Want a dancing job? Oscar needs you now for 2010 Academy Awardss!

Dancers wanted! The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is looking for a few good dancers. So if you are a dancer looking for a big-time dancing job or "gig" look no further, check out The Oscars. Here's the info from AMPAS:

Beverly Hills, CA — Open dance auditions for the 82nd Academy Awards® telecast will be held on Friday, January 22, and Saturday, January 23, at CenterStaging in Burbank, California, telecast producers Adam Shankman and Bill Mechanic announced today. Cast dancers will perform live during the Academy Awards show on Sunday, March 7, at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center®.

The auditions are open to professional-level male and female dancers in the contemporary and hip-hop styles who are between the ages of 18 and 30. Shankman, who began his career as a dancer and once performed on the Oscar show, will be choreographing the audition numbers with associate choreographers Anne Fletcher and Jamal Sims.

CenterStaging is located at 3407 Winona Avenue in Burbank. Interested dancers should note that parking is not available at CenterStaging. Individuals will need to find parking in the vicinity and pay any associated costs. Only qualified dancers will be admitted; there is no access for watching the auditions.

Following is the audition schedule:

Friday, January 22, 2010

Contemporary
9 a.m. – 11 a.m. - Union, Male
10 a.m. – noon - Union, Female
Noon – 2 p.m. - Non-union, Male
1 p.m. – 3 p.m. - Non-union, Female
3 p.m. – 6 p.m. - Trickers and Tumblers

Saturday, January 23, 2010

Hip Hop
9 a.m. – 11 a.m. - Union, Male
10 a.m. – noon - Union, Female
Noon – 2 p.m. - Non-union, Male
1 p.m. – 3 p.m. - Non-union, Female
3 p.m. – 6 p.m. - Callback

Adam Shankman has been tweeting about this for a while. You can also visit the Oscar website for more information.

Haitian relief efforts draw Wyclef Jean, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie

The Haitian relief efforts are well underway and now are being helped by celebrities like Wyclef Jean, Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie and George Clooney. In the wake of the Haiti 7.0 Earthquake, the greatest natural disaster in two centuries in the Caribbean has left thousands upon thousands of people injured or dead; people and aid are on the ground there, on the way, and underway in America and the World.

Wyclef Jean

Haitian native Wyclef Jean got his cell-phone based campaign Yele Haiti! going early and he's now on the ground in Haiti. *You can send your donations to Yele Hati or text "Yele" to 501 501 to donate $5 from your cell phone.)

Wyclef was on Fox News from Haiti Thursday to talk about the ground effort with Bill Hammer. "We spent the day picking up dead bodies all day. From kids," Wyclef said. "There's so much bodies in the street that the morgue has filled up. The cemeteries are filled up." Wyclef and his wife said there were so many bodies that they had no choice. He's calling for a State of Emergency.



Brad Pitt and UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador Angelina Jolie are in the United States as per this writing. They have reached out to Haitian relief efforts by donating $1 million to Wyclef Jean's Haiti Fund.

In a statement, Brad and Angelina said "We will work closely with our good friend Wyclef Jean to support the humanitarian efforts on the island and help those who have been injured and left without homes and shelter."

Meanwhile, Up In The Air's George Clooney has organized a telethon to be hosted on the MTV Networks and ABC, NBC, HBO and CNN February 22nd from 8 to 10 PM. The events logistics are still being developed and entertainment identified.

Stay tuned.

Haiti Earthquake benefit at Oakland's Conga Lounge this Friday

The Haiti Earthquake is the focus of a benefit party to be held at The Conga Lounge in Oakland Friday night at 5422 College Avenue in the Rockridge District.

Conga Lounge owner Mano Gougoumis Thanos wrote this note about the event:

"I will be DJ'ing Haitian Kompa music pus Zouk , Latin music and Reggae. There is no cover for the event, but I will be accepting donations at my DJ booth.

The benefit is from 10pm to 2 am this Friday at the Conga Lounge. I have contacted Hatian friends of mine to bring someone from Hatian Relief to the event , to collect the money at the conclusion of the party. But if you know of any other organizations assisting Haiti have them call me - 510 - 867 - 1092.

