Hello, my name is Jeremy Lum

Writing

After graduating from NYU Tisch School of the Arts with a degree in Dramatic Writing, I worked for a year at Newline Cinema before returning to San Jose to teach Creative Writing, Screenwriting and other Film courses. Stories have always been a love of my life.

It was in the 5th grade that I began writing my own. Before that, my two best friends and I would play adventure games where we would create characters and a story to embark on an adventure. But, I began writing because of Mrs. Gruhn, my 5th grade teacher. She loved history and shaped her entire class around American history. I fell in love with the stories about great American events, the Revolution War, the Civil War, Civil Rights, and began to write historical fiction. This later blossomed into writing more sophisticated short stories and eventually screenplays that my friend, Darren and I, would produce to create short films, often for school projects.

Several optioned screenplays, a finalist in the 2005 screenwriting competition for the Asian American International Film Festival in New York, as well as a play that opened at the Kirk Theater and Experimental Theater Wing in New York, I continue to write and produce new works.

Food

I have always loved food. When I was little, one of my first memories was being placed on the kitchen counter to help my mom make lasagna. My job was to lay the noodles down. I loved it. In my house growing up there was a simple rule: those who cook don’t clean. Since I didn’t cook, my father and I often did a lot of dishes. I hated it. So, I realized I could beat the system by cooking dinner. I loved watching The Frugal Gourmet as well as Jacques and Julia, Lidia Bastianich, Yan Can Cook, and Graham Kerr on PBS to learn about new recipes to try for our family meals. This was all long before the Food Network existed.

The first big meal I ever made was Thanksgiving for our family when I was twelve. After that I took over doing dinners for our family, eventually began doing large dinners and catering. Now, I enjoy doing it for fun, inviting friends over to break bread.

Film

When I was in 6th grade, my father made me watch 2001: A Space Odyssey. I hated it. I hated the apes who were so boring. I thought it would never end, and when it finally went to space, I was relieved. Finally, the exciting part was beginning… but, humans in the future were more boring than apes. Eventually, HAL was introduced, and I found it strange that I was rooting for the villain because he was at least interesting. Then the ending happened… I was so confused. I had no idea what was going on. MY father and I talked about the film for almost three hours afterwards. I decided I wanted to see more films that would produce conversations like that.

I started writing film criticism on my own in 8th grade and have continued writing it in various forms ever since.  

Star Rating System:

4 Stars - Excellent film. One of the best of the year. I generally give 10-15 4-star reviews a year. In a good year, all of the films on my Top Ten are 4-star movies. 

3 1/2 Stars - A really good film. A high recommendation that doesn't quite have all of the pieces in the film working towards its theme, but still exceptionally well done. 

3 Stars - A good film. Recommended to see. It is my average score, or I hope it to be. 

2 1/2 Stars - An okay film. The film has a number of faults, but because of the movie's acting, or the director, or even the subject matter, I am recommending seeing it if you like one of those. 

2 Stars - A bad movie. The film doesn't succeed. Sometimes 2-star films are failures, but bold ones who risked a great deal. 

1 1/2 Stars - A really bad movie. The film not only doesn't succeed at what it attempts to set out to do, but either, is done so poorly or has no idea of what it is attempting to do. 

1 Star - A terrible film. The movie actually works against itself. 

1/2 Star - A really terrible film. I don't often give this score, but this is on the scale of avoid this even if on an airplane. 

0 Stars - Worst films ever made. I save this score for films that I find morally reprehensible. Films that I actual think are bad for our society.