Filed under: Inside The BPP
The always game Tricia McKinney. Instant costume and pic by the amazing MJ Davis.
Every year on Halloween, Chipotle offers a free burrito to anyone who shows up at a store dressed as a burrito. All you need is some tin foil and an empty stomach...and the ability to disregard the Chipotle calorie counter.
MJ Davis, a producer type, decided we simply had -- had -- to make a burrito costume for someone and send that someone to the Chipotle downstairs. Tricia McKinney, an editor type, remembered that journalists love free food like Pam Anderson loves saline.
Except for those occasions when. . .
Continue reading "Free Burritos! We're So There." »
Dan Pashman
3:51 PM ET | 10-31-2007 | permalink | comments (5) | e-mail post
Filed under: News
What's up with the CSPC?
These buggers just got recalled. Beware.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission has come under scrutiny this week because its acting director asked members of congress not to give her agency more money. So that makes the timing of the CPSC's announcements today of yet more recalls rather, um, interesting?
Just as I was absorbing the news that Toys R Us is recalling 16,000 Chinese-made toys because of excessive lead levels, I saw another headline cross--this one warning about lead in something that's actually intended to go in your mouth: Halloween "Ugly Teeth." Better late than never, I guess.
So spit out those chompers if you bought 'em.
Tricia McKinney
1:51 PM ET | 10-31-2007 | permalink | e-mail post
Filed under: The Dagobah System
Yargh. . . I'm docking your station.
Whatever day it is in space, it's Oct. 31 here. Astronauts on board the space shuttle Harmony are noting the arrival Halloween. The guy up there is either a pirate or a vampire, but he's supercool in any case. Give the camera time to cycle back--it moves from the control room to various parts of the shuttle.
I guess he was tired of showing up to Halloween parties dressed as an astronaut.
MJ Davis
1:30 PM ET | 10-31-2007 | permalink | e-mail post
Filed under: Election 2008
Hot moments in the debate last night
Barack Obama at an agriculture summit in Iowa
Seventy-five years ago this month, as legend (and some grainy video) has it, Babe Ruth called his shot. He gestured to the outfield bleachers just before a pitch to let the fans and opposition know he was about to hit a home run, then he hit a home run. Babe Ruth was a badass.
Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama called his shot on Sunday, when he told the New York Times he was about to start going after the front-runner Hillary Clinton more aggressively. But I don't know if he was as successful as the Babe.
I'm interested in the strategy of announcing your strategy before executing it. It seems that announcing a strategy shift like this one days before starting it might take away some of the spark that the shift might generate. Conversely, you might argue that announcing the strategy before executing it prepares the media and the voters to accept a difference in tone.
I just wonder if it helped Obama that, all day Monday and Tuesday, at events like that MTV town hall, he ended up in this annoyingly meta situation where he was talking about the strategy instead of actually executing it, which he finally started doing last night.
I'm not sure whether Obama's approach was effective. I don't have an opinion yet. Please give me one.
12:55 PM ET | 10-31-2007 | permalink | e-mail post
Filed under: Media
In today's New York Times, the D.C.-datelined story of the Supreme Court halting a Mississippi man's execution at the last moment went like this:
Moments before a Mississippi prisoner was scheduled to die by lethal injection, the Supreme Court granted him a stay of execution on Tuesday evening and thus gave a nearly indisputable indication that a majority intends to block all executions until the court decides a lethal injection case from Kentucky next spring.
Back home, in the Jackson, Miss., Clarion-Ledger, the story went like this:
"You can't help a fellow whose wife was killed for no damn reason!" Charles Bounds said, his tear-filled eyes glaring at [the corrections commissioner]. "You want to tell me we got a fair shake today?"
Laura Conaway
12:50 PM ET | 10-31-2007 | permalink | e-mail post
Filed under: Stuff We Love
Whether this online quiz bears the slightest resemblance to being, you know, actually scientific, I don't know.
But I just took it, all 171 questions of it, so I could find out where I am on the spectrum between neurotypical and Asperger's. Got a nice little graph of the results and everything.
12:17 PM ET | 10-31-2007 | permalink | e-mail post
U. Michigan's infamous anonymous blogger is outing himself.
He built a following under the nom de net Johnny Quest, tenacious critic of fraternity culture and judge of female allure. But over the weekend, Quest was forced to reveal himself himself as senior Paul Tassi, the Michigan Daily's film editor.
For months, the MD had been investigating Johnny Quest's identity. Once his editors found out the opinionated blogger was one of their own, Tassi was given the choice: old media or new media.
Tassi chose the daily -- reluctantly -- writing, "I've never been anti-Greek, only anti-douche."
Ilya Marritz
11:56 AM ET | 10-31-2007 | permalink | e-mail post
Working and living in a war zone makes for a crazy, stressful existence. Journalists, aid workers, diplomats all work at least 18-hour days with a soundtrack of mortars, random gun fire and car bombs roaring ad naseum in the background. So when you have an opportunity to blow off some steam and distract yourself from the reality that is Iraq, you take it....like this year's Embassy Halloween party.
But according to an email I got from a friend over there today, not everyone gets to play dress up -- which I suppose is a good idea. Here's an excerpt.
"All MILITARY Personnel carrying a weapon to the Halloween Party...Wednesday 31 OCT 2007 CANNOT WEAR A COSTUME! You must be in PT's, ACU's, DCU's, or BDU's to carry your weapon. NO EXCEPTIONS! If you have a place to check your weapon prior to your arrival...you may wear a costume. Thank you in advance for your cooperation."
Rachel Martin
10:42 AM ET | 10-31-2007 | permalink | e-mail post
Filed under: City Living
This will become a pan of brownies.
The cookbook conflict hit the late night TV.
Last night Jerry Seinfeld defended his wife against a woman he called a wacko.
Here's a quickie rundown: There are two cookbooks out, one written by the Seinfeld's wife, titled Deceptively Delicious and one titled The Sneaky Chef, by Missy Chase Lapine, former publisher of Eating Well magazine. The latter's came out first, and there are some striking similarities between the two -- leading to charges of puree plagiarism!
Both are full of recipes that hide vegetables in kids food--like spinach in brownies. Both have a brownie recipe that will make you gag, or at least that made the BPP staff gag. I made them ( see disgusting picture above) and received comments like "I will never eat brownies again."
Continue reading "The Cookbook Controversy Reaches Letterman!" »
Alison Stewart
10:35 AM ET | 10-31-2007 | permalink | comments (4) | e-mail post
Filed under: Music, Stuff We Love
Halloween reveler at a Heidi Klum party
Musician Jill Sobule, one of our new favorite human beings, lobbed the first of her NPR musical essays at the world today.
You'll be happy to note, as we were, that it takes on the searing issue of women whose Halloween costumes are costumes only because they're slutty. No sexy nurse for her--no way.
We think you'll agree that Ms. Sobule's on to something, or is at least a genius.
9:05 AM ET | 10-31-2007 | permalink | comments (19) | e-mail post
Filed under: Sports
'All Things Considered' on the touchdown that broke my heart
I finally heard my alma mater mentioned on NPR, and it was because my Millsaps Majors had been on the losing end of a 15-lateral touchdown by the Trinity Tigers. We'll get you next time.
7:05 AM ET | 10-31-2007 | permalink | comments (1) | e-mail post
Filed under:
The BPP's second hour
Today, feeling only a little rushed, harried, bonkers and out of control, we drew back and fired a second glorious hour of the Bryant Park Project. It's got all this --
Ben McGrath explains baseball superagent Scott Boras; a look at history's dirty campaigns; and a visit with the band The Go! Team --
and more...
1:59 PM ET | 10-30-2007 | permalink | comments (1) | e-mail post
Stray bits from the aftermath of the Boston Red Sox sweep in the World series:
A furniture company that promised fans their spring purchases would be free if the Red Sox won in the fall will have to make good. (with thanks)
And Boston Mayor Thomas Menino hurt his knee while trying to show off the trophy. Must be an awfully heavy piece of hardware.
1:48 PM ET | 10-30-2007 | permalink | comments (1) | e-mail post
In a potentially landmark decision, the United Methodist Church has ruled that a transgender pastor who applied for a name change can remain in the ministry. The decision in case of the Rev. Drew Phoenix was released on Tuesday by the church's Judicial Council.
The United Methodist Church, or UMC, bans gay people from serving as clergy, but its Book of Discipline makes no mention of transsexual people. "Essentially, they said that I'm a pastor in good standing and therefore I'm appointable," says Phoenix, who leads St. John's in Baltimore.
In affirming Phoenix as an ordained minister, the council left aside the specific question of whether transgender people can serve. What mattered here was that Phoenix faced no "administrative or judicial action" beyond the question of the name change itself. "The Judicial Council does not reach the question of whether gender change is a chargeable offense or violates minimum standards established by the General Conference," council members wrote.
Continue reading "Methodists Vote to Keep Transgender Pastor" »
Win Rosenfeld
1:14 PM ET | 10-30-2007 | permalink | comments (30) | e-mail post
Filed under: Music
Britney Spears recalibrates your hopes.
Political campaigns often try to lower expectations for their candidates before big events, so that even average performances end up looking great. President Bush himself has acknowledged that he has often benefited from this approach, saying, "I am the master of low expectations." (Before the 2000 election he also famously remarked that he had frequently been "misunderestimated.")
Now the line between politics and entertainment grows blurrier still. After breaking new ground in the field of Expectation Diminution, Britney Spears today releases her new album, Blackout. (Listen to the whole record here.) As evidence of how low the bar has gotten, most of the reviews can be summed up with the Houston Chronicle headline, "A surprise from Britney."
Of course, people would probably be surprised if Britney made it from her house to the recording studio without engaging in some form of parental negligence. But can she actually sing? Is this album really any good?
No and not really.
Britney's voice on Blackout is so computer-modulated that she sounds like she's being channeled by HAL. The only worthwhile elements of this album are provided by the production, which consists of several good radio-friendly dance/pop ditties and five songs I could have created on my MacBook by pressing Apple-F2. (Spoiler alert: The song "Get Naked (I Got A Plan)" is about Britney wanting to have sex with someone.)
All that being said, if you're prone to liking dance/pop music and you want something catchy and mindless to listen to at the gym, you could do worse than Britney's new album. But you could also do much better. I give this album a rating of two PopoZaos out of five.
10:31 AM ET | 10-30-2007 | permalink | comments (5) | e-mail post
Filed under: Sound Off
Dooney Da' Priest, writer of the rap song "Pull Your Pants Up," tells the BPP that he meant no offense to the gay community with lyrics that suggest you look gay and you're less than a real man if you wear your pants low:
"Whether their sexual preference is to be a homosexual or being gay, that's their problem. I'm the street, I'm the street priest, and I have real good Christian values on what I believe in, and I am against homosexuality."
So what if Dooney Da' Priest thinks being gay is wrong? To me, that's his business. But I'm less convinced the message belongs in a city campaign. You?
9:06 AM ET | 10-30-2007 | permalink | comments (28) | e-mail post
Filed under: Links From the Show
From today's Ramble:
Americans just too stressed / Massachusetts school offers anti-stress classes / New evidence in the case of the West Memphis Three / Kid runs up big tab at strip club
8:40 AM ET | 10-30-2007 | permalink | comments (3) | e-mail post
Filed under: Links From the Show, Stuff We Love
Next up for Merry Miller: The View. True-true-true.
8:12 AM ET | 10-30-2007 | permalink | e-mail post
Jim VandeHei talks politics
Barack Obama goes on the attack against Hillary Clinton. Mike Gravel can't get in the debate. And Ron Paul takes his much money on a visit to Leno.
Jim VandeHei of Politico.com makes sense of the madness.
1:32 PM ET | 10-29-2007 | permalink | comments (1) | e-mail post
PC Magazine calls the Rentometer a "cool way to get a very rough estimate of whether or not your rent is a good deal."
We call it a brief, worthwhile obsession. Matt Martinez was pleased to see that he's paying the right amount for once. Others among us are maybe scared to look. (Note: When you enter your rent, don't use commas -- "5000" would be $5,000.)
You?
12:45 PM ET | 10-29-2007 | permalink | comments (1) | e-mail post
Possibly the western world's least-fashionable capital city gets the second-hand bug.
