Foursquare Nightmare

The Human Condition - pt. 4/4

2011-11-28T09:54:00.008-06:00

My latest one-off comic, which is called 'The Human Condition In The Paradigm of Contemporary Midwestern University Culture' or something, in its entirety. (Thanks to Michael Tabor, who came up with the giant calzone-parachute idea.) Enjoy it, have a nice day, come again please. (New stuff is in the works!)

OH, hey if you are in the Iowa City area and are a fan of ballet, Christmas kitsch, High Culture, kitchenware, that sort of thing, and are looking for something possibly Tchaikovsky-related to do this weekend, you may want to consider The Nutcracker at the Englert Theatre. NO SERIOUSLY it is a really good show, and I happen to be in the orchestra (back of the viola section, natch).

The Human Condition - pt. 3/4

2011-11-21T08:41:00.002-06:00

Pages five and six (out of eight) of my comic 'The Human Condition in the Paradigm of Contemporary Midwestern University Culture'. The final installment is coming next Monday.

The Human Condition - pt. 2/4

2011-11-14T10:12:00.003-06:00

(Okay, after three unsuccessful attempts to get Blogger to display and link to my images correctly, I'm trying a different tack.)

Here are pages three and four (out of eight) of my comic, 'The Human Condition in the Paradigm of Contemporary Midwestern University Culture'.

The Human Condition - pt. 1/4

2011-11-07T10:30:00.005-06:00

The first two pages (out of eight) of my college-town farce comic 'The Human Condition in the Paradigm of Contemporary Midwestern University Culture', to be posted two pages at a time for the next four Mondays. You may want to click on these images to see them larger, you know, if you're into that.

New comic in the works

2011-10-27T12:30:00.003-05:00

Just-a show you the first panel of the new eight-page comic I'm working on. It's called...

The goal here is to just make the best-drawn and -written comic I can. It'll go up here as it nears completion. By the way, feel free to add me on G+! I'm posting alotta stuff there too.

"Cancer" in 'Querque

2011-09-21T13:29:00.003-05:00

I recently got an opportunity to perform at a private family function at The Kosmos (an extremely cool venue, wow) in Albuquerque. This is a piece that may be familiar to you, if you are some kind of me-nerd, Cancer (from my set of constellation-themed piano pieces, Argo Navis).

The average age of this audience was about 80, but they seemed to enjoy this little taste of chaotic dissonance. Happy birthday, G-ma!

Fyoog in G

2011-06-18T21:33:00.002-05:00

A little three-voice fugue, inspired by Paul Hindemith.

If you are so inclined, you may view the score here.

Fifty Ways To Leave Your Apartment - #2 - 4

2011-06-15T20:55:00.003-05:00

Two: The closet window, which is a great place to get any sort of thinking done.

Three: An extremely baroqure radiator.

Four: The ugly entry hallway.

Fifty Ways To Leave Your Apartment - #1

2011-06-12T15:26:00.003-05:00

With 50 days left until I move to a new apartment, I will be doing daily sketches of the place I live in now, because I'm quite fond of it. (I wish I'd done this with all 9 of the apartments/houses/dorm rooms I've called home in the past.)

Card come-with comic, Part Dos.

2011-03-02T08:54:00.002-06:00

Part two of the comic:

Once again, get your cards here!

Lenth's Premium Playing Cards

2011-02-26T08:50:00.005-06:00

I would like to thank all of the people who have bought a deck of Lenth's Premium Playing Cards. If you haven't, they are still for sale! (Although you may want to hold out for possible future designs, but who knows when/if those will happen.)

For your present enjoyment, here is the first half of the complimentary 8-page informational tiny comic book that comes with every deck. I'll post the second half later.

New web site, and a thing to buy!

2011-02-20T13:36:00.005-06:00

Been a while, sorry, but I've been working on a huge project and it is finally!.(!).(!). Done.

Is this an exciting thing for you? Answer: yes, it is.

You (I am pointing at you, not some other person on the internet) can buy an awesome deck of those playing cards up there. How do you do this??? Answer: go to my amazing new web site, www.foursquarenightmare.com. All kinds of art and music on display (although most of it has been featured on this blog already). Go directly to the playing card store HERE.

Bus Driving Music

2010-10-04T17:23:00.003-05:00

There's a long story behind this piece, but here it is. Maybe if I have time later I'll write more about it.

