"Haute couture is like platonic forms."

Filed under:

We're taking it easy after a long week -- we did our first two hour show yesterday -- stay tuned for more slightly ridiculous BPP double-cheeseburgers next week.

Here's what we talked about this morning:

-- A Des Moines minister married two men in Iowa's first legal same-sex marriage.

-- Virginia Sen. John W. Warner may not seek a sixth term. He'll announce later today. Warner said, "The Senate requires you to go full-bore, six or seven days a week ...tremendous energy, go to Iraq, jump in and out of helicopters, get on the cargo planes, no sleep. And that's different things we've got to do all around, and I've got to assess, at this age, whether it is fair to Virginia to ask for a contract for another six years."

-- The Pentagon says that weapons given to Iraqi security forces by American soldiers have been showing up in Turkey. Many were used in violent crimes.

-- Make sure your "No Call" lists are up to date. In Wisconsin, you have until September 1st to sign up for the fall edition. If you miss that deadline, you have to wait until January to add your name.

-- The Turcotte family sued Augusten Burroughs for $2 million in damages for defamation, invasion of privacy and emotional distress. They didn't get a penny, but Burroughs agreed to characterize Running With Scissors as a book, not a memoir.

-- A Houston police officer handed out "Watchu dun did now," an eight page "guide to Ebonics, teaching the reader to speak 'as if you just came out of the hood.' It included definitions such as 'foty: a 40-ounce bottle of beer'; 'aks: to ask a question'; and 'hoodrat: scummy girl.'"

-- Giant spider web in a North Texas park spreads across several acres and has MILLIONS of spiders crawling on it.

-- What do you guys make of Fashion Week? It's happening right under our noses but we're mixed about its interestingness. We'll definitely have Tim Gunn on the show next week, and possibly a smooth-talking leggy model type, too.
Matt asked: What, exactly, is haute couture?
Win answered: Haute couture is like platonic forms.

-- Last night Luke, Dan and Win met up with the Cash Cab. They won $1,000 bucks. Because of their uncompromising journalistic integrity, they gave it all back. Hear the interview and watch the video next week. Enjoy the holiday.

Lauren Spohrer

11:27 AM ET | 08-31-2007 | permalink | comments (1) | e-mail post

Mark Olson Performs on The BPP

Filed under: Music, Video

Before embarking on his critically-acclaimed solo career, singer Mark Olson was a founding member of The Jayhawks. Since splitting with them in 1995, he has maintained a reputation as one of the most respected singer/songwriters on the folk country scene. Mark joined us in the studio today to talk about being the subject of a new documentary, dealing with lame bar crowds at shows, and his recent album, Salvation Blues. Here's a performance of "National Express" from that record.

Win Rosenfeld

5:17 PM ET | 08-30-2007 | permalink | comments (4) | e-mail post

One Small Additional Hour for Man, One Giant Bag of Awesome for Mankind!

Filed under:

Hulton Archive/Getty Images

 

We ain't sayin' you're a golddigger. But you are reading this blog. And today, for the first time ever, we're bringing you two whole hours of brand new BPP audio content. News and information? Check. Live music? Check. Random hilarity? Of course. Human interest? No doubt. Child sex predators? Always. Quality radio? That's for you to judge.

-- In The Big Story today we cover two big reports: The GAO report on benchmarks in Iraq, and the report on the VA Tech shootings.

-- As always we'll do The Ramble, and we'll do The Most. My submission for The Most is this piece about fried clams, while MJ brings a piece about a Chinese girl who runs 40 miles a day and Matt goes all Britney on our butts. We'll also talk to NPR's Joe Palca, whose piece about perfect pitch is number four in the Most Emailed rankings on NPR.org. Listen to Joe's piece and forward it everywhere, until he takes over the top ranking from that NPR story on Burmese quilters' struggle for soft drink equality. Go Joe!

-- Musician Mark Olson, formerly of the Jayhawks, will be in the studio to perform live and talk about his new album and a new documentary that follows him on tour after his divorce from Victoria Williams.