Well, actually, D.C.'s Goodwill is on an aggressive campaign to convert all those Cap Hill interns from chinos and sweater sets to frayed cords and loud synthetic blouses (on weekends, at least!) Goodwill has hired a style blogger (no joke) and even posted this corporate-sponsored runway show on YouTube.
10:31 AM ET | 10-29-2007 | permalink | e-mail post
Red Sox, Red Sox, Red Sox, Red Sox
Bill Wolff, our very own Monday morning quarterback, once crawled all over the Boston Red Sox, saying that no one feels good when the big, bad boys from Beantown win.
This morning, Wolff took note of the Red Sox winning the World Series over the Colorado Rockies in four straight, and also of the New England Patriots whupping up on the whole darned world.
We are so moving to New England. For the summer.
8:39 AM ET | 10-29-2007 | permalink | comments (2) | e-mail post
YOU made these stories some of the most popular on the Web. WE accept no responsibility for them!
Governor Schwarzenegger on marijuana: "That is not a drug. It's a leaf."
Scientists discover the world's longest-lived animal, EVER...a quahog clam named Ming.
Sen. Obama promises he'll rip Sen. Clinton's record.
North Dakota's Fighting Sioux may need to choose a more politically palatable name.
Alison Krauss and Robert Plant make sweet music together.
7:58 AM ET | 10-29-2007 | permalink | e-mail post
On Friday, guest host Robert Smith cued us in to JFK airport's endangered -- and controversial -- colony of feral cats.
The presence of feral cats is just one of the offenses that got Russia's Mineralnye Vody Airport on Foreign Policy Magazine's index of the World's Worst Airports.
Mineralnye Vody's other - ahem! - blemishes include frequent incursions of snowdrifts and ice into the terminal, a gigantic wall map of the old Soviet Union, and VIP Restaurant, which the BBC's Steve Rosenberg described this way in 2005:
"It didn't have any tea, or food. In fact, it didn't even have any table or chairs, just a picture of a bottle of water on the wall. And a rusty sink full of cigarette butts."
One more not-so-nice thing about Mineralnye Vody: It's a transit hub for journalists headed to Chechnya.
Click here for the full list.
7:30 AM ET | 10-29-2007 | permalink | comments (1) | e-mail post
Filed under: Video
There seems to be no shortage of people wanting to dress up their Roombas for Halloween. For me, at least, the best thing I ever did with my Roomba was video blog with it when I first got mine three years ago. Perhaps it was just the excitement of finally having my very own robot, but I was more enthusiastic about using the Roomba as a wandering video tripod than I was about cleaning my floors with it. (Click the pic to play a clip.)
Once I got over this little obsession, I finally started using the Roomba for its stated purpose -- cleaning the floors. I'd hoped it could help us manage our chronic cat hair problem, since our two cats seem to be caught in a perpetual molting season that's lasted over six years now.
At first, the Roomba did a fine job, but the cat hair fought back valiantly.
Continue reading "The Arc of a Roomba Romance" »
Andy Carvin
7:17 AM ET | 10-29-2007 | permalink | comments (2) | e-mail post
Interview: Dooney Da' Priest explains that in jail, showing your boxers is a way of signaling sexual availability to other men.
If the city of Dallas is hoping kids will quit with the saggy pants because the fashion makes them look gay, then maybe it's time for a new strategy.
Dooney Da Priest, whose "Pull Your Pants Up" is the signature song of the Dallas public service announcement, says people who favor saggin' should know where the hip-hop style comes from -- jail, he explains, in the clip above. Snopes.com, the Internet's favorite debunker of urban myths, says that's a lot of hooey.
Bonus: Song Links Saggy Pants to Being Gay Dallas Saggy Pants Song Homophobic? In Dallas, a Hip-Hop Plea: Pull Your Pants Up
6:35 AM ET | 10-29-2007 | permalink | comments (1) | e-mail post
Man, oh, man.
2:03 PM ET | 10-26-2007 | permalink | comments (1) | e-mail post
Get 'em while they're still hot:
132 Empire State Buildings in pennies would pay for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The secret history of saggin' pants. How to split an atom. The cops were right to Tase that bro.
2:01 PM ET | 10-26-2007 | permalink | comments (1) | e-mail post
Russian President Vladimir Putin summoned up some old ghosts today, warning that the U.S. strategy for missile defense in Eastern Europe could trigger another missile crisis a la Cuba in the 1960's.
Russia doesn't like the American plan to install a radar base in the Czech Republic and 10 interceptor missiles in Poland (both formerly under Soviet control back in the day). The U.S. says it's an effort to protect itself from a potential Iranian nuclear threat. Russia says Iran's decades away from developing missile technology.
12:54 PM ET | 10-26-2007 | permalink | e-mail post
The man, the system, the debit card. . .
So it has come to this: I've turned into the guy who woke up this morning exclaiming, "It's here! The day Leopard is released!" Sure, I had to produce a radio show today, but that was secondary to how geeked out I am about getting Apple's latest update of OS X. Shout it with me, "Time Machine! Finder with Cover Flow! Quick Look! Stacks on the desktop!" I am a walking, talking -- and now blogging -- commercial. I am just hours away from heading to the Apple store on Fifth Avenue here in New York to buy it. Then, I am going to take it home and install it and love it and play with it and stay up with it all night. Yeah, that's my Friday night.
Me and everyone like me: we're the new Star Wars fanatics, we wait on line for hours for a software update. Unfortunately for civilians, we're not as easy to spot as someone in a Boba Fett costume. How many dork nerd people are as excited about this as I am? Cuz I'm in a sea of "I Don't Care" here at BPP headquarters. Maybe all us "enthusiasts" can meet up for an installation party later tonight, watch old Steve Jobs presentations, and reminisce about the Newton. Ahhh, the Newton...
Matt Martinez
12:04 PM ET | 10-26-2007 | permalink | comments (1) | e-mail post
Nuclear waste -- I'm going to go ahead and say the guy in this video is against it.
On today's show, we talk to Gwyneth Cravens, a writer who used to oppose atomic energy but then did some research and ended up writing a book called Power to Save the World: The Truth About Nuclear Energy.
The guy in this video's not buying it.
11:06 AM ET | 10-26-2007 | permalink | comments (3) | e-mail post
You know, by Friday, we let it all down...Some furry links from today's Ramble.
A lock of Che Guevara's hair sold at auction DNA analysis reveals Neanderthals were redheads Feral Cats get evicted from JFK Airport in New York 720,000 ladybugs touch down in Manhattan
7:27 AM ET | 10-26-2007 | permalink | e-mail post
A last-minute costume, perhaps?
Stuck for a costume this Halloween? Our BPP hosts suggest turning your desperate eyes to the headlines.
Put $400 on your head and go as John Edwards' haircut, they propose. Throw on a dinner jacket and you're Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
The possibilities are endless. Hit the comments with your ideas.
7:07 AM ET | 10-26-2007 | permalink | comments (5) | e-mail post
Happy 60th birthday, Hillary Clinton! Her party last night was a fundraiser for her presidential campaign. As one of our producers said, "She's registered at the bank". Mrs. Clinton is exactly twice the age of actor Jon Heder (Napoleon Dynamite) who turns 30 today -- but we're pretty sure he's voting for Pedro.
6:31 AM ET | 10-26-2007 | permalink | comments (1) | e-mail post
The Red Sox had plenty to feel good about after whumping the Rockies in the first game.
Special from Nate Silver of Baseball Prospectus:
The 1996 Atlanta Braves. The 1982 Milwaukee Brewers. The 1959 Chicago White Sox. What do these teams have in common? They won a blowout in the first game of the World Series, beating their opponent by at least 10 runs. Before last night, in fact, when the Boston Red Sox defeated the Colorado Rockies 13-1 -- their 12-run margin is the largest ever in Game One -- these were the only three teams in history to win the first game of the World Series by a double-digit margin.
What else do these teams have in common? In spite of having a victory in hand, they all lost the World Series. The Braves shut out the Yankees in Game Two, and took the series back to Atlanta ahead two games to nil -- then proceed to drop four straight to give the Joe Torre the first of his four titles. The Brewers, who had also won Game One on the road, lost in seven games in a see-saw battle with the St. Louis Cardinals. And the White Sox would be upended by the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Continue reading "World Series, Game 2: Momentum Means Nothing" »
2:58 PM ET | 10-25-2007 | permalink | e-mail post
For the past couple of weeks, I've been trying to articulate something that both my husband and I had noticed--that Halloween decorations are much scarier and more disgusting than the ones we remember from childhood. It's not so much that we're squeamish. But our young daughter is so freaked out by the gory zombie our next-door neighbors put by their front door that we now avoid walking that way. And I am becoming well-practiced in the art of diversion whenever we drive by one well-decorated lawn.
But I've been searching for evidence that it's not just oversensitivity on my daughter's part, experts to tell me there's a real trend here, that people are increasingly going for gore in their front yards just like they're going for really disgusting, twisted horror films like the Saw series. I called the National Retail Federation and a spokesperson told me that Americans are spending more on Halloween displays and putting them up for a longer period of time than ever before, but he couldn't provide any figures on the sales of gory displays versus your garden variety happy skeleton and friendly-looking spider ones.
Now the Washington Post has published the very story I've been looking for.
Continue reading "Boo! Halloween Makes My Kid Cry" »
1:45 PM ET | 10-25-2007 | permalink | e-mail post
Kind of an amazing clip from coverage of the California fires. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, faced with questions from Good Morning America's Claire Shipman, decided to let her know what a positive story this all was. Schwarzenegger grabbed Shipman's arm and shook it as he spoke:
Trust me when I tell you, you're looking for a mistake and you won't find it because it's all good news, as much as you maybe hate it, but it's good news. Trust me, okay?
12:52 PM ET | 10-25-2007 | permalink | comments (6) | e-mail post
Nate Ritter has been cranking with a blog and a Twitter feed that pulls in reports from two TV stations, a radio station, a newspaper, and eyewitness reports.
Whew.
12:42 PM ET | 10-25-2007 | permalink | comments (1) | e-mail post
David Chase "sends a message" to his fans.
Finally breaking the Omerta on the controversial ending of his Emmy-winning series, Sopranos creator David Chase labeled his audience "pathetic" this week.
As you may recall, a lot of people were left confused and/or unfulfilled by the final scene, which quickly cut to black without a clear resolution to the major storylines of the show's six seasons. Now, for the record, I was among the fans who loved the way the series wrapped up. The Monday after the finale aired was my first day at the BPP -- and I was the only staffer (out of four at the time) who liked the way things ended. I thought it was powerful, nerve-wracking and demonstrated some serious stugotz. I applauded it as pop art that avoided a more predictable bloodbath or witness protection program epilogue.
Today, I renounce my defense of the Sopranos denouement.
Continue reading "'Sopranos' Creator Whacks His Audience" »
12:03 PM ET | 10-25-2007 | permalink | comments (4) | e-mail post
From Oct. 10, Rabbi Julian Sinclair explains the shmita year
A couple of weeks ago, you may recall, we did a segment on the shmita year controversy in Israel.
The shmita year takes place every seventh year and, among other things, requires Jewish farmers to let their fields lie fallow. Decades ago, rabbis in Israel devised some ways for farmers to essentially circumvent the rule, but a new guard at the Chief Rabbinate was proposing changes to the methods of observance that would take away many farms' kashrut (kosher) certifications.
Apparently I've been designated the BPP's shmita year beat reporter, so I'm here to bring you the latest, as reported in Ha'aretz:
"The High Court of Justice yesterday ruled in favor of farmers and against the Chief Rabbinate on the issue of kashrut certification for produce grown during the shmita, or sabbatical, year."
10:56 AM ET | 10-25-2007 | permalink | comments (2) | e-mail post
No sooner had we blogged a Morning Edition piece about a push to stop kids in Dallas from wearing saggy pants than BPP listeners snagged on a lyric in the campaign's signature song, "Pull Your Pants Up," by Dooney Da' Priest.
Listener Andrew Jones transcribed it this way: "You walk the streets with your pants way down low/ I don't know/ looks to me you on the down low."
