Friends

Very thankful to have the friends I do in my life.  So creative.  So inspiring.  It's like a journey with these folks.  Fuck that, not a journey.  It's like a movement.  I find that I'm more inspired by my friends in their achievements and their tenacity in failures.  Truly blessed to have good people in my corner.  I cherish all you dudes and dudettes.  Extremely lucky to not be plowing this creative struggle alone.

Keep it up guys.  I love you for it.

Do You Want To Live Forever?

A new podcast will begin being posted here as well as on my YouTube channel.  Hosted by Hoch, Chappy, and myself it's called The Silver Screen Saloon.  We just bullshit about films we love completely uncut and uncensored.  For film lovers or people who just want to listen to us talk and sometimes make fools of ourselves.  Maybe it's your cup of tea.  Maybe it's not your flavor.  But we welcome all listeners, even the haters.
Devil Town is in post-production.  ADR sessions are about to begin with the actors.  I would say we are about 2 1/2 weeks out from a final cut.  It will be good to have it in the can.  I look forward to seeing it complete and moving on to future projects.  Onward and upward!

WOMANIZER.  The new web series.  Was on a bit of a delay.  Gearing back up.  Coming soon...

The feature screenplay "Dixie" has came along quite nicely.  Binaco (co-brain) did an incredible pass on the script bringing it to an epic version of what we originally light bulb-ed.  Very cool to have a creative partnership with a like-minded artist.  We essentially started together in a sense as we both tackled our first attempt at a feature length script together.  It's cool to see the evolution going into the sixth year of writing.  I have faith in "Dixie" and projects to come.

I'm working independently on a feature length script called "Almost Heaven".  It's been sort of a passion project of mine.  Loosely based on a true story my Dad told me one time with a helluva lot of artistic freedom.  I have the outline.  I'm 10 pages in.  I sometimes fear the dialogue.  But the challenge of it all is what makes me know it's worth doing it.  Goal: produce to picture

Another script I'm knee deep in is "Laugh Track" with Hoch.  Somewhat of a love letter to the lore of Los Angeles following a man by the name of Eddie Springfield.  No plot details.  20 pages in.  Outline solid.  Can't wait for this one.  Very fun story.

I have 6 scripts that are currently in heavy note taking/planning stages.  A few off-kilter dramedies, a horror script I'm pumped for, an adventure, and another horror story that needs finished. Not to mention revisions.  A lot to get outta my head.  Ideas vamoose!

Another huge part of my artistic outlet is the music of GDO.  January 1st we put out "Dead Wrestler" and we're about halfway into a full length called "Hollywood Starwhackers".  13 tracks.  Gets better with each one.

The website is still coming damnit.  It's coming.

All in all there is a lot to be happy and excited about.  A lot of cool projects that are different but still apart of the whole.  The website will show this whole.  I'm constantly trying to be prolific.  Sometimes I'm not, but sometimes I hit strides.  The discipline is setting in.  Focused on conquering.

Do you want to live forever?

