Jacob's Semi-Yearly Year's End Review of the Year- 2011

Here we are at the end of another year.  In what seems to be a a pattern, this was a weird year.  As per tradition, let's take a look back at the highlights, lowlights, and in-betweenlights.

2011 started with a mix of excitement and exhaustion after the recent completion of Four Tanks and a Healer.  I took a brief rest, then shifted back into work mode and finished animating The Girl and the Ghost while Marisa and Larry had some big meetings in LA about Four Tanks.

Following completion of the animation for Ghost, I laid low for a while and let myself decompress a bit.

After a long, rainy spring that lasted into the summer, in late June, I took a trip to Niagara Falls and met Teal Sherer.  We spent a few days hanging out, saw Chantal play at Jackson-Triggs and just had a great time.

Sadly, the vacation ended with me getting sick and it took me until the end of July to feel back to normal.

At the end of August, I was ready to donate again, so I went and got my hair chopped.

In September, Mom was out of commission with an infection in her finger and took most of the month to recover.  Before the month was over, Mom was back on track and we took an interesting trip to Toronto, which I still need to blog about.

In October, nearly a year after its completion, Four Tanks and a Healer premiered at TheOneRing.net and received very positive reactions.

In November, Bridget, Mom, and I saw Marketa Irglova in an amazing, intimate concert.  Still need to blog about that one too.

This strangely rainy December saw the release of a great holiday video Teal came up with.  I was happy to have been involved, even if I only lent a small hand.

http://youtu.be/6ZnxWz3NAY4?hd=1

Christmas, though snowless, was nice.  I loved watching Matthew experience the magic and fun of it all.

Overall, 2011 was a slow year that flew by.  It was also, as most years are, a year filled with change.
One big change is that 4Reelz now consists of just Marisa and me, as Larry left to start his own company, Eddy Spaghetti Productions.  I'm sure we'll still team up on plenty of stuff though.

Another notable change is that Matthew has grown from this little guy...

...into this less-little guy.

Entertainment-wise, I'd say it was a decent year.  A brief rundown of what entertained me this year...

Movies:
The Muppets
Super 8
Thor
Captain America
Hugo
Rise of the Planet of the Apes

Music:
Marketa Irglova- Anar
Anna Nalick- Broken Doll & Odds & Ends
Billy the Kid & The Southside Boys- Ours
and even though it wasn't actually released this year, Jenny Owen Youngs- Transmitter Failure, which features probably my most listened-to song of the year, Last Person.

http://youtu.be/vLsV1IWB8nY?hd=1

I don't want to risk jinxing anything, but I have to say, the coming year is looking like it could be pretty outstanding.
In the next few weeks, music and sound effects for The Girl and the Ghost will be done and this seemingly endless project will finally be finished.
Things are in motion for my next project, currently titled Waiting for the Sun, to really get moving.  Fingers crossed, this one could be a dream project.
And without giving anything away just yet, if all goes well, the coming summer could include a trip out west...
Also coming up in 2012, my 30th birthday the release of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, and who knows what else?

Here's hoping 2012 is full of happiness, health, love, and success for all of us.  Happy New Year, everyone!

How I Spent My Summer

Like a sticky, 90+ degree whirlwind, summer has already come and gone.  Looking back, I'd have to say it was a pretty odd summer for me.  It began with a burst of awesomeness and spun into a blur of inactivity.
So, let's start with the (mostly) high note that kicked off my summer.


For the past couple years, I've been friends with the fantastic Teal Sherer (whom you might recognize from The Guild).  Earlier this year, an idea became a discussion, a discussion became plans, and Teal and I agreed to finally meet and hang out for a few days in Niagara Falls.
Everything was arranged quickly and before too long, the end of June had arrived and I was ready.  Well, almost.