The "down low" is slang for keeping something secret -- perhaps most commonly same-sex encounters.
Jones commented:
It's cute when homophobia is part of a citywide campaign. Shaming the youth by calling them gay, love that from the government.
We're working on an audio segment about this, and we welcome, encourage and otherwise beg you to take this up in the comments. Check out the audio link and tell us, is "Pull Your Pants" up homophobic? Is it just another case of prison culture exported to the streets? A little of both?
UPDATE: Dooney Da' Priest talks to the BPP.
10:47 AM ET | 10-25-2007 | permalink | comments (65) | e-mail post
You'd need 132 Empire State Buildings of these to pay for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
As part of "The Most" segment today, we talk about this USA Today article which reports, "The cost of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan could total $2.4 trillion through the next decade, or nearly $8,000 per man, woman and child in the country, according to a Congressional Budget Office estimate scheduled for release Wednesday."
So how do you wrap your brain around $2.4 trillion? Mike Pesca explains that if you add all the rich folks in the Forbes 400 together, they don't have $2.4 trillion.
I'll go a different route. If you take $2.4 trillion in pennies, you can fill the Empire State Building 132 TIMES. How do I know this? I found a website called the MegaPenny Project, which calculates how many pennies it would take to fill various large structures. (I also used the site to calculate that $2.4 trillion in pennies would weigh 7.5 billion tons, and if stacked, would cover more than two round trips between the earth and the sun.)
Thanks to the MegaPenny Project. You remind us why the Internet exists.
8:56 AM ET | 10-25-2007 | permalink | e-mail post
Nukes here. Stay away.
Those cute bunnies on the left are meant to warn future people -- really future people -- away from a nuclear waste dump. Created by Brandon Alms, the artwork was a winning entry in the Desert Space Foundation's contest to design a universal warning sign for a radioactive repository planned for Yucca Mountain.
As part of our series on the renaissance of nuclear power, we're looking at the problem of nuclear waste.
One challenge: What kind of warning sign would still say "stay away" to humans living 10,000 years from now? Host Alison Stewart suggested something in red, to which I would counter, "Christmas." You?
7:35 AM ET | 10-25-2007 | permalink | comments (6) | e-mail post
From today's show, a frighteningly deep reading of the Interwebs' current big hits:
The Empire State Building as pennies Iraq, Afghanistan wars to cost $2.4 trillion Apple stock a better buy than your iPod Dallas says pull your pants up Stuff's hard to find at the Library of Congress
7:27 AM ET | 10-25-2007 | permalink | comments (1) | e-mail post
A report has cleared police in the Tasing of the University of Florida student Andrew Meyer on Sept. 17, at a speech by former presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry. As the officers moved toward him, Meyer famously shouted, "Don't Tase me, bro!"
7:01 AM ET | 10-25-2007 | permalink | comments (1) | e-mail post
The Bryant Park Project's series on nuclear power continues today with the question of what to do with nuclear waste. Of course the Simpsons have the answer!
But if that's not enough, check out today's upcoming discussion about dumping nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain.
5:36 AM ET | 10-25-2007 | permalink | e-mail post
Click for the Bryant Park Project's ongoing series "A Renaissance for Nuclear Power."
3:05 PM ET | 10-24-2007 | permalink | comments (6) | e-mail post
This is the video everyone's been sending around since Monday. Reporter Larry Himmel from San Diego's CBS affiliate KFMB did a liveshot in front of his own house in San Diego County, watching it burn to the ground.
I got a hold of Larry Himmel today as he headed to the store to buy clothes to wear to work tomorrow. He took some time to talk to guest host Mike Pesca about what it was like to watch his home burn. We'll play the interview tomorrow on the radio show.
Himmel was upbeat, and considered himself lucky that at least he knows what happened to his home. He said that in one neighborhood there's a line of about 200 people waiting for police cars to escort them home to see if their houses are still there.
Another interesting note: Himmel said that the day he lost his house, he woke up in the morning to "that sickening sweet smell when fire is bearing down on you." I've never heard of that before. Have you?
2:49 PM ET | 10-24-2007 | permalink | comments (4) | e-mail post
From the video of his last lecture
So someone found a fortune in the trash. We found these links for today's "Ramble."
Dying of cancer, professor Randy Pausch goes on Oprah Wedding photos arrive 27 years later Atlanta fire department rejects 'Love Shack' money Scranton gets an "Office" party Mysterious high bid from Venezuela for Che Guevara hair Writer rescues $1 million painting from the trash
1:47 PM ET | 10-24-2007 | permalink | comments (1) | e-mail post
Last week we reported on a local Maine school board that voted 7-2 to allow a Portland middle school health clinic to provide birth control.
This week the board will consider limiting access to pills and patches. Board members will consider this option on Nov. 7. -- if they all make it. Three of the board members who voted for the original birth control option may face a recall.
Providing contraception has been the norm for the past two years at Elsie Allen High School in Santa Rosa, Calif.. What started as pilot program in 2005 is still in place today at the school's health center. When contacted by the BPP, the center's CEO Naomi Fuchs responded, "The Elsie Allen Health Center continues to provide reproductive health services, including contraception, to students at the Elsie Allen Health Center. The Health Center is a full-scope, primary care clinic for adolescents."
10:16 AM ET | 10-24-2007 | permalink | comments (1) | e-mail post
Mike Pesca, filling in for the vacationing or AWOL or jailed or whatever host Luke Burbank, has been sent for retraining in timely use of the mute button.
Throat cleared, Pesca should be back in time for tomorrow's show -- "If they'll have me," he says.
Meanwhile, Burbank, just relax and enjoy the volleyball stars of Washington State. We're keeping your chair warm.
9:00 AM ET | 10-24-2007 | permalink | comments (8) | e-mail post
Addison, a donkey, was abused before coming to the Gentle Barn.
When the wildfires now torching southern California approached their home, Jay Weiner and Ellie Laks knew it was time to run.
But the couple couldn't just throw a suitcase into the trunk. Weiner and Laks operate a nonprofit called the Gentle Barn, which uses farm animals to teach nonviolence. Instead, they fled with 62 critters -- 62! -- to a friendly animal shelter that offered to put them up.
You can help the Gentle Barn here, and read their original Craigslist appeal here.
7:37 AM ET | 10-24-2007 | permalink | e-mail post
Trust us, we know: Sooner or later every media outlet cooks up some kind of package that's a guaranteed sell to listeners, readers, viewers, whatever. The 40 worst lyricists, the 528 ways to catch a sweetheart -- pitched it, done it, sold it to the audience.
When Travel and Leisure released its survey "America's Favorite Cities 2007," the masses thrilled to see Philadelphia ranked as tops in the nation for least attractive people. (Google search on "Philadelphia ugliest city")
But there are other rankings, fascinating ones, in the survey. Like this winner/loser, which I'm betting a reporter's notebook the good folks at T&L would just as soon go unnoticed at least until the Los Angeles fires go out.
3:38 PM ET | 10-23-2007 | permalink | e-mail post
Filed under: Slideshow
A fire evacuee at San Diego's Qualcomm Stadium
3:18 PM ET | 10-23-2007 | permalink | e-mail post
From a slideshow on the California fires
Thanks to LA Weekly for the picture, above, of what it looks like after a wildfire eats your house. (Full slideshow here.)
After the bump, other sites to watch for updates on the southern California fires.
Continue reading "Linkfest: California Fire Blogging" »
2:35 PM ET | 10-23-2007 | permalink | e-mail post
When reading it just won't do
Sometimes you just have to work with what the world gives you. To wit, "The Most," a look at some of the most popular stories on the Web. Today, you have to click for it -- we need the real estate.
Continue reading "Linkfest: A Toilet-Shaped House" »
2:13 PM ET | 10-23-2007 | permalink | e-mail post
At the MtvU Campus Invasion Music Festival, 2007
The good folks of Philadelphia landed at the bottom of Travel and Leisure's exhaustive -- exhaustive -- report on where the beautiful people live. (At least they're taking it well -- just look at the title in this URL.)
Not to pile on, but I'm still scanning for some beautiful people in this Philadelphia crowd. Maybe the tall guy in the headband?
1:41 PM ET | 10-23-2007 | permalink | comments (2) | e-mail post
Nuclear Industry Seeks $50 Billion Safety Net
President Bush visits a Maryland nuclear plant in 2005.
In his 2007 State of the Union Address, President George Bush called for the nation to look for alternatives sources of energy:
"It's in our vital interest to diverse America's energy supply, and the way forward is through technology. We must continue changing the way America generates electric power, with even greater use of clean coal technology, solar and wind energy and clean, safe nuclear power."
Now the Senate is considering a measure that could finance a boom in construction for new nuclear plants. Introducing a series on that story today, Luke Burbank quoted a friend of his as saying that if you're against global warming, you can't be against nuclear power.
Or can you? We're asking.
1:05 PM ET | 10-23-2007 | permalink | e-mail post
That's it. I'm moving to Idaho to open a wine bar/bait shop.
10 jobs not long for this world.
11:58 AM ET | 10-23-2007 | permalink | comments (3) | e-mail post
Chess master Garry Kasparov is running for president in Russia. After seeing this interview, I am jealous of Russian voters.
Carrie Tobey
10:55 AM ET | 10-23-2007 | permalink | e-mail post
Mr. You-Know-Who
OK, you either think the current New Yorker cover is a) Very funny b) Very disrespectful c) Very scary...on many levels.
Ghosts, goblins and high-ranking officials frighten adults, but Halloween decorations can really be terrifying for kids. Look for an upcoming discussion about how adults underestimate the fear graphic Halloween displays can instill in kids.
If you have any examples of your own, please let us know so we can use them on our broadcast.
Yes, it's a tattoo on your eyeball. If you hate needles -- or needles in your eye -- do not follow link.
Bonus: The new Braille tattoos
10:28 AM ET | 10-23-2007 | permalink | e-mail post
Todd Haynes' Bob Dylan biopic I'm Not There features a variety of people portraying Dylan in a variety of periods. Most notable on the list? Cate Blanchett as Dylan circa 1965. If you're like me, your initial reaction to this news is/was, "Whaaa?!!" Well, it turns out it works -- amazingly well. Who knew?
Check out this clip from the film featuring Blanchett as Dylan and David Cross as Allen Ginsberg. Cross joins the BPP tomorrow.
10:10 AM ET | 10-23-2007 | permalink | comments (1) | e-mail post
Who's paying what for college
The cost of college is still going up -- just what you wanted to hear, right?
This past year, the biggest jump in prices occurred at the nation's four-year public schools, where the sticker price went up 6.6 percent to more than $6,000 a year.
9:45 AM ET | 10-23-2007 | permalink | e-mail post
Today, we kicked off a four-part series on nuclear power -- more of which may be coming to a vacant lot near you.
The U.S. Senate is now considering a measure that would help finance a boom in the building of atomic energy plants. Proponents call the new nukes an answer to the problem of climate change and greenhouse gases. Opponents, including the veteran no-nukes Bonnie Raitt call it a disaster waiting to happen.
Below, Raitt and some famous friends make their case against nuclear energy.
Next, another guy, less famous, objects to Raitt and company.
Continue reading "Dueling Videos: Pro and Con on Nuclear Power" »
8:52 AM ET | 10-23-2007 | permalink | e-mail post
Fires have raged through parts of southern California.
Don't know if the mapmaster will keep updating this, but it does give some sense of the scale for the Los Angeles fires. If anyone comes across another fire map, please send it along.
7:31 AM ET | 10-23-2007 | permalink | comments (1) | e-mail post
No more saggin' in D-town:
Saggin' -- young men wearing their pants with the waistband closer to their knees than their hips -- has been around for years. But a growing number of adults are deciding they've had enough. In Dallas, an interesting mix of politicians, hip-hop artists and white businessmen are announcing a citywide campaign with a simple message: Pull Your Pants Up.
6:02 AM ET | 10-23-2007 | permalink | comments (8) | e-mail post
A man now claims that a mysterious hijacker, missing since he jumped out of a plane in 1971, was his brother.
The case of D.B. Cooper is one of the most famous crimes in American history. It is also the only skyjacking in the world that has gone unsolved. Over the past three decades, the FBI has investigated nearly 1,000 suspects. They might as well be looking for Sasquatch.
