Richard Roeper inspires young filmmakers in Missouri
04.19.2010
Richard Roeper > View profile
But for a group of Missouri filmmakers, no such stunts were necessary. Last night at the Missouri Theatre Center for the Arts, Chicago Sun-Times columnist and film critic Richard Roeper hosted the Silverscreen Film Festival awards. Roeper was generous with his praise of the 13 short films he viewed, saying some were better than the ones he watches for a living.
“You have energy, enthusiasm, talent, a vision and stories to tell,” Roeper told the filmmakers. “So I just want to encourage you to keep doing this.” (Columbia Tribune) > View article
Shawn Achor tells business owners to stay positive
04.16.2010
Shawn Achor > View profile"Entrepreneurs who are successful in a down economy are the ones who maintain a positive frame of mind," said Shawn Achor, a former Harvard psychology researcher who founded consulting firm Aspirant. "When they go through a period of challenge, they have the possibility of emerging with greater resilience, which allows them to endure a longer economic drought." (Chicago Sun Times) > View article
Ten Questions for Lt. Dan Choi
04.02.2010
Lt. Dan Choi > View profileGay rights activist Dan Choi believes the leaders of his movement have been too soft on the President. During his campaign, President Obama promised to repeal Don't Ask Don't Tell, the 1993 military law that bans gay troops from openly declaring their sexuality while in service. But after delaying action on the issue for a year, the President has instructed the Pentagon to take another year and review the implications of a repeal. In the meantime, the Pentagon has backed off from kicking out soldiers who declare they are gay. Lawmakers too have started conducting hearings about the repeal. While groups like Human Rights Campaign have applauded these steps, they aren't enough for Choi, who chained himself to the White House fence last month demanding an immediate repeal. In an interview with Congress.org, Choi explained why he decided to take a stand now. (Congress.org) > View article
Lt. Dan Choi in Newsweek Exclusive
03.24.2010
Lt. Dan Choi > View profileLt. Dan Choi, a West Point graduate and fluent Arabist being discharged from the Army for being openly gay, was arrested last week along with former Army captain Jim Pietrangelo II, after handcuffing themselves to the White House gate in protest of Don't Ask, Don't Tell. They were handcuffed with the help of Robin McGehee, a former PTA president turned activist who last week cofounded GetEQUAL, an LGBT activism group inspired by civil-rights organizations and gains made through civil disobedience. "We've held marches, lobbied, manned the phone banks," says McGehee. "The last resort is to rumble." (Newsweek) > View article
Richard Roeper "Bets The House" in new book
03.24.2010
Richard Roeper > View profileDuring the course of 30 days in early 2009, Richard Roeper risked more than a quarter million dollars on practically every method of gambling currently available in America. Chronicling his wild ride in a breezy, humorous manner, this entertaining exploration both celebrates and details the many pitfalls and lures through Roeper's stories about his lifelong affair with gambling. With insight and aplomb, the narrative answers the questions What is it like to bet money you don’t have, knowing that if you lose, you’re in serious trouble? What is it like to play in a poker tournament alongside celebrities and world champions? and What are the 10 best gambling movies of all time? This delightful dalliance proves that the true national pastimes aren’t baseball, basketball, or football, but instead fantasy football, March Madness, poker, slots, the lottery, craps, blackjack, church raffles, and bingo. (Barnes and Noble) > View article
NYT Magazine Profiles Lockhart Steele
03.23.2010
Lockhart Steele > View profileIn February 2001, a Brown University graduate with the improbably suave name Lockhart Steele took up occupancy in a one-bedroom third-floor walk-up apartment on Rivington Street, near the intersection with Ludlow. The Lower East Side could still claim, just barely, to be a marginal neighborhood. Storefront synagogues and housing projects were still more typical than bars with ostentatiously unmarked doors. The neighborhood was a good fit for Lockhart Steele: they were both, as they say, in transition. (NY Times Magazine) > View article
Ellerbee's Nick News Tackles Cheating Culture
03.12.2010
Linda Ellerbee > View profile
Cheaters suck. They ruin the playing field for honest kids who do not use iPods, hand helds and other high tech gadgets, along with old school crib notes and other tried and true methods that allow those who refuse to do the work a leap frog over those who hit the books and learn the material.
No surprise then that cheating in school is easier and more popular than ever. (Monsters and Critics) > View article
Zandi: Hiring Tax Credit Can Create 250K Jobs
03.05.2010
Mark Zandi > View profile
Despite doubts among many lawmakers that the measure will create many jobs, the House passed legislation yesterday giving companies that hire the jobless a temporary payroll tax break.
The measure passed, 217-201, on a mostly party-line vote. The bill also extends federal highway programs through the end of the year.
