I'll be picking up a U-Haul and moving my stuff into the new place tomorrow. I'm looking forward to it, for the most part - my new roommates are cool, it's right next to BART, I'll be paying about half as much rent, and it actually has a bit of a yard instead of just a concrete slab out back. There are things I'll miss about the old place, though. Among them are:

Living right next to Lake Merritt
Living near The Happy Burrito
Having a large closet to use as an animation studio
Having an old-fasioned shaving mirror built into the shower
Having a dishwasher (this one has spoiled me)
Having a nice little cafe right around the corner
FABULOUS neighbors

It's been good living here, but it's time to move on... and I'm sure I'll find things I like about the new neighborhood after living there a bit. There's a Salvadorian restaurant across 7th street from the new place, so that's probably a good spot to start my explorations.

Oh, and since my new roommates are all vegans and vegetarians, and there's no meat allowed in the fridge there, Evan and I have started talking about having "Meat Day" on Fridays at his place. If anyone else is interested in participating in or hosting a Meat Day, let me know - this could be fun.

I'll be sending out an email with updated contact information as soon as I find out exactly what my new address will be. I'm cancelling my AT&T service, so I won't have a landline anymore, but I'll still have my cell. If you don't get an email for some reason, and want to know my contact info, send me a message. I fear the onslaught of junk mail and telemarketing calls I'll receive if I post it publicly.

Also, this week's Flash Tub is one of Shmorky's best: http://www.somethingawful.com/d/flash-tub/chalk-cartoon-drawing.php

Today's photo: Water on Mars

A couple months ago, after stumbling upon a surprisingly good Polish porter, Evan and I hatched the idea of gathering our other two favorite beers together compare to our new discovery. Garvey expressed interest in this as well, and the three of us got together on Saturday night to put these brews to the test (Jen came along too, but opted to stick to milder ales). Sadly, we were unable to find any Old Rasputin imperial stout in time for our shindig, but I brought along a few other Eastern European beers that none of us had tried before. Here's my rundown of the lot:


Baltika 9 Extra Lager

Alcohol by volume: 8.0%
Bottle size: 500ml
The proprietor of the funky little European variety store on Piedmont Avenue, who seemed to get excited when I was checking out their beer selection, enthusiastically recommended this one to me. She told me that this is what they drink in Russia. "In America, you drink whole case of beer. In Russia, you just need one bottle," she said, pointing out the unusually high alcohol content. I remembered Josh telling me that Baltika was "spiffy," so I decided to try it. It's a pretty standard lager; it has a surprisingly crisp, clean taste for something with so much alcohol, but there's nothing really spectacular about it aside from its adeptness at killing brain cells. 5.5/10 for Baltika 9.



Utenos Porter

Alcohol by volume: 6.8%
Bottle size: 500ml
The outside of a beer bottle is a strange place to find honesty. With marketing being the deceitful beast that it is, and beer being one of the most saturated markets in the world, beer bottle labels are home to some of man's best efforts at exaggeration. Even the most subpar lagers* assert that their quality ingredients and unique brewing processes result in a beer fit for only the gods (and not the lame ones like Tiamat). Because of this, I didn't pay any attention to the promises of "particularly rich taste and aroma" and "exceptional indulgence" on this bottle of Lithuanian suds. But, lo and behold, exceptional it was. Utenos has a rich and complicated flavor that I would speak highly of if I wasn't comparing it directly to beers that made it seem timid and watery. I give it a solid 7/10 score. The lesson to be learned from this is that Lithuanians are fairly good at brewing beer and horrible at lying.



Kláster Traditional Czech Dark Beer

Alcohol by volume: 4.0%
Bottle size: 500ml
I was attracted to this bottle because of my fondness for dark beers, my love for all things Czech, and the smiling caricature of a drunken monk on its label. The beer itself didn't disappoint. though dark lagers never really measure up to stouts and porters, this one had a fairly pleasing taste and clean texture. 6.5/10.