With $200,000 and four parachutes, Cooper bailed out of a commercial flight somewhere over southwestern Washington State, in 1971. The ghost story may finally be at an end.
12:12 PM ET | 10-22-2007 | permalink | e-mail post
Amber Gibson picks a National Book Awards winner
Attention, please, Princeton admissions officers:
Amber Gibson, book reviewer extraordinaire, is coming your way. If she cruises through your curriculum the way she takes out piles of books for the BPP, then you've got a future valedictorian knocking. Let her in.
On this morning's show, Amber took on the finalists for young people's literature in the upcoming National Book Awards. Hit the listen link for her pick.
Meanwhile, anyone else read these? List of finalists after the bump.
Continue reading "Novels You Wish Your Teacher Would Assign" »
9:18 AM ET | 10-22-2007 | permalink | e-mail post
Fresh from this morning's "Ramble," it's news almost as useful as opposable thumbs:
J.K. Rowling outs Dumbledore Sioux City embraces unfortunate airport code Delhi deputy mayor killed in monkey attack California guy wins U.S. sudoku championship
7:46 AM ET | 10-22-2007 | permalink | comments (2) | e-mail post
The original Casa De Frito restaurant opened in the Frontierland section of California's Disneyland in August 1955.
Corn, salt, oil -- and nothing more. NPR brings you the Birth of the Frito.
My favorite bit:
When he invented the Frito, C.E. Doolin imagined them as a side dish, a handful to be served with soup and salad to complement a meal. He never imagined anyone would consume an entire king-size bag. He rarely ate them. And if he brought them home, he would have grabbed them off the conveyor belt before they were salted. The Doolins were vegetarians, and barely touched salt. Kaleta Doolin took figs and yogurt in her lunch to school, not Fritos.
When he invented the Frito, C.E. Doolin imagined them as a side dish, a handful to be served with soup and salad to complement a meal. He never imagined anyone would consume an entire king-size bag. He rarely ate them.
And if he brought them home, he would have grabbed them off the conveyor belt before they were salted. The Doolins were vegetarians, and barely touched salt. Kaleta Doolin took figs and yogurt in her lunch to school, not Fritos.
3:40 PM ET | 10-19-2007 | permalink | comments (1) | e-mail post
Exclusive! Exclusive! Exclusive!
These days, everybody wants a dusting of Stephen Colbert. And some people want a little more than that.
2:00 PM ET | 10-19-2007 | permalink | comments (2) | e-mail post
New Yorker illustrator Maira Kalman has chronicled a year of her life through photographs, paintings and text in her new book, The Principles of Uncertainty. Kalman sat down with the BPP this week.
12:25 PM ET | 10-19-2007 | permalink | comments (5) | e-mail post
Listen to a special second hour of the BPP
Son and Daughters' Gilt Complex
Don't know what you were doing between 8 and 9 a.m. Eastern, but here at the Bryant Park Project we were making radio. After the bump, the rundown of stories. My personal picks are the Cancer Gene story and the Sons and Daughters studio visit. Go, Glasgow, go.
Continue reading "Super-Secret Second Hour: BPP Goes Big" »
12:22 PM ET | 10-19-2007 | permalink | comments (1) | e-mail post
Filed under: Iraq
Listen to 'The Week in Iraq'
A Turkish soldier patrolling today near the border with Iraq.
In the news this week from Iraq, Turkish officials have authorized the use of force to root out Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq, and a Washington Post reporter was killed in Baghdad. Sudarsan Raghavan, the Post's Baghdad bureau chief, examines recent developments in the war and remembers his Iraqi colleague, Salih Saif Aldin.
After the bump, links for deeper reading.
Continue reading "Turkey May Use Force in Northern Iraq" »
11:26 AM ET | 10-19-2007 | permalink | e-mail post
Listen the "The Ramble"
"Baby Got Book," straight outta GodTube.com
From this morning's show, it's news worth an honorable mention:
The Christian answer to You Tube French president gets divorce Ellen Degeneres takes day off after dog flap StubHub sells out Patriots fans
11:15 AM ET | 10-19-2007 | permalink | comments (2) | e-mail post
The Cumbrian coastal town of Whitehaven switched off its analogue TV signal on Wednesday and became the first place in Britain to go entirely digital. And boy, were the people not happy about it.
Andrew Davies spent a thousand pounds converting the inn he runs. From the Guardian:
"We did not want or need digital TV," said Mr Davies. "It is a financial burden that has been put upon us without any consultation whatsoever."
Americans should know that the U.K. is wrestling with the switch to digital TV now, but your turn is coming -- by February 2009.
6:17 AM ET | 10-19-2007 | permalink | comments (3) | e-mail post
From today's Washington Post:
The Kansas Department of Health and Environment yesterday became the first government agency in the United States to cite carbon dioxide emissions as the reason for rejecting an air permit for a proposed coal-fired electricity generating plant, saying that the greenhouse gas threatens public health and the environment. The decision marks a victory for environmental groups that are fighting proposals for new coal-fired plants around the country. It may be the first of a series of similar state actions inspired by a Supreme Court decision in April that asserted that greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide should be considered pollutants under the Clean Air Act.
The Kansas Department of Health and Environment yesterday became the first government agency in the United States to cite carbon dioxide emissions as the reason for rejecting an air permit for a proposed coal-fired electricity generating plant, saying that the greenhouse gas threatens public health and the environment.
The decision marks a victory for environmental groups that are fighting proposals for new coal-fired plants around the country. It may be the first of a series of similar state actions inspired by a Supreme Court decision in April that asserted that greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide should be considered pollutants under the Clean Air Act.
6:09 AM ET | 10-19-2007 | permalink | e-mail post
A Birth Project is one of those sites you keep checking back in on. Poet/playwright Lisa Marie says she has come to accept, reluctantly, that she's a poster child for transracial adoptees -- TRAs, for short. She writes that she started A Birth Project as part of a search for her birth parents, and as way to consider the experience of being adopted into a white family.
Lisa Marie, we'll just say, was floored by this video.
3:24 PM ET | 10-18-2007 | permalink | e-mail post
Listen to a cupcake expert
Not all cupcakes are created equal.
As Alison correctly pointed out on the show yesterday, you can eat a cupcake this week and feel virtuous. That's because it's Cupcakes for a Cause Week. But before you go off investing your hard-earned dime in just any old cupcake, here are some guidelines to employ when making your donation:
Always remember, a cupcake is a Frosting Delivery System. The cake is the conduit. (Call me the Marshall McLuhan of desserts.)
Continue reading "The Cake Is the Conduit" »
2:35 PM ET | 10-18-2007 | permalink | comments (2) | e-mail post
Oops.
1:12 PM ET | 10-18-2007 | permalink | comments (4) | e-mail post
Tim Cameron, British musician and freelance journalist has always had a taste for foods that some might consider a little "unusual." Earlier this month, he wrote an article about the six foods that were almost too much even for him to stomach. Tim took some time to fill us in on the edibles that push the limits of palatability.
A note of caution: Images of these foods can be DISTURBING to some. Don't click below if your gross-out tolerance isn't high.
12:05 PM ET | 10-18-2007 | permalink | comments (3) | e-mail post
Further reading from today's show:
Sami Ben Gharbia, exiled Tunisian blogger Gangster for reality TV Who Googles what? All about Steve Fossett
11:39 AM ET | 10-18-2007 | permalink | e-mail post
Chris Pine, the galaxy awaits.
That's what I want to know. Cuz I'm looking at him and I'm not really seeing it. I could be wrong -- this young man has been a leading man before, starring in illustrious films like Just My Luck with Lindsay Lohan. I should cut this guy a break. He could be great. His name is Chris Pine and he's landed what could be the role of a lifetime as that great gallactic leader, that great wooer of women, Vulcans, Ferengi and non-carbon life forms -- Captain Kirk.
The film, to be released in December '08, will chronicle the early years of the Enterprise crew -- way back when they were young, idealistic cadets at Starfleet Academy. The rest of the cast has been named as well -- Lord of the Rings actor Karl Urban will play Leonard "Bones" McCoy, and Eric Bana will play some new bad guy named Nemo.
11:02 AM ET | 10-18-2007 | permalink | comments (2) | e-mail post
All the news that's fit to print, broken down word-by-word.
(With thanks to Dave Winer, interpreter of coolness.)
10:35 AM ET | 10-18-2007 | permalink | e-mail post
Filed under: Election 2008, Sound Off
Listen to 'Values Voter' Interviews
Christians rally at the U.S. Supreme Court in 2005
On this morning's show, we talked to people on their way to the Family Research Council's second annual Values Voter Summit in Washington, D.C.. All the major GOP candidates will be attending this gathering of conservative Christians.
For the people we talked to, being a "values voter" means opposing abortion and the right to same-sex marriage and supporting the nomination of judges who share those views.
As host Alison Stewart asked, what about people who hold different beliefs, and "they say, hey, we have values, too?"
So what about 'em? Do you consider yourself a "values voter" -- and what does that mean to you?
7:10 AM ET | 10-18-2007 | permalink | comments (13) | e-mail post
"Just please give the dog back to those little girls." -- Ellen Degeneres, Tuesday, Oct. 16.
6:28 AM ET | 10-18-2007 | permalink | comments (2) | e-mail post
A crane dropped a bucket full of debris from a height of more than 50 stories at a Bank of America construction site along Manhattan's busy 6th Avenue this afternoon, around 1 p.m. Reports put the number of injured at seven or eight, including workers and passersby. No one was seriously hurt.
Continue reading "Updated: Crane Drops Debris Bucket 50 Stories in NYC" »
1:49 PM ET | 10-17-2007 | permalink | comments (2) | e-mail post
Thom Yorke: Soul Man
On Saturday night I was at a bar, picking songs on the jukebox with my friend Brendan, when he saw one option and said, "I love Radiohead, but not so much when I'm out having drinks with friends." Well, after Brendan listens to Radiohead's new album In Rainbows, he may have to change his mind.
I never thought I'd classify a Radiohead song as a party track, and I never thought I'd consider Thom Yorke a great soul singer. But that's the beauty of this album. On a technical level, In Rainbows varies only incrementally from the band's previous efforts. But those variations, however minor, produce a dramatic effect.
Check out the full review and listen to three songs from In Rainbows after the jump...
Continue reading "What a Bargain: Radiohead's 'In Rainbows'" »
11:22 AM ET | 10-17-2007 | permalink | comments (3) | e-mail post
Walking on the moon, June, spoon.
Music critic Jon Dolan went to town this morning on Sting, who topped the list of Blender's 40 worst lyricists of all time.
Sting dragged home the big trophy, courtesy of songs like "Don't Stand So Close to Me" -- which Dolan said seemed crafted for Google Alerts. But Luke Burbank had a bigger problem with Sting's work, particularly with the ballad "Fields of Gold."
After the bump, a snippet of Sting at his putative worst, and a challenge to you, dear reader.
Continue reading "Open Thread: Can This Lyric Be Saved?" »
9:10 AM ET | 10-17-2007 | permalink | comments (48) | e-mail post
From today's news that merits an honorable mention:
8:40 AM ET | 10-17-2007 | permalink | comments (2) | e-mail post
Steve Fossett after a safe landing in 2006
There's a discussion a-brewing in the media world over how best to handle coverage of adventurer Steve Fossett, who disappeared while flying his single-engine plane over the Nevada desert nearly six weeks ago. This piece from Monday's New York Times lays out the dilemma for editors: "When a person vanishes without a trace, when, if ever, should a news organization publish an obituary?"
Time Magazine came closest to an obituary when it published a remembrance of Fossett written by his friend Richard Branson. Branson also appeared this week on The Today Show and said of Fossett, "I think everybody involved has pretty well given up hope, sadly."
In spite of Branson's statements and the fact that the search for Fossett was called off October 3, no obituaries have been printed. I spoke to Ellen Weiss, NPR's Vice President for News, who told me that NPR doesn't say someone's dead until we have confirmation that they're dead. But what do you think? As the Times put it, "When a person vanishes without a trace, when, if ever, should a news organization publish an obituary?"