RANT - Creative Teamwork is a Myth

There are a lot of people in this world that think they are career creatives.  They do a little here and there and are fulfilled with their creative output.  They shoot a short, make a sketch, write a song, and they're creative.  BULLSHIT.  To be a career creative is to give your life over to it.  Do you really think you'll ever get to a point in your life where you can make money at what you love by doing it once or twice a week?  Fuck no, you can't.  You know why?  Because there are people out there that eat, sleep, and breath this shit every waking hour of every waking day.  I wanna be prolific, but I'm finding that that old adage "NEVER WORK WITH YOUR FRIENDS" is holding true.  When you work with people who don't have or want to have that style of work ethic it holds you back.  Plain and simple.  It holds you way the fuck back.  You will never progress if you wait around for other people to care.  You will never be a success if you wait around for other people to execute.  You will never be creative if you depend on non-creative people.  It's time to fly solo.  No more shorts.  No website.  No sketch comedy.  No stupid music.  NOTHING.  The only thing that I, myself, can do and depend on is write.  I must sink myself into my writing.  Not writing shorts or sketch comedy that everyone depends on you to do every single fucking aspect of from thought to edit.  They want all the work done for them.  They don't wanna help.  They want the glory.  They see all the trivial acts of making that big project come to fruition and see the hard work while you see the ultimate goal and relish in the steps you must take to create it.  Making a website and a company is an act that takes a team and I no longer want a part of it.  It's not fun anymore.  It's like daycare constantly hounding people to create.  Constantly chasing people down with texts and phone calls.  Constantly seeing if they're gonna be here for the project.  Constantly reminding.  No one else does this.  Just me.  It's bullshit.  It's unfair.  And I want no part of it anymore.  I have put my life on hold to chase my dreams with people I thought were of the same mindset.  They are not.  They don't believe it can happen or they would make the moves.  They want to have that bullshit life and try to make it as a career creative as well.  That will never fucking happen unless a fluke of goddamn luck flies up their ass.  Shit doesn't work like that.  You can't work a nine-to-five, have a family life, have a social life, sleep all fucking day, and then give up a few hours to "chase your dream".  That's goddamn ridiculous.  It's laughable that anyone would think that is the formula to making it really happen.  Fuck that.  I'm tired of waiting for people who have one leg in.  I'm drowning in this shit, both feet over the edge because that's what it takes.  Sometimes I wonder if I should just hang this shit up and go get a serious 9-5 and a family.  Goddamn.  I'm giving my life away right now and eventually I'll have nothing to show for it.  Years pass by quick.  Too fast.  One day I'll wake up and be on my deathbed and I'll have waited for these people that never were truly about the cause.  They say they are.  They lie a good game.  But they are not part of the solution.  They are part of the problem.  I'm so fucking sick of being the goddamn cheerleader twenty-four seven.  When I'm quiet, nothing is said.  I'll go a week without mentioning the "goals" and "projects" we've all planned together just to see if anyone else rallies people for these goals/projects.  They don't.  If I don't bring it up, it's never talked about.  I'm tired of that.  It shows that I'm the only one that really gives a good goddamn about making an impact in Los Angeles.  We're in the town where we're literally a few miles drive and a meeting away from setting ourselves up for the rest of our life, but yet that doesn't light a fire under anyone's ass but mine.  FUCK OFF.  I'm tired of being the creative rally cry in a group of goddamn complacent mutes.  It's over.  I'm sinking into my feature-length scripts like I have been for the last week and they can go shoot and record whatever it is they want.  Let's see how much work gets done with all that shit when the cheerleader isn't around.  Let's just wait and fucking see....

Assessment I

Assessment:  at this moment in my life what is shaping me?  What intake is influencing me, affecting me?  Hmm... what makes my cockles, cockle?  Get my drift?  Tha-thump... tha-thump.  At this very moment... what do I love?

Cliche alert: Family and friends.  Man's best friend (Joker).  Deep thoughts.  The female form.  WRITING.  Nonsensical senses of humor.  Weird characters.  Full blown infatuation.  Laid back modesty.  60s-70s CINEMA.  Cathartic storytelling.  Minimalism.  Captivating dramatic television: SOA, Mad Men, Breaking Bad, etc.  Quiet reads.  Long drives, or walks.  Visiting places with historic significance.  Mixed Martial Arts.  Cold hard facts and conspiracy theories.  The infinite limits of space.  Cartoons.  Sweet Ice Tea.  creating art across all spectrums.  Bill Hicks.  People who are non-political and politically incorrect.  Folklore and the unexplained.  Trying to be a better man.  TV Comedy: Eastbound & Down, It's Always Sunny, Parks & Recreation, etc.  Mountains.  GDO: the Gawdamn Dirty Outfit.  Dialogue-driven drama.  Silly YouTube videos.  Terse Prose.  Ancient  Oaks and Weeping Willows.  Old School Horror.  Dallas Cowboys.  Museums and Art Galleries.  Dick and fart jokes.  The mysteries of science and religion.  The 1970s.  Grilling steaks and bashing vegans.  Knowing my role in the universe.  Richard Pryor.  Discovering the true power of the interweb.  Appalachia.  Joe Rogan's Podcast.  history of Hollywood.  secret societies and the Occult.  turkey burgers.  grey and red walls.  Jed Clampett.  The forest.  Composition notebooks.  Blue Dream and Grape Ape.  Art of photography.  Candles and ant traps.  West Virginia Mountaineers.  All the mistakes that have put me here and buried me.  And the one that got away...