Drake's Imperial Stout

Alcohol by volume: 8.75%
Bottle Size: 500ml
This has been one of my favorite beers since I discovered it. It's incredibly thick, very rich, and has just enough sweetness to compliment the other flavors without giving it a gross, saccharine feeling. For a long time, I've been debating whether I like Drake's or Old Rasputin better, and it's part of what inspired this event. 9/10 for Drake's.



Zywiec Traditional Polish Porter

Alcohol by volume: 9.5%
Bottle size: 500ml
Holy crap. This stuff is like drinking a loaf of alcoholic bread.** The texture is so thick, and the flavor is so strong that you really have to drink this in sips, but goddamn, is it good... My only complaint is that, on the first sip, there's a bit of a weird earthy taste, but that soon gets overpowered by all the other wonderful flavors of this grain concoction. After a glass of this stuff, Drake's seems thin and bland. 9.5/10.


The winner: Zywiec. Next time, whenever that might be, we'll have to get some Old Rasputin and see how it stacks up against Poland's finest.

The aftermath: If you've been paying attention to the alcohol content and bottle sizes involved in this test, you've probably figured that I stumbled pretty far outside sobriety land during that night. I awoke the next morning, dehydrated and disoriented, remembering with painful clarity why I don't drink very often. Upon making my way into the living room, I found a robotic chimp head in a grocery bag on the counter and an academic paper about sexual dimorphism in Australopithecus afarensis on my computer screen. What horrors my mind had wrought in the absence of reason, we may never know.


*A Budweiser bottle states that it has "a taste, a smoothness and a drinkability you will find in no other beer at any price"

**I know I've made that claim about the Australian version of Guiness before, but that was before I really got to know many other stouts/porters. This stuff is much more worthy of that description.

I may be moving in with Ian and Julie soon. I need a new, cheaper place to live, and they need someone to fill the vacant room in the house they're renting. Last weekend, all the humans involved got together, and approved of each other's company... though there was still the issue of cats. They have a cat (Kali), and I have two. Theirs is a friendly, mellow cat, and mine are emotionally crippled animal shelter adoptees who haven't been socialized with other cats.

Yesterday, we got them all together to see if they might be able to coexist in the same dwelling. I was pretty worried about the possibility of my cats ganging up on Kali and bullying her, or at least the possibility of Toru attempting to establish dominance (I think he's the only one of the three smart enough to do this). Thankfully, none of that happened. They didn't get along well right away, but that's to be expected. There was a lot of slinking around with tails puffed out, and some growling and hissing... but Toru and Kali seemed to gradually become more comfortable with each other. By the time I had to leave, they were no longer puffed out, and they were sometimes able to sit relatively near each other without growling or hissing for short periods. Tanuki, on the other hand, was kind of freaking out - he wouldn't stop hissing when Kali was near, and he ended up hiding under the couch for most of their playtime. Though, this is the cat that took a few months to stop hiding from its owners in the closet after he was adopted.

I'm under the impression that they will be able to get along. It'll take some close supervision, and probably a low dose of anti-anxiety drugs or tranquilizers while they work out their territories and reconcile their personalities, but it's something I'm willing to put effort into. I guess the next step would be another, longer kitty play-date to see if we can get them to mellow out more.

I've been scrambling to catch up on all the work I fell behind on while sick, but I should have a new film done soon, and I'm liking how it's turning out. I'll probably have it up online within a week.

In the spirit of kitty togetherness,

I've caught a nasty cold, and have been spending even more time cooped up in front of a computer than normal. One upside to this, however, is that I've discovered some amazing videos on youtube. Most of these are lifted from Fark, but if you haven't seen them yet, they're definitely worth checking out. Enjoy.

The story of Oedipus Rex stop-motion animated with vegetables:


A news segment on the dangers of Emo:


The Human Slinky:


A moose playing soccer:



I feel sorry for everyone in this picture... but I'm going to laugh at it anyway.

