Mar
30
2009
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Written by JD Johannes
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Monday, 30 March 2009 |
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I'll be on Sound off Connecticut with Jim Vicevich on WTIC AM 1080 at 9:35 10:35 eastern Tuesday March 31st. Updated.
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Dec
31
2008
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Written by JD Johannes
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Wednesday, 31 December 2008 |
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In a previous life--the one in which I was a political operative--New Years Eve was always a busy a stressful day as I furiously raced around collecting the last contributions that had been pledged to the campaign.
A tradition developed between myself and one a key donor in which I had to physically track him down, make a few social and business calls with him, then go to his office get the checks (which were already made out) then have an early evening dinner with his family.
I then raced to the last bank branch open and made the deposit.
A new holiday tradition has developed to replace that.
For the past three years, in early December, I drive out to Home Office in Ottawa County, KS and drop off a large hard drive with the new documentary digitally encoded on it.
My friend and business partner David Chavarria then cleans up the audio, graphics and does a bunch of other things I swear are magic to turn it into the final DVD.
Here's a little snippet of the new movie, which is unlike any Iraq documentary ever made:
As for predictions, I am a horrible prognosticator, but a few of these are dead certain, which will bring up my average:
--I will release another documentary
--I'm going to publish a book that has its roots in my work in Iraq, but is actually about something else entirely
--Michael Yon will find himself in the most precarious situations imaginable and live to blog about them
--The SOFA agreement with Iraq will be broadly interpreted to keep US Forces in most Joint Security Stations
--I will finally beat 'Redacted'
--Glenn Reynolds will use the term "heh"
--Uncle Jimbo of Blackfive will not get married
--More media companies, especially newspapers will flounder
--Advertisers will discover that most advertising does not convert to sales, which, when combined with the recession, will be death of many media companies
--In the cattle markets Steers and Heifers will bottom out at sixty-five cents
--Oil will creep up to $65/barrel
--Kansas State, under the leadership of the returning Bill Snyder, will make it to the Alamo Bowl
--Leftwing groups like ANSWER, MoveOn, CodePink, etc., flush with electoral success and without an enemy will suffer mass psychosis
--I will not get shot at in Iraq, but I will get shot at in Afghanistan
--Blackfive actual will declare that I am nuts
--In December 2009 I will drive out to Ottawa County and drop off a hard drive that contains what will be my last documentary
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Sep
26
2008
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Written by JD Johannes
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Friday, 26 September 2008 |
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A disturbing clip from the upcoming movie....
Well, maybe more amusing than disturbing.
Hoepfully I'll be back in Iraq or Afghanistan when this movie is released.
This will be my 5th documentary about Iraq. (The other 4 are here.)
Not bad for a one-man band. The only people beating me in volume are CNN, BBC and PBS/Frontline.
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Aug
07
2008
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Written by JD Johannes
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Thursday, 07 August 2008 |
Like Allah said, schadenfreude .
If you take a quick glance to the right, you will see that we are closing in on our goal of beating Brian DePalma's anti-soldier, anti-war movie 'Redacted' which portrayed U.S. Soldiers as rapists and murders.
The goal is to sell 2,900 DVDs in any combination to beat 'Redacted.' That number will also beat Nancy Pelosi.
We are at 65% 66%. No big PR machine, no guest slots on daytime TV or cable talk and certainly not the name recognition of the Speaker of the House of Representatives.
But because of some loyal fans we have beaten most of the anti-war documentaries and are closing in on some anti-war feature films.
We are 82% 84%of the way to beating "Home of the Brave" which starred Samuel L. Jackson and Jessica Biel and 85% 86% of the way to beating John Cusak's "Grace is Gone."
I want to beat Redacted by Labor Day. I want to beat Redacted and disappear into the mountains of Afghanistan with U.S. Soldiers to tell the story of the last hot-war front of the War on Terrorism. The stories of heroism the MSM will not write and Hollywood will not produce.
To do that, I need you. DVD sales are how I finance multi-month trips embedding with U.S. Soldiers and Marines.
If you can afford to, please buy a DVD .
If you want to become an operative, please send me an email . I'm looking for people who will help me take on Hollywood.
Nancy Pelosi's book has sold 2,737 copies. If we can beat 'Redacted', we will have beaten Pelosi as well.
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May
20
2008
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Written by JD Johannes
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Tuesday, 20 May 2008 |
After Mark Cuban lost millions underwriting DePalma's last anti-war movie 'Redacted' some other deep pockets are lining up for the guaranteed business loss to shelter some money.
Pat Dollard has the scoop, here .
Seriously, the only business sense it makes to finance a DePalma anti-war pic is to intentionally take the loss. Filmmaking as a tax shelter.
The only other motivation could be a zealous desire to make propaganda film that very few people will see.
Cuban blew $5,000,000 making 'Redacted.' that is a 1.3% return of the original investment.
The truly absurd part about anyone bank rolling DePalma is that my latest Iraq war documentary is more than half-way to beating his Gross.
As of this moment, we've returned 90.8% of the investment in the Outside The Wire trilogy. That's right. We are almost set to enter the exclusive club of profitable Iraq War movies.
But what I really want to do is straight up beat DePalma. Seriously, how embarrassing would it be for one dude with a camera to gross more than the famed DePalma?
We're 56% of the way there.
If you can afford to, please buy a DVD.
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May
11
2008
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Written by JD Johannes
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Monday, 12 May 2008 |
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I will be a guest on the Dennis Miller radio show Monday morning during the second half of the second hour.
You can find your local station here .
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Read more...
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Apr
13
2008
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Written by JD Johannes
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Monday, 14 April 2008 |
'Danger Close' has been selected by the GI Film Festival and will be shown at the Carnegie Institution on May 16th.
'Danger Close' is the first part a documentary trilogy I filmed in Iraq in 2007.
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Read more...
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Apr
04
2008
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Written by JD Johannes
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Friday, 04 April 2008 |
People who watch my documentaries invariable ask a permutation this question: "Are you !@#$ nuts?"
They are referring to my actions from the 'Danger Close ' episode.
I like to think I am mentally stable, but will admit to having an 'all-in ' approach to life.
This project--making documentaries about the war in Iraq--requires an all-in approach.
I've bet the farm financially and nearly bought the farm a few times.
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Read more...
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Apr
02
2008
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Written by JD Johannes
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Wednesday, 02 April 2008 |
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Take look to the right...
That is where we are in the chase to
beat the anti-war movie 'Redacted' in six weeks. We started out
last week at around 9%.
We are 32% 35% of the way to beating 'Home
of the Brave'.
And today I saw that Phil Donahue has
produced a documentary--the documentary version of 'Home of the Brave.'
'Home of the Brave' being the threatrical
version of the documentary 'Ground Truth'.
Are you noticing a pattern here?
A pattern that says a Soldier or Marine is only worth filming after
their deployment.
The director of 'Ground Truth' had this
to say about her movie:
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Read more...
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