Today on the show, we check in with the local Iranian community about the US-Iran nuclear deal. Then, we take a look at whether successful viral marketing equals profits, children's librarian for the LA Public Library recommends the best kids books for 2013, study shows that even those with superior recall can have false memories, North Korea's relationship with the crystal meth trade and much more.
Iranian community in LA reacts to US-Iran nuclear deal
On Saturday, the U.S. and Iran reached a short term deal over what to do about that country's nuclear future.
The U.S. said it will lift some economic sanctions and in return. Iran has said that it will temporarily halt its nuclear enrichment program. Secretary of State John Kerry said the agreement was a starting point for negotiations on a more permanent solution.
Critics, including Israel's prime minister, say the U.S. is conceding too much in regard to sanctions, without getting enough in return. While this may be a big deal for people in Tehran, it's also a big deal for plenty of people here in L.A., home to one of the largest Iranian populations in the world.
Siamak Kalhor, host of the call-in radio show on KIRN Radio Iran, joins the show.
Both candidates in Honduras election claim victory
The results of a hotly contested election in Honduras are taking shape. This violence-plagued country is still reeling from a 2009 coup, and now both leading candidates are claiming victory.
Here with an update is NPR's Carrie Cahn. She joins us from Tegulcigapa, the capital of Honduras.
Navajo casinos stimulate economy — at a cost
It's been five years since the Navajo Nation opened its first casino. For two decades the tribe resisted the lure of the quick money maker. They feared the social ills that tend to come with gaming -- compulsive gambling, alcoholism, crime and loss of culture.
From Flagstaff, Fronteras' Laurel Morales takes a look at gaming's impacts on the Navajo tribe.
How women influence the men in their lives
Since Greek times, women have undoubtedly had an effect on men's actions. Thousands of years after Medusa, Venus and Helen of Troy not much has changed.
Today, researchers are able to document how even the presence of a woman in a man's life can shape how he views women at work as well as at home. For example, Male CEOs pay employees less and themselves more after having a son, but a baby girl will make a boss pay his people more, with the biggest raises going to female employees.
Sarah Yager, associate editor at The Atlantic and wrote about how women change men for the December issue. She joins the show to explain.
Does successful viral marketing lead to a successful product?
It's the holiday season, which means companies are putting some heavy weight into advertisements. Some recent commercial gems include this KMart ad for Joe Boxer:
And this one for Volvo (which has almost 50 million views on YouTube right now):
And this one for the toy Goldiblox:
From Jean Claude Van Damme doing the splits to one promoting a line of engineering toys targeted at girl, clearly, we are doing the ad companies' work for them. Passing around the surprising, the clever, the funny, the inspiring.
But does all that sharing lead to caring about the brand and buying it? Thales Texeira, who teaches marketing at Harvard Business School, joins the show to explain.
On The Lot: 'Catching Fire', Disney leaders, Maltese Falcon and more
Time for On The Lot, our weekly look at the business of entertainment with Rebecca Keegan of the LA Times.
"Catching Fire", the second in what looks to be a long series of "Hunger Games" movies definitely caught fire on it's opening weekend. This is now officially a franchise, how many more "Hunger Games" movies will we see?
For those few people who may not know, "The Hunger Games" is set in an authoritarian future where the rich and powerful rule over a mass of people living in poverty. Of course it's a struggle in which the downtrodden are the heroes. Keegan wrote a story about how some conservatives have embraced the films.
Even though women have been a part of Disney's operation from the beginning, they haven't been leaders. A new article says that women are stepping into leadership roles in Disney's animation studio.
We've talked before about how few women directors there are in Hollywood, but that's most live-action films. Is animation even worse?
Disney's Pixar unit is cutting jobs, and over at Dreamworks Animation, visual effects artists are planning to all wear green tomorrow when President Obama visits the studio. What's that about?
One of the most iconic movie props ever is going on auction today in New York. The famous bird from the classic film, "The Maltese Falcon." In the film it's a worthless fake, but it sounds like the auctioneers are expected a pretty big payday.
This is one of two falcons made for the movie, but the auction house says this is the only one that actually appeared in the film. This movie memorabilia thing is now a huge business.
Odd Hollywood Jobs: Set medic
Time for another installment of our series on Odd Hollywood jobs, which looks at the gigs behind-the-scenes that help make the movies.
When films include a lot of action, and really big stunts, sometimes, people get hurt. That's why you need a set medic. Medic Tony Whitmore has worked on films ranging from "The Hangover" and the "Amazing Spiderman" to "Bad Teacher" and "War of the Worlds."
Whitmore joins the show to talk about how he got into this corner of the business.
