New TV Show by Zennie62's On BART and Oscar Grant

On Saturday, May 2nd, my new television show starts. It's called "The Blog Report With Zennie62" and features the use of my video blogs in a weekly 30-minute format broadcast and co-produced by CoLoursTV in Denver. The start time is 3:30 PM Pacific Time, 6:30 PM Eastern Time and the show is replayed at 11:30 PM and 2:30 PM respecfully.

If you don't have a TV you can see the live stream at CoLoursTV.org. or Zennie62.com

The first show focused on selected events that occured after the shooting of Oscar Grant by BART Officer Johannes Mesherle on New Year's Day. It opens with my walk through a riot-ravaged downtown Oakland where I talked with many people about what happened, including a group of kids who were some of the rioters. Then we focus on the words of "DaveyD", America's foremost hiphop reporter and voice of the street, who shares his observations of how Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums handled the situation. And finally we hear from Dellums himself. This is not the last time I will visit this issue, but it's a good place to start the show.

The standard format is to present politics, news, sports, and tech in some combination for each show. Sometimes it's me talking about an issue; other times it's me talking to someone else, and with this show we will feature the work of other video-bloggers. It's a vloggers' playground.

The show will have a deliberate vlogger feel. Videos that you see on my channels at YouTube, Blip.tv, and other places make up the show. There's no studio; the camcorder is the star instrument. That means we can go anywhere at anytime and quickly make a video. It also means I can share what's happening in the news on the blogsphere in video form and show it on "The Blog Report". A lot of ground we can cover considering I never dreamed of having my own television show, but this whole road I've taken has been totally unplanned by me.

"The Blog Report" all started last year when I met Art Thomas who's the Executive Vice President with CoLoursTV at a media walk-through for the Democratic National Convention in Denver. He lived in Oakland before moving to Denver and so we had a lot to talk about. I was looking for a sponsor for our show at the time, so I sent a proposal to Thomas. That exchange turned into an idea for placing our videos on CoLoursTV and that became the concept called "The Blog Report With Zennie62".

Our first concern was how to get the videos up on television without a loss of at least the quality that is seen on Blip.tv and Viddler, which have the sharpest video uploads (that written, I love YouTube and the quality's really improved over time such that it's competitive with the two, but YouTube's best system is the website design and its "viral" nature as well as The YouTube Partner program.) I think we solved that problem and I understand the TV version looks even better than what you're going to see here.

I look forward to your feedback and questions. We're seeking sponsors and there are some organizations we simply want to establish strategic partnerships with, so please contact me. The possibilities for this are many and should serve as an example for a possble future for newspapers as well.

If you're a video-blogger located anywhere in the World and have material that's not longer than 4 minutes tops, notify me via email at zennie@sportsbusinesssims.com and we'll go from there. I prefer the video is already uploaded on some site, Brightcove, Blip.tv, YouTube, etc, so I can see it.

I wish to thank Art Thomas, Damon Purdy, and Tracy Winchester of CoLours TV, as well as Steve and Bernard who made me look good in the promo. I also wish to thank Google / YouTube for their support and encouragement and specifically Chad, Emily, and Hunter. A big loud shot-out to the iReport team at CNN: Lila, Henry, Rachel, David, Nicole Saldi, and the rest. And thanks to the team at CNN Special Projects, Errol and Jessica, and to Roland Martin and his staff at CNN for discovering me. Finally, thanks to the San Francisco Chronicle for seeing the value in how I do what I'm doing and providing a platform. To the National Football League and Commissioner Roger Goodell, Greg Aiello, and Frank Supovitz ("Mr. Super Bowl") And of course, thanks to my Mom and my relatives in Chicago and Tennessee.

Reaction to Susan Boyle

This is from YouTuber coolness748:

Hello! We respect Susan Boyle , she is an awesome and great singer. Are these real tears here?? not quite, though watching her sing for the first time did cause watery eyes..(Remember video is in Comedy) Thank You all.

Fox News' Roger Friedman's Leaked "Wolverine" Review Gets Him In Trouble With Fox News, News Corp

More at HuffPost: “FoxNews.com entertainment columnist Roger Friedman has drawn the ire of News Corp bosses after writing a review of a leaked version of the upcoming 20th Century Fox blockbuster "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" — and he'll have to answer to Fox News executives in a meeting Monday morning.

Friedman's FoxNews.com column Thursday — since deleted — was a review of "Wolverine" that studio bosses viewed as an implicit endorsement of movie piracy, according to Deadline Hollywood Daily's Nikki Finke.”

Fox News' Female Short Skirts Get Ratings Over CNN

For the first time, according to Nielsen, CNN came in third place in cable news program ratings behind Fox and MSNBC. CNN had 1.14 million viewers in March, compared with 1.16 million for MSNBC and 2.3 million for Fox News. Some say the reason is Fox is conservative; it's really their focus on women anchors with short skirts.

So Fox could be liberal as heck and still have the same ratings if they had the same "sex sells" strategy. There have been a lot of Fox female anchors doing the showing of a lot of leg: E.D. Hill, Ainsley Earhardt , Linda Vester, Gretchen Carlson, and Catherine Herridge to name some of them.

That's a lot of women, and I'm sure I've left someone's name off the list without intention. The point is, it's too much of a habit to ignore, thus it's part of the high ratings, because it builds expectations that a viewer will see women in short skirts, especially in the morning.

