When Good Words Go Bad: A Case Study

Imagine you have just finished a comedy set at the Stork Club in 1946 and Sherman Billingsley greets you as you leave the stage. He’s really excited. He loved your set, and he says one of the following…

1) “You look smashing and your gags are to die for.”

2) “You killed out there tonight, you really slayed me.”

3) “You are so bad… you are the bomb.”

4) “You are so phat and dope and sick, you make me sick.”

In which scenarios do you smile and shake his hand?

In which scenarios do you slap him?

In which scenarios do you give him a great big wet kiss and yell, “Thanks dawg! Your club is the shit. I mean this joint is so totally ass, I want to burn it down!"?

This week's opening line... I'm thinking of it as a middle-grade novel, first-person narration...

Being invisible would be great, imagine all of the trouble you could stay out of.

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

And now to music... from the movie "The Stork Club", I bring you, Betty Hutton, (I have to admit, I find this hilarious).

Speedonius Blogio Poemus

Searching for one I’d misplaced, I found a quote I’d all but erased,

Simple, succinct with down homey air, Harper Lee is a pillar of grace.

“I think there's just one kind of folks. Folks.” –Harper Lee

If you have a favorite quote or aphorism, please share.

Munk’s Opening line,

Her message was simple, but her voice, loud.

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

A moral in a song. Mr. Marty Robbins (my favorite baritone) sings The Cowboy in the Continental Suit.

"We thought he must be crazy when he opened up the gate, standing just inside was fifteen hundred pounds of hate."

Metaphies and Analogors

I led readers astray last week with drifty descriptors. I am sorry.

It is with mild humility and great excitement that I announce I have joined Analogists Anonymous. No more sloppy, far reaching, unclear analogies for me. I'm gonna be like, like a really clear speaking person. Yeah, that’s it, like a person who speaks his thoughts straight and really clear. This is gonna be a piece of pie.

To sum: though I have a book trailer (again, a massive thanks to Jodi and Lisa at www.surreels.com for choosing Syntropy as their first portfolio piece, see right-->), I do not have a book deal, nor even an agent. I am my own editor. I do have a goal of enlisting the help of a professional, and I am currently in the process of beating some freelance editor’s bushes (wait, that metaphor just went terribly wrong and began acting like a dirty little analogy). Which reminds me, I channeled George Carlin last week while trying to explain to my ten-year old how it is okay to use the word “prick” when describing the stab of a needle, but that... we humans bastardize word usage at an alarming rate, to the degree that we may soon run out of "safe" words, queer isn’t it?

And now for something completely different: It has been said, by those who know me well, that watching “Rango” the chameleon, is not unlike watching yours truly in a bad action flick. “No, Munk, really… it’s uncanny…”

I couldn’t be more proud.

Munk's opening line,

As I came spinning from the gun barrel, I knew the world would be forever changed.

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

This week’s music

Ferlin Husky—I’ll Be Here For A Lifetime. Best known for “Gone” and “Wings of a Dove”, Ferlin Husky was tremendously influential in the 1950’s Nashville sound. Ferlin died this week at 85.

Lucky Animal Charms

Welcome again to the high maintenance Munk Davis blog. I'm a bit early on the draw this week, but for good reason. The Talented needs our votes.

I can feel your pain... "Munk! Again with the links? I've got a life, I don't have time to be chasing you around the blogiosociosphere clicking your damn links all day, all day, all day."
Buck up Buckbeak, this link holds all the moxie of the last and is a video to boot, one I reckon you've never seen. Too bad for you if you miss out.
Jodi Chamberlain, from here forward to be referred to as the "The Talented", can use our help. She, The Talented, submitted a bright and shiny movie trailer to a dark and scary movie production company and now you can help her get noticed. Cut to the quick: A film titled Animal Charm ran a "give-us-your-best-video-on-which-to-roll-our-credits" contest and The Talented entered. The link to her entry is below, rather than forward you to the You Tube link, please follow the link and vote (if you like). It appears to me that numerous of her competitors have submitted material not related to the movie, but have a lot of "digital" backing. Take a moment, you won't regret it. By the way, for you writers out there... did I mention that Jodi may begin making book trailers?

Jodi's Animal Charm Entry

Munk's opening line...
For Salazar laughing came easy. But not now Salazar, not now.
Munk's "Opening Line" is yours to keep, use it. Munk

Today's music... the more times I listen, the better it gets... Manchester Orchestra, Simple Math.

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.