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Feb

10

Roy Scheider, RIP, age 75

Filed Under Culture, RIP | Comments Off

“It’s showtime!” I remember using that phrase a million times during college when I was waking up after little sleep every morning for four years (at least, that’s how I remember it).

But I got that phrase from Roy Scheider‘s character, Joe Gideon, in the fictional take on choreographer Bob Fosse‘s life, All That Jazz.

See – if you were a girl of a certain age back then – in the 70s, perhaps especially if you lived on the East Coast and went into New York on a regular basis, and you liked theater and took dance lessons, Bob Fosse was big, really big.  His style, his persona.  I stopped dancing around age 16 or 17, formally anyway, and although my daughter danced for a few years, it’s been at least four or five years since she’s been into it.  So I don’t know if there are similarly epic figures anymore.

But Scheider in the movie and Fosse in real life left an impression, indelible.

Thanks to Andy Carvin’s tweet for the sad news. RIP and best to Scheider’s family.

Here’s the New York Times obit.

PS I’ve never seen Jaws, the movie for which Scheider might be best known, but I do remember the pictures from the film that were all over the posters but

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By Jill Miller Zimon at 10:56 pm February 10th, 2008 in Culture, RIP | Comments Off 

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Feb

10

NewsNet 5 best source for school closing notices

Filed Under Education, Media, Ohio | 2 Comments

Within twenty minutes of the reverse 911 robocall I received tonight that told me the schools will be closed tomorrow, I received an e-mail update (for which I’ve signed up) from NewsNet 5.  I cannot recommend their service enough.

Go here if you want to check among the more than 310 closing already posted and go here if you want to sign up to get the notices in your inbox. These lists have always been accurate and I’ve often gotten the notices before I’ve heard from the school or room parents.

I have no connection to NewsNet 5 or Channel 5 or anything.  I just think they do the best job in helping you figure out whether or not your district or school is open.

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By Jill Miller Zimon at 10:28 pm February 10th, 2008 in Education, Media, Ohio | 2 Comments 

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Feb

10

PoliSci 216 Ohio Democratic Presidential Primary predictions

Filed Under Announcements, Barack Obama, Campaigning, Elections, Hillary Clinton, Ohio, Politics, Predictions, Primary, WH2008 | 8 Comments

Read ‘em here – they’re only for NEOhio congressional districts:

OH-10: Clinton

OH-11: Obama

OH-13: Obama

OH-14: Clinton

I linked to Ohio Political Journal predictions here.

I’ll keep posting the predictions as people make’em.

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By Jill Miller Zimon at 10:07 pm February 10th, 2008 in Announcements, Barack Obama, Campaigning, Elections, Hillary Clinton, Ohio, Politics, Predictions, Primary, WH2008 | 8 Comments 

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Feb

10

Med Mart operators want profit assurance before commitment

Filed Under Business, Cleveland+, Government, Ohio, Politics | 8 Comments

What a surprise, I know.

From the Plain Dealer:

MMPI needs to know it can make money before proceeding, company Senior Vice President Mark Falanga said recently. And since business for the three main components of the project — a Medical Mart, trade show hall and conference center — will be intertwined, one manager makes sense, he said.

“We’re a for-profit company, so our interest is in making money off the management of this facility,” he said. “But the money we hope to make in managing this would be very small and is going to be outweighed by the benefits to the community.”

The company can’t realistically depend on profit from the center to sweeten the deal, Falanga said, since most convention centers don’t make money.

Now, I’ve read and heard some more or less nice things about the sincerity of the MMPI folks.  But they’re a business, not an NGO.  So what is this mixed message about not proceeding unless they know they can make money, but they know that the amount of money that they’re going to make is very small and will be outweighted by the benefits to the community.

Does that make sense to you? Doesn’t make sense to me.  Sounds like this deal is a goner.

But read the entire article – it’s lengthy but without any final answers.

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By Jill Miller Zimon at 9:49 pm February 10th, 2008 in Business, Cleveland+, Government, Ohio, Politics | 8 Comments 

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Feb

10

Nobel winner Lessing echoes Tri-C tow truck driver re: Obama & assassination

Filed Under Barack Obama, Campaigning, Elections, Government, Hillary Clinton, Politics, WH2008 | 8 Comments

I wrote this post last year about a conversation I had with a tow-truck driver in the Tri-C Eastern Campus parking lot the night in February 2007 when I attended a rally for Senator Barack Obama.

Okay – I made it in – I fed everyone in my family – the dishes will be there when I get back – the press table was GONE – they had nothing on me – but a nice tall woman who said she was the sleonard who had emailed with Wendell told me I could go in – and I saw Anastasia P.

It’s warm – not so loud yet – not back to the doors but very full. Mark Naymik is supposedly here somewhere behind me. And Jerid is supposedly here – I haven’t seen anyone else.

