Mark Duncan | AP

President Barack Obama speaks at Ohio State University's spring commencement ceremony today in Ohio Stadium.

Sunday, May 5, 2013 07:59 PM

President Barack Obama urged Ohio State’s graduating class today to “participate” and “persevere” in a brand of citizenship that “is a harder, higher road to take” but it “leads to a better place.” Donning an appropriate scarlet tie under his ceremonial commencement garb, Obama delivered the school’s commencement speech to about 8,000 graduates on hand and an estimated crowd of 57,186 during a sun-splashed spring graduation at Ohio Stadium.

Environment

Mighty tree slayer

Except for a relatively few trees saved by injected pesticides, nearly every mature ash tree in Franklin county probably will be dead in four years from ash borers.

Sports

The view from the top

Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith recently sat down with Dispatch OSU football beat writer Bill Rabinowitz for an interview covering several topics.

Education

Standards debated

New math and English standards known as the Common Core are already in Ohio classrooms as opposition mounts from groups affiliated with the tea party.

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Election

To see what issues are on your ballot for the Spring 2013 primary election, check out our voter guide.

Your health

This special section looks at women's health issues including the cost of a new baby.

Sports Headlines

David J. Phillip | Associated Press

Orb gave jockey Joel Rosario and trainer Shug McGaughey their first Kentucky Derby victory.

Sunday, May 5, 2013 03:23 AM

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The revelers were sloppy, the grounds were sloppy and the racetrack was sloppy. Yet Orb, ridden by Joel Rosario, found a way to win despite his lack of experience on a wet track, trudging to victory in the 139th running of the Kentucky Derby yesterday at Churchill Downs.

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Entertainment Events from ColumbusAlive.com

FROM THE DISPATCH BLOGS

  • Minor Details

    Clippers edge Red Wings 3-2

    Clippers edge Red Wings 3-2

  • Minor Details

    Bourn to rehab with Clippers on Monday, etc.

    Cleveland Indians outfielder Michael Bourn will begin an injury rehab assignment with the Clippers on Monday night in Huntington Park. Bourn is on the disabled list with a finger laceration.

    The Tribe also recalled reliever Scott Barnes from the Clippers today and designated outfielder Ezequiel Carrera for assignment.

  • Now for Kids

    New 'Star Trek' game doesn't live up to potential

    When a publisher announces a game that ties in with a forthcoming movie, it can either go one of two ways. Either it's a glorious affair that presents a worthwhile experience that matches up to, or surpasses, the film (like, say, Disney's Aladdin on the Sega Genesis or the more recent X-Men Origins: Wolverine) or it doesn't even measure up to its source content (like the unfortunate Aliens: Colonial Marines).

  • Screened & Heard

    Documentary honors legacy of legendary producer Richard D. Zanuck

    Sometimes a person must overcome his name. Children of infamous criminals know this all too well.

    Successful people, too, must sometimes overcome their family legacy. Oscar-winner Richard D. Zanuck might have gotten his foot in the door with his name, but the colorful character used his Hollywood upbringing as a foundation for a career that connected him to the biggest names in Tinseltown.

    Turner Classic Movies (TCM) marks the life and career of the legendary producer with the television premiere of the documentary Don't Say No Until I Finish Talking: The Story of Richard D. Zanuck. The Steven Spielberg-produced film airs Wednesday May 8 at 8 p.m.

    Zanuck's father, Darryl, was a founder of 20th Century Fox, and an executive at the studio. He raised his son in Hollywood. Richard was brought up around famous people. He met Dwight D. Eisenhower as a child. He had snowball fights with author Ernest Hemmingway. He got in trouble for playing to rough with starlet Elizabeth Taylor.

    "I wasn't intimidated ever in my life by the magic or the power of stardom, because I'd grown up with it," Zanuck said in the intro of the documentary.

    Encountering these celebrities gave Zanuck, who died in 2012, a unique ability to speak honestly to celebrities who weren't used to a direct answer. This allowed him to achieve success in a field where others might be afraid of saying no.

    Zanuck worked his way up from the bottom. He said he worked every job on the movie sets before releasing Compulsion (1959), his first producing credit.

    He took over 20th Century Fox in the 1960s at a time when the studio was struggling financially. Under his tenure, the studio released a number of highly successful movies, including The Sound of Music, Patton, M*A*S*H*, Butch Cassady and the Sundance Kid, Planet of the Apes and The French Connection.

    "He was a dream producer to work with as an actor or a director, because he makes things comfortable," Clint Eastwood said in the film.

    Zanuck's taste for big-budget flops like Hello, Dolly, though, saw his ouster at the studio. He later transitioned back to a movie producer, where his enduring support of artists allowed him to create a number of commercially and artistically successful projects.

    By not hiring a young Spielberg as a director early in his career, Zanuck caused the young prodigy to rethink his career focus.

    Zanuck collaborated with Spielberg on his first movie, The Sugarland Express (1974). While the Goldie Hawn film was unsuccessful, Spielberg and Zanuck's second effort, Jaws (1975) became the prototype for the Summer blockbuster.

    Not all of Zanuck's films were as successful as Jaws. He took chances on films that he saw someting in.

    Some of the his other memorable efforts which were hits included Cocoon (1985), Ron Howard's first big-budget film, Driving Miss Daisy, for which Zanuck won the 1989 Academy Award, and The Road to Perdition (2002). The Zanuck/Brown Company, which teamed him with David Brown, was behind Oscar winner The Sting (1973).

