Oakland News: Don Macleay and Mayor's Race; Children's Fairyland

Children's Fairyland and Don Macleay in the Oakland Mayor's Race, have urgent announcements in today's Oakland news.

Don Macleay, the Green Party candidate running for for Mayor of Oakland, sent out this email for 100 signatures he needs from you this Saturday:

Nomination signatures needed. Sat. July 31 10AM

Friends,

For the campaign to take the next step I need 100 Oakland voters to sign for me.
We are collecting signatures all this week. You can contact me, Jan, Greg or Michael.

To make it easy we are going to meet at Cafe Dejena on Saturday July 31st at 10 AM.
It is at 3939 MLK corner of 40th right near the MacArthur BART
EASY to get to on bike, foot and car and easy to park. http://www.cafedejena.com

We will have nomination petitions to sign and voter registration cards if you need them.

And, now is a good time to donate because the campaign is now finally officially under way.
http://macleay4mayor.org/donate.html

Don Macleay

Children's Fairyland

Children's Fairyland has a number of announcements too numerous to mention. You can see them all at http://www.fairyland.org/, but here's a sample from the email:

September 11 and 12

HAPPY 60TH BIRTHDAY, CHILDREN'S FAIRYLAND!
Join us for our fantasy costume party. Come dressed as your favorite storybook character or in a 50's outfit & wish a happy birthday to the original children's storybook park in the U.S.

Children's Theatre presents "Mariposas": A play woven from Latin American folktales about butterflies, Mariposas tells stories of why the butterflies are silent, why they don’t fly straight, and why they migrate each year. Created by the cast. 10:30am

Children's Theatre presents "The Golden Reed": In this tale from China, a dragon is kidnapping the children, and a young boy sets out to rescue them. On the way he finds a golden reed pipe that makes all who hear it dance. He learns to play, and with the magic of his music he defeats the dragon and the children dance all the way home. Adapted by Doyle Ott with music by Julia Norton. 12:30pm

If you have Oakland News, send an email to zennie@zennie62.com

American Idol chaos: J-Lo in, Kara DioGuardi fired, Ellen DeGeneres quit

Wow. American Idol is in a state of chaos: J-Lo, Jennifer Lopez, is in as a judge; Kara DioGuardi was fired as a judge, and Ellen DeGeneres quit from being a judge after just one season, and less than a year.

Now, according to TMZ, it's Randy Jackson, Jennifer Lopez, and Steven Tyler as the three-judge panel. Still, American Idol's not the same without Simon Cowell; then again, it's ratings were tanking with Simon Cowell.

I said "YEAH" when I first got the word Simon was leaving, and I stand by that. Sometimes the dude could be just plain mean. OK, people got a kick out of it and watched, but eventually they tired of his act.



Now, American Idol's real problem is that there are too many freaking American Idol-type shows. The formula has been over saturated. Think about it. We have Britain's Got Talent, America's Got Talent, So You Think You Can Dance, Dancing With The Stars, and a few shows I've left out of my memory. And then there's American Idol.

And three of the shows, Britain's Got Talent, America's Got Talent, and So You Think You Can Dance, are less than two years old.

All of them have the same judge panel format, so after a time, that approach itself has become just plain done.

Can J-Lo make a difference with American Idol? It depends on what she says, does, and wears. If she comes on with a low-cut skirt and is the major bitch the show needs, American Idol ratings will climb.

Ok, I did say I didn't like mean people, but I was thinking of Simon Cowell's way. With J-Lo, that formula just might work.

Chippy D - Laurence Fishburne's girl a porn star, Kim Kardashian thanked

Montana Fishburne, the daughter of famed actor, Laurence Fishburne, is certainly making her dad an unhappy camper as she's now called "Chippy D" and is a porn star.

According to MissJia.com via TMZ.com, Montana Fishburne thanks her hotness Kim Kardashian for the idea. She says it was Kim Kardashian's sex tape that gave her inspiration.

Laurence Fishburne is the famous TV and movie actor best known for playing Mobius in the Matrix film series. (Correction: Morpheus.) But what was going on at home?

19-year-old Montana Fishburne told the site CarltonJordan.com that she had a lot of at-home experience in playing a porn actress.

Uh...what?