This party is gonna be a lot of fun and we will be assisting Haiti too. I hope you can make it to. Haitian music is really fun, tropical and laid back. Great for dancing! Plus I think the Conga Lounge is gonna be the only bar spinning Kompa this Friday!"

So get down to the place that's the home of the Oakland MaiTai, The Conga Lounge, and help Haiti in the process.

Haiti Earthquake more important than Zennie's Ron Dellums opinion

A large number of blog posts back I wrote that Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums should not run for reelection. Within the blog post, I did, what bloggers do: give their opinion. That's what blogging is all about.

I linked to a small local publication really for the purpose of giving it some link love and used it as a springboard, not a reference point, for my own views of Mayor Dellums's job in Oakland's City Hall. (Which is separate from how I view the Mayor personally. He's a giant in politics and African-American history. Period.)

So, I wrote that post, and moved on. Today, it was brought to my attention that the author at the small, local publication wrote a large, laughable, tome of an article all devoted to me, Zennie Abraham as the "Chronicle Blogger" (uh, my website is Zennie62.com). My first response was "Cool" and my second was "This is silly" and finally I thought "Let's put them into play to teach a lesson."  Which I've done.

It's really terrible for an East Bay, California publication - on a day when Oaklanders Walter Riley and Barbara Rhine are still reported missing in Haiti - to waste time writing about their issues with my opinion and not about Riley and Rhine or Haiti.

I can almost see that author pacing the floor, ringing their hands, and talking to themselves over this whole deal, cursing my name all the time saying "That #$$ Zennie".   And didn't even bother to mention the Haiti organization aid list!

Geez.

No wonder I hit the floor laughing!

Yes, I generate a lot of traffic. OK, I'm now at over 11 million video views on YouTube. So what? People over in Haiti need our help and our organization, not for people who have silly issues with video-bloggers to spend a lot of time getting out their media ya-ya's over them, let alone losing sleep over me.

Let's focus on Haiti and the big stuff around us. Please?

Ron Dellums should not run for reelection. He will lose. That's my view and I'm sticking to it. If that angers some and they can't sleep or eat, too bad.  If you want to run 20 miles and cry havoc, go right ahead. (But you'd be better off waiting until the Oakland Marathon.)  I don't want to see Dellums lose an election.  OK?

But there's one thing I do know for certain: Mayor Dellums is far more concerned about Haiti than about me.

At least I hope so.

When you can, find a place here to help Haiti, and God bless.

Rush Limbaugh Haiti comments defended by Free Republic

In a classic example of "why-did-they-do-that?" Kristinn at Free Republic tries to play Matrix with Conservative Radio Host Rush Limbaugh's terrible and insensitive Haiti comments.

Kristinn claims this:

Led by the Democratic party front group Media Matters which issued a posting headlined "We've already donated to Haiti, it's called the U.S. income tax", the media is smearing Rush Limbaugh with a despicable lie accusing Rush of telling his listeners to not donate to Haiti earthquake relief efforts.

Rush was warning listeners of being taken in by the Obama administration by going to WhiteHouse.gov, as Obama instructed, to make donations to Haiti earthquake relief. He was concerned the donations made there would go to the Obama administration. It was that concern that prompted his remark that has been taken out of context and used to smear Rush--and conservatives.

A caller to Rush questioned why he should go through the Obama administration to make a donation to the Red Cross and Rush expounded on that thought. Additionally, the caller said his mother was headed to Haiti to help out. Rush did not discourage that nor did he in any way discourage people making donations to non-Obama administration controlled charities.

He did make the point that throwing money at the problems in Haiti has not worked because of thievery by dictators who've run Haiti and a failure to focus on self-reliance with the charitable work.

Rush did not tell people not to help the Haitians.

