Domo arigato and forward!

Well, we didn't have to go to Tokyo this year to have Barack Obama elected. This time it was only to Lake Arrowhead where we were ecstatic when CNN called the election for our President. Four years ago we were in the Conrad Hilton Hotel in Tokyo for my birthday treat watching CNN so superstition being what it is - like someone playing basketball as an election tradition - we could not be at home in Valencia as we were in the Bush re-election disaster, even though our home has our fantastic children there. So good news all throughout especially the female power now elected; Maine, Maryland, Washington and Minnesota marriage equality. It is still frigin' bizarre that it is 2012 and we still have these topics as "issues" in our supposed modern society. And there was actually 23% of the LGBT population that voted for Romney? What!?!?!?! And did anyone see Karl Rove call out his own Fox for prematurely, he thought, calling Ohio? Delicious television I must say. One of the best essays or posts came from Andrew Sullivan of The Daily Beast which I shall post here. God bless the World. 6 Nov 2012 08:00 PM Live-Blogging Election Night Screen shot 2012-11-07 at 12.18.13 AM 12.27 am. It's been a long long slog these past five years of backing the skinny guy with the funny name. But this election, to my mind, is immensely more important than the breakthrough of 2008, after the catastrophe of Bush-Cheney. What it has done is rip open the complete epistemic closure on the Republican right about what America now is. It has revealed that Fox News, Drudge, and the rest have been engaged in a massive propaganda campaign to create an alternative reality and get the rest of us to go along. But this president has never been a radical; he has always been a moderate; he has been immensely skilled at foreign policy, ended one war and won another, killed Osama bin Laden and saved the American auto industry, deflected a Second Great Depression and initated universal access to healthcare. He has presided over a civil rights revolution and the beginning of the end of prohibition of marijuana. He has created the new and durable coalition that was once Karl Rove's dream. Americans saw this. They were not fooled. And they made the right call, as they usually do. What was defeated tonight was not just Romney, a hollow cynic, but a whole mountain of mendacity and delusion. That sound you hear is the cognitive dissonance ringing in the ears of ideologues and cynics. Any true conservative longs for that sound, the sound of reality arriving to pierce through fantasy and fanaticism. We are the ones we have been waiting for. And now we have entrenched it deeply in the history of America and the world. That matters. May the next four years make it matter even more.

