Breathtaking

Never ONCE have I ever seen anything produced by Studio Ghibli that wasn't breathtakingly brilliant.

They produce stories that have two fingers on the pulse of myth, they're so beautiful it sometimes makes makes me want to weep with joy. And the animation? I can't find fault with their work. Seriously. Its something I can only ever hope to capture a glimpse of in my own work.

Big Storm

So there's this hurricane, right? And his name is Gustav. And he seems to be headed for New Orleans.

Weeeell. I'm supposed to fly to New Orleans on Thursday. The city has been evacuated. And I'm supposed to go there in 4 days for a conference.

This sucks.

I'd better get my money back, and Marriot better not be a bitch about my reservation either...and southwest for that matter.

:(

I don't want to go anyway.

*edit
I just got the e-mail. Its canceled. That means I can go to Meme's again. :)

Stupid Uncle

Apparently my uncle has fallen in love with an elephant and is traveling around following a circus.

I hope the elephant sits on him.

I need to see this

Apparently it was made on a budget of $7000.

Wanderings

So. I'm back from LA.

I've got a place to live.

It rocks.

I leave in less than 3 weeks.

I love Missouri.

Vincent needed a new battery today. (he felt betrayed that I drove another car, I'm sure)

I'm desperately in need of a good hard work out, but I'm not in the mood.

I didn't see any famous people in LA, but I saw a guy from Saturday Night Live in Denver.

I did see a dancing liquid transport truck on the 405 and it was scary, I didn't want it to dance on ME.

I love Missouri.

I missed my guitar.

I have a hell of a lot of cleaning and packing to get done...eventually.

I also have to paint a stool, write a song, and make a couple of t-shirts pretty.

Lol...cat

more animals

Star Wars Galactic Empire Begins Invasion of San Francisco

Where do I sign up?

I Love Lucy Vitameatavegamin

Best sketch in comic history.

Monkey Island

Monkey Island was one of the first PC games I ever played and the second I ever finished.

It stands at the top of my favorite games of all time. I'd love to adapt it into a movie, because it would be both hilarious and...awesome.

Used To

I used to like Bill O'Reilly, but he's a giant douche bag, so never mind.

Cali

My first thought upon seeing LA from the air was, "OH, shit." It's butt ugly and there's this disgusting yellow smog all over the place.

This impression wasn't really assuaged in any way after getting in my rental car and finding the 405. The traffic wasn't that bad, but the sights were less than appealing. Lots and lots of big industrial buildings with pipes and stuff that look like they were the inspiration for THE MATRIX.

Since coming into town my initial terror at the prospect of moving to someplace so cityish and brown has lessened. Mostly due to the fact that I've been driving relentlessly around the area and have seen enough really posh green spaces that I just might end up liking LA eventually. Pasadena is really sweet and so is Venice Beach, Beverly Hills, Malibu, Topanga Canyon, and the bit of Long Beach that Molly lives in.

I think my attitude will continue to change as I get to know the city. I wasn't all that keen on Chicago at first either...wait, no, I only really like Wheaton, but still...

I only have one place left to check out as a housing possibility, and I have the distinct feeling that I'll be begging the chick to let me live there within 10 minutes of meeting her.

At the moment I'm chilling on Molly's bed while she's at work. I discovered an Ikea magazine under the coffee table in the living room and just about flipped my lid when I checked out the prices. DUDE, that's sweet. We don't have an Ikea in KC that I know of, and I've never really looked at any of their stuff. NOW I'm getting stoked. I want to furnish my new room.

I also need to find Mullholland Drive.

Spaghetti Cat

Last Night.

Last night was my last night with Mama.

Unfortunately, no matter how much I try to I just can't feel any more sad about it than I would just going back home after a regular shift.


I"M GOING TO BE IN LA NEXT WEEK!!!!!!!

I'M GOING TO FIND A SUPER SWEET PLACE TO LIVE!!!!!!

I'M GOING TO SEE...!!!!!!

AND BOATS!

AND FAMOUS PEOPLE!!!!!

Hayes Carll - She Left Me for Jesus

Funny stuff.

O.o

I literally stopped breathing when I watched this for the first time. If nothing else it will be a feast for the eyes. I'd love to work in that style someday if I have the right story for it.

What do you know?

It's actually been a couple of DAYs since I've blogged.

