Rick Lazio and Jimmy McMillan

Two quick things: Rick Lazio has an online news magazine and someone made a documentary about Jimmy McMillan (of The Rent Is Too Damn High Party).

I know, I know... Neither of these things really warrants posting here on The Mayville Bureau Blog. Though I suppose I could try and argue some sort of connection through last year's governor's race and our county executive, but that's kind of stretching it.

Really, I'm just taking a lighthearted break between last week's three county budget posts and this Wednesday's legislature meeting. So, here ya go:

Rick Lazio:

What is Rick Lazio up to these days? It's a question that had never really crossed my mind until he sent out a press release earlier this month. I mean, after Carl Paladino bumped him off the ballot, I'd thought he'd been given a judge's position somewhere.

Meh. I'm sure Google knows the answer, but that's more work than I'm willing to put in right now to find out.

Lazio's new website is called: IGNITE With Rick Lazio.

Lazio announced the new site on June 3, the same day he appeared on Real Time With Bill Maher.

In a press release announcing the site, Lazio had the following to say:

IGNITE will be an outlet for intelligent and fact based discussion about the major political, economic and social issues that confront our communities and our nation.

IGNITE will be a place where you, your friends and neighbors can visit; a community where people who reject contemporary hyperbole and venom can find reasoned opinions that are factually grounded.

IGNITE will aspire to be a trusted source of information with the goal of educating and mobilizing the public to embrace a shared vision and leveraging the power of our collective voices to bring about good solutions.

IGNITE will include regular commentary on a wide variety of issues facing all of us.

We'll not only discuss political views, but will also provide a place for human interest stories that celebrate the difference that one person or one organization can make in the lives of others.

We seek to be an inspiration for positive action. While I will be the moderator and perhaps at times a provocateur, you will be an integral part of our overall on-going dialogue.

Check it out online here and let me know what you think: Worthwhile website or vanity project?

Jimmy McMillan:

Now onto the more entertaining news... In my inbox today I received news of a new documentary called Damn! (The Story Of Jimmy McMillan).

The film comes out on Aug. 16 and was a finalist at the Little Rock Film Festival and the "Official Selection" at the Brooklyn Film Festival.

Here's the blurb from the press release:

DAMN! is an independent, feature length documentary chronicling the story of "Rent is Too Damn High" party founder Jimmy McMillan, a Vietnam veteran, black belt karate master, former stripper and 1970’s soul singer who became an overnight sensation.

After his appearance on the 2010 televised New York gubernatorial debate went viral, receiving over 2 million views in 24 hours, Jimmy was lifted from political obscurity into the international spotlight.

In what becomes an unforgettable journey, DAMN! is the only film to ever capture the rise of a viral sensation and the media fixation that follows as it all unfolds.

Director Aaron Fisher-Cohen documented McMillan throughout the entirety of his campaign for governor of New York, and the events directly following his loss of election. The film's a sometimes funny and sometimes dark exclusive first hand look into what happens when mass media, politics and money all descend upon the life of one man.

For more, here's the official site and Facebook page. And just 'cause it's Monday and I'm feeling funky and this post would be incomplete without it, here's McMillan's 1975 Single "A Woman Is So Hard To Understand" as well as another more recent video: