More Movies You Might Not Know

New to the Movies You Might Not Know list: two movies written by Scott Frank.

First is "The Lookout," with Joseph Gordon-Levitt as a guy who was a big shot in his small town until a tragic car accident, which left him some mental problems and a job as a janitor in a bank. He gets drawn into a plot to rob that bank by some locals who know his history and take advantage of him. Jeff Daniels plays his blind roommate. Isla Fisher plays, well, the Isla Fisher redhead vixen role. With Bruce McGill as the kid's father (this guy has had quite a career as a character actor since he was D-Day in "Animal House").

Second is "Out of Sight," based on an Elmore Leonard book, with George Clooney as an escaped con and Jennifer Lopez (before she was J-Lo, in a very solid performance) as US Marshall Karen Sisco, who is assigned to track down Clooney and falls for him in the process. The scene with the two of them locked in the trunk of a car is worth the whole movie. With the always-reliable Ving Rhames, plus Dennis Farina, Steve Zahn, and an almost unrecognizable Albert Brooks.

Scott Frank later went on to write the underrated "Karen Sisco" TV series, which had a too-brief run on ABC with the yummy Carla Gugino as the title character. He's also responsible for the screenplays for "Get Shorty," "Minority Report," and "The Interpreter."

Check out the entire Movies You Might Not Know list and let me know one of your favorites I've left off.

Jon Macks

Jon Macks was back from vacation and on my KMOX show this afternoon to joke about the news of the week, including Senator Larry Craig's bathroom adventure, Miss South Carolina's geography skills, Michael Vick's guilty plea, and more. Listen.

Jon Macks is a longtime staff writer for "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno," author of several books including "How To Be Funny," and is developing a major motion picture for Universal. He has also written for the Oscars, Emmys, Tonys, Comic Relief, A Capitol Fourth, and many other TV events. He's on my KMOX show Fridays at 4:15pm CT.

Inside America's Empire

Today on KMOX, I talked with Robert Kaplan about his PBS documentary "Inside America's Empire," which airs Monday night at 9 CT.

It's a fascinating look at how our military is trying to fight the global war on terrorism with ideas, not just arms, and how the front lines are not just in Iraq and Afghanistan. He refers to the special forces as "warrior/diplomats," because of their mission, which is more about training and working with indigenious armies than in fighting their battles for them. Kaplan believes this serves our interests much better than a policy of isolationism would.

Listen.

Kaplan's new book, "Hog Pilots, Blue Water Grunts," explains this work even more, going into detail about how far-flung the US military really is (we currently own or rent some 700 bases around the world).

Kids In Cars

Today on KMOX, I talked with John Shelhorse, attorney for Delea Payne, the daycare center driver who was arrested after leaving a 3-year-old boy in a van outside the St. Louis Science Center earlier this month on a field trip.

Shelhorse explained what happened on August 7th, and how the boy was left behind. The case has gotten renewed attention because of last week's death of a 7-month-old boy left in a car by his parents, who were not arrested.

Shelhorse says it's not fair that his client, a black day care center employee, has been charged with a crime while the parents of Sophia Knutsen, who are white medical professionals, have not. He's not advocating that they go to jail, but also doesn't think his client should be prosecuted when the boy turned out to be unharmed.

Listen.

High School Card Stunt

How about this for a high school prank?

In Hilliard, Ohio, there's a rivalry between Davidson and Darby high schools. For their annual football game, Davidson student Kyle Garchar spent 20 hours devising a card stunt for the crowd. He snuck into the Darby's stadium before the game and put cards on the seats in three sections, with explicit instructions on when to hold up the cards so everyone could see them. What the Darby fans in those seats didn't know was that they were spelling out "We Suck!" Naturally, Kyle got the whole thing on video, which you'll see below.

There were some empty seats, so the message doesn't look as good as it should, but you've got to give Kyle some credit for creativity and effort. Unfortunately, instead of credit, the principal at Davidson gave Kyle a 3-day suspension and banned him from extracurricular activities.

Too Fat For Fatherhood -- Another Update

Gary Stocklaufer called me at KMOX this afternoon with some bad news.

Judge John O'Malley has refused him a re-hearing in the matter of adopting Baby Max, saying "the petitioners were given a full and fair opportunity to present all evidence regarding this matter, which resulted in a finding by the Court that placing the child in the custody of the Petitioners would not be in the child's best interest."

