Baltimore County : Buzz

Are you good at answering multiple choice questions and phoning a friend.

"Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" — yes, that show is apparently still on the air — is scouting potential candidates in Baltimore for its game show, Mix 106.5 reports. Host Cedric the Entertainer will hold auditions in Towson Sept. 12. 

"Contestant auditions consist of a timed multiple choice test and for those people who pass, an interview with one of the show’s producers," Mix 106.5 says. "Auditioners will be seen on a first-come, first-served basis and producers will audition as many people as they can throughout the day."

You must be at least 18 to audition. Read the entire story here. 

 

A New York Times article puts the spotlight on Towson-based Mally Beauty, which is one of QVC's top five beauty vendors.

Founder and makeup artist Mally Roncal recently appeared on the shop-from-home network to tell the story behind her line of beauty of products, including a mascara made from an Italian formula, Japanese pigments and a French lash comb, the Times writes.

Writers for the New York Times Diner's Journal rounded up their list of favorite food stories. 

Along with stories in Esquire and Business Week, Times dining bloggers are reading a Baltimore City Paper feature on a Maryland father-and-son team who are making artisanal cider and mead.

"Just a few weeks ago, I was at some holiday party of the not-very-interesting variety. Then a guest opened a bottle of cider they’d brought—Millstone Cellars’ Ciderberry blend—and things suddenly got very interesting," Baltimore City Paper writes. 

Owings Mills weight loss company Medifast Inc. has rolled out a new ad campaign that has received attention from the New York Times, Mashable and Business Insider. 

"Medifast has a clever TV campaign running right now that includes a heartbreaking ad featuring customer Tina Shelley, who appears as both her former (fat) self and her new (svelte) self," writes Business Insider. "You have to have a heart of stone not to get a little choked up," the online magazine writes. 

Business Insider also talks to the creative director of Minneapolis ad agency Solve, who explains that the videos are before and after shots of actual Medifast customers who lost weight over a period of nine months. 

You can read the entire story here. And here's a link to the New York Times story. 

Timonium's Festival of Trees is one of the top 10 great places to "put a spin" on the Christmas spirit, according to USA Today and Jinglebelljunction.com's creator Monica Mays.

"It includes a fairyland forest with more than 600 decorated trees, wreaths and gingerbread houses, all for sale," USA Today writes. "There also is a Harry Potter house, a toy train garden, holiday craft shopping and entertainment."

Tickets cost $13 and sales benefit the Kennedy Krieger Institute.

Other contenders on the list include a Santa pub crawl in Reno and Santa Claus, Ind., a town that celebrates Christmas all year long. 

You can see the entire list here. 

Serving up lentil burgers and veggie deli "meats" has earned Towson University and the University of Maryland a spot on the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals' (PETA) list of most vegan-friendly colleges.

PETA 2 —  the arm of the animal-rights group that targets the younger crowd — nominated both schools. Voting for Round 1 continues until 5 p.m. Oct. 16 and winners will be announced Nov. 15.

PETA 2 determines who makes it to the next round based on four factors: quality vegan food options, the total number of votes, the enthusiasm demonstrated by nominated schools and feedback from campus students on their vegan dining options.

The University of New Hampshire, Cornell University and Alabama's Troy University are among the other nominated vegan-friendly schools. 

Complaining about your commute? Rodgers Forge native Gabe Acheson puts you to shame.
 
The Park School of Baltimore graduate traveled roughly 400 miles on foot to Yale University where he was accepted, in order to follow through the promise he made in his admissions essay, according to the Baltimore Sun. "As I was writing essays, I thought about how I'd always wanted to do something like this," Acheson says.

"I figured if I put it in an essay, that would force me to follow through on my plan.” Acheson took on the Appalachian Trail, propelled by carbohydrate snacks and Google Maps.
 
Read more about his journey here.

We knew Michael Phelps would land a few more high-profile sponsorships after the London Olympics. First, the Rodgers Forge swimmer landed on the Wheaties box.

Now, the most decorated Olympian has wound up in the water again. No, not a swimming pool but a bathtub. Phelps joins Muhammad Ali and Angelina Jolie by becoming the latest face to grace ads for the French luxury line Louis Vuitton. 

"In a new ad for Louis Vuitton, Phelps can be seen partially submersed in a tub while wearing a suit and a pair of goggles with a duffle bag from the French fashion house sits conveniently beside him on a towel," E online writes. "The campaign was reportedly shot by famed photographer Annie Leibovitz."

The ad could get Phelps in hot water with the International Olympic Committee, which has a new rule that prohibits Olympic athletes from appearing in ads that aren't promoted by official sponsors, NBCNews.com writes. 

Everyone knows by now that Michael Phelps is the most decorated Olympian in history, with 22 medals. 

But he's struck gold in social media as well, according to a Reuters story that appeared in the Huffington Post. 

Reuters reports that Phelps added one million followers during the London Olympics, bringing his total count to nearly 1.3 million. He also has 800,000 Facebook fans. Jamaican track-and-field athlete Usain Bolt is ahead of the race, with 1.5 million Twitter followers. 

And in other Michael Phelps news, the Rodgers Forge native is set to appear in his own reality show. Don't get too excited. We probably won't see our hometown boy engage in crazy antics a la Real Housewives. He'll be playing golf on the Golf Channel's the Haney Project, the Hollywood Reporter writes. 

We know you can't get enough of Michael Phelps, now that the Rodgers Forge native is the most decorated Olympian of all time. 

And neither can Australian Olympic swimmer Ian Thorpe. The five-time Olympic gold medalist says Michael Phelps' slow start at the Olympics, when he came in fourth in his opening final race, made his career that much more special. 

"People were stunned when he came fourth in his opening final," Thorpe writes on the BBC News website. "They can see he is human now and that makes him all the greater. He deserved his gold-medal finale on Saturday. I doubt we will ever see the likes of Phelps again, considering how strong swimming has become on a global stage."

You can read the rest of Ian Thorpe's column here. 

A subsidiary of growing Cardinal Financial of McLean, Va., has opened a Lutherville office, reports American Banker.

It's the third office it has opened in Maryland in the past month  as it tries to win business from larger banks that have scaled back their home lending. 

You can read the rest of the story here. 

Broadway World has previewed an upcoming play at Pumpkin Theatre titled "Clever Rachel." The play by Towson children's theater company's is based on a children's book by Debby Waldman. 

"Rachel is smart, maybe the smartest child in the entire village, and she loves to solve riddle," Broadway World writes. "But Jacob, the smartest boy in the boys school, shows up to challenge Rachel. Will they fight each other and become enemies or find a way to work together to make their village a better place?"

The play debuts March 24.

You can read the rest of the preview here. 

From the article, which details Baltiimore County's new fund raising: "The consolidated public improvement bonds will redeem outstanding consolidated public improvement BANs, which financed county public works, schools, parks, and other capital projects. The BANs will provide interim funding for the county's capital program." Read the full piece here.

This Baltimore Sun blog reports the latest confirmation of Baltimore County's strong arts teaching base. According to the article, Linda Popp, the county's visual arts coordinator, said state awards are often given to teachers who make strong contributions to their communities as well as their schools. This year's winners mentored colleagues, coordinated exhibits and found other ways to take art into the community. Read the entire post here.

This article in the Towerlight gives a Towson University perspective on the proposed merger of UM-College Park and UM-Baltimore. TU mathematics professor Martha Siegel is quoted as saying,  "I think Towson University is working its way toward prestige and we are on a good path, and what concerns me is that the pie is only so big, and if we are trying to fund this larger institution, it could definitely have a negative impact on us.” Read the entire post here.