DVD Reviews

caught up on a few movies this weekend ...

Reign Over Me:
-stars Don Cheadle, Adam Sandler, Jada Pinkett Smith and Liv Tyler ... I'm not a fan of Adam Sandler at all, I've watched a few of his movies (ie. Billy Madison, Big Daddy, Chuck & Larry), he tries to be funny, but he comes off seeming like a r*tard, I guess that's part of his charm for some people ... anyways back to this movie, quite the contrast, he's in a serious role ... I've always respected Don Cheadle as an actor, however ... as for this film, the premise is what hooked me, a man who is coping with the loss of his entire family post 9/11 ... but the film itself, kind've disappointed ... they hinted the whole time that Cheadle's character was going through an internal struggle, but they really didn't build on that, he just explicitly stated it near the end of the movie, which I thought was a cheap way out of it ... Quite honestly, the movie really didn't seem to have a point, you're left with the feeling, "so what?" ... my score 2.5/5 ...

Lucky Number Slevin:
-stars Josh Hartnett, Lucy Liu, Bruce Willis and Morgan Freeman ... now, there are not many things that surprise me anymore ... the art of the plot twist has definitely been lost ... when everything came to a head in the movie, I honestly saw that coming from a mile away ... this movie sucked HUGE, I know some people that love it however, someone please explain to me why ... on a side note, I never thought so before, but Lucy Liu looks good ... my score 0.5/5 ...

Rendition:
-stars Jake Gyllenhaal, Reese Witherspoon, Meryl Streep and Omar Metwally ... now this is one of the best movies I've seen in a while ... not one that I'll watch over and over, but very well done ... it's essentially four stories told concurrently ... it's about an Egyptian-born American Immigrant who's taken and held captive as he's suspected of terrorist activity ... much to the movie's credit, they portrayed the evil from both sides (American and Islamic extremists) on an even keel ... It's a story of the innocent and the naive that are simply caught in the wrong place at the wrong time, and moreso caught in the crossfire of vengeful American policy and extremists that are portrayed to have been pushed too far ... The stories kept my attention the entire time ... the acting was on point, as was the character development ... Thinking about the movie in retrospect, if I put myself in the place of each one of the characters, and the various situations they faced, I would've reacted just as each one of them did ... I definitely recommend this movie ... my score 4.5/5

Peace!

~J-Smooth~

got answers? 'cause I've got questions

-Reality? physical space = 0, Life? portal of unlimited possibility? or quite simply the regression of a species?

-Advancement or Vulnerability? Trajectory meets Turbulance, sufficient for the creation of a junction? "U" and "F", two separate entities, symbiotic relationship or actually identical?

-connection or commonalities? desire or necessity? any particular reason to fear karma or judgement day?

Peace!

~J-Smooth~

My NBA All-Star Ballot

Now I don't give much weight to being an NBA all-star as much as I used to ... simply put, there've been undeserving guys who've gotten into the game ... on top of that, there are guys who simply don't belong in the all-star game, that get picked ... whatever ... but I voted anyways ... one reason, so I could actually see the ballot, to see who's on it ... two, it's a way I can give props or voice my displeasure to certain guys this season ...

I don't know if anyone watches NBA Gamenight or Gametime (I forget what it's called) on NBA TV with Ahmad Rashad, Gary Payton and Chris Webber ... GP and C-Webb, I didn't like them as players, but I love them as TV personalities, they're funny and they give things to you real ... for instance, this all-star ballot ... not an exact quote, but GP said, "c'mmon let's get real, there are some guys on this ballot, that simply don't belong on this ballot" ... preach on GP! ...

after looking at the ballot, damn he's right ... my observations: chris wilcox, mike dunleavy, rafer alston, beno udrih ... WTF? ...

ok as for my picks ...

