Trading concerns over the stock market's wild ride. Economy shows largest job growth in four years. Kitty Kelley's take on the life of Oprah Winfrey. And it's FilmWeek on AirTalk. Larry and the critics review new movies including Iron Man 2, Mother and Child, Babies, and The Human Centipede. Later, a history of DreamWorks studios and the men who would be king.
Flash crash: fat finger or Greek debt fear?
In a wild day of trading yesterday, the Dow Jones industrial average plunged nearly 1,000 points before rebounding, but finished down about 350 points. Analysts blame computerized selling and a trading glitch for triggering the market's sudden drop, in addition to concerns over financial conditions in Europe and the Greek debt crisis. What does this mean for the future stability of the market?
Guest:
Chris Farrell, Economics Editor, Marketplace Money
U.S. economy added 290,000 jobs, but unemployment rose to 9.9%--huh?
The new report on jobs from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics released today shows a pickup in employment last month. Why, then, did the jobless rate rise? Analysts believe many out-of-work Americans who had given up on finding work resumed their searches in April. And 290,000 job seekers were hired. Are you unemployed? Have you recently returned to work? Does April feel any more optimistic? Though the California report has not been released yet, does your experience here reflect the national mood?
Guest:
Lakshman Achuthan, Managing Director of the Economic Cycle Research Institute
The one and only Oprah
Is she a lesbian? Who’s her daddy? Millions of people are on a first name basis with media mogul Oprah Winfrey, making her closely guarded personal life a subject of massive intrigue. In her newest unauthorized biography, Kitty Kelley poses the headline grabbing questions. Yet, Winfrey’s employees are barred from speaking with reporters about their boss. Without a behind the scenes look at The Oprah Winfrey Show and lacking concrete evidence on the most scandalous details of her personal life—do we know Oprah any better? Kitty Kelley is here discussing her controversial portrait of the Queen of Talk.
Guest:
Kitty Kelley, author of Oprah: A Biography (Crown)
FilmWeek
Larry talks with KPCC film critics Jean Oppenheimer and Henry Sheehan of henrysheehan.com about the week’s new movie releases including Iron Man 2, Mother And Child, Babies, The Human Centipede, Casino Jack And The United States of Money, Behind The Burly Q, OSS 117: Lost In Rio, Mercy, and The Lightkeepers. TGI-FilmWeek! Live tweeting this week's reviews:
Guests:
Jean Oppenheimer, FilmWeek critic Henry Sheehan, FilmWeek critic
Moguls, movies and a company called DreamWorks
When DreamWorks was founded in 1994, it was the first new Hollywood studio in 60 years. Headed by director Steven Spielberg, music mogul Jeffrey Katzenberg, and ex-Disney executive David Geffen, the company set out to build a media empire dedicated to talent and where employees didn't have titles. DreamWorks had its share of successes – American Beauty, Gladiator, Shrek. But it also had numerous, costly failures, and by 2005 the studio was sold to Paramount. In The Men Who Would Be King, reporter Nicole LaPorte tells the story of the company's flare-ups and failed ambitions.
Guest:
Nicole LaPorte, author of The Men Who Would be King: An Almost Epic Tale of Moguls, Movies and a Company Called DreamWorks (Houghton Mifflin). She is the West Coast reporter for the Daily Beast and a former film reporter for Variety