The LJ Film

Where is your Hope?

2011-03-03T02:04:00.000-08:00

"My uncle became paralyzed this week. After a car accident that landed his car three floors off a parking structure, he is paralyzed. What is there for him to hope for? I don't think insurance, career, friends, and accomplishments will serve as some sort of hope. "

What do people turn to in the midst of disaster? What do you look for in a time of complete confusion and loss of control. In my society, living in Los Angeles, people have their different securities to turn to. Their career, money, network, and more.

If you lose your job, there is hope. "I know people and saved up money. I'll just get another one."

If you get into a car accident, there is hope. "It's OK. That's why I have car insurance."

If you lose your parents, there is hope. "I'll get over it. My friends and my future passions will help me overcome the loss."

You see, it is this hope, this 'light at the end of the tunnel' that makes it possible for us to continue. But then I turn to another question.

Have I really seen utter disaster? Have I ever hit rock bottom so hard that I can't seem to find any hope at all?

Honestly, what is the worst thing that has ever happened to me?

If what I previously called 'hope' is just a fabrication of hope created by my own securities, then what is true hope?

My uncle became paralyzed this week. After a car accident that landed his car three floors off a parking structure, he is paralyzed. What is there for him to hope for?

There is one thing that could come close: Family. He can find hope in the life of his own children.

The only other Hope I can think of is that of the Gospel. That's right, Jesus Christ.

Maybe that is why he had to die on the cross after being whipped and climbing up Golgotha.

He had to feel complete loss. His creation, the world, and even the Father had rejected him.

In the midst of full loss of hope, he was able to not just do the will of the Father, but accept disaster at its greatest.

Having overcome it Himself, we are promised the same hope to overcome anything, even death.

Without this Gospel truth, there is no hope whatsoever in the most utter disasters.

Think about it. If you were paralyzed neck down and you didn't have the hope of the Gospel, what can you find hope in? Nothing.

If that is true, we ought to live knowing that our only Hope is in the Gospel not just when we're paralyzed, but now.

Content

2011-02-21T17:19:00.000-08:00

God has given me what I need to live.

It might not be filet mignon, but I'm content.

Connecting in 2011

2011-01-04T18:04:00.001-08:00

2011- New Years Resolution

1. Twitter

2. Blog

3. Vlog

Attention whore! Yes! I'm going to join with the rest of the world that updates everyone with every detail of their exciting lives. I'm diving deep into the Information Age. Better yet, maybe it's not a decision I made, but more of an obligation from society to 'stay connected'.

That's the irony: Connection.

Am I connecting or am I actually putting more proxy codes, I.P. addresses, and kbps packets (internet, wifi, etc.) between myself and my friends. 'Friends' or should I begin to call it a 'Network'? I want to see a graph that would show me how my interaction with my friends has changed over the years with how meaningful the relations are becoming. "Could I be lacking personality?" or "Do I need a couple more lunch dates a week?" It might seem like meeting up with your friends and seeing them in person might be the obvious cure to the social network. On the other hand, it just might be possible that connecting in 2011 means Twitter, Facebook, Blogging, and Vlogging.

For me, 2011 will be a year of connecting to the masses and transparency.

Twitter me: theljfilm

youtube me: www.youtube.com/ljstudios

(HMM... maybe I should put this whole blog on the vlog)

Here's a hypothetical scenario:

You call your friend and say, "Dude, I had some KFC today.. omg.. sooo good!"

Friend might:

1. not give a damn

2. think it's "G" double "O", "D" good.

3. bitch at you for not inviting

Number 3 can be avoided by updating earlier and saying, "I'm going to KFC!"

The point is that your entire social network is able to have these 3 choices.

Most of them won't give a rat's ass about what you eat, but the ones that do will contact you.

When you and your friend love KFC together. BOOM! You've just connected... and this was only chicken.

"Mashina"

2010-01-11T21:57:00.000-08:00

Mashina is "Car" in Russian.

So, I haven't had a car for about a year now, and it's been on and off for about the last year and half.

(Some of you may remember the sad junk I had)

A dealership in Sacramento bought a car for me at an auction several months ago.

COST: $11,000.

I had to go to my bank and get an auto loan. If your parents are missionaries and you have no credit, it is impossible to get an auto loan.

I got a letter from the bank: LOAN APPROVAL DENIED

I don't give up. I asked my friend if his mother would be kind enough to co-sign this loan.

I got a strangely familiar letter from the bank.

It is a month and half since the car was bought for me at the dealership and the Russian dealer calls me every couple days. I say, "Da, Da, of course, I am looking for a new co-signer. I will buy car for sure."

I asked help for a co-signer to my parents who are literary on the opposite side of this planet.

But, friends, we are in the Information Age, so don't worry.

They email a doctor/deacon in Torrance if he can co-sign. Docter: "My wife's business went bankrupt, so we have bad credit, sorry, but I'll ask someone else."

Last week, a man by the name of Thomas Lee (an old Korean deacon) emailed me.

He says he remembers seeing me at an old ladies line dancing club.

WHOA.... What is LJ doing at an old ladies line dancing club? >.<

My friends, I was filming a "how to line dance" DVD for their club.

He remembered that I was a missionary kid and put the two together with the request for a co-signer.

QUICK ENDING: He gave me his 2005 Toyota Rav4 40,000 miles for $1,000.

This happened two days ago.

WHO IS MY CO-SIGNER NOW? GOD

Checkpoint 1

2009-03-27T04:17:00.000-07:00

There isn't a better time to write a post unless it's 4:17AM and I'm absolutely exhausted.