Kristinn didn't listen to what Rush Limbaugh said, or did hear it but only picked out what she wanted to hear and not what Ruch Limbaugh said. Here's what Rush Limbaugh said:



In addition to "We've already donated to Haiti. It's called the U.S. income tax", Rush Limbaugh made this statement after the caller said his mother was going to go to Haiti. Note that Rush Limbaugh never encourages the effort:

There are people who do charitable work everyday in Haiti. It's not as though (Florida Democratic Representative) Debra Wasserman Schultz, 'It's our fault. Reverend Wright "It's our fault; excuse for such poverty when there' a nation as rich as we are so close (hear hand pound on desk). Uh. There are people who have been trying to save Haiti, just as we're trying to save Africa. You just can't keep throwing money at it cause the dictatorships there just take it all. They don't spread it arou...and even if they did you're not creating a permanent system where people can provide for themselves.

Translation: none needed. Rush Limbaugh is openly discouraging donations and expenditures to help Haiti after the horrifying Earthquake.  Note that's what he did because Rush Limbaugh's about to provide a lesson in how he gains ratings below.

The fact that hundreds of thousands of people may have died is apparently of no concern to Rush Limbaugh. For anyone from Free Republic to defend Rush at this point in time is to run the risk of being accused of exhibiting the same level of insensitivity as Rush Limbaugh did yesterday.   But Rush Limbaugh's playing a game that even the Free Republic doesn't get.

Rush Limbaugh cleared his comments today in a phone comment to a caller named "April". He said today he does not discourage donations to Haiti: "I did not say do not send donations to Haiti." He said he loves to "tweak" the media.

Right. He didn't say donate to Haiti and he made a long statement that anyone would interpret as "don't donate to Haitian relief."

What Rush Limbaugh likes to do is say things that he knows will upset people, then backtrack after people do get upset about them and say that what he did say was wrongly interpreted by "The Liberal Media" (he forgot Conservative Pat Buchanan).

Rush Limbaugh then called April a blockhead and a bigot (?) and said she was ill-informed. Then he says... "Your mind is totally closed. You've got tampons in your ears."

That was sexist and uncalled for. But here we go again.

In a way, Rush Limbaugh's starting to look like the Perez Hilton of radio, violating the basic decency of people to cause a fuss which then turns the attention to himself, which Clear Channel then makes sure he gets paid for.    How long that will go on for is anyone's guess.  But Clear Channel's going to have to atone for Rush Limbaugh's antics.

Stay tuned.

Pat Robertson and Rush Limbaugh show Haiti foot-in-mouth disease

The damage caused by the Haiti 7.0 Earthquake has brought out the best in the World's compassion; but that's punctuated by occasional doses of racism, hatred, and evil. 700 Club Televangelist Pat Robertson has gained the anger of many in America for his comments regarding Haiti. And Conservative Radio Talk Show Host Rush Limbaugh proved he learned nothing from his chest pains and heart attack threat during the holidays, when he made racist comments about Haiti and African Americans on Wednesday.

Rush Limbaugh's skewed view surfaces again

As people by the thousands turned up dead in Haiti, Rush Limbaugh returned to his racist "us versus them" "white versus black" white supremacist stance when he said this about President Obama's call to action to help Haiti:

“use this to burnish their, shall we say, credibility with the black community, in the… the both light-skinned and dark-skinned black community in this country. It’s made to order for them.”

But Rush Limbaugh didn't stop there. The Huffington Post and Digital Journal report Limbaugh worked to discouarge aid to Haiti, saying...

"We've already donated to Haiti. It's called the U.S. income tax."

According to Politico, Rush Limbaugh didn't score points with liberals or conservatives. MSNBC's Pat Robertson said Limbaugh's remarks were "deeply insensitive."

Pat Robertson made a "pact with the Devil" in claiming that Haiti's Earthquake was a result of a pact with the Devil. Robertson said that when Haiti was a French colony, it swore a pact with the Devil in escaping French rule. Translation: not being ruled by a white nation is not in the sprit of God, but a pact with the Devil. Robertson said:

“But ever since they have been cursed by one thing after the other. That island of Hispaniola is one island. It is cut down the middle on the one side is Haiti the other is the Dominican Republic. Dominican Republic is prosperous, healthy, full of resorts, etc. Haiti is in desperate poverty.”

