Until further notice, I'm suspending all blog activity for the rest of the
summer. Unless something of real interest breaks, I'm not planning on
writing any entries for the next two months.

Enjoy the weather wherever you are and go out and have some fun!

JC

In Bulgaria right now on my old asst Tunde's film '4th Kind' which I'm producing.
Pretty interesting part of the world. It's got that post-communist, nouve capitalist
vibe so it's this mishmash of conflicting styles and sensibilities. You can feel this
kind of seesaw battle between soviet-era pragmatism and the more free-for-all
western influences. It's beautiful city too. Reminds me a lot of Prague. I'm going to
venture out later and take a bunch of pictures and try to avoid getting rolled by
gypsies.

JC

I'm about to give this anonymous loaf of sh*t called 'Les Munson' the moment his
mother swore he'd never get...he's going to MATTER, for a few, fleeting, split seconds.
He's going to claim five minutes of somebody's day that he clearly idolizes,
actually taking the time to notice him.

Yes Les, I see you, waving your over-sized placard, with your hair dyed 'Lola' red. Calm
down, make your way up to the front of the stage and let's all celebrate you.

I've got a thousand dollars that says this uber-douche and all-around baiter/hater
doesn't have the necessary balls to tell everybody who he is and what he does.
Put a face on it limp d*ck. You talk a lot of yang...let's see you walk it.

Sorry folks but if I don't shut these sh*theads down, then it makes these trips to the blog the
most tedious part of my day and I don't want it to be that way.

So I've decided to go on a gnat-hunt and wipe them out, one at a time, starting with
this turd. But I don't think he's got nearly the guts it would take to step into a real set of
crosshairs.

This will never happen again for you Les. This is a one-time only invite where you get
a shot to put your life up against mine and pro/con the whole shooting match.
So pull on those big boy pants with the pleats, throw on that clip-on, run the
comb through that rapidly thinning patch and let's get an good look at you champion!

I'm waiting asswipe...name, email, phone #...let's get at it. My speedbag broke and I
need a sub.

JC

Watching a thoroughly outclassed Laker team last night, get beheaded by
nearly forty points was bittersweet: I'm a big Kings fan, so seeing their
longtime nemesis getting humiliated by a Celtics team that upon final
reflection, might be one of the greatest teams in NBA history was deeply gratifying.
On the other hand, I was pulling for them because they're were such an
underdog going in and I wanted to see a game seven just for the sake
of a game seven.

Wow. If Lamar Odom, Sasha Vujacic and most of Lakers bench aren't crated
up and shipped out before next season, forget ever making a return trip to the
finals. I don't think I've ever seen a worse defensive breakdown than Vujacic
against Ray Allen. Jesus Shuttlesworth was making my man from Slovenia look
like he'd never set foot on a basketball court. I'm pretty sure at my age, even with my
sh*tty knee, I could have gotten around some of those screens and at least been
within ten feet of Allen as he was raining wide open threes from beyond the arc.

And Lamar? No heart. The guy just doesn't have any heart or at least wasn't in any
hurry to show it. He just didn't look like he gave a sh*t. All of this, in tandem with
Gasol's relatively soft showing, undermined the one man that could make all their
dreams come true: Kobe Bryant...The only guy that seemed willing to trade bump for bruise
with a tough, physical Celtics team. He did everything he could and it wasn't enough
in the end. They locked him up brilliantly.

LA radio this morning will be filled with Kobe apologists, bitching about this and
that but in truth, Kobe, as great a player as he is, and for the modern era, he's arguably
the greatest. He just ain't MJ. Nobody is. Not Kobe, not Lebron, no one. Jordan made
you kill him. You had to kill him to beat the Bulls of old. You had to bleed him out,
beat him to death, burn him alive, then bury the remains.

He never looked on for an entire fourth quarter while the other team continued to run
up the score and openly celebrate with over eight minutes left in the game. It just wouldn't
have happened. Kobe is a miraculously skilled player but still utterly mortal when compared
to Jordan. Nobody did it like him and if he's in his prime last night, playing the two spot
just like Kobe...then we ARE going to that game seven. He takes a middling Lakers team on
his back and gets it done. No doubt about it.

JC

Would love to hear what you're watching at the movies and what
you've dug thus far.