On the morning of Thursday, June 23rd, I was up at 7 AM. The original plan was to hit the road at 10 AM, but it was becoming increasingly apparent that things weren't going according to plan. Despite everything being booked and ready so far in advance, my dad didn't take our van in to get checked until the day before I was supposed to leave. Our van is a few years old and has a bit of rust on the bottom. As a result, every time this guy fixed something, something else would break. He kept the van overnight on Wednesday and kept working through Thursday.  So, I sat in my living room as the hours passed by, tracked Teal's flight all the way across the country (LA to Buffalo), and it started to look like we weren't getting the van back. Dad finally brought the van back at 8 PM.  Mom and I debated what to do and decided to leave that night, so we didn't lose half of Friday traveling. We packed up and left at 9:45 PM, picked up my aunt, and arrived in Niagara Falls around 2:30 AM. By the time we got unpacked, settled in, and in bed, it was 4 AM.

I woke up to my phone ringing around noon on Friday, it was Teal checking in to make sure we arrived safely. I quickly got into my chair and a little while later, Teal made her way up to my room.  After two years of friendship, we finally got to meet face to face.

We went to a late breakfast at Friday's, then basically just wandered around the area for a while.

We made our way down to the Maid of the Mist, and hopped aboard.  Sure, we got a bit waterlogged, definitely moreso than Teal expected, but I couldn't, in all good conscience, let her miss out on the Maid of the Mist experience, could I?

After the boat, we wandered back to the hotel and had dinner at The Keg.

All of us ended the night just hanging out in the room and watching the fireworks over the Falls.
Despite the craziness of Thursday, Friday was great.

Saturday started with another late breakfast, this time at Tony Roma's, and then it was time for the big event.  A lot of my Niagara trips are planned around Chantal Kreviazuk concerts, as was the case this time, but this one was raising the bar of awesomeness. Not only was it another show at the excellent Jackson-Triggs Winery, but this time, Chantal was being accompanied by the Niagara Symphony Orchestra.  As if that wasn't cool enough, the concert was also being filmed for a DVD/Bluray, etc.
So, Mom, Aunt Karen, Teal, and I packed into the van and headed to the winery early to meet up with some friends before the show.  It was fun, as always, to visit with Terence, Deb, Shelly, Chris, Russell, Mitch, Sandy, and a very pregnant Kathy.  People came and went, we hung out and chatted for a bit, then made our way down to the amphitheater for the show.

In reviewing the concert, I would end up mostly echoing my own comments about past shows, so I'll just say the show was incredible, Chantal sounded and looked wonderful, the orchestra really enhanced the sound into a whole new experience, the venue was beautiful, the wine was outstanding, and we had perfect seats (Thanks, Del!).

After the show, we said our see-you-laters, snapped some pictures, and headed back to the hotel.

The awesome Karen Graves

The gang

Del!

Unfortunately, this is where the whole thing went downhill for me.

Around 4 AM on Sunday morning, I woke up feeling awful.  The best I can guess is the mixture of wine and what I'm assuming was a kidney stone episode hit me at the same time and threw me for a loop, leaving me stuck in the hotel bed for the next couple days. I stayed in bed from Saturday night until we left on Monday morning, slept the whole way home, then got in my own bed for a couple more days.
For the last bit of vacation, my aunt and Teal bonded as they hung out and wandered around Niagara while Mom stayed in the room with me. I consider the "end" of the trip to be Sunday night. They had fireworks again and I could see them from my bed, so everyone gathered and watched. Teal had an early flight back to LA on Monday, so after the fireworks, she hugged me and was off.

After we got back, it took me about a week before I started to feel back to normal. Plus, I was laid up for so long, I got a bit weak and it took me about a month to fully feel like myself again.
So, the trip started and ended badly, but the concert and spending time with Teal were worth it.


That was the start of summer, and honestly, the rest of the summer whooshed by.  It was an exceptionally hot summer, so I really didn't go out much.  Everyone was busy, so I didn't see many people, though I did spend some good time with Bridget and Sarah.  I even got to catch up a bit with Cathy and Nikki, neither of whom I'd seen in ages.
And, of course, I'm always hanging out with my ever-growing and scarily smart nephew, Matthew.

Before I knew it, my birthday was upon me and summer was nearing it's end.  I had a pre-birthday visit from Corey, Eric, and Brendan, and then had a blast celebrating at Corks with Bridget the following weekend.

Me & Bridget

The weekend was topped off by a great hang out session with Marisa.


