Attention sports fans: the March of Dimes is holding its third annual Sports Fantasy E-Auction starting Friday, Sept.1 through Sunday, Sept. 10.

Go to Sports Fantasy Auction to bid on over 100 sports-related donated items.

You could win one of 24 footballs signed by Bengals players (Who Dey!); the chance to watch the Reds play from the comfort of the JTM Suite at Great American Ball Park; a golf outing with former Bengals kicker Jim Breech; tickets and on-field passes for the OSU v. UC football game on Sept. 16 and so much more!

The March of Dimes, founded in 1938, strives to improve the health of babies by preventing birth defects, premature birth and infant mortality through research, community services and education. For more information visit March of Dimes.

Well then throw on your best clothes, and get to Party in the Park tomorrow, Wednesday, Aug. 30!

Here's an excerpt from the press release, which was just sent out:

Single men and women approximately 25 to 35 years old are encouraged to come down to Yeatman's Cove Wednesday evening between 5:30 and 8:30 p.m. to make one-minute pitches on camera to apply for a new season of ABC's "The Bachelor" and "The Bachelorette." The project is a collaboration between The Downtown Council -- a division of the Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber -- WCPO-TV and Media Bridges. There is no charge to make the one-minute pitches on camera. The opportunity is open to the first 50 singles who visit the specially arranged Media Bridges booth on site.

Once the video pitches are captured Wednesday evening, they will be forwarded on DVD to ABC by WCPO-TV.

Last week ABC producers with "The Bachelor" put out a call to the Chamber for single men and women from the Cincinnati region to apply, asking that they be between 25 to 35 years old and "dynamic, attractive, successful in any career." According to ABC producers, they are looking for candidates from the Midwest.

...

Good luck to all aspiring reality stars!

Finalists for the 2006 Online Journalism Awards were just announced by the Online News Association. Congrats to Jim Borgman, who received a nomination in the "Online Commentary" category for his BorgBlog.

CiN Weekly took a field trip to Great American Ball Park to watch the Reds whoop up on the Houston Astros last night (14-zip!). My main goal was to see fireworks at least once, but baby, the sky was lit up like the fourth of July with all the home runs!! Brandon Phillips, Scott Hatteberg, Adam Dunn and David Ross all got some muscle behind their swings and made me one happy Reds fan. And Ryan Freel brought it all home with some awesome catches in the outfield.

To top off an evening of butt-kicking sports and friendly company, Cirque du Soleil made an appearance with one of the performers throwing out the first pitch. He was described by many of the CiN staffers (most notably Gina Daugherty) as "creepy," but I think after our little stare down, he and I had an understanding. Cirque du Soleil opens this Thursday and runs through September 16 so check out Cirque du Soleil for more about the show, and keep supporting your Cincinnati Reds!

Oh, and I totally won the face-off.


Check out these clowns they let work at CiN!

If you saw Regis and Kelly this morning, yes that was former CiN Cook Kelli McKenrick of Highland Heights. Her recipe for BBQ Pork Chops with Cinnamon Apples was chosen for Live's World's Greatest Family Recipe Contest. And it looked like Emeril liked it. If you happen to run across the clip, say, on YouTube, let us know.

Planning out your week? Take time out to attend the National Underground Railroad Center's Freedom of Song Event this Thursday. It starts at 5:30pm. Details can be found here http://www.freedomcenter.org/attend-events/?event_category=august

Hope to see everyone checking this out.

West Chester.

Jen will be happy.

I'm finally posting my Scribble Jam day three blog - and before I get into details, I just have to say three things.
[1] My feet hurt.
[2] Jel and Killa Jewelz (see photos above), incredible for two entirely different reasons and ...
[3] No offense to the Thesaraus, but Louisville's Deuce Leader is my Scribble Jam battle hero.

Unlike Rally's "Rap Cat," true hi-hop was in the building once again at Annie's last night as the final of the two "Main Event" days took place at Scribble Jam. I missed Seven's performance (sorry - never heard of him, didn't hear much about him afterwards) only to get to the event in time to catch the end of the B-Boy battle semi-finals. Folks, a lot of people may think breakin' is passe, but that's because they don't know anything about hip-hop.

Because much like graffiti, it's a backbone of the culture. And Saturday's semis and final battle did not disappoint in showing why.

I didn't catch the name of the losing team in the finals, but if you ask me, it was a coinflip between them and the winning team, the Brickheads.They were that incredible. I was never as glad to have a digital camera that you can shoot video snippets on in the year and a half I've had my Kodak! I wish I made it to the beatbox battle, however, because I missed two things that should tell you just how incredible they would have been to see live: [1] A guy mimicking a Michael Jackson song beatboxing at the same time! and [2] a guy who did a headspin - yes, a headspin - while beatboxing!!!

