Billboards in Koreatown; Mental Illness in Vets from Iraq and Afghanistan; Primate Brains; The Film Industry's Response to the Iraq War; FilmWeek Reviews
Billboards in Koreatown
Larry Mantle talks with LA City Councilman Jack Weiss and with AirTalk listeners about the pros and cons of allowing billboards to be erected in Koreatown.
Mental Illness in Vets from Iraq and Afghanistan
In the first analysis of its kind, a new RAND study has found that nearly 300,000 service men and women who have returned from Iraq and Afghanistan report symptoms of PTSD or major depression. And although 20 percent of military service members are suffering from these illnesses only slight more than half have sought treatment. Larry talks with the study's co-author, Terri Tanielian, and with Colonel Loree Sutton, Director of the Pentagon's PTSD Center.
Primate Brains
What are the connections between different primate species and human behavior, and do certain human behaviors mirror traits of specific primate species? Cal State Fullerton is hosting "Which is Our Inner Ape? -Bonobos, Chimpanzees and Gorillas Revisited," a conference sponsored by the Southern California Primate Research Forum. Larry Mantle talks with primatologists Brian Hare of Duke University and Alexander Harcourt of UC Davis about the forum.
The Film Industry's Response to the Iraq War
In his recent article for The Atlantic, Ross Douthat examines how the Iraq War and President Bush have sent the movie industry back to the paranoid, cynical era of the 1970s. Larry talks with Douthat about his theory that the industry is again trying to connect with Americans who are trying to cope with a military quagmire, rising oil prices, ecological destruction, and political corruption.
FilmWeek Reviews
Larry and critics Lael Loewenstein of Variety and Andy Klein of CityBeat review some of the week's new feature films including "88 Minutes," "Forgetting Sarah Marshall," "The Forbidden Kingdom," and "The Life Before Her Eyes," as well as the documentaries "Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed," "The First Saturday in May," and "Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden?" Then animation critic and historian Charles Solomon joins Larry to talk about the life and career of Ollie Johnston. The animator, who was the last of Disney's "Nine Old Men," passed away this week at the age of 84.