10-13-10 "Money, Miners, Movies and an interview with Ali Codina"

In case you missed it...

HOW AGE HAS CHANGED, ALI MACGRAW ON OPRAH AND SCARY MOVIES
Rosie announced at the beginning of today's show that it was her niece Allie's birthday today as well as her  grandmother's birthday.  Rosie briefly talked about what it was like growing up with a grandmother in the house.  She said her Nana was never really "up and about" and described her as more of an older grandma, not like the young hip grandmas of today.  Rosie's Nana, her maternal grandmother, died in 1981 at 76 years old.  Her Nana was 60 years old when her daughter (Rosie's mother) died.   Rosie said her grandmother couldn't really cook or see very well and had to hold onto things when she walked.  Janette suddenly remembered she had a Great Aunt Marty who lived with her when she was growing up.  Her Aunt died at 92 years old when Janette was 12.  Rosie's really good friend, Sharon Gless, is about the same age as her Nana was when her mom died.  Rosie remarked at the difference between her grandmother and Sharon who is around 60 and the way her Nana was at that age.   

Rosie asked everyone if they saw Ali MacGraw on Oprah yesterday.  Ali is 71 and Rosie said it was amazing to see her on Oprah.  Pete commented that he has never seen the 1970s film Love Story.  Rosie said it was a defining movie of her generation.  Janette didn't like or agree with the movie 'Love Story' and remembered being very disappointed when she saw it.  She especially didn't agree with the famous line "Love means never having to say you're sorry."  Janette called that crap and everyone in the studio agreed and then proceeded to apologize over the air to their loved ones just in case. 

Janette also didn't like The Exorcist.  She thought the book was much scarier.  They discussed how "The Exorcist" was based on a true story about a real boy who was possessed.  Pete said that the boy went to the same high school he attended for a semester in Washington D.C.  Rosie didn't really believe that anyone could ever become possessed by demons but Deirdre said she believes "absolutely" that demonic possession can happen.  She said there have been too many unexplained occurrences around the world to not believe it.  Rosie said she does believe that mental illness can manifest itself physically however.  Rosie does NOT like scary movies but her friend and fellow Rosie Radio personality, Jeannie Weenie, loves them.  Deirdre and Bobby love scary movies, too.  Rosie recalled the day she went to see Gone with the Wind at the movie theater and crying during the fire in the film.  Her father scolded her and told her to be quiet that there was no real fire and it was just a man behind a camera.  But she was still terrified.  Rosie said she is not good at scary things.   

THE RESCUE OF THE CHILEAN MINERS
Rosie said the rescue of the Chilean miners makes her believe in God.  She watched Anderson Cooper on CNN last night and said it was intense for her watching the rescue.  Both Bobby and Rosie cried.  She said whenever anything miraculous like the rescue happens it reaffirms her belief in God.  She recalled the time that the miners in West Virginia were rescued and the overwhelming feeling of God that washed over her when she found out.  Rosie said whenever she hears of miracles happening she feels overwhelmingly filled with gratitude.  Janette thought that was a very interesting perspective.  She doesn't believe it's a miracle but she gets extremely happy when she sees people helping other people.  But to her, it doesn't seem miraculous.  They discussed how the miners were wearing compression garments and sunglasses as they were brought to the surface.  Rosie said the rescue reminded her of the baby Jessica McClure rescue.  Rosie said the man who saved baby Jessica, Robert O'Donnell, committed suicide in 1995.  She said he and the town never fully recovered from the spotlight of that event.  Janette didn't see the rescue as an act of God but did say when she sees people going to help other people it makes her tear up.  If she's walking down the street and she hears a siren she will tear up just knowing people are rushing to help others in need.  Bobby and Rosie both commented how they notice sirens more now since September 11th and how the sound of sirens make them think of that day.  They joked how the radio staff wouldn't survive a night together if they were trapped all in one place.   

DANCING WITH THE STARS AND WHEN ARE SHOWS AIRED LIVE IN THE WEST COAST
Rosie announced that The Situation was kicked off last night's Dancing With The Stars.  Rosie was happy he was the one who was booted from the show because she worried that his popularity from the Jersey Shore would keep him on the show longer despite the fact that he was a really bad dancer. 