Gary and Cindy are at the end of their rope, having spent over $10,000 and exhausting their savings to fight for their son. Now, they've hired a new attorney and hope to appeal the decision. What isn't being taken into account here are the wishes of the birth mother, who personally asked Gary and Cindy to take care of Max.

As I mentioned a couple of days ago, if Gary's weight was the only reason the court used as an excuse not to allow him to adopt Max, then all his efforts to lose that weight -- including gastric bypass surgery at Renaissance Hospital in Dallas -- should be taken into account.

Judge O'Malley should give Gary and Max another chance.

Noel Blanc

Today on my KMOX show, I talked with Noel Blanc about his father, Mel Blanc, the voice of so many classic cartoon characters -- Bugs Bunny, Porky Pig, Barney Rubble, Sylvester & Tweety, etc.

Mel taught Noel how do to some of those voices, but the son never went into the father's profession fulltime. We talked about what it was like growing up with his Dad and his alter egos, and various aspects of Mel's career. We also discussed Noel's current role as a spokesman for Great American Ink, which sells animation cels from classic Warner Brothers and Disney cartoons.

Listen.

Making Scalping Legal

Two years ago, I wrote a column advocating "Scalping The Scalping Laws." Among my reasons for making scalping legal was the simple fact that you can buy anything else in America and re-sell it for any price you like (thus the success of eBay). Today, the Missouri House and Senate have passed an economic stimulus bill that includes language legalize ticket scalping. It's headed for Governor Blunt's desk, and he's likely to sign it.

For years, sports teams and concert promoters and venues wanted authorities to crack down on scalpers, claiming it hurt their fans. What they were really protecting was their own interest, of course. They didn't like the fact that someone else was making money on their product.

Now, teams and promoters have done a 180, and support allowing the re-sale of tickets to all events. Why? Once they realized they can't stop out-of-state ticket brokerages and fans using online sites like StubHub, they decided to get a piece of the action themselves. The teams want to set up their own re-sale operations, in which they could add a "service charge" to the transaction, and urge season ticket holders to conduct all business through that official site. They also claim it would cut down on counterfeiting.

Today on my KMOX show, I asked Michael Naughton for his perspective. Naughton is VP of Finance & Ticketing for the St. Louis Rams.

Listen.

Visual Cognition

Here's another experiment. It's not one of his, but Richard Wiseman introduced me to it at The Amazing Meeting 4 last year. The video was produced by the Professor Daniel Simons at the Visual Cognition Lab at the University of Illinois.

In the video, you'll see a group of college students tossing basketballs around in a hallway. Some are in white shirts, some are in black shirts. The idea is that you have to count the number of times the students in the white shirts touch a basketball. It takes a keen eye to keep track of them as they move around. I can't embed the video for copyright reasons, but you can watch it here, then come back to this page for the second part.

Done?

Okay. Now, go back and watch it again -- the exact same video -- this time keeping an eye on the students in the black shirts, and see if you notice anything you missed the first time.

Note: If you're going to comment on this, please don't give anything away.

New Orleans 2 Years After Katrina

On the second anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, I had Jed Horne back on my KMOX show this afternoon to talk about how New Orleans is doing. He's the former metro editor of the Times-Picayune and author of "Breach Of Faith," a definitive narrative on what the storm did to his town.

I asked him what people in New Orleans think of President Bush, Mayor Nagin, and Governor Blanco. We also talked about why the levees still haven't been rebuilt to a safe level, how the economy of the city is doing, whether people who went back to New Orleans have stayed, and how important the Saints were last season to the area's morale.

Listen.

John Badham, "I'll Be In My Trailer"

This afternoon on my KMOX show, I spoke with director John Badham, who shared some great stories from the many movies and TV shows he has made through the years.

Badham explained how he got John Travolta to walk in unison with "Stayin' Alive" when shooting that iconic opening scene for "Saturday Night Fever," and how he later battled with the actor over a scene on a bridge. That led to a discussion of why a director should never go to the mat with his cast, as Badham mistakenly did with Richard Pryor while shooting "The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars and Motor Kings."

We also talked about how Badham humanized the computer in "War Games" by giving it a distinctive voice, why he was fired from the movie version of "The Wiz," and why making an episode of a TV series is much harder than making a feature film. Badham started as a TV director, moved to movies, and has recently worked on episodes of "Heroes," "Crossing Jordan," "Las Vegas," and "Psych."