God bless "Mark and Brian" and Bob Birch

August 20. 2012 56. Remember that number; that age. Two of my favorite worlds connected, sadly last week as Mark and Brian did their last radio show after 25 years together; the longest run in LA Radio. Moreover and obviously more life-horrific was the horrible news that Bob Birch, a hugely respected musician and long-time Elton John band member died Thursday morning. As I was reading a front page LA Times story about Mark leaving the show, he stated at the age of 56 there were things he and his wife wanted to do and that people around him were dropping dead at 56. Bob Birch's life ended at the age of 56 leaving behind a wife and son. ____________________________________________________________________________________ Mark and Brian ended their show on double whammy of emotion. As their sportsperson Todd Donoho stated, we loved them because they were real. Genuine. Caring. Kind. Sometimes off-color but damn funny. Mornings won't be the same without these two friends. Mark had announced his pseudo retirement a few months ago, leaving us all thinking Brian would continue on KLOS radio with a new partner. In the second hour on Friday Brian shocked us with powerful heartfelt words he was also leaving KLOS to start a podcast with Jill Whelan. Mark will also begin a podcast with his wife Lynda and family. But together, the two of them were once in a lifetime legend good-time fun from catapulting Elvis-Bob across the fountain at Caesar's Palace with Evel Knievel in attendance (or in awe-mazement)....to the emotional news of Lynda's battle with breast cancer...to the best Christmas show ever: Donny Osmond, David Cassidy, Dana Delany with Dana grabbing David's crotch in the middle of the song....dipping themselves in chocolate for Valentine's Day...getting the mayor of San Francisco to shower on-air with them... to all their charity efforts. Wow. Wow. We laughed with them, cried with them, and just felt them. ____________________________________________________________________________________ They were a fabric of our family as our kids were born and grew up with them. I remember living in London during 9-11 and feeling so homesick. I needed my pals Mark and Brian so I called from the office and asked to be put on hold just to hear their comforting voices. And unlike many radio personalities, they cared about their listeners and treated them respectfully. One of my many phone calls into the show - and I would call from the set of Dating Game in Russia, or the Field of Dreams - dealt with the videotape my dear friend Kelly McIntyre shared with me back in 1991. William Shatner singing "Rocket Man." Yes, you read that correctly. Singing it live at the 1979 Sci Fi awards. Horribly hysterical. The clincher? Bernie Taupin introduced Shatner as straight as could be. My Lord, if he really knew what was to happen, I cannot imagine Taupin would have been in the same building. (In the age of internet now, this five minute masterpiece is accessible.) So I dropped it off for Mark and Brian. They played the video on the radio, as contradictory as that could be. They both reacted the same way I did with gut-punching laughter. Mark said on-air this was worthy of the rare-to-get Christmas Show tickets. Some odd snaffu happened with the tickets not being there. My fantastic wife interjected to the rescue - we were living in Pismo Beach then - and left word with Mark who called our home personally to let us know he would have two tickets at his home for us to pick-up. Colleen, the over the moon hero that she is, drove from Pismo to Santa Clarita and we were in like Charlie going to Wonka. Class. Real class. ____________________________________________________________________________________ Their last show connected the dots in many ways. Our best friend Dee Dee Myers was talked about for her efforts to get President Clinton to wish Mark a happy birthday, missing him by one minute. Then came word about Bob Birch dying. Bob had played a couple of their Christmas shows in the fabu-tastic house band put together by super musician Marc Bonilla. Pure crap and nothing made sense. Why would he take his life? ____________________________________________________________________________________ That answer came to fruition during Bob's funeral yesterday in Simi Valley attended by hundreds of friends and family. Wow, did Bob have friends who absolutely loved him. We learned of his beautiful family, his wife Michele and his son Jonathan. We learned about his spot-on sense of humor, even during the most tragic time in his life when he was hit by a truck as a pedestrian back in 1995. Davey Johnstone, Elton's long-time guitarist who knows tragedy way too much as he lost his son Oliver years ago in a scary pool accident, told the crowd at Mt. Sinai temple of how as soon he heard the news of Bob being hit, he rushed to the scene to find Bob lying in the street lifeless. Davey knelt down to comfort him, asking him if anything he can do. Not expecting much of a reaction, Davey was shocked to see Bob's eyes slowly open. Then Davey crept closer, as Bob whispered, "don't replace me with Nathan East." Davey was ready to pop him right there. So many stories and memories from his long-time Detroit friends, his perfect, just perfect father in law, his talented baseball son who as Davey read words from Elton, he will miss going to Jonathan's baseball games in the sweltering heat with Bob and Michele. Bob was a cook to the heart of an Italian's delight. But I left the service hearing the words over and over of how Bob was a true friend and family man and passionate about his other love....music. Bob would love to play stadium gigs with Elton to 50,000 fans to playing a buddy's bar mitzvah to a gig in Santa Barbara with Willie and the Weenies. Someone said he could have 20 different artists and their 20 different song playlists memorized. He was the person you called at 3 in the morning when your car died and he would jump to drive you four hours without a blink as friends like Marc Bonilla and Kim Bullard repeated along with his Detroit gang. One of them was Italian-istic thanking Elton for taking care of the guys who struggled to get to LA for this week and mentioned our mutual friend Mark Nilan. Bob was/is one of the people that will affect me forever. Live and love every day. ____________________________________________________________________________________ Lastly, his father in law (picture Jerry Stiller) was so touching in his words of love for Bobby not as a son in law, but as a son. He also praised Elton "the king of music" for giving Bobby the greatest gig of his life and taking care of his family. He said on a scale of 1 to 10 of pain from that horrific accident, Bobby was a 20. Yet never complaining. Finally, the pain was too much. From Davey's to Nigel's to Bullard's to Bonilla's to Greg P----- and Jimmy, Bob Birch was how we all should live our lives...to the most, to the happiest, to the purest. Thank you for sharing this world with us Bob, and your family and your friends. _____________________________________________________________________________________ So from powerful memories of Mark and Brian to Bob Birch, live and love and do the right thing every day. Care about those loved ones and give back. Give back.