the soundtrack or selections from my iPod:
AC/DC, Angelo Badalamenti, Antony & The Johnsons, Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti, Arson Anthem, Avi Buffalo, Bad Brains, The Band, Band of Horses, Beach House, Bill Callahan, The Black Keys, Black Mountain, Black Sabbath, Blitzen Trapper, Bob Dylan, Bob Seger, The Brian Jonestown Massacre, Bruce Springsteen, The Cave Singers, Chuck Mangione, Clutch, The Coasters, Corrosion of Conformity, Creedence Clearwater Revival, The Cramps, Crowbar, Daft Punk, David Bowie, David Vandervelde, De La Soul, The Dead Weather, Devendra Banhart, The Dictators, Dirty Projectors, The Doors, DOWN, Drive-By Truckers, Eddie Floyd, Electric Light Orchestra, Elvis Costello & the Attractions, Fang Island, Fleet Foxes, Fleetwood Mac, The Fleshtones, Frank Zappa, Ghostland Observatory, Hank III, Harry Nilsson, Helmet, Hot Water Music, Huey Lewis & the News, I Love You But I've Chosen Darkness, Iggy Pop, Jens Lekman, Johnny Cash, Johnny Paycheck, Kanye West, Kid Cudi, King Khan & The Shrines, Kings of Leon, The Kinks, KISS, Kris Kristofferson, Led Zeppelin, Lou Reed, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Magnetic Fields, Mastodon, Mayer Hawthorne, Motorhead, My Morning Jacket, Nashville Pussy, The National, Neil Young, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, Old Crow Medicine Show, Opeth, Otis Redding, Outlaw Order, Pantera, Passion Pit, Patti Smith, Pentagram, Phoenix, Phosphorescent, Pink Mountaintops, Plants and Animals, The Raconteurs, She & Him, The Shirts, The Sonics, Stone Temple Pilots, Superjoint Ritual, The Sursiks, The Sword, System of a Down, The Tallest Man on Earth, Tapes 'N Tapes, Temple of the Dog, Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, Tool, Trombone Shorty, TV on the Radio, Vampire Weekend, Warbeast, Warren Zevon, Waylon Jennings, The White Stripes, Witchcraft, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Yeasayer, ZZ Top


stand up comedians cracking the funny bone:
Bill Hicks, Richard Pryor, Patton Oswalt, Zach Galifianakis, Dave Attell, Mitch Hedberg, Brian Posehn, Bill Burr, Louis C.K., David Cross, Eddie Griffin, Dom Irrera, Joe Rogan, Sam Kinison, Doug Stanhope, Joey Diaz, Sarah Silverman, Greg Giraldo, Little Esther, Jim Norton, Ron White, Ari Shaffir, Ricky Gervais, George Carlin  and Dave Chappelle if he would ever work.

Art in the Worst of Times

As the world tears itself apart, art continues to be created.  In the worst times of turmoil, creativity flourishes and masterpieces are produced.  Hate births creation.  War bares art.  Suffering breeds honesty.  Turmoil creates truth.

Yeah, that's it.

Ramble. Ramblings. Ramble On. (part 3)

It's the dark ages with nukes.  Medieval moments in time.  North Korea.  Iran.  Russia.  China.  A web of unstable axis powers.  Nuclear competition for the 22nd century.  Why should America have all the bombs?  That's what they ask.  Hell, I don't have the answer to that one.  God bless the USA is what I say.  And for that I have no frame of reference for some tyrannic country that has their hand tightly grasped around the throat of their people... and again, that's my opinion.  The opinion of a fortunate American.  No forced warfare or government participation.  Easy middle/lower class upbringing.  Americana as apple pie.  Bicycles and swing sets.  The past looks bright.  Future feels uncertain.  Premonitions of things to come look bleak.  The pieces of this puzzle are looking complicated and terrifying.  Sacrifices are ahead in the world's affairs.  Is this it?  It's so predictable.  Could see it coming a mile away.  Storybook in it's execution.  And yet it fell together perfectly.  World War 3.  The stage is so beautifully set.  Fear overtakes the youth of America.  Fingers crossed for no mushroom clouds.  Here's to idealistic thoughts of a better future.  Here's to hoping.  

