Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in Jonathan Kuhn's LiveJournal:

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Thursday, June 18th, 2009
3:13 pm	2003-2009 Seems that most everyone else has stopped writing in their LJs, and I know I haven't much lately either. I've decided to retire this along with my other blogs. It had a good run though. (As a compromise, I'm joining Twitter. uscscreenwriter) Thanks for everything. (4 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, June 17th, 2009
3:50 pm	(#36) LA Comedy Shorts '09 I realize this happened forever ago (Well, over 3 months ago to be specific), but since it's a part of my current list, I feel the need to write about it. My LJ has definitely tapered off recently (as have my other blogs, sadly), and these types of posts seem to be the only thing keeping it going. So with that, I'd like to talk about the film festival I attended. This took place the first weekend in March in the Downtown Independent Theater, which is as about as generic a name you can have for your theater. It was fine for a series of short films, but I don't think it would be a good venue for a feature. I attended two separate blocks of short films. Ultimately what I learned is that I have no idea what constitutes a short film versus a filmed sketched like you'd find on "Saturday Night Live." Obviously some of that has to do with location and length, but many of these could have just as easily been a part of a television show. (I plan to expand on this "dilemma" on another blog sometime soon, so stay tuned.) Here are some of the films I saw: The Horribly Slow Murderer With the Extremely Inefficient Weapon This film's title was the sole reason I picked this block of shorts, and I was extremely disappointed. It wound up being a 10 minute fake preview for a movie, and the titular weapon was just a spoon. Not very creative. Terminus This one's too weird to explain. Felt like something Michel Gondry would do. Just watch it. Bryson Fields & Anderson As I mentioned before, this can hardly be called a "film." But it sure did crack me up. The News By far my favorite. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Wednesday, May 27th, 2009
3:04 pm	(#91) Letting Art Come More Alive Seeing as how I'm woefully behind on writing entries pertaining to items I've completed off my list, I'll try to keep this brief. Some time ago, either late February or early March, Hillary and I went to LACMA. I'd never been before, so I'll have to revisit sometime in order to see more of the permanent collection, as we spent most of our time checking out the Art of Two Germanys/Cold War Cultures exhibit. My favorite piece is hard to describe, but I'll try. It featured a number of stick figures engaging in acts ranging from love to war. Relatively simple art for relatively simple acts. The visit reiterated to me that I prefer photography and paintings with a lot going on in them to the other art forms. Not to say I can't appreciate those at times, but they aren't my cup of tea. (Comment on this)
Monday, May 4th, 2009
4:06 pm	Getting Back In The Saddle It's been almost two months since I've written here. While I don't expect to go back to updating as frequently, I do want to write about all of the things I've done from my list. There have been quite a few. But in the meantime, I thought it would be nice to check in on my 10 New Year's Resolutions that I set for the year and see how they are going. The year is already a third of the way done, after all. #1: DECORATE THE APARTMENT While I'm not done adding things to the apartment, I would be confident checking this off the list at this point. Since the beginning of the year I've hung 8 things on the walls. That includes pictures (some taken by me, some by others) and a painting of Clint Eastwood done by Aaron. #2: WRITE A MUSICAL AND A PLAY If I had to pick one that won't get done (aside from the one I've already failed), this would be it. Though I have the ideas, I'm concentrating on the film/TV side of things right now, especially since I've had a semblance of movement in that area. #3: CURSE LESS This one's debatable. I'd say I've cut down around other people, but I still need to work on it when I get angry while alone. #4: UPDATE BOTH OF MY BLOGS AT LEAST ONCE A WEEK I've failed this one. I kept it until until the middle of March, and then I got so busy preparing for my "studio" meeting that something had to slide. It was either these or a few hours sleep, which I needed. Unfortunately, even now that things have calmed down I haven't written in either of them, so I need to get back to them. #5: GO ON AT LEAST FOUR DATES Emphatically done. #6: EAT AT MORE CULVER CITY RESTAURANTS