Brian's quite remarkable blog of wonder.

This weekend, in summary:

Friday night: No Shame Theatre. The first one of the season. It was incredibly disappointing, there were virtually none of the awesome people there, and the show was really short. My piece was a collaboration with Jake and Danny and was purportedly a song, but was more of a weird piece of shitty performance art that was intended to be pretentious and hilarious. But between you and me, it kind of sucked. Plus I was in another guy's piece, and played a British policeman (he was supposed to be Irish, but I can't do an Irish accent); but somehow I forgot how to read in the middle of the script and totally screwed up some lines. Oh well. I am Not aShamed.

Later Friday night: Village Inn. The most uncomfortable dining experience of my life, followed by the most uncomfortable car ride of my life. For reasons maybe I'll discuss later.

Saturday: I drove a bus during a basketball game. The bus' brakes didn't work very well. It was really stressful. After this, I went to Thai Flavors with (you guessed it) Danny and Jake. It was excellent. We're definitely going to be returning. There's an item on the menu called the "Angry Dish." After this delicious meal, we went to my apartment and played on the ice on the creek outside. It was so fun. Then we watched a movie. Then we watched an episode of Dr. Who. Then we watched a program about Michael Jackson.

Sunday: I spent about five hours trying to do homework but getting distracted, but I finally did it. Then I took a nice walk, after which I made the next scene of My Name Is Jake 2. I don't know what to think of it, really. Hmm. And now I'm here.

My life is still in limbo. It's hovering in mid-air, twirling around, as a persistent drumroll hums in the background. I'm getting sick of it. I want it to land somewhere, preferably gracefully on its feet. It's 1:32 AM, the hour of the laughable metaphors.

So new studies say that global warming is both a more immediate and more dire threat than we had previously thought. Let's see how soon the conservatives in this country finally are no longer able to dismiss climate change as a Communist conspiracy.

Disturbing and incredibly hilarious revelation: perhaps you've heard of "Animorphs," the incredibly bad juvenile serial books which came out thankfully just when I was too old to read that sort of thing. Well, there was a TV series, apparently, and the first two episodes were named My Name Is Jake 1 and My Name Is Jake 2.

Do I have to change the names of my movies now? Son of a bitch.

Today's episode of The West Wing (a show I never watch because the only channel I get is PBS) was about the Iowa caucuses. The only two cases in which Iowa generally receives any mention in the national media, of course, are 1) during the presidential caucus and 2) during shows about the presidential caucus. So when one of these happens, Iowans gather 'round their televisions with their corn-dogs and Mountain Dew and bask in the limelight.

So that's what Jake, Danny and I did this evening. But the big reason we watched it was that there was a scene in which Alan Alda visits the infamous Hamburg Inn No. 2. There was a big party at the Burg, which the guys and I went to first, but there were too many people so we left. That show is pretty good. They have an astounding commitment to authentic details. Except that they made the restaurant set about twice as big as the actual Hamburg Inn is.

In retrospect, that episode had a very eery similarity to All About Black Holes, what with Alan Alda mucking around in Iowa City. Very weird.

Okay, I had the funniest dream last night. In it, I was at my local precinct polling station voting for something or other, and one of the workers (an old lady) came up to me and said "perhaps you'd like to pay a congratulatory call to Viktor Yushchenko" and she handed me a phone. It was ringing on the other end of the line. I was very nervous, and I did not know why I was supposed to congratulate Viktor Yushchenko. Somebody picked up and said in a grumpy voice: "hello?" I said, "Is this Mr. Yushchenko?" And here's the funny thing: I had accidentally said this in a thick Russian accent. No reply came. I was profoundly embarrassed to have spoken to the newly-elected Ukrainian president with a fake Russian accent, so I tried to say it again. "Is this Mr. Yushchenko?" I repeated, but I just couldn't say it without it coming out Russian. Then he hung up. And that's all I remember.

This wasn't the first time I've dreamt about current events. Once last year I had a dream in which I was a game show host and the two contestants were Lonny Pulkrabek and Steve Snyder, two gentlemen who were at the time vying for the office of Johnson County Sheriff. In the dream, Pulkrabek won the game show, and it turns out I had prophesied that he would win the election.