-- Mo Rocca will join us to talk about a contest on his web site which encourages people to rewrite the immortal and unintelligible statements of Miss Teen South Carolina. BPP staffers took their own cracks at an actual audio remix as well.

-- We'll cover sports with Alison's husband Bill, some tiny presidential debates you didn't know existed, and several obituaries in the news.

-- Plus we'll talk about the growing controversy surrounding Dateline NBC's "To Catch A Predator," and the phenomenon in Miami known as "Castro Fridays." Basically, random street parties seem to break out there every Friday, when unfounded rumors of Castro's death start spreading. We'll find out how much champagne is on ice for the real deal.

Dan Pashman

1:40 PM ET | 08-30-2007 | permalink | comments (7) | e-mail post

A Two Hour Show!

Filed under:

Okay, everyone. It's a big day for us: Our first two hour show. As I type, a guest is falling out. Mark Olson and his band are doing a sound check in the studio, there are some logistical concerns and I'm really craving a meatloaf sandwich. We'll have the show posted later today, around 2:30 ET. Check back to hear and see what happens.

Matt Martinez

4:34 PM ET | 08-29-2007 | permalink | comments (1) | e-mail post

The Trials of Larry Craig, the Anniversary of Katrina, the Next Frontier, and a Dog That's Richer Than You

Filed under:

Credit: Paul J. Richards/AFP/Getty Images

Republican Senator Larry Craig insists he's not keeping any secrets.

-- Larry, Larry, Larry. Where to begin? We'll break down the news of Republican Senator Larry Craig's illicit behavior in a Minneapolis airport bathroom, and we'll talk to Mike Rogers from BlogActive, a site that outs politicians that it claims are gay. We're not sure we agree with Mike's mission, but it certainly makes for a lively discussion. And for extensive coverage of the Larry Craig scandal, check out the Idaho Statesman's page. (Of course, Craig says the Statesman is conducting a "witch hunt," but we'll let you decide for yourself.)

-- Today is the two year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. We'll talk with a longtime resident of the city who stayed there throughout the storm and its aftermath, New Orleans Times-Picayune art critic and reporter Doug McCash.

-- Luke has to get something out of his system, in a little segment we call "Private Time with Luke."

Credit: Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images

Virgin Galactic employees sit in a prototype of a spacecraft to be used for space tourism. Virgin will charge $200,000 for four minutes in zero gravity.

-- Virgin Galactic, the Richard Branson enterprise that aims to be the first space tourism outfit, had some bad news recently. An accident at a testing facility killed three workers. We wanted to learn more about what happened, and what's happening with space tourism in general. If you aren't as curious, just check out these videos. You'll come around.

-- There's a movement afoot among some American parents and doctors to skip diapers altogether and go straight to potty training. We'll ask a pediatrician: What up with this?

-- The Ramble: Leona Helmsley's will leaves $12 million for her dog, an apparently impossiple brat of a pup named Trouble. After Helmsley died I tried very hard to give her the benefit of the doubt. So much for that...A French suburb has been spraying homeless people with a foul-smelling spray in order to get them to go away. French people spraying homelss people to make them smell bad? Isn't this a stereotype of a stereotype?

All that and more on today's show. Check it out.

Dan Pashman

12:31 PM ET | 08-29-2007 | permalink | comments (10) | e-mail post

Show In Progress

Filed under: Inside The BPP

We're getting ready for another show. Check back at about 2:30 ET. In the meantime, here is a video that will freak you out. Producer Lauren's obsession over bed bugs has gotten me all kerfuffled, which has led me to searching out such things:

Matt Martinez

10:20 AM ET | 08-29-2007 | permalink | e-mail post

The Happy Ending: Tuesday

Filed under:

A daily feature in which we point out our favorite NPR stories:

- Chicago Abandons Wi-Fi Project
- The Semiotics of Sexual Behavior
- Are Campus Safety Concerns Overblown?