JC

Amid reports that oil had shot up to $140 a barrel, the dow plunges 400
points...Wall Street's worst day in years. Meanwhile, Exxon posts absolutely
obscene profit margins and everybody just stands around shrugging 'oh well.'
I hope Bush and Co. have adequately padded the prep school funds of their
sh*thead constituents for centuries to come. This is now a full blown Kleptocracy
folks. They aren't making any bones about it anymore or laying down even the
slightest hint of a smoke screen, it's a smash and grab and they're going to make
off with as much money as they can stuff in the saddlebags.

I have to believe Hell exists because there's just no other place you could put
these assh*les once they've shuffled loose their mortal coils. But if that black raisin
in Dick Cheney's chest can somehow keep him bipedal, then he may have struck
a sweetheart deal with the lower depths...it's the only reasonable explanation.

Whatever your feelings on Obama, ANYTHING beats this clusterf*ck. Sh*t, PAT
ROBERTSON would be better than what we've got now. And if that sentiment doesn't
perfectly depict the state of things, then I'm incapable of doing so.

Get out there and smile in spite of it and have a great weekend.

JC

Guys:

The upcoming election will represent the best presidential race since Kennedy/Nixon.
We have the opportunity to rebuild the wasteland-like damage that was done by
the (thankfully) lame duck administration of meatheads and criminals but
we must ACT. The gains that can be made in the Middle East alone are
worth the price of a ballot punch.

Let's get Obama in there and make history...and prove why this is greatest country
on the planet.

JC

Offers have gone all to all the actors on KILLING PABLO but I'm not at
liberty to say, to whom they've gone.

When people start saying 'Yes,' I'll start putting it on the blog.

Until then...we watch...we wait...

JC

Kids:

Had to bust out these last few days and finish some studio assignments that
I was horribly late on. Took this picture in the middle of my fourth glass of
Oban and cigar # who-the-f*ck-knows. This was Jake Scott's place and he
and his wife Rhea were kind enough to give me the run of the joint. I had a
blast and ACTUALLY got some work done.

JC

We whacked our nemesis, the Cubbies, yesterday 14-8 to advance to a showdown with
the #1 seed Giants right after Memorial Day.

The kids were OUTSTANDING. A few parents had to be put in straight-jackets, but in all,
a great day at the ballpark.

JC

The following website, sponsored by the RED camera system, is one of the
coolest ideas to emerge on the web in awhile. Aspiring filmmakers will be
given the opportunity to take raw RED footage shot for the film 'Susannah'
(directed by Evan Nicholas) and create their own cut of the film.

If you're interested and want to apply your skills, go to the following site:

http://www.opencut.org

AND GOOD LUCK!

JC

Forget the NBA or NHL. It's all about SANTA MONICA LITTLE LEAGUE this weekend
where we square off in a rubber match against the dreaded Cubs. We beat these
guys last week on a walk-off RBI by my shortstop Alex Musca (son of Tom Musca
who wrote 'Stand and Deliver') and this one is to see who advances in the playoffs.
We're the fifth seed and they're the forth seed so it should be a real barnburner
out at Memorial Park in SM on sunday.

JC

You fought your ass off and made yourself a hugely viable and powerful political presence in
the eight years since the Clintons last reigned. It's nothing short of tremendous. Now exercise
the most common of common sense and bow gracefully from the blinding footlights of
the Democratic race. Understand that you're beaten and don't prolong a process that
will only pull your party apart. If you stay in a race where it is mathematically impossible for
you to prevail, it casts you as little more than a shrewish, win-at-all-costs political opportunist
and NOT as a team player who puts her party's collective welfare ahead of her own political
ambition.

There's nothing wrong with wanting it that bad. There IS something wrong with wanting
it worse than anything else.

When you take in the full measure of what electing someone like Obama into office could
help repair and reshape the world over, then even you would be hard pressed not to see the
almost invincible promise that brings. The people are telling your party what they want.
Do the graceful, gracious thing and simply step aside. You are now a force to be reckoned
with and who knows what 2012 will bring. Any undo damage to your reputation would only
come as a result of you not knowing when to call it a day...and that day has dawned.

JC

Apparently, this site is somehow involved in the destruction of this poor misguided
soul's porn-stuffed, terminally infected hard-drive. I've removed the post itself but
since I haven't the slightest idea what this guy is talking about, I will turn things
over to longtime 'Smokin' Joe' regular and rock solid center of the universe,
THE INDIAN as SHE explains:

'GLF, LOVING THE STEP BY STEP INSTRUCTIONS TO DISASTER BUT...

ARE YOU SERIOUS?

I'M OFFICIALLY CHANGING YOUR INITIALS TO WTF?