I don't mean to skip over Glue and Brother Ali as both were sensational(Adeem, would it kill you to record and perform one slow song for a concert?!), but everyone who knows anything about Scribble Jam knows it's all about the MC battle.

If you saw my post yesterday, you know how bad the battle was (for reasons beyond Scribble's control) - but those were the prelims. And while there were a lot of bad rappers (from several countries, mind you) in the final, there were a lot of dope ones. And then there was the first three way MC Battle, which made me respect Louisville's Deuce Leader like I never had before.

Deuce went into a heated battle with rising East Coast Reef tha Lost Cauze, with the winner to face the so-so Sketch. Deuce was announced the winner at first, only to see that overturned in Reef's favor. And right when the situation was ripe for controversy, Deuce rallied the crowd and the judges for a three way battle to advance.

And he smoked Sketch (who actually delivered his best performance of the night) and Reef with a line so crazy you HAVE to buy next year's Scribble Jam DVD just for that.

But if you know anything about Scribble Jam, next year's DVD is already in your budget.

Consider this breaking news if you'd like (and it's subject to change), but barring a major change of heart, I'm entering the 2007 Scribble Jam MC Battle. Why, you ask? Because after listening to the fake rappers (y'all ARE NOT MCs!)that ended up taking the stage last night, I have to for the good of hip-hop.

Apparently, a lot of the competitors that were supposed to be in the battle failed to show up for whatever reason. They nearly made the crowd revolt, the exception beingthe final four (which should explain how they made it there in the first place). If you're going to call yourself an MC, enter an event like the Scribble Jam battle and then not show up, you are not a MC. Period.

That notwitstanding, there were plenty of good MCs to be found at Day Two. Louis Logic and J.J. Brown rocked the house early as did Mr. "A to the K," a.k.a. Akrobatik. (All three are as nice as people as they are on the mic, which is to say very. As those familiar with his work might expect, Casual didn't disappoint the fans in the crowd wearing their Hieroglyphics tees as he ran through a bunch of his classic material as well several of his new songs. Brand Nubian kept the crowd entertained with a relatively short set, while the B-I-G-D-A-Double D-Y-K-A-N-E (Big Daddy Kane for those of you who couldn't follow that) showed why he's a living hip-hop legend. (I left before Pigeon John got on stage - it was past 1 a.m. and I needed to rest my tired feet - 8 hours of hip-hop is hard on the feet!

Least but not last, write this name down, bookmark his Web site (Murs316.net) or do whatever you need to do remember as long as you know this: Murs (see the second picture) is a star - and a fan of hip-hop, too.

Single-handedly bringing the crowd's energy back up following the MC battle, Murs delivered an incredible hour long set after introducing his new group Supreme (not quite) to the world. Energy? Beyond belief. Crowd involvement? Yes sir! Acrobatics on stage? No doubt. (Murs' was drenched in sweat after his show - and it wasn't because he rhymed in a hooded sweatshirt for 30 minutes, either!) And I'll bet you money you'll never see another lip sync Coldplay for 3-5 minutes and leave a crowd as enthralled as Murs!

That's all for now ... My final report of Day 3 (out of 4) will follow. Get out the house and go to Scribble Jam!

In case you didn't notice, Scribble Jam 2006 kicked off last night at TopCats in Corryville. Yours truly (in the Donovan McNabb jersey - no disrespect to my beloved Bengals!) was in the house to take in all the action, which was in a word, great.

A listening party for Catch as Catch Can, the new album by Glue (which includes former Cincinnatian Dan "djdq" Hargraves) kicked things off with Cincinnati's own DanglerFam (DFI) taking the stage first. And for their first time on stage at an event like Scribble Jam, they definitely did their thing. Minnesota's Ernie Rhodes offered up an energetic set as did California's OkWeRdz, a.k.a. "The guy who loses in the first round of the MC Battle at Scribble Jam every year" (his words, not mine!) and Immaculate.

2005 MC Battle finalist (and in my opinion, the one who should have won) Iron Solomon represented for New York. My friends liked the beats laid down by Chicago's Vyle (I wasn't a fan) and Toki Wright showed that a white guy with a mohawk and a black guy with dreadlocks can equal a great hip-hop duo. And Kaze (pronouned Kah-Zee) showed that there's more to North Carolina than just college basketball as he delivered an intense set with several heartfelt, socially conscious rhymes.

Of course, as the pictures above might reveal, Cincinnati's own Tanya Morgan (joined by Jermiside - he's in the Reds shirt) showed everyone why they deserved the cover of this week's issue. From the opening "We Bad" to the crowd-moving "Take the L (Get It)" and MTVU-approved grand finale "We Be," it was a great night of hip-hop anyone who's a fan of the culture would have appreciated.

Stay tuned for Day 2 tonight!

This slideshow/quiz from Details is making the rounds in the office, so I thought I'd share. It asks you to distinguish between the ecstatic faces of Food Network stars and porn stars. Giada DeLaurentis fakes me out every time - I think it's all the makeup she's wearing.