Robertson has since worked to back away from his statements, claiming compassion for Haiti. Rush Limbaugh has not backed away from his statements as of this writing. There's no word on Clear Channel's support of Rush Limbaugh's opinion on Haiti. Clear Channel has a $400 Million contract with Limbaugh's radio program.

Haiti Disaster: Why You should Give To Help Yourself

[Republished with permission from DocGurley's blog]

Image by Dr Stephen Dann via Flickr

Are your fingers hovering over the keys? Did you even go so far as to get out your wallet and look at your credit card? But then there were those little voices in your head, weren't there? Not the kind that succumb to Abilify, maybe, but evil, portentous voices nonetheless. The kind of voice that says, "yeah, but those people are dirt poor already. Giving a few bucks, now that it's too late, isn't going to fix a damn thing in that godforsaken country." Or, "didn't the Red Cross bungle the last disaster? They're all corrupt, these programs." Or, worse, it might be a voice that says, "hey, I remember that rude Haitian cab driver in New York. They come here, take jobs, what do I owe those people?"

Or, instead, for so many of us, it's a voice that says, "yeah, but I haven't spent twenty bucks on myself - not for a splurge - in God knows how long. Who knows when I'll get that job?"

So why, exactly, should you use your splurge on the people of Haiti? Personally, I believe hopelessness is contagious. It's a virulent disease that spreads rapidly. Despair and destruction and the voices of the lost infect us. Even from a distance. To watch and do nothing is to forfeit a bit of your own joy. If nothing else, it takes emotional energy to ignore the pain of others, and the only way to sustain that energy is by feeding and nurturing anger and frustration and contempt. We are forced to justify our own indifference when we deliberately close the door on suffering of Haiti's magnitude.

But giving, now giving...giving, even a teensy bit, is a form of wellness. Giving of your time, or a bit of your money, or your voice in social media, or some volunteer hours, or a pint of blood - all those things crack the hard wall of smothering despair and anger and contempt we build around ourselves. It cracks, and light comes in, we open to the world around us.

Giving is lighting a match. It takes a bit of effort, a gritty strike to squelch those voices and then you feel the warmth. Even if your contribution is tiny, it joins with others and altogether we become a stadium filled with lighters, a veritable retina-searing billboard of micro-energy LEDs that illuminate not only our own inner goodness, but a group effort that stands as a beacon to others, no matter what their lonely individual plight. Because hope, too, is contagious.

More and more, science is discovering that it is not enough just to eradicate the bad. If you try to destroy virulent germs, doing so can leave a void, and, all too often, another pathogen just as bad, or worse, moves into that void. And grows. Instead, for better outcomes, you need to nurture the good too. Nothing makes it more difficult for badness to take hold, than a culture of beneficial organisms, growing and working and thriving together.

Studies also show that our emotional health is somewhat similar. Altruism is associated with better life satisfaction, no matter what the circumstances (and here). The benefits of altruism persist, even among those who have been victimized themselves, even the most traumatized among us. Altruism is also associated with what's called more self-efficacy - in other words, when you give to others, you are more empowered to help yourself. And altruism is even associated with not just a better life, but a longer life. Giving to others is a gift you give yourself. It is a form of personal wellth that you can invest and grow.

See, giving to Haiti is a splurge. Go ahead. Indulge yourself.

Go here to see where you can donate (confession: since I went to medical school with Paul Farmer, I'm a bit biased towards Partners in Health, as well as Doctors Without Borders). Got no money? How about spreading the word - use your social media to twitter, email, and FB awareness, and poke your representatives to do something. Or how about giving the Red Cross a boost by donating some blood, so they can free up more resources in other areas (hey, donating blood can help your heart disease risk!). What do you think? Got an "I gave and I feel better" story to share? Do you have more tips for those you want to give? Share in the comments section. And do you want to be on the inside, fast track of news and tips? Get on the Twitter bandwagon and follow Doc Gurley! Also check out Doc Gurley's joyhabit and iwellth twitter feeds - so you can get topic-specific fun, effective, affordable tips on how to nurture your joy and grow your wellth this coming year.