Lauren Spohrer

5:27 PM ET | 08-28-2007 | permalink | comments (4) | e-mail post

Fredo Quits, Surfers Protest, Trapped in the Closet and Fun with Maps

Filed under:

In today's show we take a quick trip around the nation's editorial pages to check responses to the resignation of Alberto Gonzales. Then we talk with Jim VandeHei - Executive Editor of The Politico. Later in the show we ask Paul Mirengoff of Powerline why conservatives haven't been too sorry to see Gonzales go. Mirgenoff: "Gonzales's only real offense seems to have been mediocrity."

-- We hear the amazing story of Hawaiian surfer/activists managing to stop a Superferry from docking in the Kahului Harbor. Surfers and swimmers spent about four hours in the water to block the giant ship. Surfer Mehana Vaughan tells us what it was like to to be in the water and environmental attorney Isaac Hall gives us a courtroom update.

-- The 2008 Farmer's Almanac predicts a winter of miserable cold in the east and mild temperatures in the west. We ask editor Peter Geiger about the Almanac's secret weather predicting formula based on sunspots, the position of the planets and the tidal action of the moon.

-- Rolling Stone Senior Editor Melissa Maerz is our delightful guide through "New Music Tuesday." We hear from The New Pornographers, Caribou and R. Kelly's Trapped in the Closet 13-22 DVD.* Plus a love offering to Lyle Lovett.

-- Luke and Alison get their Ramble on with George Hotz, the 17-year-old who hacked his iPhone so it would work outside of the AT&T network. Hotz traded his hacked phone for a new Nissan 350Z and three new iPhones. A British man left his prosthetic hand gripped to his motorcycle handlebar and it was stolen. He's ordered a new hand, but says: "I still need my old hand back. It was better quality and will last a lot longer." NASA will celebrate the 30th anniversary of Star Wars by sending the original Star Wars Lightsaber to the International Space Station. Chewbacca himself will transfer the lightsaber to the space agency. I feel cool.

* After the jump, essential R. Kelly scholarship.

Continue reading "Fredo Quits, Surfers Protest, Trapped in the Closet and Fun with Maps" »

Lauren Spohrer

1:39 PM ET | 08-28-2007 | permalink | comments (6) | e-mail post

Why Superbad is Supergood Even If You Are Over 18

Filed under: Stuff We Love

Research firm Media By Numbers estimated Summer movie grosses in the United States and Canada hit $4 billion for the first time in history. This is all thanks in part to the teen comedy "Superbad" ($68 Million in 10 days!) which was only the third movie this summer to repeat being number 1. The other two are the three-quel blockbusters "Spider-Man 3" and "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End."

Why the big cash flow for a teen comedy about three geeks who are trying to buy booze to get the girls they like drunk so the girls will like them ... and then LIKE them -- so they won't go to college, well, UNLIKED? Because adult gents and ladies like me, born before Nixon resigned, are going to see it.

Why would adults like this movie?

You are old enough to find the raw sexual humor hilarious not humiliating.

You can actually remember when the super funk baseline score and rainbow-rific
graphics were popular in an unironic way.

You tried to get a fake I.D. and it looked just as bad as McLovin's.

The writing doesn't confuse snarky for smart.

You are old enough to recognize the latent gay love the main characters have for one another.

Any other reviews out there?

Alison Stewart

10:41 AM ET | 08-28-2007 | permalink | comments (2) | e-mail post

Show #15 On the Way

Filed under: Inside The BPP

Check back for ...
-- A Gonzales departure discussion with folks from Politico.com and Powerline blog
--Surfers stop the SuperFerry in Hawaii.
--New music from the New Pornographers.
--And The Ramble including NASA'S plans to send Luke Skywalker's Lightsaber into space.Dunno if it is news but it's a good excuse to resurrect a classic.