You might not see the similarity at first, but what you have to understand is that both are kind of a big deal.

I just got home from the Cincinnati Art Museum's 5K, which was a tour of Eden Park and Mt. Adams ... just slightly hilly! (Note: I am not a fast runner, a fact I readily admit!)

We heard lots of good things about the 25 Hour celebration, including that the party last night hit capacity and 500 people were turned away! 3,000 people had been to the museum as of early this morning overall.

A couple hundred participated in the race, including several from CiN Weekly and the Enquirer. (Many others from CiN were at the event last night, but I skipped it figuring all night partying didn't mix well with running, at least not for me!) Someone should blog about the party later. My guess is they're all still sleeping!

Anyone been to any other events? Any thoughts?

Check back later for pictures from last night as well as more pictures from the race. (Thanks Mom!)

Just received a press release from Kentucky Speedway at 6 p.m. (nothing like giving us a lot of notice!) But wanted to get the info out to anyone who was planning to attend.


KENTUCKY SPEEDWAY CANCELS AUGUST 5 SUMMER NIGHT JAM CONCERT
Ticket holders will receive refund beginning Monday, Aug. 7

SPARTA, KY. - Kentucky Speedway has cancelled the five-artist Summer Night Jam 2006 concert scheduled for Saturday, Aug. 5.

Ticket holders can receive a refund beginning Monday, Aug. 7, by returning to their original point of purchase such as a Kentucky Speedway ticket office or an official track ticket outlet.

Those who purchased tickets with a credit card through the Internet or by phone will have the refund automatically credited to their account beginning Tuesday, Aug. 8.

- Kentucky Speedway –

At last night's Of Montreal show at Madison Theater - which I gave a shout out to in this week's Music Minute - Nick Spencer announced the location of the "new alchemize." And ... it's moving to Northside. I'm curious to see how alchemize does in the new spot but I am pretty excited it's staying in Cincinnati.

I'm also not sure what's going on as far as DV80s and Girls and Boys - two popular dance nights at the former alchemize - since they recently announced those events were moving to the Poison Room. I'll investigate.

While it might sound dangerous, it also sounds very tasty:

"A Brazilian steakhouse will be one of the new restaurants going into the Carew Tower Arcade downtown.

Boi Na Braza Holdings, a suburban Dallas-based company, said Thursday it will open its third 'churrascaria' restaurant at the tower during the first quarter of 2007.

At a churrascaria, meats are grilled on long skewers over open fires. Meat carvers bring the skewers around to the tables, where they carve as much as you like."

Since purchasing more pitching hasn't enticed more fans to come down and enjoy sweltering baseball, the Reds are offering cheap seats - and cheap food - to get *you* to the ballpark for next week's series against the hated Cardinals, the team CEO Bob Castellini used to help run.

From today's Enquirer:

The Reds are offering half-price tickets in 10 seating locations for three games in the four-game series that runs Monday through Thursday. The exception is Wednesday's game, which is Dave Concepcion Bobblehead night.

The Reds also are cutting the price to $1 on hot dogs for the series.

The tickets discounted range from the Terrace Box seats (now $15) down to the bleachers (now $4.50) and all of the seats priced between. Tickets originally priced $36 (Terrace Infield Box) and above are not discounted.

No word on whether the promotion includes the veggie dog.

Beryl's column this week is all about Bold Fusion, so I thought I'd add my two cents.

I was looking forward to the media panel, which I had understood as focusing on "perceptions of Cincinnati in the media." At the event, however, the discussion was framed more in terms of "How can I get the media to cover my organization or event?"

At one point, somebody asked how he could get the media to not only cover his organization, but to cover it in the way he wanted. This request might have seemed perfectly reasonable to him, but imagine if everyone, from the symphony to the federal government, demanded such consideration! I didn't catch the fellow's name, but he said he was with Lily Pad, so I think he was referring to this Post article about Wi-Fi on the riverfront. (You can find a counterpoint to that article here.)

One question unrelated to press releases was about Cincinnati's relentless focus on local news. The questioner referred to a community of international transplants who want to read about the world. The answer given by Hollis Towns of the Enquirer was pretty much, "Well, that's nice, but we've done tons of research on this and the majority of our readers say they want local news." And the trend is toward even more localized (as in neighborhood) coverage.

It makes sense from a business standpoint. In an age where people can cherry-pick their news from any number of sources, it's possible that the only way for local media outlets to remain relevant is to go local - to the point where you're reading about what's happening on the next block. But I wonder how this trend will affect the public. Will we become savvy media consumers, reading articles from media outlets all over the world? Or will we too become localized - knowing everything about Oakley, for example, but nothing about Greenhills?

OK, I'm done for now. Maybe later I'll say something about Jim Borgman, light rail and/or smoking bans.