Hollywood How To

Happy International Left Handers Day!

By Glen Levy
Did you know that August 13th is International Left-Handers Day? Chances are that President Barack Obama, to say nothing of quite a few of his predecessors, knows it. Why? Because he — like five of the last seven presidents — is a lefty. (And we’re not talking about politically.)

Obama, Bill Clinton, George H.W. Bush, Ronald Reagan and Gerald Ford are or were left-handed — quite the statistical anomaly, considering that only about 1 in 10 people worldwide prefer using their left hands.

Naturally there is a website to teach you everything you needed to know about Left-Handers Day. It turns out that 1 in 4 Apollo astronauts were left-handed, as were 4 of the 5 original designers of the Macintosh computer. When it comes to twins, one of them has a high chance of being left-handed, and lefties are believed to be especially good at the likes of tennis, baseball, swimming and fencing.

Other famous lefties include Prince William, Marilyn Monroe, Leonardo da Vinci, Jimi Hendrix, Martina Navratilova and Nicole Kidman.

There’s also a more serious side to the day, which spreads awareness about the special needs of left-handed kids. Also, lefties are far more likely to develop schizophrenia than right-handers, for reasons not well understood.

About 10 percent of people write with their left hand – a trait tenuously tied to intelligence and creativity, not to mention inky pinkies. And some experts say this small but steady legion sheds light on the brain.

"There are many things common across all minds and bodies, but there are sometimes striking differences," said Daniel Casasanto, assistant professor of psychology at the New School for Social Research in New York. "These differences can be key to discovering how something works."

The left hand is guided by the right side of the brain – the hemispheric home of orientation and intuition – leading researchers to suspect lefties may be wired differently than their right-handed counterparts.

Despite their minority status, lefties are more likely to excel in music, mathematics and athletics, according to studies. But left-handedness has also been linked to a higher risk of developmental disorders and mental illness.

"Handedness influences the way people think and feel, and how thoughts and feelings are organized in their brains," said Casasanto, who studies emotional processing in left-handers. "It turns out to matter in a number of ways."

But despite decades of research, the biological origins of handedness remain a mystery. It runs in families, suggesting some genetic influence, and can even be seen in the uterus: fetuses suck the right thumb more often than the left.

Some studies suggest stress in the womb might be to blame, as lefties are more likely to be born premature or have a low birth weight.

But forced to adapt to a right-hander's world, lefties are resilient. Once considered gauche – even sinister from the Latin for "on the left" – they tolerate teasing and, in some cases, attempts to rewire their handedness.

"Everyone assumed I should be able to switch and use my right hand," said Jane Angelich, a 60-year-old lefty from San Francisco. "It's tough when you're a kid and you're different from everyone else. But you grow out of it. Now I love being a lefty."

Today is international Left-Handers Day.
Glen Levy & Katie Moisse contributed to this report

Left-Handed U.S. Presidents
James A. Garfield (1831-1881) 20th
Herbert Hoover (1874-1964) 31st
Harry S. Truman (1884-1972) 33rd
Gerald Ford (1913- ) 38th
Ronald Reagan (1911 - ) 40th
George H.W. Bush (1924- ) 41st
Bill Clinton (1946- ) 42nd
Barack Obama (1961- ) 44th

Left-Handed Actors

Don Adams

Dan Aykroyd

Eddie Albert

Tim Allen

June Allyson

Harry Anderson

Amitabh Bachchan, Indian actor

Herschel Bernardi

Robert Blake

Matthew Broderick

Bruce Boxleitner

Carol Burnett

George Burns, comedian

Ruth Buzzi, comedienne

Keith Carradine

Khaled Chahrour, Egyptian actor

Charlie Chaplin

George Gobel, comedian

Chuck Conners

Hans Conreid

James Cromwell

Tom Cruise

Quinn Cummings

Daniel Davis

Bruce Davison

Matt Dillon

Marty Engles, comedian

Olivia de Havilland

Robert DeNiro

Michael Dorn

Fran Drescher, comedian

Richard Dreyfuss

W.C. Fields

Larry Fine ? (of the Three Stooges)

Peter Fonda

Greta Garbo

Terri Garr

Paul Michael Glaser

Whoopie Goldberg

Betty Grable

Cary Grant

Peter Graves

Mark Hamill

Rex Harrison

Goldie Hawn

Joey Heatherton

Tippi Hedren

Jim Henson, puppetteer

Kermit the Frog

Rock Hudson

Angelina Jolie

Shirley Jones ?

