FIFA elects its new president in the wake of the corruption scandal, the legal implications of Richard Prince's selfie exhibit, laws and gang members.
FIFA elections: Sepp Blatter re-elected as president [updated]
Sepp Blatter won a fifth term in office as FIFA president after challenger Prince Ali bin al-Hussein of Jordan conceded defeat. This after several members of soccer's governing body were indicted for bribery and a criminal investigation was launched looking into the 2018 and 2022 World Cups.
Vivek Chaudhary, sports writer for ESPN, joined the show for more.
This story has been updated
A profile of Anne Gust Brown, the 'most powerful first lady in the country'
You know the saying, "Behind every great man is a great woman"?
In the case of California Governor Jerry Brown, that "great woman" isn't exactly behind him, she's right at his side.
Anne Gust Brown is not only the first lady of California, she also serves as her husband's "special counsel" and closest adviser.
She rarely grants interviews, but she did recently spend time with Vauhini Vara, business and technology correspondent for NewYorker.com, for a profile featured in California Sunday Magazine. Vara spoke with Take Two's Alex Cohen about California's first lady.
To hear the full interview with Vauhini Vara, click the link above.
'San Andreas' writer Carlton Cuse on taking some liberties with seismic realities
The new film "San Andreas" explores what might happen if California experienced the largest magnitude earthquake in recorded history.
A seismic swarm along a previously undetected fault near Nevada's Hoover Dam crosses the border to trigger a massive jolt which hits L.A. hard. But it doesn't stop there— the seismic activity triggers a massive tsunami in San Francisco.
The film's screenwriter, Carlton Cuse, is no stranger to over-the-top stories. He was one of the show runners on the ABC hit "Lost." He joined Take Two for an interview about the film.
INTERVIEW HIGHLIGHTS:
On his own experience with the 1994 Northridge earthquake
"It had a big impact on me in terms of writing this movie... It was very early in the morning when the earthquake went off, I remember by wife running to my daughter's room and she was yelling, 'Caroline!' She couldn't find my daughter, she'd been shaken out of bed... a bookcase had come down, she finally found her on the floor. I mean it was really terrifying... So I sort of carried that with me emotionally as I was writing the screenplay."
On balancing believability and accuracy with really just wanting to thrill people
"It's a popcorn movie, and intentionally so. And movies are meant to be metaphoric. It's not a documentary about earthquakes... Yes, the movie's wildly exaggerated, but there have also been absolutely terrifying earthquakes. There was an earthquake in Chile in 1960 that leveled the city of Hilo, Hawaii, with a tsunami 8,000 miles away.
So, you know, it's like the movie 'Jaws.' Yes, there are giant great white sharks, but there aren't many that actually tear boats apart and are killed with exploding scuba tanks either."
On what it is that gets people excited about disaster films
"We live relatively mild lives compared to our prehistoric ancestors, and I think movies are sort of metaphoric journeys. We kind of want to go to hell and back and see if we survive, and a good movie will take you on that kind of a ride. You want to sort of have the kind of thrills and chills of danger, but obviously in a safe environment."
On how writing a move like this differs from writing a TV show
"I really work in television, so writing this movie was incredibly liberating because, you know, [with] television you have constraints on what you can actually execute. In this movie there were no constraints. This movie takes visual effects I think to a brand new place. There are things that are done in this movie— a combination of practical and visual effects— that are brand new, and I think pretty jaw-dropping."
To hear the full interview with Carlton Cuse, click the link above.
How the gang enhancement law has hurt minorities
In the late 1980s, California enacted a law which officially defined the word gang. That same law also provided the ability to add time to a prison sentence if a criminal was deemed to be affiliated with a gang.
Similar laws are now in place in 31 states across the country. Proponents say the gang enhancement law has helped to crack down on crime, but critics say the law is unfair and targets minorities.
Journalist Daniel Alarcón looked into the issue and how it played out in one case in California's Central Valley. His piece in the New York Times is titled "How do you define a gang?" and he joined the show with more.
Weekend on the cheap: Jurassic Park trilogy, CicLAvia–Pasadena and a mash-up prom
TGIF. You made it through the four-day week. Well, almost. Just a few more hours! For those of you who have the next couple of days off, we're here to help you plan.
KPCC’s social media producer Kristen Lepore has ideas on how to pass your weekend.
Among this week's highlights are a trilogy screening of Jurassic Park, CicLAvia in Pasadena, a prom hosted by Bootie L.A. and Obscura L.A. Day.
Free weekend? For even more events, click here.
Richard Prince Instagram selfies ignite fair use debate
Imagine this: You take a selfie, and post it to your Instagram account. You get lots of likes and comments, feel great about yourself, and then carry on with life.
Months later, you come to find out that suddenly, your selfie is a $90,000 piece of art, and is hanging in a New York gallery.
Artist Richard Prince did just that to several people on Instagram. Earlier this month, the repurposed selfies were featured in the Frieze New York art fair.
Jack Lerner, who is a UC Irvine law professor specializing in issues dealing with technology and creative expression, explained that Prince's whole career is built upon appropriation -- and the use of these selfies pushes the fair use envelope.
"What he's really doing is saying, I'm going to make a statement about this type of work, about the concept of attribution," Lerner said. "Essentially, his art is a form of trolling, and by trolling, he's stimulating a debate."