Lilypond Scores

2010-10-01T11:14:00.006-05:00

I've been learning to use Lilypond, which is an open-source music engraving program. I decided to use it to make some new editions of some of my compositions (you know, because that would be easier than writing NEW music). I mean, this is probably of pretty limited interest, but just because I spent so infernally much time on these projects, here they are (in pdf form).

Argo Navis (Book One) - you know, those constellation piano pieces I was doing?

The Idiot - this is that one woodwind quintet I wrote????

I'm going to probably get nice bound books of these made at a copy shop. Because I have severe social problems.

Now, I have been playing, reading, and notating music for years, which means I have seen about a trillion music scores. I could essay at you about this all day, but to make a long story a little bit shorter, I always thought the older ones looked a little nicer. You see, music printing used to be hand-engraved, but since 1990s, most scores have produced with computer software (like Sibelius or Finale). Unfortunately, these newer methods, like all new things, were more convenient but produced soulless, undelightful results. Oh, and these new methods cost like $500 to purchase. That's why some AWESOME people who probably deserve the Nobel Prize decided to create LilyPond. It's a free, downloadable, open-source program, designed with the single objective of creating beautiful sheet music, using the techniques and aesthetics of the old engravers.

I wouldn't recommend it to everybody. The program uses text input, meaning you create files with a text editor and compile them into scores, as opposed to the graphical interfaces of Sibelius or Finale. There is a bit of a learning curve with the syntax! But there is a large and supportive online community, and you get a warm fuzzy feeling being a part of it all. I'm still kind of a novice engraver, myself, but considering it took 10 years of apprenticeship to become a professional plate engraver back in the art form's heyday, I'd say I'm doing quite well. ROME WASN'T BUILT IN A DAY. WHY IS IT ALWAYS "INSTANT GRATIFICATION" WITH YOU.

(Here's the mp3s of Argo Navis and The Idiot, if you are interested.)

Cards

2010-09-21T12:52:00.004-05:00

How about these playing cards I made?

I got a pack of blank cards (designed for kids, apparently) at American Science and Surplus and hand drew all 52 of the standard cards. Though I really like the idea of block printing a deck of cards, and maybe producing a series and selling them.

Jubi Show intro sequence

2010-06-23T10:02:00.003-05:00

Here's a thing that took way more time to make than it should have. The new animated opening sequence for The Jubi Show. At least it's done now.

(Compare to the 2007 one here.)

Teevee

2010-05-19T18:06:00.006-05:00

"Teevee", oil on canvas, 10" x 8"

Helea Was Very Old

2010-03-01T18:10:00.003-06:00

HELEA WAS VERY OLD

... a new webcomic, updating every Monday and Thursday.

Music Written On A Train

2010-02-22T15:19:00.004-06:00

I wrote this piece for string quartet on the Southwest Chief during the 20-hour trip from Albuquerque, New Mexico, to Fort Madison, Iowa. This is unfortunately not a real performance but some kind of MIDI thing with sampled instruments. I tried to make it somewhat classy sounding, though. Enjoy. (This one is rated D for dissonance.)

Music Written On A Train - mp3

Famous Historical Figures #1: Charles Dickens

2010-02-09T14:27:00.004-06:00

First post in like a year. But a possible new website may be coming, featuring comics and art and all the other stuff. We're working on it. It might happen.

More sketch club

2009-05-19T12:41:00.003-05:00

(unfinished)

Budapest sketches

2009-04-21T13:47:00.003-05:00

Top: Dohány Synagogue
Below: Castle Hill, seen from Gellért Hill

Sketch club - museum edition

2008-12-08T12:07:00.002-06:00

Ringtones - vol. #1

2008-11-29T20:50:00.004-06:00

I am making individually-tailored ringtones for my phone to play when certain people call me. I've got a ton of these left to do, but here's the first batch that have been finished.

Chris - mp3
Travis - mp3
Lydia - mp3
Jake - mp3

If you like them, the world will not end if you use them!

Sketch club

2008-11-05T12:18:00.004-06:00

Hide it in the merry-go-...

2008-10-20T19:57:00.001-05:00

Solid Oswald (a band that includes me and James Roberts over in the UK) is pleased to present a brand-new EP, Solid Oswald's Constitutional Lozenge.