Now I just have to hope that they don’t drag my car away like they were doing to the car that had been in my spot. The tow guy – fascinating – said, you here for Obama? I said yeah. He said, “I wouldn’t want to be the first black president, no way. Just like Kennedy.”

Wow – I hope that’s not prescient.

Tonight, USA Today and others are reporting that:

Nobel Prize winner [for literature] Doris Lessing believes Barack Obama would be assassinated if he were elected U.S. president, the British writer said in a newspaper interview.

…

“It would be best if they ran together. Hillary is a very sharp lady. It might be calmer if she wins and not Obama,” Lessing was quoted as saying in comments translated into Swedish.

“He would probably not last long, a black man in the position of president. They would kill him,” Lessing said in the interview published Saturday.

She did not specify who she believed would kill Obama.

Lessing is 88.

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By Jill Miller Zimon at 9:32 pm February 10th, 2008 in Barack Obama, Campaigning, Elections, Government, Hillary Clinton, Politics, WH2008 | 8 Comments 

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Feb

10

Tentative Writers Guild contract summary: writers get revenues from new media

Filed Under Announcements, Law, Media, Writing | Comments Off

Tech Daily Dose says that the AP is reporting that:

…the Writers Guild of America “moved swiftly Sunday toward a resolution of its three-month-old strike, with guild leaders deciding to recommend the contract to members and ask them to vote on a quick end to the walkout.” Membership meetings will be held Tuesday in New York and Los Angeles.

Under the proposed contract, film and TV writers, who previously got nothing for content streamed online, will get a fixed residual payment of $1,200 a year for one-hour shows in the first two years of the new contract. In the third year they would get residuals equal to 2 percent of the revenue received by the program’s distributor, according to the Los Angeles Times.

You can read a pdf of the summary of the tentative agreement here.

As has been rumored, the web-streaming revenues now taken in solely by the program’s distributors will now be distributed in part to the writers of the streamed material.

What’s most instructive and useful in this tentative agreement is the recognition that the same material often garners multiple times more revenues for the distributors once new ways of distributing are created, and the creator of the material – the writer – should get a share of those revenues.

Freelance writers, and in particular the National Writers Union, would be wise to study the structure of the agreement and figure out how to adapt it for their purposes.

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By Jill Miller Zimon at 9:09 pm February 10th, 2008 in Announcements, Law, Media, Writing | Comments Off 

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Feb

10

Ohio Political Journal blog predicts Obama, Clinton wins by congressional district

Filed Under Barack Obama, Campaigning, Congress, Hillary Clinton, Ohio, Politics, Predictions, Primary, WH2008 | 2 Comments

I don’t think I know Brian G. from any other setting, but he is the author of the blog, Ohio Political Journal and has posted predictions about which Ohio congressional districts will go for which Democratic candidate.

How spot-on or off do you think he is?

Brian – don’t forget to do this for the GOP race.

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By Jill Miller Zimon at 5:01 pm February 10th, 2008 in Barack Obama, Campaigning, Congress, Hillary Clinton, Ohio, Politics, Predictions, Primary, WH2008 | 2 Comments 

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Feb

10

[updated] Maine Democratic Caucus Results

Filed Under Barack Obama, Campaigning, Caucus, Elections, Hillary Clinton, Politics, Primary, WH2008 | Comments Off

If you you are looking for places to see the results of today’s Maine Democratic Party Caucus, try CNN here, the New York Times here and the Maine Democratic Party here.

With 11% of the precincts reporting at 4:47pm EST, Barack Obama leads with 51% to 48% for Hillary Clinton.

Update: At 5:26, with 44% of the precincts reporting, Obama leads 57% to 42% for Clinton.

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By Jill Miller Zimon at 4:49 pm February 10th, 2008 in Barack Obama, Campaigning, Caucus, Elections, Hillary Clinton, Politics, Primary, WH2008 | Comments Off 

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Feb

10

Results of Clermont County Democratic Party Straw Poll (Ohio)

Filed Under Barack Obama, Campaigning, Elections, Hillary Clinton, Ohio, Politics, Voting, WH2008 | 2 Comments

I’ve received the results of the Clermont County Democratic Party’s straw poll, conducted yesterday.

According to Constance Lighthall of the Clermont County Democratic Party:

The Clermont County Democratic Party did have the event but completely changed the format. It was a good turnout. There were not any candidates for the 2nd Congressional District present. The Democratic candidates for 12th District Court of Appeals spoke as did our Clermont County Commissioner Democratic candidates. We had a straw poll vote on the Presidential race and Barack Obama won 63%. [my emphasis]

Bill Sloat of The Daily Bellwether wrote about the event in this post yesterday.

Thanks to Ms. Lighthall for providing the information.

