I did some stuff.

25 More Root Beers

2012-01-14T18:04:00.000-08:00

A few years ago I started documenting my opinions on various gourmet root beers. In retrospect, I kind of wish I would have used a more practical rating system (or ANY rating system for that matter) but I guess the purpose was more artistic than scientific. So if you're wondering what the "best" root beer is, this won't really help. But if you're wondering which ones taste more like vegetables and which ones taste more like cleaning supplies, I've got you covered. And if you haven't seen the original post, please start here.

TOWER: Nice mild spice. Tastes like licorice and moonlight.

THOMAS KEMPER: Distinguished, but slightly off; like a leather couch in a dorm room. Definitely on the spicy end of the root beer spectrum, versus the sweet end.

BEDFORD'S: Black Cherry & Pistachio. Unique and delicious.

THE POP SHOPPE: Sugar, Spearmint, Windex, Ham.

DANG! THAT'S GOOD: Actually, I'd call it "Dang, that's root beer." It was good, but it wasn't extraordinary in anyway. Definitely not impressive enough to name it after an exclamation.

OOGAVE: Oh, Green Tea, you shouldn't be ashamed of what you are. There's nothing wrong with- What? You're not Green Tea, you're Root Beer? Oh. Um. So... Hey, did you see The Office last week?

STEWART'S: Sugar, mixed with brown sugar, mixed with caramel. Opposite Thomas Kemper on the sweet/spicy flavor spectrum.

VIRGIL'S SPECIAL EDITION BAVARIAN NUTMEG: Really good flavor, but not as special as I was expecting. "I'm searching for the nutmeg..." -Jenette Cementina

BAWS GUARANA G33K B33R: Nice brown sugar taste but also slightly watery. And there's something slightly... mediciny about it. Maybe that's the G33K.

A&W: "Clear", with a faint scent of fireworks.

TRADER JOE'S VINTAGE: Sugary opening, leading to the mellow butteryness of a Ritz cracker.

ZUBERFIZ: A Necco Wafer dreaming about lemons.

PITHY LITTLE SODA WORKS: A handsome man in a plum colored suit sits alone in the corner booth of a darkened bar eating a steak.

APPLE FARM: Molasses, Brown Sugar... and Beer. This one might require a second taste with the assurance that it hasn't fermented...

CENTRAL COAST BREWING: "Old" + "Dry" + "Soap" + "Chai".

MYERS AVENUE: Tastes like a cinnamon roll dipped in cough medicine. But not soaked or anything. Just dipped. Briefly.

CHICO SHINE: Smooth and Honey-y

RED ARROW: This root beer makes me want a hamburger.

MARGO'S BARK: Sharp black licorice with a hint of ash tray.

JOE'S: Smooth and sweet, reminds me of the Toasted Marshmallow Jelly Belly.

ITHICA: Rosemary and Cola.

SQUAMSCOT: Cream Soda in disguise.

SO DUH ROCKIN' ROOT BEER: Tastes like a spice rack. Is that numeg? Cloves? Oregano? Bonus points for uniqueness, except I can't tell if I want to drink it or sprinkle it on pizza...

FOXON PARK: Cotton candy and lemon. And kinda... woodsy? But less like fern covered forest and more like potpourri meant to smell like a fern covered forest.

RED RIBBON: Black licorice dipped in blood, wrapped in iceberg lettuce.

For my friend, Ray Cauley

2011-09-20T18:38:00.000-07:00

.

Blue Whales off the Coast of Dana Point, California
September 18th, 2011

We followed the spouts,
chased the fanfare of mist
until we were met with teal shadows,
moving masses below the surface of the ocean.
And as our vessel swayed and bowed,
the shadows split the breathing sea.
Then rose mountains of slate
silently sweeping the horizon
then gliding below again.

With powerful force and powerful grace
they entered our world of air
as if the arcs they drew across the level sea
were not a necessary interruption,
not the methodical mechanics of biology,
but a dance;
every breath a pirouette,
every rise and fall, the movement of music seen.

One by one they would make themselves known,
a blast of warm breath, then the surging ballet.
And then,
without remark or report,
they would aim once again for the deep
and the smooth curve of grey,
flexing now toward its home,
would wheel the entire, vast length of spine.

At times a powerful tail would breach
and splash a punctuating farewell.
Others would simply and silently glide away,
the pulsing tail a discrete continuation
of the body's contoured dance.
But no matter how the creatures left the stage
at the meeting place of our two worlds,
the resulting effect was always the same;
for as the thrust of their tails sent their billowing mass downward
the surrounding sea was sent up.
And where a moment ago fought endless ripples,
the agitation of wind and tides,
soon emerged a glassy calm
that expanded and remained
well after the whale had left our sight.

And how fitting a footprint that this life should leave
as it graced our time with its spirit,
that the world it left was made more peaceful
by it simply being there.

For Ray
6/17/1980 - 9/18/2011

New Jobs, New Songs

2011-04-09T14:23:00.000-07:00

I am pleased as punch to announce my retirement from joblessness! In January, I started work at Sony Computer Entertainment, doing facial animation on games for Playstation 3. That's right- a real life, gettin' payed to animate, actual job, job! I realize that the announcement comes a little late, but, you know, I've been busy. Working.

That being said, I actually had some time off a few weeks ago and I had the opportunity to play around with some music that had been floating around in my brain. Every once in a while a melody or a riff will pop into my head and I won't have anything to do with it. Most often I'll sing it into my phone and record a message for myself in hopes that some day I'll have some time to actually get onto my computer and do something more with it. Well, that time came a few weeks ago. I had six songs to do, and my plan was to just get them off of my phone for when it goes to phoney heaven, which will probably be soon. I got through the first five quick enough, but when I got to the last one I got a little carried away and just couldn't stop. And now, as far as I can tell, it's a finished song. So in honor of my new job (and the Spring Break it provided me) I'd like to present to you Phone Song Six.

