Joe Blog

I will try to do better…

OK where are we?

32 Weeks.

Opening Day for the 2008 World Series Champion New York Metropolitan Baseball Club is around the corner.

First practice for The Alpha Phi Delta Brooklyn Alumni Club Softball Team’s 31st season in the Staten Island Slow Pitch Softball League is little more than 5 hours away.

The Pregame is rolling on on SPIKE TV - Midnight on Thursdays…This Week The Movie 21.

We are about to begin production on a couple of projects that have us very excited.  Details to follow but just to whet the old peaking of the interested parties appetites, one includes the word Coxsackie the other includes my cousin Robert, who is a Priest, though he doesn’t know it yet.

And today having been Good Friday, I normally would have been down in Monroe, NJ at Aunt Miriam and Uncle Charlie’s making the Pizza Rustica and the Pizza Gran…

Unfortunately a car accident put Aunt Miriam in the Hospital.  A few cracked ribs and you lose your enthusiasm for chopping Sopresata and stuff….Here’s a picture of Aunt Mir last year making the pies. Oh yeah, the pies are awesome and  an old Italian tradition, that comes from the days before refrigeration, when they would take any meat  that  was left at the end  of the week and make a pie out of it.  Anywho the pies were made at my mom’s house and will be delivered to Aunt Mir asap.

OK, what else?  Oh yeah, I went to Vegas for the first time and was actually “cooled.” Meaning I hit like 8 or 13 or some number of hands in a row on a black jack table, (NOTYC) and the dealer started asking…”Do you have a feeling?  What are you doing?”  No, it was just pure dumb luck.  My strategy? Hit up to 12.  Hold on 13.  Hit 14.  Hold 15 and above.  I cashed out and walked away with a cool $12 profit.  That is dollars people.  Oh yes, read em and weep.  12 smackeroonies…I guess they’ll be writing the next “Bringing down the House” book about a poor little googley eyed freakish boy who, from his humble beginnings in Brooklyn, to his monthly poker game in New Providence (where he routinely gets slaughtered and must “Buy back in” 3 or 4 times) to his first trip to Vegas, getting “cooled” at the Planet Hollywood, became a hero, became a legend, became a man…

Until next time - Happy Easter and in advance, Merry Christmas…and of course…Let’s Go Mets!!!

“I can tell you what he doesn’t like. He does not look like a bitch.” - Samuel L. Jackson

Spike’s Weekend PreGame rolls on with the coolest man in Hollywood, this week’s guest, from the movie Jumper Samuel L. Jackson. Probably our toughest Interview yet, because while the movie takes place in about a thousand locations, Sam went to none of them, filming all of his stuff on a blue screen sound stage in Canada. With most of our questions centered on the exotic locations in the movie we were stuck pretty quick.

So I rolled out the old “What does Marcellus Wallace look like?” and Sam, (we’re pals now, so I call him Sam) responded in kind and we were off, again.

The Super Bowl was amazing…best big game I’ve ever seen on the gridiron. David Tyree’s catch was Chavezian, amazing and local boy makes good story, as he went to High School in Montclair.

3 days til Santanas and Catchers, I mean pitchers and catchers. While it sort of sucks that there are only ever 5 or 6 teams that are involved in these things and no one else can ever even consider bidding. But as a fan, getting Johan is awesome and a total coup. And the Mets gave up NOTHING to get him. Now, they MUST win the NL East.

Our short video “Buzzing” starring Ann Scobie and Allegra Cohen, Directed by Matthew Arkin, Produced by Sean Jaques and shot by Cordy Wagner of Fifth Column and Written by me is currently vying for the top spot on www.metacafe.com In 3 days we have over 90,000 hits

Please give the site a visit and vote for us. And if you like it, tell your friends!!! To vote you need to register, but that is quick and painless…so if you can, well we love you. Here’s the link -

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/1032695/not_two_girls_one_cup_but/

Our buddy Lou loaded it up and named it something different, but BIG thanks to Lou. Also, the website on the video is incorrect. Lou loaded an old version…next video will be correct. If you want to see our stuff visit

www.joenarciso.com click table34 OR fifthcolumn-media.com

ALSO – Spike TV’s Weekend Pregame with Me and Jim Conroy has been picked up for another 18 episodes. You can’t find it in the guide but we are on Thursdays Nights anywhere from 10:50PM to 1AM – This week we interview Julie Benz from the movie Rambo. The next two weeks are Matthew McConaughey and Kate Hudson from Fools Gold and Vince Vaughn and his 4 comedians from Vince Vaughn’s Wild West Comedy Show. Tune in and then tell Spike how much you love us.

Thanks,
Joe

We just shot the 3rd installment of Spike’s Weekend Pregame…in a word…Awesome!!!