Sadly I only know of one new place that I've tried so far this year. I need to get on this, especially considering how much I love to eat. #7: ATTEND A USC BASKETBALL GAME IN THE GALEN CENTER Done. #8: BE NICER I think I've done a pretty good job on this one. A few particular incidents come to mind. #9: FIND A NEW HOME CHURCH I might continue to look around, but for right now I'm enjoying Hollywood Presbyterian. #10: WRITE SOMETHING EVERY DAY Believe it or not, so far I've stayed true to this one. I've definitely defined "something" very loosely some days and just rewritten a sentence, but at least I'm making progress. So that makes 3 that are done, 1 that I failed, and a few others that I'm doing well with so far. Not bad. (Comment on this)
Monday, March 9th, 2009
10:31 pm	USC Has A Basketball Team? One of my ten New Year's Resolutions, perhaps the easiest to complete when all is said and done, was to finally attend a USC basketball game in the new (relatively) Galen Center. I'd been in their fancy Founders Room last year (and again this year) for Thematic Option presentations during Explore sessions, but I'd never attended a game. Last Thursday and Saturday were the last home games of the season. And they were against Oregon and Oregon State, respectively, two teams bad enough that we had a chance to win. (We hadn't been playing so well lately.) I was just about to walk to the ticket office last Thursday to pick up a single ticket when Judy came out of her office asking if anyone wanted basketball tickets. She'd gotten a free pair, so I took them. I love when cool things like that work out. The game was more frustrating than anything. USC got a big lead only to see it dwindle to one point right before halftime. Then they got another big lead only to see the game get tied once more. Finally they pulled away for good and managed to win by 14 points, which was thankfully enough to keep the Ducks from dragging out the game too much. It's harder for me to get into basketball, probably because it's generally not as clear when to get excited. Well, that's not entirely true. What I really mean is that it's harder, for me at least, to know when there's the potential for a big play, when to be anticipating. Other than when a player is making a break for the basketball with no one around (or two on one), I feel that you only get the chance to celebrate AFTER the moment, whereas in football you have that chance to hold your breath while the ball is in the air or the running back is surging toward the line. I did enjoy the announcer. He's a much bigger part of the game than anything else I've encountered on the college level. I found myself cracking up every time Oregon got the ball because he would say "Duck Basketball." If you form a mental picture of that, it can go two different ways, and they're both pretty hilarious. I also enjoy how he gets super enthusiastic whenever a Trojan scores a point, dragging out their name and such. But when someone from the opposition scores, their accomplishment is said almost with disgust. "Smith, three points." This makes sense of course, but I'd like to see (or hear, rather) an announcer who announced the opposition's baskets with great enthusiasm and then had to top it whenever his team scored. It was kind of sad seeing how empty the Galen Center was, and I found out later that it was the 2nd lowest turn-out for a PAC-10 game. I suppose that's because the season is pretty much over, but considering we went 15-2 at home this year (the best winning percentage since we went 14-1 in the Sports Arena back in 91-92), you'd think we'd have bigger crowds. But considering it's my first time attending a game in three seasons, I guess I don't really have room to talk. (Comment on this)
Tuesday, March 3rd, 2009
4:16 pm	The Miracle Fruit I heard about it sometime last year in a New York Times article and thought it would be fun to through a party where we tried it. Alas, I never got around to it. But thankfully, Dave did. This past weekend, for his birthday, he had a Miracle Fruit/Rock Band party. The Miracle Fruit is a small, non-descript berry that is similar in shape and texture to an olive, complete with a pit. You take it in your mouth, scrape the pulp from the pit, discard the pit, then chew the pulp for a couple of minutes, and swallow. After a couple of minutes, your tastebuds are altered from a period of anywhere from 30 minutes to two hours. It makes sour/bitter things taste sweet. We had a wide variety of foods to sample, and many of them did not change flavor at all. Pickles, for example, but I love pickles anyway, so that wasn't a problem. It was other foods, such as garlic, horseradish, and clam juice, that I wish had been