Gabe Kaplan

Danny Kaye

Diane Keaton

George Kennedy

Nicole Kidman

Lisa Kudrow

Michael Landon

Hope Lange

Joey Lawrence

Peter Lawford

Cloris Leachman

Hal Linden

Cleavon Little

Shirley MacLaine

Andrew McCarthy

Kristy McNichol

Steve McQueen

Howie Mandel, comedian

Marcel Marceau, mime

Harpo Marx

Marsha Mason

Mary Stuart Masterson

Anne Meara, comedian

Sasha Mitchell

Marilyn Monroe

Robert Morse

Anthony Newley

Kim Novak

Ryan O'Neal

Sarah Jessica Parker

Estelle Parsons

Anthony Perkins

Ron Perlman

Luke Perry

Bronson Pinchot

Joe Piscopo, comedian

Robert Preston

Michael J. Pollard

Richard Pryor, comedian

Robert Redford

Keanu Reeves

Don Rickles, comedian

Julia Roberts

Mickey Rourke

Eva Marie Saint

Telly Savalas

Jean Seberg

Jerry Seinfeld, comedian

Christian Slater

Dick Smothers, comedian

Brent Spiner

Slyvester Stallone ?

Terence Stamp

Jessica Steen

Rod Steiger

Alan Thicke

Terry Thomas, comedian

Emma Thompson

Rip Torn

Peter Ustinov

Brenda Vaccaro

Karen Valentine

Rudy Vallee

Dick Van Dyke

Graham Walker a.k.a. Grumbleweeds, English comedian

Wil Wheaton

James Whitmore

Treat Williams

Bruce Willis

William Windom

Oprah Winfrey

Mare Winningham

Joanne Woodward

Keenan Wynn

Stephanie Zimbalist

Left-Handed Artists

Albrecht Dürer

M.C. Escher

Hans Holbein

Paul Klee

Michelangelo

LeRoy Neiman

Raphael

Leonardo da Vinci (RH paralyzed?)

Left-Handed Musicians

Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, composer

David Byrne (Talking Heads)

Glen Campbell

Vicki Carr

Natale Cole

Kurt Cobain (Nirvana)

Phil Collins (Genesis)

Billy Corgan (Smashing Pumpkins)

Dick Dale (guitarist)

Don Everly (The Everly Brothers)

Phil Everly (The Everly Brothers)

Bela Fleck, jazz musician

Glenn Frey (the Eagles)

Eric Gale, guitarist

Noel Gallagher (Oasis) (?)

Errol Garner, jazz pianist

Judy Garland

Crysal Gayle

Kevin Griffin, guitarist & lead singer (Better than Ezra)

Thomas Hedley, vocalist/musician

Jimi Hendrix

Isaac Hayes

Tony Iommi, guitarist (Black Sabbath)

Albert King, guitarist

Melissa Manchester

Chuck Mangione, trumpet

Martina McBride ?, country music singer

Paul McCartney (the Beatles; Wings)

Christie Marie Melonson (opera)

George Michael (Wham!)

Peter Nero, conductor

Joe Perry ? (Aerosmith)

Robert Plant (Led Zepplin)

Cole Porter, song-writer

Sergei Rachmaninoff ?, composer

Maurice Ravel ?, composer

Lou Rawls

John Lydon a.k.a. Johnny Rotten (Sex Pistols / Public Image Ltd.)

Rich Szabo, trumpeter

Seal

Ringo Starr (?) (the Beatles)

Paul Simon (Simon & Garfunkel)

Tiny Tim

Rudy Valee

Lenny White, drummer

Paul Williams, song-writer

Left-Handed Authors

James Baldwin, novelist

Bet Bowen, horror novelist

Peter Benchley, novelist

Lewis Carroll

Richard Condon, novelist

Jean Genet

Marshall McLuhan

Diane Paul

Helen Hooven Santmyer, novelist

Viktoria Stefanov

Samuel C. Warner (?), poet

H.G. Wells

Jessamyn West

Eudora Welty, see One Writer's Beginnings (1983:27)

[Thomas Carlyle - switched to left due to injury]

Left-Handed U.S. Politicos
Senator Bill Bradley, Rhodes scholar, basketball star
McGeorge Bundy, presidential advisor