Batman says guns suck.

Batman says guns suck.

Small World gets Content-ed

Buongiorno friends, family and doppelgangers. Thanks to Hayden Meyer who introduced us to the exceptional human being John Schmidt, it was announced today we have a strategic alliance. Yes I know that sounds vague but so damn what. We now have some terrific people helping to guide our business like John who founded October Films, and Geoff Webb and Greg Phillips and Saralo and Jonathan and Sarah and Jennifer and Bill....too many that will join forces with Colleen, Karla, Don and me along with our partners in Finland Ilkka and Eero, and in Romania, Marius and Monica and in Singapore with Chris and Nelia and Zainir. Making the small world a better place. Here is some press from today. Feel free to send champagne to Colleen; she was the one who worked and worked and worked this deal. Posted: Wed., Jun. 27, 2012, 2:23pm PT Content, Small World team Pair will develop formats together By VARIETY STAFF, VARIETY STAFF Content Media has inked an ongoing format development deal with Small World IFT. Agreement allows the pair to create a joint formats portfolio and affords Content the option to take an equity stake in Small World in the future. Deal follows the hiring announcement of Karla Burgos, former CBS Intl. formats coordinator, as Small World's head of sales and development. Small World and its founders, Tim and Colleen Crescenti, have launched several formats to the international market including "Dragons' Den," "I Survived a Japanese Game Show" and "Silent Library." Company is currently developing properties including Thailand's "The Fan," Romania's "Miss Country Girl," and Finland's "Night Patrol." "We really admire how Tim and Colleen go about their business," said Content topper John Schmidt. "We are excited to begin working with them to grow their business, work on the format rights that Content is acquiring, and tie in with our production businesses at Collins and Jigsaw." -- AJ Marechal http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118056031 Content strikes formats deal with Small World IFT by Kelly Anderson Content Media Corporation and LA-based formats company Small World IFT have inked a deal to develop a joint formats portfolio. Content, which recently announced plans to go private and acquired 50% in Alex Gibney’s Jigsaw Productions, also gets an opportunity to take an equity stake in Small World at a future date, as part of the deal. Small World will now be based at the offices of Content’s affiliated prodco, Collins Avenue. Content will work closely with Small World founders Tim and Colleen Crescenti to continue Small World’s business, which includes bringing formats Dragons’ Den and I Survived a Japanese Game Show to the worldwide market, and build a global formats sales company. Currently on Small World’s development slate is The Fan from Thailand, Miss Country Girl from Romania’s Media Factory, The Kitchen Musical from Singapore’s The Group Entertainment, and Night Patrol from Finland’s Aito Media. Recently the prodco hired Karla Burgos from CBS International as its head of sales and development. “We are big fans of Tim and Colleen, and we really admire how they go about their business,” said Content CEO John Schmidt. “They have terrific relationships around the world with many production companies and networks, and we are excited to begin working with them to grow their business, work on the format rights that Content is acquiring, and tie-in with our production businesses at Collins and Jigsaw.” In a joint statement, Tim and Colleen Crescenti added: “It’s a fan-dam-tastic fit for us, and we’re looking forward to taking Small World to the next level with them at our side.” http://realscreen.com/2012/06/27/content-strikes-formats-deal-with-small-world-ift/ http://www.deadline.com/2012/06/content-media-announces-deal-with-small-world-ift/

Kelli is a college graduate of Macalester!

May was definitely an eventful month with the proudest achievement being our daughter Kelli graduated from Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota. It was certainly a challenging four years at this wonderful school. She pushed herself, kicked ass and made some wonderful friends and memories. Which one of those "small world" moments happened yesterday as the whole Crescenti family was touring Occidental College ground for Daniel and Casey wedding location. The school is not in session so pretty much a ghost town. And who does Kelli run into? A classmate from her semester in Jordan! So cool. Now Kelli gets the endless question from everyone, "so what are you going to do next?" Heck, I am 50 and I have no idea what I am going to do next. Peace to all and a happy June. Off to Banff TV Festival on Sunday.