Some Democrats think the approximately $35 billion bill - blending $15 billion in tax cuts and subsidies for infrastructure bonds issued by local governments with $20 billion in transportation money - is too puny, while others say the tax cut for new hires won't generate many jobs.
However, the pressure is on to address jobs and deliver a badly needed win for President Obama and a Democratic Party struggling in opinion polls ahead of the Nov. 2 midterm elections. Further jobs measures are promised.
Economist Mark Zandi of Moody's Economy.com said the new hiring tax credit could spur creation of about 250,000 jobs. The economy has shed 8.4 million jobs since the recession began in December 2007. (Philly.com) > View article
Scott's “The New Rules of Marketing and PR” Gets an Update
02.25.2010
David Meerman Scott > View profileTwo and a half years ago, the first edition of “The New Rules of Marketing and PR” hit the shelves. David Meerman Scott’s guide to using social media and other online tools for marketing was a game changer. It provided an education for anyone wanting to build connections online, whether they were marketing products and services or just wanting to drive more traffic to a blog. Last month, the second edition of the book came out. I received a review copy and I’ve been going through it. (WebWorker Daily) > View article
Nathaniel Frank's DADT Op-Ed on Huffington Post
02.17.2010
Gotham ArtistsTo a degree that has caught even longtime advocates off guard, the substantive debate about whether to end "don't ask, don't tell" has rather suddenly been resolved. The impassioned statement by Adm. Mike Mullen, the first sitting Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to call for an end to the ban, reflects a sea change in military culture that some have been expressing for years: the young, professional troops of the U.S. military simply don't care that much if their unit mates are gay. In 1993, Bill Clinton, Gen. Colin Powell, and Sen. Sam Nunn were confronted everywhere they went with angry troops demanding to be reassured that gays would not be allowed to foist their lifestyles on their pristine fighting force; but this week Adm. Mullen was so taken aback by the silence of troops in the wake of his call for repeal that he raised the issue himself in recent conversations, prompting crickets from service members and a change of subject to matters far more pressing to them. (Huffington Post) > View article
David M. Scott in SES Webcast Interview
02.10.2010
David Meerman Scott > View profileInternationally known Internet marketing strategist and author David Meerman Scott will be featured in a free Search Engine Strategies (SES) webcast. Scott is the author of the recent hit book “World Wide Rave” in which he describes the concept of a particular business or brand becoming known worldwide through online buzz, which in turn results in increased sales and recognition. The second edition of his BusinessWeek bestseller (published in 24 languages), “The New Rules of Marketing and PR: How to Use Social Media, Blogs, News Releases, Online Video, and Viral Marketing to Reach Buyers Directly,” was published in January. (PR Web) > View article
Lt. Dan Choi featured in NY Times
02.01.2010
Lt. Dan Choi > View profile
WASHINGTON — President Obama and top Pentagon officials met repeatedly over the past year about repealing “don’t ask, don’t tell,” the law that bans openly gay members of the military.
But it was in Oval Office strategy sessions to review court cases challenging the ban — ones that could reach the Supreme Court — that Mr. Obama faced the fact that if he did not change the policy, his administration would be forced to defend publicly the constitutionality of a law he had long opposed. (NY Times) > View article
Gary V: A Guru Who Can Get You Rich
01.22.2010
Gotham ArtistsIt's happening— can't help it. Gary Vaynerchuk is getting me all worked up. In his spartan office in lower Manhattan, I'm getting the Crush It! religion. "Can I tell you why it's huge?" he asks. "Because it's real. Seriously, I mean, like, I'm getting goose bumps." He holds out his arm, and for a moment I'm actually surveying his flesh for evidence of just how exciting this all is! (Details) > View article
John Yoo: No Terror Trials in NYC
01.22.2010
John Yoo > View profileJohn Yoo, former deputy assistant attorney general in the office of legal counsel of the U.S. Department of Justice during George W. Bush's first term, sat down with me last week prior to his talk before a Manhattan audience of the Federalist Society to promote his new book, Crisis and Command. He told me this interview was his first and only "blogger interview" as part of his book tour. (Huffington Post) > View article
The NY Times on Crisis and Command
01.22.2010
John Yoo > View profileIn “Crisis and Command,” his sweeping history of presidential prerogatives, John Yoo argues that national security crises inevitably ratchet up the power of the president at the expense of Congress. “War acts on executive power as an accelerant,” he writes, “causing it to burn hotter, brighter and swifter.” In “Bomb Power,” Garry Wills argues much the same thing, adding that the advent of atomic weapons has made this concentration of power in the White House even greater. “The executive power increased decade by decade,” he writes, “reaching a new high in the 21st century — a continuous story of unidirectional increase.” Where the two authors disagree is on whether this trend should be celebrated or denounced. Yoo finds increased executive power appealing and in accord with the Constitution. (NYT) > View article
Newsletter
Subscribe to receive our news: