There are no end products.

The screening went well. I was surprised who came, to tell you the truth. The Temple Bar is really kind of a music venue/bar. Not exactly the sort of place you expect to see short films. But the place was full, and as I walked in (late) I saw four or five people to wave to. All of the people that I thought "wouldn't it be great if they came."

Visually the movies didn't look great through the video projector (it looked good enough but Justina wouldn't have been happy) but the sound blasted through the music venue speakers, and it was a wonderful thing hearing all the work that Dom and I did. All of the dog barks and subtleties. And I was really surprised. My movie showed second and after the first minute people got quiet and watched. And they laughed at Andrew and understood Jake. More or less it worked, and I felt pretty good about it. Afterwards I hung around with Lily and it was like a dream where all of the people you have met show up. That's what happened. So many of the people I have met out here in the last year went out of their way to come by to say hi and talk about the movie. Even the director of "Harold and Kumar" was there... and he liked the way it was directed and edited, said it was pretty good. Not bad.

There are no end products. Nothing that can happen at a screening or anywhere else can really live up to all of the work that goes into making a movie and all of the high hopes you experience. The work is where all of the good stuff happens, I think. That's what I was thinking the whole day before the screening, and I had a great time. I was really happy throughout the whole night. The movie screened with four other shorts at the IFP LA Cinema Lounge programmed by Julianna Brannum, who has herself gone out of the way to help me out. Things like this are very important when you're making movies and you aren't sure what to do next...

What'd you guys think of the Oscars? I didn't have too many thoughts, really. I enjoyed the show kind of mindlessly. Thought Chris Rock had some valid points and that Sean Penn looked like Bob Hope or someone standing up for Jude Law... Watched the whole show all the way through. Earlier in the week I had seen them setting it up down on Hollywood Blvd. Screwed up traffic all week... I thought that Eternal Sunshine and Sideways won for good reason -- and I always like the screenplay category. I saw Million Dollar Baby two weeks ago and it blew my fucking socks off. There are some good theatres out here for seeing movies, I must say.

And speaking of awards ceremonies, I have tell you all that my dad, who has taken up coaching hockey since my brother and I left our highschool hockey careers behind, coached his way to his first State Championship last night!!! It was my highschool's first since my brother and I were on the team. The Burroughs Bombers played at the Blues arena (they weren't using it anyway) and beat St. Charles West 4 to 1. Not bad for my dad's first year coaching highschool hockey!

It made me think, do I know anyone else who would learn how to skate and teach hockey, out of the blue? It's a good question. Would I? I gotta try to be more like that. I watched my dad talk to his little guys (he started out coaching 10-12 year olds) before a game and I saw how he did it more than once. He was pretty good at it: he would come into the lockerroom and tell them to shut up and quit calling each other gay and saying bad words to be cool and all that. And once he had their attention he gave what he called the "they hurt your dog" speech. Basically what he did was, he convinced them the other team was responsible for hurting their dog! The little kids would get psyched up and mad and run out onto the ice in their skates, ready to play. He saved it for the big game of the year... Anyway, how cool is that.

We all need a good "they hurt your dog" pep talk once in awhile, I've decided. (Maybe even one every day?)