I guess that means that I actually have been doing something with my time besides wasting it with glorious perfection.

Yesterday I realized why I had been so susceptible to moodiness last week. Hmm. I'm fine now.

I've been working on Untrodden Ways and it's almost done...well I've only got three more sequences to splice together and they happen to be the ones I've been dreading. The thing is, is that I didn't cover all my material as well as I should have with film. So I'm not sure how well the last couple of stage scenes are going to work on film. The audio is very likely to be much lower than the rest, but there's nothing I can do about that. And I still have to figure out how I'm going to transition back from film to stage. Because the original production was a combination of the two, my transition worked really well to bring the audience back from the film to the live action. However, the lighting in the theater is too low to actually see much of the action on the live version of the film. I should have...eh, too late for that. I'll figure it out. I have an idea.

I've also been working on Rathe, the sister universe to Threa. Its coming along much better than Threa has for years now. I've got a good working idea for at least two stories involving Rathe that could very well pan out to be a trilogy, but why must everything be in trilogy, maybe this is just a two-thingy (don't know the term).

Oh, yeah. And I'm helping my friend Dacus film a short thing for his senior show. I was up in Liberty until 2am last night and didn't get home until 3. I'm going back up tonight because of course we didn't get the filming done.

Welp, back to the working on shit thing.

Games

I've hardly played video games at all this summer. I played some Phoenix Wright, and Mahjong (however the hell that's spelled), but almost no XBox 360 at all. I had thought I would play a ton of GTAIV, but I just haven't been in the mood at all.

I do miss playing Halo 3 on XBox live. I'll probably pick that back up once I settle in CA, but the internet connection here is kinda on and off. I did figure out how to connect my xbox wirelessly through my laptop (saving $90), but I haven't trusted the connection to play more than 2 games.

Actually, my tv has hardly been on at all this summer. Not even for movies.

Must be living at home makes me wary of actually spending too much time playing games.

But I have played a lot of piano and guitar. I'm getting decent at sight reading, which totally stokes me. I'm working of Clair de Lune, and it almost sounds a little like the song. :)

My dad also told me if I can learn the Bonnie Raitt song Hear Me Lord, that he would buy me a fancy new electric guitar...he should have picked a harder song. Give me 3 weeks.

In other news the most awesome favorite game of all time is coming 2 days after my birthday!!!!!!!!!!!! (with the exception of Kingdom Hearts, of course.)

Not Cool

Its hot here.

And I'm still recovering from reading that book on Sunday.

And YouTube has failed to post the last 3 videos that I have tried to get on here.

Not cool.

Dude, I wish I was HOT. That would be cool...

I need out of this place.

<3

Twilight is fantastic.

Just finished it. I was completely satisfied. Its not often that I read/see something that keeps my analytical mind at bay, but this certainly did.

I'll be reading the whole series repeatedly until I die. So I can at least pretend for a few hours that I am Bella Swan.

Damn. I ache.

Ha!!!!!!!!!

>:(

SOMEONE has stolen my NAME!!!!!

I just happened not to be able to keep my hands off of Breaking Dawn and noticed in the acknowledgments that someone has the name Jens...

bastard.

Oh well, I'm still using it.

wow

mind blown

West Log

I was struck by the idea this morning that perhaps I should start a running diary on my computer about my coming adventures (or depressing lack there of) in Hollywood. Its actually something of a rip off of Robert Rodriguez's Rebel Without a Crew, which was quite amazing. But if I actually make a name for myself eventually it would be interesting to read what was going on in my head/life from the beginning. Starting as a starved over-her-head underdog from the Midwest without a clue and see where it goes. I was also inspired by reading the Dresden Dolls Diary on blogspot. Amanda Palmer has been faithfully (relatively) updating the blog since 2003, before they even had a recording contract and reading through the archives is better than almost any autobiography or biography that I've read. Its immediate, honest, and rambling.

My Diary thing would be different than this blog, namely because it will be more brutally honest. A diary, not like my Moleskin journal, where I whine and am introspective, but where I chronicle what progress (or again lack there of) I have made. How who and all that shit.

Just a thought. Me being overly confident/optimistic about my success.

Actually, I'm getting more and more scared about the next couple of years. What if it's like the academy? Nononononononono I can't like that. Get a backbone Jens. No fear...

...shit.