May 19, 2016

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Entertainment May 19, 2016

Today in Movie Culture: Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters Commercial, 'Drive 2' Trailer and More

Here are a bunch of little bites to satisfy your hunger for movie culture:

Fake Commercial of the Day:

How does Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters get so full in X-Men: Apocalypse? With this 1983 recruitment ad starring Jubilee and the voice of Stan Lee:

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Character History of the Day:

In anticipation of his return in X-Men: Apocalypse, here’s a look at the evolution of Wolverine in movies and TV:

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Movie Tribute of the Day:

Hugh “Wolverine” Jackman recognizes this week’s Top Gun anniversary with a photo of him and his jet:

In honor of the 30th Anniversary of the move Top Gun and, of course, the all important #TBT – call sign WOLVERINE pic.twitter.com/IiqDLSumHe

— Hugh Jackman (@RealHughJackman) May 19, 2016

Fake Sequel of the Day:

This fake trailer for Drive 2: The Uber Years is good comedy made great with the casting of a Ryan Gosling doppelganger (via Geek Tyrant):

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Fake Cartoon of the Day:

The Nice Guys got a pretend animated series spinoff done in the style of 1970s cartoons:

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Vintage Image of the Day:

Nora Ephron, who would have turned 75 today, directs Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks on the set of You’ve Got Mail in 1998:

Mashup of the Day:

Sansa from Game of Thrones gets a cool Kill Bill style poster in this art by Darth Blender:

The North Remembers #KillBill #GameofThrones #Tarantino #SansaStark pic.twitter.com/7qypaQWTVV

— Darth Blender (@darth_blender) May 19, 2016

Movie Science of the Day:

Kyle Hill of the Nerdist show Because Science explains how Ant-Man makes his big transformation in Captain America: Civil War:

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Reimagined Character of the Day:

See what Yoda looks like after he’s turned to the Dark Side in this fan art by Daryl Mandryk (via Geek Tyrant):

Classic Trailer of the Day:

Today is the 40th anniversary of the release of The Missouri Breaks, starring Marlon Brando and Jack Nicholson. Watch the original trailer that promised history would be made when it opens:

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Business May 19, 2016

#5DollarChallenge: We Mapped Out The Best Meals You Can Buy For Five Bucks Or Less

Check out the #5dollarchallenge map from Youth Radio

toggle caption Youth Radio

Young people want meals that are quick — and also fresh and healthful and interesting.

But can they get all of that for less than five bucks?

Three weeks ago, Youth Radio and NPR asked you to send in pictures of the best meals you can purchase for five bucks or less.

Based on the submissions to the #5dollarchallenge, we’re happy to report that a Lincoln can indeed buy quite a lot of deliciousness.

Check out Youth Radio’s interactive map for some of your favorite meals from every region of the U.S.

While we applaud those of you who sent in photos of meals you prepared at home with ingredients that cost less than $5, for this map, we chose pre-made meals you can pick up on the fly.

These weren’t necessarily healthful meals, though lots of you sent in cheap vegetarian options — which isn’t surprising. I’m vegetarian, and whether I’m buying a burrito or a burger, I usually end up paying less than my meat-eating friends.

@youthradio My fav cheap lunch! Veggie bagel @ Aroma/Oakland. $4.11 if I don’t do cookie splurge! #5DollarChallenge pic.twitter.com/FO41V4dfUm

— Rebecca Martin (@rebm) May 5, 2016

But people sent in plenty of meaty submissions as well. Alongside all that meat, we also got a lot of burgers, burritos and pizza, which means: bread, bread, bread! Especially since gluten-free meals are a huge trend right now, it was interesting to see so many carb-heavy options.

On the lighter side, many prepared salads came from grocery stores. This illustrates the “groceraunt” trend — more supermarkets are offering meals we typically expect from sit-down eateries.

Hey @youthradio I got this breathtaking Peking duck sandwich at Vanessa’s in NYC Chinatown for $3 #5dollarchallenge pic.twitter.com/Ro4MuFODrT

— Monica Eng (@monicaeng) May 9, 2016

There were a handful of breakfast options, consisting of the usual suspects: eggs, bacon and toast.

Some of the most appetizing-looking submissions were foods with origins outside the U.S.: tacos, tikka masala, sushi, fried rice and bahn mi sandwiches. These were some of the heartiest meals available at reduced costs.

However, very few submissions included a beverage. Five bucks can buy a range of food, but this tight budget may leave some of you thirsty. (Of course, tap water is often free.)

A nice Kale & Broccoli salad kit from #TraderJoes for $2.49. @youthradio #5dollarchallenge @TraderJoesBest pic.twitter.com/1Fz4Kz81uS

— Emily Eldridge (@eldrideg) May 4, 2016

Thanks to all who participated in the #5dollarchallenge! And let us know if we left any of your favorite cheap meals off the map on Twitter — tag @youthradio and @NPRFood.

Kasey Saeturn is a reporter with Youth Radio, which produced this story as part of its series Fast Food Scramble with NPR’s Sonari Glinton.