QUOTE: Billy Wilder

"Hollywood didn't kill Marilyn Monroe, it's the Marilyn Monroes who are killing Hollywood."
-- Billy Wilder

POETRY: Pouring the Rain

Wasn't it raining that day?

Pouring, right?
It was flooding the subway
yet it was a perfect night


Music was playing in the breezes
Feel-good kind
Umbrellas and petticoat squeezes
A great moment in time


Hot and cold in the back and forth
Lies on either side
Was scorched on the drive up north
when two worlds collide


I watch too many movies for this
Romanticize it all
My heart left with the subway
And I'll never call

by
C.E. Smith

Recommended Artist: Ghostland Observatory

From the album Paparazzi Lightning (2006).

Studio Update: GDO working on new album in CA!!!

Word on the street is that the underground phenomenon know as the Gawdamn Dirty Outfit has relocated from the gorges of Appalachia to the majestic foothills of California.  A studio is said to be near completion that will serve as the lair of great artistic venture to the plethora of troubadours that fall beneath the shadow of GDO.  


A new record is underway.  Writing has commenced.  Much ditty to deliver.  Concept EPs are on the horizon as well.  With bigger things coming down the pipeline. 


Just please have pity and remember to tell your committee that the advocates of the ditty are here for the city.  Sincerely, the Troubadours of the Ridiculous Ditty.  GDO.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7f2i25c6g0

QUOTE: George Carlin

"Have you ever noticed that anybody driving slower than you is an idiot, and anyone going faster than you is a maniac?"

-- George Carlin

Mainlining Memory Lane

Sometimes when I am by myself I think of old times.  Times in my life.  Moments and the people who surrounded me during.  Each coming with a feeling (vibe), smell and a soundtrack.  A shot of recollection.  Mainlining Memory Lane.  

Cabin Creek days.  Junior High.  RHS Spring of 2002.  Senior Week @ Myrtle Beach.  WVU.  The Blue House.  New York City.  2006.  Tower Records 866.  The Spring of 2007.  Full Sail.  Brooklyn.  The Green House.  

Nostalgia is consuming.  Dangerous.  I can get lost in it.  I try not to.  Most times I don't.  I know to live in the now, not the past.  Reminiscing without regrets...  Ah, to know then what I know now.  Here's to falling short all those times and the countless screw-ups and mistakes I've made up to 27.  Some I can live with - others... eh.

A toast to the women and great friends that touched/shaped my life up until now.  I miss all you guys.  Even the pricks and bitches.  You guys were awesome.  And I love you for it.

Cheers.

Pillaging and Plundering (in the Valley)

Working a steady 9-5.  Getting those bills paid down.  Feels great.  The Valley is hot.  California landscapes continue to induce awe.  The writing bug is inspired.  Creating.  The horizon is full.  And approaching fast.  Arrival of old friends (brains/artists).  PROJECTS/RELEASE.  Constant possibilities.  Bombarding the muse.  Pillaging and plundering from here to eternity.  Something wicked this way comes.  BIG THINGS.  Tomorrow is here.  One, two, three.  It's a go.

POETRY: Western Welcome

Tucked back in the West,

between Death Valley and the Pacific crest

Lies a magical fantasy world

of forgiven sin

and loose ends;

La-La-Land of pretend.

Constructed on make believe and desperate sleaze, 

dreams on their knees.

Wasted Sunset harlots possessed

with the ghosts of silver screen starlets.

Shuffle through the hustlers and hussies, 

palm trees and pool ponds,

the scum in the street full of imagination schemes

and empty American dreams living in the Hills...

This is real, the Western frontier.

Howdy.

Step into the Mecca.

Welcome to California.

by
C.E. Smith

Stupid update

Moved in.  Sweet digs.  Job is cool.  Life is hectic.  But good.  Joker is home. Couldn't be happier.  Revived.  Hopeful.