Benjamin Franklin, statesman/publisher/scientist
Steve Forbes, businessman/publisher
Jean-Marc Froidevaux ?, Swiss politician
Ruth Bader Ginsberg, Supreme Court Justice
Senator Daniel Inouye
Anthony Kennedy, Supreme Court Justice
Alan Keyes, US Senator, US Ambasador
Brigadier Gen. Lee Hsien Loon, Deputy Prime Minister of Singapore
John McCain, US SenatorB
Robert S. McNamara, Secretary of Defense
Col. Oliver North, White House aid
H. Ross Perot, businessman
William Perry, Secretary of Defense

Nelson Rockefeller, Vice President
Senator Hugh Scott
Robert Wagner, New York mayor
Henry Wallace, Vice President
[Senator Bob Dole - switched to left due to injury]

Miscellaneous Left-Handers
Joan of Arc (?), French heroine
Lloque Yapanqui (?), Inca monarch
Ramses II (?), Egyptian pharaoh
Tiberius (?), Roman emperor

Alexander the Great
Charlemagne, Holy Roman emperor
Julius Caesar, Roman general
Napoléon Bonaparte (?), French emperor
Josephine de Beauharnais
King Louis XVI of France
Queen Victoria of England
King George II of England
King George VI of England
Prince Charles of England
Prince William of England
Fidel Castro, Cuban leader
Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli prime-minister
Ehud Olmert, Israeli prime-minister
Nicole d'Oresme, mathematician
Henry Ford, automobile manufacturer

David Rockefeller, banker
Dwight F. Davis, founder of the Davis Cup
Helen Keller, advocate for the blind
Dr. Albert Schweitzer, physician/missionary
August Piccard, inventor of stratosphere,

Bathosphere
Edwin Buzz Aldrin, astronaut
Wally Schirra, astronaut
Dr. Mark Silver, surgeon
Paul Prudhomme, chef
Cecil Beaton, photographer/costume designer
Lord Baden-Powell, founder of the Boy Scouts (ambidexterous)
Dave Barry, journalist
David Broder, journalist
Edward R. Murrow, correspondent
Ted Koppel, journalist
Forrest Sawyer, journalist
Ray Suarez, journalist
John F. Kennedy, Jr., lawyer/publisher
Caroline Kennedy, lawyer/author
Ron Reagan, son of Ronald Reagan
Vin Scully, sports broadcaster
David Letterman (?), host
Jay Leno, host
Lenny Bruce, comedian
Allen Ludden, host
Joel Hodgson, host of Mystery Science Theater
Wink Martindale, game show host
Uri Geller, psychokinetic performer
Richard Simmons, exercise guru
Euell Gibbons, naturalist
Marie Dionne, one of the Dionne quintuplets
General H. Norman Schwarzkopf
Clarence Darrow, lawyer
F. Lee Bailey, lawyer
Melvin Belli, lawyer
Marcia Clark, lawyer
Alan Funt, television producer
Milt Caniff, cartoonist
Bill Mauldin, cartoonist
Cathy Guisevite, cartoonist
Matt Groening, cartoonist
Jean Plantureux (Plantu), political cartoonist
Pat Oliphand, political cartoonist Ronald Searle, cartoonist
Pat Robertson, evangelist/politician
N.B. Forrest, Confederate general
John Dillinger, criminal/bank robber
Boston Strangler (Albert Henry DeSalvo), serial killer
Jack-the-Ripper, serial killer
John Wesley Hardin, Western gunslinger
Bart Simpson, cartoon character
[King Edward III of England, due to stroke]

London: Pop takes podium in "cheeky, cheesy" closing ceremony

By Mike Collett-White | Reuters –

LONDON (Reuters) - Pop will take the podium when London bids farewell to the Olympics on Sunday, with a closing ceremony starring the Spice Girls, Annie Lennox, One Direction and a peculiarly British sense of humor.

Undeterred by criticism that the opening ceremony two weeks ago was too British for the rest of the world to fully comprehend, organizers are looking for local inspiration once again as they attempt to deliver a fitting send-off.

The prying eyes of the media and artists unable to contain their excitement have dashed all hopes of keeping the cast a secret, in a show titled "A Symphony of British Music".

Virtually confirming their participation after months of speculation, 90s chart-toppers the Spice Girls are reuniting for a nostalgic blast of "Girl Power", performing at the main Olympic Stadium from on top of London's distinctive black taxis.

