Ultranormal

Author: Kevin Lawver

  • I Got Rocked By Christmas

    Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots... Blue got rocked

    We’re back. I survived another Christmas. My in-laws got two new dogs, little shitzus named Dixie and Dolly who supposedly don’t shed. Well, they had something (or I’m allergic to the entire state of Mississippi, which is entirely possible). So, I’m returning with what I’m pretty sure is a sinus infection. But, I only gained 2 pounds while eating all kinds of amazing food.\
    We had a good Christmas – much more laid back and sedate than Christmas usually is.\
    Yeah, I’m still drowning in sinus pain right now, so I don’t have anything else to say right now except “ouch”. Maybe Jen will write something more comprehensive…\
    (oh, and until Jim pointed it out, comments were broken. They should be fixed now… oops!)

  • The Best Music of 2008

    I’ve been trying to write this post for almost a week now, and just couldn’t decide how to pick my “favorite” albums of the year, since there are a bunch of them. But, iTunes has rescued me and taken any and all opinion out of it, and given me a way to empirically prove which albums I consider my favorites this year. How? I created a Smart Playlist in iTunes where Year was 2008 and then sorted by Play Count. I then picked the albums from the list with the songs with the most plays and ta-da, I’m done.\
    So, in order of plays, here are my favorite albums of 2008:

    1. Kensington Heights by The Constantines – This is their best album yet, solid throughout with two or three songs that are destined to be all-time classics (New King and Time Can Be Overcome in particular).
    2. Everything That Can Happen Will Happen Today by David Byrne and Brian Eno – This album is just plain gorgeous. In fact, I’ve already declared it the best album of the year. Of course, my formula has proven me wrong, but that’s OK.
    3. Accelerate by R.E.M. – I haven’t listened to it much in the past couple months, but it was on constant repeat for a while there, hence its position at the top of the list.
    4. Earth to the Dandy Warhols by The Dandy Warhols (duh) – I love this band without guilt or any shame at all. Yes, they’re kind of poppy and weird, but they’re also full of awesome. They fly all over the spectrum and their latest album is just more of it, but better. Love Song is my favorite track on the album, followed quickly by Talk Radio.
    5. Parallel Play by Sloan – A full-on rocker, there’s no guesswork involved in this album. It’s just good ass-kicking rock and roll.
    6. These are the Good Times People by The Presidents of the United States of America – This one sort of rocketed up the charts, seeing as I only bought it this week, but two songs are already on my empirical list. The playlist doesn’t lie, people. Sharpen Up Those Fangs may be a perfect pop song.
    7. The Odd Couple by Gnarls Barkley – Three songs put this album in the top ten: Going On, Run and Blind Mary
    8. Med sud I eyrum vid spilum endalaust by Sigur Ros – It’s not my favorite album by the band, but it’s more good stuff from them, and that’s fine with me.
    9. Parc Avenue by Plants and Animals – Another great band discovered through the CBC Radio 3 podcast.
    10. Anything by DJ Earworm – Really. He’s the best mashup artist around and doesn’t get the credit he deserves. Girl Talk gets all the press, but Earworm’s the real thing.\
      2008 was a great musical year. There are albums released last year that I listened to a lot this year are LP by Holy Fuck (yes, mom, that’s really their name), Challengers by The New Pornographers, Live from Austin, TX by The Polyphonic Spree, anything by The Shins and recently rediscovering The Wrens. Now that I work for a music company, I’m listening to a lot of stuff and always on the look out for new music to sink my ears into.\
      I can’t wait to see what comes out next year.

  • Moonrise

    The moon rises over the the tidal marsh

    The moon is closer to the earth than it’s been at any time since 1993, so I had to stop and take pictures on the way home.

  • Heretics

    I listen to a lot of podcasts on my commute. The Heretics episode of This American Life hit close to home this week. I’ve been grappling with my faith now for a while, and there’s so much other stuff going on in my life right now that I keep pushing it into the background. But, this episode, about a Pentecostal minister who no longer believes in Hell and how his personal religious transformation affected those around him and his congregation, has been keeping me thinking.\
    I am a heretic now. I’ve been one in a lot of little ways for a while, but certainly not publicly, and not in any serious way. But now? I’m sure I’ve crossed the line, and I’m not sure what that means exactly. Unfortunately, right now, I don’t have time to figure it all out. But you should go listen to the show. It’s a good one.

  • Christmas Wishes

    Just because several family members have asked for, and not because I want you to buy me anything, here’s my Amazon Wishlist button:\
    My Amazon.com Wish List\
    Enjoy, and MERRY SHOPMAS, EVERYBODY!\
    (yes, i’ve been yelling more lately. it’s cathartic, and sometimes it’s even funny)

  • Ficlets Est Mort

    It was announced on AOL’s People Connection blog today, that ficlets will shut down for good on 1/15. I’ve known for a couple weeks that this was coming, thanks to some advance warning from friends still there. Here’s the comment I posted on that entry:

    I knew this was coming, I just didn’t know the day. I tried, with the help of some great people, to get AOL to donate ficlets to a non-profit, with no luck. I asked them just to give it to me outright since I invented it and built it with the help of some spectacular developers and designers. All of this has gone nowhere.\
    I’ve already written an exporter and have all the stories (the ones not marked “mature” anyway). I have pretty much all of the author bios too. Since I was smart enough to insist that AOL license all the content under Creative Commons, I’ll be launching a “ficlets graveyard” on 1/16 so at least the stories that people worked so hard one will live on.\
    I have mixed feelings about ficlets’ demise. On the one hand, I’m proud of the work we did on it. I’m thankful that AOL allowed me to build it with a truly amazing group of talented folks. I’m humbled by the community that ficlets attracted and the awards that ficlets won.\
    On the other hand, I’m sad that I wasn’t allowed to keep working on ficlets. I’m disappointed that AOL’s turned its back on the community, although I guess I shouldn’t be surprised.\
    So, to all the ficleteers out there – your stories will live on, and there may be a couple more surprises in the works before 1/16 if I have my way. Be on the lookout… I’ll post any news to my blog.