Phone Song Six by Wheres Boo?

I realized after the song was done that it sounds an awful lot like a song I made a long time ago called Frogs of Industry. So if you want, you can call this one Frogs of Technology. Seems like a logical progression.

Miscelaneousness

2011-01-19T11:35:00.000-08:00

Some exciting changes are coming up and I'll be posting the news soon but before I get to that I wanted to put up some recent artwork before it gets lost in the shuffle.

The first is a t-shirt design that I did for my sister when she interned for a non-profit that helps homeless families. Their slogan was "Every family deserves a home."

And this is a design for a tea tin that I made her for Christmas. They're tea birds. Get it?

My other sister wanted a recipe box for Christmas so I designed this one for her. Please excuse the crop marks...

This is the back.

And last but not least, a little bit of Grove. Meet Rocco the possum. This isn't actually a finished picture because I decided that I wasn't quite happy with the character design. However I do like the drawing enough to post it. So just pretend that there's a Grover walking past him, carrying a tall pile of fruits and Rocco is helping himself to one (which isn't really in his personality, adding another reason to not finish the picture.)

The Conscientious Jogger

2010-11-17T13:26:00.000-08:00

For the last month or so I've been working on some animation. The Grove has been a fun adveture, but it's such a long-term project and at the state that it's in right now it doesn't do much for my job situation. After many months of rejections and closed doors I realized that it was time to get out of the Grove and update (and hopefully upgrade) my reel to give myself a better chance at actually getting a job. I decided to just scrap my old reel entirely and create a short film that showcased my animation skills, and hopefully told an amuzing, memorable story; something that would say "Hire me." The result is The Conscientious Jogger.

The Conscientious Jogger from Jacob Cementina on Vimeo.

The Window

2010-10-01T09:00:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I read a peom that was written by a long time family friend and I was immediately inspired by it visually. Then, for whatever reason, I didn't draw an illustation for it, but instead illustrated it with another poem.
The original poem was written by Tim Blair, and can be found here.

The Window
(For T)

At the country farmhouse of my youth
There was a window nestled in the gable
And to the dusty attic I would climb
To view the tree that grew beside the stable.

The noble oak had always stood for truth;
For when my father’s father bought this land
Its tempered roots had long been steeped in time
And so for age and honor it would stand.

The farm was thus established by the tree,
Foundations laid around the roots and leaves.
The tree would shade the house’s Western face
And greet the window underneath the eaves.

My father’s father often came to see
The view from up among the branch’s reach.
This attic window came to be a place
For him to learn and for the tree to teach.

And as the leaves turned gold, and back to green
Old age and certain wisdom came with time.
And soon he kept a cotton cloth upstairs
to rid his view of country dust and grime.

Throughout the years retreat became routine,
Routine became tradition passed to kin.
The faithful cloth was given to his heir,
Who, soon enough, would pass it down again.

So in this way I learned to love the tree
And grew up gazing through a dingy pane
Because I wiped the window with the cotton
but never questioned why the filth remained.

Then came the day that I began to see
The dirty cloth itself hindered my view.
So with the vision lost but not forgotten
I thanked my father, and his father too
Then slid the window open and crawled through.

From verdant murk emerged a smirking turtle

2010-09-29T09:20:00.000-07:00

In the Huntington Library's Chinese Garden there is a giant, green pond. Over the pond is a bridge called The Bridge of the Verdant Mist. And in the pond there is a turtle.

Jenette and I visited the Gardens over the weekend. It was really, really hot. My deoderant melted in my backpack. But that's another story.

Bla bla bla ART!

2010-09-10T10:37:00.001-07:00

I felt bad about all the spewing on the last post so here's some more art. A while back I studied some movies to get ideas for the Grover's eyes. These are from Chicken Little and Finding Nemo. They're really just modeling notes for myself and I wasn't planning on posting them but I guess it's all part of the proccess and that's interesting too, right? So here you go.

My main concern was whether or not I could get enough expression out of the characters without giving them eyebrows. None of the fish in Nemo have actual eyebrows and they all have extrememly expressive faces so I think I'll be able to pull it off.

Late Night Epiphany

2010-09-10T09:42:00.000-07:00

I think I mentioned earlier that The Grove has gone through some rewrites, but I'm not sure if I mentioned that my biggest concern right now is that the changes I made in order to better explain things actually made the story a more complicated. It kind of sounds like I'm moving backwards, but let me just say that if I can get this stuff to work then the film will be way cooler than it was before.

That being said, I've come to realize that in order for the film to succeed it needs to be really attractive visually. I've noticed that there are films that LOOK really cool and because they're so interesting to look at you watch the whole thing. And then when the film is over you say "Wow. That was really cool. And really pointless." Kind of like living wallpaper, right?

And there are also films that have really great stories and could be really memorable, except that they looked so bad that you couldn't take them seriously and you gave up after the first however many minutes/seconds/whatever. I'm not saying that The Grove is one of those films, but I can say that it has the potential to be if I don't step it up visually. The problem is that the whole first half is extrememly dependant on plants and pay-offs, that is, a whole bunch of seemingly random things happen and you don't learn what they are until later on and then you say "Oh, THAT'S what that was. I get it!" I love when that happens in movies and it makes me really excited that this film has the potential to do that too. But the only way to keep the audience invested with all this random nonsense going on is by making the things that they're watching look REALLY good. I really want people to say "I have no idea what's going on but it doesn't bother me yet." The "yet" is the key because I don't necessarily want to attract an audience that is into watching wallpaper. Maybe I should say that I want people to think "I hope this is going somwhere because I'm enjoying watching it but I don't want to be disappointed by it when it's over."