Considering that nothing is sacred on the Internet, some may say that Prince's move comes as no surprise. But Lerner says that Instagram users don't necessarily give up any and all rights to their photos.
"It doesn't mean that other people can use them," Lerner said. "You could say Richard Prince has also broken copyright law. So really, his only defense, and it's a pretty robust one, is that by creating a debate, and adding value by virtue of putting them in a gallery and putting his name on them, that he's made a fair use."
The SuicideGirls strike back
Among the images Prince took from Instagram was a photo of a SuicideGirl. The SuicideGirls are group of young models who often sport colorful hair, tattoos and piercings, and are meant to appeal to an alternative idea of beauty.
SuicideGirls founder Selena Mooney, AKA Missy Suicide, was not pleased.
"It's a violation. I understand the discussion that he's trying to start about digital rights, but I feel like, with Warhol, he took from corporations and people that were contemporaries, and what Prince is doing is taking from punk rock kids," she said.
So, Missy came up with a plan to take a stand for her girls. They decided to print the exact image that Prince used in his show, and sell it for $90.
"We thought that we would take this opportunity to turn the tables on Richard Prince and sell the images for a price that the people who are in the images could afford," she said.
Another business says bye to Southern California
Semiconductor manufacturer Avago Technologies on Thursday agreed to acquire local chip maker Broadcom for $37 billion in cash and stock.
According to a report in the LA Times, part of this deal involves Broadcom moving its headquarters from southern California to Singapore.
This is just the latest departure of a major company from Southern California. For more on why businesses are leaving and what this means for our economic future, we're joined now by Jordan Levine, director of Economic Research for Beacon Economics.
Does CicLAvia lead to more cyclists in SoCal?
The latest installment of CicLAvia hits Pasadena on Sunday, with roads blocked off to cars so bikes and pedestrians can have the streets all to themselves.
The best outcome for organizers is that people ride the event, and then spend the following weeks changing their routines to cycle more instead of drive.
Not to brag, but they probably want more people like me. I'm one of the station's resident cyclists. I don't own spandex, but I use my bike to get to work most days. I also bike to the grocery store, library or meet-ups with friends.
Whether CicLAvia encourages people to do that, too, is tough to measure.
I took an unscientific survey of bike shops along past CicLAvia routes to see if they noticed any uptick in their clientele.
"CicLAvia probably increased ridership a little bit, but it's not like it doubled or anything like that," says Derek Nuhfer at Metropolis Bikes in Toluca Lake.
His shop was stationed in the very middle of the route running through the San Fernando Valley in March. Nuhfer says there was a slight jump in the people who came through and passed by his shops in the weeks afterward, but it will take a while to truly see the after-effects.
"Whether or not you may see more riders on the street, I'm sure at least in the back of their heads they did learn a little bit about the benefits of cycling," he says.
He and others say to think of CicLAvia as a marketing campaign: you're subtly convincing people that there are streets in Southern California where biking is safe.
It's only a piece of that attitude-shift, however. Improving bike infrastructure like more lanes and racks are important, for example, to make that every day experience positive.
If you have stories of what convinced you to cycle more – or reasons why you don't – let us know in the comments.
Black Girls Do Bike: defying stereotypes
Black Girls Do Bike Los Angeles organizes rides and provides skills and safety training for women of color throughout the county. The group is part of a national network and has grown to about 650 members in a single year.
Lula Carter is the organizer, and she's know as the "shero" -- or female hero -- of the Los Angeles division. Carter is a heart attack survivor who began cycling to improve her health. She started a Facebook group in May 2014 to encourage more women to get healthy, connect with their neighborhoods, and to have fun in the process.
"I always tell people if you come for a ride, you need to come be ready to laugh and be ready to crack jokes," said Carter.
Black Girls Do Bike LA meets every Wednesday night for an 8-mile training ride at Rowley Park in Gardena.
Though all of the Wednesday night members said that they joined the group to develop their cycling skills, they also acknowledged there is a stereotypical belief that black women don't cycle.
Denise Kay Dowdy is a member who joined the Wednesday night training ride. Dowdy was not sure how the group got its title, but the name, she said, spoke volumes.
"If you look at it as a sport, traditionally, you don't see a lot of African American women out riding, nor African American men. Predominately people who ride bikes at this caliber don't look like me," said Dowdy.
Registered nurse and self-identified "newbie" cyclist Kimberly Mills says says many people look surprised when they see her riding her bike.
"People try to put us in a box," said Mills. "But not everyone fits in that box...Once we get out there and show it, then it becomes normal."
If you wish to join the group or want to learn more, visit their site blackgirlsdobike.com.
California Science Center to place space shuttle fuel tank alongside Endeavour
Maybe you remember, a couple of years ago when the Space Shuttle Endeavour made its way to the California Science Center in LA.
It was flown in on the back of a 747 and slowly moved through the city. Trees had to be uprooted to fit it down streets, which were also shut to traffic, But it was a huge event as thousands of people came out to look at what was happening.
Well, LA will get to experience another shuttle related trip. That's because the California Science Center will also be getting the last remaining shuttle fuel tank. And it's being transported all of the way from Louisiana.
Jeffrey Rudolph, the President of the California Science Center, joins A Martinez to talk about what it'll take to bring the huge fuel tank to the CSC.