3-3-10

In case you missed it...

• Rosie started the show saying how much she loves Temple Grandin (again). She also mentioned the speech that Temple Grandin recently gave at the Ted conference. Rosie said she can't get the movie Temple Grandin out of her head and recommended it to her listeners. Here's a link to Temple's official Autism website (for Michele!) and here's a link to her official web page. Janette said how much she loves Big Love. I love Big Love. Pete talked about a book entitled Bulldozing the Way: New Guinea to Japan where the author (who is his grandfather!) collected his notes, letters and photos from the war and wrote about it. Janette and her boyfriend Barry read it and found it "so interesting" and a unique perspective.

• Rosie said she had BREAKING NEWS. Her glasses aren't working and she needs a new prescription. She also said how it's gray outside again today and Lou played I Can't Stand The Rain by Tina Turner for Ro! Rosie said from now on, on rainy days, Lou needs to have happy songs prepared. Rosie sang along to the song and Lou played a clip from Ellen judging on American Idol. Rosie said she really likes Ellen on the show - Bobby not so much. Blake figured out last night when watching American Idol that Ellen is the voice of Dori from Finding Nemo! Finding Nemo is one of my four year old's favorite movies. We can get him to do anything if we use Nemo as an incentive. Bribery works nicely as a parent.

Rosie told a funny story about when she took her kids to see Tarzan and her son Parker (who was young at the time) stood up in the theater chair and yelled "That monkey is my MAMA!!"

Rosie as the monkey in Disney's Tarzan

• Rosie and her kids watched American Idol last night and Rosie didn't think any of the performers were particularly good. Chelsea was upset that Simon wasn't mean to this one performer and stormed out of the room all put off because if Simon isn't going to be mean, she said she wasn't going to watch it anymore. Deirdre misses the fun of watching for Paula and seeing what she would do next. Rosie used to be friends with Paula "way back when" she was married to Emilio Estevez. Rosie said if Deirdre ever misses Paula she can come to her house because she has the show Hey Paula on tivo. Rosie talked about how she refuses to ignore the fact that Paula is obviously on something. They also talked about the rumors that Whitney Houston is doing drugs again. Rosie said this breaks her heart in half. All Ro wants is for Whitney Houston to get well. Deirdre said she went to the listening party before her latest album was released and Deirdre said she looked the same as when she was on drugs.

A scene from Hey Paula. She's fricking on something.

• Last night Rosie had dinner with her girlfriend Tracy, her Nanny/Friend Tanya, Tanya's son Ellis and all 10 kids (4 of Ro's and 6 of Tracy's). She said there were 14 people eating Chinese Food together and although it was extremely loud, it was lots of fun. Rosie said they have plans to eat all together like this once a week. Deirdre (who lives in a quiet apartment with no kids) thinks it sounds cool and Janette said she would kill herself - the fast way so she could die in 60 seconds. LOL Rosie talked about the fine line between keeping fans up to date with what is going on in her personal life and the feeling of being observed by others. She quoted the celebrated psychologist BF Skinner who said something like "no matter what you do the act of observing something changes its essence." She recommended the book Opening Skinner's Box: Great Psychological Experiments of the Twentieth Century by Lauren Slater to her listeners.

• Brendan put together a montage of the media clips covering the Tsunami warnings that were running this weekend basically saying the fucking world was coming to an end to which nothing actually happened. The staff then got into a deep discussion about how the media scares the pants off of everyone. She talked about the unneeded panic that was created and how it was all for nothing. Rosie said that "fear has become the most valuable commodity in the news." TRUE THAT.

• Rosie then briefly mentioned (and misquoted) a recent story about a murdered teen who was killed by a convicted sex offender in California. Rosie's intention here was to point out the fact that over 16,000 people were murdered last year and questioned what murders are worthy of attention by the media. Unfortunately, she misquoted the facts of the case and ended up almost glossing over the tragedy of this girl's personal story. (It may have been to soon after this girl's murder to use this as an example but I see where Rosie was going with this.) She questioned whether the media only highlights the stories where the victim looks a certain way. Another studio member added that "if you're well bred and come from a good family that's more sensational to the media than someone who is poor from the ghetto." (I think it was Deirdre who said that.) Now people, I do not think Rosie doesn't care about this girl's murder as someone posted on the Rosie Radio Recap blog fanpage. However, I THINK it is necessary to bring these stories to the public's attention because it does shed some light on the issue that we need to have "one strike and you're out laws" against sex offenders. There is no reason that this sex offender should have been back on the streets to do this to another victim. Having said that, I see what Rosie is saying about the media only spending time on murder stories where the victim looks a certain way. But in this case, in my opinion, I think the media NEEDED to shed light here. This man should not have been out on the streets to offend again.