So, here we are.  Fall has arrived and it looks like it'll be a busy one.  I'm just about to embark on another Canadian adventure, I'm working on a big screenplay, I'm prepping a short film I love, and I'm working on a comic strip.
Yowza.
Let's go, fall!

June Updates

Just thought it was high time I posted updates on some things, so here goes.

It's been pretty slow going on new projects lately. The main reason is basically that I've just been stressed out with life these days and pretty much stuck in a bad mood since I got sick a couple months back. I honestly just haven't been in a frame of mind where I'd be able to work on these without feeling like I'm just going through the motions. I don't want that to happen and I'm working on powering through it. Things ARE moving forward. It may be slow, but it's happening.

I've been doing some fun stuff lately, but nothing has been able to snap me out of this funk I'm in. I'm hoping something comes along soon and does the trick.

I'm looking forward to the Canada trip at the end of the month. The Chantal concert at the winery might be just what I need.
Grandma and Maude are tagging along with Mom and I for this one. It'll be the first time the four of us have gone on a trip together since the Corrs adventure of 2004. If that trip is any indication, this one ought to be a blast.
The hotel room is booked, our passport cards (what a rip) have arrived, I'm ready to go. Everything's ready.
Now we wait.
Sixteen days to go.

I've been hanging with Bridget a bit lately, which has been fun. Things got hectic and we didn't get to see each other for a long time, so it's been cool to be able to catch up, vent, and swap music with her again.

I saw Terminator Salvation after much waiting and anticipating. It was alright. I'll admit, I had pretty high expectations, and while it didn't quite live up to those expectations, I didn't dislike it.
Up, on the other hand, I thought was amazing. Heartbreaking, funny, just a beautiful movie. I thought the 3D was fantastic was incredible too. Just an all around great experience at the movies. I'd love to go see it again.
Currently at the top of my "to see" list is The Hangover.

On the Fan Film front, word is that Stan Lee traveling, but the DVD is on his desk waiting for him. This waiting to hear something is torture.

There's really not much else to update on at the moment. I'm feeling pretty boring story-wise. Hopefully some summer adventures will change that.
Now go outside and get some sun, you. There's only three months until The Beatles: Rock Band comes out, so I better get outside before that addiction hits.

"Cause This Is What You've Waited For..."

The weeks of anticipation and waiting came to a head on Sunday night as Mom and I headed downtown. It surprised me when I realized I hadn't been downtown since seeing Superman Returns at the Omnimax back in September.
I wish I had the camera handy while we drove. The sun punched through the cloudy sky and created a perfect shimmering reflection on Lake Erie just before we got into the city.

We were sitting in traffic behind the Allen Theatre , waiting to pull into the parking garage, when my filmmaker-sense started to tingle. I caught sight of a boom mic in the distance, then I saw the camera, in front of the equipment were the stars of the night, Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova. I still don't know what they were filming behind the theatre, but the little glimpse was cool.

Mom was nervous as we approached the 7-foot height limit sign at the entrance of the garage in our behemoth of a van. The woman in the booth assured us we'd be fine and told us to head up to the 5th floor. So we did. Noisily. The van was just low enough to clear the ceiling, but our non-retractable radio antenna wasn't. It scraped on almost every lowered area of the ceiling on our way up to the roof. It was a bit stressful, but the tension was cut when I caught Mom ducking to clear the ceiling. While in the van.

We found our way from the garage to the theatre and met up with Eric and Bridget in a stroke of perfect timing. The usher lady (Usheress?) led us on a twisted path toward our seats. Halfway there, I started having a bit of trouble driving my chair on the somewhat steep incline and actually got stuck against some chairs. Meanwhile, the usheress didn't notice and kept walking all the way down to our seats.
As I battled gravity, the slant, and the chairs, who bumps into us? Adrienne. I couldn't believe it, I haven't actually seen her in about three years. She chatted with Bridget and Eric as I tried to free myself, but once I finally succeeded, the usheress returned and we followed. I really wish I could've talked with her and caught up a little bit.

