Kristen Meinzer

Today through Sunday, tens of thousands of people will descend upon San Diego for the 41st annual Comic-Con International Convention. The largest such convention in the world, Comic-Con has gone from attracting a small handful of comic book enthusiasts to serving as one of the premier pop culture events in the world, with stars like Tim Burton, Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie stopping by to present their latest projects.

Tennessee became the first state to pass a law which allows businesses to require their employees to speak English at work. Tennessee is leading a trend seen by a number of cities throughout the country, which are implementing laws that allow English-only rules in one form or another.

Why do people still drink and drive when they know they're not supposed to? Lindsay Lohan is going to jail because she violated her probation for NOT learning that lesson ... and she's not alone. 30 percent of us will be involved in a drunk driving accident in our lives. Every 45 minutes, someone will be killed by a drunk driver. And at least 50 percent of drunk drivers will continue to drive drunk after having their licenses suspended. 

What's your take: How do you stop doing something you know is wrong?

Rafer and Kristen discuss the pleasurable feeling of being outsmarted by this week's Christopher Nolan film, 'Inception.'

Last week, Dr. Richard Friedman wrote an article for The New York Times called “Accepting That Good Parents May Plant Bad Seeds.” It suggested that good parents who have bad kids sometimes just can’t help it.

In other words: Just as some kids are wired to be smarter or shorter, some are wired to be meaner and naughtier, regardless of how good or bad their parents are.

Today, the widely anticipated sci-fi thriller "Inception" hits movie theaters nationwide.

Directed by Christopher Nolan of “Memento” and “Dark Knight” fame, it’s been the source of buzz and speculation for months – despite the fact that most of us know only three things about the film:

1. That it involves dreams or thoughts being stolen
2. That it has a lot of special effects
3. That it stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Ellen Page

Eighty years ago this year, Laura Ingalls Wilder penned the first draft of what would eventually become her first book, “Little House in the Big Woods.” The semi-autobiographical young adult novel followed Wilder’s adventures with her sisters and parents in the Midwest during the late 1800s, and was soon followed by several more books - all of which make up the wildly popular “Little House” series. Since their original publication, none of the books have ever gone out of print.

But the popularity of Laura Ingalls Wilder goes well beyond her books. Laura Ingalls Wilder museums have been erected in many of the towns where Wilder once lived; there’s the musical that debuted last year, based on the books; this week begins the first ever “Laurapalooza Conference” in Mankato, Minnesota…and of course, there’s that iconic television series that ran from 1974 to 1984 and has run continually in syndication around the world ever since.

What is it about “Little House on the Prairie” that we love, and why does it seem to be more popular than ever?

A rabbi, a priest and a pastor are all looking for a job … It sounds like the set-up to a joke we’ve all heard before. But due to shifts in our culture and economy, it turns out that this set-up has no punchline. The unemployment rate among clergy has doubled from ten years ago. And institutions ranging from churches to College chaplains have enacted hiring freezes and clergy lay-offs.

Rafer and Kristen on this week's "The Kids Are All Right," and the history of other movies with gay or bisexual main characters.

Today, a new movie called "The Kids are All Right" hits theaters, and for A.O. Scott, film critic from The New York Times, it inspired him to ask: “are the kids REALLY all right?”

In a new article called “They Grow Up So Quickly, Don’t They?”, he looks at this summer’s new releases that speak to the state of childhood and adolescence and family today.

Rafer and Kristen come to one of their rare agreements on the latest entry in the Twilight saga: It's a comedy ... but it doesn't know it.

What happens to civilizations when the food runs out? This happened in ancient Rome and to the Mayans, but can we take lessons from the past in order to have a more secure future?

To most children, summer vacation means sun, fun and a long break from school. But for many parents, each summer brings with it the same difficult question: what to do with the kids? Working parents often grapple with leaving children unattended during the workdays, and childcare can take a toll on the pocketbook. How young is too young for a child to be left home alone?

This week, moviegoers are can choose from abstinent vampires (again), a mamma's boy, and some racially questionable martial arts kids. We refer of course, to: "Twilight Eclipse," "Cyrus," and "The Last Airbender." Rafer Guzman, Takeaway contributor and Newsday critic, shares his opinions on the big releases, and lets us know what we should see and what we should avoid.

“The Last Airbender” is the live-action feature film based on the highly successful animated series on Nickelodeon. It’s also the center of a growing controversy about casting and race. The series features Asian settings, costumes, architecture, and character and location names that incorporate Chinese, Japanese and Southeast Asian phonemes — such as “Aang,” “Fong” and “Sing.” And yet, when casting the motion picture, the studio chose four white actors to play the leads. When one of the actors dropped out, he was replaced by Dev Patel of “Slumdog Millionaire” fame, but it’s still the case that three of the four leading actors are white.

This Fourth of July, many of us will be enjoying a hot dog or three. But if you’re one of a few select Major League Eating athletes in Coney Island, you’ll more likely be eating forty, fifty, or sixty — in the space of only ten minutes. We refer, of course, to the competitors in the crown jewel of all competitive eating events: The Coney Island Nathans Hot Dot Eating Contest; which, since 1916, has taken place on July 4th, Independence Day.

The FAA recently acknowledged that unmanned aircraft, sometimes called drones, are evolving from military assets into potential tools for all manner of civilian and domestic law enforcement uses. In aviation parlance they're now called unmanned aircraft systems or "UASs" and vary widely in size, shape, function and how they are controlled. UASs can have a wingspan as big as a Boeing 737 or just a few feet, smaller than a radio controlled model airplane. But are they safe? And what do they say about issues of privacy?

For better or worse, the beach book is the Rodney Dangerfield of publishing. It gets no respect.

But Patrik Henry Bass says that, despite their bad rap, we shouldn’t be ashamed of diving into and savoring the fluffiest of literary concoctions. The senior editor for Essence magazine, and a lover of a wide variety of genres, Patrik says there are loads of delicious beach books hitting shelves right now – and that we don’t necessarily have to respect them to enjoy them.

Patrik's top five picks for the season (as well as two bonus suggesions) are after the jump.

Rafer and Kristen talk about the good, bad and ugly of Tom Cruise's strange and successful career, from "Rain Man," to "Oprah," to "Knight and Day." 

This Fourth of July weekend, a lot of us will be eating hot dogs, potato salad, corn on the cob, and hamburgers. But when we’re done feasting on the char-broiled delicacies that have come to represent our nation’s independence, how should we finish it all off?

Bill Yosses has some suggestions. He’s the official White House Pastry Chef, and author, along with Melissa Clark, of a new cookbook called “The Perfect Finish.” Chef Yosses joins us live from the White House, where he gives us the scoop on everything from what he serves official visitors to the first family's favorite sweets.

Below, Bill Yosses and Melissa Clark's red, white and blue berry buttermilk bundt cake with orange glaze.