0:01

Whoa, just

0:01

curious. Welcome to this curious

0:07

media. This is let's talk Cobra

0:07

Kai. I'm Jason Connell.

0:10

And I'm Sal Rodriguez.

0:12

All right. So we

0:12

are back for a very special

0:17

episode. I know I say that a

0:17

lot, but I really mean it

0:21

tonight. So

0:22

I think I'm more

0:22

a fan of cross promotions than

0:25

you even think sometimes you're

0:25

a little reluctant. I'm like,

0:28

Yeah, do it, dude. Now's the time.

0:30

This is true.

0:30

Because tonight, we're talking

0:33

about something when we've done

0:33

this historically, one time, but

0:37

there's a new show brought to

0:37

you by Just curious media. And

0:42

we're coming on to talk about

0:42

said show on Let's Talk Cobra

0:46

Kai. Drumroll. And that show is

0:46

in to the mystic. And this is a

0:54

teaser for that. Now, what does

0:54

that mean exactly? Into the

0:58

mystic? Well, it's a great Van

0:58

Morrison song for those that are

1:01

you fans a great great song. I

1:01

mean, like in my top top three

1:06

of all time. But that's not what

1:06

the show is about. The show is

1:11

CO collaboration, a partnership

1:11

between just curious media and

1:16

the mystic Film Festival. When I

1:16

moved to Rhode Island, I got

1:20

involved with the mystic Film Festival, which is in Connecticut, but that's only

1:22

like a 3040 minute drive helped

1:26

them this last year, their fifth

1:26

annual they're coming up on

1:29

their sixth annual it's a

1:29

destination Festival. It's a

1:32

beautiful place. And we started

1:32

talking and the founder Shareen

1:37

Anderson became fans of just

1:37

curious media, everything that

1:40

we were doing, started talking,

1:40

I planted the seed initially, no

1:44

doubt. But it led to us green

1:44

lighting into the mystic and

1:52

having our first episode launch

1:52

last week. So it's happening.

1:57

And I wanted to come on here

1:57

because this was the first

2:00

podcast. Let's talk Cobra Kai.

2:00

So you're a part of this. You

2:03

were there for those early

2:03

conversations. And so it's

2:08

amazing to have a new show and

2:08

I'd love our fans to check it

2:12

out. Does it have anything to do

2:12

with Karate Kid or Cobra Kai?

2:15

No, but it doesn't mean it

2:15

couldn't sell. It doesn't mean

2:19

it couldn't.

2:20

Yeah, no, I'm

2:20

trying to push Jason. Hey,

2:22

listen, since you have an

2:22

affiliation now, with a film

2:25

festival. Surely you can have

2:25

credit cut screenings there

2:28

surely you have enough pull now

2:28

to get some screens. I mean,

2:31

it's not your festival now. But

2:31

you are friends of the festival.

2:35

Yeah. So I think you should go

2:35

ahead and get some credit cut

2:38

action there.

2:39

It's all in the

2:39

fine print. The Karate Kid

2:42

launches every festival day two

2:42

of the festival is credit camp,

2:45

part two. We know it does not.

2:45

But the purpose of this show is

2:50

to bring entertainment. This is

2:50

not just hey, this festival is

2:54

coming on this weekend. Be sure

2:54

to check it out. Now they didn't

2:57

want to do they could do that

2:57

themselves. They really wanted

3:01

me and work with just curious

3:01

and bring on. Well, before I get

3:05

into it. The first episode

3:05

speaks volumes on the you know

3:09

the caliber that we're going to

3:09

have on this show. The first

3:12

episode was me having a

3:12

conversation with well known

3:15

actor, Karen Allen. Now if you

3:15

don't know the name, she's in

3:21

movies like Indiana Jones and

3:21

the Raiders of the Lost Ark.

3:25

She's like the main female lead.

3:25

She was in Animal House. That's

3:30

her first movie. She's like the

3:30

main female lead. She's in Star

3:34

Man with Jeff Bridges. John

3:34

Carpenter. It's just Jeff

3:38

Bridges and Karen Allen. She was

3:38

in Scrooged. The Sandlot the

3:42

perfect storm. So she's big

3:42

time. She has to live. Oh,

3:47

sorry.

