Today on the show we talk about Twitter's IPO and whether it can evolve to rival Facebook's success. Then, a new report finds that as San Francisco home prices surge, so do evictions. Hollywood's Cinerama Dome turns 50, a recent mountain lion death reignites call for a wildlife corridor in Liberty Canyon, plus much more.
With IPO, can Twitter evolve to rival Facebook's success?
Twitter's initial public offering went live today on the New York Stock Exchange.
Before trading began it was valued at $26 a share, but it quickly shot up to $45 a share as soon as trading started. Here to talk about the IPO is Kevin Roose from New York Magazine.
Report finds that as San Francisco home prices surge, so do evictions
There's a good chance that inside Twitter's San Francisco headquarters, employees were raising a glass this morning to celebrate the IPO. Meanwhile, outside their offices, demonstrators have been protesting what they call a severe crisis of affordability.
A new report out this week shows home prices are skyrocketing, as are evictions. For more on this, we're joined by Marisa Lagos of the San Francisco Chronicle.
Mexican Coke as we know it isn't going away...yet
If you are a fan and consumer of Mexican Coca Cola, that uber-sweet bottled version of Coke made with cane sugar, we've got two words for you: don't panic.
There were a lot of reports earlier this week that the recipe would change, and that corn syrup would replace the cane sugar. Basically making it much like the coke sold here in the U.S.
LA Times business writer Ricardo Lopez writer says chill out, it doesn't look like that will happen.
Mountain lion death reignites call for wildlife tunnel in Liberty Canyon
Wildlife preservationists are alarmed by news that a young, male mountain lion was killed while trying to cross the 101 freeway near Agora Hills.
The busy freeway creates a barrier between two large areas of open space, and scientists say it's limiting the big cats' genetic pool.
For more on this we reached out to Seth Riley, a wildlife biologist who heads up a team studying mountain lions in the Santa Monica Mountains.
Ask Emily On Take Two: The lesser-known cost-sharing subsidies
It's time now for our regular health care explainer, which we call Ask Emily with Emily Bazar, senior writer with the California Health Care Foundation Center for Health Reporting.
A while back we talked about tax credits and how they factor into buying health insurance. Today, we'll explain cost-sharing subsidies. These are the lesser-known form of financial aid in Obamacare.
Not a lot of people talk about these subsidies and not a lot of people know about them.
People who make between 138 percent and 400 percent of the federal poverty level can be eligible for these tax credits, which reduce your monthly premiums. However, these cost-sharing subsidies are another form of financial assistance and they're not going to go toward your premiums, they're going to reduce your out of pocket expenses. These are the kinds of things that you pay at the time that you get medical services, such as copays.
Not everybody who gets tax credits is eligible for cost-sharing subsidies. The people who are eligible are the ones who make between 139 percent of the federal poverty level and 250 percent of the federal poverty level. In real terms, 250 percent equals about $29,000 for an individual, or about $59,000 for a family of four.
Arizona school leaders try to do more with less
According to a recent study from the Southern Education Foundation, poor students now make up a majority of kids in public schools in the West.
But as the rate of poverty in schools has gone up, the amount of state funding for students hasn't kept pace. In the last part of a Fronteras Desk series on poverty, reporter Laurel Morales looks at how Flagstaff school leaders try to fill that gap.
What does it take to map an earthquake fault?
The so-called Hollywood Fault has been in the news a lot recently.
t's at the center of a fight between a developer and local residents, who claim a pair of planned skyscrapers would sit directly atop the fault. It also figures into concerns over the potential risk of unreinforced concrete buildings in Hollywood.
Scientists have known about the fault for years, but it's never been officially mapped by the state.
As KPCC's Science Reporter Sanden Totten explains, such a map could shake up development plans in the area.
Celebrating 50 years of film at Hollywood's Cinerama Dome
Fifty years ago today, a unique movie theater opened at 6360 Sunset Boulevard.
The Cinerama Dome featured a radically new design, a geodesic dome a la architect R. Buckminster Fuller, which the owners believed would completely revolutionize the way audiences saw movies. They also hoped this new design would entice the public to step away from their newfangled televisions and head back to the theaters.
"Cinerama is another one of those attempts to get people to come back to a theatre and see it in a special setting, with seating arranged for you and dressing up and having an intermission and having an whole evening of it," said L.A. Magazine's Chris Nichols.
The Dome was designed by legendary L.A. architect Welton Becket, who is responsible for iconic structures like the Capitol Records building, the Pan Pacific Auditorium, Santa Monica Civic, Parker Center Police Headquarters and others.
