Sacramento Lawmakers Miss Budget Deadline; Silly Rabbit, Trix Aren't for Kids!; The LA Film Festival; FilmWeek Reviews
Sacramento Lawmakers Miss Budget Deadline
For the 21st consecutive year, California lawmakers are expected to miss Friday's constitutional deadline to approve a new state budget. Larry Mantle talks with Dan Weintraub of the Sacramento Bee, as well as Assembly Budget Committee Chair John Laird and Vice Chair Roger Niello, about the sticking points remaining between Democrats and Republicans.
Silly Rabbit, Trix Aren't for Kids!
Tony the Tiger, Toucan Sam, and Count Chocula are all familiar cartoon characters regularly used to sell cereal to kids. These cereals and other foods marketed to children are full of sugar and other ingredients parents want their kids to avoid. In response to a threatened lawsuit from the Center for Science in the Public Interest and the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, Kellogg has announced that it will pull children-oriented advertising for some cereals and reformulate others. Kraft, General Mills, Disney and McDonalds have also developed new guidelines and restrictions on food advertising aimed at children. Larry discusses the issue with Susan Linn of the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, and Lenn Marquart, professor of food science at the University of Minnesota.
The LA Film Festival
Westwood Village will host this year's Los Angeles Film Festival from Thursday, June 21 through Sunday July 1. The festival will screen more than 230 feature films, shorts and music videos, picked from over 4,500 submissions from filmmakers worldwide. The festival will host many independent and foreign films, and also boasts the LA Premier of DreamWorks and Paramount Pictures summer release of Transformers. Clint Eastwood will receive a "Spirit of Independence Award" and Curtis Hanson has selected a list of films that inspired his work. Larry talks with Richard Raddon, the Festival Director, and Rachel Rosen, Director of Programming, about the festival.
FilmWeek Reviews
Larry and critics Peter Rainer of The Christian Science Monitor, and Henry Sheehan, of henrysheehan.com discuss this week's new releases, including Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, Nancy Drew, Eagle vs. Shark, The Treatment, Amu, The Boss of it All, and Casting About.