They, along with Jessie J, Tinie Tempah, Queen guitarist Brian May, Annie Lennox and George Michael, have all been photographed rehearsing at the Ford car plant in East London's Dagenham, while Muse and Ed Sheeran revealed they will sing.

Still not confirmed but widely rumored to be joining them are Madness, The Who and Liam Gallagher's band Beady Eye, while the reclusive "Running Up That Hill" singer Kate Bush could perform on video.

Monty Python comic Eric Idle was also spotted, and, bearing in mind music director David Arnold's promise to get the audience involved, a mass singalong of "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life" could be a decent bet.

Once again the set is expected to comprise a central stage surrounded by a road around which vehicles can travel, and a cast of around 4,000 volunteers will dance and skip to the beat of music through the ages.

Famous London landmarks like Tower Bridge, the London Eye, parliament's "Big Ben" Clock Tower and St Paul's Cathedral have been reconstructed to complement the action.

"If the opening ceremony was the wedding, then we're the wedding reception," Arnold said in a newspaper interview, suggesting that the two ceremonies would complement each other.

ECHOES

The Beatles may be honored again on Sunday evening, just as they were a fortnight ago when Paul McCartney led spectators in a sing-a-long of "Hey Jude".

Music spanning the centuries, including stirring tunes by Elgar, is set to return, as are words from William Shakespeare.

"Pixel boxes" on every seat of the 80,000-capacity arena will be used again to create vivid, giant backdrops for a show expected to attract hundreds of millions of television viewers after the opening ceremony was watched by close to a billion.

"Cheeky, cheesy and thrilling" was how Arnold has described his vision, all words that could apply equally to an opening ceremony that was unabashedly British in flavor in its humor, cultural and historical references and soundtrack.

Opening ceremony director Danny Boyle earned warm praise from Britain's famously caustic press, but the ceremony was lost in translation for many viewers around the world who were puzzled by what it was trying to say.

They may be scratching their heads again if reports turn out to be true that sitcom "Only Fools and Horses" actors David Jason and Nicholas Lyndhurst appear in their trademark three-wheeled Robin Reliant car dressed as Batman and Robin.

While the comedy series has its fans outside Britain, it will not be instantly recognizable to many tuning in on Sunday.

The 150-minute closing ceremony will include video highlight reels of the July 27-August 12 Games, and in between the music will be the men's marathon medal ceremony, athletes' parade, speeches and a presentation by the next hosts Rio de Janeiro.

"It is never easy to do a flag handover ... but we have very exciting flag handover, very exciting, full of joy, full of passion," said Rio's Olympic producer Marco Balich.

The Olympic Flame, in the form of a giant flower made up of 204 copper "petals" representing the nations taking part, will be extinguished to symbolize the end of London 2012.

The Paralympic Games, which have broken ticket sales records with 2.1 million sold so far, run from August 29 to September 9.

(Additional reporting by Avril Ormsby; Editing by Greg Stutchbury)

London Olympics Second Most-Watched Event In U.S. TV History

By DOMINIC PATTEN

The 2012 London Olympics are now the second most watched event in American TV history. The London Games have had a total audience of 210.5 million over the first 14 days. That audience across NBCUniversal’s networks of NBC, NBC Sports Network, MSNBC, CNBC, Telemundo and Bravo beats the 1996 Atlanta Olympics’ 209 million viewership but is still behind the 215 million who saw the 2008 Beijing Games. It was a combo of Silver and Gold for NBC’s primetime coverage of Thursday’s XXX Summer Games (13.6/23). In the end London just couldn’t beat Beijing in the ratings but they did beat 2008 in total viewers. Thursday’s primetime final numbers have London 1% down in the ratings from the comparable second Thursday of the 2008 Summer Olympics from China’s capitol. However, in terms of total viewers, NBC pulled in 22.9 million viewers overall last night, just a little bit more than the 22.4 million who watched the comparable night from 2008. And, as any Olympian will tell you, that little bit is the difference between Gold and Silver. Over on NBC Sports Network, the American Women’s team soccer Gold medal winning victory over Japan hit a viewership high for the channel. The game pulled in 4.35 million viewers, surpassing the July 2, 2010 Stanley Cup Final between the Philadelphia Flyer and the Chicago Blackhawks. That game had held the NBC Sports Network record with 3.60 million viewers. The Gold-winning soccer game did well online too, drawing 1.467 streams on NBCOlympics.com to become the most streamed event for this or any past Olympics. Over the 14 nights of the London Olympics, NBC has had an average of 31.9 million viewers overall and a primetime rating of 18.0/30. That’s the best for any non-U.S. Summer Olympics since the Montreal Games of 1976.