    Darryl Zanuck's biography was titled Don't Say Yes Until I Finished Talking. It marked the idea that as an executive, he was surrounded by Yes Men who would agree without hearing what he had to say. Richard thought outside the box, looking for a great film outside the archetype of the Hollywood blockbuster.

    This eye for a good story put him in contact with iconoclastic filmmaker Tim Burton. Zanuck produced Burton's movies, including Planet of the Apes (2001), Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005) and Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007). He introduced Burton to his longtime partner Helena Bonham Carter.

    Growing up in a film family, much of Zanuck's life was captured on film and in photographs. These images make up much of this movie, along with interviews with those he worked with including Johnny Depp, Michelle Pfieiffer, Alfred Uhry, Lawrence Gordon and members of Zanuck's family.

    The documentary will be followed by three Zanuck films on TCM. Driving Miss Daisy, directed by Bruce Beresford, starring Jessica Tandy, Morgan Freeman and Dan Akroyd, starts at 9:45 p.m. Cocoon, starring Don Ameche, Wilford Brimley, Brian Dennehy and Steve Guttenberg, airs at 1:15 a.m. Compulsion, which is loosely based on the Leopold and Loeb murder trial, won awards at the Cannes Film Festival for actors Dean Stockwell, Bradford Dillman and Orson Welles. It begins at 3:30 a.m.

  • Puck Rakers

    Bobrovsky Out Of Worlds

    Blue Jackets goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky is no longer playing for Russia in the IIHF World Championships, and it's likely for the same reason Bobrovsky is no longer a Philadelphia Flyer.

    GM Jarmo Kekalainen would only confirm to The Dispatch this morning that Bobrovsky has pulled out of the Worlds. That leaves defenseman Fedor Tyutin and center Artem Anisimov as the Blue Jackets' representatives in the tournament, which runs through May 19 in Stockhold, Sweden, and Helsinki, Finland.

    Apparently, there was some confusion with the Russian team. As the Blue Jackets were making their late-season push for the Stanley Cup playoffs -- they lost out of the eighth-seed to the Minnesota Wild because of a tiebreaker -- Flyers goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov was promised the No. 1 job if he'd agree to come play for Russia. He did.

    When the Blue Jackets missed the playoffs on the last day of the season, Bobrovsky was set to head to Helsinki immediately. When he learned that he'd be a back-up (again) to Bryzgalov, Bobrovsky decided ...

  • Minor Details

    Red Wings club Clippers 8-2

    The Rochester Red Wings hit five home runs tonight in an 8-2 demolition of the Clippers in Huntington Park.

    Jeff Clement and Clete Thomas each hit a pair of home runs for the Red Wings in the win. Chris Colabello added a home run, a double and two singles to the Rochester offense. Liam Hendriks (1-3) got the win.

  • The E-Team

    OSU honors outgoing provost

    More graduate business students at Ohio State University will receive financial support to study abroad under a new program honoring outgoing Provost Joseph A. Alutto, a former dean of OSU's Fisher College of Business.

    Officials announced today that a $5 million fund has been created to launch the initiative, potentially as early this fall. The fund will allow graduate business students to have access to financial resources dedicated to international opportunities. Fisher enrolls approximately 1,000 graduate-level students each autumn.

    “Provost Alutto has a love of the global community that really does translate into a deep commitment to expand the boundaries of learning,” President E. Gordon Gee in a written statement. “ In recognition of his life’s work in university education and globalization, we are establishing a lasting legacy in his name to honor him and his work with a gift that will endure for generations to come.”

  • Covering the Crew

    Postgame: New York

    When I talked with Dominic Oduro after today’s 1-0 home loss to New York, the Crew midfielder disagreed with my statement that it felt like a pretty even game.

    “We dominated the whole game,” he said. “I wouldn’t even call their goal a chance. We just have to stick with the positives. We dominated the whole game and we have to keep doing that and keep our chances and put it in the net.”

  • OSU Women's Basketball

    Stokes eager for WNBA tryout

    Stokes eager for WNBA tryout

  • Minor Details

    LaPorta homers; Clippers top Rochester 5-1

    LaPorta homers; Clippers top Rochester 5-1

  • Theater Talk

    The Tony award nominations: Most Broadway hits recognized, but an exciting new play was snubbed

    So Bette Midler wasn’t recognized in the Tony awards for her first Broadway role in more than three decades as Hollywood superagent Sue Mengers in I’ll Eat You Last.
    So weren’t a lot of other Hollywood celebrities who returned to Broadway, such as Sigourney Weaver (who’s generating lots of laughs in Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike).
    But some were – such as Tom Hanks.
    So what’s the big deal?
    When Tony Award nominations were announced Tuesday for Broadway’s 2012-2013 season, Midler’s exclusion from the highly competitive Tony category for best actress in a play was widely noted as a major snub. Yet, an even bigger snub – in the best-play category – was largely ignored.

  • The Bottom Line

    La Michoacana Mexican Market to hold festival Saturday, May 4

    La Michoacana Mexican Market will celebrate its 13th anniversary and Cinco de Mayo at a festival Saturday afternoon, says owner Liborio Alcauter. The festival, which will feature free food, five bands (including Mariachi) and games for the kids will start at noon and end at midnight outside Santanas Party House at 3569 Refugee Road in Columbus.

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