So, I know what you're saying now. You're saying "But Jacob, a bad story will always be a bad story, no matter how cool it looks, and you can't hide your story flaws behind flashy visuals." I couldn't agree more. BUT you can't deny the power of a hook. After all, "The hooooook brings you baaaaaaaaaaaaack" (Blues Traveler, people. Come on.) And in general the hook should be your story. But since my story is so slow to get going, I need another hook to get people to the story. What do you call those things that attract the fish? The little rubber things that flop around in the water and the fish think it's food and they bite it and get the hook along with it and then get pulled out of the water and get their skin peeled back and their heads chopped off? Tackle? No, a lure? I'm not a fisher, obviously. Anyway, I need that. Really, I feel like I need that in all my art, but that's another seemingly endless rant. SHEESH. Anyway...

All that nonsense is to say that last night as I was falling asleep I had an image flash into my mind of Grovers that looked better than any I had come up with in all my color tests and the thing that was different was that they didn't look like Fruit Loops. They had more of an edge. And I think if I could base the overall palette of The Grove more on these sort of colors it would have more of the appeal that I'm looking for.

Bla bla bla, bla BLA bla bla.

So here it is. The top row is the set that I had decided on before, the middle row is the set from my dream, and the bottom row is that same set but with the contrast narrowed down just a bit to bring them closer together.

The Grove has birds

2010-09-06T14:54:00.000-07:00

One of the changes to the story was the addition of a couple minor characters, and one of those is the Grove Birds. There were always birds in the grove, but one in particular that originally made a small cameo has since been developed, combined with another instance of birdage, and turned into two individuals that pretty much make up the bird population, at least as far as this story goes. They're both the same species so they pretty much look identical, and they don't have names yet, but I've decided that Tweedle-Dum and Tweedle-Dee are not options.

The bird is based on the toco toucan, but I didn't want them to look exactly like a specific species of bird. But in exploring colors I found that the best combination was really the one that the actual bird has already. So, basically, God did it right the first time. That one is bird "Re". My other favorite is bird "A", which might look too much like Zazu from The Lion King. Granted, he doesn't look as much like Zazu as bird "C" does, but I don't know...

Ups, Downs, and All Arounds.

2010-09-06T14:20:00.000-07:00

It's been a while. In the last few months I've finished storyboads on The Grove, gone on a few little trips around California, applied for jobs and heard nothing, taken on some freelance work, and rewritten The Grove completely. Well, not completely, but the story has gone through quite a few changes since I finished the storyboards and at this point I'm not sure how many of the changes actually help. The creative proccess is kind of depressing that way. Never the less, the changes ARE exciting as far as I'm concerned, and since being excited about a project beats feeling depressed and defeated about it, my free time has been spent putting energy into developing the fun parts while ignoring the problems and hoping that they'll just work themselves out. That's a healthy attitude, right?

I'll be posting some of the new developements soon, but to start out, howabout some more Grover colors? I think I've narrowed it down. I basically took the Do Re Mi from the last post and cooled down the dark orange and warmed up the yellow. My wife likes the second row, I think I prefer the first. Those two are so close though that it might just depend on the lighting. You really could get away with saying that the top row is just the middle row under an umbrella on a foggy day. (And, actually, the blue one IS the same color.) So I think it's safe to say that the final models will end up looking a lot like those.

Grover Colors Cont.

2010-07-21T12:31:00.000-07:00

Okay. I'm leaning towards Do Re Mi.

Grover Colors

2010-07-21T10:30:00.000-07:00

Things on the Grove front have been going well. I finished storyboards last week and I'm excited to go back to visual developement. The storyboard animatic isn't quite ready to go public quite yet, as there are some issues that need to be addressed. For starters, I had always imagined that the Grovers all looked the same. In my mind, there were three characters doing three seperate things who come together in the end. But after showing the animatic to a few trusted critics, I discovered that the seperateness of the three characters isn't so apparent to someone who hasn't been knee-deep in Groverness for the last six months. I realized that, as far as my story goes, the three Grovers could just as easily be the same Grover doing three things at different times. So it looks like the guys are going technicolor.
I'm hesitant to vary the colors too much since I don't want them to end up looking like Fruit Loops or something, plus there's the problem of keeping them all in line with the palate that I create for the Grove itself. But at the same time, the easier it is to immediatly differentiate between the three of them, the better. And with all three being exactly the same shape and size and lacking any kind of identifiable clothing, it's pretty much a done deal with the color. So I don't know. Blue Sky did a really good job of mixing up the colors of the characters in Horton Hears a Who, so I know it can be done. But it's still kind of intimidating. My initial thought was to just vary the shades of one color, like a medium orange, a lighter, yellower orange, and a darker, redder orange. My fear with that is that it could be taken as a race thing and then all of the sudden it's a "lighter skinned folks and darker skinned folks CAN be friends" thing, which limits it, I think. But, whatever. Moving on...

Here's the art. My vote for right now is "1, 2, & 3" or "1, Mi, and a darker, redder version of C". We'll see.