PREVIOUS, 8:51 AM: With 90 medals, Thursday saw the United States take a commanding lead at the XXX Summer Games (6.8/20) but in fast nationals, it also saw NBC’s primetime coverage take a fall. Fast nationals had the network’s 8 – 11 PM broadcast down 39% from last Thursday. Despite Usain Bolt’s historic 200 meters victory, plus the American Women’s Team won soccer Gold, Ashton Eaton’s Gold in decathlon and Claressa Shields winning the first women’s boxing Gold for the US in Olympic history, Thursday’s coverage of Day 13 of the London Games was also down 6% from the second Thursday of the 2008 Beijing Games. Still NBC did win the night among Adults 18-49 and in total viewers of 22.40 million.

There were other things on TV besides the Olympics but because of local market NFL pre-emptions, Fox, ABC and CBS fast national ratings are all inflated. Having said that most of the night was repeats but there were some other new things on TV. CBS had a new episode of Big Brother (2.1/6) at 9 PM. The reality show was up 5% over last week’s broadcast. After a repeat of Wipeout (1.6/5) at 8 PM, ABC had a new Wipeout (1.7/5) at 9 PM. That new airing scored big, up 21% from last week’s series low. Following was a new Rookie Blue (1.5/4), which was flat with the last airing two weeks ago. Earlier in the night CBS ran a repeat of The Big Bang Theory (1.8/6). That repeat was, with 6.90 million total viewers, the second most watched show on TV last night after the Olympics. CBS also ran a repeat of Two and a Half Men (1.7/5) and, after Big Brother, it aired an encore Person of Interest (1.1/3). Fox ran two episodes of Raising Hope, one at 8 PM (1.1/4) and one at 8:30 PM (1.1/3), followed by a Glee (1.0/3) repeat.

Russell Crowe as 'Noah'

By DAVID WEINER

Noah's Ark isn't expected to flood theaters until 2014, but to whet your appetite we have a first look at Russell Crowe as the title character.

Darren Aronofsky is directing the biblical epic in which the classic character is given a divine mission: to build an ark to save creation from the coming flood. The film also stars Sir Anthony Hopkins as Methuselah and Jennifer Connelly as Naameh.

Just last month, Aronofsky tweeted a shot of the ark under construction in Long Island, NY, writing, "I dreamt about this since I was 13. And now it's a reality. Genesis 6:14 #noah."

Get Ready to Fire Up the Phone Booth, ‘Bill & Ted 3’ Has a Director

By Nathan Adams

The last time we checked in on the progress of Bill & Ted 3, the screen’s Bill S. Preston, Esq., Alex Winter, informed us that both he and the actor who portrayed “Ted” Theodore Logan, Keanu Reeves, were very much on board to make another sequel, a script for the film had been completed, and everybody was very happy with how it read. Unfortunately, the movie still wasn’t officially green lit by anyone, and wasn’t guaranteed to ever actually happen.

Happily, there’s some new movement regarding the project that suggests we may be one step closer to the glorious fantasy of Bill & Ted 3 getting financed becoming a reality. Vulture is reporting that Bill & Ted creators Ed Solomon and Chris Matheson (who wrote this third Bill & Ted movie on spec) have attached director Dean Parisot to their script, joining both principal actors in a tidy little package that’s likely to look fairly attractive to studios. Parisot mostly busies himself with TV work, but he did also direct the well-liked satire Galaxy Quest back in 1999, so he’s no stranger to big screen comedy.

Now the only question left is who’s actually going to step up and finance this thing. MGM still officially owns the rights to the characters, but word is this new project is being shopped around to the other studios in hopes of finding a co-financier. Solomon and Matheson reportedly view their film, which gives us a look at the lives of the grown-up versions of Bill and Ted, as a mid-priced comedy on the level of something like Hot Tub Time Machine, so it’s not like they’re trying to break the bank by attempting to turn the property into an effects-heavy time travel epic or anything.