The music we do is produced by exchanging song demos over the internet, which are then collaged, expanded, rewritten, reinterpreted, and rerecorded; and cycling this process until there is a transatlantic consensus that they have become finished compositions. Lozenge is a collection of four grotesque pop songs about tennis, potatoes, and other subjects, produced over a period of about three months. It's all free for you to listen to! May as well!

Some drawings

2008-08-29T20:15:00.004-05:00

Re the request for charcoals, here's some charcoal drawings I did for a class a few years ago. Actually, that last one is graphite.

Colorado sketchings

2008-08-28T23:26:00.002-05:00

When you go to Colorado you make these sketches:

... then when you come home, you just make the same one you always make:

Barnaby

2008-08-27T23:22:00.006-05:00

Here's another old song by The Bougm Fellows (recorded March 2007).

Barnaby - mp3

Fans of the Bougms will also want to check out the band's portentious performance of their song "Dave Matthews" on The Jubi Show. (Toward the end of the hour.)

Child support

2008-07-28T00:44:00.005-05:00

(The music is from the D minor oboe concerto by Alessandro Marcello, played by a group called the Balalaika Kvartet)

More oldness

2008-07-23T11:27:00.003-05:00

Posts of old stuff abound while I work on some big projects. I wrote this string quartet about two years ago, and despite the silly title, it's probably the largest and most ambitious effort I've ever made on a piece of music. It's called Where's Waldo because there's a hidden theme somewhere in every movement. (If you send me a postcard with the solution, plus five cereal box tops, you get a free action figure.)

Presented here slightly abridged.

Where's Waldo
I. At Sea
II. Under the Sea - mp3
III. In the Country
IV. In the City - mp3
V. In the Land of Waldos - mp3
VI. Space Battle - mp3

Performed by: Sam Stapleton, violin I; Sam Gold, violin II; some loser, viola; and Ursula Dial, cello.

Jubi Outro Rhapsody - [no longer available!]

2008-07-16T22:55:00.003-05:00

This is a short orchestral piece I wrote last year ... as a final project for a class. Folks don't get many chances these days to write orchestral music and have it played, so this was a very cool thing to get to do! (Some of you may recognize this.)

Jubi Outro Rhapsody - MP3 no longer in existence? I can't find a copy anywhere. Do yourself a favor and don't upload your files to your website, then delete all copies of the file from your computer, then let your hosting for the aforementioned website expire. I'm sure there's still a copy of this mp3 somewhere. Does anyone have one? - BWL, 2/22/10

Cognition

2008-07-12T10:38:00.001-05:00

Professor Teeth

2008-07-05T17:49:00.004-05:00

Announcing the long-awaited, and very gross, music video by Two Guys and Janani (a band consisting of me and my friend Janani). Professor Teeth!

Be sure to get your MP3 of this terrifying song here!

Two Meditations on Breakfast Cereals

2008-07-03T01:07:00.005-05:00

I visited my old composer friend Chris this weekend. For the occasion, we each wrote some stupid, small chamber pieces and played them with the available ensemble (Chris, Jake and I on clarinet, trombone and viola, respectively). Here's my entry in the minifestival: Two Meditations on Breakfast Cereals.

I. Crispix
II. Fruity Pebbles

The Idiot

2008-06-28T01:54:00.004-05:00

This is the woodwind quintet I wrote earlier this year, The Idiot. It's an mp3 of the live performance, by an excellent group called the Assobio a Jato Winds, at a recital I gave last month. And, if you're into that sort of thing, there's a pdf file of the score. (It's a transposing score. If you're into that sort of thing.)

The Idiot - Mp3

I made a video of the music plus the score, but when I uploaded it to YouTube, the sound was all out of sync. I wish there was some kind of box you could check in YouTube that says, "This is the finest thing I've created, please don't ruin this thing."

A few dinners I've made recently

2008-06-23T23:27:00.003-05:00

I'm immersed in like a thousandplex of projects right now (I love it! Pile 'em on!), so while I'm busy working on those, I'll be making lame posts about food I've made? It's about good food and good times here at Foursquare Nightmare!

Chicken marinated in this delicious Indonesian Ginger marinade, served with cous cous and bananas. Eh, it was an experiment, but I liked it.

This recipe was from the internet, so there was no question that it would be good.