I like films. I like them as an art form. I want to write film reviews. Perhaps my new website, which I will try to launch within the week, will contain a movie reviews section. Today I rented five movies. Barton Fink (I'm a Coen fan, but incredibly, haven't seen this movie), Bananas (I just read a Woody Allen short story, and it made me want to see more of his early movies), On The Waterfront (another classic that I haven't gotten around to seeing), The People vs. Larry Flint (I saw an incredibly censored version of this in a high school class and have been meaning to see the real thing), and The Fisher King (Terry Gilliam's films identify well with me). Maybe I'll watch these and practice writing reviews on them.

Today was the Mondayest Sunday ever. I got up early and went to work. I drove my shift, and then had to stay an extra hour. But on the plus side, I'm starting to suspect that I'm going to be keeping my job.

Okay, so when I got home, I ate Pad Thai and then set immediately to work on MNIJ2. I finished a full three seconds of animation, in about seven hours of almost constant work. The result? It turned out pretty good. I'm not quite as happy with it as I was really expecting to be, but I'm definitely not disappointed.

Okay, now I'm going to sleep.

Don't expect me to pen a self-help book any time soon, as I make no pretenses toward actually having control of my life.

The fact is, right now my life seems to be at a grand crossroads, actually several crossroadses, and this week it has been idly waiting for the fickle finger of fate to make its call.

Firstly, I may or may not lose my job soon. Too boring to really discuss in detail, but it involves me being a non-student, and apparently a lot of non-students weren't allowed to work there this semester and I was supposed to be one of them.

Secondly, you see, there's this girl whom I've adored for a while, and she has a boyfriend. There are rumors on the internets that they broke up. But there are still other rumors that they may get back together.

Threely, I'm pretty broke, like, fucking BROKE; and I've applied for a well-paying part-time city job that I believe I'm pretty qualified for. If I am hired for it, it will mean fiscal sustainability, success, and general rainbows for me. Will I get it?

Fourally, I don't know if I'm a slacking bastard or someone with a work ethic but no motivation. My work on MNIJ2 will help solve this quandary. Will I finish this project? Or will I give up like usual? This question impacts my future hugely.

?????????????????What will happen??????????????

Incidentally, Jake and I were talking about the word "potate." I think I made it up. But it's a hilarious verb. I would think it would mean "to produce potatoes." Boy, the farm is really potating this year!

Yesterday I had a brief AIM conversation with my boyhood friend Cody. That was nice. But then I had a weird dream last night that involved hiding in his basement from a tornado. Very weird.

To be honest, I feel like crap. On Friday, I was supposed to have lunch with my dad but I totally forgot about it. I feel bad. And since I got home from work on Friday, I haven't even left my apartment, save for a trip to my mailbox and a trip to the grocery store. I feel lazy. I didn't even accomplish the comparatively simple task of doing laundry like I had planned to today. I'm such a social recluse. I definitely have friends, but they either don't live in this town or have better things to do/people to be with, and on Saturday nights often I am left here by myself in my puny apartment with nothing but Iowa Public Television and (fortunately now) the internet. Oh woe! Oh, and also, one of my friends just got back from Florida and is now working as a sales rep for some evil telecommunications corporation and was just desparately trying to recruit ME for the same nefarious task. What the hell is with everybody???

Some good has come of this weekend, though: I finished the first forty frames (3.3 seconds) of My Name Is Jake 2, and it looks great so far! I'm so proud of myself. I think I may try to get at least one second of animation done every day. That's really not too much to ask, and setting a quota like that can be helpful.

Also, tomorrow is the Cambus holiday party. I expect to have an infamously good time.

Can we end the war, please? The war on Iraq was absolutely unjustifiable before it even began, and much more so when it became incredibly clear just how many weapons of mass destruction Saddam actually had (exactly none). So now that the CIA has released a report which concludes that Iraq's current chaotic atmosphere has created the perfect environment for the proliferation of terrorism, can we please just get the fuck out of there?

