Everywhere
I look, I see pro-sun propaganda. No one can deny that the sun is a
life-bringing supplier of essential heat and vitamins and all things
good, right?
Wrong! Instead, I submit that the sun is a dealer!
Getting us hooked on vitamin D and artificial conditions inconsistent
with the majority of the universe so that we are confined to the small
sphere of existence to which it provides a constant fix.
In the
meantime, it is sitting there, kept alive by the burning rage that it
can't get just a little closer and snuff out our meaningless, parasitic
existences. Always just a small overdose of radiation away from
succeeding in ridding itself, a magnificent body of searing plasma that
has no need of filthy constructs to thrive in the dark vacuum of space,
of our annoyance.
Yet, without us and our ball of mud and
gasses, its existence would have no meaning. The loneliness would be
intolerable. So it keeps its distance, grudgingly providing us the
building blocks of our inferior lives while we cower and marvel at the
mixed blessing it bestows upon us.
Those of us with poor
melanin production are tapped into this truth. Our skin doesn't revel in
the mercurial touch of abusive Sol. It cringes and shrinks, dies and
peels. Sometimes it throws up meager spotty defenses, particularly on
those unfortunate enough to be born with hair the color of fire, as if
in defiance of our blazing master.
Head on over to my friend Katie's blog to read an interview with yours truly! Katie is a mom, a teacher, a podcaster and is venturing into the world of becoming an interviewer, too. Thanks for the interview, Katie, it was enjoyable!
Today I am very lucky to be interviewing my friend, and local
author, H.S. Kallinger. Mrs. Kallinger calls
the Kansas City metro area home, and currently resides there with her husband
and three daughters. She is currently writing the sixth book in her “The Lost
Humanity Series,” while book three of the series is currently undergoing the
editing process. I sat down with Mrs. Kallinger to find out a bit more about
her as an author, how her series is coming along, and just how difficult it is
to juggle being an author and a fulltime Mommy.
So, in researching things for my books, sometimes I come across something really interesting. In this case, it's the Tyneside tradition of sword dancing. Specifically the 'short sword dance' or 'rapper sword dance.' The best origin that can be gleaned is that it comes from the mining villages in Northumberland and Durham. Originally performed with rigid swords, it's unknown why they were replaced with the flexible rapper swords, although it's theorized that it was a necessity. It's uncertain what function the rapper swords had previously.
So, yeah, these guys dance with swords. Five people take hold of the handles on the ends of the swords and without letting go, perform a fast, complex dance (and provide the percussion with their feet). While it may have originally been accompanied by hornpipes, now 75% of performers use a jig (probably incorporated from Irish immigrants).
Anyway, enough talking, you can read more here and now the videos I want to share:
I love this one because of the close quarters of the pub:
And while it's rarely performed to a band, the Demon Barbers don't seem to care much for that tradition (or the tradition of wearing kits). This one's one of my favorites, although they start out a little slow:
So, today I bring you Music Monday. Song covers. I love them. They're a sign of respect, in my opinion. You love a song so much that you have to do it in tribute. Some of my favorite songs in general are covers. So, in no particular order, here are some of my favorite covers.
Song: Blue Monday
Cover Band: Orgy
Original Band: New Order
Song: Sweet Dreams (Are Made of These)
Cover Band: Marilyn Manson
Original Band: Eurythmics
Song: Live and Let Die
Cover Band: Guns N' Roses
Original Band: Wings (Paul McCartney)
Song: Send Me An Angel
Cover Band: Zeromancer
Original Band: Real Life
Song: Lake of Fire
Cover Band: Nirvana Original Band: Meat Puppets
Song: Jolene
Cover Band: The White Stripes Original Band: Dolly Parton
Song: Imagine
Cover Band: A Perfect Circle Original Band: John Lennon
Song: Darling Nikki
Cover Band: Foo Fighters Original Band: Prince
Song: Creep
Cover Band: Seether Original Band: Stone Temple Pilots
While there are many more I could list, I think this should conclude this post. What are some of your favorite covers?
I have been a bad, bad blogger! Many apologies to my readers about the gaps in my posting. As a result, I give you Meme Monday today, where I share my favorite offerings from popular internet memes.
Today, I give you, Fuck Yeah Writer Leopard:
The one that started my love of this meme
This may be a problem for me...
After making sure no one is looking
And it's almost always important.
*snicker*
Best for ideas, worst for my poor editor.
I think I've finally learned to stop doing stupid things like planning things in advance.
Yup. Right down to figuring out her class schedule and even taking free classes.
And can't write until the research is done.
