Take Two looks at the latest on the Asiana flight 214 crash, Congress resets to tackle student loans and immigration reform, and we preview the new film "A Girl and a Gun"
Airline industry probes into Asiana crash
We're learning more about Saturday's crash-landing at the San Francisco International Airport.
Investigating officials have reported that Asiana Airlines Flight 214 was slow on its approach to the airport and the crew attempted to abort the landing just before the crash.
Of the 307 passengers and crew on board the flight, all but two survived.
The San Mateo County Coroner's office is now investigating whether one of those two passengers killed had survived the crash but was struck by an emergency vehicle on the ground.
More than 180 people went to the hospital but only a small number suffered critical injuries.
As the investigation continues, officials will sort through the wreckage from the plane to determine what may have happened.
They'll also look at whether the pilot's inexperience with both the type of aircraft and the airport played a role.
Pilot error is certainly being considered as a possible cause of the accident.
Guest: George Ferguson, airline and aerospace analyst for Bloomberg Industries
Asiana students part of larger trend headed for Southern California summer camps
Thirty of the 70 Chinese students and teachers on board Asiana Flight 214 were heading to the West Valley Christian Church in the San Fernando Valley for a three-week summer program. They're part of a larger trend of Chinese students coming to the United States for education opportunities.
Before 2008, only Chinese businessmen were allowed to travel to the U.S. Since then, the number of Chinese visitors has continued to grow. About 200,000 Chinese students studied abroad in the U.S. last year, making it the fifth straight year of 20 percent growth.
To learn more about these programs and the students who attend them, Take Two reached out to Clayton Dube at the USC U.S.-China Institute.
Prison photographs are bittersweet for friends and relatives
For 25 years, certain California inmates held in isolation were banned from sending personal photographs of themselves to friends and family.
Officials said that prison gang leaders were using them as a kind of 'calling card'.
But with no way to track what their loved ones look like - many of the men in prisons like Pelican Bay became all but invisible to relatives living hundreds and even thousands of miles away.
Prison officials have since eased those restrictions and hundreds of families are seeing the faces of their relatives - some for the first time in decades.
KQED's Michael Montgomery spent nearly a year with the Center for Investigative Reporting gathering photos, letters and other artifacts, tracing the solitary lives of men detained at Pelican Bay.
You can see the old, and new, photos of some of Pelican Bay's isolation inmates on the Center for Investigative Reporting's 'Solitary Lives'.
Flying across the country in a solar powered plane
What would you feel would be a reasonable amount of time for you to fly from San Francisco to New York? Six hours? Maybe seven if you're delayed?
For Andre Borschberg it was two months.
That's because he was doing it in a solar powered plane while making stops across the country.
Yesterday he and a fellow pilot wrapped up the first trans-American flight powered completely by the sun.
We spoke with Andre back in May before his trip started, so we thought that we'd catch up with him now that it's over.
On The Lot with Rebecca Keegan: Sequels: Why Hollywood can't kick the habit
Is Hollywood putting all there eggs in the sequel basket?
This summer there are 12 big sequels. Everything from Iron Man 3 to Smurfs 2. There are some good reasons why executives like to keep rolling over the same material. It makes marketing films easier, and a successful "franchise" can mean studios can create other revenue - everything from action figures to theme park rides.
Still, as Rebecca Keegan notes, sequels are nothing new. The Greek poets, she says, knew how to tell a story and then build another behind it. But lots of creative types in Hollywood aren't thrilled by the prospect of continually rehashing material.
Whatever. Seems like, at least for the foreseeable future, sequels will be coming back, and back, and back...
Odd Hollywood Jobs: US-China film 'ambassador' (video)
This is one in a series on Odd Hollywood Jobs — not acting or directing, but rather the tasks you haven't heard of. You can read other segments in this series at the links below the story.
Back in the day, performers used to ask whether they could take their act on the road by asking, “Will it play in Peoria?”
But in 2013, it’s now Hollywood out there asking, “Will it show in Shanghai?"
And it's Peter Shiao's job to help be a guide.
“As you look at the growth of the Chinese market, box-office-wise they’re going to surpass North America within five years," he says.
Shiao is the CEO and founder of the production company Orb Media group and the head of the U.S.-China Film Summit.
In addition to making films, he also acts as an ambassador between the two countries' film industries. And that partnership is worth a lot of money: The Chinese audience is estimated to be worth $5 billion by 2015.
