Kristen Meinzer

Jennifer Westfeldt's "Friends with Kids" asks an important question: do I really have to have kids? When two single friends realize that all of their friends are parents, they ditch bachelor life to have a baby of their own. "Friends with Kids" has an all-star comedic cast, but it's also rife with some language you might not want your own kids to hear. As always, Movie Date is brought to you by Rafer Guzman, film critic for Newsday, and Kristen Meinzer, culture producer for the Takeaway.

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It’s Friday, when we talk about movies here on The Takeaway. There are three big releases this week: “John Carter,” “Friends with Kids,” and “Silent House.”

In addition to hosting the Movie Date podcast, Rafer Guzman is film critic for Newsday and Kristen Meinzer is a producer for The Takeaway.

It’s the time of year when Alaskans proudly cheer, volunteer, and race in the annual Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. Stretching 1,049 miles, the race features teams of 12 to 16 dogs, led by a musher. This year is the race’s 40th anniversary. Early this morning the first teams crossed the half-way point in the race.

Andy Angstman is a superfan of the Iditarod and a musher since childhood. He participated in the race in 2007. He joins us from Achorage, Alaska.

When we talk about the Vietnam War, we often talk about the draft, protestors, a no-win situation, and veterans’ rights. But something we don’t always give attention to is this question: Who or what is a Vietnam vet? It’s a question that’s haunted thousands of Hmong-Americans, who were trained, armed and paid by the CIA to fight for the U.S. in Vietnam. These soldiers, who hail primarily from Laos, consider themselves vets. But the law prevents them from being buried in national or state veterans’ cemeteries.

Remember those crazy parties in high school? Well, our Movie Date podcasters do. This week the Todd Phillips movie "Project X" rages into the movie theaters.  The director of "Hangover" and "Old School" takes on teenage rebellion when three buddies decide to throw the party of their lives. As always we hear from Rafer Guzman, film critic for Newsday, and Kristen Meinzer, culture producer for the Takeaway.

Even though "The Lorax" has yet to open to the public, it's a movie that has ruffled a lot of feathers. Some claim it’s leftist eco-propaganda and others claiming that, with its 70-plus product tie-ins, it’s capitalistic garbage.

In July 2011, News of the World went down in flames after employees of the British tabloid were accused of engaging in phone hacking and police bribery. In response to the scandal, News International’s CEO, James Murdoch handed over the reigns to Tom Mockridge, and took on the title Executive Chairman instead. On Thursday, James Murdoch stepped down from that position as well. According to his father, Rupert, James is now in News Corp's New York headquarters, working on pay television and international operations. But is it too little too late for News Corp?

In Ohio, one of the main battleground states for the Super Tuesday primaries, the so-called "heartbeat" bill is dividing lines Republican candidates. The heartbeat bill, if passed later this year, will ban abortions if a fetal heartbeat can be detected, which can occur as early as five-and-a-half weeks. The bill also contains no exceptions for abortion in the case of rape, incest or the health of the mother. Rick Santorum has thrown his weight behind the bill while Mitt Romney has stayed silent on the issue.

Two thousand years ago, an extra day was added to the month of February with the transition from the Roman to the Julian calendar. For many, February 29th is an auspicious day for eschewing the status quo and taking risks. Today, The Takeaway asks listeners what "leaps" they've taken in their own lives. The question generated lots of responses, including the stories of some that took leaps in their career or personal lives.

Less than two weeks ago, Anthony Shadid, a foreign correspondent for The New York Times, died in Syria from an acute asthma attack. Shadid covered nearly two decades of Middle East conflict, won the Pulitzer Prize twice, and authored three books. "House of Stone," his final book, goes on sale today. 

Billy Crystal was back in his popular yet predictable role as the host for the Academy Awards. The Academy Awards took place last night and we have Kristen Meinzer, our Movie Date co-host in studio with us to recap the winners and losers. 

Love them, hate them — or only tune in to catch the absurd celebrity wardrobe choices — the hype is inescapable. The Oscars are coming up on Sunday. The Takeaway's Movie Date team weigh in on which nominees for Best Picture, Best Actress/Actor, and Best Supporting Actor/Actress will take home statuettes? Or, more importantly, who will be snubbed.

While most Americans believe their connection to slavery ended with the emancipation proclamation, the unfortunate reality is that it exists to this day — and the evidence is on everyone's dinner plates. A new investigative report reveals that laborers on fishing ships are frequently forced to work up to 52 hours straight under dangerous conditions, and are paid only $260 a month for unlimited hours. Because many companies won't disclose where they get their seafood from, avoiding purchasing slave-fished products is difficult to impossible for consumers.

Excitement about the red carpet heats up as the 84th Annual Academy Awards will take place on Sunday. Will "The Artist" walk away with best film? And will the Academy take "Bridesmaids" seriously and make Melissa McCarthy the victorious underdog? Find out who our Movie Date podcasters think will go home with a little statuette. As always we hear from Rafer Guzman, film critic for Newsday, and Kristen Meinzer, culture producer for the Takeaway.

For individuals facing cancer, the battle is a personal one, and whether one lives or dies, the experience is always traumatic. Mary Elizabeth Williams, a staff writer for Salon, has been sharing her own cancer story on the website over the past several months. Last month, after undergoing experimental trials for her metastatic Stage 4 cancer, her doctor told her that her tumors had disappeared. 

After promising a new business tax plan in his State of the Union Address last month, President Obama revealed his corporate tax overhaul on Wednesday. The plan includes fewer tax loopholes, reduces tax rates to from 35 percent to 25 percent for manufacturers, creates a new minimum tax for foreign earnings and simplifies the tax code for small businesses. Critics, like Mitt Romney, argue for even lower taxes for corporations. But what do manufacturers and small business owners have to say about Obama’s plan?

At present, there are nearly 7,000 languages being spoken worldwide. However, due to ageing populations and globalization's English-only emphasis, a language dies out every 14 days. At this rate, nearly half the world's languages will vanish in 100 years. Very often, these languages are lost without any record: no clues about pronunciation, let alone grammar or vocabulary. 

It's no secret that Google and Facebook are tracking and selling their users' information for marketing purposes. However, it may come as a surprise that campaigns have been successfully using microtargeting since 2004 to change election outcomes. Political parties extract data from internet users, then sort them into smaller and smaller segments based on demographic and browsing histories, targeting messages that directly relate to what they've been doing online. These segments are so precise that people within the same household will get different ads.

After 22 years of mutual isolation and hostility, it was the trip that transformed the world. From February 21-28, 1972, U.S. president Richard Nixon met with Chairman Mao Zedong and Premier Zhou Enlai, and traveled through Beijing, Hangzhou and Shanghai. In addition to formally normalizing relations between the U.S. and P.R.C., it was the first time the U.S. public had seen images of China since the communists took power. 

This week our Movie Date podcasters talk about the most unlikely movie story of the year: Jeremy Lin and his rapid rise to stardom in the NBA. As a script, the Jeremy Lin story is perfect. Beyond breaking down the aspects of the Lin story, our team looks at the most lin-spired movies. What movies remind you of the Jeremy Lin story? As always we hear from Rafer Guzman, film critic for Newsday, and Kristen Meinzer, culture producer for the Takeaway.