Then there was an entire back and forth debate about when shows are aired live and when they're taped and then aired on the West coast.  Rosie seemed stuck on the Oscars and couldn't believe that they aired them at 5pm on the West Coast.  She thought they had to be taped and aired at 8pm.  After much debate a listener finally called in and settled it.  She stated that in California the red carpet starts at 3pm and the Oscars starts at 5pm and then the Barbara Walters' special airs after the Oscars.  The caller said it's the only show that does it this way.  She said the Grammy's are taped and begin airing at 8pm California time.  Rosie was very disappointed that she didn't know this fact because she's hosted and attended both the Grammy's and the Oscars!

MEAN CALLERS, BACK TO DWTS, WHO'S HOT AND MORE CELEBRITY BREAKUPS
Rosie has been listening to other talk radio shows lately and she said she'd noticed a lot of them have callers who call in and say "mean crap" to the hosts on the show.  She wondered why they don't get a lot of mean or rude callers?  James, who screens the calls, said  they rarely ever get mean callers however crazy callers were another story.  Janette recalled one time they got a phony phone call from Steve Langford.  James said he later called back and apologized for it and said he hoped that he didn't get James in trouble.  Bobby laughed so hard at Janette telling the story of the Steve Langford phony phone call that his Diet Dr. Pepper came out of his nose!  Rosie then sang the Diet Dr. Pepper jingle word for word from memory. 

Rosie said she was happy to see Florence and the Machine perform on last night's 'Dancing With the Stars.'  She said she loves them.  Pete's guess is that Florence Henderson is the next to go home from DWTS. Janette remembered the huge attraction she had to Chad Ochocinco when he was on the show.  She said, "The Situation didn't do it for her situation."  Deirdre commented on what a different taste in men that Janette and her have.  Deirdre has a crush on Andrew Jenks from MTV's World of Jenks who will be on the show tomorrow.  She said that Andrew is young enough to be her son but she loves him.  They figured out that Andrew is 20 years younger than Deirdre.  Rosie said she's very much looking forward to interviewing Andrew tomorrow.   Janette's crushes include Howard Stern and Dennis Haysbert.

Rosie said there have been more celebrity breakup announcements including Christina Aguilera's marriage to her husband and Laura Dern and Ben Harper.  Deirdre said she feels bad for anyone who breaks up and feels even worse for couples that have to do it in public. 

PALADINO IS A MORON
Rosie wanted to discuss again how New York Republican Gubernatorial candidate, Carl Paladino, is a moron.  In the past few days on the show they've discussed Paladino's anti-gay remarks he gave at an event in Brooklyn, then his defense of those remarks on The Today Show and now it's been discovered that he actually owns land where two gay bars are operated.  Paladino has since asked for forgiveness over email for his anti-gay statements.  Paladino's openly gay nephew has come out saying that his uncle's comments have been very hurtful to him and he pointed out the hypocrisy of him making money off of these "way gay" bars.  Rosie wondered if people running for public office think they are not going to have the truth about their pasts found out.  Brendan fired off how annoyed he was that Paladino is saying that his statements have been misrepresented in the media.  He asked how the statement can be misrepresented if they're playing the exact audio of the words that came out of his own mouth!  Brendan said  there's no mistake that Paladino is a clown and there's no chance of him winning the election.  Deirdre said she is already sick of the election commercials and Rosie agreed.  Janette purposely waits to watch her favorite shows so that she can fast forward through the commercials.  Janette's a big fan of the new show Hawaii Five-O on CBS.  Deirdre heard it was getting horrible reviews but Rosie heard it's the top rated show.
 
TEENAGE PAPARAZZO AND SEEING YOURSELF AS OTHERS SEE YOU
Over their last break, Rosie saw Adrian Grenier's latest documentary Teenage Paparazzo.  "Teenage Paparazzo documents the true story of a relationship between a 14 year-old paparazzo (Austin Visschedyk) and Adrian Grenier, the star of the HBO series Entourage. Inspired by a chance encounter with Visschedyk during a night out, Grenier (who previously directed the documentary Shot in the Dark) decides, for a change, to turn the cameras on the paparazzi in an effort to document this unique teenager’s world."  [source teenagepaparazzo.com]

Rosie loved Grenier's first documentary Shot in the Dark where Adrian goes on a quest to find his birth father.  Rosie sent Adrian an email after she saw it telling him how moved she was by the film and he asked her to be interviewed for this film.   Rosie said she's in it very briefly with a few other celebrities talking about what it is like to be followed by paparazzi and to be a celebrity today.

Rosie thought the documentary was very well done and fascinating. There is a scene in the film where Adrian shows his film to the boy and his mother.  Rosie talked about the impact that seeing themselves on screen had on the boy and how it changed him.  Janette quoted the Scottish poet Robert Burns who says, "Oh, that God the gift would give us to see ourselves as others see us." Janette thought it would be cool to see yourself as others see you.     