It started as the War on Terror, and then it became the War on Nothing, and now it seems to be turning into the War For Terror. Maybe a few more revelations like this, and people will finally begin to see how much of a disasterous mistake it was to start dicking around in Iraq. Although judging by the surrealism of the last four years, people will probably start supporting the war even MORE.

Tomorrow is the day I've been waiting for literally since sixth grade or so: the European Space Agency's probe Huygens will land on Saturn's moon Titan! Titan is one of the few remaining mysteries in the solar system, and I've been on pins and needles waiting for whatever WEIRD stuff we'll find down there. Sweet, sweet discovery!

Today I drove seven exciting rounds of Oakdale. I like driving Oakdale. It's a real non-conformist route. You see the world when you drive Oakdale.

It is so bloody cold!!!!!!!!! I usually don't like making frivolous use of exclamation points, but fuck. It's just that cold. Tomorrow's high is 12 degrees.

I called Chris this evening. We talked for a damn long time... something like one and a half hours. Back in high school I would just call my friends and talk to them for hours just for no reason. This was like that; it was really, really good.

I finally started drawing My Name Is Jake 2. I've successfully finished sketching the first second. It's tedious, but slightly fun. I've made a compromise: first I planned to ink the drawings and MAYBE color them. Now that I have a little perspective on just how huge this project is going to be, I've decided instead to sketch the drawings and MAYBE ink them. (If you're thinking "the next compromise will probably be to MAYBE sketch them," then I advise you to shut your brain.) Besides, I think they look better as sketches anyway, and not only that but it will be more consistent with the "look" of My Name Is Jake 1.

Caffeine is a funny thing. Without it I can scarcely do any linear thinking at all. But too much of it can be a rather horrifying experience. I drank a cup of coffee and took one caffeine pill this evening, and it has had a rather undesirable effect. It's a kind of minor anxiety attack I'm having. I'm very slightly freaking out. Next year I'm definitely not going to live alone. It's kind of useful to have an annoying roommate around to talk you down, in the event of taking a smidge too much of some uncontrolled substance.

What's that you ask? What have I been reading lately? Several books.

Under The Banner Of Heaven by Jon Krakauer, a rather scary book about Mormon fundamentalists and why we should shun them.

Riven Rock by T. Coraghessan Boyle, a novel about a high-class woman and her insatiable love for her catatonic husband, set in the early days of the American womens' suffrage movement.

The Pythons by The Pythons, a huge coffee table book (that my family failed to get me for Christmas so I had to buy for myself) all about Monty Python, of which comedy troupe I am an unabashed fan. Such pathetitude.

White Noise by Don DeLillo, a rather postmodern novel I'm having trouble wrapping my brain around, mostly because all I've read of it so far was on the airplane in the throes of post-vacation groggs.

Comics & Sequential Art by Will Eisner, an authoritative reference which I've been combing for inspiration. As usual, I only seem to appreciate people moments after they pass away.

Is it abnormal to attempt to read so many books at a time? Who knows.

Today was the first day of Kirkwood classes. I hate the first day of class. "Okay everybody, let's spend fifty minutes going over the syllabus in excruciating detail, then we can go around the room and let everybody tell the class their unabridged life story for the next two hours!" Honestly, I hate it when the first class is a freebie during which teacher and students, slackers alike, can waste time. I know this is a somewhat uniquely hardassed attitude, especially from somebody with such a poor academic record as mine, but it's really the way I feel. That and I really don't have much interest in getting to know my classmates. Or maybe it's just winter and I'm abnormally bastardly.

But my favorite class last semester was Europe in the Age of Nationalism: a class with painful amounts of reading, three-hour tests that really DID take three hours to do, a somewhat detached and indifferent teacher who never knew or seemed to care what my name was (let alone where I was born and what my favorite food is), and information overload lectures that often ran far, far past the actual end of the class period. I can't figure it out... am I a slacker? I don't think so.

I can't wait until I'm back at the University.