Now at our seats, we looked around at the impressive interior of the Allen Theatre for a few brief minutes before a burly Irishman walked onto the stage. It was the opening act, Damien Dempsey. I had heard his name before, but that was all I knew of him before Sunday night. Despite his suffering from hay fever, he really impressed me. He had a great sound that occasionally consisted of a unique blend of Irish music with a dash of Bob Marley. It was his last night accompanying Glen & Marketa on the tour, so the band snuck out and surprised him by joining him on his final song.

After a brief intermission, Glen Hansard took the stage by himself at 9:15. He stood at the very front of the stage with his eternal sidekick, the holey guitar. Minus microphone and guitar unplugged, he gestured for the audience to quiet down. Seconds later, the theatre was complete silence and Glen played Say It To Me Now. No matter how hard I try, it would be impossible to put that performance into words. The closest I could come up with, and I know it probably sounds a bit over-the-top, would be to say it was a transcendental experience, he removed us from our daily worlds and brought us into theirs with that song and would keep us there for the rest of the night. The song was met with an uproar of applause.

Marketa Irglova joined Glen and took center stage, singing All the Way Down and sounding amazing.
They were then joined by the rest of the band, who I realized were Colm Mac Con Iomaire, Rob Bochnik, and Joe Doyle of The Frames. This made what would have already been an incredible concert even better.

They went on to play a fantastic mix of songs from Once (Lies, Falling Slowly, If You Want Me), some Frames songs (True, What Happens When the Heart Just Stops), and even a handful of new songs. Marketa sang one I particularly liked, called I Have Loved You Wrong.
She blew me away when she sang Lullaby from The Wicker Man (the original of course, as she referred to the remake as "kind of shit").
Glen went crazy on guitar for his awesome rendition of Van Morrison's Astral Weeks.
Colm even got his moment in the spotlight, performing a beautiful solo piece on the violin.

As usual, a highlight of the night was Glen's talking between songs and introducing them. He's a hilarious storyteller, he even got so into it at one point that he reenacted the classic near/far bit from Sesame Street, repeatedly running from the front to the back of the stage.
He briefly reminisced about how crazy these last couple years have been with the huge success and Oscar win of Once. His thoughts reflected my own when he expressed amazement at how the venues they're playing have changed from the venues they played before the film, giving the example of going from the Beachland Ballroom last time they were in Cleveland to the Allen Theatre this time.

After more thunderous applause, they all returned for a nice long encore which included Star Star, Fitzcarraldo, and a traditional Irish song, The Auld Triangle, for which Damien Dempsey returned to the stage. That rounded out the night of great music. I can't speak for anyone else, but I was left in awe after the show and still feel it when I think about it.

Bridget and Eric made their way to us, battling against the current of audience members leaving the theatre. We all talked about how much we loved the show before heading out to the merch booth in the lobby, where I grabbed Damien Dempsey, Rob Bochnik, and Colm Mac Con Iomaire's CDs along with a Swell Season tee-shirt.

We said our goodnights and parted ways, making our way back to the van, then scraping and ducking all the way down to the street.

That was a night I'd love to revisit, and thanks to technology I'll be able to once PlayedLastNight.com puts the show up.

Pure greatness.

Left Foot, Right Foot

Still working on Fan Film. I still love how it's looking, though I must admit I'm getting a bit restless. I always seem to get an influx of ideas for other projects while I'm working on one and they have to wait until I finish and can focus my attention on them. I suppose I can try to use that as motivation to help make it to the finish line.

It is nice while in the midst of new-project-frustration to see that an old project is still going strong. Aimee from Dailymotion.com contacted us asking if we'd be interested in creating a Bullcrank channel. So we did. On the first day (last Sunday), they featured Nintendo: OldSchool Revolution on their front page. One week later and it's been viewed (at the time of this writing) 50,993 views.
It's crazy to see my first project still getting numbers like that after two years.

Bridget came by for a visit on Monday. I haven't seen her since September, so it was nice to hang out and catch up. We swapped some music and she told me about her new job at The Toledo Blade, where she recently got to interview Ben Folds. Not too shabby, eh? Nicely done, ma'am.

Fan Film is calling, I better answer.

