Down the Rabbit Hole

Eccentric Mysteries and the Great Starman

I am waking up this morning to the sad news that David Bowie died after an 18-month long battle with cancer. I have been a big fan of Bowie since the beginning, having cut my diverse, music-loving teeth on his 1970's era eccentric rifts and glam rock. I was born in 1974 so it would be almost a decade before I sat watching, transfixed with the footage of Bowie's performance of Starman with this teal guitar and lip gloss. And while it took me some time to make the connection between the cool, bouncy Bowie of "Dancing in the Streets" and this glossy, alien Ziggy Stardust and his spiders from Mars, the genius of the man and his music registered indelibly on my soul. While, I always remained largely devoted to his classic catalog of songs, I delighted to see he continued to innovate and reinvent over the years. His collaborations with Freddy Mercury and Queen with "Under Pressure", to his "I'm Afraid of Americans" hit with Nine Inch Nails, Trent Reznor - were nothing short of amazing. David Bowie had so many great songs, "China Girl, Rebel Rebel, Changes, Man who Sold the World, Fame", songs that defined generations, songs that were ahead of their time. The music world lost one of its most brilliant stars today. There was no one like David Bowie, never before and not since. May he rest in peace.

Blog City ~ Every Blogger's Paradise
DAY 675 January 11th, 2016
Prompt: Does extreme eccentricity add to a story’s literary value, as in an eccentric character, plot, or setting or is it just a cute trick?

I believe a talented writer can make good use of eccentricity, even as a "cute trick". I think making life is more interesting with eccentric characters and plots, so in the right author's hands, those elements can really engage the reader and carry them along in the story. As far as bringing literary value, Lovecraft is someone that I would consider used eccentricity to the extreme and it was more his voice or his style than any trick he employed. I think with any extreme element, a writer runs the risk of isolating some readers.



Blogging Circle of Friends
DAY 1153: January 11, 2016
Prompt: "Mystery creates wonder and wonder is the basis of man's desire to understand." - Neil Armstrong Is wonder the foundation of humanity's desire to understand? Does mystery create wonder? What do you think?

I love this quote really. I think two of our most admirable human traits is our desire to understand and our ability to wonder. I think mystery is magical and the existence of mystery in the world is an endless, beautiful possibility. I love the fact that people are still hunting Bigfoot and Nessy and that with all our technological advances, we have not been able to solve such mysteries. I love the mystery of faith, how it binds people to something most have never seen evidence of. Wonder is our last gift of childhood, the last vestige of what makes us unique and keeps us humble.

My daughter is starting to reason through the existence of Santa Clause now. I figure we maybe have one more year left of that wonderful Christmas window when children believe its really possible to pop down chimneys and visit every child on the plant with a team of flying reindeer. She will engage her maturing mind and discover that, there is no such thing as Santa. The wonder will be gone. Thankfully there will be other mysteries in her life that will not be so easily explained. I wish for her a life of mystery and wonder...where each possible discovery will leave her to desire greater truths for herself.