Eastern Conference:

center: Dwight Howard - need I elaborate, how 'bout a refresher, 30pts, 19reb, 10blk, just nasty
forward: Kevin Garnett - he earned my respect for taunting and punking out Jose Frauderon
forward: LeBron James - now, I'm not a fan of his at all, I'm a hater through-and-through, but someone brought up a point and I don't remember who said it, but Yi Jianlian, came in top five in last year's voting and he wasn't on the ballot, that would make a mockery of the all-star game to have him voted in, so at least I can say I did my part
guard: Dwyane Wade - flash is back
guard: Devin Harris - now I could've been heavily bias, like Craptor fans, and picked my guy TJ Ford, but I'm actually objective and I recognize deserving players

Western Conference:

center: Andrew Bynum - center on the league's best team
guards: Kobe Bryant and Brandon Roy - now this was the toughest part of the ballot for me by far, because I had to leave off Tracy McGrady and Chauncey Billups, two of my fave players of all-time, but Kobe and Brandon deserve it
forwards: Carlos Boozer - now for the part of the ballot, that I didn't give a sh*t about, Boozer was the best on that list, if I had voted in the beginning of the season, I would've voted for LaMarcus Aldridge, but his production is killing my fantasy team at the moment, so just for that LMA I'm calling you out, my second forward I voted for is Luis Scola, seriously

Peace!

~J-Smooth~

A T-Dot Friday Night

interesting to say the least ...

-a side note I finally copped my iPod (an overdue B-Day present) ... I definitely plan on uploading as many of my CD's and DVD's on it as I can ... next comes Christmas, I don't have a wishlist, but my dad already dropped the line "we should probably get a blu-ray disc player" ... my eyes lit up like a Christmas tree when I heard that ... my reply, "then why don't we just get a PS3?" ... he asked how much it was ... I'm thinkin', I'll just forgo a Christmas present this year, if my dad gets that ...

-purchased lottery tickets last night for the $15M Super 7 jackpot, there was only one winner, and it wasn't me ... someone told me a while back that you have a better chance at being struck by lighting than winning the lottery ... well, I tried to improve those odds by having my grandmother also purchase a ticket for herself, so combined we had 12 draws ... but to no avail ...

-I was out in the T-Dot with Octal for Black Prophet's birthday ... a place I'll call Flame ... when I first got there, I got a strange feeling, that something was off, and (not understanding it at the time) I felt outta place, but more on that later ... it was a night of good food, good company ... also present were Mrs. Octal and her crew, along with Prophet's friend Purgatory ... man, the people in that joint must've hated us, things got pretty loud ... lotta laughs, topics of conversation switched from basketball to fantasy ball to music to dating to good looking Hollywood celebs and of course our classic Newman stories ...

-Prophet, I'll just say that I'm with you on your proclamation from a while back ...

-Octal, I knew you would try and c*ckblock any and all deals I might make ...

-at night's conclusion, I found out that we had actually been eating at a restaurant that is a regular homosexual hangout ... interesting to say the least ...

-when I got home, I of course went on the net to check up on significant T-Dot sports of the night ...

-the Craptors were burned again by Vince Carter, LMFAO ... but I caught the boxscore, and ughhhh, it again gives these unknowledgeable Toronto fans more ammunition for their claims that Frauderon and Bust-nani are the second coming of Nash and Nowitzki ...

-Canada's next boxing hope, Steve Molitor ... who am I kidding?, only hope, went down in a heap in Round 4 at Casino Rama last night, at the hands of Celestino Caballero ... he was eating leather the whole night and was completely outclassed, until his trainer stepped in ... I've been saying it from time, Molitor has never fought anyone legit, and as I predicted, he got his *ss handed to him when he finally did ... Caballero meanwhile, unified the IBF super bantamweight strap to his WBA crown, in my opinion he's a serious threat to the other big guns of the division: Rafael Marquez, WBC champ Israel Vasquez and WBO titleholder Juan Manuel Lopez ... I caught the sports page of the Toronto star this morning, boxing made the front page for the first time in a decade, from what I remember ... way to kill off any remaining interest in the sport for Torontonians, by reporting an absolute massacre ...

Peace!

~J-Smooth~

J-Randoms Pt. 2

-waiting in the Honda service station this morning, their TV was tuned into CP24 ... I took in the day’s news ...

-I pray for God watch over the victims of the mudslide in the southern Philippines ...

-I’m a fan of cooler weather, but this cold + wind chill is a little much ... but what I don’t understand is people who enjoy skiing and/or snowboarding ... I made a decision a long time ago to avoid both, because I value having strong knees ... but on the news, “ski country” is loving these weather conditions ...