Our son is getting married!

Dateline: Cannes, France --- Daniel popped the question to the lovely, wonderful Casey on April 2 - he did have to wait until the night of April 1 fooled over - and we are thrilled. We learned the news as we were walking home from seeing our friend Bill Peck tickle the ivories (and he played the piano too) as Daniel phoned us walking the croisette. Yeah!

Magic Time for the Los Angeles Dodgers! - March 30, 2012

Bonjour friends from somewhere in Europe....and what better news to learn that the multi-faceted champion Magic Johnson and group have bought the LA Dodgers. Amen. Make that...AMEN! After years of being battered and embarrassed by previous ownership....make that ownerships...we Dodger fans can rejoice. Not many people have battled more challenges professionally and personally as Magic Johnson. Putting the pieces back together for a proud, historic franchise will be a piece of cake for the Magic man and his group including Stan Kasten and Peter Guber.

I and many others would have liked to see the Garvey-Hershiser group take the team over. I hope Magic's group find a leadership place for the Garv and Orel. How exciting to return to Dodger Stadium but do hope the aura goes back to a baseball stadium rather than a up-close and extremely-loud rock concert. yeah, yeah, I know what that sounds like...

Next up....the Field of Dreams and their new ownership of the Stillman family. But for now, it is MIP TV time in Cannes with many, many meetings....seeing friends....and proudly debuting "Celebrity Undercover Massage" from our Aito pals in Finland and "Mom Made Me a Star" from our Media Factory groovesters in Romania. And of course, more of Red's favorite "The Kitchen Musical," which is now sold in Italy, as well as US, Vietnam, India. Good vino and food with Paul Gilbert tonight.

Oui oui and merci!

The first blog is the deepest....no not really

Greetings earth friends of this small world. My superb daughter Kelli set me up to have my own blog. You are on notice now for ramblings, rants, appreciations, feelings, beliefs, Tim's Tips which hopefully begin thought provoking exchanges. Or glasses of wine.

First things first. The Super Bowl is over. Elton, Clint, Jerry, Jay and Madonna did their magic in the Super Bowl ad. So this can only mean......Spring training begins in two weeks! If you build it they will come and all that....Well, for a suffering Dodgers fan - not to be confused with a looooong-suffering Cubs fan - when we get a new owner, they will come.

Next up is the Academy Awards for global entertainment interest and pizazz. My lovely bodacious wife and I are in pretty good shape in having seen 7 of 9 nominated films. And here were the two themes resonated through many of this years batch of quality films:

DEAD PARENTS...KIDS WITH KEYS AND KEYS THAT NEED THE KIDS TO FIND THE LOCK

The Descendants, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, Hugo all shared these themes and all damn good films. Tree of Life gets a nod in this category since dealing with a re-connection to an emotionally dysfunctional father. Emotional and draining were the first two films, said like Yoda. I would have added the dad in Midnight in Paris because his cliched character should have been killed, in a nice way. Enough of the Woody Allen praise; it was lame movie. Thank you Rosie O' Donnell for your spot-on quote about Woody back in early '90's.

Loved Moneyball so much but not a Best Picture. Pitt and gang should win Best Perseverance Award though for getting that made. Hugo surprised me and I dug The Artist....but I am going with The Help. What a powerful movie with extraordinary performances --- Octavia Spencer with those eyes that are a movie into themselves. Add Viola Davis into this with two terrific performance in Loud and Help this year, and the under-appreciated Knight and Day from a few years ago and voila.

We might have to save the moronic lack of movie song nominations - a whopping 2!?!!? - controversy for another time. It might take me two weeks to fully understand the Academy rules. But Mary J . Blige should have been in the mix.

I am ending here just to get my first thing out there.....The next one we want to add a section for those wonderful, surreal, cosmic, mystic personal "small world" stories you have every day. These do not have be related to us, but to your own lives when you experience something coincidental, crazy and you say "wow what a small world"

Or as Steven Wright says "it is a small world.....but I hate to paint it."

Love to all and all to love.