Badham's book, "I'll Be In My Trailer," is a great primer for aspiring moviemakers or anyone who's just a movie fan.

Listen.

Rules Of The Men's Room

The rules of the men's room aren't written down anywhere, and they're not exactly passed on from generation to generation. If you're a guy, you just grow to understand and follow them. Unless you're Senator Larry Craig, apparently.

For his sake, let's review...

Rule #1: No talking. There might be lengthy conversations going on in the Ladies Room, but men keep it to a minimum, usually no more than a "hey" or a "howzit going?" You're here for one purpose, then wash your hands and get out.

Rule #2: No looking. Sideways glances at the urinals are frowned upon, and sneaking a peek through the crack in the stall door can get you a ballpoint pen in the eyeball. It's okay to check for feet under the door, but otherwise, keep your eyes on your own business.

Rule #3: No touching. This one should go without saying.I don't know how you even get your foot under the partition between stalls to a point where you touch the foot of the guy next door. Even Cirque du Soleil contortionists find this move odd.

Rule #4: Check to see if there's toilet paper in the stall before you sit down. If you don't, you risk having to talk to the guy next door and begging him to spare a square. This is funny when Elaine Benes does it, but unbelievably awkward in the real world.

Rule #5: Courtesy flush.

Thanks to Senator Craig, we have to add one more rule:

Rule #6: If you're charged with soliciting gay sex by touching tootsies with an undercover cop in an airport men's room -- and you weren't doing it -- don't plead guilty!!! Instead, deny it immediately and fight the charges, rather than risk besmirching your reputation. This is especially true if you've already had to deal with similar allegations in the past. As history proves time and time again, keeping quiet about it and/or trying to cover it up will only make things worse.

Being straight, I'll admit to a lack of knowledge on the whole concept of trying to pick someone up in the bathroom. It's not just that we're all guys in there, it's that we're in a public men's room, an inherently disgusting place. I don't care if the janitor has just come through and cleaned up -- it won't stay that way. In a really busy public bathroom, there's enough effluvia to keep a colony of bacteria happy for a century. And this is where you're looking for some action?

I feel sorry for the undercover cop who was assigned to that duty, if you'll pardon the expression. Sitting in that stall for long periods, just waiting for a guy next door to make his move. At a certain point, any violation of the Rules Of The Men's Room is going to be worthy of an arrest, if only because it means getting out of there.

The only worse job has to be men's room attendant. Something must have gone horribly wrong in your life to get to the point where you choose that as your occupation. Who wants to spend several hours a day in there, hearing those sounds and smelling those smells?

Talk about a profession that long ago passed the point of necessity. I can operate my own faucet, thank you very much. In some men's rooms, the attendant empties out the paper towel dispensers so you can only get them from him. Then he stands there while you wash your hands, hovering and violating Rule #2, waiting for a tip. I much prefer those motion-activated dispensers, which never make you feel guilty for not handing over a buck.

I can't help but shake my head everytime I see a men's room attendant who has laid out that little display of items for sale, from cologne to candy. Mmmm, there's nothing I love more than a Three Musketeers bar I bought in the bathroom. Yuck. How is this guy staying in business?

He could at least post the Rules Of The Men's Room on the wall, just in case any US Senators come in.

Roy Zimmerman "Defenders of Marriage"

It's been awhile since I posted one of Roy Zimmerman's satirical songs. This one is a brilliant swipe at the Defenders of Marriage -- many of whom end up being outed, divorced, or otherwise disgraced in numbers in direct proportion to the volume of the bile they spew. With a special tip of the hat to Senator Larry Craig...

Zimmerman has more songs here.

Too Fat For Fatherhood -- Update

Four weeks ago on my KMOX show, I talked with Gary Stocklaufer, who was not allowed to adopt Baby Max because Gary weighed over 500 pounds -- despite the fact that Max is Gary's cousin.

The baby's mother couldn't take care of Max, so Gary and his wife Cindy (who are already foster parents for Bobby, who is now 8 years old) took him in and filed the paperwork to legally adopt the infant. That's when a judge took Max away from them.

Today, Gary was back for an update. He has lost 83 pounds, and last Friday underwent gastric bypass surgery that will help him lose another 100 pounds by the end of September, and a total of 225-250 pounds in the next year. So, if his weight is the only obstacle the state agencies cite as the reason to deny Gary's adoption of Max, they will no longer have that excuse.