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Health May 19, 2016

Health Departments Cut Programs While Awaiting Zika Funding

A mosquito control inspector sprinkles larvicide in a storm drain in Miami Gardens, Fla., in an effort to stop the spread of Zika virus.

A mosquito control inspector sprinkles larvicide in a storm drain in Miami Gardens, Fla., in an effort to stop the spread of Zika virus. Joe Raedle/Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption Joe Raedle/Getty Images

While Congress fidgets over whether and how to pay for the fight against the Zika virus, state and local health departments are scrambling and slimming down.

That’s because these front-line public health agencies have already seen their budgets chopped because of the debate.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in April cut $44 million from its fund that helps state and local governments prepare for public health emergencies. It was part of the $589 million the White House moved from other programs – mostly money allocated for domestic and international responses to the Ebola virus – to combat Zika as it awaited action on Capitol Hill.

New York City’s health department lost $1.1 million in the deal.

Marisa Raphael, the deputy commissioner in New York’s Office of Emergency Preparedness and Response, says she expects to have to cut jobs.

“We depend on this grant to create an infrastructure for our preparedness and our response,” Raphael tells Shots. “That’s everything from our lab staff to our surveillance staff, so when we have this cut, that does immediately impact our capabilities.”

New York isn’t unique. A survey of state and local health departments shows that many are struggling with the reduced funding. About a third of state health departments say they expect to lay people off, and the same number say they’ll likely eliminate training programs.

The cuts will affect the kinds of things these departments normally do.

“A new measles outbreak? That’s the job of the health department to discover and to control,” says Thomas Inglesby, the CEO of the Center for Health Safety at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. “Or a new mumps outbreak on a college campus, or a meningitis outbreak. That’s the day-in, day-out work of public health.”

He says public health department budgets have been slashed over the last 10 years and they just don’t have excess resources or people that can be cut.

“If you take funding from local health department preparedness that means people are fired or labs can’t run the same way or disease surveillance has to stop,” he says. “If we take people from those jobs to work on Zika, that will help with Zika, but that will hurt our other preparedness efforts.”

President Obama in February made an emergency request of $1.9 billion to combat the Zika virus. The money would be used for research into a new vaccine, treatments and tests for the disease as well as to study and track how it spreads and try to control the population of mosquitoes that carry the virus.

Scientists agree that the Zika virus is linked to microcephaly, a condition in which babies are born with undersized brains and skulls. It is also linked to several other types of birth defects, and to Guillain-Barre syndrome in adults.

The House of Representatives this week passed a bill allocating $622 million for Zika response, about a third of the president’s request. And all of the money comes from other programs.

House Appropriations Committee Chairman Hal Rogers, R-Kentucky, argued at a recent markup that the emergency money was a stopgap until Congress could allocate more money as part of the regular budget process.

The Senate is working on a separate bill that would provide $1.1 billion in new money for the disease.

Public health experts argue that three months is a long time to wait for what many say is an impending public health emergency.

And since Zika is just the latest in a string of infectious disease threats, many public health experts want to create a standing fund for public health emergencies.

Such a fund could operate like the one maintained by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The agency can draw on it as needed in an emergency; it would be replenished in the regular government budgeting process.

Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute for Allergies and Infectious Diseases, part of the National Institutes of Health, and Thomas Frieden, the director of the CDC, advocated for such a fund in recent weeks.

“The whole idea is to have funding available urgently when it is needed urgently,” says Melinda Moore, associate director of the Population Health Program at the Rand Corporation.

She says FEMA money is “available as soon as it’s needed, right on the heels of a hurricane, a tornado, et cetera. Some of these outbreaks — and Zika is a good example — are nearly as urgent as that.”

Inglesby agrees that an emergency fund would eliminate these repeated budget fights.

But for Zika that debate is too late, he says. Congress should allocate emergency money for Zika now and then treat is as a regular part of our public health landscape.

“Zika is the new normal,” Inglesby says. “Zika is something we’re going to have to deal with not just this summer, but next summer and the summer after that.”

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Sports May 19, 2016

For John Holland, Breaking Into The NBA Came Down To One Shot

The odds are stacked against any minor league basketball player trying to make the NBA. But one remarkable, contested shot helped pave the way for a player named John Holland.

Transcript

AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:

It’s playoff time in the NBA, a league of millionaires where even the lowest-paid benchwarmer earns more than $500,000 a season. Hundreds of players are striving to break in, grinding away in the trenches of minor league basketball. It’s called the D-League – D for Development.

We followed the Canton Charge this season. NPR’s Uri Berliner explores the impact of a single play on the team’s fortunes and one player’s career.

URI BERLINER, BYLINE: It’s a long shot, this D-League thing, especially for players who never got drafted, like John Holland. Holland grew up in the Bronx. And in high school, he was on an academic track, not a straight path to professional basketball.

JOHN HOLLAND: Coming out of high school, I didn’t really have any offers – Division I offers.

BERLINER: Really.

HOLLAND: I was good. I thought I was good, but…

(LAUGHTER)

HOLLAND: Nobody else really on the Division I level thought I was good enough.