Working on my Hummer

2010-06-10T16:51:00.000-07:00

Here are a few developement sketches of Hummer. I gave him a little more of a neck and took away the hangy, bulldog jowls. I'm pretty happy with how he's turning out. Through sketching I discovered how creepy he looks without pupils and I thought it would be an appropriate touch- kind of takes the soul out of him, which is exactly what I want. The one in the lower left reminds me of the Terror Dogs in Ghostbusters and that makes me a little warm and fuzzy inside. Because I love that movie, not because evil things make me happy.

Meet the Grovers!

2010-05-22T10:08:00.000-07:00

The happiest guys in The Grove. Or are they?...

The Grove

2010-05-18T18:30:00.000-07:00

I'm calling my new film The Grove. Here is a rough promo card.

And here is a semi-rough idea of what the inhabitants of the Grove look like. I'm not sure about the color. I think it kind of makes him look like a giant Goldfish cracker...

An official announcement

2010-05-04T16:59:00.000-07:00

I'm starting a new film.

What the duck?

2010-04-05T17:18:00.001-07:00

So about a week ago I noticed a duck laying dead on the side of the freeway. Unusual roadkill I thought, since whenever I see ducks they're either flying way above car level, or when they're on the ground it's next to, if not reasonably close to some sort of water source. But this was on the 91 freeway, about ten miles east of the 5. And unlike a crow or a turkey vulture or something, it's not like a duck would wander onto the road to get at a piece of food or something. So it struck me as being strange, but I didn't think much about it.
That is, not until early Sunday morning as I'm driving down the road and the car in front of me brakes suddenly and comes almost to a stop before finally veering to the left to reveal a male mallard. Yes, the same kind of duck I saw taking a nap on the shoulder of the 91 a few days earlier. So I took my turn passing the duck, making sure I was clear of him, but couldn't help cutting it really close, just to try to scare him out of the road. But the bird seemed completely oblivious to the cars speeding by it. Either oblivious or indifferent. But either way, that's weird, right?

Breakfast Machine

2010-03-23T13:46:00.000-07:00

Unemployment Activites To Do List~
Electronic cover of Danny Elfman's "Breakfast Machine" from the Pee Wee's Big Adventure Soundtrack: Check.

Breakfast Machine by Wheres Boo?

Angel On My Shoulder

2010-03-16T15:38:00.000-07:00

One of the great things that has happened in the last few months of unemployment is that I have not only had time to do art, but also follow up on a promise that I made a really long time ago. A few years ago my grandpa wrote a little memoir about his childhood and he asked me to design a cover for it "whenever I get around to it." Well, thanks to this whole jobless bum thing I finally got around to it and I'm so glad that I did. My grandpa has done so much for me throughout the years, not to mention all the things that he did for my dad and his other three kids, and I'm so glad that I finally got the chance to do something for him.

The original drawing was done in conte crayon and charcoal, then I brought it into photoshop for some light tweakage. I've always been inspired by Chris Van Allsburg's soft, tonal drawings and I thought that something like that would be appropriate for this project. Now that it's done I'm even more impressed by Van Allsburg's detail, as my stubby fingers and lack of practice left me miles from his level of finish. But at the same time, I'm pleased enough with the final product, and my grandparents both seem to love it, which is really what matters anyway.

Red Panda Valentine

2010-03-04T14:41:00.000-08:00

This is a drawing that I made my wife for Valentine's Day. The original was done in Prismacolor, but before I colored it in I scanned it so I could use it to practice my digital painting. Looking at it now I see some things that could be fixed but over all I'm pretty happy with how it turned out, especially since it's really the first painting I've done in Photoshop. Or, should I say, the first painting that I haven't given up on after a half an hour. Hopefully it will only get better from here.

SLOIFF Update

2010-03-02T14:34:00.000-08:00

The schedule for the San Luis Obispo International Film Festival is officially up.
Furtissimo's schedule looks like this:

Sunday, March 14, 7:00pm Joe Momma's Cafe, Avila Beach
Wednesday, March 17, 7:00pm Palm Theatre,SLO
Thursday, March 18, 7:00pm Pavilion on the Lake, Atascadero

And the whole schedule looks like this:
http://www.slofilmfest.org/2010/films.shtml

I'm excited for the lineup, particularly Furtissimo's screen buddy on the 17th - John Carney's "Once". What, you say, you mean the Once that won the Academy Award for best original song? Yeah, that one! Nice.

Coming to a Central Coast near you

2010-02-09T15:10:00.001-08:00

Fluffy is having a good year. After showing in Chicago last fall, Furtissimo has been picked up by film festivals in New York and Taiwan, and has been requested to audition for spots in Seattle and Australia. I think it's going to be an exciting year for my little diva.

In related news, I'm pleased to announce that Fluffy and the gang will be headed to good old SLO town for the San Luis Obispo International Film Festival in March. Apparently the dates aren't solid until Feb 15th, but I've been told that it will be playing on the 14th, 17th and 18th. So if any of the seven people that read this blog are going to be in San Luis on those days (doubtful) you should check it out. And let me know how it goes. Just kidding, I'll be there. Hopefully.

And now, for the first time in four years...

2010-01-13T17:24:00.000-08:00

Finished animation!!! Just a simple test done with a clip I found online from the (incredibly awesome) movie Everything is Illuminated, which is strangely different from the lines in the actual movie. Maybe it was taken from the trailer? Anyway, I hope you like it.

Since Facebook limits the length of Wall posts...