Goes very nicely with a Humbert Humbert cocktail (pineapple juice and gin)

Or your favorite Irish ale.

But not both!

Retaining wall

2008-06-22T11:06:00.000-05:00

The Bougm Fellows

2008-06-19T19:00:00.005-05:00

The hot new single from The Bougm Fellows is ready to be downloaded! It's called I, the Undersigned .

The Bougm Fellows are: me, Brian Lenth, playing some guitars and stuff; and Jake Gontero, playing the slide trombone.

I'm Your Anaesthesiologist

2008-06-16T01:16:00.003-05:00

Or there's an MP3 of a well-produced version if you didn't like that crappy performance.

Flood

2008-06-15T22:12:00.005-05:00

Iowa City is an underwater city, and not a cool science fiction one like in "SeaQuest DSV", more like one that is a federal disaster area.

The water is up to the tops of the entrance doors of the UI's music building. That's a lot of ruined Steinways.

My house is fine, and the waters are starting to recede. The crest was lower than expected, which was a bit of a relief. Still, it's going to be a long recovery process, and I'm not looking forward to the cleanup work.

Old stuff #2 - Quid Pro Quo (early)

2008-06-11T01:06:00.007-05:00

People always say, "Brian, show us that comic you used to do a long time ago! That one that was really good!" And I'm all, "well, I've done much better things since then. Look at my new stuff!" And they're like, "NO! YOUR CRAPPY OLD COMIC IS THE BEST THING YOU'VE DONE." The comic was called Quid Pro Quo, and though it's kind of a source of embarrassment for me at times, I can't avoid the fact that it's the most popular thing I've done, so I may as well post it here. This is the first Quid Pro Quo strip, published March 15, 1951.
The dimwitted newspaper editor confused the punchline in the last panel with the name of the strip, which is for better or worse where the strip's name comes from.

In the early years, the humor of the strip revolved around the same cigarette-lighting situation. Such "routine gags" were a very popular device of the era. Barry's catchphrase "Say, mister, do you have a light?" entered the cultural lexicon, but soon the iconic sentence had to be abbreviated in various ways because of the nationwide ink shortage of 1953.

Eventually the catchphrase evolved into a strange abstract shorthand:

By 1958, the humor of the strip had taken a subtle political turn, and had to be ended. The new era of Quid Pro Quo was not to begin until 2001, when I was finally paroled from a high-security federal penitentiary. Maybe sometime I'll show those later comics too.

Old stuff #1 - Brian's 1st Symphony

2008-06-08T19:06:00.011-05:00

My brand-new camera is børked for the moment. So I guess now would be a good time to start posting some old stuff. Here's something I found in a notebook from when I was about ten:

In addition to writing symphonies, my main hobbies as a child were drawing disturbing pictures and having lots of problems.

Further to cameras being børked, in January 2006 I purchased a new camera, which broke on December 31st of that year and never worked again. I took over 1,300 pictures with it, and later animated them all into this video:

It's basically an intense cross-section of the year 2006, which was a crazy year in my life. It's kind of difficult to watch (I probably should have used a slightly slower frame rate, and there is a worrisome number of pictures of myself) but there are some cool moments.

One has one's reasons

2008-06-07T20:09:00.002-05:00

Argo Navis #8 - Cancer

2008-06-04T00:49:00.005-05:00

The latest in the Argo Navis piano deal. I think you'll like this one! Cancer the crab!

Sketches from New Mexico

2008-06-01T17:33:00.002-05:00

Last week I was on vacation in New Mexico. Let's see what kind of sketches I did there.

Truchas

2008-05-25T00:54:00.001-05:00

The Alpha Microscope - part two

2008-05-23T10:12:00.004-05:00

Here's the second half of the micro-comic. Click to embiggen.

The Alpha Microscope - part one

2008-05-21T23:52:00.006-05:00

I was asked to draw a micro-comic to be handed out at the upcoming MoCCA Art Festival in NYC (a thing that I really wish I could go to, wow). Here are the first four pages (out of eight) of what I came up with. Click to embiggen.

The rest of it will be posted in a few days. Thanks to Lydia and Paul for this great excuse to get back into comicking!

Argo Navis #7 - Lynx

2008-05-15T00:27:00.004-05:00

"After dark all cats are leopards" - Zuni proverb

Part seven of the piano series 'Argo Navis'. Lynx, the lynx.