“You must stay drunk on writing so reality cannot destroy you.” ~Ray Bradbury
Thursday night to Friday morning, a friend messaged me, asking if I'd seen that there had been a shooting at MIT. He provided me with a Reddit link and a link to a police scanner. I followed Channel 5 for Boston news as well to get up to date on what was happening and spent the night listening to the manhunt.
Heather is following the news in Boston.
I posted on my personal Facebook page and Twitter about what was going on as I listened to the police chatter (without revealing any locations, mainly trying to share what was going on).
"When I heard the police talking about the civilian traffic, I felt the interwebs had failed, lol."
Meanwhile, others were at work joining mob mentality and posting their bigotry or concocting conspiracy theories. Anyone who knows me well should know that these are abhorrent to me. I'm not going to get into my feelings on them in general, but specific to this situation. This will largely be a collection of things I've posted on Facebook from microblogging to a full on blog post.
This was intense to watch in the middle of the night:
As was this (to get a feel for it, turn off the lights and make it full screen).
I posted this wisdom from a friend:
"The first MIT police officer, who was killed, that set off this whole
chain of events, probably caught these guys trying to plant more bombs.
They had bombs with them in the car that they threw out at the police,
and detonated.
If that MIT Cop hadn't been there, bombs probably would've gone off during school today."
I shared this later.
I asked people to think of him today as a hero. Of course, this was before everything was shut down, but it still stands. I slept through the morning and woke up to find that the second suspect was still at large, so I pulled up a uStream of a police scanner and listened. It was when they had just discovered the boat, so I had an intense 'morning' (it was evening, but it was when I first woke up), huddled over my coffee and listening through my headphones while refreshing Reddit, checking the live newsfeed and Twitter feeds while chatting with the friend from last night. (he missed the actual capture while taking a potty break--tough luck, buddy)
Some bits I posted in my FB thread:
6:45pm They have the boat guy surrounded and I want to know what's going to happen 6:46pm FUCKING RADIO SILENCE. There's fire on the boat... wonder if he's going to blow the whole thing... 6:50pm omg this is tense 6:51pm they tossed a flashbang, subject isn't moving , K9 units on standby 7:42pm SUSPECT IN CUSTODY 7:42pm Calling for a medic 7:42pm (my mom): He's alive? Awesome! 7:43pm (back to me): well, EMS will be pissed if they're being called in for a body; that's not their job 7:44pm I will, too, because this dude's been bleeding for hours... been waiting for them to move. I wonder if the negotiator facilitated the move... 7:44pm another ED found? 7:46pm I'm commenting as they speak. News has to confirm before repeating. 7:48pm (friend): What are you following online? 7:48pm (back to me): Reddit, Twitter, live feed from Channel 5, police scanners 7:49pm (my mom): Ah. Okay. Wil Wheaton just tweeted about it too. 7:54pm (my mom): Taking him to Mt. Auburn Hospital 7:56pm It's all congratulations and "good job"s on the radio right now 8:06pm They even congratulated Dispatch, making them laugh XD 8:06pm "Just a reminder: try and keep it relatively professional." ←lol 8:08pm Everyone is celebrating in the streets, even police are honking horns, etc. 8:17pm Ambulance just went by. People are applauding.
8:55PM
EST "APP TO ALL BOSTON POLICE - WE HAVE OUR SECOND SUSPECT OF THE
BOSTON MARATHON BOMBING IN CUSTODY - REPEAT - THE SECOND SUSPECT IS IN
CUSTODY."
I listened as the officer radioed in that they had the suspect in custody and as they called for an ambulance. I'm glad they caught him alive, and await the story (as he's in the hospital as I am writing this, though it may have been released by the time I post, since I tend to prefer not to post in the middle of the night).
screenshot I took of the ambulance picture, you can see the O2 mask for starters
I watched the videos of the people applauding in the streets, then the statements. Then I looked through my FB feed and... People's comments led me to post:
Ugh,
I am not looking forward to the aftermath--calls for violence and
hate--from tonight. My thoughts are with the families of the dead and
those who were injured during these events. I will not be engaging in
any mob mentality. — feeling different.And the conspiracy theorists--that's just as bad.
Then this comment, which is what led me to turn this into a blog post:
Sure,
sometimes real conspiracies happen, but not every big news story (and
the equal rights that we've been fighting for for, oh, nigh on fucking
50+ years) is a goddamned diversionary tactic!
Those people are real and really dead. Boston has been
in a state of terror for days. This isn't some fucking game and the
gov't didn't stage it. People go crazy all the goddamned time.
"Not
only is it stupid, and short-sighted, and crazy, but it also makes the
actual tragedy of what's going on, seem meaningless." --same friend as I quoted earlier
*sigh*
A bag was laid down next to an 8 year-old boy, who was blown to pieces.