(A separate but related note: During our show piloting period we asked an expert, "Why is it so hard to find a wrecked plane in the middle of the desert?" The answer was very interesting.)
7:10 AM ET | 10-17-2007 | permalink | e-mail post
Awhile back, Luke sat down with the brilliant Icelandic band Sigur Ros, and things didn't go very well. We posted it as "possibly the worst interview in the history of electronic media," and got flooded with colorful comments. Although everyone seemed to agree that the interview was painful to watch, some commenters blamed Luke's questions and some blamed the band.
In an effort to dig a little deeper into exactly what went wrong, we called longtime music journalist and author of "But Enough About Me," Jancee Dunn to walk us through the wreckage.
Watch the original Sigur Ros interview here, and read the protests from angry Icelanders.
6:00 AM ET | 10-17-2007 | permalink | comments (45) | e-mail post
Kids draw on sidewalks with chalk, right? At least they do in my neighborhood. That's apparently something of a problem for the law, as one Brooklyn girl learned after chalking a blue splotch on her front stoop.
From the Brooklyn Paper (with thanks):
Obviously not all of Natalie Shea's 10th Street neighbors thought her blue chalk splotch was her best work -- a neighbor called 311 to report the "graffiti," and the Department of Sanitation quickly sent a standard letter to Natalie's mom, Jen Pepperman.
Natalie got a letter from the city threatening "enforcement action." Her mom, wisely, calls the whole thing ridiculous.
2:56 PM ET | 10-16-2007 | permalink | comments (1) | e-mail post
Tapes 'n Tapes performing at the 2006 CMJ festival.
From the Department of Shameless but Useful Plugs:
Break a sweat with NPR.org's coverage of the essential CMJ Music Marathon. Hear the music, see the music, feel the music, be the music. See you there.
2:16 PM ET | 10-16-2007 | permalink | e-mail post
Tuesday at the BPP means it's time for new music. We've lined up tracks from the artists we covered this morning. Click to play.
1:14 PM ET | 10-16-2007 | permalink | comments (2) | e-mail post
Sigur Ros, in their disastrous interview.
Host Luke Burbank forwards this, another entry in his personal Sigur Ros saga:
"The Sigur Ros Shame Train rolls on. Someone I barely know forwarded me the following link. I gotta say, it's a weird feeling to see a bunch of people you've never met voting on whether you're an idiot or not. I'm relieved to report that Option 2 (They're tired of interviews, so they're chillin') is in the lead with 43%. Option 1 (The host is an idiot, what can they do?) is second with 29%.
"Option 4 (They are dazzled by the host's handsomeness) has no votes. Because it doesn't exist. But it should."
12:53 PM ET | 10-16-2007 | permalink | comments (7) | e-mail post
If the gods of rock 'n' roll stay good, tomorrow we'll subject the world to the 40 worst lyricists of all time -- courtesy of Blender magazine and senior critic Jon Dolan.
And no, I'm not going to tell you the winner (loser?) right here and now -- that much you can read for yourself. But I am going to pick a fight with the fans of a certain long-defunct psychedelic band from California whose singer turned up dead in a Paris bathtub. After the bump, y'all.
Continue reading "Ouch! The 40 Worst Lyricists of All Freakin' Time" »
11:58 AM ET | 10-16-2007 | permalink | comments (4) | e-mail post
So Sigur Ros didn't say much when they visited our show. If we visited their country, I'm not sure we'd say much, either -- because the sheer sheerness of the scenery would strike us speechless.
Bonus: Music journalist walks through interview wreckage
8:48 AM ET | 10-16-2007 | permalink | comments (1) | e-mail post
Our subjective survey of the most popular stories on the Web, plus a link to a blog in action.
Bonus: La Marguerite: The Hours of a Green Girl Wannabe
8:30 AM ET | 10-16-2007 | permalink | comments (1) | e-mail post
We'll be streaming tracks today from new music releases, including ones by Beirut and Kenna. For your breakfast toast, here's some video jam -- Kenna's "Say Goodbye to Love."
5:57 AM ET | 10-16-2007 | permalink | e-mail post
Barack Obama prays at a Los Angeles church in April.
Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama is the target of an e-mail smear campaign, reports Jim VandeHei on this morning's show. The unsourced e-mails allege that Obama has ties to a radical Muslim congregation and that his membership in a Christian church is a front.
Listening to VandeHei's report, I couldn't help flashing back to this quote from yesterday's New York Times. Katharine Q. Seelye asked African-American women in a South Carolina beauty parlor for their thoughts on a possible Obama presidency. One of them said:
"I fear that they just would kill him, that he wouldn't even have a chance."
Bonus: Untraceable e-mails spread Obama rumor.
1:54 PM ET | 10-15-2007 | permalink | comments (1) | e-mail post
Don't know what the rest of you are doing for Blog Action Day, but here's my contribution to the supposedly global pile of posts on the environment. With a tip of the hat, I give you Davis, Calif., a place where they really want you to ride a bike.
1:11 PM ET | 10-15-2007 | permalink | comments (1) | e-mail post
Which way is this girl spinning?
11:40 AM ET | 10-15-2007 | permalink | comments (10) | e-mail post
Salih Saif Aldin, a 32-year-old reporter for the Washington Post, was killed yesterday in Baghdad by a bullet to the forehead, apparently from close range. His colleagues' report:
The area Saif Aldin was visiting is dominated by the Mahdi Army, the Shiite militia loyal to radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr. Some residents at the scene said they feared that soldiers from the Iraqi army, believed to be infiltrated by the militia, were responsible for his death. "They killed him," one man whispered, pointing at members of the Iraqi army brigade on the street.
The area Saif Aldin was visiting is dominated by the Mahdi Army, the Shiite militia loyal to radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr. Some residents at the scene said they feared that soldiers from the Iraqi army, believed to be infiltrated by the militia, were responsible for his death.
"They killed him," one man whispered, pointing at members of the Iraqi army brigade on the street.
Further reading: Iraq: Journalists in Danger Iraq Body Count Iraq Coalition Casualty Count
11:14 AM ET | 10-15-2007 | permalink | e-mail post
In radio, they ramble on about news you may or may not want. We just link it and head for coffee break.
10:36 AM ET | 10-15-2007 | permalink | comments (1) | e-mail post
Filed under: Music, Video
A new study on eating disorders from the University of Minnesota suggests that a message of moderation may be the key to controlling eating disorders in teens. The study of over 2,500 teens lasted five years and showed that 44 percent of girls and 20 percent of boys had significant weight problems or symptoms of disordered eating. One-fourth of overweight girls reported using extreme measures such as purging, abusing laxatives, diet pills or diuretics.
The study also shows that teasing and pressuring teens about their weight can exacerbate eating problems, contributing to poor self-esteem and body dissatisfaction.
"Lucy at the Gym", a sad but beautiful song by Jill Sobule, tells the story of a woman suffering from exercise anorexia. Sobule performed it in the studio for us last week, and you can watch it here:
8:19 AM ET | 10-15-2007 | permalink | comments (4) | e-mail post
We've gotten a boatload of responses to Luke's Sigur Ros interview. But if you think that video breaks new ground in the field of bad interviews, you've never watched a fireside chat with one Bob Dylan. The man's legendary for being an impossible subject.
In fact, Dylan's been giving bad interviews for so long that New York Magazine compiled a list that they call "The Ten Most Incomprehensible Bob Dylan Interviews of All Time." Now I applaud them for their research, and it's certainly worth a look, because they tracked down video of most of these trainwrecks. (A 1986 classic is above.) But I take issue with New York's slant.
How many times have you heard Bob Dylan characterized as being out of it and incoherent? How many jokes have been made about him mumbling and rambling through songs and sentences? It's a pretty old and predictable take, and it has little or no basis in reality.
Say what you will about Dylan. You may think he's past his prime, you may think his songs go on forever, and after watching interview clips like the one above, you may think he's a jerk. But make no mistake--he knows exactly what he's doing.
He's spent his entire career expressing contempt for interviews and interviewers, bending over backwards to make it difficult for journalists to define him. Any question that attempts to pin him down at all is evaded, or sometimes worse for the questioner, attacked. It might not be nice, but it's certainly not an accident. As Dylan well knows, it's pretty hard to do great music justice with plain old words. That's why it's great music and not great prose. And that's why he has avoided definition throughout his career, at the expense of many an interviewer.
We're going to get more into the art and science of the music interview tomorrow, when we welcome author and Rolling Stone writer Jancee Dunn. She's even going to sit down with Luke, watch our now-infamous Sigur Ros interview, and record a DVD commentary-style track over the video, which we'll post on the web.
7:30 AM ET | 10-15-2007 | permalink | comments (2) | e-mail post
Every so often, someone writes an opinion piece in a major daily trotting out all the eminently reasonable arguments for decriminalizing recreational drugs. Today, the L.A. Times has an op-ed entitled "Europe: Curing, not punishing, addicts," written by . . . Rick Steves.
Rick Steves? The dweeby, affable TV travel guy with helmet-hair, the one who's been making Europe safe for PBS viewers for close to two decades?
Turns out he's been spending more time in Amsterdam than we thought. Some quick Googling located this video of Steves speaking at a gathering of NORML, a pro-legalization group, in 2005. Quote:
"You can take a trip with your marijuana or you can take a trip with your passport. And, um, it's kind of fun taking a trip without having to travel. Just put me in a nice location with a National Geographic and a joint and I'm climbing Mount Everest."
--Ilya Marritz
2:10 PM ET | 10-12-2007 | permalink | comments (2) | e-mail post
Muslims are reaching the end of Ramadan, an Islamic holy month marked by prayer and by fasting during daytime hours. Ramadan ends with the joyous celebration of Eid al Fitar, when families feast and parents give presents to their kids.
That's the tradition, anyway, but in Palestine, reports the LA Times' blog Babylon & Beyond, border closures have made for empty stores and empty pockets:
For the first time in memory, many Gaza shoppers are unable to find favored chocolates. Parents go store to store in search of children???s shoes and clothing, but what is left in the depleted stocks is months old and unfit for the fall season. The withered economy has left few people with money to shop with, anyway.
For the first time in memory, many Gaza shoppers are unable to find favored chocolates. Parents go store to store in search of children???s shoes and clothing, but what is left in the depleted stocks is months old and unfit for the fall season.
The withered economy has left few people with money to shop with, anyway.
1:15 PM ET | 10-12-2007 | permalink | e-mail post
Thursday, before the Nobel Peace Prize was on its way to Al Gore's bedside table, we took a look at the former vice president's status with Google Trends. In short, he trailed both the Nobel and GOP contender Ron Paul.
So how's he doing today?
Continue reading "Gore Wins Nobel, Still Trails Ron Paul" »
12:59 PM ET | 10-12-2007 | permalink | comments (1) | e-mail post
The Week in Iraq
Rachel Martin delivers the news from Iraq in one quick audio dose. Top headline: The Marines reportedly want to transfer troops from Iraq to Aghanistan.
After the bump, a list of links for those who want more.
Continue reading "Report: Marines Want to Leave Iraq" »
11:48 AM ET | 10-12-2007 | permalink | comments (1) | e-mail post
Thirteen years after her hit "I Kissed a Girl," Jill Sobule has been making music for her devout fan base on labels both major and independent, and performing for houses both big and small. But with music downloads catching up to CD sales, musicians like Jill are often caught without a viable way to stay creative and pay the rent. Her song "Nothing To Prove" is about the difficulties of financing an album in an industry lost in the digital divide.
11:06 AM ET | 10-12-2007 | permalink | comments (5) | e-mail post
Fresh from today's show, links you have to click—or else:
10:29 AM ET | 10-12-2007 | permalink | e-mail post
Al Gore listens at a Clinton Initiative summit in September.
We spent about five hours of our show today talking about former Vice President Al Gore's new Nobel Peace Prize. And really, aside from the news that Gore won, it was all about one question:
Will Al Gore run?
Our expert says nobody knows, but we're hoping you have at least a good guess. Will Gore run? Should he? And if not, what's next for him?
