Born and raised in Seattle (before it was reduced to a grunge/Starbucks/microbrew/Microsoft cliche in the popular consciousness). Currently employed (since 1994, but not for much longer!) as the Editor of Microsoft Cinemania (moribund CD-ROM AND website). First movie review: Annie Hall (University of Washington Daily, 1977). Withdrew from life and plunged headlong into movies after failed relationship in 1979; didn't come back up for air for some time. Ran/booked the fabulous Market Theater in Seattle's historic Pike Place Market with dear pal and owner Ann Browder from 1984-1987; Marketeers still reunite at least four times a year for ritual events (Oscar party, Ann's summer yard party, end-of-summer retreat on Olympic Peninsula [aka "Q-bob"], Xmas party at Jeeem's CinePad).

Covered movies from Hollywood (for Orange County Register; nationally syndicated over Knight-Ridder) for seven years (1987-1994), but finally decided enough was enough and gratefully moved back to Seattle. Member of Los Angeles Film Critics Association (1988-1992), (Screen) Writers Guild of America (1992-present), Sweeney family (honorary membership, 1979-present), Cheeselovers International (late '70s?). Written regularly for The Seattle Times, The Orange County Register (Los Angeles), The Rocket (Seattle, 1982-1995), The Seattle Sun. Also written for Film Comment, Premiere, Hollywood Reporter, Daily Variety, Men's Journal, Savvy, many other publications.

Only produced play: Mea's Big Apology (co-writer), starring college chum Julia Sweeney (God Said 'Ha!'); Groundling Theatre, Los Angeles, 1988 and 1992. Guest writer on "Saturday Night Live" (Patrick Stewart and Alec Baldwin/Kim Basinger shows), 1994. Only produced screenplay: It's Pat: The Movie (co-writer), recipient of five "Razzie" nominations (no wins -- hey, we were up against Showgirls, Waterworld, The Scarlet Letter, and Congo -- tough competition!) and rated a "BOMB" by my pal Leonard Maltin in Cinemania -- but, honest, it actually has some really funny stuff in it if you can get past the choppy first 15 minutes. (That's another story, which will soon be appearing on this website...)

Most life-changing and/or life-shattering movie experiences (some for aesthetic, some for purely personal, reasons): Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey, Barry Lyndon, and Dr. Strangelove, Robert Altman's Nashville and The Long Goodbye, Roman Polanski's Chinatown and Repulsion, Claude Chabrol's Le Boucher, Wim Wenders' Kings of the Road, Buster Keaton's Sherlock, Jr., and Our Hospitality, Sam Peckinpah's The Wild Bunch and Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid, Spike Lee's Do the Right Thing, Woody Allen's Hannah and Her Sisters, Howard Hawks' Only Angels Have Wings and Rio Bravo, Krzysztof Zanussi's Ways in the Night, Imperativ, and A Year of the Quiet Sun, Ivan Passer's Cutter's Way, Kenji Mizoguchi's Sansho the Bailiff, Yasujiro Ozu's Late Spring, Orson Welles' The Magnificent Ambersons, David Cronenberg's The Brood, Joel and Ethan Coen's Miller's Crossing, Gus Van Sant's My Own Private Idaho, F.W. Murnau's Sunrise, Steven Spielberg's Jaws and E.T. - The Extra Terrestrial, Rainer Werner Fassbinder's Berlin Alexanderplatz and The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant, Luis Buñuel's Un Chien Andalou and The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie, Mike Leigh's High Hopes, the Marx Brothers' Animal Crackers, Jonathan Demme's Stop Making Sense, Brian DePalma's Carrie, Terry Gilliam and Terry Jones' Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

See Jeeem's 120 Most Beloved Movies