Interview Highlights:
On how he got into the profession:
"I'm a lifeguard with L.A. County and have been for a number of years. A friend of mine was a production supervisor and I had worked on something as a lifeguard and the medic said, 'You really ought to look into this as a career.' I approached my friend and asked her how I got into it and she told me that she was on a movie. They hadn't signed their contract yet and I could come in and fill out my start work and when the movie flipped and became union, then I would be on the payroll and I could continue to work. Get the 30 days that one needs to get in order to qualify to join and that was how I did it. That was 17 years ago."
On what a typical day looks like:
"I have a large cart that has all my medical supplies on it and it's set up so it's accessible by the crew. I will station myself next to the cart and open it much like someone opens their business for the public. The crew knows where the cart is. They know that they can help themselves and I'll go around and say hi to everybody and see how they are doing. People approach me if it's a Monday, something may have happened over the weekend that they would like some treatment for and then settle into the day. Usually, I will hang out with the video assist so I'm close by and know what's going on on camera."
On the most challenging moments of the job:
"Usually when there is going to be a stunt involved in filming and the stunt coordinators that I have worked with have just been tremendously professional, very well prepared. Infrequently have I witnessed any accidents because of the preparation that the stunt people have put into it. But there is some tension because it's an accident.
"We don't know what's going to happen and anything could happen and occasionally it does if it's a stunt where somewhere is going to go through a glass wall. For instance, we had this on "Captain America" and there's a lag between when the stunt person is going through the glass and when the special effects people will fire off the squibs to break the glass. In this on particular case, the actor, the stunt person, went through the glass a little early so he hit it full force, it broke after he hit and he sustained some cuts to his hands that necessitated going to the hospital for some stitches."
On the worst accident he has ever seen:
"The worst accident I have ever seen, we were doing reshoots on a movie in Palos Verdes at a location where all the equipment needed to be helicoptered in because it was difficult to get to the actual location. The shot involved a boat being pulled on to the rocks, it was empty, by another boat using a line piece of rope. What happened was that they had just recently developed this spectra-line, which was super terrifically strong. It was mounted to the bow of the boat with a false bow eye so you couldn't see it and they could take it out in special effects.
"In the first take, the boat came on to the rocks and the line was cut by the barnacles on the rocks. I was standing next to the stunt coordinator in line with the rope. And it recoiled, but not like a steel cable so I thought, 'I'm going to move because I don't want to be here even though it's not steel cable'. He elected to stay in that position, reattached the rope, they decided they want the boat to come in hotter this time, faster. Unbeknownst to them, on the first take it has weakened that bow eye so when it came in faster and it hit the rocks again, the piece of pipe to which the rope was connected, which was about a foot long and had a nice eye on it, broke loose from the boat, came flying through the air, the stunt coordinator, who had remained in his spot to watch the shot happen, a piece of metal flew towards him. He attempted to duck to get under it, but it caught him in the middle of his forehead and cut him about halfway down his head.
"The crazy part about this is we got him up to the hospital and he went off, got 63 stitches, came back later in the day to operate a boat for a scene in another marina. That is the sort of mental toughness that stunt people have. They are contrary to how a medic wants to operate with a patient because they always want to continue on. Most people would like to be taken away, taken care of right away."
On what it takes to be a set medic:
"It's a combination of diplomacy, crowd management, and communication. The diplomacy because everybody knowns the person who has been injured, we have worked long hours, we may know the people personally. There's a sense of family on a movie set so everyone is very concerned, and my responsibility is to be able to calm the crew and let them know that the individual is getting the proper medical attention, and to be able to communicate clearly with the first assistant director what needs to be done in terms of do we need transportation for this person'. What's going to be the follow-up after the initial treatment? Working with the producers to let them know how we are going to continue on, should this take the individual out of the day. And that's where all those three attributes come into play."
On the toughest movie star:
"Probably, Kurt Russell. He injured himself and was very adamant about continuing on even though my recommendation was that we take some time off and we better treat his injuries."
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Federal case sheds light on North Korea's role in global meth trade
North Korea is known to be one of the most reclusive countries in the world. But a recent federal case is shining some light on how the country seems to be a growing market for manufacturing methamphetamine.
Last week, five men were extradited to the US and charged with allegedly conspiring to smuggle crystal meth made in North Korea to the U.S. The DEA says case demonstrates "the emergence of North Korea as a significant source of methamphetamine in the global drug trade."
To give us some insight into how and why North Korea got involved in the drug trade, we're joined by Isaac Stone Fish, associate editor at Foreign Policy magazine. Mr. Fish has visited North Korea and written about the drug trade there.
Legal resources scarce for immigration detainees
Next to tax law, immigration law is arguably the most complex realm of our legal system. Yet very few people being held in immigration detention have a lawyer, usually because they can't afford one.
