Stardusted Hoagies

Do you ever feel as if technology is just a little too difficult? Is the ease of plug and play, just not really that easy at all?
Take heart, you’re not the only one. This week NASA reported that their two-hundred million dollar "Stardust" probe inexplicably forwarded images of the Tempel 1 comet back to earth--get this--out of order from the order in which they were taken. Did some of the files take a longer route on their way back? Maybe one had to stop at a Martian diner for a cup of Joe.
Now, before you alien conspiracy folks get your black t-shirts in a knot, ask yourself when the last time your software decided to chart its own course.
It’s not the aliens… it’s obviously the ghosts in the machine.
Munk's opening line:
Sure, stardust sounds enchanting, but get some in your eye and it burns like a bitch.
Munk's "opening line" is yours to keep, use it. Munk

Today's music? You guessed it... Stardust by Hoagy, sung by Willie.

White Malice

Palaces of ginger, palaces of white,

Malice be my mentor, guiding me at night,

We skirt the darkened shadows, drawn by glare of light,

For what would be our charge, if hidden from your sight?

I found a new writing cave today, it’s vacant,  it’s fenestrated, it’s awesome.

Where do you write?

Munk's opening line(s),

Pills. I eat pills morning, day and night. I don't like the taste, I eat them because I am hungry.   

Munk's "Opening Line" is yours to keep, use it. Munk

Today's music: Fleet Foxes, White Winter Hymnal. Headphones... eyes closed... there you go.

Exit Through the Gift Shop: Blipview

The Banksy film Exit Through the Gift Shop is 60 minutes of "hey, that's cool," and 30 minutes of "Holy crap, you have got to be kidding me." Big fun, major hypocrisy.

In other news,
I'm rooting for Green Bay this weekend because Tim Riley is.

I also love this post about trying to write while holding down a job by A Novel Novelist.

Munk's opening line:

I am hate. But only to those who hate me.

Munk's "Opening Line" is yours to keep, use it. Munk

Today's music... The Plank by The Devil Makes Three. Try not to get sucked in. I like their latest album best, but The Plank still spices my drink. If you like it, go buy it, you will not be disappointed; this YouTube version seems compressed and lo-fi.

Frosted Godflakes

I have little desire for discussion today

so ask me no questions, but don't go away

my life and my nest are in such disarray

please silence your words, but for heaven's sake, stay

Munk's opening line,

Lauren licked her again. The other's were right, girls did taste like cinnamon. 

The opening line is yours to keep, use it. 

Munk

This week's musical interlude...
The Louvin Brothers -- The Great Atomic Power
Form your own opinion on the lyrics, but those chorus harmonies are like frosted godflakes. Are you ready?

May Charlie Louvin RIP

Who Do You Propose to Be Tomorrow?

Author Reynolds Price died this week. He spent the last (very productive) thirty years of his life relegated to a wheelchair as a result of lifesaving treatments for spinal cancer.
He once stated that the one thing that could have helped him through the initial stages of paraplegia, was if someone he respected had looked him in the eye and spoken the following words.
"Reynolds Price is dead, who do you propose to be tomorrow?"

Munk's opening line...
The new sergeant reeked of malicious intent--I was drawn to him.
Munk's "Opening Line" is yours to keep, use it. Munk

Today's musical pick, chosen as a companion piece to Calamity Song from the Decemberists' new album.
Talk About the Passion by REM--Murmur.

Beneath the Tilt-a-Whirl

Some may call it a sellout. I call it damn fine music.

I have been aware of The Decemberists, and their front man Colin Meloy, since the beginning of their musical run. How could I not be, my early pop music compass was Colin’s uncle, Paul. Paul introduced me to REM’s “Gardening at Night” (the Athens band’s first LP) and to Joy Division before there was a New Order.

I met Colin once. I think he was 17. He corrected my butchering of David Gray’s lyrics as I belted out “Made Up My Mind” in the house Paul and I rented in college. Charitable to a fault, Colin made no mention of my vocal miss-stylings.

I was an early fan. The Decemberists’, “Shiny,” from their first EP, “5 Songs”, still sets my back ashiver (click below). But try as I might, I just couldn’t keep the fire burning for the Portland based band regardless of their critical and financial success. 

The spark has returned. The Decemberists’ new LP “The King is Dead” delivers everything I want and need in a prog-rock-folk-alternative-Americana album without the hyperliteration. Colin’s minstrel-esque accents are cut to a minimum and replaced by an unadorned, energized clarity of voice. Other highlights include Gillian Welch’s graceful, home rooted harmonies enhancing several tracks such as, “Down by the Water” and “All Arise!”. My favorite cut, “Calamity Song” is, thanks to Peter Buck, the best REM song REM never recorded.

Shiny:

 

The New Album: The King is Dead

Munk's Opening line:

I couldn't pull the trigger. 

Munk's "Opening Line" is yours to keep, use it. Munk

Plaid Pants in White

Writing is a multi-headed bitch. And the patience required to deal with the old girl is daunting. It’s the writer’s job  to make the reader’s job easy. You see... readers are lazy and yet they want every little thing just so—effortlessly. 
They want connection. 
They want to be intrigued.
They want the thrills of adventure without the confusion.
They want to taste their first kiss over and over again.
They are exactly like me and I love them for that.
  
Random musical entertainment: A place where even squares can have a ball (no disrespect to Merle... but point made).

Munk's opening line:
Flying is not for the weak of wing.
Munk's "Opening Line" is yours to keep, use it. Munk