But Gary and his wife Cindy still can't catch a break -- the judge won't grant him a new hearing and Baby Max's guardian ad litem has filed motions blocking his adoptive efforts. All of this is not only draining pounds from Gary's body, but bucks from his bank account, too.

Listen.


Here's Gary's MySpace page.

Happy Regis-versary

Regis Philbin will begin the 20th year of his nationally syndicated morning TV show next week (even though they're promoting it as the "20th anniversary," it went on the air 9/5/88). To celebrate, the show producers have posted video of the "host chat" segment from that first morning with Regis and Kathie Lee.

By this point, Regis had been doing the local New York version of this show for five years, including three and a half with Kathie Lee, and Regis had been successful essentially the same show elsewhere (e.g. "AM Los Angeles").

Few television personalities have been able to make as personal a connection with viewers as Regis. "Host chat" has always been the core of his success. His ability to spend 15 minutes every morning talking spontaneously, without any writers, about what he did the night before, the frustrations of his daily life, etc., made him unique in the TV business.

With "host chat," and Regis' natural broadcasting skills in place, taking the show national was more a matter of technical matters and marketing than putting on a whole new product from scratch.

As you'll see, the Regis act hasn't changed much through the years, although somewhere along the way, he adapted several aspects of Dana Carvey's impression of him (e.g. shouting for emphasis, referring to himself in the third person). The video segment also includes an idiotic visit from an astrologer -- Regis always fell for that crap -- who, to my knowledge, never gained any fame anywhere besides his appearances on this show.

Bob Reno on College Hazing

On my KMOX show this afternoon, I talked with BadJocks.com publisher Bob Reno about the ongoing problem of hazing among college athletes -- with photos of their activities showing up on social networking sites like Facebook and WebShots -- and the schools that aren't doing enough to stop it.

Listen.

Bob, who has been a regular guest on my show for years, says he got a lot of hate mail after a segment he did about this on SportsCenter last night...

Aaron Barnhart on TV

Today on KMOX, I talked with TV critic Aaron Barnhart about the summer cable series coming to an end and a look ahead to the fall TV series he thinks will be best. We also discussed whether NBC putting Keith Olbermann's "Countdown" show on before Sunday Night Football was a good idea or the same kind of failure Fox found when they put Bill O'Reilly on the big network.

Listen.

You'll find Aaron in print in the Kansas City Star and online at his TV Barn website. He's on my KMOX show every Monday at 4:15pm CT.

Putting South Carolina On The Map

In this weekend's Miss Teen USA pageant, Miss South Carolina was positively brilliant in the question-and-answer round...

Dan Mathews, PETA Activist

Today on KMOX, I talked with PETA activist Dan Mathews about the Michael Vick case, the guilty plea the judge accepted today, and what kind of punishment PETA feels would be appropriate.

Mathews and I are polar opposites -- he's a vegan, I'm a carnivore -- but I don't understand how anyone showed up outside the courthouse today to support Vick. On the other hand, I disagree with PETA's efforts to get the NFL to put a clause in its player contract banning cruelty to animals "in all its forms." Pretty hard for a sport played with a ball called the pigskin, which is made of leather. Would it mean players couldn't wear leather, or have leather seats in their Escalades, or have burgers served at the concession stand at The Dome?

We also talked about whether PETA's extremist attitude and actions (many of which Mathews led) help or hurt the animal rights cause, and about the full page ad taken out by the Center For Consumer Freedom which claims that PETA has killed over 14,000 dogs.

Listen.


Mathews' book is "Committed: A Rabble-Rouser's Memoir."

Diet Water

This is not a joke, it's wasn't a photoshop project. It's a real product on sale in Japan (since 2004!), for those who find regular water too filling...

[thanks to Bruce Helenbart for the contribution]

KMOX Night At The Skyview

We had over 2,000 people show up to be a part of KMOX Night At The Skyview Drive-In last night, and a good time was had by all.

Since I hadn't been to a drive-in movie in a couple of decades (I think the last time was when I hosted a premiere of "Urban Cowboy" circa 1980), this was a great throwback night for me. With only 400 drive-in theaters left in the country, opportunities like this are getting scarce.

For an admission price of $11.20 per carload, we had families and couples stuffed into every size vehicle you can imagine. Many of them have been drive-in regulars, so they knew the routine, which now includes bringing lawn chairs and watching the movie while outside your vehicle. With the audio being broadcast on the Skyview's low-power FM transmitters, people either cranked up the radios in the back of their SUVs, or brought portable radios (as we did). It was very odd to be able to get up and walk around the parking lot without missing a word of dialogue.


