President Obama's push for a 12-nation trade deal in the Asia Pacific region, the trends forming across TV's landscape, Mexico's devotion to Morrissey.
Obama's push for Asia trade deal shines light on California industries
President Barack Obama is making a big push for a 12-nation trade deal in the Asia Pacific region. It's called the Transpacific Partnership, or TPP.
On Tuesday, Congress is set to take up a bill that would fast-track the process, something the president has been calling for. But both the trade pact and the congressional action have drawn criticism from some of Mr. Obama's traditional allies.
For more, we're joined by Paul Kane, congressional reporter for the Washington Post and Jeffrey Wasserstrom, professor of history at the University California, Irvine and author of "China in the 21st Century."
A preview of broadcast TV upfronts week
It's "upfronts" time once again. That's television lingo for the week when broadcast TV bigwigs, actors, showrunners, and ad executives descend on New York. New shows, lineups and renewals will be announced, and some shows will get the axe.
Debra Birnbaum, Variety's Executive Editor for TV, joins Take Two with a preview.
More viewers cutting the cord, switching to over-the-air TV
A growing number of viewers are getting rid of their cable subscriptions and switching to over-the-air antennae to watch their favorite shows and movies. And cable companies are taking notice.
Stephen Battaglio, who writes about television and media business for the Los Angeles Times, joined the show to explain more.
Freemasons: Fake lodges are springing up, and Beyoncé and Jay-Z are to blame
Freemasons, the fraternal organization based on medieval fraternities of tradesmen, once operated in secrecy for centuries, so it was bizarre when three self-proclaimed members were arrested and charged for impersonating police officers.
The three people, including a low-level aide to state Attorney General Kamala Harris, had gone around to various police departments introducing themselves as officers of the Masonic Fraternal Police Department. It set off questions by authorities who have launched an investigation.
Several Masonic lodges in Southern California say they were baffled by the news, too.
But some members suspect bogus Masonic lodges are to blame. Christopher Hodapp, a 33rd degree Scottish Rite Freemason and the author of "Freemasons for Dummies," says stars like Beyoncé and Jay-Z led to their rise.
"They use a lot of Masonic symbols in their music videos and on their albums," he says.
Did Beyoncé flash a sign of the Illuminati at her 2013 Super Bowl performance? That's what got the Internet talking when it happened.
Even though their connections are treated as an online joke that spawned sites like Is Beyonce the Illuminati?, Hodapp believes that celebrities are driving up genuine interest in Freemasonry, especially among millennials and African-Americans.
However, he says these groups are unsanctioned and capitalizing on the attention: "They're bogus money-making schemes."
Hodapp adds that official Freemason lodges are more subtle and community-focused.
"You vote on candidates, you investigate candidates, you generally have some Masonic education, and then you adjourn and go and have dinner," he says, describing a typical meeting.
Hodapp says lodge members range in ages from 18 and up and reflect the local community; for example, most lodge members in South L.A. are African-American, according to the LA Weekly.
Also, Masons are only secretive because they had more than enough members for decades, says Hodapp. He estimates there were 5 million Masons worldwide in the 1940s and 1950s.
Many of those members are now dying off. Freemasons have a policy not to recruit – only solicit new members.
But many lodges are trying to attract people by opening themselves up. Hodapp says the Internet has been an important tool because lodges can post their contact information publicly so people can reach out to them.
"We're starting to grow again, very slowly," he says.
California's drought means no work for farmers
California's Central Valley is home to a significant portion of the farm workers who live in the state. As the drought persists into a fourth year, many find that the field work is drying up as well.
For more we are joined by Lauren Markham, who wrote about this topic in the current issue of Pacific Standard.
LACMA director reflects on Chris Burden's legacy
Local sculptor Chris Burden died Sunday from what friends described as malignant melanoma. He was 69.
He became known for his performance art, but will be best remembered by most people in this city for "Urban Light, " the massive installation of vintage street lamps on the grounds of the Los Angeles County Museum Art.
"[The] high-low quality, how inviting they were, how ceremonial they were, they light from dusk to dawn. As you probably know, it doesn't matter whether the museum is open or closed, there are always people gathering around 'Urban Light' as a center piece for the metropolis," said LACMA director Michael Govan said. "He's a great L.A. story about making an internationally, extremely significant career."
Listen to the full interview with Michale Govan by clicking the blue player above.
Two moms with a slightly different perspective on Mother's Day
Mother's Day was yesterday. Everyone celebrates the day differently, some not at all, and invented holiday or not, the day for moms can be a complicated one. Especially for those who don't fit the traditional mom-dad-and-two-kids scenario.
Take Two checks in with a couple of moms with a slightly different perspective on Mother's Day: L.A.-based writer and new mom Amanda Deibert, and StepMom Magazine's