Janette spoke about an article she read about being alive to see your own funeral and how it can be very life-affirming.  You would get  to hear your eulogies and it would improve your whole self-esteem.  Janette said that most of us are harder on ourselves than others are on us.  For Rosie, because she's a public figure, seeing how others see you would be different - her loved ones versus the public.  Deirdre would love to see how everyone sees her even strangers on the subway.  She's heard that people tend to be intimidated by her because she has a strong personality. 

BULLYING
Rosie doesn't have any idea how people would see her.  She thinks if you're famous you really can't focus too much on how others see you.  She was reading an article online about the recent rash of teen suicides due to bullying that stated that Hollywood "bullies" like Kathy Griffin and Perez Hilton have made careers out of being bullies.  I think I found the article here.  The article continues to say that having Rosie O’Donnell denounce bullying "is akin to Michael Vick denouncing dog fighting."  Janette didn't see any proof of where Rosie has ever bullied anyone.  Rosie thought maybe people get this opinion from her time on The View.  Deirdre said it isn't fair because women who tend to have strong opinions and feel free to speak them are seen as bullies.  Bobby said if you take someone on for being an ass you're calling them out, you're not being a bully.  Being a bully is picking on someone weaker than you and Rosie has never done that.   Right on Bobby.
Bobby and Rosie talked about a recent bullying story of a 7 year-old girl, Kathleen Edward, who was bullied by her neighbors.  This little girl's neighbors had a rift with her parents so they started to attack the dying girl who is in late stages of Huntington's Disease.  This story enraged Bobby when he heard about it.  The neighbors have since apologized but only after the media covered the story and the entire town of Ann Arbor started to rally for the little girl.   

When Janette was in school she was bullied by the principal who called her father and told him she cut class which she never did.  Her father believed the principal instead of believing her, which looking back now she understands why.  Because of that principal she was in detention for almost a year.  To get back at him she stole half the library and had cases of stolen books at home.  Janette's motto is: If you can't be aggressive be passive aggressive. 

GLEE AND THE COST OF HAPPINESS
Rosie said the best thing happened on last night's GLEE which was they sang Happy Days Are Here Again.   They loved the arrangement and all agreed that Chris Colfer who plays Kurt is going to win an Emmy this year.  Rosie said it was "delicious" and Bobby said he officially fell in love with Kurt last night.  Janette's been in love with Kurt since he sang Defying Gravity. 

Shoshana talked about a recent study she read that said that making more than $75,000 in the United States won't buy you happiness, just more stuff.  Janette didn't agree with the article.  She said that happiness is much more expensive.  Tracy always tells Rosie "more is not always better."  Janette quoted Cher who said, "I've been rich and I've been poor, rich is better."  Janette said she was much happier once she started making more money and didn't have to worry about paying the rent and she could purchase more life experience.  Rosie said Tracy's happiness quotient hasn't changed since she's moved to Nyack with her family and no longer has to worry about money.  She said Tracy is just as happy with money as she was when she didn't have as much.  Rosie said for some people happiness isn't about money in any way.  Janette said she's happy for those people that don't need money to be happy but that's not true for her.  She still remembers the worry and the stress over making the rent and how it was very stressful for her. 

Rosie took several callers on the topic.  One caller said  Janette was "very out of touch."  This caller makes $70,000 a year and is very happy and doesn't feel like she needs anymore.  Rosie agreed though that not having to worry about making expenses can make life better.  Rosie talked about how her children and Tracy's children have grown up differently and how her children will never ever know what it is like to worry about making the bills.  But Rosie remembers growing up that way and how they had to save for things if they wanted them and had to buy irregular clothes at the flea market.  She sees the value in being able to know that reality.  Rosie took another call from a listener who wishes she could make more money so she didn't have to work as many hours and could spend more time with her kids.  Rosie said that is part of the reason she left The Rosie O'Donnell Show.  She said she had always wanted children and she was finally at a point where she could afford staying home with them and she didn't want someone else raising them.  That was also one reason she chose to go with OWN for her television show.  On OWN, Rosie will only be required to have 26 weeks a year of original programming so she'll still get half a year off to spend with the kids!  Rosie said her ex Kelli has a much smaller house now than the one her kids grew up in but the kids love staying there.  She said they're all together there and they have more time together as a family. So, yes, bigger isn't always better.

