Kristen Meinzer

This weekend's film releases include the comedy "Horrible Bosses," starring Jason Bateman, Charlie Day and Jason Sudeikis, and the family-friendly "Zookeeper," starring Kevin James. For animal lovers, there's also the documentary "Project Nim," the sad tale of a chimpanzee who was raised as a human child. 

We're celebrating summer music here at the Takeaway. Throughout the month we’ll be talking with different musicians about what songs say summer to them. Our guest today is Jim James, the lead singer and founding member of the band, My Morning Jacket. The band's latest album is called “Circuital.”

All week, we’ve been speaking with influential Americans about what patriotism and America means to them as part of our series "My America." Today’s guest is Dr. Abraham Verghese, professor of the theory and practice of medicine at Stanford University Medical School, and best-selling author of "My Own Country: A Doctor's Story" and "Cutting for Stone."

In honor of July 4th we’re talking with influential Americans all week about what patriotism and America means to them. We’re calling the series “My America.” Today’s guests have views on America that are informed as much by their work as journalists as by their personal lives.

We’re kicking off a new series today; a summer music series. Throughout the month of July we’ll be talking with a different celebrity guest about what songs say summer to them. Our first guest is One Republic frontman Ryan Tedder.

The Afghanistan drawdown is scheduled to begin this month. But we still don’t know which generals will be choosing which enlisted men and women to come home. Meanwhile, military families across the country wait. Marilyn Greaves is among them. Her 20-year-old son Daniel is three months into his one year tour of Afghanistan. She’s also a member of Military Moms and Wives of Brazoria County, which assembles and ships care packages for the military. Darrin Greaves is Daniel’s older brother and Marilyn’s son. A marine and veteran of Iraq, he chose not to go on a tour of Afghanistan, in order to spare his mother the pain of having two sons off at war at the same time.

It's a big blockbuster summer weekend. But do Kristen and Rafer like this weekend's big blockbusters? Well there's one thing we can say: they agree on something! If you wanted to know whether that's missing Megan Fox in "Transformers" or being sort of unimpressed with Tom Hanks in "Larry Crowne," you'll just have to listen. 

"Terri"—which opens today—is the story of an introverted adolescent who likes watching hawks eat mice and prefers to wear pajamas to school. When his high school vice-principal, Mr. Fitzgerald, takes him under his wing, we learn more about both Terri’s vulnerabilities and Mr. Fitzgerald’s.

It’s Friday, which means we'll be talking about new movies here at The Takeaway. This week’s big openers are the 3D action spectacular "Transformers 3: Dark Side of the Moon," the Julia Roberts and Tom Hanks–led romantic comedy "Larry Crowne," "Monte Carlo," a teen chick flick centering around a case of mistaken identity.

 

Immediately after graduating from college, I packed everything I owned into a Ryder truck and drove with one of my best friends from Minnesota to New York. After finding an apartment, I took a job with a non-profit, teaching non-credit classes over the phone to homebound adults. My area of specialty was film and television studies. And over the typical four-week term, my students and I would do everything from debate the merits of Norman Lehrer to discuss who, among us, was widowed, blind, or lonely.

After my first course wrapped up in late December, a student named Anne called me at my office.

Melonie Ware was a daycare provider in Georgia who was sentenced to life in prison for shaking a nine-month-old baby to death in 2004. But in a 2009 retrial, a court declared that the medical examiner's findings were insufficient, concluding that the baby most likely died because complications due to sickle-cell anemia, and acquitted Ware.

Doctors have credited hundreds of untimely infant deaths to shaken baby syndrome over the years. But more and more, medical experts are starting to doubt that baby shaking was the cause of death in certain cases. A new Frontline documentary, airing tonight on PBS stations, examines some of these cases, including Ware's. 

 

 

Earlier this month, T.S. Eliot’s 424-line modernist poem "The Waste Land" became the most popular literary app in America. The app includes recordings of Eliot reading the poem. And last Friday, the Harry Potter franchise proved that it’s still thriving when author J.K. Rowling officially announced details about a new interactive website called "Pottermore." Are the "Waste Land" app and "Pottermore" site gimmicks that will quickly lose popularity? Or will they represent the new way to consume literature?

This week, Rafer and Kristen couldn't disagree more about Cameron Diaz comedy "Bad Teacher." Rafer thinks it's unfunny hogwash, Kristen says that if it was a guy playing Diaz's raunchy, gold-digging character, it would be a different story for moviegoers. What do you think? 

It’s Friday and, as usual, that means we talk about movies here at the Takeaway. This week’s big openers are the animated Pixar sequel “Cars 2” and “Bad Teacher,” starring Cameron Diaz and Justin Timberlake.

 

As the adage says, “One man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter.” But who decides on which terms to use and when? And is the US a mite too eager to define people as terrorists? These questions are posed by two new films, premiering this week at the Human Rights Watch Film Festival.

Eugenics laws allowed more than 30 states to sterilize people "undeemed to breed" for nearly a century. While it is irrevocably associated with the super-race fetish and ethnic cleans...

It’s report card season around America, the time of year when thousands of students and parents wait on pins and needles for what they hope will be good grades. But this year, some, if not many parents, may find themselves disappointed. And here’s why: student test scores tend to drop along with a community’s economy – regardless of whether their own parents have lost their jobs.

Around the world, driving is a common part of a woman's everyday life, but in Saudi Arabia, religious edicts prevent women from being able to practice this simple act—even though it’s not technically illegal for them to do so. Saudi women decided to quietly and peacefully revolt last Friday, by driving. Many drove their cars, or rode with other female friends who hold international drivers’ licenses; and they plan to continue doing so in the days and weeks ahead.

Today, tennis fans around the world will be tuning into the world-renowned grass court tennis tournament in London, the Wimbledon Championships. One of the four grand slam tennis championships, it is also the oldest and considerably the most prestigious. Here to talk us through the ins and outs of Wimbledon is a man who won four grand slam singles titles: American tennis champion Jim Courier.