12-01-10 Sibling fighting and an interview with Kevin Frost from AmfAR

In case you missed it...

GLEE, FIGHTING AMONGST SIBLINGS AND PARKER'S SCHOOL UPDATE
Rosie and the staff started today's broadcast talking about last night's Glee.  Rosie was disappointed with the storyline overall.  She didn't like Kurt's "boyfriend" in this episode and didn't like that Kurt was already at the new school because she thought it was unrealistic.  Janette didn't like that Lea Michele didn't get the solo because she loves to hear her sing.  Bobby loved last night's Glee and watched it twice!  Rosie said she still loves the show and maybe she didn't like it because she wasn't feeling well last night.  Also, Rosie's son Blake kept telling Vivi he was going to kill her hamster because she wouldn't let him hold it.  She said Blake teases Vivi relentlessly and it bothers Rosie so much that she can't get him to stop.  She said she and Kelli have tried everything to get him to stop even having him pay his sisters $5 when he's caught being mean to them.  This started an entire discussion about siblings fighting and whether bigger families have more fighting amongst themselves than smaller families.  

Rosie took several callers on the topic of siblings and fighting.  One caller believed the bigger the family, the worse the kids are to each other.  Rosie talked with the caller about her own frustrations she has parenting and how life hasn't really turned out the way she has planned in any way.  She said she thought there would be certain things in her life she would never do and and now she sees herself doing those things.  One caller told Rosie that having Blake pay Vivi when he teases her rewards her for being a victim.  She told Rosie to encourage her children to say to each other that they're going to be their best friends for life because a sibling bond is like no other.  Rosie said she has told her kids that before and then they call her out on the fact that she doesn't speak to two of her siblings - her sister and her brother.   She said her siblings have split and in one camp it's Rosie and two of her brothers and in the other camp it's her sister and her other brother.  She said it's been years and they've all tried making up with each other but nothing has worked.  She said not having parents to make them come over and be together during the holidays only makes things worse.  Janette suggested all the siblings try therapy but Rosie said she's brought that up before and not everyone is willing to get together for a therapy session.  Rosie said she recently went on Facebook and saw pictures of her nieces that she hasn't seen in 5 or 6 years and it was shocking because she didn't even recognize them.  Rosie talked about how sad it is for her that there's such distance.  Janette said life is long and you never know that they won't all make up again someday.  Her boyfriend Barry had a sibling he didn't talk to for years and they've since made up and are in each other's lives again.

One caller told Rosie that all that teasing amongst siblings builds character.  Rosie wasn't so sure and wondered why Tracy's kids don't fight the way hers do with each other.  Rosie wondered why Blake and Vivi don't get along very well and said Vivi is much more verbal than Blake and that's very frustrating for him.  She said he carries around a resentment for her.

Rosie briefly mentioned how she went to Parker's parent/teacher conference yesterday.  She said Parker goes to a private college prep high school and they have each student sit with all their teachers, the principal and their parent and discuss how they've been doing in classes.  He said the general consensus was that Parker is not doing all his homework and not living up to his potential and he agreed!  On the way home he told Rosie that he doesn't like to learn through books and he'd rather learn through experience.  Rosie thought that was an interesting perspective but not very practical.

She then went back to the separation amongst the siblings in the O'Donnell household.  She said she never would have guessed this would ever happen in her life.   She compared the split amongst the siblings to the Israeli/Palestinian conflict.  Rosie said things amongst the siblings have been tense since Vivi was born and at the beginning there was contact still during kids' birthdays but over the years the contact has dwindled to nothing amongst the two camps.  Rosie took a call from a listener who said she and her siblings learned to fight the way they did from their parents.  She said they learned to deal with conflict by example and are a product of the way their parents dealt with one another.  The caller doesn't speak to some of her siblings today and said she feels such shame about it.  Rosie listened to the caller and said she fears a member of the family (or of the 5 siblings) is going to die or get very sick and the next time they're going to all be together is at a funeral somewhere.  Rosie's brother recently reached out to one of the siblings in the "other camp" because he had heard there was an illness and his phone-call was not met with kindness.  Rosie said if people in your family don't want you in their lives at some point you have to respect their wishes.  She said she feels like she's at an impasse and isn't sure how to proceed.  And she's very sad because she realized if she saw her nieces she wouldn't even recognize them on the street.  She said as kids, she and her brothers and sister always promised to know what sizes each other were because when they were growing up, after their mom died, no one ever knew what sizes they were.  Now they're not even speaking and she realized all the promises she made as a child haven't endured and it makes her think, "What the hell happened?"