2010-01-11T10:13:00.000-08:00

An open letter to Ducksworth-

Hey, remember that time we were rescuing those children from that overtunrned schoolbus and all of the sudden a gang of drunken bank robbers came tearing around the corner in their H2 and clipped me in the thigh as I jumped out to push that old lady of the way, and although I was hurt pretty badly I kept on catching those children as you lowered them out of the bus's rooftop emergency hatch. And then later, after the fire department had put out the flames (since the bus exploded just after you jumped out the emergency hatch with the last remaining child) and after the police had found the drunken bank robbers due to Jenette's quick wits and keen eye (good thing she was there to catch the liscence plate on their getaway vehicle) and after all the adrenaline subsided (nothing like the natural high that comes from saving lives), I realized how badly I had been hurt and then all of the sudden felt kind of woozy, and I was like "Woah, I think I'm going to faint." And then I did, so you held my feet up until I regained conciousness, and then got me some Sprite after I blew Spaghetti chunks? That was crazy, man. I'm glad you were there.

Love,
Steakob

Yay, Nature!!!

2010-01-04T12:48:00.000-08:00

While at home for the holidays I was able to borrow my sister's camera and shoot some pictures of the local wildlife. It had been a few years since I had used anything other than a little point and shoot camera and knew that it would have been a good idea to go over some of the "one step above letting the camera do everything for you" functions like the light meter and stuff like that, but I decided instead to just take a bunch of pictures and see what happened. The results were mixed. I'm posting the best of the bunch, which have almost all been tweaked in photoshop to varying degrees, and are still all pretty hit and miss. But I had a lot of fun taking the pictures, and a few of them are decent, I think, so I thought I'd share them with you. So here you go.

Merry Unemployment!

2009-12-07T15:03:00.000-08:00

To celebrate the Christmas season as well as my first day of joblessness, I present to you this little ditty!

God Rest Ye Merry Gentledudes by wheresboo

Another Insider Analogy

2009-11-19T10:01:00.000-08:00

Say you had an evil stepmother who offered you chocolate cake and you were really excited because everyone loves chocolate cake, but then it turned out to be sugar free chocolate cake made in 1993 and she forced you to eat it for twelve to thirteen hours a day for six weeks.

Now say that after the whole ordeal your stepmother tells you that for the last two weeks that you live in her house she wants you to eat more seventeen year old sugar free chocolate cake, but it will be much better because there wont be any pressure and you can eat it at your own pace.

Would you eat the cake?
I didn't think so.

Faces of a nameless boy

2009-10-06T10:46:00.000-07:00

I stumbled upon some free time last week and used it to push a pencil around and work on some designs for a possible short film. The design ended up evolving out of the style that I was imagining for this particular film idea, but I was still happy with the fact that I was not only drawing, but actually designing something, as opposed to just scribbling random nonsense like I usually do.
What you see here is a cleaned up version of some expressions I originally did in light blue pencil that seemed way more expressive, but were too hard to see when I scanned them. So, while they prove I will never make it as a clean up artist, I was still happy enough with them to show you. And by "You", I guess I mean the three people who read my blog.

This one's for Robbin

2009-09-21T09:42:00.000-07:00

I present to you, by special request, The Koala One.
Yes, another sleeping animal, this one done in ball point pen at the San Diego zoo, some time last year.

A Kangaroo

2009-09-10T11:20:00.000-07:00

Grey Kangaroo, drawn at the Erie Zoo a few months ago.
Animals are so much easier to draw when they sit still.
Unfortunately that also results in static, boring art.
But boring or not, I still liked this one so I thought I'd share it.

First Impressions of Fifty Gourmet Root Beers

2009-08-25T10:18:00.000-07:00

A few years ago I discovered a soda shop close to work that carried a variety of gourmet root beers. After trying three or four varieties I realized that for the most part each one had a unique flavor and I decided to keep a log of my thoughts for each one. This turned into a little game, which turned into a minor quest, which turned into a slight obsession with root beer. The only rule was that it had to come in a bottle, and I decided not to order any online, because that would be too easy. I ended up bringing root beer home from San Clemente, San Luis Obispo, Temecula, Idyllwild, and even Erie PA, and now, three years and fifty bottles later, I present my findings to you.

JACKSON HOLE'S BUCKIN' ROOT BEER: Very sweet, almost a spearmint flavor to it. Sweet like candy, fresh like scope. But not in a weird way, if that's possible.

SPARKY'S: Dark and smokey. Kind of earthy. Hint of mint. Mint and ginger. And cigars.

FAYGO: Very mild flavor, like root beer for beginners. Metallic overtones, reminiscent of blood.

IBC: Very sweet,a lot of licorice, a little cinnamon- a gentleman's root beer. High collars and twisty mustaches.

SIOUX CITY: Pretty standard flavor, maybe a hint of vanilla. Or is that vinegar? For some reason I feel like this one would be a good salad dressing...

GALE'S: Very, very fruity. Kind of sour, almost fermented. Like apple cider made by accident. Not the best flavor, but I give it good marks for not being boring.

BENNETT'S BIG BEAR: This root beer tastes like Styrofoam soaked in pond water.

ABITA: On the bold end of standard. Like, standard plus. Tastes warm for some reason, like if burnt umber was a flavor.

JACK BLACK'S DEAD RED ROOT BEER: Just really good root beer. Hint of black pepper hiding in the back there. Not at all as flashy as the label makes it out to be, but I'd rather it be disappointingly mild but good than frighteningly ruckus and disgusting.

D-N-A: Very, very sweet. If all root beer was supposed to have one dominant flavor, this one would be sugar. They say it's extra vanilla, but it didn't taste to vanilla-y to me, just sugary.

OLD TOWN: Also a very good, but very standard root beer. Advertised to have extra cinnamon but it just tasted like root beer to me. Good root beer, yes, but not the cinnamon-y madness that I would expect from something promoting extra cinnamon.