altered. Or rather, that I wish I had avoided. However, many foods did change their taste to a surprising degree. I was able to bite into a slice of lemon because it tasted like lemonade. While grapefruit and cranberry didn't taste great, they didn't make me cringe either. Strawberries and mangoes had very enhanced tastes. Probably my favorite food was the salt and vinegar chips. I enjoy these in a normal state, but while "under the influence," they tasted like chips dipped in sugar. Worcester sauce was also pretty interesting. I can't really explain the taste because I didn't want to drink too much, as it's not normally something you ingest in large quantities. Also, Tabasco sauce, while still watering the eyes, is incredibly sweet. There were also two alcoholic beverages that changed taste dramatically. Kamikaze shots, which were on sale, tasted like Kool Aid. And Irish Car Bombs, an old favorite among my friends, tasted pretty much like a Frostee. You can order the berries for about three bucks each online. I recommend getting some people together and making a party out of it. It's quite an experience. (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Thursday, February 26th, 2009
3:44 pm	I'd Like To Thank Joaquin Phoenix For Being So Crazy Whether or not the whole Joaquin thing turns out to be a big joke, one thing's for sure: It won me a bunch of stuff. For the third time, I won the caption contest at Cinematical. The first time I won a DVD copy of The Game Plan, which I watched, enjoyed on a basic level, and then gave away. The second time, I won a poster and various paraphernalia from Nothing Like The Holidays, which I never actually received and didn't care enough to bother with. But this time, I hit the motherlode. The caption was for the recently released film Two Lovers, which has gained a lot of attention because it's now Phoenix's last movie. I happened upon the post mere moments after it was put up, so I was the first one to comment. I'm sure that helped me win, as a number of other people also mentioned Phoenix's recent appearance/behavior. When I was first informed that I had won, it wasn't specified whether I had gotten third, second, or first. Oftentimes the prizes are the same, but this time there was a big distinction. Second and third place got three DVDs by Magnolia Films and 6 comp tickets to Landmark Theaters. First places got the DVDs, 10 comp tickets, and "two American Express giftcards for a romantic dinner for two." As it turns out, I won first place. Also as it turns out, the giftcards aren't specifically for a dinner. It remains to be seen whether I will use them for a romantic dinner or a romantic car payment. But imagine my surprise when I opened my prize pack and found that the two cards were for 100 bucks each. Maybe I should try making a living winning contests. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Wednesday, February 18th, 2009
4:43 pm	Lucky Number Last night I was flipping through the channels while talking to Sky and came across the Powerball drawing. They finished the regular numbers and were about to do the yellow Powerball. I shouted out "24!" just as it rolled out. And that's what it was. A funny little coincidence increased by the fact that I recently finished a rough draft of a short story about a guy who keeps selling winning lottery tickets. (Comment on this)
Monday, February 2nd, 2009
2:59 pm	More Productive Than Expected February began with a lackluster Super Bowl that people are describing as great. If I didn't know better, I'd say they didn't actually watch it. Last month I read: Holidays on Ice by David Sedaris Watchmen by Alan Moore I also managed to write something every day. Admittedly, many days it was just a short description of something in an outline. But looking back, I actually accomplished much more than I initially thought. *Wrote some lyrics for a random song I thought of *Worked on an outline and wrote some lyrics for a musical *Worked on an outline for a novel (or perhaps novella) *Began an outline for a short story *Outlined and completed a rough draft of a different short story *Worked on character outlines for two different drama pilots *Added a few lines to a poem Hopefully February will be just as if not more productive. (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Friday, January 30th, 2009
2:15 pm	Writer's Block: Opposites Attract What celebrity would you consider changing your sexual identity for? View 503 Answers Except I wouldn't consider changing. I don't believe I'd have any choice in the matter. (4 Comments |Comment on this)
Tuesday, January 27th, 2009