NB: For anyone like me who is not as familiar as you would like to be about the location of Ohio’s 88 counties, Clermont is in the SW portion of the state, just one county east of Hamilton County, which is the county in which Cincinnati resides.

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By Jill Miller Zimon at 11:34 am February 10th, 2008 in Barack Obama, Campaigning, Elections, Hillary Clinton, Ohio, Politics, Voting, WH2008 | 2 Comments 

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Feb

10

“First serious female candidate for President” isn’t supposed to cry because why exactly?

Filed Under Campaigning, Culture, Elections, Hillary Clinton, Media, Mike Huckabee, Politics, WH2008, Women | 12 Comments

Charmaine Yoest, former senior advisor to Mike Huckabee and current VP for communications at the Family Research Council, writes in this post (her blog, Reasoned Audacity, doesn’t have a comments link, though in the past, it has – I don’t know when the option was removed; I would have left this entire comment there if it was possible):

She’s [Hillary Clinton] just got to stop this. The first serious female candidate for President and she’s tearing up all over the place?

The title of the post: “Cry Me A River: Hillary is an Embarrassment”

Embarrassment my cortisone-injected derriere. Please. If anyone is embarrassed by Hillary Clinton’s crying, then they have some serious mental health issues.

First of all, the post is horribly misleading because it provides no link to any information that might have accompanied the photo – including day, date or location. So – which tears are the ones in the picture – NH? CT?

After some researching, it looks like it might be Maine.  Here’s why Clinton brushed away a tear, as a Sun Journal staff writer reported it:

She [Clinton] brushed a tear from her eye while a disabled Maine veteran, who was using a crutch to walk after being told he was never going to, said he barely made it to the event because of a “terrible” migraine.

“But hearing you speak about problems that will be alleviated as soon as you get elected has just made my day,” he said. “Thank you.”

The picture Yoest uses on her post is in the group of thumbnails at this link.

What is insinuated by Yoest’s assertion? That as, in Yoest’s opinion, the “first serious female candidate for President,” Clinton’s burden includes not crying? To only cry once? To be judged by her crying?

Why do people care so much about her crying?

Seriously.

I would have thought that such a potshot from Dr. Yoest would be beneath her. If Hillary wants to cry – feigned or real – for whatever reason, she’s the one who will pay the price for how people choose to interpret her behavior. Why are people even bothering to comment on it, let alone in such a stereotyped-laden way?

Sigh. Why can’t people just let the tears fall where they may?

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By Jill Miller Zimon at 11:27 am February 10th, 2008 in Campaigning, Culture, Elections, Hillary Clinton, Media, Mike Huckabee, Politics, WH2008, Women | 12 Comments 

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Feb

10

LA Councilman wants Britney Law, local Society of Professional Journalists objects

Filed Under Culture, Law, Media, Politics, Scandal, Social Issues | Comments Off

Earlier this month, the Los Angeles Times covered the story of how Los Angeles City Councilman Dennis Zine proposed an ordinance that would provide for people to get licenses for “personal safety zones” that would preclude paparazzi:

Zine said he plans to introduce a motion that calls for the city attorney and LAPD to draft new restrictions on paparazzi, including an ordinance that would create a zone of clear space in order to protect public safety on streets, sidewalks and at access points to emergency care facilities and private businesses and homes.

For a little more dramatic take, from the UK’s TimesOnline from today:

WHEN is a Hollywood celebrity big enough to require special legal protection not available to little people?

That is the question facing the city of Los Angeles, whose officials are debating the implementation of a 20-yard “personal safety bubble”, to be created around celebrities deemed “paparazzi targets” when moving around the city.

The initiative was proposed last week by Dennis Zine, an influential politician, in the wake of the latest Britney Spears psychiatric emergency, when her ambulance was surrounded by police cars and helicopters to shield her from a crowd of 60 photographers.

Last week’s chase brought new tension in the already fraught relationship between Hollywood performers, paparazzi and police, who claim no new laws are needed yet seem unable to protect stars such as Spears from photographers – or themselves.

The city council will debate whether stars should be “licensed” for protection by City Hall, a permit that could eclipse court-mandated ankle bracelets – equipped with a global positioning system transmitter – as status symbols.

“The Britney Spears case, with police cars and helicopters all becoming involved, was insane. Such clashes have become a hazard to both celebrities and ordinary people,” Zine said last week.

The so-called Britney law would be the world’s toughest antipaparazzi statute, seeking to confiscate all profits from a photograph taken without signed consent within the “bubble of safety” around a star. This would create problems: many celebrities pretend to be ambushed at nightclubs by photographers, who have in fact been tipped off by their press agents. It could also make Los Angeles a haven for scandal-ridden politicians and criminals.

The Greater Los Angeles Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists will have none of this: Read more

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By Jill Miller Zimon at 9:22 am February 10th, 2008 in Culture, Law, Media, Politics, Scandal, Social Issues | Comments Off 

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