DOG N SUDS: In a word: Cinnamon. Not ironic until I read the last entry.

HANK'S: Tastes like A&W, looks like MGD.

BOYLAN: Says "sweetened with pure cane sugar" and it tastes like it. Tastes like rock candy.

VIRGIL'S: Puts the root in root beer. Strong flavor, but of what I can't tell. Ingredients say "sugar, herbs and spices." I believe it. I would say "Sugar, Licorice, Red, and Spicy. And Root"

BARREL BROTHERS CREAMY VANILLA: Lives up to it's name. Tastes like the float after you've eaten all the ice cream out. Not sure if it actually qualifies since it's flavored, but oh well.

AMERICANA: Dark? Probably. Woody? Possibly. Very good? Positively.

TRIPLE XXX: Blood. Straight up, carbonated, blood in a bottle. The bottles says "Tastes like root beer used to taste"... Apparently that was when they used to make it out of the hide of
Native Americans.

BULLDOG: Great taste, with a flavor I can't put my finger on. Brown sugar? Yeah. Maybe. Really good anyway.

BUCKIN': Very licorice, but very good.

FRITZ'S: Other than the mysterious flavor of Pepto Bismol, this one's very bland. Sorry, Fritz.

MASON'S: Tastes like nature. Leafy, dusty, but not in a bad way, if that's possible. "Mason's- It's what Big Foot would drink." ... Yeah, maybe not.

BEERGHOFF: Tastes like a really good root beer... after all the ice has melted into it. So close!

WAIALUA: Vanilla and... Curry. Not as bad as it sounds, but still not that good.

BRIAR'S: Pretty average. Tastes like something you pour on a snow cone.

FROSTIE: Standard, I'd say. The only odd flavor that creeps out is kind of a waxiness, like crayons or lipstick. It's subtle though. Like if you hated crayons, you would sense that this root beer was evil. But if you didn't hate crayons, you be like "Hey, there's nothing wrong with this root beer."

SPRECHER: Really good, especially for something called "Rood Beer Soda". There's a really nice hint of honey.

HENRY REINHARD'S: Really nice flavor, once you get through all the foam. Kind of a smokey, crayony aftertaste. Still haven't decided if that's bad.

IRON HORSE: Very sweet and sugary, with a really subtle bite at the end. Tastes just like one of those huge, twisty, lollipops. And the burps taste like bell pepper.

KUTZTOWN: Over all the word that comes to mind is clean. Fresh. Like pine. But the kind in the forest, not the kind you clean wood floors with.

ROOT BEER 101: Traditional, unassuming, and really sweet, but in a nonthreatening way. Comforting even. If root beer was a flashback to childhood, this one would be a soft crib on a warm summer night. And there are fireflies. And a friendly but firm St. Bernard who picks up after me.

ROOT 66 BEER: Good enough. Like the last root beer, this one is also named after a freeway. So to stick with the road of life analogy, this root beer is kind of like third grade. Do you remember third grade? I don't either. Get it?

AJ STEPHANS: Decent. There's a weird flavor that I can only describe as "Valentine's heart candy" and unfortunately for AJ Stephans, I don't like heart candy. Sorry, AJ.

DAD'S: I feel like this is what "classic" root beer tastes like. There's no real outstanding flavor, just sweet. And there's a creaminess to it that's really nice. Yeah, Dad. Yeah.

NATURAL BREW: There's a fruity, almost citrus taste to this one, but it hides behind a really nice, sweet, minty, woodsy kind of taste. The bottle describes it as being "complex" and I'm going to agree. In fact, I'll see its "complex" and raise it a "really good".

PEARSON BROS.: Is good. Sorry, that's all I got.

OLD TOWN ROOTBEER COMPANY: There's an immediate honeyness that's a really nice surprise. The official root beer of the Hundred Acre Wood.

CAPT'N ELI'S: I might say this had a "deep, rich flavour with molasses and licorice overtones", but I won't because it sounds snooty. And anyway, here in America it's spelled "flavor".

RAT BASTARD: The bottle claims it "tastes like a son of a bitch" but to me it just tastes like really good root beer.

BUNDABERG: Surprising ginger flavor with a sweet, almost lemony taste. Tastes more like ginger ale than root beer, actually. A+ for unique flavor, but kind of pushes the boundary of tasting like root beer so it almost feels like cheating.

SEA DOG: Another standard, but good tasting root beer. For some reason I feel like this one would go really well with steak. Or maybe I just want steak...

COOL MOUNTAIN: Flat and anise.

JONES: This one has a really nice sweet, spicy flavor. Like during Christmas time when you put cloves in an apple, but instead of an apple it's a giant one of those little cinnamon candy hearts.

OLDE RHODE ISLAND MOLASSES ROOT BEER: Fruity and dark. The molasses is more subtle than you'd think, and there's almost a cherry flavor to it. If an evil witch in the forest made a brew to lure children with, I think it would taste like this. Note to self- don't accept root beer from strangers in Rhode Island.

JOHN BARLEYCORN: Along with being totally flat, this one tasted like a Ritz cracker soaked in melted popsicle. That's two strikes, Mr. Barleycorn.

FILBERT'S: This one was almost too sweet. It tasted like one of those huge, spiral lollipops, melted down into a syrup and then added to water in a root beer flavored bottle. Like root beer flavored hummingbird food. Do hummingbirds like root beer? I smell an experiment...

RIVER CITY: This one started out with a nice minty zing, but the more I had, the more it tasted like I was drinking toothpaste, until by the end of the bottle I felt like I was going to die from fluoride overdose.

