There will be a U.Va. grad on “The Apprentice” when it debuts Sept. 16 on NBC.
She is Mahsa Saeidi-Azcuy, 29, who earned an undergraduate degree in biology at U.Va., then went on to get a film degree from the New York Film Academy and a law degree from Brooklyn Law School. She’s now an assistant DA in New York.
“The Apprentice” is a reality-style game show in which 16 contestants vie for a job with the Trump Organization. Each week, one or more are elimnated, with Donald Trump himself issuing the dreaded line, “You’re fired.”
This just in from UVA Today science correspondent Fariss Samarrai:
University of Virginia alumnus Phil Plait, who earned a Ph.D. in astronomy in 1994, is hosting a new television series that premieres this Sunday at 10 p.m. on the Discovery Channel.
The show, “Phil Plait’s Bad Universe,” examines question related to astronomy, putting assorted claims to the test. The first show is on asteroid impacts.
This just in from the U.Va. Health System: U.Va. doctor Mary Lee Vance will be featured in a new Learning Channel documentary on Sultan Kosen, who at 8-foot-1 currently holds the title as the “World’s Tallest Man.”
Kosen has a condition called acromegaly, in which a benign tumor of the pituitary gland causes it to overproduce growth hormone. Despite the care he received in his native Turkey, he continues to grow, a situation that could ultimately threaten his life.
Vance, after consulting with U.Va. neurosurgeon Dr. Jason Sheehan, recommends a course of treatment that includes medication and gamma knife surgery, which is slated to occur later this month.
For U.Va. basketball fans: No, he will not be the second coming of Ralph Sampson, Manute Bol or even Gheorge Muresan, for reasons that should be apparent in this trailer promoting the Learning Channel program:
Produced by the NASCAR Media Group, the weekly series was “inspired by the HBO Sports Productions ‘Hard Knocks’ and ‘Jimmie Johnson: The Road to Daytona,’” said Jon Oliver, U.Va.’s executive associate athletics director.
According to the announcement, “Each episode will deliver an in-depth look at the building of the football program under first-year head coach Mike London,” including behind-the-scenes footage. The series will conclude the week after the Cavaliers’ season-opener against the University of Richmond.
This just in: Yet another U.Va. team is gunning for a national championship this spring.
Four students are representing the University in RooftopComedy.com’s National College Comedy Competition, which is being presented by TBS. The stand-up competition follows a single-elimination tournament format, with five rounds of head-to-head competition determined by online voting, which will pare the 32-team field down to a final quartet, who will compete at the Aspen Rooftop Comedy Festival in May.
Today, voting opened in U.Va.’s round-of-32 showdown with George Washington University; online balloting ends Monday.
One of UVA Today’s far-flung confidential sources has treated us to some insider info …
U.Va. alum Jason George will appear tonight on ABC’s “Grey’s Anatomy,” in a recurring-but-not-yet-permanent role. According to an intercepted communication, he’s looking for some support from his fellow Wahoos:
I don’t normally go for the shameless plug but this one is worth putting out there. I’m doing an open-ended recurring role as Dr. Ben Warren, a love interest for Chandra Wilson’s character Dr. Miranda Bailey on GREY’S ANATOMY.
My first episode airs this Thursday, Feb.4th at 9 EST and PST on your local ABC station. Previous recurring actors include Eric Dane aka McSteamy, Kevin McKidd as Owen,the Iraq war veteran doctor, or Jessica Capshaw as Arizona, the lesbian pediatric surgeon. Obviously, it’s a fairly slim chance but recurring roles can occasionally become series regulars.
So please: 1) forward this message to your friends; 2) watch or Tivo the episode; then 3) if you get a chance and are so moved, give a shout out for me on any or all of these chat rooms.
I did mention that this was a shameless plug, right?
Brendan Hayward received an undergraduate degree in physics from U.Va., but his dream is to direct films. After graduation, he moved to California and went to film school at USC, and now is a tutor by day, aspiring filmmaker by night.
He’s hoping the Doritos “Crash the Super Bowl” contest will give him his big break in show biz. His 30-second entry, “The Smackout,” is one of six finalists. Here ’tis:
You can vote for “The Smackout” here, but registration is required. Voting ends Jan. 31. It looks like the top three make the broadcast.
If you missed Tuesday’s ninth annual Lighting of the Lawn event, you can still see the Academical Village all aglow nightly through Jan. 1. The lights will be switched on each day by 4:30 p.m.
Check out the "Meet the Farmer TV" episode profiling the U.Va. Student Garden. The show airs on Charlottesville local TV station 10 at 7 p.m. each night this week. Or, you can view it on the Web . The student-motivated project, located across the street from Observatory Hill Dining Hall, builds on Jefferson’s agrarian traditions. The model project promotes organic gardening and sustainability. The film features three Urban and Environmental Planning folks: Ben Chrisinger, a fourth-year student: Dana Smith, a second-year graduate student; and professor Tim Beatley.
Gwen Ifill made her name as a network news and public television journalist, but on this video — part of U.Va.’s “Explorations in Black Leadership” series — she’s on the other end of the questions. The interviewer is Julian Bond, a U.Va. history professor and a frequent interviewer in the “Explorations” series.
I’ll admit that sometimes I’m a bit out of touch with popular culture, or at least youthful popular culture. So until this week, I did not know there was such thing as mtvU, which bills itself as “MTV Networks’ Peabody and Emmy Award-winning 24-hour college network-the largest and most comprehensive media network just for college students.”
There will be a U.Va. grad on “The Apprentice” when it debuts Sept. 16 on NBC.
This just in from UVA Today science correspondent Fariss Samarrai:
One of UVA Today’s far-flung confidential sources has treated us to some insider info …