In the meantime, check out this video Larry made showcasing seven years of Bullcrank filmmaking. There's even a glimpse at The Girl and the Ghost in there (no, I haven't forgotten about that one).

http://youtube.com/watch?v=X_ercEWYTik

What A Weekend

I've had the strangest, most chaotic, and most unexpected events happen over the last few days.

Wednesday was really nice, I got to hang out with Corey, Bridget, and Eric. We caught up with each other, had a few drinks, and I dominated at the pop culture edition of Trivial Pursuit.

Thanksgiving was cool. Went to Granny's and visited with everyone. The day was a blur.

Friday rolled around and it was time for game night. Corey, Brendan, Eric, and Aaron all gathered and the games began. As we played, though, I started to feel a bit...off. After everyone left, I went to bed and ended up staying there until Sunday night.

Out of nowhere, I had the worst cough I've had in years. I coughed for about 48 hours nonstop.

I went to the doctor today and he gave me an antibiotic, I'm feeling much better, but still far from 100%.

I was really scared this was going to compromise the trip to St Catharines, but, thankfully, it appears I'm in the clear. As a matter of fact, we're leaving in the morning, so I better get some sleep.
I'll write when I get back Thursday!

"Sometimes I Need a Revelation..."

October 21st, 2005

It was a drizzly Friday night in northeastern Ohio. Bridget drove all the way from Bowling Green to join me for the concert that night. The Frames were playing at the Beachland Ballroom and I couldn't wait.

Early last year I saw Damien Rice in concert and the opening act was The Frames, some band I had never heard of before. It didn't take me long to become a fan of these guys, they blew me away that night. Since then, I've been tracking down whatever CDs of theirs I could find and anticipating the day they'd play in Cleveland again.

Upon arrival at the Beachland Ballroom, I was met with a 5-6 inch curb in front of the door. Kris and the guy at the door lifted my chair with surprising ease and I was on my way. Bridget and I headed into the tiny ballroom and made our way right up to the front of the stage.

The first act was Josh Ritter. It seemed that the majority of the crowd was there for him. He seems to have a decent fan base around here, which makes sense since he started his musical career at semi-local Oberlin College. To top it off, it was also his birthday!

Josh took to the stage in a snazzy outfit, complete with long coattails, and the show began. Strumming away in his folk style, he definitely had a bit of a Bob Dylan thing going on. He was a bit mellow, but I enjoyed it. Stand out songs for me were Harrisburg and Thin Blue Flame, which gets better every time I hear it.

In between acts, the crowd seemed to thin a bit. It kind of annoyed me that people weren't even giving this great band a chance, but hey, better view of the stage for me!

After a brief intermission, The Frames took the stage, opening with Keepsake, an incredible song that starts off quietly and consistently builds.

From then on out, it was an electrifying show. Frontman Glen Hansard frequently interacts with the crowd and shares little stories laced with that Irish humor I love so much.

He quickly tossed aside the humor and showed a fire in his eyes as he performed such intense songs as Finally, Revelate, and the heartbreaking and fantastic What Happens When the Heart Just Stops.

He plays so hard at times it's like the music's being channeled through his body in convulsive bursts.

The mood lightened again as he made the crowd sing along to the violin solo of Pavement Tune for at least three minutes straight.

Josh Ritter returned joined the band for the encore, a great end to a phenominal show.

The Frames played all my favorites except the one I was hoping to hear most of all, Fitzcarraldo, my absolute favorite song of theirs. I can't really complain though, as the show was so incredible. I think they made fans out of everyone who wasn't already one that night, or at least I hope so.

As we left, Bridget stopped at the merchandise table and bought herself a copy of Josh Ritter's CD, Golden Age of Radio. She also bought The Frames' For the Birds for me in exchange for me buying her ticket. I had been looking for that CD for a while. Thanks Bridget, you're too sweet!

In closing, The Frames are such an excellent band. Do yourself a favor and buy their live CD, Set List, and any others you can find.

