The U.S. Senate returns from recess to consider proposals for gun control; Julia Sweeney's discusses her new memoir "If It's Not One Thing It's Your Mother"; Announcing the winner of the Public Radio Bracket Madness; Why is Hollywood leaving sex scenes on the cutting room floor?; Filmmaker Eugene Jarecki addresses drug law reform in Sacramento, and much more.
Senate to begin review of comprehensive gun control package
It's a pivotal week for the gun control issue. Today senators return from a two-week spring recess and many of them are hopeful that a compromise on gun legislation is possible.
The Senate will begin consideration of a gun control package that proposes a crack down on gun trafficking and institutes background checks on all gun purchases. A ban on assault weapons is not part of the proposed plan.
At the same time, President Obama is in Connecticut, just miles from the Sandy Hook tragedy, where he will speak at the University of Hartford.
For more on this we're joined now by Politico reporter Reid Epstein.
How the city of Modesto seizes guns from owners who have lost the right
California has joined the national debate over whether to place more limits on gun ownership. State lawmakers are considering several bills that would add to what are already some of the toughest gun control laws in the nation.
In Modesto there's a unique program that sends Department of Justice agents out to seize firearms from people who have lost their rights to own a gun. For The California Report, Elaine Korry has the story.
Julia Sweeney's new memoir chronicles her path from 'SNL' star to suburban mom
Actress Julia Sweeney made a name for herself in the 1990s as a cast member of Saturday Night Live with the infamous androgynous character It's Pat.
In the years since, she's continued to impress audiences with TED talks, appearances on This American Life and powerful one-woman shows about her loss of faith in God and her brother's battle with cancer.
But she's been pretty busy off-stage, too: She adopted a daughter from China, got married to a guy she was set up with by a fan, and left Los Angeles for suburban Illinois. Julia Sweeney has written about these personal experiences and many more in her new book "If It's Not One Thing It's Your Mother."
Interview Highlights:
On how a needle point stich pillow inspired the title of her memoir:
"When my mother first gave it to me, I had just left 'Saturday Night Live,' and I guess it reminded me of Gilda Radner's character, 'It's always something — if it's not one thing it's another' ... I just didn't like it, I thought it was just very 'punny' in a way that I didn't like, and so I kind of put the pillow away. As soon as I became a mother myself I instantly realized that it was in fact hysterical! So I put it on my daughter's bed and when people would go around the house they would see it and laugh, and then when my daughter was about seven she came in to the kitchen with the pillow and said, 'This is not funny at all, I don't want it in my room! Take it away!' I just thought that was a good story to start the book off with, the evolution of a sense of humor."
On trying to introduce her daughter to Santa Claus:
"I was confronted with this idea while looking at this innocent face, that looks at me for truth, and lying [to her] about Santa Claus. I couldn't do it. So I didn't say anything about Santa Claus and then when she had just turned four, I reversed course and thought 'I'm a terrible mother! This is a wonderful thing!' Then I did tell her about Santa Claus, but she was too old, so I just ended up scaring the hell out of her.
"I said there's a guy, he's been watching you, he knows if you're good or bad — Then she looked at me terrified — and based off his knowledge of your behavior, which by the way I think has been very good, he'll bring you gifts, he'll sneak in our house while we're sleeping and he's going to leave presents based on your behavior! Then she was completely freaked out, wouldn't sleep in her own room, and when I came into our bedroom in the morning where she was sleeping I said, 'I think he's been here!' She sat up in bed and started screaming, and it was completely a whole bungled experience."
On what she'll write about in the future:
"I have to say that being single is a goldmine for comedians, because you have constant stories happening. Being in a happy marriage is a not a good thing for a comedian, but there are plenty of other things to happen. The next book I write I want to write more in depth about religion. I've done this project where I go to a different church every Sunday, that has a lot of funny stuff involved in it and I guess I'm turning my attention to those kinds of things outside the family unit, but still observational stuff about the world."
She'll be appearing at Book Soup in West Hollywood on Monday, April 8 at 7 p.m.
EXCERPT: Chp. 1 — If It's Not One Thing, It's Your Mother by Julia Sweeney
Announcing the winner of Public Radio Bracket Madness
Tonight, two teams will play in the NCAA's title game, that's all well and good if you like basketball.
But if you're a public radio fan, there's another competition you've been watching closely: the public radio bracket. Well, today, we're announcing the winner, and joining us for the big moment is the man behind this bracket brilliance, KPCC's web producer Mike Roe.
Hollywood Monday: Walt Disney layoffs, Jurassic Park 3D and more
L.A. Times entertainment reporter Rebecca Keegan joins us for her regular Monday update of the latest from Hollywood.
First, fear and loathing at what's supposed to be the happiest place on earth. The Walt Disney Company is expected to announce layoffs in the coming weeks as part of a reorganization.
Then, the 3-D re-release of the 1993 hit Jurassic Park sold $18 million in tickets in its re-opening weekend, beating the 3-D version of The Titanic.
Why is there a lack of sex scenes steaming up the big screen?
Where has the love gone? More to the point, why are steamy, hot sex scenes just not showing up in movies anymore? With studios targeting a wider audience age range, violence, explosions and animation are now box office gold.
"The really big shift occurred when opening weekend became such an imperative, and movies become written to try to get a large audience," said Vincent Bruzzese, CEO of the Worldwide Motion Picture Group, a research firm serving the film industry. "Now it's just a matter of writing things into the script that audiences are going to respond to on a marketing level, and that's what's changing in society."
