Ultranormal

Author: Kevin Lawver

  • I’m fighting a wicked sinus

    I’m fighting a wicked sinus infection, so I rented a bunch of movies. Last night, we watched MonkeyBone and most of Requiem for a Dream (talk about a mood shift). MonkeyBone was funny, and the feel of the movie was just perfect. Brendan Fraser is a good actor! Go figure… I had no idea. He pulled it off and was pretty believable in the the whole thing. Downtown had some of the coolest looking characters and sets I’ve seen since Beetlejuice. The stop-motion monkey was great, and the Minotaur bartender was great. Definitely worth renting.

    On to the drug movie… This is one depressing flick. Unlike Traffic‘s semi-hopeful recovery ending (sorry if you haven’t see it yet), Dream‘s ending left no room for hope, no light at the end of the tunnel. It showed the darkness at the bottom of the well of addiction. It’s a great film. Ellen Burstyn was robbed, absolutely robbed. She shows the journey in unflinching reality. It was amazing to see her go from lonely widow to strung out junkie. Even Jared Leto was good! Marlon Wayans was good! This is not a movie to watch if you want to feel good about yourself. If you have a kid who likes to play with pot or drink on the weekends, this is the movie to sit them down in front of. The beginning’s sexy and shows people having a good time, and then shows what happens when they lose control and the drugs take over. Not pretty, but I think it was very honest.

    Speaking of Jared Leto, I ALSO watched American Psycho. I liked it, but I don’t think I got all of it. Was he really crazy? Did he really kill Paul Allen and the stripper, and holy crap, everyone else? Or was it all in his head? Was he a closet lunatic like the rest of us, keeping our rage and pain under the surface, finding outlets in video games or fantasies? Did his fantasy life come a little too close to the surface? Was that last scene him gaining control over his secret life? Ok… if anyone can explain it to me, please do. Also did anyone else think the “Have to meet Cliff Huckstable at the Four Seasons” line was terribly funny?

  • I’m not sure why, but

    I’m not sure why, but this is the funniest picture I’ve seen in a while.

  • the norm – what a

    the norm – what a great comic strip. I don’t think they’re in the Post or Times, but I love going to the site and reading a week’s worth at a time during lunch. It feels a lot like Calvin and Hobbes all grown up, and just works. Definitely check it out.

  • So, I moved. I have

    So, I moved. I have a new bright pod with all my same old crap in it. Why can’t I work? I never thought I was such a creature of habit. I guess I am. If anything at all is different, it throws me off, and I have trouble concentrating or getting anything done. Good thing I don’t have anything I have to do, eh?

    I’m still reading The Code Book, and am still marveling at all the wonderful info it contains. I can’t recommend it strongly enough.

  • Max is too funny. We

    Max is too funny. We went to Strathmore Hall in Rockville yesterday for this silly radio station “Christmas in July” thing. They said it was “free” and there would be lots of “snow”. There was barely enough snow for their little sledding thing (with an hour wait). So, we went wandering the grounds, chasing Max. Max decided it was fun to run in a straight line as fast as his little legs would carry him laughing the whole way.

    The best part was the hill. We found this short but steep little hill covered in grass next to the path and decided that rolling down it would be a good idea. Boy, was it! Max loved it. He rolled and rolled and rolled until he finally got pooped. We got a great shot of him sitting at the bottom of the hill looking completely worn out.

    The only bad part of the day was coming home to find our A/C had died. Yuck!!! Now, we have to call some repair guy to come fix it and charge us a million dollars to do it just do we can be comfortable. Home ownership is sooooooooo nice.

  • I had sushi for the

    I had sushi for the first time today. Yes, I KNOW! What took me so long?! Well, I’m a chicken when it comes to raw food, and well, that’s why. We went to Aoba Sushi and it was mighty tasty, the tuna especially. I went safe and got the box that came with chicken teriyaki (which is cooked, go figure). I didn’t dig on the california roll because fish eggs are just gross, but the other stuff was quite tasty and highly recommended.

  • So, I found this cool

    So, I found this cool indy station today from Santa Monica (didn’t GO to Santa Monica – thank you Internet!). It got me thinking about my favorite station in Tucson, KXCI. Which then reminded me: DC radio sucks. I can’t find ONE eclectic, goofy, eccentric radio station here. WETA is good for NPR, and JFK is good if you like funny fat white guys. But, there’s no COMMUNITY radio station here that I can find.

    KXCI was (and I’m sure still is) awesome. Saturday nights was reserved for the Blues until 11, and then it was live Dead bootlegs until 6 am. There’s nothing better to listen to when driving home on Tucson streets on a cool summer night after a great party. Sundays were great, because everyone got a chance. There was the Irish hour, which was them immediately followed by African music. Weekdays were even better, because you never knew what you were going to get. My favorite set included Ring of Fire according to Social Distortion, and then three versions of Amazing Grace, interpreted to a techno beat, straight-up shaker gospel, and then on accordions (the last being my favorite… yeee-haw).

    Back to DC’s poor situation… Does one exist? Is there independent radio in the nation’s capitol? Or is one of the biggest markets in the country doomed to live the rest of its days with pre-packaged corporate sludge coming over the airwaves? Well, is it?

  • Vast right-wing conspiracy, redux (from

    Vast right-wing conspiracy, redux (from Salon). This is my favorite part about Politics. Everyone gets self-righteous when they’re on the chopping block. The Dems are all pissed off at the Republicans for trying to bring them down now that they’re on top in the Senate. The Republicans are barking about confirmation of appointees being delayed when there were people appointed by Clinton in his FIRST term who were never confirmed. And the funniest part is that the public buys it. They keep crying and whining and expect us to forget about all the other stuff, even RECENT stuff like the impeachment. Unfortunately, not enough people pay attention, and well, it works. Their blustering gets a soundbite, and well, that’s what people remember.

    Oh how I long for a dictatorship. One voice is so much easier to listen to than a hundred blowhards and party wonks in their wondrous spin machines. (before anyone e-mails me, I’m just kidding)

  • I think I’m back!! The

    I think I’m back!! The boredom is fading, and I’m back to writing code and playing around. And thank goodness. I was afraid it was a terminal case.

    This morning I rewrote some old stuff, played with new stuff (building a polling tool so we can do silly polls on our intranet), then found out we don’t need the polling tool for a while. And that’s when I knew it was over. If I were still in a state of angry boredom, that would have pushed me over the edge. But, I’m OK with it. Maybe I’m just resigned the fact that noone tells me anything, even when I ask. It’s just the way it goes.

    Not that it’s all rosy, mind you. I won’t go that far. I’m still not terribly challenged, and I’m running out of things to do by myself.

    Maybe I’ll start an e-commerce site and suck at something that will cost me lots and lots of money. Mmmmm, now that’s a challenge. (just kidding, sweetie).

  • Ok, this is only funny

    Ok, this is only funny because everyone was fine, and it turned out ok (and I got to come home early).

    Max locked Jen out of the house yesterday!!!! She went to get the mail and left him in the sun room watching Blue’s Clues. When she came back, he had locked the door and couldn’t unlock it (thankfully, we have the baby-guards on the door so he can’t open them. Jen only had the mail key, and had to go to the neighbor’s to call me to come home and open the door. I couldn’t stop laughing after everything calmed down. Poor Jen and Max were sitting there, with this giant door between them. Max was crying, and Jen was trying to to sing to him.

    So, to celebrate, we went to Pizzeria Uno… end of story.