There's something very American about sitting outside on a summer evening, watching a movie under a full moon and just a few clouds, while surrounded by hundreds of cars and people of all ages and races. Oh sure, there are some distractions, like a couple of nearby train whistles, or the kid who tried to jump high enough in front of the projector to create a shadow on the screen, and it's been years since we've been to a movie where people nearby were smoking. But if you can't put up with those small distractions, you probably should have gone to a regular movie theater in the first place.

Of course, then you wouldn't have seen a hundred kids all playing in the playground together for 90 minutes before the movies started, and the patience of the crowd as they waited to get through the front gates or into the snack bar building, or the family that goes to the Skyview so often that they have bolted down reclining chaise lounges into the bed of their pickup truck so they're comfortable while enjoying the show.

It was also a little weird to see two movies in a row -- what's the last time you sat through a double feature? I was pleasantly surprised to see that very few cars headed for the exits during intermission (the ones that did were probably families with younger kids who were worn out by that point, with the second movies starting at 10:30pm).


During that intermission, as we gave away movie paraphernalia to the assembled masses, my KMOX colleague Carol Daniel and I also interviewed Skyview co-owner Steve Bloomer, who regaled the crowd with the history of the drive-in, from the day his family opened it in 1949, through the tornado that took down the screen in 1955, to another windstorm that knocked down the screen in 1981, through the day they decided to get rid of the speakers on the poles, and right up to the current status of the place. Steve reiterated that yes, the Skyview is for sale, but there's no deal yet, so they'll keep running movies into mid-October, and then probably open again for a new season next April.

My thanks to Steve and his sister Janie and their entire staff for making this an evening to remember. If the drive-in is still around next year, I hope we can do another KMOX Night At The Skyview -- and hope you can join us, too.

We have more photos from last night posted at KMOX.com.

Jeff Cesario returns

Today on my KMOX show, I joked with comedian Jeff Cesario about Nicole Richie's hellish 82-minute stint in jail, the single day behind bars Linday Lohan has been sentenced to, and what Michael Vick's punishment should be. We also discussed subjects as varied as the Arena Football championship game you missed this weekend and how shaky the Iraq government is.

Listen.


I always kid Jeff about how well his DVD ("You Can Get A Hooker Tomorrow Night") is selling, but it's actually a very funny hour of his standup. You can order it from Amazon, or through Jeff's website.

There's more of Jeff's material at his sports parody site Sportalicious.com, too.

Baby On Board

This afternoon on my KMOX show, we're talking about the 7-month-old girl who died after being left in a car for three hours in the extreme St. Louis heat yesterday. Several callers and e-mailers think at least one of the parents should go to jail. Comments are flowing in below.

KMOX Night At The Skyview

This Saturday is KMOX Night at the Skyview Drive-In!

A couple of weeks ago, I talked to owner Steve Bloomer on my KMOX show. He mentioned that, after having it on the market for several years, he now has a couple of parties interested in buying the Skyview -- the last drive-in theater in the St. Louis area -- but new owners are likely to shut it down and turn it into condos or commercial buildings.

We decided that, before it goes away, we'd invite KMOX listeners to join us for an evening at the Skyview. If you haven't been for years, or have never been to a drive-in movie, or still go on a regular basis, we hope you'll join us this Saturday (8/25).

I'll host KMOX Night at the Skyview with my colleague Carol Daniel. Admission, usually $8.50/adult, will be just $11.20 per carload -- for a double feature! -- so load up the family and friends and meet us there Saturday night. The movies:

On Screen 1: "Underdog" and "Stardust"
On Screen 2: "Rush Hour 3" and "Hairspray"

The movies will start at 8:15pm, but the gates will open at 6:30pm so you can get pick a spot, get settled, take the kids to the Skyview's playground, and grab something at the snack bar.

You don't have to watch the movies from your car, by the way. You can also bring your lawn chairs, but bring an FM radio so you can hear the movie audio (there are no speakers on poles anymore!) on the Skyview's in-house sytem.

For directions to the Skyview Drive-In in Belleville, Illinois, see the website.

Richard Wiseman's Corkology

Here's the newest illusion from Professor Richard Wiseman, "Corkology." See if you can figure out how it's done...

Wanna know how he did it? Here's the reveal. Don't forget Wiseman's book, "Quirkology: How We Discover The Big Truth In Small Things."