John C. Reilly, star of “Walk Hard:The Dewey Cox Story” was our guest on the show, and he was great.  Jimmy and I saw the movie last Thursday and it is hilarious.  John was a gentleman and a was a fantastic guest.  I am not sure if we ever asked one of the prepared questions.  We were on a tight schedule.  We only had John for a very small window of time, but the interview was a solid 13 minutes.  John sat down and before the cameras rolled we were talking White Sox Baseball and Mets Baseball and Bears Football.  When the cameras did roll, we laughed pretty much the whole time.

John was a great sport.  In the movie, there are literally dozens of cameos by everyone from Ed Helms to Eddie Veder.  In a twist of colorful fate, there are cameos by BOTH Jack Black and Jack White, (leader of the band The White Stripes) When I called attention to this quirk of cameodic curiosity, John informed us that he thought Jack White was one of the great musicians working today.  I said “Jimmy wants to kiss you on the mouth right now.” as The White Stripes are his favorite band.  John seemed to get excited, but Jimmy demured.

Sean Jaques will be happy to know, that John did in fact answer some Tenacious D questions including telling us what a side hatch is.  A side hatch is a hatch sort of place on the side of a place where you can hide and you can come out of the naked if you need to.  I am pretty sure that is the definition he gave.  I was too busy thinking “How cool is this?” to really remember.

The shame is that we will have to cut the 13 minutes down to 3 for the show on Thursday at 11pm on SpikeTV.  But I am going to see if I can get the footage and post it somewhere.  I doubt it, but I will try.

Anyway, please watch “Spike’s Weekend Pregame.” at least for the next two Thursday’s at 11:00pm.  The shows are only 5 minutes so TIVO or DVR Spike so you won’t’ miss it.  I don’t think the name of the show come up in the menu so you need to just record the channel at the time.

We do the 4th one tomorrow.  Supposedly we’ve gotten good feedback and Spike is happy with the show, but we have no committment beyond tomorrow.  Please feel free to let Spike know that you want us to continue…if you do, of course…we don’t want you to do anything because I am coercing you.  Follow your heart…Hopefully, there will be much more Weekend PreGame to come and hopefully it will grow into a full half hour show…or even a full hour long show…one step at a time.

Merry Christmas……

“Spike’s Weekend Preview” debuted tonight…and it was pretty good.  Granted, Jimmy and I were both stiff and both were reading the cue cards   (Me WAY more than Jim and me WAY stiffer than Jim)  But over all not bad.

NEXT Thursday the 13th at 11pm we interview Ellen Page from the movie Juno.  Who knows, I may have even smiled, once or twice.  Tune in…

We are filming the first 2 episodes this Friday.  The second episode will feature Ellen Page from the movie “Juno”  We’ll be alone for episode #1.  The show is starting as a short, (5 minute) show and the more popular it becomes, the better our chances of expanding to a full length show, with a longer episode commitment.  So MARK your Calendars!!!

Jim Conroy and I are filiming the first, of hopefully many, episodes of “Spike TV’s Weekend Pregame,”
THIS Thursday November 29th.  AIR Dates TBD…Giddy up!!!

Mary, Bruce and I are formulating our next move for “Split the Difference” as NBC has decided to pass on us, in favor of another show about advertising.  Damn it…

I am working on a new script with Monica Trombetta - and we are psyched about it.  Details to come.

Also working with Pasta Jay Elowski on another script so we are pumped about that one too.  More to come.

Very excited that Nancy Valerio is joining the Fifth Column Team and will be working with us on our Blended Content Stuff. 

Table 34 and Fifth Column are partnering with Dan McNamara on a new expanded version of his inspired pilot “The Calderons”

Sean Modica has penned the hilarious “Dance for Grandma” a companion piece to our forthcoming Cease and D-Syst series.  We are working with Jodi Collins to secure some pretty exciting talent to work with us on it.  Charlie Pollock is set to work with me in C&D and we can’t wait to get going.

The brilliant and needlessly generous Charlie Cusumano continues to edit “Sweetie” the short we
shot this past summer.  It looks great, but thanks to some circumstances beyond our control, we will likely need to shoot some additional stuff this spring to make it a fully realized film.

HOF Quaterback and Renaissance Creative Arts Director, Steve Young is penning the music to allow us to finish the edit on “Rocks in the River,” the Church’s first narrative film. 

Personally, Sophie turned 9 yesterday, Sam is recovering nicely from her knee surgery ( to correct misaligned growth plates) and Charlene and I celebrate our 13th Wedding Anniversary today, as we look forward to the birth of our third child in May of 2008.

The Mets got Johnny Estrada for Steroid loser Mota, good riddance.  Still need a stud pitcher an some help in the pen…
Let’s GO Mets!
And that’s that…