3:47

Jason, please. I have to interject here for one second. You're pumping up Karen

3:49

Allen. And I will absolutely

3:53

tell you that as we speak. This

3:53

very moment there is a Marion

3:57

Ravenwood action figure on the

3:57

shelves. But there is a Karen

4:02

Allen action figure on the

4:02

shelves at target as we speak.

4:06

Oh, I bet you say behind you. I was like, Well, wait.

4:09

I gotta get her.

4:09

I gotta get her.

4:09

Well, no, we know who she is.

4:12

And most people will but I'm

4:12

just her body of work is

4:16

unbelievable. And so she was

4:16

supposed to come to the mystic

4:20

Film Festival last year for

4:20

awards night because she was in

4:22

an independent film with William

4:22

Sadler, who was in the Shawshank

4:26

Redemption and he's in diehard

4:26

to is the main bad guy. So I

4:30

actually met Mr. Sadler at the

4:30

festival because I emceed the

4:33

awards night, and Karen Allen

4:33

couldn't make it. Okay. So cut

4:38

two conversations here and

4:38

there, she becomes the first

4:41

guest, because let me just put

4:41

this out there. She's in the new

4:46

Indiana Jones movie reprising

4:46

her role as

4:51

Marion Ravenwood.

4:51

Exactly.

4:54

So it was like

4:54

the perfect storm. Pun intended

4:58

on that one. Oh, why not? have

4:58

her on, there's a lot going on.

5:03

So we did it remotely. She lives

5:03

in New England, but it's not a

5:07

prerequisite to live in New

5:07

England. But the festival gives

5:11

us that opportunity to honor

5:11

maybe someone who lives nearby

5:15

or someone who's come to the

5:15

festival or has a movie, you

5:18

know, whatever. So it could be

5:18

someone from Cobra Kai Karate

5:21

Kid universe, because we don't

5:21

know what they're gonna wind up

5:24

doing or being in our we choose

5:24

to honor somebody like two years

5:28

ago, they honored Susan

5:28

Saddleman, who I think she

5:32

wrote, but she definitely

5:32

directed, desperately seeking

5:34

Susan. So I went to the

5:34

festival, having just moved to

5:37

New England as a just a patron.

5:37

And here I meet a filmmaker who

5:41

I admired and I was like, Oh my

5:41

gosh, so festivals have that

5:45

opportunity. Hey, we're gonna

5:45

honor you, Sal Rodriguez. Come

5:48

on in. So I love where the show

5:48

could go. Yeah, comment it

5:53

because it could lead us

5:53

anywhere. Like we're in talks

5:55

now with a very talented writer.

5:55

His name is Peter Filardi. I

6:00

hope that we get him. But he

6:00

does live nearby. He's been

6:03

involved with the festival

6:03

before I even moved here. He

6:06

wrote, sell Flatliners, the

6:06

original, and the craft, among

6:12

other things, but it's like,

6:12

wow, those are like big time. So

6:17

he has a lot to share about his

6:17

process and how those movies

6:21

became more how those scripts

6:21

became movies, and yada yada

6:24

yada so many things that so

6:24

there's a high caliber of people

6:27

on this coast as well, who have

6:27

some sort of loose tie in so I'm

6:31

excited to see who we get along

6:31

the way. So it's really akin to

6:34

Let's Talk movies. But it all

6:34

started here and I think a lot

6:38

of our fans and let's talk Cobra

6:38

Kai would find real

6:41

entertainment from the into the

6:41

mystic podcast.

6:44

And Jason, you

6:44

say it all started here? To some

6:47

degree? Yes. To some degree.

6:47

Yes. But some some degree No.