2:34 pm	(#69) What Do You Call A Guy With No Arms Hanging On Your Wall? Thanks to the very helpful Snapfish website, I recently ordered 8 X 10s of four pictures. One was of the first Old Man day, a cool group shot outside the sub place in Long Beach that Austin took since he wasn't dressed up. (Of course, neither was Jed, and that didn't stop him from joining the picture.) But the other three were pictures that I took myself. One is looking up the inside of one of the towers at Watts Towers. The other two were taken during my visit to Beatty. One's of a rusty stove (I think.), and the other is of a bucket of rusty horseshoes. Over the weekend I framed each of these and hung them on the walls. They actually look pretty good, especially the two from Beatty, which are on either side of a doorway. I have a few other ideas of things to put up in the apartment, but I'm well on the way to completing that New Year's Resolution. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Wednesday, January 21st, 2009
12:57 pm	No Money In My Mattress Yesterday I mailed the check that will finally pay off the super awesome queen mattress I bought last May. Though come to think of it, I had a terrible time sleeping last night. But I'll blame that on lack of confidence in the postal system. (Comment on this)
Tuesday, January 20th, 2009
2:19 pm	(#27) Ice Skate Baby Saturday night I went ice skating for the first time in over six years. Had I fallen on my face and/or butt, I would be willing to concede that being out of practice was the cause of my poor skating. But given that I maintained my balances despite my circumstances, I feel confident in blaming the crappy equipment. In short, I may as well have attached the blades directly to the bottom of my feet. The skates provided no support, meaning that my ankles had to do a lot of work to prevent my feet from folding under themselves. (My calves have been getting sorer as the days pass.) Initially I thought the skates were simply too loose. The possibility of getting a smaller size crossed my mind, but while re-adjusting my skates, I realized that my feet barely fit into that pair. I tightened them as much as I could, and for a couple of laps, all was right with the world. But before long, the wobbling returned, the skate unable to do its proper job. Still, I had fun. And I'm sure I would have been worried about falling either way. But the added strain, both physical and mental, of worrying that I was going to break an ankle, surely didn't help things. (Comment on this)
1:48 pm	(#122) I Kissed A Girl And I Liked It This happened 20 days ago and wasn't even that significant, but since it did fulfill an item on my list, I'm going to briefly mention it. A guy I just met late last year was throwing a huge New Year's Eve party, and I decided to attend. I only knew three people there, and normally I would hate such a gathering. But I actually had a really fun time and met a few people. Going in, I was hoping to get a kiss at midnight. But as the hour approached, I didn't have any real prospects. So I did the best I could, positioning myself next to the largest group of girls I could find. At midnight one of them said to the other girls (and sort of to me), "It's midnight. I need to go kiss some strangers." Then, directly to me: "You're a stranger." And I got a quick kiss. Far worse ways to start a new year. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Sunday, January 18th, 2009
4:24 pm	For Those Of You Who Don't Like To Read I sold a short story to a website called Pseudopod. It's now available for downloading/listening, so I would love if you could find the time to give it a listen and maybe leave a comment. Also, pass it on to your friends. It's about 18 minutes long. It's a horror story, and if I had to give it a rating, I'd say it's a heavy PG-13 for descriptions of gore. Scavenger (Comment on this)
Tuesday, January 6th, 2009
8:18 pm	2008 Films I put my ranked list of films from last year on my other blog. Check it out. (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Friday, January 2nd, 2009
3:38 pm	2008 Books I only read 19 books last year. (Well, 18 books and a play.) After moving into the new apartment I drove to work a lot more, so that cut down on my reading time. Here are the books I read, from least to most enjoyable. ( Read more... ) (Comment on this)
Thursday, January 1st, 2009
1:02 am	A Year That Went By Surprisingly Quickly Here's the list of the top events in my life last year. ( Read more... ) (Comment on this)
Monday, December 29th, 2008
7:44 pm	Embarrassing is... having a woman you don't know offer you a tissue during "Marley & Me." (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Friday, December 19th, 2008
3:21 pm	Ten Resolutions For 2009 ( Resolutions ) (1 Comment |Comment on this)