7:43 AM ET | 10-12-2007 | permalink | comments (2) | e-mail post
When door-to-door vacuum vendor Jamie Howard knocked on Paul Sucher's door, both their lives were changed forever. After hearing that Sucher couldn't afford new appliances because of the medical bills he'd racked up dealing with kidney failure, Howard decided to give him one of his kidneys.
This week, the former strangers dropped by to tell the tale. Below, we present the unedited version of their interview.
7:02 AM ET | 10-12-2007 | permalink | e-mail post
Red for the Nobel, orange for Ron Paul, blue for Al Gore
I'm not naming names, but let's just say more than one or two people in the Bryant Park office today are wondering whether Al Gore will be named a Nobel Peace laureate tomorrow—and if he does, whether he'd then run for president.
For them, I've got one word. Or two: Ron Paul. Just check the graphs from Google Trends above and after the bump.
Continue reading "Ron Paul Invented Al Gore, the Nobel Prize" »
1:52 PM ET | 10-11-2007 | permalink | e-mail post
Bruce Bueno de Mesquita knows who's on the BPP tomorrow.
Bruce Bueno de Mesquita uses mathematics to predict the future. The subject of Good magazine's upcoming cover is so adept at predicting the future that he even does it for the CIA.
Using our own profoundly complex mathematics, we predict Bueno de Mesquita will appear on our show Friday. But you'll have to tune in, log on, etc., to find out.
Meanwhile, from Good:
For the record, this man is not some lunatic soothsayer sequestered in a musty, forgotten basement office. He is the chairman of New York University's Department of Politics, a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford, and the author of many weighty academic tomes. He regularly consults with the CIA and the Department of Defense—most recently on such hot-button topics as Iran and North Korea—and has a new book coming out in the fall that he cowrote with his pal Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. His curriculum vitae, which details his various Ph.Ds, academic appointments, editorial-board memberships, writings, honors, awards, and grants, runs 17 small-font pages long.
Bonus: Math predicts evolution of language
1:16 PM ET | 10-11-2007 | permalink | e-mail post
David Cuthell on Kurds and Turks
Mustafa Ozer
Sen. Joe Biden's plan to divide Iraq into three parts appears to be gaining ground. The Delaware Democrat wants to semi-autonomous regions -- a Shiite one centered on Basra in the south, a Sunni one centered on Baghdad in the interior, and a Kurdish one centered on Mosul in the north. Last month, the Senate backed a nonbinding measure calling for this federal approach by 75 to 23.
A thinker like David Cuthell, executive director of the Institute of Turkish Studies, sees in Biden's strategy a certain kind of sense. "If you go back and look at an Ottoman map, these are the three areas," Cuthell says. "There's an internal and cultural logic to it."
But Cuthell also sees danger in Biden's plan. More on that after the bump.
Continue reading "Who Wants an Iraq in Thirds?" »
12:19 PM ET | 10-11-2007 | permalink | e-mail post
For this morning's show, we scoured lists of most-read and most-e-mailed stories. Here's what we found:
8:25 AM ET | 10-11-2007 | permalink | comments (3) | e-mail post
"If you had one last lecture to give before you died, what would it be?" says Carnegie Mellon professor Randy Pausch, by way of introduction. His body riddled with cancer, Pausch tells the audience he has, at best, five months of good health left. And then he whips through a mini-set of push-ups.
In his final lecture, given on Sept. 18, Pausch spends something like an hour talking about childhood dreams—how he achieved his, how you can achieve yours.
Randy Pausch
Full video after the jump.
Continue reading "Dying Professor Gives Last Lecture" »
6:28 AM ET | 10-11-2007 | permalink | comments (2) | e-mail post
Tune in, log on, open your ears, etc.: Thursday morning, we'll talk to Dr. David Cuthell, executive director of Institute of Turkish Studies. He'll be delving into the situation with Turkey, which is rattling sabers outside Kurdish-controlled region of northern Iraq.
For now, a little preview of a big, big deal:
The European Commission said on Wednesday it hoped Turkey would respect Iraq's territorial integrity after the Turkish prime minister said his government was drawing up plans to authorise a military incursion. A major military incursion into northern Iraq, to crush Kurdish rebels using the region as a base, would strain ties with the United States and the European Union, which Ankara hopes to join, and could undermine regional stability.
A major military incursion into northern Iraq, to crush Kurdish rebels using the region as a base, would strain ties with the United States and the European Union, which Ankara hopes to join, and could undermine regional stability.
3:34 PM ET | 10-10-2007 | permalink | comments (1) | e-mail post
In case you thought the Ivy League would be paradise compared to your school.
2:08 PM ET | 10-10-2007 | permalink | comments (1) | e-mail post
I still like the rapping pizza who likes Ron Paul, but there's something about watching the Republican candidate for president with "Sweet Emotion" for a soundtrack.
It's linked below. After the bump, three more Ron Paul videos—dare you to play all four at once. (P.S. This micro-festival comes courtesy of a commenter who plugged a Digg collection; worth a click if only for the debate that follows.)
Ron Paul backed by "Sweet Emotion":
Continue reading "A Ron Paul Video Bonanza" »
1:25 PM ET | 10-10-2007 | permalink | comments (1) | e-mail post
Googling around for this morning's segment on the shmita year in Israel, we happened on this amazing artifact from the New York Times, dated October 6, 1912:
The Jew has long been a successful business man. That he can also be a successful and up-to-date farmer is the interesting testimony of Leonard G. Robinson, general manager of the Jewish Agricultural and Industrial Aid Society, in an article appearing in The American Jewish Year Book.
Click through for the full page.
1:01 PM ET | 10-10-2007 | permalink | e-mail post
Let's establish one thing right out of the gate: We love the band Sigur Ros.
Their music is beautiful and moving, so much so that it doesn't matter that they're singing in a totally made-up language. Sigur Ros is four lads from Iceland, and recently, they were in New York to screen a new concert film Heima at the New Yorker Festival. Their P.R. folks called and asked if we wanted them on the show, to which we quickly replied, "hells yeah".
Anyway, last Friday the band showed up promptly at 11am (EDT) and commenced to give what is possibly the worst interview in the history of electronic media.
Seriously.
It was that bad.
We're not sure if they were tired, or if it was a language thing, or what... but wow. (UPDATE: Music journalist Jancee Dunn sorts through the interview's wreckage.)
Whereas most shows would just bury an interview like that, we've decided to actually show it to you. It certainly made us laugh. We hope you'll enjoy it too.
And to repeat, we love this band. We are going to be the first people to buy their new album "Hvarf / Heima" when it comes out this November. And the concert documentary is beautiful -- please go see it if it comes to your town.
Just never invite them on your radio show.
Luke Burbank
9:29 AM ET | 10-10-2007 | permalink | comments (394) | e-mail post
Listen to our coverage, Ron Paul's moment
We trucked in a fine, fine political analyst to pick apart Tuesday's GOP presidential debate. MSNBC's David Shuster pronounced rookie debater Fred Thompson "a little bit disjointed."
Alison Stewart gave her award for best soundbite to Ron Paul. The fundraising phenom jumped all over Mitt Romney for saying lawyers could decide whether President Bush needed Congressional approval to take military action against Iran:
"This idea of going and talking to attorneys totally baffles me. Why don't we just open up the Constitution and read it?"
Don't make us read your minds. Tell us what you thought of the debate and/or today's show.
8:59 AM ET | 10-10-2007 | permalink | comments (6) | e-mail post
First Lady done with him: Myanmar's Senior General Than Shwe
In a Wall Street Journal editorial yesterday, First Lady Laura Bush called for the military regime in Myanmar to step aside and allow for open elections. The opinion is headlined "Stop the Terror in Burma," with the telling subhead of "President Bush is preparing further U.S. sanctions against the dictatorship." Quote:
Gen. Than Shwe and his deputies are a friendless regime. They should step aside to make way for a unified Burma governed by legitimate leaders. The rest of the armed forces should not fear this transition--there is room for a professional military in a democratic Burma. In fact, one of Burma's military heroes was also a beloved champion of Burmese freedom: General Aung San, the late father of Aung San Suu Kyi.
Bonus: Five things to know about Senior General Than Shwe
8:38 AM ET | 10-10-2007 | permalink | e-mail post
Columbus Day at BPP HQ featured magic markers, construction paper and flying Nerf balls. But all the games in the world couldn't keep Luke quiet. Actually, because schools were closed, our office was invaded by staffers' kids...and the former leader of the free world, who was kind enough to play babysitter.
We documented the event for your viewing pleasure.
8:25 AM ET | 10-10-2007 | permalink | comments (3) | e-mail post
Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich joined four other Democratic contenders in dropping out of the party's Michigan primary. National Democratic leadership weren't happy that the state had bumped its primary up to Jan. 15, ahead of traditional early-goers Iowa and New Hampshire. Yesterday was the deadline for taking your name off the ballot—Kucinich was joined in doing that by Barack Obama, John Edwards, Bill Richardson, and Joe Biden.
New York Sen. Hillary Clinton stayed in, along with Connecticut Sen. Chris Dodd. From the Boston Globe:
The decisions serve political purposes for many of the candidates. Clinton, who has been well ahead in the polls in Michigan, may end up with a strong showing that gives momentum to her campaign, even if the DNC follows through on its threat to refuse to seat convention delegates. The other candidates, meanwhile, can avoid the potential embarrassment of a poor showing in Michigan, while appeasing officials from New Hampshire and Iowa who are angry about Michigan's move to mid-January.
The other candidates, meanwhile, can avoid the potential embarrassment of a poor showing in Michigan, while appeasing officials from New Hampshire and Iowa who are angry about Michigan's move to mid-January.
6:07 AM ET | 10-10-2007 | permalink | e-mail post
Clear the way for Hillary Clinton—unless she, too, leaves the Michigan primary. Four Democratic contenders for the party's presidential nomination have moved to take their names off that state's primary ballot. Barack Obama, John Edwards, Joe Biden and Bill Richardson have all beaten today's deadline to withdraw.
Michigan had moved its primary up to Jan. 15, before the Iowa and New Hampshire contests. That didn't sit well with the Democratic National Committee.
From the Detroit Free Press:
The big question now is whether Sen. Hillary Clinton, the frontrunner among Democrats, will join the others and remove her name from the ballot.
2:27 PM ET | 10- 9-2007 | permalink | comments (1) | e-mail post
The Blotter, from ABC News, posts a fascinating transcript of President Richard Nixon chewing over the merits of one Fred Thompson.
Back then, in 1973, Thompson was a Senate lawyer looking into the Watergate scandal. Today, he's a former Republican senator running for president and about to make his debate debut. Probably Thompson's people would have wanted a better take-home than this:
"He isn't very smart, is he?" Nixon asks.
Some days, you just have to take what you can get.
12:44 PM ET | 10- 9-2007 | permalink | e-mail post
Commenting here, a listener named Benjamin sends this video about Republican presidential candidate and fundraising-phenom Ron Paul. Never mind trying to describe it.
8:32 AM ET | 10- 9-2007 | permalink | comments (1) | e-mail post
Theo Jansen is a Dutch physicist turned sculptor who has spent much of his career fascinated with the role of evolution in natural life. Powered by the wind, his sculptures resemble massive dinosaur skeletons (he calls them "Sand Beasts") that seem to move autonomously.
Jansen refines each generation of Sand Beast in a process that emulates natural selection. He throws away the parts that don't work and amplifies features that do. His long-term goal is to create creatures that can live indefinitely on their own, roaming the coast without human intervention. You really need to see them to appreciate how amazing they are:
Footage courtesy of Theo Jansen and Alexander Schlichter.
8:06 AM ET | 10- 9-2007 | permalink | comments (28) | e-mail post
Google celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Sputnik launch.
The Los Angeles Times reports that conservatives were offended by a Google logo celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Soviet's Sputnik launch. The search engine regularly tweaks its signature banner for holidays and special events, but apparently not always the right ones. Or so conservatives tell the Times:
Not only did Google honor an achievement by a totalitarian regime that was our Cold War enemy, they griped, but it did so without having ever altered its logo to commemorate U.S. military personnel on Memorial Day or Veterans Day.
6:13 AM ET | 10- 9-2007 | permalink | comments (3) | e-mail post
In today's Ramble, we dug up the following life-changing news:
3:28 PM ET | 10- 8-2007 | permalink | e-mail post
We're cooking up a story on the consumer-review site Yelp, and we'd like to get ourselves, you know, Yelped. Call it an exercise in citizen meta-journalism.
