Washington’s Oscar weekend begins May 9 as Hollywood and New York’s biggest celebrities come to town for an evening with the President, Vice President, official Washington and the media.
Fishbowl DC brings word that Jim Glassman’s Ideas in Action will join the Sunday local viewing habits in September.
The half-hour show will “air weekly on two public television stations – Howard University Television (WHUT Channel 32) at 9:30 a.m. and Maryland Public Television (MPT) at 8:30 a.m.” The show will continue to be taped from the Newseum and on location in Dallas.
Glassman, a former host for Capital Gang Sunday and current executive director of the George W. Bush Institute, leads the discussion series that focuses on central topics such as cybersecurity or dissent on the Internet rather than rope-a-dope talking points about traffic jams in Los Angeles.
Ideas currently airs in select markets via PBS and streaming via its website. You can check for local availability here.
If you’re playing at home, that means your average Sunday can now include Ideas In Action among every other show you keep DVR’ed for Monday Morning Talking Points.
The people of Los Angeles found out there is a price for their idyllic weather and sprawling commute last night: $1 million.
That’s how much a private fundraiser held for President Obama garnered according to TheWrap. Held at the home of producer John Wells, Hollywood came out to hear the president explain his upcoming legislative agenda and other remarks in the relaxed atmosphere of a walled garden.
The Associated Press will not haz a cheeseburger after all.
It comes as a surprise to everyone that the wire service was in actual contractual talks for months–yes, “actual months” Fishbowl NY breathlessly assures us–with Pet Holdings Inc. (aka the owners of I Can Haz Cheeseburger.) The reason, according to an interview with Pet Holdings CEO Ben Huh in the Los Angeles Times,
“They felt that allowing the unwashed masses to [alter image captions] would be against their journalistic integrity.”
The main question (“How does an old media monolith like the AP remain hip and relevant in the age of cats with white text?”) is a frivolous statement. The AP has one of the better mobile apps through iTunes, but still suffered earlier this year when Google News revealed it would not host any new content from AP after contract negotiations failed.
Mid-week announcements are the best when it concerns White House Press Pools.
So without further ado, as Fishbowl DC informs us, Ben Feller is the AP’s new White House Correspondent. Feller covered education for the news organization from 2003 to 2006, switching to the White House since then.
Screencap from NY Daily News. Pete Souza/White House
For the 49th birthday of the President of the United States, you’d think it was the saddest day ever if you were the New York Daily News.
The Gotham tabloid started this piece about the President’s special day in true fashion: “It’s your party, Mr. President. You can cry if you want to.” It doesn’t hurt to run a file photo of the President staring at a plate of cupcakes like it was a handful of oil.
Back to the plate at hand: the photo (left) shares a strange similarity to when Helen Thomas celebrated her 89th birthday and received a plate of cupcakes from the President (and he’s smiling too!)
In fact, the photo is from last year while Obama “watches the flame on the candle as he walks to the Brady Briefing Room to present cupcakes to Hearst White House columnist Helen Thomas in honor of her birthday, Aug. 4, 2009.”
Long live the king of CNN’s prime-time block: Piers Morgan.
The rumored hopeful was confirmed as headed to the cable news network according to The Wrap. Jeff Gaspin, president of NBC Universal TV, confirmed the former host of America’s Got Talent joining the network during a press tour earlier today.
The rest of the details aren’t publicly available yet; Gaspin gave a brief answer to Morgan having dual duty at NBC and CNN (“Yes,” Gaspin said.)
Like the ending for any Inglourious Basterd, Bob Kerrey’s bid for Motion Picture Association of America Chairman is up in celluloid smoke. The former senator and president of New School rejected the MPAA’s offer as the organization’s head lobbyist.
The Wrap reached Kerrey for comment, We couldn’t reach agreement and I called to suggest we break off talks. They agreed…[t]he decision was mutual. I like them a lot and wish them well.”
Hillary Rosen with Susan Axelrod, Wendi Deng and Rupert Murdoch at 2010 Brunch
There’s a silver lining in today’s flash monsoon with SKDKnickerbocker‘s hiring of Hillary Rosen, pictured above. FishbowlDC reports on Rosen’s new gig, which “follows the return of Principal Anita Hill, who left the company to serve as President Obama’s Communications Director.”
President Obama will meet with the winner of Super Bowl XLV as early as next month. Sounds weird, right? But it’s actually true, since a pixelized president is in the latest edition of the Madden NFL 11 video game franchise released on August 10th.
Once you complete the season and your team wins the Super Bowl, the ending of the game involves President Obama’s jerky game avatar meeting with other bits of code and holding up a jersey.
Game Informer notes how weird the cameo looks in context with a game for die-hard sports fans. The complete video can be found on IGN. Of course this isn’t the first off-kilter cameo for President Obama: Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen presents Obama as a pacifist who eventually submits to the Decepticons referenced in an off-hand news clip and the third season premiere of The Boondocks which involved a Germany documentary filmmaker (voiced by actual filmmaker Werner Herzog) breaking down the hype of Obama’s 2008 campaign according to this Washington Post review.
It’s a shame though that an 8-bit Bill Clinton or George H.W. Bush never got to do this on the Nintendo, Genesis or Playstation.
After a few jokes about who an “unexpected third party” could be, it’s almost unexpected that NPR would emerge as the dark horse for Helen Thomas’ coveted seat.
NPR’s reasoning? Its audience size, scope of programming and the subtle burn that they’ve been in the White House Press Room since the 1970s compared to Bloomberg and Fox News. Once again, August 2nd will be a very exciting day.
Photo: Brendan Smialowski/Getty Images
The best advertising can also be the most unfortunate, especially when it comes to Photoshop or domain registers.
Cases in point: Lawrence Bender, producer of Inglorious Basterds and Kill Bill, was in D.C. to promote his newest feature, the nuclear arms doc Countdown to Zero and addressed how a few Tea Party folks re-purposed the poster art from Bill.
The Beltway’s TV presence is going wider–if not global–in the coming weeks
TVNewser confirms August 1st as the start date for Christiane Amanpour’s premiere at This Week, which sadly ousts Jake Tapper from the temporary position. Meanwhile, Rick Sanchez is being bumped up to 8 pm on July 22nd until the Fall premiere of the Untitled Eliot Spitzer/Kathleen Parker Show.
Do you know what app’s missing when it comes to scouting out the District or making a simple poll? Luckily, there’s an app for that–if you make it, of course.
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