Alison Stewart

10:33 AM ET | 08-28-2007 | permalink | e-mail post

The Happy Ending: Monday

Filed under:

A daily feature in which we point out our favorite NPR stories:

- Remaking a Punk Classic from Memory
- Problems Surface at 'Net Phone Service Skype
- 'Lust in Translation' Explores World of Infidelity"
- Transcendental Meditation Appears in the Classroom
- Microsoft Banks on 'Halo 3' to Boost XBOX Sales

Lauren Spohrer

5:05 PM ET | 08-27-2007 | permalink | comments (1) | e-mail post

"I feel like there's a connection there."

Filed under:

What's better than looking cool and having cool clothes to wear?

How about cool poetry? MTV has named John Ashbery its Poet Laureate. "Excerpts of his poems will appear in 18 short promotional spots -- like commercials for verse -- on the channel and its Web site."

Stephen K. Friedman, the general manager of mtvU (subsidiary for college campuses) to the NYT:

I don't think there's such a big leap from the artists we're playing to the poetry that John is creating," Mr. Friedman said. "Some of the music we play, Bright Eyes and the Decemberists, they're phenomenal poets. I feel like there's a connection there.

Ashbery is great, of course, but unless Kurt Loder is reading the poems -- and it's 1994 -- this concept makes me want to barf. At the very least, MTV could have picked someone younger than eighty. How about a flarfist?

Lauren Spohrer

2:41 PM ET | 08-27-2007 | permalink | e-mail post

No Need to Thank Us. It's Our Job.

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We're going to try a leaner and meaner approach for the Morning Meeting post. Of course, since this is NPR, it probably won't actually be meaner. It's just a figure of speech, really. We'd also like to take this opportunity to apologize to anyone offended by this blog's use of the word "leaner" in the context of improvements we're making. It was not meant to suggest that making the blog "plumper" would be anything other than an improvement of a different kind. But since brevity is the soul of wit, let's get this party started...

-- Alberto Gonzales is resigning. Check out Alison's post on the timing of the announcement.

-- While You Were Out, Possibly Drinking: A 17-year-old hacked his iPhone so it would work on other cell phone carriers besides AT&T. That's all well and good, but unless he can hack an iPhone so it gets rid of waterbugs, I'm still not interested.

-- The government is redesigning $100 bills. The image on the new bill will actually appear to move when you move the bill, just like in Harry Potter. But is counterfeiting really such a big problem these days? Apparently, yes.

-- The most emailed article from the New York Times says that median home prices are expected to drop for the first time since the stat was first compiled in 1950. Translation: If you want to buy a place, it'll be cheaper (good). If you want to sell a place, you'll get less for it (bad). If you're like a lot of us and can't afford a place, you probably still won't be able to afford a place.

-- Celeb news: Owen Wilson was hospitalized last night. There are unsubstantiated rumors that it was an attempted suicide. Also, Hulk Hogan's son Nick Hogan was injured in a car accident. The AP reports he's been released from the hospital, but the other passenger in the car was injured more seriously.

Dan Pashman

10:34 AM ET | 08-27-2007 | permalink | comments (4) | e-mail post

Anticipated 'Above the Fold' Gonzales Headlines:

Filed under:

GONE-Zales
Gone-zo
Going, Going, Gone-zales
Gone-zales With the Wind
Not-So-Speedy Gonzales

Headlines that may be pushed below the fold:

-- Katrina: Progress and Pain on the Road to Recovery
-- Hurricane Katrina Anniversary Finds Many Still in FEMA Trailers
-- Hurricane Katrina Just Won't Go Away.

Let's not forget those folks in the Crescent City.

Alison Stewart

10:15 AM ET | 08-27-2007 | permalink | e-mail post

The Happy Ending

Filed under:

- Artie Lange, in 'League' With the Forces of Comedy
- A feast of frenzy from Animal Collective
- John Doe: The X Man Goes Back to Roots

Lauren Spohrer

4:23 PM ET | 08-24-2007 | permalink | e-mail post

Little League Mustache, Pot Balls and Science

Filed under:

-- 1.3 million Monster.com users had their personal information stolen this week. We wanted to know what use 1.3 million resumes could possibly be to anyone and called Computer World reporter Gregg Keizer. He has a great FAQ on the subject here.