A PEDOMETER UPDATE, SUSAN BOYLE ON THE VIEW & THE NEW CBS MORNING SHOW
Rosie and the staff then gave a pedometer update from yesterday's results.  In an effort to get healthier, Rosie and the staff are all wearing pedometers to improve their walking.  Rosie said she got 1790 on Monday and 1801 yesterday.  So she basically stayed the same.  Janette wanted to know if knowing the number of steps she takes in a day motivates her to do more.  She said it does a little.  Lou got 3242 yesterday which was almost twice as much as he had on Monday!  Wearing the pedometer helped motivate him to walk to places he would normally drive to.  Brendan is at about 5000 steps a day and Deirdre is at over 10,000 steps!  Bobby maintained at 8865 steps and Janette got 9280.  In an effort to keep moving she walked and paced while she was talking on the phone.  Pete got 2169 yesterday but he said he's doing a lot better today and already (at about 10:30am) he's beaten the number of steps he took yesterday.  Deirdre was the winner for yesterday and Janette came in second!  

Rosie wanted to know if the staff had seen Susan Boyle's performance on The View yesterday.  (see below)

Susan Boyle sings Oh Holy Night on The View

Rosie talked about Susan Boyle and how she was almost a "shut-in" before she was catapulted to stardom after appearing as a contestant on Britain's Got Talent.  She was on The View promoting her Christmas CD, The Gift.  Both Rosie and Deirdre felt badly for Susan and said she seems ill-equipped to do a live venue.  Bobby also felt badly for Susan because she's not a professional singer or a professional entertainer and she's never had the opportunity to learn from these types of mistakes as performers do.  Bobby said there's a reason it takes a long time to be an amazing entertainer because it takes time to perfect your craft. Both Rosie, Bobby and Janette talked about how much they love Susan's music.  Rosie said if she were managing Susan she would know enough not to put her on a live show.   

Rosie very briefly mentioned she's going out the country after tomorrow's (Thursday's) show to somewhere that's supposed to be very cold for Who Do You Think You Are but she doesn't  know where yet!  Exciting!!! 

Rosie wanted to know if it was true that they fired the whole cast of the CBS morning show and Janette confirmed it.  Janette (the 6 time Emmy award winning Producer and Writer!) said under the circumstances it seemed like drastic measures were required.  Janette said the CBS Early Show has always been the lowest rated morning show.  Rosie wasn't so sure and said in a competition where there's only three major networks someone is always going to come in third.

CELEBRITY DIGITAL DEATH
Rosie mentioned the Celebrity Digital Death campaign in order to raise more funds and awareness for AIDS research.  Watch the video below...



The campaign raises funds for keepachildalive.org and until their goal is reached, celebrities are going offline (No Facebook, blogging or Twitter).  You can go to buylife.org to raise the money to get them back online. Rosie and the staff talked about how today is World AIDS day and how the awareness of AIDS isn't as great as it once was.  Rosie thought that the combination of better medications for the disease and over saturation/fatigue might be why.  Janette said it doesn't matter if we're tired of hearing about it because she's sure people are tired of dying from it too.  Shoshana wondered if the next generation isn't as aware as the previous generation about the dangers of AIDS.  Brendan, who distinctly remembers when Magic Johnson revealed he had AIDS, said this generation doesn't have the spokesperson for the disease that his generation had growing up.  Rosie agreed and quoted the song Kanye West wrote entitled Family Business and talked about how money gives the rich access to the best medications that prevent disease.   

As Janette was talking, Rosie said someone wrote into her on the blog and said Janette reminds her of the "Aunt Clara" character from Bewitched.  Janette loved it!  Here is a link to an episode of Bewitched with Aunt Clara in it.  Fast forward to 4:14. :)

WORLD AIDS DAY AND KEVIN FROST FROM AmfAR 
Rosie then introduced Kevin Frost the CEO of the American Foundation for AIDS Research.  AmfAR is an international nonprofit organization dedicated to the support of AIDS research, HIV prevention, treatment education, and the advocacy of AIDS-related public policy.  Kevin has been with the organization for 17 years and he and Rosie discussed the organization and its founder, Dr. Mathilde Krim.  Rosie said Krim has an aura around her that's "other-worldy."  Kevin agreed and said Krim is beautiful and incredibly brilliant.