No word on what Laurence Fishburne thinks about all of this, yet. And according to her Twitter account, Kim Kardashian's too busy grinding with Dallas Cowboys Wide Receiver Miles Austin to even care:

time to shine ;-) RT @MilesAustiniii -@kimkardashian rise and grind. ;)
about 24 hours ago via web

Stay tuned.

Missing TechCrunch Social Currency CrunchUp and SV Angels' Ron Conway

Ron Conway 

The TechCrunch Social Currency CrunchUp and August Capital Party is on, and this blogger's blogging from bed because of just being plain tired. Travel to Georgia, then San Diego for Comic Con. And Comic Con itself, as one person put it, can "challenge your immune system."

Then the topping was last nights San Francisco Chapter of The American Marketing Association Mixer at Osha Thai at 4 Embarcadero Center. Met a lot of new people and had a lot of fun. But afterward, this guy was toast; still am.

So I'm missing TechCrunch' Michael Arrington talk with an angry SV Angels Founder Ron Conway, who's pissed that "MA" said entrepreneurs were "dipshits" at last nights' Angel Conference, according to TechCrunch' MG Sigler. Today, Conway said "Well referring to these entrepreneurs as dipshits is bullshit. It’s bullshit in my opinion. It takes a lot of guts and passion to start a company."

You tell'em Ron. As one who's started two companies, Sports Business Simulations and now Zennie62media, which is still under construction, I'll tell you it's not easy at all. But it's empowering; it's increased my level of self-esteem by leaps and bounds. But the hardest deal is making sure you're partnered with the right people.

If that's not working, it can hurt everything - not your self esteem though.

But today, it's not my self-esteem that's at issue. Now, I'm just plain tired. Maybe I'll rally later.

Mark Wahlberg now has a star on the Walk of Fame by: Nikky Raney

Mark Wahlberg was presented with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on Hollywood Boulevard on July 29, 2010.

Wahlberg's initial reaction was shock, "When I heard I was getting this star, I felt like it was a practical joke."

Most Wahlberg fans know him best for his acting career. Movies he has starred in include Four Brothers, The Italian Job, The Departed, The Lovely Bones, and others. Most recently he stars in The Other Guys with Will Ferrell.

Before Wahlberg became a well known actor the 39-year-old spent his younger years as an underwear model for Calvin Klein, and a rapper. Mark was known as Marky Mark in the early 1990s with his hip-hop group Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch.

Wahlberg is the owner the 2,414th star on the legendary walk of fame. He was joined by his wife and four children, as well as his co-star Will Ferrell.

Congratulations to Mark. He is truly deserving of this star.

(photo courtesy of Google Images)

Jersey Shore premiere of season 2 by: Nikky Raney

Last night (Thursday, July 29) the second season of the Jersey Shore aired on MTV at 10 p.m. This season the cast moved to Miami.

Staring at the television screen and tweeting about what was happening - waiting for something notable and "blog-worthy" to happen.

The show didn't have too many surprises. There was fighting, drinking, spray tanning, clubbing, and yelling. The guidos & guidettes were surprised by the arrival of former cast mate Angelina - who had left last season.

Ronnie and Sammi "Sweetheart" had broken up after season one, and their reunion was hard to watch. Ronnie went so far as to call Sammi the "c-word." It's hard to be too shocked by anything that happens on the Jersey Shore, but for Ronnie to call Sammi the "c-word" was actually shocking.

So, the season premiere wasn't too exciting. There weren't too many moments that are notable, because the entire show is just full of drama and chaos. Even so, the show will still be watched by millions every week, because it's hard to look away.

(Photo courtesy of Jaunted.com)

Danielle Harris for FHM 100 Sexiest Women - stars in Hatchet 2, The Victim

Danielle Harris and Jennifer Blanc

Last week during my Comic Con-related limo ride with the cast and crew of the Dark Sky Films horror movie Hatchet 2, I told star Danielle Harris (who's also in Rob Zombie's Halloween and H2) that she should be on the FHM Magazine's "FHM 100 Sexiest Women" list.

As in the video, she says, "How to we make that happen." Well, aside from Danielle Harris hiring Hatchet 2 publicist Daniela Sapkar, here's the first shot at it. IF FHM Magazine's at all Internet savvy, they'll see this and check out her website, and the rest is a matter of time.

Generally, FHM Magazine has a voting process, but even if one were held, Harris would make the list.