BERLINER: So he played for Boston University, hardly a basketball powerhouse. After college, he signed on with pro teams in France, Spain and Turkey. He made six figures, but that didn’t get him any closer to the NBA. So now at age 27, he’s in an apartment just outside of Canton, Ohio, taking a big chance on a single season, a season where he’s making $19,000.

HOLLAND: Sometimes it’s about more than money. It’s about the dream, you know? This year, this is what it’s about. This is the grind – chasing the dream.

BERLINER: The first time I meet Holland is one of those unglamorous moments. A Canton teammate – Mike Dunigan – has come over to make dinner and watch a game with Holland and his roommate. But before Dunigan will make the pasta, there’s this mess in the sink.

MIKE DUNIGAN: Yo, Man, these dishes ain’t clean, Bro. You got to wash these dishes or something, Bro. I ain’t going to be cooking and washing dishes.

BERLINER: The task falls to Holland. The next day, I catch up with Holland at practice. Only a small fraction of D-League players get NBA call ups, and for players at his position, the competition is fierce.

HOLLAND: I’m a guard – dime a dozen. We’ll see what happens when it’s all said and done.

BERLINER: As the season winds down, just one of his teammates gets a call up – a guy with previous NBA experience. Holland’s a bit under the radar – not the highest scorer on the team. But he’s consistently good, helping Canton to a 12-game winning streak and a spot in the D-League playoffs. We’re in Portland, Maine, for game two in playoff series against the Red Claws.

UNIDENTIFIED ANNOUNCER #1: Number 10, guard, 6-5 from Boston University – John Holland.

BERLINER: The game’s close throughout. Holland makes two crucial three-point shots to keep Canton’s chances alive – and then this play with Canton up by one and less than a minute to go.

UNIDENTIFIED ANNOUNCER #2: Cook running the clock down, now drives in, spins, spins back the other way, kicks it outside to Holland, fakes the three, one on the shot clock, has to take a contested throw. And he nailed it.

UNIDENTIFIED ANNOUNCER #3: Oh, my word.

UNIDENTIFIED ANNOUNCER #2: What a shot.

UNIDENTIFIED ANNOUNCER #3: Unbelievable shot.

BERLINER: That shot seals the game for Canton and clinches the playoff series against the Red Claws, the Boston Celtics’ D-League team. And in the locker room after the game, Holland finds himself the center of attention. He gets a shout out from assistant coach Damon Jones who had a reputation for making big shots in the NBA.

DAMON JONES: You are now officially a part of the family.

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: Hey.

JONES: You are now an honorary Jones. Your name is John Jones.

(LAUGHTER, CROSSTALK)

BERLINER: Later, I ask Holland to relive the shot.

HOLLAND: It felt good when I released it, and it was an amazing shot, an amazing moment, one that I’m going to remember forever now (laughter).

BERLINER: I mean, that shot could have changed your life.

HOLLAND: Yeah, it definitely could have. It definitely could have, but…

BERLINER: So many things could’ve knocked Holland off stride. The game’s on the line. The 24-second clock is ticking down to zero. The defender who’s 6-foot-7 and a former Celtic is draped all over him.

HOLLAND: Maybe he’ll jump, but he didn’t jump. And he closed out on me hard.

BERLINER: There’s no other option now. He has to shoot. Holland goes straight up, and the high-arcing shot falls through the net. Three days after that shot, as he’s about to take a nap, Holland gets a life-changing call from his agent. He’s going to the NBA. I meet up with Holland a few days later.

So tell me what you’re wearing right now. What’s that say?

HOLLAND: Oh, this is just a practice shirt – says Boston Basketball.

BERLINER: Boston Celtics Basketball.

HOLLAND: Boston Celtics Basketball.

BERLINER: We’re in a hallway in TD Garden a few hours before his second game with the Celtics. Holland’s called up for the last two games of the regular season and the playoffs. He makes $25,000, more than his salary with Canton for the entire D-League season.

In the NBA, you get paid even if you’re not in uniform. And tonight, Holland’s on the bench in street clothes. After the game, as we walk through the same hallway, Holland’s absorbing exactly what happened. The call up couldn’t have come at a better time.

You’re 27, right?

HOLLAND: Yes.

BERLINER: So this was the year for you to make a move?

HOLLAND: Yeah, this was it. This was it. I mean, basketball – life is short.

BERLINER: Holland’s going back to his hotel and offers to give me a ride. And we climb into the car the Celtics have given him to use – a really nice car.

Is this a rental?

HOLLAND: Yeah. Life is different. I mean, they got it for me.

BERLINER: Driving a Mercedes – they got it for him.

HOLLAND: Yeah.

BERLINER: The Celtics wind up losing in the first round of the playoffs, and Holland barely gets on the court. He plays a grand total of one minute. But next season, John Holland has the chance to turn that one NBA minute into many. Uri Berliner, NPR News.

Copyright © 2016 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by Verb8tm, Inc., an NPR contractor, and produced using a proprietary transcription process developed with NPR. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.

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