6:50

Some degree. No. You know, for

6:50

those of you who are who don't

6:52

know the story, you know, I

6:52

originally met Jason Connell,

6:54

when he was casting for his

6:54

first documentary called

6:57

strictly background, the

6:57

chronicled background movie and

7:00

TV actor, so he interviewed me

7:00

to potentially be in the movie

7:03

didn't happen. But later on the

7:03

movie, a screening at various

7:07

festivals. Then Jason Connell

7:07

makes his own film festivals

7:10

called the United Film Fest,

7:10

which has multiple locales did

7:15

all over the nation a hell all

7:15

over the world. You were in what

7:17

a Dublin, Ireland, right?

7:19

We're in London,

7:19

but Dublin, we were you were

7:23

gonna do Dublin.

7:23

Yeah, yeah. Okay. But you had

7:25

London. You had Tulsa. You had

7:25

Los Angeles. Where else did you

7:29

have Chicago? Yep. We're missing

7:29

San Francisco. You had a string

7:34

of festivals and I was happy to

7:34

be in New York. And I was a

7:38

mainstay host and moderator for

7:38

several years of the United Film

7:41

Fest in Los Angeles. Jason, I

7:41

cultivated our primary

7:44

relationship there. That's where

7:44

we met we met through Jason's

7:48

films and Jason's film

7:48

festivals, and now, podcasting

7:52

and now a podcast featuring a

7:52

film festival. I'm very excited

7:57

about

7:57

it. It is true it

7:57

is full circle. It is funny Sal,

8:00

you have been involved in my

8:00

three big career things film

8:03

festivals, documentaries,

8:03

podcast, Sal Rodriguez has it

8:08

all through it all.

8:10

I was there man. So I was there.

8:13

My good luck

8:13

charm. So here is the logo if I

8:17

may into the mystic that's

8:17

drawing on their logo they

8:21

already had the Wales the film

8:21

festival. But then of course we

8:24

kind of changed the verbiage and

8:24

there's the just curious mediate

8:27

logo there just curious just

8:27

That's it. So something really

8:32

cool and by the way, this is the

8:32

synopsis for the show. And

8:36

engaging film lovers podcast

8:36

covering all things in the

8:40

mystic Film Festival universe

8:40

and beyond. So it's not just

8:45

there. It's also this area Sal

8:45

it's very seaside it you know

8:50

that's what I love about New

8:50

England there's parts and we

8:52

live really close to the ocean

8:52

here mystic is right on the

8:55

water. fog comes in. Ships

8:55

lighthouses, I ride my bike to

9:01

the Point Judith lighthouse,

9:01

which Gianni references in Cobra

9:05

Kai are right there all the

9:05

time. So of course, the West

9:08

Coast has it to it by Carmel and

9:08

all that so, but this is the

9:12

East Coast version. And so if I

9:12

was still in the festival game,

9:17

I would like hey, I want to

9:17

build a festival here in Rhode

9:19

Island or, or get more involved

9:19

with the mystery film festival.

9:22

But I'm in this lane right now.

9:22

And just curious is my passion

9:26

and I when I came up with the

9:26

idea in 2019, I was like this is

9:29

it, you know, I had the film,

9:29

the film festival, and the

9:32

podcast kind of completes that.

9:32

And this is a springboard to all

9:36

of that you can go talk to

9:36

people from your past, you know,

9:39

present our future. It's it's

9:39

such an interesting form sound.

9:42

You've been here the whole time.

9:42

And this of course does connect

9:46

all of these pieces of my life.

9:46

I'm very excited. We're one

9:49

episode in but it is live. Karen

9:49

and I were going to talk for 30

9:53

minutes while we were having

9:53

such a good time going through

9:57

her filmography and just her non

9:57

movie ventures and everything

10:01

thing else in her life that we

10:01

had to break, she had to take

10:05

another call, call me back and

10:05

we did part two, but I edited it

10:09

put it together, it's seamless.

