to stall while I prepared to make some sweeping changes to the Songs of the Week format and to my blog in general (more on these momentarily). I even got as far as to film a full video announcing my plans that would have released the following week. However, when the time came to post and I hadn’t finished editing, I realized that my heart wasn’t really in it—though this was all to facilitate a transition where I could better commit to my own creative work, I was already ready to move on, and didn’t feel the push to put effort into such a slow shift. I especially wasn’t feeling ready to write after a flash fiction of mine that was tumbling round and round the raffle cage in a competition for some twelve weeks was quietly rejected—I know it’s part of the job, but it was definitely demoralizing after such a long wait (I did make the shortlist, if that counts for anything). Concurrently, my personal life is starting to pick up the pace, and I’ve had to prioritize other commitments—Emily and I spent June apartment hunting, and I’m preparing for a job-hunt as well, to name a few—so, even with my fresh spring of inspiration in June, I was too burnt out to be able to do much with it. Obviously, this is my blog and my schedule, so this sounds like a big fuss over nothing, but I do try to hold myself to a scheduling standard like I would if my audience was more than just my wonderful close friends and family, who I don’t think will drop me if I stop posting for a month. That’s why I’m even transitioning in the first place, and not jumping right into what I’m excited to start—the artist is only half of their art when there’s an audience involved.

Okay, so, what’s next? To be honest, I’m not really sure—and that’s by design. I hope it comes through in every overlong song review that I really do enjoy geeking out over my favorite music and diving down the research rabbit holes it opens, but by writing several accidental essays, I’ve created a new standard for Songs of the Week that consumes my allotted writing time in an unsustainable way. To be clear: could I be writing more in my free time? Well… yea, who do you think I am? However, while I work towards that, I think I’d rather focus more on creating my own art than talking about others’ art, especially if talking about others’ art is coming closer and closer to being self-imposed homework. However, another thing I will always appreciate about Songs of the Week is that it keeps me writing—chances are, if there’s a gap in my Songs of the Week, it’s also a gap in my writing at large. That’s why I’m going to keep writing Songs of the Week—just… with less Song per Week. This isn’t something that’ll require a title change, but a framing change instead.

Here’s the deal: since every Songs of the Week features five songs and every month has five(ish) weeks, I’ll be releasing one song every week until the graphic is complete at the end of the month. Since I’m so talented at video editing (someone please hire me), each song release will be accompanied by a short video posted to my instagram and youtube. I’m also not going to commit to doing this every month, since there would be some overlap otherwise. Unfortunately, this will mean way fewer songs will be recommended in total, but I think this will force me to choose my favorites that I’ve been listening to, which means more multi-paragraph reviews for those who enjoy them. Bottom line, these will still be as eclectic and fun as I hope they always are—plus, maybe I can do a little Riddler thing where I drop hints about next week’s song and murder corrupt government officials in gruesomely poetic death traps. Wait, what? I’m getting ahead of myself (there’s that overcommitting again), but ideally, this will mean I can still have a little “writing assignment” at the beginning of the week and then focus on a bigger project with the rest of that time (which, as I always promise but never deliver on, you guys will see eventually).

As much crap as I talked about a slow transition, I’ve accumulated far too many songs (and wonderful album color schemes) to not use going forward, so if all goes according to plan, there will be three more classic-style Songs of the Week posts between July and August, providing time for Emily and I to move in together and for starting grad school. That’s pretty slow, but again, I’m really hoping to give these changes enough time to be done correctly. In the end, I’m sort of glad I’ve taken some time to think on this, because what I’m announcing now is definitely not as ambitious as what I was planning in June, which gives me the leeway I need right now. Funnily enough, this time last year—when I made some similar changes to Songs of the Week—my “Songs of the Week Monthly Review” format (what a mouthful) only lasted for two months before I reverted back to the current tried-and-true style I’ve been writing for almost three years. While I’m glad I got to experiment and won’t shame myself if that’s the same fate of these changes, I think part of Monthly Review’s impermanence was the fact that I both over- and under-committed—I reduced my own personal writing schedule on a weekly basis but had far bigger responsibilities by the end of the month, which ended up being both hard to write and hard to read. This way, like always, I’m hoping to find a better balance between my many, scattered ideas so that I can eventually live how I’ve always dreamed. What that means exactly, I’m not sure, but thank you guys as always for sticking with me through it all. In the meantime, like I said, expect a little more of the usual—there’s a new Wilco EP, goddamnit, and I couldn’t wait any longer to talk about it.