Hot Schools

Again today, St. Louis public schools sent kids home early because it was too hot (the heat index was over 100 before noon), and announced that schools won't even open tomorrow. That's three days this week that no one has been able to teach or learn anything other than how to sweat -- in the first week of school -- because 30% of city schools have no air conditioning.

Even the suburban school districts (like the one my daughter attends, where classes started on August 13th!!) are suffering from the heat and humidity. Kids are getting nauseous and dizzy on busses. Elementary schools aren't letting them go outside for recess. Sports teams and marching bands are calling off practices. Teachers are uncomfortable.

All of this is more evidence in favor of my argument that schools shouldn't start until after Labor Day. Revert to the Jerry Lewis Rule -- when you see him on the telethon, school starts in two days. Take these two weeks at the end of August and move them to the first two weeks of June, when average temperatures are 8-10 degrees cooler. You still get in the same number of days, but avoid the heat problems in August, not to mention the increased energy costs of trying to cool the school.

Of course, the administrators are nice and cool in their air-conditioned offices. Today on my KMOX show, I asked Deanna Anderson, assistant superintendent of St. Louis Public Schools, whether the district was considering moving the calendar schedule, and was surprised at how vehement she was that nothing needs to be changed. None of her arguments hold up logically -- listen for yourself.

Comments?

Tabloid Prodigy

Today on my KMOX show, I talked with Marlise Kast about her years as one of the top tabloid reporters for The Globe and other supermarket tabloids.

She told great stories about crashing William Shatner's wedding and partying with Bobby Brown, plus details on how money gets sources to talk about celebrities (from friends and family to bouncers and hairdressers) and how she became addicted to "dishing the dirt, getting the gossip, and selling her soul."

Listen.


Get more of Marlise's stories in her book, "Tabloid Prodigy."

Draw!

Here's a topic we'll talk about on my KMOX show this afternoon. A 13-year-old boy was suspended from school because he drew a gun -- on his assignment paper. The school took it as a threat and, under zero tolerance, suspended him for five days. His parents talked the administrators into making it only a 3-day suspension, but should he have been punished at all?

You can see the image above -- add your comments below.

Richard Wiseman's Missing Piece

After all the positive response to yesterday's video from Professor Richard Wiseman, here's another one, "Missing Piece"...

Richard's book "Quirkology: How We Discover The Big Truth In Small Things" will be published September 3rd, but you can order yours now.

Richard Wiseman's Prediction

Earlier this year, I talked with Professor Richard Wiseman on my KMOX show about some of the psychology experiments he has conducted, and I posted his Color Changing Card Trick. It quickly became one of the most-viewed pages on this site.

Richard has continued to produce his Curious Psychology videos, and here's the third in the series, "The Prediction"...

Richard's book "Quirkology: How We Discover The Big Truth In Small Things" will be published September 3rd, but you can order yours now.

Behave Yourself

If you heard that the US government has assigned Behavior Detection Officers to monitor how you look and act in public, would you think it was something from a science fiction novel, perhaps a bit Orwellian? It's not. They're real, and they're already in airports, with more on the way (as many as 500 by the end of next year).

As a poker player, I know there are some assumptions you can make about people based on their actions and expressions, their "tells." But, as Patti Davis writes, if these "specially trained security personnel" are looking for potential terrorists based on fear, disgust, and other negatives feelings in the faces of air travelers, they won't have to look very far:

Let’s see, fear and disgust in an airport? I’m frightened and disgusted weeks before I have to show up at an airport. In fact, I’ve pretty much sworn off the whole idea of going anywhere by airplane. It’s bad enough that I might be trapped in a crowded plane with no food or water and nonworking toilets for hours; now there are security agents interpreting our facial expressions.

But what about the woman who is getting on a plane to see a dying relative? Or the man who is traveling to another state to see a cancer specialist in a last bid for extending his life? What about the guy who just had a fight with his spouse and now worries that a plane crash would mean their last words were in anger? We’ve all had the experience of having a bad day, being in a rotten mood—especially at the airport, which has become a modern-day chamber or horrors. On those days, doesn’t it seem like everyone we meet looks sour and unpleasant?

Her whole column is here [thanks to Patrick McGraw for the link]

Memo 46 Debunked

Casey Lartigue and Eliot Morgan were hosts on an XM channel aimed at black listeners. A couple of months ago, they did a show in which they debunked urban legends in the black community, including the controversial Memorandum 46. That's a supposedly official memo written in 1978 by Zbigniew Brzezinski, national security adviser for President Jimmy Carter, which outlined an alleged government strategy to undermine black leadership in the US.