“That’s going to cause a major shift in how business is done, so we know how to work with that reality," says Shiao.
One piece of insight he gives is what works for Chinese audiences and what doesn’t.
For example, take an action film high on explosions like "The Avengers" or a high-budget romance like "Titanic," and you’ve got a blockbuster in Beijing. (Story continues below the Chinese-subtitled "Avengers" trailer window.)
But make a movie with cultural faux pas or insensitivities, and your film’s chances overseas are sunk.
“Right now if you look at current Hollywood movies, there’s not too many reasons for Chinese audiences to be excited about Hollywood movies," says Shiao. "They don’t reflect any level of accessibility to any average Chinese person.”
What didn't work
Here’s a movie Shiao says didn’t work: M. Night Shyamalan’s 2010 film “The Last Airbender.”
The live-action film was based on a hit Nickelodeon cartoon series. It’s set in a world influenced by Asian culture and martial arts. And it’s about a boy named Aang, born with the power to manipulate the elements.
"By the time [it came] to casting, they made every Asian character in that story Caucasian, and then they decided to make all the bad guys in that movie Asians," says Shiao. "Here’s a potential tentpole franchise that you can use to connect the world, and it didn’t.” (Story continues below trailer window.)
To pitch your tent in China, you also have to win over some tough critics: the Chinese government.
“I think one of the things when people think about China, they think about regulations. How do you dance with the regulatory barriers?” says Shiao.
And you need to take care not to step on some sensitive toes: Only 34 foreign films can be shown in the country every year. That’s tough competition.
To help make the cut, Shiao educates American filmmakers on how to make movies that attract Chinese audiences. But at the same time, he’ll advise them on how to get a thumbs-up from the censors.
“Certain freedoms of storytelling and expression that is here is not there," says Shiao. "So when that is taken from you, you don’t know where to push and where to let go."
But as much as Hollywood needs China at the box office, China’s growing film industry needs L.A., too, for the know-how to make them a worldwide player.
L.A. expertise
“There’s global distribution channels, there’s marketing, there’s a wealth of information that’s been contained here in Hollywood that’s been building for over a century, whereas China is new to the game," says Shiao. "China needs all kind of expertise.”
Shiao helps Chinese filmmakers connect with L.A. screenwriters, directors and more who have those skills they need to develop.
It’s all part of his job as cultural matchmaker.
And when he’s not counseling studios on both sides of the Pacific, Shiao makes his own movies that, coincidentally, also bridge cultures. Like an action film currently in production called "Legend of 18."
“Kuang Ju who is a warrior monk who just emerged from a very, very prolonged meditation deep in the mountains of China," explains Shiao,."And he’s meeting his ancient nemesis and former best friend Joey Sawyer, who’s an American mixed-martial arts fighter being released out of prison.”
It’s an apt metaphor for East meets West. And if this film – coproduced in the U.S. and China – is a hit, Shiao says it could blaze a trail in how more movies make it to your theater.
RELATED: Odd Hollywood Jobs: Military liaison
RELATED: Odd Hollywood Jobs: US-China film ambassador
RELATED: Odd Hollywood Jobs: Dialect coach
RELATED: Odd Hollywood Jobs: Music supervisor
RELATED: Odd Hollywood Jobs: Science adviser
RELATED: Odd Hollywood Jobs: Looper
RELATED: Odd Hollywood Jobs: Set teacher
RELATED: Odd Hollywood Jobs: Costume designer
Why the McWrap and its 9 ingredients are vital to McDonald's future
Some time ago, McDonald's realized it had a "freshness" problem. Its younger customers, age 18 to 32, were opting for fresher, seemingly healthier options from competitors like Subway and Chipotle. So in April of this year, McDonald's debuted the McWrap. Bloomberg Businessweek reporter Susan Berfield got an inside look at McDonald's test kitchen, which spent nearly two years focus-grouping the new product. She joins Take Two with her story.
California National Guard feels brunt of sequestration
Today, sequestration hits home for the Defense Department - and it hits hard.
Furloughs start for 650 thousand of the department's employees.
From now until the end of the fiscal year - about three months - these workers have to take an unpaid day off each week.
Those affected include the National Guard members who respond to public emergencies in each state.
Guest: California National Guard spokesman Captain William Martin