-the big talk was our Canadian Dollar slippin’ into the 70’s ... wasn’t it just at par a few months ago? ... ahhh well ... but, the other big news was fuel prices cut down to 76.5 ... if that isn’t indicative of previous price gauging, I don’t know what is ... ideal situation would be fuel prices in the low 70’s and the dollar at its high 1.10 ...

-on the scrolling marquee, it said that Hugh Jackman was named the sexiest man alive ... pfffff ... now I’m not one to evaluate dudes, but if I did, Jackman wouldn’t be on the list ... but then again, I’m kinda bias, ‘cause I’d be top 10 on that list for sure, likely top 3, LMFAO ...

-other news is the Big Three in automotive asking the government for their bailout ... the bank bailout is one thing, because people will always have bank accounts ... and the Big Three say that this is just a loan ... but common sense ... the automotive industry is dependent on one major variable ... sales ... yeah, they can get a bailout, but where’s the guarantee that enough people will purchase automobiles to pay off the loan? ...

-Hilary Clinton as Secretary of State? ... John McCain in Barack Obama’s cabinet? ... I guess U.S. President-elect Obama wasn’t kidding about his message of American unity ...

-there was an individual who committed suicide live on the internet as approx. 1500 people watched ... how ironic, I just watched the movie Untraceable the other day ... the movie was trash BTW, 0.5/5 ...

-on this day in 1979, former Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau resigned from office ... which reminds me about my endorsement on a previous post for his son Justin Trudeau for future P.M. ... which in turn reminds me of a brief convo with one of my cousins, Schizo, the other day ... she also would like to see Justin in office, but only because of his looks ... I’ve had numerous convos with other members of the D-Mac, speculating about her washed-ness and possible multiple personality disorder ... yes, that’s how highly I think of her ... She’s always pushing herself to be my “fave cousin” ... I have 20 D-Mac cousins all together and I’ll say it straight up, she ranks 1000th ...

-there was an apparent meteorite crash in Alberta and Saskatchewan, with some surveillance footage, I share the sentiments, it was “spectacular” indeed ...

-Steve Molitor is looking to unify his IBF 122 lbs. Super bantamweight championship tonight with the WBA strap of Celestino Caballero of Panama, at the Casino Rama in Orillia, Ontario ... this is being called the most significant boxing match on Canadian soil in recent years ... that’s pretty sad ... I’ve seen Molitor fight a few times already, he doesn’t throw punches in high volumes or possess significant KO power ... I was thinking about going up there to watch the fight live, but I’m not paying $50 to watch him, f*ck that! ... but, I would make the trip if Molitor somehow wins this fight and somehow manages to persuade Pinoy pugilist Rey “Boom Boom” Bautista to come up to Orillia for a fight ... but the likelihood of that is next to nil, with Boom Boom signed to Golden Boy Promotions, there’s no way he’d settle for a paltry purse and fight in a C-rate environment ... but I’ll never say never ... Bautista at Orillia = J-Smooth at Rama in his Philippines shirt proudly waving his flag ...

-the Super 7 jackpot for tonight is $15M ... common sense, if I win, I retire, I’ll live off a 2% interest rate, I devote my life to golf, travel, working out and attending ball games and boxing matches ...

-last tidbit of news ... my run of fast food sobriety came to an abrupt end the other day ... I hate making excuses, but I was pretty much backed into a corner ... my parents and myself were coming out of church, when my mother said, she didn’t feel like cooking that night, so herself and my dad were going out for dinner ... since I wasn’t driving and since I was starving, I really had no choice ... I mean, what was I to do? ... sit there and watch my parents eat? ... so the sobriety itself lasted 2.5 months, something which I’m amazed by ... but this doesn’t mean I’m going to start eating crap again ... I’m still planning to avoid it at all costs ... because after having that meal at Harvey’s, it didn’t sit too well with my stomach ...

Peace!

~J-Smooth~

Notorious; Networks

-first off, my thoughts and prayers are with my brother Zona’s familia ... be strong and keep your head up, God Bless ...

-phase 1 of my Facebook cleanup is complete ... cuts to about 60-70 “friends” ... phase two will be underway pretty soon ...

