I realize there's a big banner at the top of this blog advertising Midpoint Music Festival (but for those of you who, like me, ignore banners) Midpoint is Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Complete schedule can be found here. I hadn't realized it was this week until I saw Griff's post about Javier's joining the fray, and went to check the full schedule.
At the very least I'll go to Javier's Friday or Saturday, and hopefully will do much more than that. This should be a great weekend downtown and across the river, so please support the bands involved and come on down.
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Right Here in OTR
Jason at Somewhere Over-the-Rhine knocks it out of the park with his take on the ill perceptions of OTR perpetuated by the media and the ignorant suburbanites who haven't been near OTR or Downtown ever in their lives, outside of a Red's or Bengal's game. Jason hits on a topic that I've been seeing for a while and have had in the back of my mind for a long time as a topic to blog about. It deasl with where the perception problem of Cincinnati comes from. It comes from the Native Cincinnatians that never left Cincinnati and are now living outside of the urban core. They don't travel a lot, they spend time in their closed off social networks, socializing only with high school or maybe college friends. They are ignorant and allow themselves to be sucked in by what ever the media says. Hell, if we trusted the media, we would think no crime ever happens in West Chester. When crime does happen there, or in Milford, or in Morrow, we don't hear those areas labeled at all. I wonder why.
[Hat Tip to Just Past Central]
[Hat Tip to Just Past Central]
Rocking for Obama on Fountain Square
A huge event will hit the square next on Octber 16th, when The National and The Breeders will do a free show from 5 to 9 PM. This is a rally in support of Barak Obama, so look for other political speakers to appear. Also, since this is going to likely be open to the public, look out for the brownshirts trying to disrupt it or try to make it look like the Dems are being disruptive.
Driehaus--Chabot, Neck and Neck
The Blogging Pros at Talking Points Memo have the link to polling for the 1st and 2nd Districts in Ohio:
It looks like a much tougher hill for Wulsin to climb. The poll there doesn't mention the impact of the Independent conservative (Krikorian) in the race, however, which should be an impact to Schmidt, who has a very high negative with some conservatives.
"A new set of SurveyUSA polls in Ohio show Dems poised to pick up two out of four contested GOP-held district. In the First District, incumbent Rep. Steve Chabot (R) is holding a small lead over challenger Steve Driehaus (D) 46%-44%. In the Second District, Rep. Jean Schmidt (R) is holding an 8-point lead over challenger Victoria Wulsin (D) 48%-40%."It has been months since a poll came out and this is great news for Driehaus. Look for money to be dropped into this race right now and for a big blitz to unseat Chabot by the Dems.
It looks like a much tougher hill for Wulsin to climb. The poll there doesn't mention the impact of the Independent conservative (Krikorian) in the race, however, which should be an impact to Schmidt, who has a very high negative with some conservatives.
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Local TV Thread
Kate of KRM blogs on her favorite television shows. I have to admit, I kind of had a blog crush on her (there's a good definition of "blog crush" here) until I learned of her passion for Dancing with the Stars and Desperate Housewives. She may have won me back with her fondness for Amazing Race. And like her, I enjoy watching Christina Applegate in Samantha Who?, though I suspect for entirely different reasons (hey....I'm a 34 year-old American male....I grew up watching Married With Children! And having grown up in Buffalo, I have to love a woman who agreed to star in a sitcom set in that ill-fated city.).
All that is my long-winded way of introducing a discussion topic: what's your favorite local show or TV personality? And who's your least favorite? There is, of course, precious little local programming any more, but there's some. For that matter, who are your favorite all-time Cincinnati television personalities, including folks who aren't on TV anymore?
My own favorites? I like Newsmakers. I think Dan Hurley does a pretty good job. And even though I disagreed with him (and many of you) about the Bodies exhibit (he thought it was excellent), I thought he provided a great forum for both sides to be heard. Frankly, I wish WKRC would give him a full hour. Sometimes he jumps the shark on me (for instance, when he did a couple of shows on naturalism and showed pictures of birds the whole time...yawn). But overall, he's an asset to local television journalism. I also dig Bob Herzog, but that may just be my bias in favor of lawyers.
Least favorites? One name immediately springs to mind: Dave Lapham. Maybe I'd like him more if I'd grown up in Cincinnati and was a Bengals fan when he played. But seeing him on TV and listening to him on the radio fuels one reaction: change the channel!