-- We begin the "Week in Iraq" segment with the death of Mohammed Ali al-Hassani -- the second provincial governor to be assassinated in 10 days. Virginia Republican Senator John Warner called for a troop withdrawal, and the National Intelligence Estimate was released yesterday. We wrap up the week with Daily Show writer/producer Kevin Bleyer. The Daily Show often pretends to be in Iraq, but they've actually been reporting from Iraq recently. Bleyer is back in New York and came by the studios this morning.

-- How much weight should you gain when you're pregnant? This fall, the Institute of Medicine will review and consider changes to the medical guidelines for how much weight a woman should gain during pregnancy. The panel hasn't made any changes since 1990. We talk with Dr. Tracy Gaudet, Director of the Center for Integrative Medicine at Duke University. Then, we got recently pregnant Christina Geist on the phone and asked how much she was told to eat, and whether she listened to the advice.

-- Scientists have given mice Obsessive Complusive Disorder and, despite the fact we don't know what mice are thinking, say they are learning how to treat it in humans. In our meeting this morning Luke pointed out that a better-living-through-mice story hits the newsstand everyday. Do any of these breakthroughs ever pan out and help people? We ask NPR Science Correspondent Joe Palca.

-- In "The Ramble": Nicole Richie was in prison for 82 minutes yesterday. In case you've forgotten, she was driving the wrong way on the 134 Freeway in Burbank after using marijuana and Vicodin. A 52-year-old UCLA professor is arguing that students and teachers can make romance. He says that the "right to romance" is covered by the 9th Amendment of the Constitution. An NYPD detective lost his job this week because he failed a drug test. The cop says he had no idea his wife served him marijuana meatballs.

-- FoxSports.com columnist Peter Schrager takes us through the hallmarks of little league baseball and gives us his take on the ongoing Little League World Series.

-- We talk with NPR Movie Critic Bob Mondello about Resurrecting the Champ, The Hottest State, and The Nanny Diaries. And we get "The Most" when producers MJ Davis, Dan Pashman and I bring you the the most emailed stories on the web. Plus, we read from your blog comments!

Lauren Spohrer

12:39 PM ET | 08-24-2007 | permalink | comments (6) | e-mail post

Three in a row! A new show coming your way 2:30EST

Filed under: Inside The BPP

Monster.com gets hacked, Week in Iraq and The Most are featured on the BPP today. Speaking of the most, this is one of the most viewed clips at Break.com. A man accused of beating his 79-year old mother is confronted by a reporter...and let's just say....he likes radio news, hopefully not NPR.

What I Think of TV News - Watch more free videos

Alison Stewart

10:29 AM ET | 08-24-2007 | permalink | comments (1) | e-mail post

The Happy Ending

Filed under:

There's more on our new feature, The Happy Ending, here .

- Grace Paley, Writer and Activist, Dies at Age 84
- New Book, Film Explore Sacco and Vanzetti Case
- Plan B, One Year Later
- Hitchens Says Oakland Is Soft on Crime
- Pesky and Not Picky, Bedbugs Make a Comeback

Lauren Spohrer

4:13 PM ET | 08-23-2007 | permalink | comments (1) | e-mail post

Nobody Puts the BPP in a Corner

Filed under:

Credit: AFP/AFP/Getty Images

The Red Army invaded Czechslovakia 39 years ago this week. We'll talk to someone who grew up there and fled with her family soon after the invasion, to find out what it was like.

-- Our lead is President Bush's speech yesterday at a VFW in Kansas City, Missouri. Bush compared Iraq to Vietnam for the first time. With just three weeks until General Petraeus submits his status report on the operations in Iraq, we called Retired Army Colonel Jack Jacobs. Colonel Jacobs earned three Bronze Stars, two Silver Stars, Purple Hearts and The Medal of Honor for his heroic acts in Vietnam.