I just want to stop for a moment and put down a flag, a checkpoint, where I contemplate my present state, and try to answer the question of the ages, "Who am I? Who am I becoming?"

This is what really stands out. It's been about 3 years since I left Russia after graduating. This would actually be the longest I've lived and stayed in one place for since 7th grade! There is an incredible amount of stability and identity in this sun shiny city of Los Angeles for me. Well, Of course, it took me three years to get to this point of comfortability.

I'm starting to be O.K. with the idea that I may call Los Angeles my home. I know for most people the 'home' concept doesn't mean what it means for me. For me its been the big question of life and the identity crisis since I was 7. How can I be a U.S. Citizen, ethnically Korean, grow up in New Jersey/New York, grow up in Russia, study in Germany, and then move to Los Angeles- how can I be all these things and at the same time and have a place I call home?

Now, I'm starting to allow myself to really leave my past and move on to clinging on to my present and future, what I was in the past makes me who I am, but so does the present.

However, there is a fear. In one year, I'll graduate and almost all the people I consider a part of my 'home' will disperse. My 'home' is congruent with college life, so how will that change my stability when I graduate? I fear this.

What I'm missing in my life is a home outside of the college life. Most people have parents and a house or local friends to go back to, that is what they find stability in and 'home'. So when I'm out of college, who knows what will happen?

I won't die, but I'm curious how that will effect me. Maybe that will be another "Checkpoint".

The Artist

2009-03-21T23:01:00.000-07:00

In the late 18th century of the Romantic Period there was a subtle decline in the creativity based on the achievements of the past. It rather shifted toward the importance of the 'standard of personal vision'. "Art could owe nothing to tradition or the past because that debt qualified the power and originality of the individual creator." The artist expressed what he or she experienced, saw, and felt. This had to be original, because its basis did not rely on a genre or convention for popular familiarity. Pure inspiration and passion was all that was needed. The true artist would not sway to create something that was already tested by culture and time.

"The true artist was noncommercial, struggling on the fringes of human existence, with neither society nor companions( and hardly any publishers), alone with his indomitable self."

Don't be fooled. There is no such thing as absolute creativity. All art still has some relation to the past and its text. So, if we go back far enough, God is the Artist.

- LJ Kim

Sources: Film Theories and Criticism (Braudy), Screenwriting from the Soul (Krevolin)

"...in the story of one person, is the story of all people..."

The Adventures of Sky & Thumb

2009-02-13T13:07:00.000-08:00

Clay + Animation = Claymation.

Some call it Stop- Motion. Because you have to stop and move the object and put it in motion. Stop, put it in motion, etc.

You repeat this a million times manually, until you get what we see on playback as- Animation.

I personally like to call it, pain in the ass.

This is my first claymation, definitely not my last.

Took me three long weeks, a monk's patience, and starvation.

To watch it, you must pay the small fee of a comment.

The Adventures of Sky & Thumb

created by LJ Kim

Who is this?

2009-02-02T16:47:00.001-08:00

Some girl out there is feeling like a dumb ass, but...

Here's the scene:

I'm sitting in directing class and watching some kid doing his serious monologue. He's definitely getting too emotionally involved and my phone vibrates.

*BZZ.... *BZZ....

Reach. Slap. Pull. Slide. New Text Message

[Read Now] *click

--------------------------------------|

From: 310-892-xxxx

Ok yeah u have those problems

but what bout respecting ur

fucking lady n dedicate time to

her how come u have time 4 her

but not 4 me. seriusly im not

gonna b beggin u to spend time

with me or give me a fucken

call. or having a man but i feel

lonely n guess what he is giving

time to someother girl. when

u learn how to respect me u

let me noe but by that time i

won't be avail. 4 u.

Feb 2, 3:05pm

-----------------------------------|

At this point, I start to laugh out loud while Mr. Monologue is trying to save the world with his 1 minute speech. The funny part is for two serious seconds, I'm thinking,"Am I going out with right now?! Oh shtake!"

Mr. Confused replies:

Who is this?

Miss Brokenhearted poops:

What!!

Mr. Joker smiles:

No i really have no idea who u are

Miss Pissed Off blurts:

whatever man.

Mr. Innocent offers:

No like dead serious i dont think u have

the right number..... I'm Lj...

See down there? I've never had a gf

Miss Feeling-like-a-dumb-ass:

Im sorry. yeah i got the wrong num.

Mr. Nice Guy:

I hope ur feeling better though... Cuz now u get to reconsider what u texted. .

Like a second chance

Mr. Asshole:

You'll laugh about this years from now

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Trailer: Good Morning

2009-01-06T14:21:00.000-08:00

Now, if the possibility of blogging could truly enter into all stereotypes of de-masculinization, I'd totally be in the wrong of starting one. So the impossibility is not possible; therefore, here I go:

My name is John Kim, but I go by Little John or LJ.

People tell me my life is like a movie.

"You should write a book about your life!"

My responses drip with false humble reaction.

"I'm too young! Look, I'm only 20! Everybody has an interesting life."

Shut up, LJ!

Here's some truth. I DO want to write a book or make a movie about my life. I'm actually in love with myself. Is this too much truth? It is not. I like to watch my life history on playback. This is how I learn about myself and who I am becoming, about why I react and think the way I do to situations and to people, like you.

I fail to tell people who I really am. I've become a chameleon. And since my life is a movie, the only way to tell who I am is a full rewind and play.

So here I am, about to hit the rewind button until it goes all the way back.