Birthday Pinot

As something of a follow-up to Thursday's surprise extravaganza, tonight the gang and I headed to the wine bar.
Corey and I were the first to arrive. We actually got there way ahead of everyone else, which was a good thing. I ordered myself a glass of Pinot Grigio (I've wanted to taste Pinot since I watched Sideways, I'm a dork) and we just chatted. For about an hour we sat in a side room with couches and a fireplace and caught up with each other as Corey told me about life in New York City.
Eventually, we moved into the main room so everyone could find us. Shortly after we sat at a table in the front window, Maria arrived with her friend, Jessie. I now owe Jessie a CD and she wants to bling out my wheelchair. One glass of wine in me and I nearly have a rhinestone covered chair, imagine if I had a second glass.
A few minutes later, Bridget and her boyfriend, Keith, showed up and joined us. More food and drinks were ordered (I got baked brie, mmm) and Aaron got there and completed the night's group.
It was a simple, yet highly enjoyable night of hanging out with friends old and new. Gotta love it.
After everyone went their own ways for the night, Corey and Aaron came back to my place for a little mischief involving Corey's BB gun and our back yard, not to mention my sword. We played video games into the wee hours, bringing in my actual birthday. It seems bizarre that I've had two parties before my birthday officially arrived. Around 3:30 AM, we were video gamed out and they went home. Corey flies back to NYC in the morning. I'm still in a bit of shock he got to surprise me like this. Simply awesome.
Now I must get to sleep so I'm rested for my birthday and the family cookout Mom has planned.
Until next entry...Stay classy, cyberspace.

They Punk'd Me

So this coming Sunday's my 23rd birthday. I've been planning a little get together with a handful of friends for Saturday night at the wine bar and Mom's planning a cookout for Sunday. Really cool plans sure to be a lot of fun, but I've had one of those weeks and haven't been feeling as excited as I should be. With so many friends so far away, it just seemed like my little party would be lacking a lot because of their absence.

I went to bed late last night and had to get up early today. Feeling like a zombie, I rushed to the License Bureau with Mom so I could renew my ID before next week's trip. We waited forever and they took easily the worst picture ever taken of me. I look like a hobo.

As I was running errands with Mom, my cell phone rang. My aunt had coupons for Friday's and wanted us to meet us there. I wasn't feeling into it at all and tried to get out of it, but everyone was adamant, so I gave in.

We went into Friday's and I couldn't see a damn thing. No, I wasn't suffering from a sudden case of grumpy blindness, my sunglasses are just that ridiculously dark. I had Mom pull them off as she pointed to where my aunt was seated. Bleary eyed from the sudden change of light, I went around the corner. I hear voices yell "Surprise!" and my first thought was that I was in the way of a surprise for someone behind me. As my eyes focused I saw...

Corey? "But he's in New York City!" I thought to myself. Sara? "But her car's acting up!" Bridget? Maria? Renee? Mikey? Brendan? "What the hell?" Yes folks, they pulled a fast one on me. The sneaky, crafty, magnificent bastards.

I sat in disbelief looking at all these smiling faces I hadn't expected to see. Turns out Corey had been secretly planning this for weeks and flew in this morning. Even as I type this now, I'm still in a state of shock. How much do these people rock? Seriously.

After we all ate (and I had some kind of giant margarita,) we headed back to my house to hang out. I was surprised to find Mom even had a cake n hand. This was freakishly well orchestrated. While they all sang "Happy Birthday" to me, I let out a small laugh which somehow managed to blow out all but one of the candles.

Upon the song's finish, I blew...and blew...and blew, but the last candle stayed lit. I jokingly said "Watch, I just need to laugh again." I let out another tiny laugh and sure enough, that did the trick. The power of laughter? Or expertly engineered trick candles? You decide.

To my surprise, there were even presents, as if that surprise wasn't enough. Brendan got me WaveRace for the GameCube, Mikey & Maria got me a gift card for Suncoast, Sara got me a Marjorie Fair CD (which I'm chilling to right now), and Corey got me the Aqua Teen Hunger Force Vol. 1 DVD set. #1 in the hood, G.

One by one, everyone went home until it was just Corey, Bridget, and me relaxing and catching up with each other.

This may sound sappy, but who cares? You really know how to make a guy feel loved. You're the best. Thanks guys.