OLDE BROOKLYN: Necco Wafers.

EMPIRE: There's a nice bubbly bite to it, but hardly any flavor at all. Kind of like the Rice Crispies of root beer.

JUDGE WAPNER: There's a nice flavor, with a subtle hint of spearmint as well as something that I want to call fresh sawdust. I know how that sounds, but to me it's a good thing. Yeah. Definitely, definitely a good flavor. Yeah. Uh oh, underwear on the road!!!!

One Year!!!

2009-07-26T18:31:00.000-07:00

The Mrs and I celebrated our first anniversary this weekend and it was, as she would say, Super Awesome! We took Friday off of work spent the weekend in Idyllwild and it was a great time of relaxing and being with my favorite person in the world. The highlights included:

-Our very own creekside cabin, complete with resident grey squirrel we named Smudge.

-Looking out the window and being about a foot away from two young raccoons who were fighting over crumbs on the porch table (and my poor wife of one year nearly having a heart attack when she realized that they were not way over in the creek where she was looking, but directly in front of her face.)

-A 3.4 earthquake that scared my wife half to death once again, as she lay in bed wondering if raccoons could open screen doors.

-Walking with hand in hand with my wife, surrounded by the smell of rain and redwoods, and the sound of thunder and woodpeckers.

-The best scrambled eggs I've ever had from a little restaurant called Cafe Aroma.

-Finding a rootbeer that I haven't had yet (Filbert's; not that great) and perfect thrift shop shoes for Jenette to wear at an upcoming costume party.

-Stopping on the way home at the giant dinosaur statues from Pee Wee's Big Adventure. How did I make it to 29 years old and not know that they were so close?

-Spending an uninterrupted 74 hours with the love of my life! I love you Jenette! Thank you for an unbelievably great first year of husbandhood.

Feel Good Film Festival

2009-07-18T14:40:00.000-07:00

The Furtissimo premier at Tosti Studios was a big success if you ask me. It was great to see so many friends there and be able to share this project with them. We also made way too many peanutbutter and marshmallow sandwiches. Apparently we should have labeled them because most people thought the marshmallow cream was mayo. Those brave enough to try them were pleasantly surprised.

So what's next, you ask? Well apparently the next step is to show it to a theater full of complete strangers. *gulp*

I'm happy to announce that Furtissimo was not only accepted into the Feel Good Film Festival in Hollywood, but will actually be featured during the opening night ceremony. This means that everyone that comes to the red carpet hooplah to celebrate the opening of the weekend and take pictures of pretty people will all see Furtissimo in an actual theater in actual Hollywood.

I'm officially terrified. This also means the 250 promotional post cards that I had printed out to advertize during the festival are completely obsolete now. Go figure.

Click here for more on the Feel Good Film Festival.

Just so you know...

2009-06-26T19:13:00.000-07:00

For whatever reason, Blogger didn't like the attachment on the last post and since I'm a paranoid artist and don't want that to be the only reference people have of my film, I'm reposting the image only, which seems to be less of a problem.

Orange County, meet my film.

2009-06-24T07:40:00.000-07:00

After many years of working and waiting, I'm proud to announce the official Orange County premier of my student film, Furtissimo. Click on the image for details and come say hi!

(For some reason Blogger makes the image quality less than satisfactory. The actual film looks a little better than this. At least I like to think it does...)

I did some stuff presents: Stuff.

2009-06-18T11:15:00.000-07:00

This is in no way the kind of material I hoped to be sharing with the world via this blog, but it's been over a year since I started the thing and I still haven't done any real art. Sad. Anyway, I drew these at work and figured I'd share them. Like I said, they're not necessarily portfolio material, but I like them for some reason. Enjoy.

Music +Technology = Great Big Smile

2009-06-05T11:31:00.000-07:00

I've recently come across a couple of websites that affected me in two ways: they were both absolutely inspiring and also gave me a medium sized amount of reassurance that the internet is not completely full of rot.

The first is Thru-YOU
This is a project by a guy named Kutiman who decided to remix YouTube videos. The idea is simple enough. People have been remixing music for decades, using bits and pieces of other songs, riffs, even live recorded "noise" to create new songs. Kutiman took the next step (which I find simultaneously brilliant and obvious) and looked to the internet for musical ingredients. The outcome is mind blowing in two ways- the first is that the end result of his cutting and pasting is so good. The level of quality that Kutiman achieved through endless assemblage of home videos is unbelievable, in sound quality and listenability. This isn't just a gimmick or some sort of cute, "look what I did with the internet" kind of thing, these are songs that I would actually listen to.
And that leads me to the second way that Thru-YOU blows my mind- even though I would listen to the music in my car or while making dinner, I can't because this is music that must be watched. Each song stands alone as a piece of music, but the beauty of the project is that the music is only half of the fun. The real Thru-YOU experience is seeing exactly where every element that you hear is coming from, and the resulting shock after you realize that the bass is just some guy in his garage, the horn blast is coming from a jr. high band recital and vocals are coming from a young mom on her webcam... with her baby on her lap. Gives me goosebumps every time.

The second discovery is Playing For Change
This project is similar to Thru-YOU in that it unites musicians around the world by involving them all in the same song. The difference is that the musicians know what they're getting themselves into. Playing For Change creators Mark Johnson and Whitney Burditt and their team traveled around the globe to record street musicians performing a set of songs. They then edited the performances together to create a group of songs being sung simultaneously in Israel, Africa, Ireland and many other countries around the world. The resulting sounds and images are as beautiful as the idea behind Playing For Change, that music is the best way to unite the human race. It sounds cheesy, I know. But check it out. Cheese done this well is worth looking into.