Wait for it...

2008-05-08T20:26:00.001-05:00

Carpetbaggers

2008-05-06T10:01:00.003-05:00

It's a song I wrote three years ago, a recording I made one year ago, and a video from 9 hours ago.

Cemetery time

2008-05-03T17:39:00.006-05:00

I live right by this cemetery. It's pretty much the best thing for all occasions.

Did you know that when you wish to remain anonymous on your tombstone, you have the option of putting your favorite color instead?

Some people even put their favorite hobby on there.

This unfortunate man's family engraved the insulting nickname the other kids used to call him in 4th grade.

Argo Navis #4 - Volans

2008-04-29T19:21:00.003-05:00

Here's part four of 'Argo Navis', the constellation-based piano pieces I'm writing (the set used to be called 'Uranometria' but I totally changed the title).

Volans, the flying fish!

Stalagmites / Stalactites

2008-04-28T23:06:00.001-05:00

The Break Room

2008-04-25T22:30:00.002-05:00

Here's me reading a monologue I wrote ...

... at No Shame Theatre on April 18.

Saturation

2008-04-23T22:21:00.001-05:00

DI cartoons

2008-04-19T15:17:00.006-05:00

Going back to some old stuff now. When I was a kid I wanted to grow up to be a cartoonist, and this dream resurfaced several times throughout my high school and college years. The most recent apparition of this desire was in 2005 when I decided to submit some editorial cartoons to the Daily Iowan newspaper.

I tried really hard, and produced some okay ones. Not shown are the totally incoherent ones.

You'll notice I didn't sign my name on any of these.

Repeat for five years

2008-04-16T22:18:00.004-05:00

Here's a cool thing: this is me at my place of employ, driving a bus.

It's just a time lapse! I don't really drive 250 MPH! You worry too much! I recommend that you stop worrying so much!

Garst

2008-04-14T23:31:00.002-05:00

Uranometria #2 - Gemini

2008-04-13T22:49:00.004-05:00

It's the second installation of this piano thing. Gemini, the twins.

Polyvinyl chloride

2008-04-13T22:20:00.002-05:00

Uranometria #1 - Monoceros

2008-04-12T02:59:00.005-05:00

This is the first in a set of short piano pieces I'm currently writing called 'Uranometria'. (The title comes from Johann Bayer's 1603 star atlas, the first work of stellar cartography to map the entire celestial hemisphere.) Each piece in this set will be named after a different constellation. This is Monoceros the Unicorn.

Mud puddles / Insect

2008-04-09T23:35:00.006-05:00

You can also expect to see plenty of photography here in the near future as I just got a brand new camera! This is my for real backyard:

I was about to try to take a better focused picture of this fellow, but he had places to be.

Jubi animation

2008-04-09T23:15:00.004-05:00

Expect to see plenty of postings of old stuff as this blog gets off the ground. Here's the animated intro sequence I created last summer for the television show I'm involved with, The Jubi Show. (The music was composed and recorded by me and fellow Jubinauts Jamal and Jake.)

UK Sketchbook

2008-04-07T21:56:00.007-05:00

A few summers ago I spent two weeks in the UK. Here are a few pages of my sketchbook from that trip:Before I left my house

Waiting to board the plane...

While listening to the London Symphony play Brahms' Deutsche Requiem

Like Ronald Searle, said a friend.

Power lines

2008-04-07T20:08:00.007-05:00

Hi, I'm Brian. I live in Iowa City (a tiny, backward, agrarian village) where I amuse myself and others with various forms of artistic divertissements. Sometimes I make drawings, cartoons, paintings, animations, photographs. Sometimes I create, play and record music. Sometimes I can be seen on a surreal TV show. Sometimes I am on a theatre stage. Sometimes I horrify people with my social ineptitude. These are just some of the many forms of fun and recreation I hope to impart to you with this blog. If you enjoy what you see or hear here, please consider posting a comment saying "Hi I love your artistic divertissements!" or "Brian you're the best like ever" or "You're [sic] blog is better than Wikipedia and the internet combined!!!" Feedback is always helpful and appreciated.

Speaking of feeds, it is recommended that you use a feed reader as my posts may be sporadic.

I'll start us off with some photos.