A Bottle of Red? A Bottle of White? Psh, Bring Us Sangria

On Tuesday I woke up to a MySpace note from Sara simply asking " hey, whatcha doin thursday?" I had no plans, but was intrigued by this unexpected query. A few minutes later I found out Sara, Bridget, and Monica were talking, I somehow came up, and they decided they wanted to come visit and maybe head to a bar. I loves me some plans.
Like the odd breed of 22 year old I am, I'm not knowledgeable at all about the bars in the area, so I turned to someone who knows every good place to go and every place not to bother with, Maria, the ultimate social butterfly. When I asked where would be a good place for us to just go and chill where it's not too loud to talk without blowing out any vocal chords, her immediate suggestion was the Willoughby Brewing Company. I had heard good things, so I figured it'd be worth a shot.

Flash forward to earlier tonight. Some plans had changed and sadly, Bridget couldn't make it. Around 9:00, Eric, Monica, and Sara arrived. We hung out here for a little while before Eric counted us down and we set off in our apparently spaceship-like van. After touching down in Downtown Willoughby, our short trek to the Willoughby Brewing Company began.

Upon arrival, we entered to the sound of the Barenaked Ladies song "If I Had $1,000,000", but something was horribly amiss. I wasn't hearing the charmingly goofy singing of that band of crazy canucks, I was hearing someone stumbling through the lyrics as their voice danced around the key it was trying to stay in. Yes folks, it was karaoke night. Despite the sound, we looked, but didn't see any tables available. What now? Plan B, of course! The only problem? There was no Plan B.

We stepped outside so we could more easily discuss what we were going to do next. I called Maria to see if she had any other suggestions and if she'd be joining us. Nothing she suggested jumped out at me and the group was getting hungry, so we decided to march down the street to Arabica. It was a beautiful night, the temperature was perfect as we strolled down the old fashioned street under the trees strung with twinkling white lights. We came upon a dozen or so skater type kids just sitting on the sidewalk, I parted them as Moses might part a sea of skaters and we passed through. We finally reached Arabica and of course, it's closed. Watching through the window as they vacuumed the floor inside, we agreed to just turn around, walk back up the street, and just see what looked inviting.

We passed through the skaters again, who now seemed to be kicking each other for fun, then we passed a car that had a ghostly soft neon glow to it. Further up the street as we continued, we came upon our accidental destination when Eric spoke the words "...Wine bar?" We looked at the place for a few seconds and decided this would do.

We entered the dimly lit Corks Wine Bar and instantly knew this place was nice, dare I say "swanky"? The atmosphere was something out of an old noir film. We found a table and got comfortable as good chill music such as Keane, Jack Johnson, Soul Coughing, and Zero 7 played over the speakers. The main source of light came from the candles placed on each table. We all felt like it was too classy a place for us four to even be inside, but we were loving it.
After briefly browsing the menus, Monica ordered us a pitcher of sangria. Each of us ordered our hors d'oeuvres, I decided to go with the bruschetta, which we eventually renamed "snobby pizza."
It was an amusing moment as Sara prodded Eric to feed Monica some of the fruit that was brought with the sangria. After feeding her a strawberry, Monica insisted he now feed Sara some fruit. Sara got hers, then they both decided he wasn't going to leave me out, I agreed with the classy outburst of "I want some fruit too, bitch!" Yeah, we fit in just fine there.
A little while later, Maria and Renee arrived and joined us. We talked, laughed, and drank as the candlelight flickered upon our faces and the paintings that lined the walls. Time disappeared and before we knew it, the bartender was announcing last call.

We made our way down the now emptied streets of Downtown Willoughby and parted ways with Maria and Renee as we headed for the van. A short while later, we were back in my driveway saying our good nights before the three of them started their drives home. It was really enjoyable how everything seemed to just fall into place to create such an enjoyable night. With a hug and a ruffle of my hair from Sara, the night came to a close as they piled into the car and drove off.

What a pleasant evening. Let's do this again, shall we?

-Jacob

A Blog For Adrienne

Tonight Adrienne told me, and I quote, "you need some more blogs." Who am I to argue? So here we go!