Becket licensed the technology to build the dome from R. Buckminster Fuller's firm GeoMetrics. Made up of 316 precast concrete panels, builders assembled the large pieces like a three-dimensional puzzle, taking about 16 weeks to complete.
Films made for the Cinerama experience were filmed with three cameras, offering three different angles. The theater would then house three projectors that projected the images on a deeply curved screen.
"It's a highly technical process and an expensive process and filmmakers were frustrated by the limitations of it," said Nichols. "You couldn't zoom, or sometimes they had to block the seams in the film with trees and different sorts of barriers to keep people from noticing that there were three films being projected at the same time."
In fact, Nichols says, it was so complicated that they never played a Cinerama film in the Cinerama Dome until 2002 when they renovated it as part of the ArcLight complex.
The theater was declared an official Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument in 1998 and today is the centerpiece of the popular ArcLight complex. It's eye-catching dome is often decorated to promote the latest blockbuster films.
While the landscape surrounding the Cinerama Dome may change, it will remain a constant reminder of L.A.'s rich film and entertainment history.
State Of Affairs: Marcelo Co, San Bernardino elections and more
It's time for State of Affairs, our look at politics and government throughout California. To help us with that we're joined in studio now by KPCC political reporters Alice Walton and Frank Stoltze.
This week a former Moreno Valley councilman pleaded guilty to a federal bribery charge. Authorities say Marcelo Co accepted a $2.3 million payment from an undercover FBI agent.
Let's turn our attention to San Bernardino for a moment where seven of the city's 10 offices were on the ballot this week. One city councilwoman was recalled, even as voters sent her to a runoff for mayor. What else happened in Tuesday's election?
Speaking of elections, Republican Assemblyman Tim Donnelly announced his campaign for governor this week. Donnelly founded the Minutemen Party in California. He is a favorite of the Tea Party. And he made quite a splash this week with his campaign video.
Last night, hundreds of supporters for Hillary Clinton gathered downtown to raise money for a super PAC that's encouraging the former Secretary of State to run for president. Did people there really feel like they need to somehow convince Clinton to run for president?
Gay erotic fiction genre written by women, for women
You're probably familiar with the short story and movie Brokeback Mountain about two male sheepherders who fall in love.
But what you may not know is that there's a whole genre of romance fiction about male couples ... primarily written and read by heterosexual women.
It's called "male-male," but in that genre falls a range of subcategories.
In slash fiction, for instance, two male characters from well-known works are smashed together for a full-blown romance. Think Captain Kirk and Spock hooking up (which is where "slash" gets its name -- the slash in K/S, a pairing that was one of the first works by authors in the late 70s).
Yaoi fiction, meanwhile, originated in Japan and is comprised of manga and anime stories, often distributed by mainstream companies.
And Jan Suzukawa is a writer of male-male (or m/m) romance novels, and instead she creates completely unique male characters and settings. Her book Kaminishi is about an American college student who time-travels to 1851 and falls in love with a samurai warlord.
And as a longtime fan of m/m and slash fiction, Suzukawa says it interests her because, "it's about the romance."
She likens it to men who find two women together erotic. But Suzukawa adds the caveat, "Men are never asked to explain what they're aroused by what and why. So why should women have to rationalize this particular interest?"
Zach Pincus-Roth wrote about the culture that's developed around this literature for the LA Weekly, where he's the arts and cultures editor.
"There is Barack Obama slash fiction out there," he says. "It's interesting the range of pairings and types of situations you can get."
Suzukawa will also speak more about m/m, slash, and Yaoi this weekend in Burbank at Bent-Con, which brings together LGBTQ comics and entertainment (or, as its website calls itself, "it’s just easier to think of it like a Comic-Con, only Gayer!")
Comment Box: Miami Dolphins, Etiquette, and Sriracha recipes
Time now to dip into the comment box, our opportunity to hear from you about the work we're doing.
First, the ongoing story about the Miami Dolphins lineman Jonathan Martin. He left the team abruptly in the face alleged intimidation and harassment from teammate Richie Incognito.
As part of our coverage we spoke to former NFL wide-receiver Billy Davis about the case and got his take. Though we endeavored to get a sense of locker room culture with a former insider, listener Ela Erwin felt it was a little one-sided.
"Whoever booked your guest on the segment should be embarrassed. He spent his time on the show defending hazing and bullying of all kinds, and blaming victims for not sucking it up. He put up with it, so everyone else should, seems to be his belief."