If you're on Yelp already, you'll know what to do. If you're not, let's just say it's easy—sign up and post a short review of the The Bryant Park Project. File under "Mass Media," and let the fun begin.
Please, tell it like it is, or least as you see it. And thanks for the Yelp.
12:51 PM ET | 10- 8-2007 | permalink | comments (1) | e-mail post
It's Columbus Day, better known at BPP world headquarters as "kid central." My daughter's school is closed today, and since we don't really have a daytime babysitter option, she came to work with me today. Our Executive Producer Sharon's two sons came to the office, too.
So even though we all schlepped in a bunch of stuff to entertain the kiddies (thanks for the Tinker Toys and the crayons, Alison!), probably the coolest thing they got to do all day was meet the former leader of the free world, 39th President James Earl Carter. He was in NPR's New York Bureau to tape an interview for "Morning Edition." My daughter peeked in the window of his studio and he waved at her and blew her a kiss. She thought that was great.
After the interview ended, he came out and shook hands with all the kids and posed for a photo. Here it is:
President Carter hugged our kids.
And what did YOU do for Columbus Day?
12:25 PM ET | 10- 8-2007 | permalink | comments (4) | e-mail post
From the Minneapolis Star-Tribune comes the story of a sculpture without a home. A Mexican governor gave the city a statue of Emiliano Zapata, a hero of that nation's 1910 revolution. The public art turned out to be hard to situate, initially because of rules such as one that it be "vandal resistant."
Then came the question of Zapata's combat gear appearing in a contested park.
"We've had Latino gang wars in the park this summer, and a statue with a rifle at its side doesn't seem right," said Leigh Combs. "How do we explain to the kids, 'This person is a hero. And yes, he has a gun and bullets.'"
For now, Zapata's likeness stands near the entrance to the Los Gallos money transfer store. We'll aim to add to the story on tomorrow's BPP broadcast.
11:38 AM ET | 10- 8-2007 | permalink | comments (1) | e-mail post
Figures from the Defense Department show a drop of 58 percent in African-Americans signing up for military service. Reports the Boston Globe:
The unpopular Iraq war is the biggest reason, according to military analysts, Pentagon surveys, and interviews with young African-Americans. But they say mistrust of the Bush administration is adding to the problem -- along with the notion that black soldiers are being steered to combat jobs, a lingering perception from the Vietnam War.
The Globe talked to Brian Jackson, 27, who called the war "unnecessary." Jackson cited the situation in his hometown of Philadelphia, where more than 85 percent of victims in that city's recent epidemic of murder have been black. He said:
"It's not our war. We got our own war here, just staying alive."
Bonus: Newsday on race, casualties, and the rise of Latino enlistment
10:52 AM ET | 10- 8-2007 | permalink | comments (1) | e-mail post
You asked for it. And sometimes, you use it. Here again is the daily open thread, where you can say pretty much whatever you like about today's Bryant Park Project.
When we're not brokering peace in the office playpen, we'll check back for your remarks.
8:44 AM ET | 10- 8-2007 | permalink | comments (5) | e-mail post
The black square marks the four-inch-long rip in "The Argenteuil Bridge."
A Claude Monet painting, "The Argenteuil Bridge," survived two world wars and generations of viewing relatively unscathed, until Sunday. That's when a group of four men and a woman broke into the Musee d'Orsay in Paris and wandered around drunkenly among the priceless artworks before one of them stuck a fist through the 1874 impressionist masterpiece.
From the NYT:
The break-in is an embarrassment for the museum and also points up the vulnerability of some of the main institutions and monuments in France.
In August, another Monet was stolen from a museum in Nice.
Yesterday's vandalism happened during the annual "White Night" arts and music festival. The five vandals got away.
5:40 AM ET | 10- 8-2007 | permalink | comments (1) | e-mail post
The creators of The Blue Man Group embarked on a new venture recently, which is very much in the vein of their past work. Music, movement and interactivity are still the cornerstones of this latest project, but there is one major difference: the only place you'll find blue paint is on the fingertips of toddlers. The latest passion of Chris Wink and Matt Goldman, co-founders of the Blue Man Group, and their wives Jen Wink and Renee Rolleri has been the creation of a school for children. Although the Blue Man Creativity Center is not a full-blown school yet (Chris and Matt expect to get accreditation very soon), it already has over 40 students under the age of five. The founders describe the philosphy of the school to be in the tradition of Reggio Emilia, which enables the children to have an influence on their own curriculum...with a Blue Man twist.
Recently, they welcomed us into their classrooms and told us about what goes into the making a truly 21st-century pre-school.
9:50 PM ET | 10- 7-2007 | permalink | comments (2) | e-mail post
This is the only song I've ever heard that can make me laugh and cry in the span of five minutes. Steve Goodman is the great American songwriter who penned "City of New Orleans," made famous by Arlo Guthrie, and "You Never Even Call Me By My Name," made famous by David Allan Coe. Goodman died at age 36 of leukemia in 1984, and in the months before he passed away, he wrote and recorded two songs about his beloved Chicago Cubs.
When the Cubs were on the verge of a playoff berth eight days ago, I blogged about one of those songs, "Go Cubs Go." Sure it's cheesy and campy, but it captures the optimism that's an inherent part of sports fandom. Well today the Cubs' season is over, meaning it's now been 99 years since the team's last championship. So it's time for Goodman's other Cubs song: "A Dying Cub Fan's Last Request." A Goodman autobiographer explains,
For all its exuberance, [Go Cubs Go] was merely the alter ego of "Dying Cub Fan." In its fatalism "Dying Cub Fan" was as devoted and affectionate as "Go Cubs Go" was in its blind faith.
The song contains Goodman's legendary humor, present in so many of his songs, but it's so poignant because he himself is that dying Cubs fan, and he knows it. Here he is performing the song, with Wrigley Field in the background, just months before his death:
As they say in Chicago, "Wait 'till next year..."
10:38 PM ET | 10- 6-2007 | permalink | comments (1) | e-mail post
Once again, it's time for our unique week-in-review game show...the BPP Match Game. Our take on this TV classic pits BPP listeners around the country against one another in a battle of wits and current events savvy. Hosted by NPR's own Mike Pesca, this week's edition is sure to stimulate both your (BLANK) and your (BLANK).
4:10 PM ET | 10- 5-2007 | permalink | e-mail post
The New Yorker, 10.08.07
The October 8, 2007, cover of the New Yorker features a couple of you-know-who's. Titled "Narrow Stance," Barry Blitt's send-up of global sexual politics is just genius.
Bonus: New Yorker editor David Remnick talks with Luke and Alison about Russian President Vladimir Putin's big plan.
12:59 PM ET | 10- 5-2007 | permalink | e-mail post
For a business like Topps Meat, ditching 21 million pounds of product makes for a bad, bad day at the office. The New Jersey-based food company tossed an entire year's supply of beef last week after samples tested positive for a dangerous strain of E. coli.
On Tuesday's show, science correspondent Joe Palca questioned whether a response on that scale was necessary. Now comes word that Topps is shutting down, with 87 employees to be left out of work:
"This is tragic for all concerned," said Topps chief operating officer Anthony D'Urso, a member of the family that founded the company in 1940.
12:40 PM ET | 10- 5-2007 | permalink | e-mail post
It's only seven blocks long, and it's hardly the first one in the world, but for people who bike in New York City, the new separated cycling lane on 9th Avenue is a miracle. The idea is to swap the lane for parking with the lane for cycling, so that the parked cars act as a buffer for people pedaling by.
Seeing as how I often bike to work, even in bad weather and often in the dark, I'm sold. (Call-out: StreetsBlog))
Bonus: A call from L.A. for separated lanes; Cool collection of homemade Google bike routes
12:05 PM ET | 10- 5-2007 | permalink | comments (2) | e-mail post
Bryant Park producer Ilya Marritz sends this trailer for Madden NFL, the kind of game our new hero Kenny Bell does motion-capture work for.
Fair warning: It gives me a headache, but that's just me. Watchword: Kenny Bell for the NFL.
11:20 AM ET | 10- 5-2007 | permalink | comments (3) | e-mail post
Listen: The Jerry Mathers interview
Meet the Cleaver family.
Earlier this week, hosts Alison Stewart and Luke Burbank talked with Jerry Mathers, aka the Beaver, about what it was like to have "Leave It to Beaver" launch on the same day as Sputnik.
In the interview, linked above, Mathers said he'd once been reported as killed in the Vietnam War. We think not. And so do these people.
7:47 AM ET | 10- 5-2007 | permalink | comments (1) | e-mail post
Fresh from today's show, news with a usability rating of 4.9:
7:39 AM ET | 10- 5-2007 | permalink | e-mail post
Yesterday, a judge in Minnesota denied Idaho Senator Larry Craig's attempt to take back his guilty plea for disorderly conduct in an airport bathroom on June 11.
The judge writes that the disorderly act alleged is the soliciting of sex, and the "criminal behavior is the Defendant's entry into an occupied stall with his eye, hand, and foot."
It's 27 pages of no.
5:33 AM ET | 10- 5-2007 | permalink | e-mail post
Listen to the Kenny Bell interview.
Today on the BPP, we'll talk to motion capture actor Kenny Bell. He plays a slew of NFL players in the Electronic Arts video game "Madden NFL '08." While Kenny is proud of his work on the virtual gridiron, his dream is to make it in the actual NFL. But if that doesn't work out, maybe he can take heart in the not-at-all true story of Michael White.
Thanks to Ryan McFaul for the video.
After the jump, check out how "Mo-Cap" really works.
5:26 AM ET | 10- 5-2007 | permalink | comments (1) | e-mail post
Listen to the classic Mel Brooks & Carl Reiner routine, "The 2000 Year Old Man"
Cavemen have been a core ingredient of great comedies for generations, as evidenced by this still from a silent film circa 1925.
Everyone's a critic, especially when the target is so apparently ripe. Latest on the firing line? ABC's new TV show "Cavemen," based on those brilliant Geico ads and almost universally panned by crowds and critics alike, even before a single episode was made.
You want to know why there's so much mediocre (or worse) programming on TV? Because the networks aren't the only ones liable to discourage risk-taking. Now I'm not going to defend the show itself, yet. The jury's still out after one episode. But I will defend the idea of it.
When the news came that "Cavemen" would be created, everyone from bloggers to my friends at the bar thought the idea was terrible. I thought it was brilliant. What would people prefer? A TV show about a single gal trying to make it in the big city? Two guys with a kid trying to make it in the big city? Perhaps you prefer six friends trying to make it in the big city? A man and a robot? A family and an alien? I'm quite sure that every imaginable combination of characters has already made it in the sitcom world's version of the big city, or been cancelled trying. Except cavemen.
After the jump, check out video of Phil Hartman as "Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer."
Continue reading "A Brief History of Caveman-Related Comedy" »
2:43 PM ET | 10- 4-2007 | permalink | comments (5) | e-mail post
Marla Olmstead
Coming up on Friday: the filmmaker behind what may be the best-titled documentary film this year so far: My Kid Could Paint That.
In 2004, readers of the Press & Sun-Bulletin of Binghamton, N.Y., learned about a local four-year-old wunderkind, Marla Olmstead:
Painting with her fingers, spatulas and brushes, and using plastic mustard and ketchup bottles to squirt out acrylics, she creates textured, abstract landscapes laden with emotion, depth and yes, real talent. Talent that could bring in as much as $5,000 per canvas, if her paintings fetch the asking prices at a show opening this week in Binghamton.
Word spread of Marla's skill with a brush, and the girl was soon hailed as an artistic genius. She was invited on Oprah, and her paintings sold for thousands of dollars. Then, in 2005, 60 Minutes II's Charlie Rose visited the Olmsteads and reported that Marla's atelier didn't function as expected.