Given Hollywood’s recent obsession with remaking things from the ’80s, it’s probably only a matter of time before somebody becomes interested in making more Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure. I guess the only question is if any of the decision makers are going to be willing to do a real-life sequel with a couple of old guys, rather than the now standard reboot with young actors. Seeing as Parisot still has to shoot the sequel to RED this upcoming spring, Solomon and Matheson have plenty of time to sell the idea to the bean counters. Here’s to hoping they succeed, because if our only option other than a new crop of remakes is a crop of sequels to old properties with the original creators involved, we’re probably all in agreement that we’d rather take the sequels. Aren’t we?

Daniel Day-Lewis transforms into Abraham Lincoln in first official picture from Spielberg's biopic

By VIRGINIA SKEELS

Daniel Day-Lewis is famous for immersing himself completely in character for his film roles.

And on the set of the new Abraham Lincoln biopic, the British actor was even called 'Mr President' by director Steven Spielberg and his fellow cast and crew.

'I was calling [all] the actors by their character names,' Spielberg said, as Dreamworks released its first official image from the upcoming historical drama, Lincoln.

'That was something I felt was important to establish a little authenticity, maybe even more for me than for them,' Spielberg told Entertainment Weekly.

Day-Lewis is British, and of Anglo-Irish descent, leaving some Lincoln fans believing the role would be better rendered by an American native.

It seems their sacred cow is safe, however, if images from the film set are anything to go by.

In the photograph, released by the studio yesterday, Daniel Day-Lewis is a dead ringer for the 16th President of the United States as he sits pensively staring into the distance.

Striking an uncanny resemblance to the Civil War leader, the 55-year-old actor is dressed in a three-piece suit and wears his hair and beard in the iconic Lincoln style.

The two-time Oscar winner is known as one of the most selective actors in the film industry, having starred in only five films since 1997, with as many as five years between roles.

The movie, which will be in cinemas on November 9, focuses on the last four months of the president’s life.

It covers the political manoeuvering Lincoln undertook in the final stages of the Civil War to ensure that slavery would be outlawed.

'Our movie is really about a working leader who must make tough decisions and get things done in the face of overwhelming opposition, Spielberg told EW.

Spielberg made the decision roughly a decade ago to optioned the rights to historian Doris Kearns Goodwin’s book, Team of Rivals, about Lincoln and his combative cabinet, when she was still just researching it.

The screenplay has been adapted by Angels in America playwright Tony Kushner from the 2005 best-seller.

The film will also star Sally Field as Mary Todd Lincoln, Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Robert Todd Lincoln, Tommy Lee Jones as Thaddeus Stevens and John Hawkes as Robert Latham.

Disney's Bob Iger Lobbies for Lower Corporate Taxes

by Paul Bond

Bob Iger

"This country is charging among the highest rates in the world," the Disney CEO complains to CNBC's Maria Bartiromo.

Robert Iger, the CEO of the Walt Disney Co., didn’t take the bait on Tuesday when he was given the opportunity to get politically partisan, though he did make an appeal for a lower corporate tax rate.

Iger has supported President Barack Obama and other Democrats thorough his many political donations, and some insiders speculate he has designs on a career in politics once he leaves Disney, so a political question from anchor Maria Bartiromo during a CNBC interview mostly about Disney’s quarterly earnings wasn’t completely out of the blue.

Toward the end of the interview, Bartiromo asked Iger about Obama’s critique of Romney’s plan to lower taxes for many Americans, including those who are considered wealthy. The plan, Obama said Monday at a fundraiser, is akin to “Robin Hood in reverse -- it’s Romney Hood.”

After playing a video clip of Obama uttering the line, Bartiromo asked Iger: “’Romney Hood.’ What do you think about that, Bob?”

“He’s got a sense of humor,” said Iger, who has given more than $85,000 to Obama and other Democrats in the past 18 months.

“We’re not going to take a position on the presidential election,” Iger continued, before taking a few moments to lament governmental gridlock.

Bartiromo, though, appeared antsy for something more specific, and Iger eventually came through for her by seemingly lobbying for smaller taxes on corporations -- like Disney, for example.

“Corporate taxes have to be looked at carefully,” said Iger. “This country is charging among the highest rates in the world in terms of corporate taxes. In order for us to be competitive with the world, we’ve got to take a very, very serious look at our corporate tax structure.”

“Thank you for addressing that, Bob,” said Bartiromo, “It’s so important, because we have all this money of major, multinational corporations that have their money overseas and are unwilling to bring it back because of the tax code.”