-closin’ in on the ’09 ... but there’s only one direction I’m lookin’ in and that’s forward ... but don’t think I’m gonna get all philosophical and reflective on y’all, like most times I’m gonna keep this ish real, loose and fun ... the “new hope”, I referenced in my last entry, pointed me at an upcoming movie ... Notorious, due out January 16 in the new year ... unless you’re just not “with it”, it’s a bio-pic on the late Notorious B.I.G. ... the first instinct I had was, “I guess Puffy’s producing it, how much more money is he gonna squeeze outta Biggie’s grave?” ... but ignoring that, this is a story that I’m very interested in being told ... over the past year, my studies have gone into Hip Hop’s Golden Age ... you can’t talk about that era, without mentioning the first man in the game to crack the mainstream ... I’d really be interested in seeing how Big came up with guys like Nas and Method Man, but based on the trailer, it looks like the only other big name rapper the movie will feature is Tupac Shakur ... speaking of Pac, he’ll be played by, Anthony Mackie, the same dude that played that wack rapper Papa Doc in 8Mile ... hmmm, I guess that’ll work, LOL ... Puff is gonna be played by Derek Luke (Glory Road, Friday Night Lights), while Jamal Woolard will portray the man himself ... I’ll be checkin’ this on opening night ...



-tons of Craptor fans seem to have their panties up in a bunch nowadays because of a TV network squabble ... TSN recently launched TSN2, so that they can broadcast more sports ... I’m personally not a fan of TSN, because they promote hockey like it’s the world’s only sport, just as bad as the FOX network being heavily Republican ... anyhow, the GTA’s biggest cable provider is Rogers, but to date they don’t carry TSN2 ... TSN is a subsidiary of CTV Globe Media, which is also a part owner of MSLE, owner of the Craptors ... thus, a lot of games are allocated to TSN, but TSN decided to put them on their secondary network, leaving many fans in the cold ... my message to Craptor fans, believe me you’re not missing out on much ... I’ve actually tried to sit down and watch a few of their games this year ... it’s been so boring, I haven’t been able to bring myself to watch a full quarter ... last night’s game, I started dozing, even with them playing Dwyane Wade’s Miami Heat ...

-my sports network up here in this coverage-forsaken country is The Score and what’s there not to like? ... they’ve got a Pinay hosting the morning show, Nikki Reyes, who I’m feelin’ by the way, a hot Pinay, who talks sports, what more could a guy want? ... I don’t mind the night show guys either, Sid and Tim, they actually know stuff aside from hockey ... plus they’ve got this funny Score Tonight promo/commercial where they’re out in an alley, dressed as rappers tryin’ to spit (hoodies, touques and all), Sid “where’s my snare?”, LOL ... Cabbie on the Street is a little corny sometimes, but he’s funny too, and he’s interviewed all the big names in sports ... one funny segment in particular with Kobe Bryant ... but then this week came around, and I saw an in-studio segment with UFC’s promoter, GSP and Penn promoting their upcoming fight ... I’m like ughhh The Score finally cracked, but hey they’re showing love to my prize fighting sport too ... since the CRTC is c*ckblocking HBO Sports, The Score is airing the Manny Pacquiao/Oscar De La Hoya HBO behind-the-scenes series, 24/7 ... God Bless The Score ...

Peace!

~J-Smooth~

J-Randoms

-Happy belated Birthday to my brother Black Prophet, who’s big day was yesterday ... we’ve been through a lot together man, there’s nothing more to be said, we’re fam, period ... we’ve reminisced about memories on numerous occasions, but here’s one of my faves, which I don’t think has been recently discussed ... 7th grade, lunch recesses, Coach wanted to give his junior team some competition in ball practise, and he enlisted the services of Octal, Anthro, you and myself among others ... you stole the ball from their PG on the perimeter and were all alone on the fast break, but instead of taking the ball to the hoop for the easy lay-in, you stopped at the 3 point line, turned around and jacked up a shot backwards, LMFAO ... subsequently, Coach reprimanded all of us for not taking the game seriously ... IMO, that’s your equivalent to my 4th grade, soccer-baseball, “number 1” ... LOL ...

-recently had a convo with an 8th grader, South Korean, who just arrived in Canada just over a year ago ... it was about music ... he initially told me that his favourite genre is hip hop ... my immediate thought was, “OK, here goes ... Soulja Boy, Lil Wayne, etc.” ... but, regardless I asked which artists he liked ... this kid’s English not being that great, decided to just show me his CD collection ... let’s just say I was stunned ... among them: 36 chambers, the infamous, tical, ready to die, straight outta Compton and illmatic ... the “newest” album in his collection was stillmatic ... I certainly didn’t expect all of that ... just goes to show you can’t judge a book by its cover ... I asked if Hip Hop was popular in South Korea, he said “no” ... another thing this shows is that “good music” has no language barrier ... so you new age hip hop fans have no excuse for what you listen to ... just when I thought the “jedi” among the new generation were all but extinct, this kid represents “a new hope” ...