-- We'll discuss office tyrants with the Wall Street Journal's Jared Sandberg. You know the person in your office who makes you jump through crazy hoops just to get a new stapler? That's an office tyrant. Post your best (or worst) office tyrant story to the blog!

-- In the Ramble: Roger Stone says he couldn't have left a threatening voicemail for New York Governor Eliot Spitzer's elderly father Monday night because he was at a performance of the Broadway play Frost/Nixon. But a New York magazine blogger pointed out that the play had no Monday night performances... The studio behind the 1987 film Dirty Dancing is suing several clothing companies who've coopted the line, "Nobody puts baby in a corner."...Oh, but somebody put Foxy Brown in a corner. Last year she was sentenced to three years of probation for assaulting two manicurists in a nail salon. But last month she violated probation when she battered a woman with her Blackberry and now the pregnant Brown is in jail...As of last weekend, spam has an older brother -- "bacn." Bacn is email that you want -- MySpace alerts, online billing statements -- but rarely read. We called Andy Quayle of IT Pittsburgh -- he was part of the bacn braintrust -- to find out why nothing in Web 2.0 has all its vowels.

Continue reading "Nobody Puts the BPP in a Corner" »

Lauren Spohrer

1:14 PM ET | 08-23-2007 | permalink | comments (7) | e-mail post

Building Another Show For You, Check Back @ 2:30 EST

Filed under: Inside The BPP

On today's Bryant Park Project we will look at the comparisons between Vietnam and Iraq. Yes, the President went there after years of avoiding any connection between the two conflicts. Read his speech and then listen later for analysis from Medal of Honor winner, Vietnam Vet Col. Jack Jacobs. Also on the BPP, copyright concerns over a classic movie line from "Dirty Dancing" -- something about Baby and the corner? Let's just hope the "suers" don't go after all those couples who recreate that magic dance scene at their weddings:

Alison Stewart

8:53 AM ET | 08-23-2007 | permalink | e-mail post

New Feature: The Happy Ending

Filed under:

I was listening to David Lynch on NPR's Talk of the Nation last week while writing our post for Pilot #10. Neal Conan did a great job, Lynch was ridiculous and awesome, as always. We love NPR, and not just because they pay us the big public radio dollars.

In case you can't bear to don't have the opportunity to listen all day long, we'll point out our favorites:

- Acid Attacks on Women in India Prompt Protests
- Study Finds Many Older Americans Sexually Active
- Blogger Picks Classic Novels, Modern Short Stories
- Size Matters: The Hidden Mathematics of Life

Lauren Spohrer

5:22 PM ET | 08-22-2007 | permalink | comments (1) | e-mail post

Josh Ritter Performs on the BPP

Filed under: Music, Video

Idaho-born musician Josh Ritter joined us in the studio this morning, guitar in hand. In the past, he's been compared to Bruce Springsteen, Leonard Cohen and Bob Dylan. Josh says he hasn't stopped growing -- musically, that is. He describes his newest album, The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter, as his "most adventurous yet." "To The Dogs or Whoever" is one of the songs on that disc. He played it for us (and you) right here at BPP HQ. Enjoy.

Win Rosenfeld

3:17 PM ET | 08-22-2007 | permalink | comments (8) | e-mail post

Gangs, Gays and a Charming Mellow Guy with a Guitar

Filed under:

Credit: Elmer Martinez/AFP/Getty Images

A member of the MS-13 gang shows off his tattoos in a Honduran prison.

Do you like alliteration? How about rhetorical questions? We've got both, plus the newscast, on today's Bryant Park Project.

-- The media are freaking out about MS-13. We talked to gang expert Celeste Fremon of Witness-L.A. for background on MS-13 and what involvement may mean for immigrant teenagers. Is it "The Most Dangerous Gang in America?" Fremon says, "Oh, please."

