SEAN PENN PRETENDS TO BE A JOURNALIST

Jeff Spicoli would say, "Hey, Bud, let's party!"

But that was way back in 1982, when there were Fast Times At Ridgemont High. Nearly twenty-five years later, Sean Penn isn't partying. He's concerned, very concerned. Penn needed to go to Iran because he believes tensions between Washington and Tehran are growing.

Does he think that pretending to be a journalist for the San Francisco Chronicle will alleviate the tension?

Reuters reports:

Hollywood actor Sean Penn, adopting the role of a journalist, scribbled in his notebook as Friday prayer worshippers in Tehran chanted "Death to America."

Penn, 44, in Iran on a brief assignment for the San Francisco Chronicle ahead of presidential elections on June 17, may be one of the best known faces in film, but he went unrecognized by the 6,000 faithful at Tehran University.

Working with a translator, Penn took copious notes as hardline cleric Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati urged the congregation to vote en masse "to make America angry."

The actor, who visited Iraq before and after the U.S.-led invasion in 2003 and wrote an account of his second trip for the Chronicle, told Reuters he had decided to come to Iran because of growing tensions between Washington and Tehran.

Personally, I felt some tension release when I heard Penn was going to Iran.

Laughter is the best medicine.