• Rosie watched the film Off and Running and is going to have the makers of the film on the show on Friday! Rosie loved the film and called it "beautiful," "raw" and "honest." You can watch the trailer HERE before the filmmakers come on the show on Friday to familiarize yourselves with it.

• Rosie told a story about how she once had a murderer over to her house thanks to Bobby! She told a story about a man who dated one of their friends who was a "laser hair removal guy." Apparently he pretended he was a doctor and tried to remove some woman's mole on her tongue and mistakenly killed her and then buried her in his backyard! He is now in jail for 25 years and Rosie has photos of him in her kitchen! LOL Janette said he wasn't intending to kill her so that's a positive. LOL This guy called Bobby after he got sentenced and Bobby told him never to call him again. Good plan Bob.

• Rosie took several callers who all said basically the same thing: the media scares the crap out of us and it sells news so they continue to do it. However Rosie also talked about how she warns her kids about bad people out there. So she may not be okay with the media scaring the crap out of them but she is! LOL I thought the whole conversation was confusing.

• She also said that on days that it rains she would like to give away more prizes cause it makes her happier.

• Rosie mentioned how her nanny and friend Tanya made really good thin and crispy chocolate chip cookies. Rosie ate them ALL! Then she felt ashamed when Tanya came back in the room and asked what happened to the cookies. Rosie didn't eat dinner last night (at the Chinese table set for 14) because of it. Bobby said he's eaten an entire box of Oreos in one sitting in the past. Pete admitted to eating a box of Entenmann's donuts once and Janette admitted to eating an entire sleeve of Nabisco chocolate chip cookies.

• Rosie then interviewed Chesa Boudin who wrote the book Gringo: Coming of Age in Latin America . In Gringo, Chesa Boudin comes to realize through his travels that a wave of radical change is transforming not only Latin America, but his own take on life. Rosie and Chesa talked about his biological parents, who were part of the Weather Underground and were sent to prison. He was raised by their close friends and refers to both couples as his parents. He attended private schools in Chicago and then journeyed to Guatemala. Chesa has visited seven continents and more than 80 countries and slept on the couches of many strangers who opened their doors to him. He is currently a Rhodes Scholar working on his second masters degree and getting his law degree. Rosie said she doesn't enjoy traveling but she loves his courage and openness to embrace other cultures. She called the book beautiful and recommended it to her listeners. Chesa said he hopes the book inspires people to travel and allows people who can't travel as he did to live vicariously thru him. Chesa and Rosie talked about politics and the ramifications of our government involving ourselves in other government's policies. Chesa also explained Neoliberalism, its definition, and how we've imposed it on other developing countries. He explained how these policies force developing countries to open their economy to other states and countries unfairly and favor the US and not the country itself which, in turn, promotes poverty. Rosie thanked Chesa for coming and recommended his book to listeners. Wowsa. I hope I said that right. My brain hurts a little.

• Rosie then talked about Chesa and what an amazing life-story he has. Janette said "the smart just oozes off him." Pete liked his book because he explained the unfair trade agreements we have with other nations in a way anyone could understand. Rosie called Chesa a brave, amazing, young man.

• Pete then corrected Rosie's errors when she made reference to the story about the murdered California teen because she was already receiving flack about it on her blog.

• She also read some of the criticism that she received after she and Janeane Garofalo had their interview together. Fox news posted a blurb of them attacking Republicans but conveniently left out how in the very next breath Janeane takes a shot at the Obama administration and several Democrats.

• Rosie talked about how she liked Sarah Palin on Leno last night and how she thought she was great. Rosie said she thinks she should not be in political office necessarily but sees how she has relevance to the Republican party in some capacity. She also said she was very funny. Okay, I threw up a little writing that. Not a big Palin fan.

• Rosie closed the show.

And that's what you missed. - kw