Finally: I guess I shouldn't make fun of others' TV viewing habits too much. The other night, I found myself switching back and forth between two television shows: Live from Lincoln Center (the NY Philharmonic with James Galway) and The Ultimate Fighter, watching each with equal rapture. Yes, something's seriously wrong with me.
So please, weigh in with your local TV favorites, as well as you diagnoses of my psychological profile based on my confessed viewing patterns.
All that is my long-winded way of introducing a discussion topic: what's your favorite local show or TV personality? And who's your least favorite? There is, of course, precious little local programming any more, but there's some. For that matter, who are your favorite all-time Cincinnati television personalities, including folks who aren't on TV anymore?
My own favorites? I like Newsmakers. I think Dan Hurley does a pretty good job. And even though I disagreed with him (and many of you) about the Bodies exhibit (he thought it was excellent), I thought he provided a great forum for both sides to be heard. Frankly, I wish WKRC would give him a full hour. Sometimes he jumps the shark on me (for instance, when he did a couple of shows on naturalism and showed pictures of birds the whole time...yawn). But overall, he's an asset to local television journalism. I also dig Bob Herzog, but that may just be my bias in favor of lawyers.
Least favorites? One name immediately springs to mind: Dave Lapham. Maybe I'd like him more if I'd grown up in Cincinnati and was a Bengals fan when he played. But seeing him on TV and listening to him on the radio fuels one reaction: change the channel!
Finally: I guess I shouldn't make fun of others' TV viewing habits too much. The other night, I found myself switching back and forth between two television shows: Live from Lincoln Center (the NY Philharmonic with James Galway) and The Ultimate Fighter, watching each with equal rapture. Yes, something's seriously wrong with me.
So please, weigh in with your local TV favorites, as well as you diagnoses of my psychological profile based on my confessed viewing patterns.
What's Ahead
Over the next few weeks, I hope to post on each of the ballot initiatives we'll see when we vote this year. There are five or six state-wide issues, as well as two proposals to amend Cincinnati's charter.
The most talked about of these are the casino plan, the payday lender reform proposal, and the local referenda on red light cameras and proportional representation. But there are a few others that haven't made many headlines.
To the extent anyone cares what I think, I'll be including with each post my view of whether the issue should pass. While I think I've made up my mind about most of these issues, I'm still very much up in the air on proportional representation. I'm emailing PR's backers for some additional information on the mechanism by which PR works (I understand it in its basic form, but I'm confused by how the redistribution of "over-votes" works.)
I'll also be staying away from national politics from now on, besides the extent to which the presidential race specifically impacts Ohio and/or Cincinnati. I don't think blogging the presidential race here is winning Griff many readers, and it seems to just trigger lots of comments from spammers.
The most talked about of these are the casino plan, the payday lender reform proposal, and the local referenda on red light cameras and proportional representation. But there are a few others that haven't made many headlines.
To the extent anyone cares what I think, I'll be including with each post my view of whether the issue should pass. While I think I've made up my mind about most of these issues, I'm still very much up in the air on proportional representation. I'm emailing PR's backers for some additional information on the mechanism by which PR works (I understand it in its basic form, but I'm confused by how the redistribution of "over-votes" works.)
I'll also be staying away from national politics from now on, besides the extent to which the presidential race specifically impacts Ohio and/or Cincinnati. I don't think blogging the presidential race here is winning Griff many readers, and it seems to just trigger lots of comments from spammers.
Keeping Ohio's Water Safe
Earlier today, the House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved a bill that would protect water from the Great Lakes from being diverted to other states.
Here in Ohio's southwestern-most extremity, we sometimes forget that we live in a Great Lakes state. And there are those in dry regions of the country who want to require that Great Lakes water be shipped cross-country to slake their thirst. Under the Great Lakes Compact, which President Bush is expected to sign, that can't happen.
For what it's worth: both Senators McCain and Obama support the compact. (I had inititally thought that McCain, from the great, dusty state of Arizona, favored Great Lakes water diversion. I'm glad to see I was wrong.)
Here in Ohio's southwestern-most extremity, we sometimes forget that we live in a Great Lakes state. And there are those in dry regions of the country who want to require that Great Lakes water be shipped cross-country to slake their thirst. Under the Great Lakes Compact, which President Bush is expected to sign, that can't happen.
For what it's worth: both Senators McCain and Obama support the compact. (I had inititally thought that McCain, from the great, dusty state of Arizona, favored Great Lakes water diversion. I'm glad to see I was wrong.)
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