Continue reading "Next: The Creator of 'My Kid Could Paint That'" »
1:47 PM ET | 10- 4-2007 | permalink | comments (5) | e-mail post
A few weeks ago, during the piloting process, we debuted the Bryant Park Project Match Game. We're contemplating making this a regular Friday feature, and we're going to do it again tomorrow, after the show, as a web video. That means we need two contestants to play the BPP Match Game with us. The first two people to comment to this blog post indicating a desire to play are our lucky contestants. You must be at least 18 years old and available via landline telephone tomorrow between 9 and 9:30 am EST. Ready...set...comment!
1:01 PM ET | 10- 4-2007 | permalink | comments (5) | e-mail post
Up like a rocket: The Cleaver family
Fifty years ago today, while the Soviets were busy with that Sputnik satellite thing, America was launching "Leave It to Beaver." Sputnik went up and came down, but the Beaver is still going strong.
Since his time as a child star, Mathers has served in the Air National Guard, worked as a real estate developer, and most recently took a spin through the Broadway musical Hairspray.
Mathers talked to Alison Stewart and Luke Burbank about sharing a launch date with the first man-made object in space, and about the many years after.
Bonus: Dan Schorr and Sergei Kruschev square off
12:30 PM ET | 10- 4-2007 | permalink | e-mail post
On this morning's show, we talked about the recent outbreak of Reply All-itis on a Department of Homeland Security mailing list. The first blame goes to the machines, which misdirected one subscriber's e-mail as a Reply All to the hundreds of people on the Daily Open Source Infrastructure Report.
But human beings found a way to make it much worse. A few Replied All to complain about the initial errant e-mail, and then people jumped in to complain about the complaints, and hours later the list was clogged with messages. Then things got silly. From Wired News:
At one point someone suggested lightly that the mailing mix-up was a great way for list members to network and get to know one another, which then resulted in a free-for-all internet party as members spammed the list with still more e-mail, jokingly exchanging astrological signs and romantic details ("I like long walks on the beach and a nice chardonnay with my roasted duck," wrote one member), networking for jobs and, in the case of at least one list member, campaigning for political office.
If you've lived the nightmare of Reply All, do tell all. In the comments.
Bonus: The Elements of E-Mail Style
11:12 AM ET | 10- 4-2007 | permalink | comments (1) | e-mail post
Mighty, mighty TV blogs? Gay asteroids? Oh, yes.
Links from the BPP, version 10.04.07:
10:57 AM ET | 10- 4-2007 | permalink | comments (2) | e-mail post
This new Chevron ad narrated by Campbell Scott is part of the company's $15 million push to change public perceptions about big oil. On Thursday's show, Washington Post energy correspondent Steve Mufson talked about the new strategy.
7:38 AM ET | 10- 4-2007 | permalink | comments (5) | e-mail post
We covered the world, from the Soviet space program to the American 1950s, with a stop for Charlton Heston's birthday. And now it's your turn.
Got something to say about today's edition of the Bryant Park Project? You know what to do.
5:24 AM ET | 10- 4-2007 | permalink | comments (1) | e-mail post
Listen to an interview with a student who marched in Jena, La.
Scene from the Sept. 20 civil rights march in Jena, Louisiana
Among the many thousands who rallied in Jena, La., for civil rights last month was Femi Onabanjo, a sophomore at Clark Atlanta University in Georgia. Onabanjo helped organize a caravan of other college students and members of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.
"I was thinking and feeling this was going to be the actual, next civil right movement, and I was thinking why did the last one stop?" he says. "We have to keep moving."
Today, Onabanjo talked with our hosts about why he traveled to Jena and what he's doing now.
Bonus: On today's show, historian Tim Tyson considers the Jena Six case in the context of the larger civil rights movement and the question of whether a new civil rights leader will emerge.
12:33 PM ET | 10- 3-2007 | permalink | e-mail post
Listen to Ben Harper's interview and performance at BPP HQ
In case you missed Alison and Luke's interview with Ben Harper this morning, here it is. Also check out the video of Ben performing "Fool For a Lonesome Train" in our studio. And check out the full recording of Ben Harper and the Innocent Criminals' RIDICULOUS live cover of "Purple Rain."
After the jump, check out Ben giving NPR some love.
Continue reading "Ben Harper Sits Down With the BPP" »
11:22 AM ET | 10- 3-2007 | permalink | e-mail post
Enough rock 'n' roll to last a lifetime
Most music fans remember their first concert. I know I do. The year was 1985. Ronald Reagan was president, Sonny Crockett and Rico Tubbs were patrolling Miami Harbor, and Born in the USA was on top of the charts. I was eight years old, and my parents took me to see Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band at Giants Stadium in New Jersey. I've been a fan ever since, and although (unlike my cousin-in-law Jason) I've never waited in a hotel lobby for hours just to shake Bruce's hand, I do think I'm pretty qualified to review his latest record.
Overall, this album is nothing special. But it's the vehicle for something very special.
Continue reading "BPP Music Review: Bruce Springsteen's 'Magic'" »
10:50 AM ET | 10- 3-2007 | permalink | comments (23) | e-mail post
In Wednesday's Ramble, Alison Stewart and Luke Burbank noted the 50th anniversary of a court ruling that poet Alan Ginsberg's Howl wasn't obscene. Check out this amazing 2006 package from All Things Considered, and read the full poem here.
And now, a care package of links from today's show:
7:21 AM ET | 10- 3-2007 | permalink | comments (4) | e-mail post
Who else brings you David Remnick and Ben Harper in the same cup of coffee?
If you've got something to say about to say about Wednesday's edition of The Bryant Park Project, turn it loose. We're ready.
5:57 AM ET | 10- 3-2007 | permalink | comments (4) | e-mail post
The BPP crew's been getting to work at about 4 a.m. since going on the air, and we aren't shy about expressing our crankiness before we've had our coffee. But today, musician Ben Harper dropped by and put us all to shame. Ben was on Letterman last night and hadn't slept since, although you couldn't tell from his performance at BPP HQ.
This is Ben playing "Fool for a Lonesome Train" from his new album, Lifeline. Tune into the BPP tomorrow morning for his interview with Luke and Alison and his performance of "Fight Outta You." We'll post the audio of the entire interview here tomorrow.
4:04 PM ET | 10- 2-2007 | permalink | comments (14) | e-mail post
Our good friends at WNYC sent over these beauties today. They've got their own excellent morning program in the works.
The flowers smell great and look amazing... just like we do at 4am.
Thanks WNYC. We love you long time!
3:11 PM ET | 10- 2-2007 | permalink | comments (1) | e-mail post
On Tuesday morning's show, Luke Burbank interviewed Susan Stanton, formerly Steve Stanton and onetime city manager of Largo, Fla.
Susan Stanton e-mailed later to say she wasn't pleased with Luke's approach. With her permission, we'll post her message below. Luke replies after the bump.
From Susan Stanton:
"I was actually disappointed with the interview. A lot of talk about my son . . . and the negative tone of the questions. I usually expect that NPR takes the high road on such topics. . . . The challenge to my media relations is to get the interviewer to see something more than a man in a dress. The interview suggested that he was talking to someone who does not see the depressive reality of their pathetic life situation. But, no matter. . . . It's done."
Continue reading "A Bryant Park Guest Responds" »
1:59 PM ET | 10- 2-2007 | permalink | comments (13) | e-mail post
Senior General Than Shwe
On Tuesday's edition of The Bryant Park Project, we wrestled with the question of whether to say "Burma" or "Myanmar." In coming days, we'll aim to give you another dose of our guest, Maureen Aung-Thwin, director of the Open Society Institute's Burma Project/Southeast Asia.
But for now, it's on to the man behind the junta, Senior General Than Shwe—he says "Myanmar." General Shwe's nation recently cracked down on some of the largest pro-democracy demonstrations there since the army took over in 1988. After the bump, we'll give you five things to know about Shwe. Feel free to add your own in the comments field.
Continue reading "Myanmar's Senior General Than Shwe" »
12:27 PM ET | 10- 2-2007 | permalink | comments (4) | e-mail post
Gentle reader writes to say:
"A quick request: Could you drop a daily stub of a blog for discussion of the day's show?"
Yes, we could. And here it is, the first open thread for you to take today's edition of The Bryant Park Project to town, to task, to pieces.
I'll start: Joe Palca's report on the E. coli panic being perhaps overblown made me want to head for a vegan dosa cart.
Anybody else want to sound off?
12:07 PM ET | 10- 2-2007 | permalink | comments (8) | e-mail post
Filed under: The Best Song In The World Today
See him. Hear him. Now.
We're shocked to report that work in the Bryant Park newsroom has temporarily stopped while Ben Harper plays rock god all over our fancy speakers.
And we do mean "all over." Harper's due in the studio in the actual flesh in a few minutes. For now, the staff is seriously hypnotized by his online-only version of "Purple Rain." Check it out below, and catch tomorrow's show for his appearance on BPP.
Listen here: Ben Harper reinvents "Purple Rain"
10:19 AM ET | 10- 2-2007 | permalink | e-mail post
Muhammed Rahman's "Kwik Meal" cart took home the People's Choice Honors at the 3rd Annual Vendy Awards for outstanding street food. Rahman's joint is a real BPP favorite and he was nice enough to come on by the studio this morning to dish out some lamb and rice before opening up.
We dropped by the Kwik Meal at lunch, and the line was (as usual) twenty hungry New Yorkers long. Check it out.
3:08 PM ET | 10- 1-2007 | permalink | comments (3) | e-mail post
The Bryant Park Project has launched. Our first real show has aired and streamed and earned a place in podcast heaven. The celebratory champagne is gone, and so are the friendly suits from NPR headquarters in Washington, D.C.
All that's left, besides a few bits of scrambled egg, is the cake. We'll let hosts Luke Burbank and Alison Stewart take it.
Luke Burbank's first-day report:
Even though we've done about 400 practice shows, from the very same studio, it somehow felt much more real, scary and exciting.
Alison Stewart's:
I had serious jitters. We had guests flip-flop and tapes not go off at the right time. All the big bosses were in town and watching. Just your average day at the office.
Just your average day at the office.
1:17 PM ET | 10- 1-2007 | permalink | comments (12) | e-mail post
"How'd you like being in jail?"
That's David Letterman welcoming Paris Hilton to the interview chair Friday night. "Not too much," the wayward heiress replied.
Call it "shooting fish in a barrel" if you will, but I think Hilton actually holds it together remarkably well—right up until about 4:07 on this clip. "I've moved on with my life, so I don't really want to talk about it anymore," she finally tells Letterman.
That he won't quit is the joke on her. That we can't quit watching may be the joke on us.
Bonus read: The latest news on Paris Hilton
8:51 AM ET | 10- 1-2007 | permalink | comments (4) | e-mail post
Idaho-born musician Josh Ritter joined us in the studio, guitar in hand. Ritter is launching a new album, The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter, and a tour (dates here).
Bonus: Josh Ritter in Concert
In the past, Ritter has 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." He played one of its songs, "To the Dogs or Whoever," for us (and you) right here at BPP HQ. Enjoy.
8:24 AM ET | 10- 1-2007 | permalink | comments (1) | e-mail post
4:49 AM ET | 10- 1-2007 | permalink | comments (8) | e-mail post
Recipient's e-mail address:
» Up to twelve addresses, separated by commas.
Are you a member of your local NPR station?
Would you like to receive information from your local NPR member station? (see NPR's privacy policy)
Please send me updates from NPR.
(Information collected by NPR will be used solely for internal NPR or NPR member station purposes and only if you selected 'yes' above. See NPR's privacy policy for more information.)
The Bryant Park Project started as a blog in the summer of 2007 and ended as a radio show and online community in July 2008. Read our frequently asked questions and discussion rules.
Get the entire show with the Bryant Park audio podcast.
What would it take to get your vote? Share text, audio or video.
NEWS
The BPP Facebook group
BBC
Politico
Andrew Sullivan
Shifting Careers
Digg
Tech Daily Dose
Popurls
Arts & Letters Daily
Google Trends
MUSIC, MOVIES, TV & MORE...
Pitchfork
Guardian Music Blog
Radio 1
Metacritic
TWOP
Hulu
Epic Fu
Boing Boing
Deadspin
JUST FUN
Jezebel
TMZ
Losanjealous
LA Observed
Chowhound
Serious Eats
Up in Alaska
Want to write us privately? Use our contact form.
Text-only