This is the picture that wikipedia has on its article for "Iowa City, Iowa." Hilariously unflattering. But misleading. I think THIS picture represents a much more accurate reflection of this city, particularly that it always seems to be on fire.

Good god. Since I got back from New York, I've had absolutely no motivation to do anything at all. Remember that list of unfinished projects I need to work on? Every morning I lie in bed and think, "well, it's still Winter Break; you've got plenty of time to make some big progress on that stuff!" but it ends up taking a ton of effort just to get out of bed, and then huge amounts of caffeine are required to make me do anything other than sit on my ass all day.

It's depressing as hell! Where does one find motivation? I think it may just be the whole winter thing. Perhaps all I need are some more direct solar rays.

It's not all been disappointing though. Today was a net positive, I believe. I bought some new shoes. I went to the library and got a ton of CDs. I subsequently burned these CDs onto my computer, which brought my monster Winamp playlist up to over 5,000 files, and 381 hours (more than two weeks of music!) long. I watched some classic Ren and Stimpy episodes with Jesse and Jake. Then I saw Kinsey with same. Kinsey is really darned good! It's refreshing to see a clearheaded, open-minded view of sexuality from an American perspective. I highly recommend it. That is, to anyone who doesn't believe that God blew up the space shuttle because of gays.

The tsunami disaster has how officially killed 150,000 people, or approximately 2.4 bajillion more than September 11th (to say nothing of the thousands of survivors who are sick with dysentery and other water-born diseases). The reason that 9-11 was yet a bigger news story at its time, I guess, was that it was seen as an act of war, rather than an act of God. It had a culprit, and the victims weren't just a few thousand Americans but several well-known buildings and to a certain extent, the sense of security that was an important pillar of the American Dream. (Wow, what a great idea for a political cartoon; the twin towers as two table legs, and on top of the table is a huge flower pot labeled "The American Dream"... these ideas always come to me years too late.) The two disasters are worlds different, but still it's interesting to contrast them, one a crumbling of American cultural self-image and the other a physical nightmare that literally tipped the planet and changed the shapes and locations of several islands.

You know, we really could divert the money we spend building one attack helicopter and combine it with the money we spend on one week in Iraq toward probably building the victims an entirely new continent (and have one fewer attack helicopter and one less week killingliberating Iraqis to boot), and dammit, I just realized I'm using the disaster as an excuse to make America look bad.

Well, what can I say, except that I do try to keep things in perspective. And the thing that really matters is that I donated a ten-spot to the Red Cross and depending on my next paycheck, I may shoot over a few more dollars next week.


It's snowing like a son of a bitch here in Iowa. Tons and tonnes of snow is burying us. It's very beautiful. It doesn't stop! Driving the bus tomorrow is going to be a son of shit.

I got back from New York yesterday. My friends and I had a mostly excellent time. I have a lot to say about it, so much that I think it transcends blog form. Ideally I will make a large report in html, complete with photos and comic art and tons of insight, and will be very interesting to read and will be included on my web site that I'm going to make. Ideally, I will do this very soon while the trip is still fresh in my memory. Will I actually do this? Let's hold our breath.

Speaking of: hilariously enough, as soon as I wrote that blog entry about MNIJ2 and how I was actually going to finish it, I stopped working on it. To my credit, though, the next day I planned to work on it but instead made a very beautiful Christmas card; the next few days were Christmas and the next week was New York. So now that I'm back in Iowa, I've completed step 3, a little behind schedule.

A good New Year's Resolution for me would be to try to increase the pace at which I work on things. Let's look at all of the specific projects I'm working on right now, in unspecific order:

-All About Black Holes the graphic novel
-revising Clarinet and Piano piece for Chris
-composing set of piano waltzes
-My Name Is Jake 2 the animated movie
-www.brianlenth.net the new web page
-insightful, illustrated report of NY trip

Those are just the ones I'm remembering off the top of my head. But if I spent half the time working on any of those sorts of things that I normally spend farting around, watching movies, writing blog entries etc., I'd be a paragon of accomplishment.

"We're here on Earth to fart around. And don't let anyone tell you different." -Kurt Vonnegut