Not Phoning It In

"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: Win Rosenfeld/NPR

Luke and Alison took part in today's meeting via speakerphone.

We rolled out another show yesterday, but we're not spending too much time congratulating ourselves, as we prepare to do it all again tomorrow. (At some point, we may actually do this five days a week!) That means it'll be a short post today, especially because Luke, Win and I have to head out to Brooklyn, where we'll be interviewing The Hold Steady before their free show in Prospect Park tonight. That interview will be part of tomorrow's show, and we'll post the video of it tomorrow as well. In the mean time, here's today's morning meeting. Luke and Alison both joined in by phone (as pictured above). Also, stay tuned for our TV show theme song game, which we filmed yesterday with Luke, Alison and Sarah Bunting from Television Without Pity. It'll be on the blog this afternoon.

NEWSCAST: Utah mine update, Bush was treated for Lyme disease last year, Brits slam US on Afghanistan, primary schedule moves up again, small earthquake hits LA, Toyota hybrids on hold until 2011, and company indicted over Big Dig death.

NYC SUBWAYS / US INFRASTRUCTURE: We'd do a Day Two story on what appears to have been a tornado in Brooklyn, part of a storm that completely shut down the New York subway system. First a steampipe explodes, then a bridge in Minneapolis collapses, and now the New York subway can't handle three inches of rain. Is there a link? Tomorrow we'll ask an expert whether America's infrastructure is really in trouble.

VELVET ROPE SYNDROME: When a club or bar makes would-be patrons wait outside to get in, even when it's not crowded inside, just because they want passers-by to see a line outside and think the place is desireable, I call the suckers that fall for it victims of Velvet Rope Syndrome. Apparently a similar strategy works in the fashion industry, where making something more expensive makes it more desireable. This seems like a good way for us to get the word out about the BPP. In fact, let's try it right now. If you want to read the rest of this blog post, you have to first send us a check for $1,000, then spend an hour staring at this picture.

That wasn't an hour.

Okay, you're in, but only because we like your shoes.

THE RAMBLE: Thai police will make wayward cops wear pink Hello Kitty armbands as punishment. Applicable offenses include parking in the wrong spot, showing up late, and littering...A New Zealand couple has been informed that they cannot give their baby the name they originally chose—"4Real." New Zealand doesn't do number names. (I guess Jenny 8. Lee isn't a Kiwi.) The couple will instead name the child Superman, but still call him 4Real. Two best lines in this article? First, "The Wheatons initially decided on the name after seeing an ultrasound scan and realizing their baby was 'for real.'" Second, the father says, "No matter what, it's gonna stay 4Real. I'm certainly not a quitter."...A study says that women think that men with more feminine facial features are better for long-term relationships. If that's true, why can't Dennis Rodman get a date?