I started paying attention to the animated shorts section of the Oscars after Rejected was nominated in 2001. I never really had any faith in the academy's judgements beforehand, but I was pretty bitter that they gave the award to Father and Daughter instead of Rejected. It wasn't a particularly bad film, but it didn't compare to Don's in the least bit. A few years went by, and I kept paying attention to the world of animated shorts. Last year, I went to see the theatrical presentation of the nominated shorts, and found out that the winner of the award, The Moon and the Son: An Imagined Conversation, was, in many respects, a complete and utter pile of shit. One of the other nominees that year was actually quite good... I just couldn't figure it out. Then, remembering past award winners, it dawned on me.

To win the oscar for best animated short, you have to make a film that involves Europe and parent/child relations.

It's not 100% accurate; there are a couple films in the past decade or so that don't fit the patern, but it's definitely a trend.

This year's winner: The Danish Poet.

Make your own comic here. Save it. Share it with us.

Here's mine:


This makes me want to start making comic strips occasionally for drawing/writing practice... but today i'll be lazy and let the website draw it for me.

"We should see other people" has been said. Single again. Lots of mixed feelings, but not too many bad ones. Lots of things I would have done differently if I knew how she felt, but the past is behind us. Lots of things I'll miss about her, but lots of things to look forward to. The saying is a bit of a cliche, but it's one that I find incredibly meaningful, and find myself thinking a lot... C'est la vie.

Lev has released a new cartoon this week titled "How to Break Up With Your Girlfriend in 64 Easy Steps." Good timing, Lev.


today's image is:

It's been a while since I've had much time to blog or much in my life I've felt like blogging about, but I'm taking the morning off from school today to relax, and am in a bit of a writing mood.

Mielle and I have decided to spend some time apart from each other, and she will probably be moving out relatively soon. We're not necessarily breaking up - she wants some time alone to think about what she wants to do with her future and what kind of relationship we'll have. I'm not crazy about the idea of being apart, yet committed, so I'm not sure what I'm going to do yet either. Whatever happens, we'll still be close friends and have a good deal of respect and love for each other... but after three years of a very close relationship, the idea of being single again is a hard one to internalize. If I seem out of character in the near future, this is why.

A rapid scramble to get a new, polished version of One Minute Racist done in time to be screened by a San Francisco International Film Festival board member failed by a margin of a few hours. They saw an older version, and were not impressed enough to want it in the festival, but seemed interested in having it as part of some educational film dealy. On the plus side, the new version is looking pretty good. Caveh, Ian and I are giving it one last pass for some touch-ups, and will be submitting it to more festivals and such now that Current TV's period of exclusivity on it has ended.

The current cut is here:
http://www.moonpotato.com/movies/oneminuteracist.mov
(it's over 20MB, so I'm not embedding it here)

Caveh, Ian and I have also decided to make a new film in a similar style, but with significantly different subject matter. This one will be based on a story of Caveh's about a no-budget feature shot on short ends, an aborted attempt at rape and LSD. More details on that later, probably.

There is an IHOP gift certificate on my desk that was given to me as a "Christmas present" when I stopped for a cup of coffee on the way to the relatives' place for Christmas dinner. It doesn't specify an amount, and I don't even know if there's an International House of Pancakes anywhere near Oakland, but for some reason, I can't bring myself to throw it out. I think it's because I haven't had waffles in a long time, and I miss them.

lastly,

now with extra cat:

I started a thread about drawing organs experiencing misfortune on an internet forum, but nobody aside from myself contributed much. I might do more later, but here's what I've done so far:

Stomach not tall enough to ride the roller coaster:


Liver that can't afford another child:


Kidney that fell for an email scam:


I'll love anyone else who wants to make one.

Also, if they accept my rates, I'll have some animation work to do for the remainder of winter break. I got a reply about a gig animating illustrations from a children's book that I applied to about a week ago, and they seemed interested in working with me - hopefully it'll work out.