ALI CODINA DIRECTOR OF MONICA & DAVID

Rosie then introduced Ali Codina the director of the documentary Monica & David.  In Monica & David, Condina explores the lives and families of two newlyweds who have Down Syndrome.  In 2007, when Ali first finished filming the documentary footage she created a development trailer with an editor and took it to Tribecca and HBO.   Monica is her first cousin.  Both Monica and David have Down Syndrome and were born to mothers who were just 19 years old when they had them.  Ali and Rosie talked about the misconceptions of having a child with Down Syndrome.  Ali explained that the majority of women that are having babies with Down Syndrome are under the age of 35.  Rosie and Ali talked about the varying degrees of severity of Down Syndrome. Ali said through making this film she learned that people with Downs are far more capable and aware than people give them credit for.  Both Monica and David enjoyed being filmed because they saw the camera as a way of being acknowledged and understood. 

ALI CODINA

PHOTO BY LESLIE HASSLER

Ali talked with Rosie about how she was only allowed to film with her cameras because she was family and how Monica's mother didn't really enjoy the cameras.  Ali talked with Rosie about the cultural and  generational differences that are apparent in the film.  Monica and David were both born at a time when their mothers' were told to institutionalize their children.  She said today things are different and today people with Down Syndrome can work, live on their own and don't need that 24-hour attention.  Both Monica and David are still living with their parents but she said they've gained a lot of confidence lately and are being very direct with what they want.  Ali has promised to help them find jobs in Miami as soon as the movie promotion lets up a bit.

Rosie's talked with Ali about her favorite parts of the film like when Monica and David went to a very expensive restaurant for their anniversary and asked the wait staff to sing Happy Anniversary to them!  Rosie and Ali talked about the challenges in communicating when you know someone who has Down Syndrome.  Ali said it's a misconception to believe that people with Down Syndrome are always happy and angelic.  She said it's belittling because there is more to people with Downs and they still experience the same emotions even if they don't express them the same as we do.  Rosie thanked Ali for the interview and for making the documentary. 

Monica & David premieres October 14th at 8pm on HBO!
Visit the Monica & David's website HERE for more information.

Trailer



Monica & David Trailer

THE RO-GAME
Brendan introduced the "ro-game."  He would ask each player a general knowledge question and every answer ends in "ro."  

ROUND ONE
Rosie - Nothing. Zippo. Zilch. Nada.  The answer was zero.  She got it correct!
Pete - a term used to described a state of a fetus or Nirvana's album.  He said "Embryo" but the answer was "In Utero" so he was OUT.
Janette - a Greek sandwich.  The answer was a gyro.  She got it correct!
Bobby - a small donkey.  The answer was a burro.  He got it!
caller - a legendary fiddler known for his cruelty.  The answer was Nero and they got it!
Deirdre - a large hat often worn by Speedy Gonzales.  The answer was a sombrero.  She got it!

ROUND TWO
Rosie - a zipper alternative.  The answer was Velcro and she got it!
Janette - he's been in the films Good Fellas and Meet the Parents.  The answer was Deniro and she got it!
Bobby - Africa's most populist capital city.  The answer was Cairo but he didn't get it so he was out.
caller - a Phillip Morris brand of cigarettes.  The answer was Marlboro and she got it!
Deirdre - a master in an art, particularly music.  The answer was Maestro and she got it!

ROUND THREE
Rosie - a small informal restaurant or bar.  The answer was bistro and she got it!
Janette - this member of the parsley family also known as coriander. The answer was cilantro and she got it!
Caller -this began circulating in 12 nations in 2002.  The answer was the euro which he didn't get so he was out.
Deirdre - a large rounded hairstyle.  The answer was Afro but she didn't get it so she was out.

ROUND FOUR
Rosie - this pepper measures in excess of 100,000 on the Scoville scale.  The answer was habanero but she didn't get it so she was OUT.
Janette - (for the win!!!) this is the 4th highest of the 7 highest summits.  The answer was Mt. Kilimanjaro and she got it!!

Janette won!  Bravo!!! 

Janette thanked her friend Fran Capo for why she knew the last answer.  She said her friend Fran tried to get her to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro with her once.  She did one day of training and then quit.   Rosie said she would never, ever, ever do that.  Pete said his parents once tried to get him to climb one of the highest summits in Asia and he lasted 15 minutes before he quit.   

Rosie closed the show saying they were all going to watch Modern Family this evening.  Pete is watching Survivor but no one else is.

And don't forget that Andrew Jenks from MTV's The World of Jenks will be on the show tomorrow!

and that's what you missed -kw