-- Twenty-two Americans died in the aftermath of two big storm systems that beat down the Upper Midwest and Plains. Hurricane Dean is moving into Mexico for the second time. Thirteen people died in the Caribbean as the result of Dean. Officials in China are still trying to reach the 181 men trapped in a flooded coal mine. Luke and Alison check in with Mother Nature.

-- Oh, poo. A rich middle aged couple was charged with animal cruelty after 113 cats were rescued from their New Jersey home. Officials found up to six inches of cat dung in the 20 room mansion. In our quest to be everything NPR is and more, we booked not one, but two experts to crack this developing story. We called James LaGrossa, chief of law enforcement for the Bergen County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and forensic psychiatrist Steven Pitt. Quiz: Do you know whether an insanity plea can be used in an animal cruelty case?

-- Piggy? Ralph? We ask Television Without Pity's Sara Bunting if CBS hit reality gold when they dumped 40 kids between the ages of 8 and 15 in the middle of nowhere New Mexico for a month and let them start their own town. Some parents and their labor attorneys cry foul.

-- What is "Gay," Alex? If Merv Griffin was gay, how come it wasn't mentioned in any obituaries? It was mentioned on the website of the Hollywood Reporter, then taken down, then put back up. What's the deal? We ask Merv Griffin biographer David Bender -- and he takes us to task.

-- Alt-country singer songwriter Josh Ritter brought his guitar with him to the studios of the BPP this morning. He talks with us about growing up in Doug Martsch country and plays two songs, "To the Dogs or Whoever" and "The Temptation of Adam."

-- Plus an arm-wrestling arcade game in Japan -- called "Arm Spirit", vegetarian friendly ballparks in America, and much more!

Lauren Spohrer

2:15 PM ET | 08-22-2007 | permalink | comments (4) | e-mail post

New Show in the Works. Check Back This Afternoon!

Filed under: Inside The BPP

We are working on a show today, which includes an explainer on the MS-13 gang, PETA's most veggie friendly ballparks and a live performance from Josh Ritter whose new album dropped yesterday. Until then, here's a live clip of Mr. Ritter singing about his home state, Idaho.

Alison Stewart

10:24 AM ET | 08-22-2007 | permalink | e-mail post

A Naked Dwarf Walked Into A Bar...He Said "Ouch."

Filed under:

"Morning Meeting" is a recap of our daily editorial meeting. If we had a show today, these are some of the stories you would probably hear.

It's a rainy day in Bryant Park and as we all know, the New York subways are not designed to operate when it's raining, so Matt had to overcome some delays to make it here. We did manage to meet, and it went a little something like this...

Continue reading "A Naked Dwarf Walked Into A Bar...He Said "Ouch."" »

Dan Pashman

10:17 AM ET | 08-21-2007 | permalink | comments (5) | e-mail post

Cheer Up. There's No Need for Painkillers When You've Got the BPP.

Filed under:

"Morning Meeting" is a recap of our daily editorial meeting. If we had a show today, these are some of the stories you would probably hear.

Credit: Keith Bedford/Getty Images

Real estate mogul Leona Helmsley, pictured here in 2003, has died at 87.

BPP HQ is a little sparse today, with Luke on his way back from LA, Alison covering a cool story in North Dakota, and Lauren "LoSpo" Spohrer in DC. After our first attempt at shows on back-to-back days last Thursday and Friday, we're going to collect ourselves today, and prepare to raise the stakes yet again this week. That's right, we're going for a trifecta of shows this Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. But not today. If there were a show today, it would look something like this...

Continue reading "Cheer Up. There's No Need for Painkillers When You've Got the BPP." »

Dan Pashman

10:10 AM ET | 08-20-2007 | permalink | comments (4) | e-mail post

Show Pilot #11: Mine Rescuers Killed, The Week In Iraq, Huckabee Plays Pong

Filed under:

We lead today's show with a tragic turn of events at the Crandall Canyon mine in Huntington, Utah. In an effort to find the six trapped miners, three rescue workers were killed last night and six others injured when some sort of seismic activity caused another collapse. We talk with Jeff Godell, author of Big Coal (and contributing editor to Rolling Stone) about what constitutes "seismic activity" and how this tragedy changes the rules for the mining industry.