Detainees do have access to a range of legal resources while in custody. But critics say it's not nearly enough to mount a reasonable defense against deportation. The California Report's Steven Cuevas looked into it.
Turkey Trots: A Thanksgiving morning tradition
Thanksgiving is a day of traditions. There’s turkey, of course, along with football, apple pie and parades. And for more and more Californians, there’s the early morning turkey trot. For the California Report, Scott Detrow has the story.
Last year, more than 100,000 Californians kicked off their Thanksgivings by running a road race, affectionately known as turkey trot. Thanksgiving day races are becoming more and more popular: participation has more than doubled over the past five years, with more than 800,000 finishers nationwide last year.
RELATED: Thanksgiving Turkey Trot: Newest running event is in Downtown LA (map)
“In 2013 what we might see for the first time is 1 million finishers in turkey trots in this country,” said Ryan Lammpa of Running USA, which collects data on running trends. In fact, Thanksgiving is now the top race day of the year. And more people are trotting in California than any other state. In addition to the top participation totals, California hosts the first and fourth-largest Thanksgiving races in the country.
What’s behind the trend? Lammpa said it’s part of a larger running boom, and that Thanksgiving is a good day for a low-key 5K – your family is in town, there’s not much programmed for the morning. And there’s this factor: Lammpa said a lot of people are thinking, “’I can eat a little more today because I ran a 5K or an 8K.’ And as you know, humans are very good at rationalizing things.”
Sacramento Is Top Turkey
It certainly makes sense to me. The turkey, stuffing, wine and everything else I’ll be downing later in the day were top of my mind when I signed up for the number one turkey trot in the country: Sacramento’s Run To Feed The Hungry. (San Jose's turkey trot ranks number four, nationally.)
Kelly Siefkin is with the Sacramento Food Bank and Family Services, which has put on the race for 20 years. She said the nearly 30,000 runners also want to help their community. “The feeling in the air Thanksgiving morning is really unlike anything you’ve experienced before,” she said. “Everyone is so excited and so happy to be surrounded by people who care.” The run has become a Sacramento institution. It’s clearly an important part of the organization’s identity: Race shirts and posters from previous years line its walls. More importantly, race proceeds fund 20 percent of the food bank’s annual budget, allowing it to provide food assistance, along with a wide array of other educational programs and services.
“You’re Trotting, Not Running”
There’s one more reason why Thanksgiving races are popular – they’re low-key and fun. No one’s out there with belts of water bottles. No one is scarfing down Gu energy shots, or trying to break personal records. Running USA’s Ryan Lammpa said, “A trot is kind of a fun run. It’s a trot. You’re trotting, not running. You’re trotting.”
Not a bad reason to get up early and run on Thanksgiving.
Study shows even people with superior recall can have false memories
You might have trouble remembering what you did yesterday, but a few people among us have a superior memory.
It's something scientists officially discovered in 2006 and they call it Highly Superior Autobiographical Memory, or HSAM. But scientists at UC Irvine are throwing a little cold water on the HSAMs.
They've proven that even those with superior memories can still be susceptible to fake memories.
For more on what that means for the rest of us, we're joined by the lead researcher on the project, Lawrence Patihis. He's a psychology researcher at UC Irvine and the lead author of the new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
The bizarre evolution of the word 'because'
The word "because" has jumped the sentence diagram, from subordinating conjunction to preposition.
Normal usage would go something like this: The earth revolves around the sun, because science says so. New usage, would go something like this: The earth revolves around the sun because, science.
It's referred to as the "because-noun," and it's pretty commonplace in social media, and even news articles. Megan Garber of writes about the evolution of "because" in Atlantic magazine. She joins the show to explain.
As family and friends head to funeral, Joseph Gatto remembered as a gifted teacher
Almost two weeks ago, 78-year-old Joseph Gatto was found dead at home in Silver Lake. He'd been shot in the abdomen.
Monday morning, his friends and family gathered for his funeral at Our Mother of Good Counsel Catholic Church in Los Feliz. Many details of the murder remain unclear, but his legacy as a gifted teacher remains.
Gatto taught at the Art Center, Pierce College, and elsewhere, and may have left his biggest mark at the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts, as KPCC's Mary Plummer discovered.
Remembering poet Wanda Coleman
Poet Wanda Coleman passed away Friday of natural causes at the age of 67
She completed more than 20 books, won the Lenore Marshall National Poetry Prize in 1999 and was a finalist for the National Book Award in 2001. But Coleman, who was born and raised in Watts, was often considered the "unofficial" poet laureate of Los Angeles. She used the city often as a backdrop for her take on identity, race and politics
For more on her impact and influence we're joined by Tom Lutz of UC Riverside and the editor in chief of the Los Angeles Review of Books