Jeff Kuntz

Casting won 2nd Place in the Red One’s 72-hour short film 4K Challenge!  Nice job, Kim Sherman!

The D&H commercial aired during the Super Bowl, in a prime spot after the half-time show, which was a real surprise!  It looked great.  Dave Anderson, very slick editing.  And I’ll definitely use PIT STOP when my underarms act up.  Moesel.  Stroke of genius.

It’s funny.  People recognize me around Columbia now.  Either that, or I’m hopelessly self-obsessed after doing one commercial.

Made my acting debut last night in a TV commercial for D&H Drugstore in Columbia.  Kim Sherman directed, Dave Anderson was D.P., Michael checked footage, Mousel held the boom.  A major component of my role was wetting my armpits with paper towels.  The same for the female lead, Holly.  It was beautiful.  It was fun filming in a store after hours and yeah, man, Kim says I’m a natural.

Also, I completed my first Italian to English translation for the GBD.  Big fella.  10 pages.  It took a bit longer than I’d envisioned, but I’m happy to say that I am now something of an expert in the field of stillbirths, feto-neonatal mortality, and odds ratios for both.

I had a Matrix moment after I finished translating.  I sat there absorbing words for hours and then finally when I left the coffee shop where I was working, I walked out to the street and realized I could describe everything I saw.  Given, I could only describe it in terms of retarded intrauterine growth, but I marvelled at the fact that I had just learned over 100 new verbs, conjunctions, and scientific terms in a language that I speak more often in dreams than in waking life.

I got back to the US from studying abroad in Italy in 2002 and since then have only had a handful of Italian conversations, mostly on the phone with Nava and Marcello, my roommates for the year in Bergamo.  I should get in touch with them again.  Tomorrow!  Tonight, I’m going to watch more interviews with Charles Bukowski.  Hey, it’s OK…  Come on…  It’s alright… It’s OK.  I’m OK…  Yeah…

GBD translation is going well.  I’m learning a ton of new words.  I have a list going:  #1 il tasso – the rate;  #9 rilevante - remarkable/considerable/important, NOT “relevant”;  #16 l’andamento – the process/course/praxis of something;  #19 indagare – to investigate/probe;  #23 snellimento – a slendering/thinning;  #28 plurimo - multiple;  #46 essere sottoposto – to be subjected;  #56 complessivamente – on the whole

It’s a long list and it grows everytime I sit down to work.  There are short ones like #44 parto – childbirth, and beautiful long ones like #51 verosimiglianza – verisimilitude/plausibility.

I’ve heard about 2 rock shows happening downtown tonight.  Complessivamente, there’s a verosimiglianza rilevante that I might indagare one of them during l’andamento of my evening.  Also, Jenny 20 = snellimenti plurimi…

Boxcar Films is shooting a commercial this weekend for D&H Drugstore and I’ve been asked to star as a shopper with massive pit-stains.  Finally I’m landing the good roles!

We have a new President!

After a quick meeting at KOPN this morning — community radio station, no TV there, had to find one — I ran to the coffee shop up the street to watch the Inauguration.  They had a TV, but the sound didn’t work, so everyone in the place including me was frantically searching for a website or online radio station in-sync with the TV broadcast. Most big sites weren’t responding. I imagine a few million other people were trying to do the same thing we were in the coffee shop.

Interestingly enough, Democracy Now! was not only up and running, but it had better connection than CNN or NPR, albeit slightly delayed, so it was kind of like being psychic… but really drunk!  I could see the future, but wouldn’t hear it for another 10 seconds.  Still, I was enthralled and watched as Obama’s mouth preceded his words, simultaneously listening and reflecting on his speech while trying to lip-read the words to come.  And it was great!  Spectacular!  It’s not easy being a drunk psychic, but somehow I manage!

Nothing can dampen my spirits today!  Can’t wait to hear what Dan Bugnitz says about it.

Thank you, Jon Phillips, for hooking me up with this site!  I’m going to toy with the format and layout until I find something colorful and personal and keep posting my projects as I complete them.

Tonight, the Boxcar Films crew, a team of actors, and I got together and Kim Sherman and Michael Wilson’s house to watch the 5-minute short we made this past weekend for the Red One 4K Challenge.  Before it went to post production, I wasn’t sure how the short would turn out, but what I saw tonight was really impressive.  Beautiful shots (Mosel), great sound (C-Nug), super tight editing (Dave Anderson), great acting (Nikki, Kyle, Brian), and a stellar performance by yours truly gagging on a lemon rind in the restaurant scene. I’ll post a link soon. Nice job, Kim!

p.s. Obama inauguration tomorrow! I have hope for Obama’s presidency. I can’t say I’ve ever felt that way before. I have butterflies. Dan Bugnitz is in D.C. right now and says: It’s a real communal feeling. There are people everywhere. Walking around the Lincoln Memorial; everywhere!