TO EVERYONE ELSE,
THE LINK THAT WTF (THE ARTIST FORMERLY KNOWN AS GLF) POSTED IS FROM JOE'S SITE. BUT IT'S A LINK POSTED BY A COMMENTER, NOT JOE. AND THE SH*T LOOKS LIKE IT WILL LITERALLY SUCK YOU FACE FIRST INTO THE MATRIX. AGAIN, I'M ALL FOR MISSING WORK, SO I CLICKED, AND, TO MY DISMAY, IT TOOK ME TO A "WEBPAGE CANNOT BE FOUND" TAB. I THEN FOUND WTF'S FOLLOW UP COMMENT ABOUT CUTTING AND PASTING AND I TRIED THAT AS WELL. I WAS TAKEN TO ANOTHER SITE THAT WAS BASICALLY A BLANK PAGE WITH A LITTLE VIDEO BOX IN THE CENTER AND A PLAY BUTTON AT THE BOTTOM THAT PRACTICALLY SCREAMED CLICK IF YOU DARE. I DID DARE AND I DID CLICK. THAT'S WHEN ANOTHER BOX APPEARED TELLING ME I HAD TO DOWNLOAD IN ORDER TO SEE THE VIDEO.

HERE'S WHERE I STOPPED. IT AINT ROCKET SCIENCE. ALSO, HAVING TO EXPLAIN TO MY BOSS AND MY UNION HOW 80 GIGS OF PORNOGRAPHY MADE IT'S WAY TO MY COMPUTER AND ATE ALL MY FILES IS JUST NOT A GOOD LOOK.

AND THAT'S WHERE WTF'S "FRIEND" SHOULD HAVE STOPPED TOO. IN ORDER TO GET THIS MAGIC DIGITAL EBOLA VIRUS THAT WTF IS TALKING ABOUT, YOU HAVE TO F*CKING DOWNLOAD IT. AND ANY TIME YOU DOWNLOAD SOMETHING JUST FOR SH*TS AND GIGGLES, YOU DESERVE WHATEVER RUINATION IT MIGHT BRING YOU.'

So there you are. Hope that helps others avoid a similar fate.

JC

By JOHN ANDERSON
Wanting a movie to end so you can run out and buy the soundtrack may not seem like huge endorsement, but in this case, it is. "Playing for Change: Peace Through Music," a pan-global survey -- and marriage -- of varying styles of world music, is often so exhilarating, its neo-hippie utopianism doesn't seem so implausible. Sure to be a festival hit, the docu (perhaps with a tidier title?) could make inroads into specialty markets and TV.
Starting on the pedestrian mall in Santa Monica, Calif., helmers Mark Johnson (who narrates) and Jonathan Walls made a recording of street singer Roger Ridley performing "Stand by Me" then took that tape all over the world. They added singers in New Orleans and Amsterdam, a guitarist in France, a Congolese drummer, some Zuni drummers in New Mexico, making musical collaborators out of people who'd never met. As movie openings go, the "Stand By Me" overture is the musical equivalent of the tracking shot that opens "Touch of Evil."
And that's just the beginning. Music "expresses what you are trying to say without words," says one musician and, predictably, "Playing for Change" is most eloquent when the music does the talking.
Long-range partnerships are being formed: A singer sings in Buenos Aires, and his female backup trio, the Oneness Choir, is in India. Rajhesh Vaidhya, who plays the ancient veena, turns the sitar-like instrument into a melodious funk machine. Israeli singer Tula is followed by South African guitarist/singer Vusi Mahlasela, followed by Tibetan group the Exile Brothers. Significantly, a lot of the musicians are not seen playing in their own homelands -- sometimes by choice, sometimes by the choices of others.
Among its virtues, "Playing for Change" is a great showcase for just what incredible, thoroughly accessible popular music is being made worldwide and, regardless of this movie's efforts, is already highly homogeneous and cross-influenced. In turn, the doc is also an indictment of the American music industry and of format radio, which might look toward "Playing for Change" for a way to avoid irrelevance and obsolescence.

Production values are excellent, especially the sound.

Camera (color/B&W, mini-DV/16mm), Krupitzer; editor, Walls; music supervisor, Jenee Deaneglis; sound designers, Greg Morgenstein, Onnalee Blank, Paul Savio; re-recording mixers, Morgenstein, Johnson, Holger Thiele; associate producers, Doug Kenney, Enzo Buono, Francois Vigue, Greg Johnson. Reviewed at Tribeca Film Festival (Discovery), April 29, 2008. Running time: 76 MIN.