Whoever would have thought it? More than 3,000 people enter a contest to find the nation's top out-of-the-box thinkers and two of five finalists are from Cincinnati.
Leeanne Schmidt didn't: "What a riot for conservative Cincinnati to have two finalists."
Marc Marsan didn't either: "Cincinnati is supposed to be one of the most in-the-box cities anywhere."
Those two should know, they're the two local finalists.
Schmidt, a Fort Thomas photographer with works in more than 150 museums and galleries (including Cincinnati Art Museum) specializes in photos of nudes in a hot tub.
She found the Mazda contest in the Enquirer and went to the Web site. It called for a 150-word essay to be judged on presentation, creativity and support material. Her support was a box with a portrait of a man on the side and lid. Inside was a portrait of a woman trying to get out.
Oh yeah, the essay. It began: "I ask people to take their clothes off and jump into a teakwood bucket filled with warm water so I can photograph them -- and they do!"
Marsan, who lives in Hyde Park, was nominated by his former co-workers at Sawtooth. They entered examples of his work as a brainstormer leading sessions looking for new
ideas and products.
He says Cincinnati has "an unpredictable underbelly. There are some real thinkers here."
He and Schmidt flew to New York Saturday for Monday's finals, which consist of three minutes in front of celebrity judges: Dennis Rodman (can't get more out of the box than that), actress Marisa Tomei; boxing ref and TV personality Judge Mills Lane; Mother Love, host of TV's Forgive and Forget; and Eric Fogel, creator of MTV's Celebrity Deathmatch.
Winner gets a Mazda Protege ES; finalists get a 1-year car lease.
BENCHED:
By the way, Mischel Jenkins said yes. Referring here to the bus stop bench that passersby wondered about.
The downtown bench, at Fourth and Elm Streets, spent the past week or so painted with the message, "Mischel, will you marry me?" Mischel is an account exec at local advertising firm Northlich Stolley LaWarre, directly across the street. The sign was arranged by her boyfriend Todd Schonberg, an account exec at ad firm Ruben H.Donnelley.
He called her at 4 p.m. the day the sign was posted and asked her to look out her office window. She did, and saw him on his cell phone, pointing at the bench.
That got the office folk all excited, but not as excited as Jenkins. She ran downstairs to see him and by the time she got outside, he was on bended knee with a traditional proposal.
She accepted. The wedding is planned for October.
IN THE NEWS:What we're dealing with here is the story that just won't go away: The 1977 Beverly Hills Supper Club fire.
Latest development: A British crew, filming a documentary for the History Channel, spent Thursday and Friday at the site and interviewing ex-employees.
Wayne Dammert, author of Inside the Beverly Hills Supper Club Fire (Turner Publishing; $21.95) was a banquet captain at the time of the fire. He has been in regular contact
with the show's producer for the past month.
"From what I gather, most of it is on the employees that night -- what they did, how they felt, how they feel now," he said. "I've been helping them line up the employees and some fire officials, too."
No air date yet.
Psst! appears Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. Have an item to report? Call Jim Knippenberg at 768-8513; fax: 768-8330.
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