Is this a bad thing? Well, yes and no. Look, we can't deny that above all else, television is a visual medium. It's not radio at all. So people react to what they see. Moreover, we're wired to reproduce -- people forget that -- so visual cues that appeal to our sexual nature will get more attention than those that don't.

That's a fact.

I can't blame Fox for this. But I can blame Fox for coupling it with some lame reporting. Much of it's so biased I don't watch it at all. I flip between CNN and MSNBC. And CNN has some attractive female anchors, but they don't present them like Fox does. If they did, I hate to write this, but CNN would overtake Fox for the ratings lead.

The question is will they do this?

Fox News' Female Short Skirts Get Ratings Over CNN

For the first time, according to Nielsen, CNN came in third place in cable news program ratings behind Fox and MSNBC. CNN had 1.14 million viewers in March, compared with 1.16 million for MSNBC and 2.3 million for Fox News. Some say the reason is Fox is conservative; it's really their focus on women anchors with short skirts.

So Fox could be liberal as heck and still have the same ratings if they had the same "sex sells" strategy. There have been a lot of Fox female anchors doing the showing of a lot of leg: E.D. Hill, Ainsley Earhardt , Linda Vester, Gretchen Carlson, and Catherine Herridge to name some of them.

That's a lot of women, and I'm sure I've left someone's name off the list without intention. The point is, it's too much of a habit to ignore, thus it's part of the high ratings, because it builds expectations that a viewer will see women in short skirts, especially in the morning.

Is this a bad thing? Well, yes and no. Look, we can't deny that above all else, television is a visual medium. It's not radio at all. So people react to what they see. Moreover, we're wired to reproduce -- people forget that -- so visual cues that appeal to our sexual nature will get more attention than those that don't.

That's a fact.

I can't blame Fox for this. But I can blame Fox for coupling it with some lame reporting. Much of it's so biased I don't watch it at all. I flip between CNN and MSNBC. And CNN has some attractive female anchors, but they don't present them like Fox does. If they did, I hate to write this, but CNN would overtake Fox for the ratings lead.

The question is will they do this?

'Building a Mystery' by Sarah McLachlan on QTV

Q was fortunate enough to have Sarah McLachlan as the live musical guest for the Toronto live special broadcast out of the CBC's Glenn Gould Theatre. Playing to a packed house Sarah started her appearance off with her hit 'Building a Mystery'.

Natasha Richardson Accident - Richardson Passed Away Tonight

From CBS: Actress Natasha Richardson and wife of Liam Neeson is reportedly in critical condition after suffering a head injury in a skiing accident at a Canadian ski resort. Randall Pinkston reports.

I later learned that the actress passed away this evening at the age of 45 years old.

Star Trek Movie: Where Are The Black Men?

There's a lack of Black men in the Star Trek trailers and director J.J. Abrams called and invited Tyler Perry to be in the movie to make up for the oversight

Martha Stewart and Lucaris Have Lunch - Seriously

One interesting aspect of taste maven Martha Stewart's life is that she keeps company with some hip members of American Culture, one of them is rapper Ludacris, who had lunch with Martha on March 4th. Here's what Martha wrote on "The Martha Blog ":

Here I am having Lunch yesterday with Ludacris (Chris Bridges). We had a nice salad, paella, and chocolate cake for dessert. He is a nice young man and very, very busy. He is extremely excited about his new flick and new album. Ludacris also really liked the chocolate cake!

But why is this not part of her overall image?  A good question that begs for an answer! 

Chris Brown / Rihanna: Brown charged with two felonies; details of pop star girlfriend Rihanna's assault revealed

More at NY Daily News: “Disturbing details of Rihanna's car ride from hell were revealed Thursday after R&B singer Chris Brown was charged with beating up the pop star as they drove home from a pre-Grammy Awards bash.
"I'm going to beat the s--t out of you when we get home," Brown screamed, according to an affidavit. "You wait and see!"
But almost immediately Brown began raining blows on Rihanna, who was identified as Robyn F. in the court papers.”

-- This reveals a sick, controlling person who should go to jail for what he did. Ramming her head into the passenger window. Trying to kick her out of his rented car. It goes on and is a terrible story.

"Midnight Cowboy" Featured By Directors Guild of America Theatre in New York City

I got an email from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences that they are going to screen the classic "Midnight Cowboy" in New York City, March 16th. You can gain a "taste" for the film from this fan-made trailer:

The Academy reports: "The 1969 Best Picture winner “Midnight Cowboy” will screen for New York audience as part of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ “Monday Nights with Oscar®” series on Monday, March 16, at 7:30 p.m. at the Directors Guild of America Theatre in New York City.

"Academy Award®-winning producer Jerome Hellman will join Academy Award-nominated actress Sylvia Miles in a post-screening discussion. David V. Picker, the executive-in-charge at United Artist during the film’s development, will moderate the onstage conversation, which also will include actor Bob Balaban, cinematographer Adam Holender, composer John Barry and costumer designer Ann Roth.

“Midnight Cowboy” stars Dustin Hoffman and Jon Voight as two mainstream society outcasts who forge an unlikely friendship on the lonely and unforgiving streets of New York City. The film endures as a powerful story of friendship, compassion and redemption.

The tickets are cheap: $5 and the DGA Theatre is located at 110 West 57th Street in New York City. The box office opens at 5:30 p.m. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. All seating is unreserved, which means get their early. For more information, call (212) 821-9251

Vanity Fair 2009 Oscar Party: The Wrapup Video