We should stress that our guest was quick to say that he was not excusing Incognito's behavior.
Speaking of harassment, yesterday we spoke with Slate's Emily Yoffe about the do's and dont's of dealing with office bullies and rude people in general. The last question dealt with people in movie theaters who do things like try to reserve whole rows at a time and get mean when you try to say something.
That resonated with listener John Bouton and he sent us this little comedy sketch he filmed. Thanks for that John.
Lastly, we want to get to something we've been meaning to share for at least a week, but due to news got bumped off the show.
We asked you awhile back for your favorite Sriracha recipes.
Here are a few of our favorites:
- Listener Ed Gonzales likes to mix Sriracha, or Rooster Sauce, as he calls it, with Margarita Mix to marinate his chicken fajitas.
- Listener Kevin Tanaka makes sloppy joes and adds a-fourth a cup of Sriracha. Then he pours it over drained ramen noodles like a spaghetti.
- Then there's this: Melt Sriracha, honey and butter together and use it as a topping for vanilla ice cream.
I think I need to try that one but here is the winner: Asican Pasta Salad -- a mix of Sriracha, cilantro, mayo, four blend mexican cheese and other ingredients poured over rigatoni for a little Asian-Mexican food fusion.
Congratulations to Brenda Rodriguez for sending us this recipe. For her effort, she won five bottles of Sriracha.
Asican Pasta Salad Recipe
"I call this recipe Asican because it has Sriracha as it's secret ingredient as well as ingredients normally found in many Mexican dishes." -- Brenda Rodriguez
Ingredients
1 bag of Rigatoni pasta
1 cup minced onion
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1 (9ounce) can of corn
1 cup of mayonnaise
1 cup of shredded 4 cheese Mexican blend
2 -3 cups of cooked cubed chicken (you can add cooked shrimp or shredded imitation crab meat instead or you can go meatless for vegetarians) your preference.
Siracha sauce, about 1/2 cup.
1 bag of Tortilla chips (your choice i.e., tostitos etc) to eat with (do not mix in with the rest of the ingredients)
Directions:
Cooked packaged Rigatoni pasta as directed on the bag. Drain and let it cool down.
Once pasta is cool, put in a large mixing bowl and combine all ingredients except Sriracha sauce.
Mix all ingredients thoroughly, adding Sriracha at the very end so that you can add as little or as much as your taste buds can handle. Once all ingredients are mixed in, put in the refrigerator for about an hour. After an hour, your dish is ready to be served and enjoyed.
We always love to hear from you. Please email us at TakeTwoShow@kpcc.org. You can also find us on twitter
or on Facebook at Facebook.org/TakeTwoShow.
'Casting By' doc showcases the importance of casting directors
What makes a great film? Sure you need a strong screenplay. Obviously the director has a lot of influence. But what about the casting?
It's a side of filmmaking that's often overlooked, but choosing which actors fill what roles is perhaps one of the most crucial jobs of all.
A new documentary called Casting By looks at the role of casting director, and director Tom Donahue joins Take Two.
The film opens Nov 8th at the Laemmle Royal in West LA, and Nov 15th at the Arena Cinema in Hollywood.
WATCH THE TRAILER
Dinner Party Download: King Tut, coconut water shortage and more
Every week we get your weekend conversation starters with Rico Gagliano and Brendan Newnam, the hosts of the Dinner Party Download podcast and radio show.
New study reveals that King Tut died in a chariot crash
He passed away at 19 years old, and now they think he died in a chariot accident. Forensic scientists in England did a virtual autopsy, and his injuries match a car crash scenario. He has multiple injuries on one side, his ribes were shattered, his pelvis was shattered.
Coconut water is running out. Prepare for the L.A. panic
The world's supply of coconut water could be running out, according to the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization. The global demand for coconut products is up, and the rate of production in Asia, where about 85 percent of the world's coconuts are grown is down because the coconut trees in Asia are old.
Older coconut trees release fewer coconuts. Most of the coconut trees in Asia were planted right after World War II, and the average harvest is only about 40 coconuts where a young coconut tree between 10 and 30 has between 75 and 150 coconuts.
This week in 1883, ‘gentleman thief’ Black Bart finally botched a job
Charles Bowles, who went by the name Black Bart, was a bank robber. His life of crime started after he lost his silver mine in Montana. At the time Wells Fargo bank employees decided they wanted the land.
They decided to cut off his water supply, so he had to give it up. He swore revenge on Wells Fargo and started robbing Wells Fargo stagecoaches of their money. After a while he started leaving poems behind in the safes.