These were real people and every time someone starts yelling about
religion, conspiracies, etc., they become minimized. What happened to
them becomes unimportant.
Even
if it is a conspiracy (unlikely), that does not diminish what happened.
I suppose it's easy for people who weren't up all night listening to
the police being run ragged, being shot at, having bombs thrown at them,
having to shoot to kill--you think that doesn't affect them? You think,
"Oh, they're heroes" but it destroys a part of them when they have to pull that gun and use it.
For
some, it's not as big a deal as long as it's a confirmed "bad guy," but
others never recover. Look up post-shooting trauma. It's such a
romantic notion, heroism. I'll tell you that the romance disappears when
you delve into the aftermath. The officers on duty the last few
nights--many of them are going to need counseling. Some of them, it will
have to be long term. And most of those--they aren't going to get it.
Some because they think they don't deserve it, some because they don't
think it will help... other reasons, I'm sure.
This
was a tragedy, a nightmare. Regardless of why it happened, that doesn't
cease to be true. Don't dishonor the people who suffered through this
with conspiracies and dismissal.
This is the stuff that was going through my head while it was happening:
what the people in their homes must feel
what the police were going through (and the psychology behind it)
wondering what the fuck possesses someone to do something like this (and the fact that he's only 19--one of the thoughts I had last night was that he knew he was dead already, and was running, so I put in a comment: "I
don't know. I don't know what makes someone decide at 19 or 20 years
old that they will slaughter as many people as possible and die. I can't
comprehend it. I have friends that age--they worry about relationships
and school and their future. *sigh*")
Egg McMuffins (and with the SWAT guy coming out right next to an ad for McDonald's, there was a joke about SWAT your hunger with... in our chat last night), etc.
Yes, that's right, humor, too. I have to research a lot of dark shit for my books (and since Pet has terrorists in it, all of this just threw me right back into all the research I did), but also because once upon a time, I wanted to be a forensic psychologist, and with a continued interest in that, I still study (informally, and in a few weeks, formally as well) psychology with focuses on child and infant psychology and serial killers. Nice diversity, huh? Well, if you don't have a dark sense of humor, you aren't going to mentally survive that stuff, let me tell you.
I also totally posted "I wonder if this was going through his head while he was hiding." (that link will take you to the song "On a Boat," which is NSFW--the Navy version, mind). I'm going to leave you now with one last relevant image and my thoughts with the men and women who were involved in the Boston tragedies this last week.
After I posted this, the same friend from above (who
called himself the costar of this post, ha!) sent me this picture (that
can't be shared enough) with the message in the caption:
"Context: My friend who lives in Watertown
(right between where the shootings happened last night and the location
of the arrest of the second bomber) has a 16 month old son. Since they
were on lock down this awesome cop went to the store to get them some
milk. Very cool."
Last July, I had the pleasure of announcing that I had become a published author, with my first book, Hotel of Lost Souls. This month, I get the joy of announcing the sequel, Pet! I also have a series name: the Lost Humanity series. If you like vampires and Urban Fantasy (especially Anita Blake or Sookie Stackhouse), then you should like my books! Hotel was described as a psychological horror book with vampires in it. Pet continues in the psychological horror tradition with themes of hate crimes, deprogramming and addiction as well as a continuation in descending into the dark side and how the lines blur. From the back cover:
Hate is a four-letter word—one that hits home for Zack Henderson only three years after being the victim of terrible violence.
While settling into his new life, he finally manages to put the past behind him. Just as he believes he is finally safe, though, hate comes smashing through his door. When everything he cares about is torn away from him, he must find the strength to make decisions of which he had never believed himself capable.
In a world with vampires, humans can still show that being dead is not a prerequisite for being a monster.
You can read a sample chapter on Amazon and if you like it, you can purchase it from Barnes and Noble, Amazon, Kobo or Smashwords. All the links for purchase are available at my website.
You don't need an eReader to read my eBook, either! You can read the book now on your phone, tablet, iPad or computer using the Nook App or the Amazon Kindle App (both of which are free!). If you're using an iPad or iPod, you can get Stanza, a free eReading app and read any format that you like!
If nothing can replace the feel and smell of a real book for you, head on over to Lulu and pick up a slightly-larger-than-average paperback! You'll get to experience it the way it was meant to be read! eBooks can't display the little artsy touches at the beginning of each chapter or the fonts that the handwritten notes in the story use. With a physical book, you get back cover art, too!
You can follow my author page on Facebook if you would like updates on future titles and to be able to connect with me personally as well as other readers. Thanks to everyone who has encouraged me over the years and to everyone who purchased a copy of Hotel of Lost Souls!
feeling different.