Can I ask you an honest question?

2009-06-01T13:06:00.000-07:00

Why do children stare at me? Seriously.

My wife says it's because I'm so handsome.
I think it's because of the man boobs.

A Thinly Veiled Metaphor

2009-01-09T10:12:00.000-08:00

All my life I've loved golf. I loved it so much that I eventually went to golf school to learn all about the game with hopes to some day be a pro. After graduation I got a job at a small country club, in no way the big leagues, but definitely a step in the right direction. I started out doing paper work and was soon promoted to caddy. This was pretty exciting because it got me out on the green, handling the golf clubs, learning the course and getting advice from rich men on their lunch breaks. But pretty soon I realized that while I was getting a lot of millage on the course, I wasn't actually playing golf and because of this my game was starting to suffer. This wasn't that big a deal since I knew that plenty of people played golf as a hobby. It was probably more relaxing and more fulfilling that way anyway. The problem for me was that after a full day of caddying I had no energy left to work on my own game since my back hurt so much from carrying other peoples clubs around all day.
Now don't get me wrong- I've learned so much about the game of golf from everyone here at the studio, I mean, country club and I know that if I ever get to play again I'll know exactly what kind of club to use in any situation. That's a good thing. And I definitely appreciate the atmosphere and all the friends I've made at this particular club, let alone the fact that I am able to pay the bills because of all this. It's just that some times I feel like my golf game would be better if I worked at a grocery store. That's the part that makes me sad.

Halloween!!!

2008-11-08T13:31:00.001-08:00

I had this costume idea in the back of my brain since earlier this year and I wasn't sure how I was going to pull it off since it involved sewing and basically a lot more planning than I ever feel like I have time for. But I guess it worked out.

We looked everywhere for an appropriate Alice type dress but it turns out that stores just don't carry blue dresses these days. Luckily a friend at church had one that we were able to borrow. So there you have it, Alice and the Cheshire cat. Having featured Alice in Wonderland music at our wedding I was kind of afraid of giving people the impression that we were Wonderland freaks. Because, for the record, we aren't. But seriously, how could you pass this up?

Where's Boo?

2008-10-18T13:02:00.000-07:00

The old news is that I've been writing music on my computer for a while and sometimes post songs on Myspace under the name "Where's Boo?". I've just been so busy over the last few years that I haven't gotten around to adding anything new.

That leads us to the new news- I've posted a new song called Tico Tico that you should all check out. I have been listening to a lot of old jazz/pop/lounge music from the 50's and 60's and for a while had been thinking about doing a Where's Boo? cover of a number of my favorite songs. I figured it would be cool to listen to, but would also be good practice for me, especially since I've been a little blocked musically lately. So click on over to Where's Boo? check out Tico Tico, and if you haven't yet, listen to the other songs too. You might like them. And if not, sorry.

Larry Kowalski 1957-2008

2008-09-19T10:21:00.000-07:00

As I was growing up, there was never a family dinner that uncle Larry would not bring his little tray of mustards to. As a kid I didn't understand this. "What, Larry, our mustard isn't good enough for you?" I don't know where this bitterness came from. Anyone who has shared a meal with me knows that I am a sauce man. Whether it's BBQ, Ranch or anything made with peppers, you will seldom see me eat anything that hasn't first been thoroughly drenched in something else. So you would think that I would appreciate a fellow flavor lover, especially one that would later become the owner of a successful chain of Barbecue restaurants. Apparently, he knew what tasted good. But for whatever reason I didn't see this, even as I spread Larry's cranberry stone-ground all over my Christmas ham.

When Larry and my aunt Carol got divorced I didn't notice the lack of sauces on the dinner table and that might have been because by that time I had become a collector of condiments myself. When Thanksgiving was at our house there was always a full supply of mustards, whether it was Jack Daniels Old No. 7 or the peculiar tube labeled "Senf" that was brought back from a trip to Switzerland. It didn't matter whether the bird was deep fried or roasted, I had that turkey taste covered.

It wasn't until Larry's memorial service on Wednesday that I realized the difference between our collections. While my mustard remained in my mom's refridgerator, Larry's was mobile. But this was not because he couldn't stomach the yellow stuff, it was because he had found something better and he wanted to share it. Larry was a man who knew what was good and he wasn't one to hold it to himself. He was a man who loved life, but better yet, he loved sharing life with others. I wish I could have seen this earlier, because really, what else is there?

Larry, you will be missed. And thank you for sharing.

Bros with Balls

2008-08-08T15:07:00.000-07:00

So... I created this blog to show artwork but I've been so busy getting MARRIED that I haven't really done a lot of art.

But I did want to post this sweet picture from my bachelor party taken by my buddy Sheldon from work, and also let anyone who happens to come across this blog know that I've started a Flickr account and will be putting up some pics from this year, mainly that bowling night, our honeymoon in Yosimite, and documentation of my frickin' sweet mustache that I had to toss before my wife agreed to be my wife.
Look at some pictures!

Also, my sister Julianna has been keeping a really good log of the wedding happenings on her blog. I thought about putting some wedding stuff up here but I figured she was doing such a good job I might as well direct anyone interested in the wedding to her blog instead.
So check her out!

Hopefully some time soon I'll have some bits of creative business to show off. In the mean time, enjoy the pictures.

...Did I just tell you to check out my sister?

One Step Closer

2008-04-03T10:54:00.000-07:00

Hey Everybody, I have a blog now!
So...
How's it goin'?
Um. Here's a picture of me as a llama .

Stay tuned.