10:09

So I was happy that she had such

10:12

a good time that she wanted to

10:12

keep it going. So that's when

10:15

you know, you have, you know, a

10:15

really good conversation. You're

10:19

in the midst of one. And so I

10:19

hadn't met her because it was

10:23

remote. Saturday, I went to an

10:23

event in Westerly, Rhode Island

10:27

at the United theater. There's a

10:27

tie in the United theater. I'm

10:31

not affiliated but anyway, and

10:31

so mystic Film Festival and the

10:36

mystic Film Institute, we're

10:36

doing a special screening of a

10:38

Karen Allen short film. And I

10:38

went, and I met her in I'm

10:44

supporting the festival, and I'm

10:44

meeting people and they did a

10:47

big press release on the

10:47

podcast. But here's Karen I

10:51

meeting and look in the

10:51

background. Another thing, bring

10:55

it full circle. But look behind

10:55

us, you might see.

11:03

Wish I had my

11:03

Indiana Jones action figure

11:06

right, right now I've got two of them.

11:09

So that was so we

11:09

were basically in this like,

11:12

informal. There's a lot of

11:12

people there, kind of get

11:15

together a soiree post

11:15

reception, post screening and

11:19

over there was wine, there was

11:19

some good food. And I saw that

11:24

poster. And I was like, Hey,

11:24

let's get a photo. It'd be on

11:27

the website or something. And I

11:27

was like, let's just do it over

11:29

here. And she was getting she's

11:29

such a gamer.

11:32

Jason. Well,

11:32

first of all, just to be clear

11:34

for anybody listening, uh,

11:34

Raiders of the Lost Ark movie

11:37

poster behind you. And Karen. Yeah,

11:39

thank you for the

11:41

those. That's

11:41

what that is. If you

11:43

go to the just

11:43

curious Media website, which we

11:46

don't do this very often on air.

11:46

But you will see all the

11:51

original podcasts. Of course, it

11:51

all started here. Let's talk

11:55

over guy. Well, the podcasting

11:55

started here. So

11:58

yeah, the podcasting specifically. Yeah,

12:00

that's a crime.

12:00

Let's talk movies. I'm just

12:03

scrolling down bringing the

12:03

shows up. Doggone, which just

12:07

recorded its fourth episode

12:07

earlier today. Oh, nice. And

12:12

then there's into the mystic. So

12:12

one episode in, we're not going

12:17

to set the bar too high. They

12:17

want to do a monthly show now.

12:21

Knowing though with traction and

12:21

time, I could see it going to

12:24

every other week. And then you

12:24

never know, as we get into the

12:27

film festival, which is in

12:27

October, it may be Hey, this

12:31

week, can we just do it on like

12:31

every day because there's so

12:33

many people running around. So I

12:33

don't know. Because when you're

12:36

a part of a festival, and I know

12:36

this very well. All hands on

12:39

deck, this thing's come and you

12:39

got packed houses. I was there

12:43

last year kind of helping out

12:43

and observing and I was doing a

12:46

lot of logistics for them. So we

12:46

could be banging episodes out

12:49

during that time and then then

12:49

calm again. Oh, yeah,

12:52

yeah, you got the snowball effect gonna happen. I'm also proud of you, Jason. I

12:54

want to be clear and and let

12:57

everyone know how proud I am of you know, Jason is one of those people who arrives in a new

12:59

town, makes friends shakes

13:02

hands, starts to go to meetings

13:02

starts to, you know, create,

13:06

create a community start to get

13:06

into a community and create a

13:09

community. So that's I think that's really cool.

13:12

I appreciate

13:12

that. Sal, I don't know any

13:14

other way. I was homesick for a

13:14

long time. And I still have such

13:18

a love for California in you and

13:18

my other friends who I don't get

13:22

to see in person as much. So

13:22

trips are definitely happening.

