The Expendables

--Steve Proffitt

The Expendables: It's not the way NPR thinks of the staff of Day to Day.

Wait, maybe it is!

Whatever. It's also the name of a movie that begins filming in March, directed and starring Sylvester Stallone, and featuring our California governor playing our California governor.

I couldn't resist making this fake trailer:

The Expendables from steve proffitt on Vimeo.

Tags: Arnold | Stallone | The Expendables | movie trailer

8:36 PM ET | 02-26-2009 | permalink

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Fix Your Own Car. Save $$$

 

--Christopher Johnson
At just 9 years old, Sam Maynard knew exactly what he wanted to be. "I wanted to be the best mechanic in the world."

He was a farm boy growing up in Barbados when he had an epiphany.

Sam dreamed of the inside of a working car motor. "I saw everything that works in there - the valves, pistons, the crank shift, the fly wheel - everything that's inside that motor, I saw it."

Sam's parents didn't share his dream. They wanted their son to get off the farm, and grow up to be a doctor or a lawyer. Sam's dad scraped together the cash to pay for tutoring so his son could test into one of the best boys schools on the island.

Sam Maynard, DIY Auto Repair Instructor

Christopher Johnson, NPR

Sam says he flunked the entrance exam on purpose. Twice.

"My father said, 'boy, we're gonna stop spending our money on you,'" Sam remembers. "'What trade do you need?' I said, 'mechanic.' And that was it. My dream came true."

Sam left Barbados soon after World War II, and landed in England on his 22nd birthday. He says discrimination made it tough for blacks to get good auto shop jobs in the UK.

He took jobs in factories, and with the railroad. His dream eluding him, Sam started drinking a lot. That's when he got his second calling.

"I was sitting in a London pub with a friend, drinking our beers. And he said, 'Sam, what are you doing working on London transport railways? There's no future there for you. You have a trade.' I didn't want to hear that! I just asked the barman, 'give us another pint!'"

It was just the spark Sam needed to get back to his dream. He went on to get a college degree in automotive technology.

He's been working on cars and trucks ever since. And the 70 year old mechanic says there's no place he'd rather be than under the hood.

"Oh, it's my passion, it's my passion!"

Our friends at the radio show Car Talk have a whole list of resources and other stuff that can help you become a Do It Yourself Car Mechanic.

10:30 AM ET | 02-26-2009 | permalink

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What's the State of Your Union?

-- Andy Carvin, aka @acarvin and @nprpolitics on Twitter

As you may have heard, President Barack Obama will address a joint session of Congress tonight. Technically it's not a State of the Union address, as Obama was just sworn in last month, but that didn't stop us from asking people on Twitter to send us their own State of the Union addresses. The catch: it has to be 140 characters or less.

If you've never used Twitter, it's an online community and messaging service that lets you talk with people via the Web, text messaging, instant messaging and the like. It limits these messages, or tweets, to 140 characters or less so they're text-message friendly. It's not much room to craft an entire State of the Union address, but lots of people have risen to the challenge so far. And we'd love to hear from you, too.

Continue reading "What's the State of Your Union?" »

10:17 AM ET | 02-24-2009 | permalink

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Grand Theft Oscar?

Steve Proffitt surveys a mass of unattended car keys at the Oscars

Brian Unger, for NPR

 

--Steve Proffitt

Last night, Brian Unger and I got to go to the Oscars. Instead of press passes, we had actual tickets, which allowed us to stroll down the red carpet, hobnob with the stars, and eat really tasty hors d'oeuvres.

But watching what is essentially at TV show from the 4th balcony (you didn't think they would give us good seats, did you?) was less than satisfying. Plus, we knew there would be a great crush after the show, when people wait for hours while valets try to find their cars, and then wait more hours trying to navigate through the traffic.

So we busted out early.

We made our way down to the fifth level of the underground parking lot at the Kodak Theater. When we arrived, there was a huge valet station, with hundreds and hundreds of keys, each marked with a letter and number indicating which space the car was parked in. But there was no one around. No one!

A quick glance showed a nice new Corvette parked in C26, and a Mercedes S600 in C29. Really, had we been larcenous, it would have been too easy to upgrade from Brian's Prius.

But, even though the reality of unemployment and poverty hangs over us, we maintain a thread of morality. Finally after a bit of shouting, an attendant appeared, and in a flash, we were in the Toyota, out of the garage, and into the cool of the Oscar evening.

And not in jail.

Tags: Academy Awards | Oscar | felony avoided | temptation

10:39 AM ET | 02-23-2009 | permalink

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Toward A More Female Workforce?

Composite: Getty Images

 

--Skye Rohde
I was reading through the New York Times the other week when I came across this article. The statistic is sobering: 82 percent of people laid off since the recession started are men. Fields like health care and education that tend to employ more women haven't been hit as hard by the economy yet. And journalist Catherine Rampell says that we're now at the point where women are just about to become the majority on the payrolls for the first time in history -- in part because of these recent layoffs.

All this starting me thinking about how these layoffs -- and this shift in breadwinning "duties" -- are hitting families where the husband is now out of a job but the wife is still working. What's different about the family dynamics?

On today's program we explore this trend from a few different angles: what's happening across the U.S., how one couple handled it when the wife had to lay off the husband to keep her business alive and how working moms are talking about their situations and choices during the recession.

We'd like to hear from you about how your spouses' layoffs have impacted your family life. How have things changed? How are you coping with these changes? Has your definition of "stability" changed? What do you tell -- and not tell -- your kids? Your family? Your friends?

Tags: economy | family | unemployment

12:00 AM ET | 02-19-2009 | permalink

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The UnemployMentality

stolen from Unemploymentality.com

 

--Steve Proffitt

On today's program, we talked to John Henion, co-creator of Unemploymentality.com, a funny blog about the mindset of the jobless (but not hopeless.) If you've recently lost your job, or even if you haven't, we recommend it, under the sage advice that it is generally better to laugh than cry.

Tags: humor | unemployment

12:56 PM ET | 02-18-2009 | permalink

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Here's the story of a lovely listener...

 

--Steve Proffitt

Sometimes listeners send us commentaries. Often they are far too long, too obscure, inappropriate or just not very interesting.

So it was with surprise and delight that I read a little something that came in from a Kansas City listener named Jim Cosgrove.

He sent in a personal essay about Florence Henderson, AKA Carol Brady. Henderson turns 75 on Valentine's Day.

Jim is the father of two young children, and he wrote about his amazement watching his kids take to the Brady Bunch. We're airing his commentary today.

But it turns out Jim Cosgrove also has an AKA. He's a children's entertainer known as Mr. Stinky Feet.

Jim has released several albums, he tours, and he's even played The White House.

Here's a bit of Mr. Stinky Feet, in performance:

Tags: Jim Cosgrove | Mr. Stinky Feet | TV | The Brady Bunch

9:14 AM ET | 02-13-2009 | permalink

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