scott muska

Back in the Saddle

in: on queue

To be honest, folks, I don’t know that I can do this anymore.

(Pauses to allow the chorus of encouragement)

But really. I spent just over a year virtually off the grid, swathed in the stench of day-old coffee and anxious brow sweat, only reappearing occasionally to issue a blogosphere screed about my lack of a career path. I was doing very little writing of any kind, aside from scribbled (and oft-rottenly misspelled) names on coffee cups. And now, for the first time in nearly two years, I have a position that requires me to wax poetic on a daily basis. And I’ve found that, at best, I’m out of practice. At worst, I’ve lost the touch entirely.

I love to write, and my job, while an incredible opportunity, doesn’t allow me to do a lot of free flowing prose. So I have vowed to write, everyday, something. My dear friend Scott is a great proponent of writing as much as possible, on every platform. As such, I hope to do a bit of writing here, perhaps, too, on a few different media sites, and I’m confident I’ll get my groove back. There’s a lot I want to say: I want to talk about politics, music, literature, film. I’ll try to keep my Pretty Little Liars fangirling to a minimum – I just can’t help it -, but I sure as hell will talk about Robin Thicke, and maybe not quite in the way you’d expect. And I’ll talk about the things that are of actual importance to me too. I think I have a lot to say still; the trick will be finding my voice again.

So maybe give me a chance, and keep reading. I hope to have something interesting to say.

Happy Thursday, happy new year, l’shana tova, and the best of evenings to y’all.

Dunce Flash: On Love, In Happiness

in: the press, on: tap

Hey, folks, and welcome to 2012!

I promised you guys a fresh start a while back, and, as you can tell from the total redesign, I’m attempting to make good on that. I’ve redesigned almost the entire site to function primarily as a personal website and professional portfolio for me, but there is still the added bonus jonas! of the Girl With the Dunce Cap as a blog.

Much will remain the same: I’m hoping to get back in the game of mix-making oh-so-soon, though that endeavor hit a snag when the entirety of my music library was swiftly seized. I’m beginning to rebuild but find myself still without a computer, so it may be a slow return. I will continue a sort of steady posting now that I have more regular access to a bank of computers, and, while much of the content on this site will remain my inane musings on popular culture, I will also try to pepper in some short-form fiction and long-form (strongform!) literary nonfiction. This quarter, I aim to wrap up the very last bit of my collegiate experience, and I will be launching an exciting literary endeavor TBA with a good friend. All in all, I will be seeped in the written word, and there should be quite a bit of content to keep your eyes peeled for in the coming weeks. There’s a great deal of external stress currently pummeling me, but I’m confident that, somewhere inside, is an impending happiness.

As always, I’m nearly constantly in transit, so, while I am currently situated in Chicago, that could change rather quickly. I will attempt to keep you, my loyal (and burgeoning) readership up-to-date with my geographical whereabouts. For now, enjoy the new site, and please let me know if you have any suggestions to improve the reader experience.

And, from the news, just a few quick things:

Image credits: AP

1958 Letter from John Steinbeck on Love

John Steinbeck remains one of my very favorite authors – if you have yet to read East of Eden, minimize this window, walk, nay, run, to your nearest library and check it out. Immediately. – and his private correspondences, culled in a 1989 collection, display in beautiful and quaint prose the author’s takes on matters of the head and heart. Perhaps most poignant is a 1958 letter from Steinbeck to his eldest son, Thom, featured this week on The Atlantic. In the letter, Steinbeck offers words of wisdom to his son, who has confessed to a deep crush on a boarding school classmate.

“And don’t worry about losing,” Steinbeck writes. “If it is right, it happens — The main thing is not to hurry. Nothing good gets away.”

This letter and nearly 850 others to family, friends and professional acquaintances can be found in Steinbeck: A Life in Letters, out now from Penguin.

Stay Calm, Scotty

I’ve mentioned previously my dear friend and journalistic peer, Scott, and he has a new blog up that y’all ought to check out. Scott is conquering the newspaper market in coastal Maryland (see his story on the passage of same-sex civil unions in Delaware), but, mark my words – his is a name you’ll hear again and again. His new site includes an essay on why he decided to pursue writing as a profession; the essay is generous on both the laughs and the sincere, and it is surely an indication of what lies ahead. Check it out here.

Protest SOPA/PIPA

That’s pretty straightforward, no? These bills, currently in the house and senate, respectively, will cripple the Internet as we know it, and as an avid Internet user, I am participating in the Internet blackout, scheduled for today, Jan. 18, 2012. My wee li’l blog will be blacked out from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. tomorrow (I think that’s right) in protest. What you’ll see if you visit is a link to sign the petition to tell Congress just what you think of SOPA and PIPA. I’ll see you all back on the web in a day or so.

A.V. Club: A Motown Tribute to Nickelback

in: viewing room

Happy middle o’ the night!

I’m in the throes of a sleepless night and taking a bit of a break from writing and transcribing for, uh, some more writing. So I’ll make this quick.

Last week, I confessed to my dear friend Scott that I, despite all of my musical snobbery, don’t hate Nickelback. See, Scott, amongst all of the Nickelback/NFL drama, has started a pretty interesting survey…eh, well, I’d rather not give too much away, but I’m confident it will be awesome. Regardless, the blogosphere’s been vomiting Nickelback anathemas all week, but this video in particular captivated my attention, and it nearly convinced me that my minor nostalgic fascination is actually a-okay. The video’s fairly self-explanatory, but I dare you to complain about it. It’s like they’ve removed all that is Canadian!

Happy watching.