13:25

But what else am I going to do,

13:25

it's in my DNA, my nature to

13:28

connect with others. And for the

13:28

most part, I mean, I'm in my

13:32

studio now I got my sound booth

13:32

my studio, so I'm very

13:34

sufficient here. But you gotta

13:34

get out. You got to do things

13:38

and doing that you're right led

13:38

me to this venture, which I'm

13:41

super excited by and, and it's

13:41

exciting. It's it's also

13:45

exciting to kind of go to a

13:45

festival and kind of get that

13:49

feel. Again, there's talk that

13:49

we might do some cool events

13:52

together like screening some of

13:52

my documentaries and doing my

13:54

own q&a and then making that a

13:54

podcast, like recording that

13:58

discussion. So that stuff

13:58

excites me. So it truly does and

14:02

it's second nature for me for

14:02

those of us who have done this

14:06

type of stuff for so long, but

14:06

that is it. So let's talk Cobra

14:09

Kai fans, don't worry. We're

14:09

gonna come back down and talk

14:13

about the Karate Kid and let's

14:13

that Cobra Cobra Kai stuff and

14:16

everything on point, but another

14:16

offering from just curious

14:20

media. We hope you guys come

14:20

over and check it out.

14:24

And just to be clear to our listeners, yeah, just the last thing is I want to

14:25

let anybody know I am not other

14:28

than a friend of the show. I am

14:28

not co host of into the mystic.

14:33

I may make an appearance every

14:33

now and again. Who knows but

14:35

when I am not this is Jason's

14:35

show and you do not officially

14:39

even have a coast you are the host Yes.

14:41

Yes, I am the

14:41

host of the show. I will be

14:44

doing the hosting it is a

14:44

partnership between mystic Film

14:47

Festival. Shireen may come on I

14:47

was saying hey, you and I should

14:51

just do some episodes. Maybe

14:51

during the festival time or time

14:54

when you can't book a guest and

14:54

you want to catch people up and

14:57

she's really good and we could

14:57

talk movies. We could just talk

15:00

about things. So I'm sure

15:00

there'll be times that we're,

15:02

you know, I'm having her on as a

15:02

special guest. But for the most

15:06

part, yeah, I'll be running

15:06

things. And I hope smooth

15:09

sailing ahead. I'd love to have

15:09

a lot of episodes, the more

15:12

people you talk to you get out

15:12

there, and it just enriches your

15:15

life. And hopefully it's fun

15:15

content for fans.

15:19

I think it's great. And he definitely got your hands full Jason,

15:21

I definitely have

15:21

my hands full, that's for sure.

15:25

But fans of the show, let's talk

15:25

over Kai, you guys are amazing,

15:30

first and foremost. But if you

15:30

haven't done it in a while or

15:33

ever, five star rating, little

15:33

click of the button does wonders

15:39

for the show for the brand

15:39

because a lot of this is just

15:44

pre revenue. It's blood sweat

15:44

and tears and your patronage.

15:49

And it means so much and if you

15:49

want to go one step further, and

15:52

leave a review. That's amazing.

15:52

And Sal has a tip for you to

15:56

save time to do so.

15:59

Jason, I have

15:59

been pondering the possibility

16:01

of a person using chat GPT to

16:01

leave a five star review or to

16:06

leave a review. Right You don't

16:06

need to use the chat GPT to just

16:10

to leave a five star rating. But

16:10

to write a written review, is it

16:13

possible to use chat GPT to

16:13

write a favorable review for

16:16

let's talk Cobra Kai for Apple

16:16

podcast. Hey, someone out there,

16:19

try it. Test one out there try

16:19

it test hesitant to see if it

16:22

works. And you know what, how

16:22

about this change my opinion on

16:24

AI because otherwise AI can be

16:24

kind of scary. So if you can use

16:28

it for something cool like that,

16:28

hey, change my mind.

16:31

Absolutely. And

16:31

again, just curious media.com

16:34

where you can get it all if you

16:34

don't want to mess up platforms

16:36

you go old school Sal even does

16:36

this from time to time or most

16:39

the time. You can just stream

16:39

all the episodes from all the

16:43

shows right on the website if

16:43

you just don't want to deal with

16:46

apps, which I do but some don't.

16:46

And of course we have the

16:50

YouTube so the YouTube if you

16:50

want to watch it unedited. You

16:54

know it's we don't touch that

16:54

version because this is too

16:57

complicated. So it's its own

16:57

little thing. Do that as well.

17:01

But that's all I got Sal

17:01

anything else otherwise you have

17:05

your famous last words that you

17:05

stole from John crease?

17:10

No Mercy