-sticking with the Star Wars analogy ... I recently caught an episode of the new computer-animated Star Wars: Clone Wars TV series ... it’s alright, but I’m sure the purists will pipe in and slam it ...

-TV shows, ahhh, reminds me of another recent random convo ... this one was at Wal-Mart ... I was in the electronics section and I saw that they were selling the original He-Man series boxsets for $9.66 each ... can you say, bargain ... but surprisingly I elected not to purchase them ... while I was there, this guy who I later found out was only a couple years older than myself, started talking to me about cartoons from the past and how the ones today don’t even measure up ... amen, dude ...

-today I was spendin’ time with familia, this being the four month anniversary of the patriarch’s passing ... said a prayer ... I can’t believe this much time has passed already ... I’ve thought about him every day since, but time does heal all wounds ...

-of course, there was conversation ... my little cousins Michael and Neil promoting their fave players, Iverson and D-Wade respectively ... myself, backing my guys, T-Mac, Chauncey, Howard and Roy ... at the same time ridiculing the Craptors ... we commented on the Iverson-Chauncey trade ... when I first found out I was confused, I thought it was a lateral move for both teams ... but, now it somewhat makes sense, Detroit needed a scoring infusion plus clears cap space at season’s end, while Denver decided there was not enough ball to go around for AI and ‘Melo ...

-later the convo shifted to MMA, my uncle read that former WWE champion Brock Lesnar was now the UFC Heavyweight Champion ... I didn’t really care much, but I joked about how guys from WWE should come in and invade UFC, maybe have Batista come in and have a unification title match, LOL ...



-respect to Zona for the find ...

-with regards to prize fighting my attention is nowhere else but on December 6th, 2008, MGM Grand, Las Vegas, Nevada, The Dream Fight ... I wish I had access to HBO, ‘cause they’re broadcasting a 4-part behind-the-scenes series leading up to the fight ... If you’re Filipino and you’re not watching on December 6th, in my eyes you’ve lost any and all rights to identify yourself as Filipino ...

Peace!

~J-Smooth~

and so CHANGE has begun; More Stats & Spits

I’ve been busier than usual over the past week and it’s had me physically and mentally fatigued ... so the past couple of days have been spent re-charging my batteries so to speak ... thus, the main topic for this entry may seem a few days late ... but the victory of new U.S. President Elect Barack Obama is arguably the biggest world defining event to take place since 9/11 ... my readership already knows that I wasn’t intensely following the U.S. election, mostly because the network coverage was filled with 95% fluff ... but tuning into the coverage on Tuesday night, I couldn’t help but feelin’ awestruck at the sight of history in the making ... seeing the thousands gathered at Grant Park in Chicago and Times Square in New York City was simply surreal ... the dawn of a new day, a new era ... no clichés or superlatives, could describe that moment when Obama took the stage to address the world for the first time as President elect ... that was perhaps one of the greatest speeches I’ve ever heard and I couldn’t help but get misty-eyed and choked up ... I consider it to be on par with Martin Luther King’s “I Have A Dream” speech, no Hollywood screen writer could’ve scripted it any better ... I’ve actually watched it a few times on YouTube already, and have been transcribing it to Microsoft Word ... with all the fireworks of the campaign over, it’s time for Obama to get down to business, get his “crew”/staff together and strategize on how to tackle all the big issues, ie. the war on terror, Iraq, financial crisis, global warming, health, education, energy ... he’s in an unenviable position to say the least ... one thing’s for certain and I’m sure this isn’t an original statement, but Obama better get triple the security, because despite his rockstar/cult hero popularity, there’s still a lot of people that don’t like him ... the following day, I went to the local convenience store, to look for the daily papers, it was 8AM and every issue of the Toronto Star, Globe & Mail, Toronto Sun and National Post were already sold out, I guess everyone wanted their piece of history ... To wrap this up, I’m anxious to see how all of this will affect Canada ... for those who think that Obama’s victory means, Canada will follow suit and would elect a minority Prime Minister, you are seriously diluted ... the only cosmopolitan cities in Canada are the greater Toronto and Vancouver areas, and to a lesser extent Montreal ... those are the only parts of Canada that I can see electing a minority Prime Minister ... the rest of this country is still racist ... to veer a little bit, I’ve read reports that the Liberal Party is looking to groom Justin Trudeau as a future leader of the party ... if he possesses even a bit of his father’s (former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau) attitude and ideals, I think he would be an excellent choice ... Pierre, in my humble opinion, was the greatest Prime Minister in history, his famous quote “well, just watch me”, still resonates in my mind ... anyhow, congrats to the United States and President Barack Obama ...