The Internet has made it possible for people to access these scenes almost whenever they want, and there are entire websites dedicated to posting feature film sex scenes. With the growing popularity of adult-themed cable TV shows, like "Game of Thrones," scenes depicting sex just aren't as risqué or enticing as they used to be.
Sex, apparently, doesn't sell as well as it once did in Hollywood. Instead, big budget action movies and state-of-the-art technical effects are what studios are pushing at the box office. Also what's more important is reaching a wider audience, including those under the age of 18.
"When you have a large action/special effects movie, and you make it PG-13, you're really getting an audience of 8 to 99," said Bruzzese. "When you make it R with a sex scene it's not just the younger audience that objects, sometimes it's the older audience that won't bring their kids."
In addition to the financial incentive, the lack of sex scenes in recent films can also be pinpointed to industry trends. Think back to the 1990s when films like "Basic Instinct," "Indecent Proposal," and others were big-time draws.
"There was a period of time where there was a trend of these sort of adult, erotic thrillers," said Bruzzese. "That really has shifted a lot to the small screen, and it's going to be really interesting to see what happens with 'Fifty Shades of Grey' when it comes out."
"Fifty Shades of Grey" will likely be full of graphic sex scenes, but studios can band behind such a film because of its proven audience tied to the popular book series. Bruzzese says the market for films that allow a "hard R" are not going away.
"For something like 'Fifty Shades of Grey,' that's something where you really don't want to tone that down," said Bruzzese. "You want to give people what they loved in the books."
On the business side, many A-list stars simply won't do sex scenes in films, or will demand a much higher price if such a scene is written into a script. As Brusseze explains, this is for good reason:
"Particularly now stars are sensitive to the fact that any sex scene that they do, they've got to be prepared for the fact that it'll wind up on YouTube very quickly," he said. "No longer is it you just have to wait for the VHS tape and then wear it out with pause rewind."
Patt Morrison on Margaret Thatcher's legacy in California
Margaret Thatcher died this morning at the age of following a stroke. Known as the "Iron Lady" Thatcher was a conservative politician who served as England's Prime Minister for 11 years starting in 1979.
Her term ran in tandem with that of President Reagan's during the final decade of the Cold War. He called Thatcher his "special friend" and political "soul mate."
RELATED: Read Patt Morrison's Margaret Thatcher obituary in the L.A. Times
KPCC's Patt Morrison covered her visits to California and her visits with Reagan.
Powerball madness comes to California
Today, California becomes the 43rd state to join Powerball, the game with six of the 10 biggest U.S. jackpots ever. This morning, wanna-be millionaires started lining up outside store to buy tickets.
With more on what California's participation means for the state — and for the game — is Rich McGowan, who writes extensively about state lotteries as an economics professor at Boston College.
South Los Angeles candidates work to mobilize voters
There's been a lot of civic angst about the low voter turnout in LA's March 5th primary. It was just 20 percent, even lower in some parts of the city. KPCC's Alice Walton looks at what council candidates in South LA are doing to get more voters to the polls for the May 21st runoff.
Filmmaker Eugene Jarecki urges CA legislature to reform drug laws
Filmmaker Eugene Jarecki will be addressing the California state legislature today about reforming the state's drug laws.
He'll also be screening his award-winning documentary, "The House I Live In," which turns a critical eye on America's decades-long war on drugs.
RELATED: 'The House I Live In' doc turns critical lens on decades-long war on drugs
UCLA scientists testing possible 'cure' for meth addiction
Researchers at UCLA may have stumbled onto a ground-breaking treatment for methamphetamine addiction. Recently the FDA fast-tracked human testing for a drug that could be the first non-opiate drug treatment for heroin and opiate addiction.
We’ll speak with Dr. Aimee Swanson, research director at the UCLA Center for Behavioral and Addiction Medicine.
US cell carriers eye no-contracts model in wake of T-Mobile's move
T-Mobile made headlines recently when they announced a radical shift its mobile plans: No more contracts ... I repeat, no more contracts
The carrier, currently fourth behind the likes of AT&T, Sprint and Verizon, will allow customers to use a phone they already own. If they want a new model, they'll free to buy the phone outright or pay it off in installments. The idea might be catching on with other providers
David Lazarus is a business columnist for the Los Angeles Times.
California extends hands-free driving law to include GPS apps
You might finally get to own your cell phone, but there are still plenty of rules about how you can use it. For people in California, those rules just got more strict.
A California court has extended the ban on using cell phones while driving. It's not just texting and talking that are off limits, now you're barred from using your GPS apps, too. Specifically, the ruling says you cannot have your hands on a cell phone while driving:
“The distraction would be present whether the wireless telephone was being used as a telephone, a GPS navigator a clock or a device for sending and receiving text messages and emails.”
"I think the state of California would really just like us all to put our cell phones down while driving," said Zac Estrada, writer for the auto website Jalopnik. "The cell phone ban was in 2008 and the texting ban was in 2010. Since then there are so many more things you can do with a smart phone, so the law I don't think was refined enough to stipulate, you can't send an email, you can't check the stocks, you can't check the weather, and you can't check for directions."
Estrada points out that many newer cars come with GPS mapping devices, but that these, too can pose a distracted driving threat.
"The problem is some of these systems are just incredibly frustrating to use. You can be driving and trying to tell the car where you want to go, and while you're having an argument with the voice commands you could run a stop sign, you could run into a car," said Estrada. "I don't think that some of these systems that are intended to keep both hands on the wheel are actually that much safer to use when driving than a smartphone app."
Estrada recommends punching in the directions to your phone before getting on the road. If you need to get directions while en route somewhere, pull over to take care of the directions, then exercise caution if you need to glance at them while driving.