-- In "The Week in Iraq" we discuss the four coordinated truck bomb attacks that killed more than 250 people in two remote villages in Northern Iraq. The US military thinks the attack is the work of Sunni Muslims, who've been warring with locals who practice an ancient Middle Eastern religion known as Yazidi. The Yazidi believe that the earth is watched over by seven holy beings, the most important of which is known as The Peacock Angel.

-- And, as you probably already know, we've got an interview with former Arkansas Governor and Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee. Huckabee surprised us with his graphic description of a clown regurgitating into a paper sack. They don't call him the funny candidate for nothing. In case you missed it, here's the Luke Burbank vs. Mike Huckabee Ping Pong Challenge video.

-- We talk with fashion model/President Bush niece, Lauren Bush, about her World Food Programme Feedbag project. Alison posted about the bag earlier in the week, we received a surprising number of critical comments from you guys and we wanted to open it up for discussion.

- In The Ramble, Luke and Alison discuss the $10 million drug bust in Glendale, California -- where the marijuana farmers watered their crops with city tanks, draining half of a 10,000 gallon emergency water supply. The French have implemented a "fast moving carpet" in Paris. It's a moving sidewalk that goes faster than a city bus. We have some fun with the WikiScanner. And we try to wrap our brains around Fort Lauderdale Mayor Jim Naugle. The mayor wants to install single occupancy bathrooms on the beaches to discourage what he describes as "homosexual activity." Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel City Hall Reporter Brittany Wallman reports that Mayor Naugle prefers the term "homosexual" to "gay" because he doesn't believe gay people are happy.

Lauren Spohrer

1:56 PM ET | 08-17-2007 | permalink | comments (6) | e-mail post

Huckabee Deals with a New Kind of Media Spin

Filed under: Election 2008, Video

Former Arkansas Governor and Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee shed some of his his underdog status when he came in second place in Saturday's Iowa Straw Poll. Many Republican voters are giving him a second look, and he's taking advantage of his new found celebrity on the talk show circuit. He swung by NPR New York yesterday for an interview. In all honesty, he wasn't here to do an interview with us. But, Luke and Alison asked nicely if he had an extra few minutes to talk -- you can hear that interview when our show pilot #11 is posted later today.

In our interview, Huckabee stressed how much of a real candidate he was -- how he was not as handled or as much of a "stuffed shirt" as other candidates. Luke asked the governor to prove it, and challenged him to a game of ping pong at the BPP's makeshift ping pong table. Behold that remarkable display of raw athleticism right here (and come back later to hear the interview that sparked it all):

Win Rosenfeld

11:39 AM ET | 08-17-2007 | permalink | comments (9) | e-mail post

Public Radio Star Sighting: Ira Glass After Hours

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Credit: Getty Images

Ira Glass: Video billboard aficionado.

The other evening I pulled up to a stoplight in downtown New York City around 9:20pm, about a block from my home. As I focused on the man walking his dog in front of my car, I realized -- that's Ira Glass!

I've only met Ira once, but we went to the same college and he is kind of legendary. I've always admired him. So what did I do? Honk? Yell? No, I just watched him.

He stopped across the street and became fascinated with a video billboard perched right above the entrance to the subway. He stood there for a good long time watching a glossy, produced commercial for a new CBS drama called "Cane". It's about a family that runs a sugar/rum empire. He just stared at it. He was still staring at it when the light changed and I had to get a move on or be subjected to some serious angry New York honking.

So, if you hear any references on This American Life to video billboards, Jimmy Smits as a Cuban kingpin or things that happen while you walk your dog ... you'll know why.

Alison Stewart

7:33 AM ET | 08-17-2007 | permalink | comments (3) | e-mail post

The Bryant Park Project: Getting Our Facts From Wikipedia Since 2007

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