a few other things to address ...

-A Happy belated Birthday to Anthro, I’m sure he did it up right in the Philippines on Tuesday ...

-Refer to the Fantasy League Standings on the left ... sure I’m in third, but the biggest thing about that is that I’m only two points behind Zona for the top spot, the closest I’ve been to first thus far ... last night, I made a huge leap, going from 7th to 2nd place in the PTS category in one night alone ... another thing, I’m only 3 assists back in the AST category and that’s with my second pick and starting point guard, Deron Williams, out with an injury ... I’m also at or near the top in the REB, BLK and STL categories ... what most surprises me is that my FG% and FT% are in the lower half of the league, but if I can get those up in addition to my 3PTM, there’s no reason why I can’t be in first place within the next couple of weeks ...

-Finally, I’m currently working on 5 different spits ... I’m hoping to put out the full length J-Smooth album, sometime in 2009, LOL ... look out for upcoming tracks from B-Town’s lyrical assassin! ...

Peace!

~J-Smooth~

What’s good Zona?

This entry is for one person, my brother, Arizona’s Finest ...

-Using your blog as your forum for trash talk? LMFAO ... naw, it’s totally cool, you know me and I can definitely hold my own when it comes to talking smack ... but, way to kick a guy when he’s down, especially when he’s missing his second-overall pick and starting point guard, Deron Williams ... It’s only been a week into the season, pre-mature celebration, don’t you think? ... trust me, when he comes back, the balance of power will definitely shift in the league ... just giving you fair warning now, so the fall doesn’t come as hard later ... LOL ... one more thing on that, F*CK Frauderon, he’s still not fooling me ...

-I see your “Starting 5” ... I must say, I’m a bit surprised ... I had no clue you were a fan of T-Mac ... but, as for my own starting 5 ... I know I’d take Tracy McGrady, Dwight Howard and Brandon Roy for sure, as for the other two, I’m not really a fan of any other bigs and I’m undecided on a point guard ...

-With regards to this NBA season (and I’m not sure if I put it on an entry yet) I’m predicting the Houston Rockets to win the NBA Championship ... I have people that can verify that I made the claim way back in the summer ... but that’s barring any major trades that could shift the balance of power ... Don’t get me wrong, the Lakers are still the best team in the west, but that being said, I think Houston has the weapons to match them mano-a-mano ... the key in that series is Ron Artest guarding Kobe Bryant, that’ll allow Tracy McGrady to focus on his offense ... I’m not worried about Pau Gasol either, we all know he’ll choke when it counts ... in the NBA Finals, I fully expect the Boston Celtics to be there as well ... looking at it from matchups ... Kendrick Perkins can’t stop Yao Ming ... Artest would be guarding Paul Pierce, T-Mac on Ray Allen ... Kevin Garnett is the only advantage the Celtics would have, that alone will keep the series close ... I’m anxious to hear what you think Zona ...

-Finally, shifting gears ... so did you pick up your copy of the latest Ring Magazine with Oscar De La Hoya and our boy Manny Pacquiao on the cover? ... 18/20 supposed “experts” picked Oscar De La Hoya to win ... but us two know better than that, LOL ... I’m guessing you had no luck with regards to tickets ... one of our older cousins, had a pair of $100 seats reserved on ticketmaster when they were made available ... he thought about it for a couple minutes and let them go ... if he was smart, he should’ve bought them and sold them for double, even in that case he’d be ripping himself off ... from what I hear, ticket prices have been going for at least 5 times face value ... so where are you watching the fight?

Peace!

~J-Smooth~