I'll begin with a little update on things. As of last weekend, the rough draft of my screenplay is finished! Right now, Zoe's looking it over and she'll be letting me know what areas I need to work on. I'll keep you posted as things progress!

It's been one hell of a week here in JacobLand! It's Spring Break around here, so everyone who's more motivated than yours truly and going to college has the week off. That means tons of catching up with old friends and getting to know new ones.

On Saturday night I was lucky enough to have the company of Corey and Adrienne. We chilled out, watched Garden State, and ate mint chocolate chip ice cream, courtesy of Corey. Let me tell you, that's an accurate name, it was in fact minty, chocolate chippy, icy, AND creamy. Delicious. Great movie, yummy snack, and the company wasn't too shabby either.

Sunday I met the cutest poodle on Earth and had a mini game night with Corey and Mikey. *sings* Madden '05 and Mario Party, TimeSplitters 2 and Soul Calibur also, playing those games until my fingers sting, these are a few of my favorite thiiiiiiiings.

Monday- Slow day. Corey left for Oregon, I worked on a cartoon for Adrienne.

Tuesday, Adrienne made a return visit! We basically just sat and talked from 8 PM to 1:30 AM and had such a great time. We watched American Idol and the judges contradicted everything I said. Jerks. Plus tonight my girl was voted off! Amanda got robbed. Anyway, after Adrienne went home, she came online and we chatted til 5 AM. She's definitely cool, plus she has some strange kind of superhuman tolerance for my rambling.

And the fun doesn't end there, folks! I'm hoping to fill out the rest of the week with more company, special guests may include such fan favorites as Bridget, Maria, and maybe a super special third visit from Adrienne!*
*card subject to change

I can tell all my readers are wetting themselves with excitement. Well, go clean yourselves up. that's all I've got for now. More soon...if you behave.

-Jacob

Y2K...5 Years Late

Happy New Year, everyone!



Well, I don't know about you, but my 2005 has gotten off to a hectic start. We had a nice Christmas, Jolly Ol' Saint Nick was good to me. After a quiet New Year's Eve at home with Mom, I had a nearly constant flow of company visiting. Over Winter Break I even met three new friends!

Uh oh, what's this? I think...yep...I feel a shoutout coming on, watch out! Hey Bridget, Adrienne, and Eric!

Okay, the shoutout's over, is everyone okay?

So this weekend was the big finale game night before everyone headed back to college and it was good. Hands were tested, thumbs were blistered, and Jeff was named the new commissioner of our Playstation 2 wrestling league.

The following day I was just in a bad mood, feeling a bit down. 11 PM rolls around and I decide to get comfy, watch a DVD, and chat a bit on my laptop. So I get comfy, I get my laptop...it won't start, it just shows a blinking question mark. Obviously the work of the Riddler. So I give Batman a quick call to see what's up, but apparently the Riddler prefers Windows. That blows that theory, so I immediately call Corey, a fellow Mac user, to see if I can get a nugget of wisdom from him.

"You're screwed." Not exactly what I was hoping for, but hey, at least he's honest.

I went on my PC to see what help I might be able find online. I found a few things, tried them all, none worked. I worked until 3 AM before quitting for the night, not knowing whether or not I had just lost everything I had spent so much time working on. No, I didn't have backups. I know, I know, shoosh.
Oddly enough, I had been planning all last week to buy a nice big external harddrive, just incase anything like this would happen. The day I had decided would be good to order it...yesterday. Irony. Ha.

Yesterday, the first thing I did after waking up was call the Apple help line. The lady was very helpful, but extremely dry. This was a prime example of why I hate phones. I tried to lighten things up with a couple quick one-liners and I'm pretty sure I heard crickets chirping at the other end of the line. I swear I heard her sigh a couple times like I was interrupting something. What a fun conversation.

Anyway, after a fifteen minute phone call and about an hour of work, my laptop's back on track and none of my info is lost. I DO have to re-update my system though. 97 MB on a dial up connection, I'm getting excited just thinking about it.

Y'know, I've had this laptop for a while now and aside from a few hiccups, she's been really good to me. I think she deserves a name, anyone got any name suggestions? C'mon, consider it an assignment, folks. Bring on the names!

-Jacob