Rosie asked Kevin how he became involved with AmfAR and he said as a gay man living in NYC during the 1980s, he got involved with ACT UP.  Kevin worked at Bellvue in their AIDS program and AmfAR was starting a clinical research program and they recruited him to come work with them.  He has lost a lot of friends to AIDS and that was what caused him to get involved.  When Kevin was 20, he went to more memorials then he did movies.  He said it felt like he was living in a war zone.  Rosie and Kevin talked about how despite the fact that people with AIDS are living longer they're still being infected at a very high rate.  He said we're the victims of our own success.  And the success we've had fighting AIDS has halted the progress we've made in raising awareness of the disease.  He said you used to see the men who were sick and in the hospital battling the disease and now because of the success of the drugs you don't see the deadliness of the illness.  And because of that people are still getting infected.  In fact, 56,000 people get infected every year which works out to one person every minute.  Rosie and Kevin talked about how young men today can be totally oblivious to the epidemic.  Rosie mentioned the book Franny Queen of Provincetown about a man taking care of men who are dying of AIDS and a young man who doesn't know much about the AIDS epidemic who comes and stays with him.   

Kevin and Rosie both fear that there is less awareness of AIDS today because of the success of the drugs. 

Rosie asked Kevin what people can do today to become more conscious of what is going on with AIDS.  Kevin said it's been a phenomenal year in terms of AIDS research and prevention and the investments in research are really beginning to pay off.  He also said a lot of the work towards finding a cure is staring to payoff too.  He said people can invest in AIDS research and write their Senators and Representatives and tell them we need to continue in investing in a cure for AIDS.  Kevin thanked Rosie for everything she has done in both fundraising for AIDS and awareness.  Rosie thanked Kevin for the interview and for the work he does for AIDS research on a daily basis.  To learn more about AmfAR click HERE.

GAME
Brendan said The Grinch is his favorite Christmas film.  During this game, Brendan gave the plots to some famous Christmas movies and the player had to guess the holiday film. 

ROUND ONE
Rosie: Charles Dickens' classic story replayed countless times.  She guessed Scrooge or A Christmas Carol and was correct.
Pete: Kevin accidentally gets left behind when his parents leave for vacation and he defends his house.  He guessed Home Alone and was correct!
Janette: A man gets to see what his hometown would be like if he had never lived.  She guessed It's A Wonderful Life and was correct.
Bobby: All Raphie wants for Christmas is a Red Ryder BB gun.  He guessed A Christmas Story and was correct.
caller: Macy's Santa Claus, with help from the USPS, restores a little girl's faith.  The correct answer was Miracle on 34th Street but she didn't get it.  Rosie still gave her $711 from Seven Eleven!  Brendan declared Rosie Radio contests as the place where every loser wins!
Shoshana:  The Griswald family plans turn to disaster, this time at Christmas.  The correct answer was Christmas Vacation but she didn't get it and had no idea who Clark Griswald was.

ROUND TWO
Rosie: A magical train takes a boy and other children up north to meet Santa.  She guessed The Polar Express and was correct!
Pete: When Santa falls off a roof this harried ad executive is required to assume the title.  He guessed The Santa Clause and was correct.
Janette: A human raised at the north pole searches for his family in New York.  Elf was the answer and after a hint she guessed it.  She really had no idea though. 
Bobby: Musicians bring Irving Berlin's lyrics to a lodge.  The answer was White Christmas and he got it.

ROUND THREE
Rosie: A modern interpretation of Dickens' story with Christmas spirits visiting a cynical TV executive.  The answer was Scrooged but she didn't get it.  Bobby tried to help her and he got really yelled at by Pete!  Rosie was out.
Pete: After getting fired for messing up an order, toy makers rescue Bo Peep and Tom Tom from Bogieland.  He guessed Babes in Toyland and that was correct!
Janette: An angel helps a holy man rearrange his priorities.  It was The Preacher's Wife but she didn't get it. 
Bobby:  Santa's bitter older brother is forced to move to the North Pole.  It was Fred Claus but he didn't guess it.  Rosie was trying desperately to give Bobby the answer but he still couldn't guess it and hilarity ensued.

Much to Rosie's dismay, Pete was the WINNER! 

HOLIDAY CRAFT-OFF

Don't forget to enter the Rosie Holiday Craft-off!

There was a big debate on whether Bobby should enter the contest on behalf of the Rosie Radio staff or not.  Bobby didn't want to since he thought up the items that were to be used in the contest but Rosie made him promise he would.     

WIKILEAKS
Then Rosie wanted to briefly discuss the WikiLeaks guy (Julian Assange) and if he's in legal trouble or not.  Pete said the people who gave Assange the documents are in legal trouble but he isn't necessarily in legal trouble himself.  Assange is in trouble for rape which he says are trumped up charges because of WikiLeaks.  Janette said she thinks his passion for unveiling secrets sounds interesting and she wasn't sure from what she read about the rape charges, if they sounded valid.  There was a then a short debate in the studio if whether or not women can tell if a condom breaks during sex. You can read about the rape charges that Julian Assange is facing HERE and HERE.

Rosie closed the show.

and that's what you missed -kw