When Lartigue and Morgan produced for their audience sufficient evidence that Memo 46 was fake, they were fired. Today on my KMOX show, they explained why, what the truth is behind Memo 46, and the reaction they've had to that show. It's a classic case of "you can't handle the truth" combined with people who willfully perpetuate a lie, to their everlasting shame.

Listen.

Casey writes more about this on his blog.

If you're interested, here's one copy of Memorandum 46 that's been posted in the blogosphere. Note that Brzezinski's name is spelled incorrectly -- unlikely on an official memo he supposedly authored.

Guns For Sneakers

Several listeners thought I was joking yesterday afternoon when I did a Knuckleheads In The News^® story about the gun exchange this weekend in Orlando, where people brought in pistols, rifles, zip guns, shotguns -- and a surface-to-air missile launcher. Well, here's proof, as seen in the Orlando Sentinel...

Since the policy was "no questions asked," the guy didn't have to explain where it came from, but he did tell the paper that he'd tried to get rid of the weapon at the dump, which wouldn't take it.

What did he get from the cops in exchange? A pair of size-three sneakers for his daughter.

Aaron Barnhart on TV

Today on my KMOX show, Aaron Barnhart and I talked about the remarkable success of the Disney Channel's "High School Musical 2" on Friday night, when it became the most-watched Friday night show on all of TV since 2002.

We also discussed Fox's new lie-detector reality show "Nothing But The Truth" (which serves as more proof that Americans will do literally anything to get on TV) and "The Daily Show" sending Rob Riggle to Iraq where he embedded with some troops for a series of reports beginning tonight.

Listen.


You'll find Aaron in print in the Kansas City Star and online at his TV Barn website. He's on my KMOX show every Monday at 4:15pm CT.

John Feinstein's Super Bowl Mystery

Sportswriter John Feinstein was back on my KMOX show this afternoon to talk about his new novel, "Cover-Up: Mystery At The Super Bowl," in which his two teen detectives discover a team owner (who bears a striking resemblence to Dan Snyder) covering up the use of human growth hormone by his team.

We also talked about Michael Vick's legal problems, and what his plea bargain means for any possible return to the NFL. And we discussed Tim Donaghy's gambling scandal, which may expand and include other NBA referees.

Listen.

Mindset of Class of 2010

Beloit College has released their annual Mindset List, a general explanation of what 18-year-old college freshmen know, think, and have experienced. Here are 10 of the 75 items on the list:

• They have never had to distinguish between the St. Louis Cardinals baseball and football teams
• The Soviet Union has never existed and therefore is about as scary as the student union
• They have known only 2 Presidents
• A stained blue dress is as famous to their generation as a third-rate burglary was to their parents'
• "Google" has always been a verb
• Madden has always been a game, not a Super Bowl-winning coach
• They have no idea why we needed to ask "...can we all get along?"
• They have rarely mailed anything using a stamp
• Most of them have never had the chance to eat bad airline food
• Television stations have never concluded the broadcast day with the national anthem

The whole Beloit list is here.

Also see my column, "When My Daughter Grows Up, Her Life Won't Include..."

Personal Foul

On further review, the replay does show a KC Chiefs player eating one of the Minnesota Vikings. Since he had consumed approximately 50% of the player, that's a 15 yard personal foul, and we'll replay the down.

More Movies You Might Not Know

I'm adding two documentaries to the Movies You Might Not Know list.

First is "The Kid Stays In The Picture," a cleverly made look at the career of movie mogul Robert Evans, from his start as an actor to his dozen years running Paramount Pictures, where he oversaw the production of "The Godfather," "Chinatown," "The Odd Couple," "Rosemary's Baby," and "Love Story." Evans wrote his autobiography, and the audio-book version was so popular in Hollywood that it was turned into this documentary. It's much more than another episode of "Biography" -- it's an insider's story told in riveting first-person fashion. The stories about Mia Farrow and Ali McGraw alone are worth it.

Second is "The War Room," the behind-the-scenes look at Bill Clinton's 1992 presidential campaign, as run by James Carville, George Stephanopoulos, Paul Begala, Dee Dee Myers, and others. They were the ones who led the Clintons through the minefield of the electoral process, and became household names in the process. It's one of the be