    I’ll do my best to keep up with the stories as they’re posted so none get lost. If your story is marked “mature”, I haven’t figured out how to crawl it yet. I also haven’t gotten stories’ tags yet, but I have gotten all the author bios and have preserved the prequels and sequels as best I can. I have a little Rails app already done to display everything, and will be providing a downloadable feed of all the stories I’ve scraped so anyone’s free to re-purpose the stories for their own mashups.\
    I still have a lot to say about AOL that I’ve been ignoring since I left back in June. I’m not sure I’ll ever write publicly how I feel about the company – because I’m not sure how I feel. On one hand, AOL gave me a career. I started there in tech support as a 20 year-old kid who had no idea what he wanted to do. I left as a 33 year-old System Architect, leaving to go run a team of developers and build really cool web apps all about music (that we’ll be launching soon). On the other… well, let’s just say there’s a lot of “other”.\
    If I have my way, there will be more news in the short fiction department in the next month or so… let’s just see how things work out.\
    Also, I should have known the ficlets community would do something so kickass it makes me cry… check these out:

  • Join the Impact: We Marched in Jacksonville!

    jen holding her 'this mormon is for gay rights' poster

    The rest of the pics are here. Unlike most other events I attend, I spent more time “present” than taking pictures. The stories from committed couples, many of whom have been together for decades, were both inspiring and heart-breaking.\
    To me, this isn’t about whether or not homosexuality is right or wrong, it’s about allowing people to pursue their happiness, a right this country was founded on. Their love is no threat to my marriage or anyone else’s. These people are our neighbors, relatives, friends and fellow citizens. They deserve to share their lives and enjoy the same rights that married heterosexual couples enjoy. They deserve the public recognition of their love that I enjoy with Jen.\
    The rest of the arguments are cover for something else, whether it’s ignorance, hate or some other motive, it doesn’t matter. Treating people as something less than full members of society for who they love is wrong.\
    I’m really glad we went, and I’m so proud of Jen for getting up in front of a bunch of strangers and telling them how sorry she was for how our church has treated them by supporting Prop 8 in California, Prop 2 in Florida and the measures in Arkansas and Arizona. This won’t be the last time we protest, I’m sure. I’m just hoping we can march in Savannah next time.

  • Two Awesome Things

    Today only, Amazon has Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along-Blog soundtrack for only FIVE BUCKS. That’s flippin’ sweet! (Jen, don’t buy it, I already did).\
    Also, this protest against Prop 8 in California is super-awesome. I love it when people are creative and funny in the face of what now seem to be pretty insurmountable odds.

  • Promise

    It was a long night. It’s been a long campaign. But, as I sit here with tears in my eyes watching our new President-Elect speak, I can’t help but think about the promise of the next administration. Throughout the last two years, I’ve hoped that Barack Obama would be the next President. He’s the first presidential candidate we’ve donated money to.\
    Now, that hope has been fulfilled, and now the promise of a new administration is here. A new day is coming, and in January, the worst president in our nation’s history will leave office and be replaced with one who promises to at least be better, and we hope will be great.\
    The last eight years, I’ve been full of anger at what George W. Bush and his administration have done to our country. I hoped for change, and that hope felt in vain at times. I’ve been trying not to hope too much because I wasn’t sure I could take the disappointment this time around when the stakes are so high.\
    But, I don’t have to worry about that. My hope has been fulfilled, and now I’m filled with the potential, the promise, of the next four years. I’m hopeful that Mr. Obama won’t disappoint me.\
    God bless you, America. Thank you. Thank you for voting in record numbers, for (although a little late in my opinion) rejecting the politics of fear and division, and embracing the future. This election to me was the past vs. the future. We could either keep going the direction that George W. Bush had taken us, or we could decide it was time to embrace the future and become the country we say we are, but never quite live up to.\
    Yes we can. Yes we did. Yes, yes, we will.\
    (and not to spoil it, but I can’t help but think that all that Barack’s daughters will remember about tonight is that they’re getting a puppy and got to stay up really late)

  • Hope

    I just want to write this down so I remember it later. I woke up at 5:30 this morning full of nervous energy, thinking about today and what’s happening around the country. I’m excited, but most of all, I’m hopeful. I’m hopeful that Obama will win, and not just with a slim margin like the last two elections, but a real mandate to start the process of fixing things.\
    I’m looking forward to watching the returns tonight, and seeing what happens. I smiled this morning, at 7:45AM, as I drove past our local polling place and saw a line out the door and into the parking lot.\
    I’m tired, but happy, because unless all the polls are wrong, and really wrong, Barack Obama will be the President-Elect tomorrow morning. That makes me smile. It makes me downright giddy.