Catch Danielle Harris in Hatchet 2 in October, The Victim, in production, and in my cool limo ride video series, like the one above.

President Obama on The View: its OK to be black (and mongrel)

U.S. President Barack Obama made an historic first today, appearing on ABC's The View talk show this morning. President Obama was his usual smooth self as he addressed the question of the razor-voiced Joy Behar, the raspy-voiced Barbara Walters and Whoopi Goldberg, the sugary-voiced Sherri Shepherd, and the Valley-girl-voiced Elisabeth Hasselbeck. (Nudge-wink to Elisabeth Hasselbeck, who, while troublingly conservative, is also totally, freaking, hot.)

It's OK To Be Black and Mongrel In America

Obama talked about everything from Snookie and Mel Gibson to the wars, to his daughters and Michelle Obama. More on that later, but what got this space's attention was Whoopi Goldberg's question asking Obama "where are we" as black people, and "who are we?"

Obama said he dealt with those issues of identity when he was a teenager and "wrote a book about it," finally saying that if people saw him as black that was just fine. He also said, correctly, that we were a mongrel demographic, and he's right. Blacks are. So what?

But, for this blogger, that conversation came on the heels of a series of emails and tweets sent by people who were black (or claimed to be as with the Internet, you never know who a person really is), and on my take on Terrell Owens and Chad Ochocinco.

To cut to the chase, I said the Cincinnati Bengals receivers were getting racist media coverage, and I stand by that. The claim of some of the readers was for "how I made black people look." Look to whom? Whites? Asians? That statement has always bothered me. This idea that blacks have to live for someone else view of who they are.

I remember when I was, oh, nine years old. This friend of my uncles said "I'm gonna buy a new Cadillac every year, just like white people do. That was 1971. I asked him why it was important to do something because someone white did it; he didn't have a good answer for me.

Unfortunately, there are some African Americans who, regardless of age, are mentally trapped with the same ideas today. Some of them contact me angrily expressing how they think "we look" as blacks.

I really don't care. What's more important to me is how others look to me. Not the other way around. And the key to black self-esteem and success in the World is to get over what someone else thinks about you.

Take a page from President Obama and feel good about yourself.

Journalism 101: Interview DOs & DONTs by: Nikky Raney

Lorenzen Wright Found Dead by: Nikky Raney

Former NBA player Lorenzen Wright was found dead behind an apartment complex in Memphis, Tennessee; he had been missing since July 18.

Wright was 34-years-old and played for the NBA for 13 years on Cleveland Cavaliers and Los Angeles Clippers. His death is still undergoing police investigation.

As of right now there is much speculation whether or not this was a homicide.

Deepest condolences go out to his family and friends.

(Photo Courtesy of CBS)

C-17 Globemaster Elmendorf AFB Alaska crash update

The C-17 that crashed at Elmendorf Air Force Base in Anchorage, Alaska, is now the focus of a U.S. Air Force investigation.

The Boeing military cargo plane, one of 199 in operation around the World, according to FlightGlobal.com, crashed yesterday at 6:14 PM local time.

The C-17 was making a rehearsing flight plan as part of an air show called The Arctic Thunder Air Show, but what went wrong to cause the giant plane to crash, causing a plume of smoke seen for two miles and as high as 750 feet in the air, is not known. Hence the investigation.

C-17 Globemaster crashes in Alaska

Whatever's going on in Anchorage, it played host to its third aircraft incident in just this one summer. A C-17 Globemaster military cargo plane crashed at Elmendorf Air Force Base with four people on board Wednesday. Air Force spokesperson Lt. Gen. Dana Atkins said that it was likely no one survived.

No one knows why the C-17 crashed, but the result created a plume of smoke 750 feet high, and seen for two miles in any direction. According to FOX News, this has been a rough year for air travel in Anchorage:

The crash is the third airplane incident in Anchorage this summer. In June, one child was killed and four others burned when a small plane crashed after taking off from the city's small-airplane airport in downtown Anchorage.

The C-17 Globemaster is the result of a competition between Boeing and McDonnell Douglas almost 30 years ago. The Boeing version lost to the Mc Donnell Douglas entry, even though it had a more innovative thrust system. (Now, McDonnell Douglas is Boeing.) The C-17 has a more conventional thrust system; here it is, and the plane, in action:



Stay tuned for more on this.