On Monday, Take Two discusses Daniele Watts' recent detainment after police received a call of indecent exposure. We'll also look at the role other Arab Nation will play as the U.S. gears up to take action against the group calling itself the Islamic State. Plus, the NFL continues to get bad publicity after Minnesota Vikings star Adrian Peterson was indicted on child abuse charges, LA Magazine writer Bill Esparza takes us on a culinary tour of Guatemala, all this and much more.
What role will Arab nations take in the military response to ISIS?
Over the weekend, the group calling itself the Islamic State released a video showing yet another beheading, this time of a British citizen, prompting broader calls for action in the region.
"The sensationalism around the video release has galvanized public support for intervention in the Middle East," said Juan Cole professor of history at the University of Michigan.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry was in Paris today where leaders from 30 nations agreed to take action, including military force, against the group known as ISIS.
Several Arab nations have also offered to take part in air strikes against the militants, U.S. officials say.
"However, if you look at the fine print, those commitments are mostly pretty thin," said Cole. "There's not very much of a military commitment."
Cole's recent work is the author, most recently, of The New Arabs: How the Millennial Generation is Changing the Middle East.
Detainment of Daniele Watts raises more questions on race and police
Actress Daniele Watts was detained last week after police reportedly received a call of indecent exposure. Watts was kissing her boyfriend, who happens to be white, inside of a vehicle and was later approached by two officers who handcuffed her.
This incident comes on the heels of another incident in which a black producer named Charles Belk was handcuffed and detained shortly before the Emmys.
"There's gender angles to the way that race affects policing and law enforcement," says Farai Chideya, host of the podcast ‘One with Farai.’
Adrian Peterson's future with Vikings questioned amid child abuse charges
The Minnesota Vikings announced today that star running back Adrian Peterson will practice with the team this week and "is expected to play" this coming Sunday in New Orleans.
Peterson was indicted Friday on child abuse charges in Texas for using a tree branch to beat his 4-year-old son. After turning himself in and posting bail on Saturday, the Vikings deactivated him for Sunday's game.
Reporter Master Tesfatsion covers the Minnesota Vikings for the Minneapolis StarTribune and joins Take Two for the latest on the story.
Read the full story: Adrian Peterson is out Sunday, and his future is unclear
What do the Ray Rice and Adrian Peterson controversies mean for the NFL?
Last week was a tough one for the NFL — from the Ray Rice domestic violence incident to Adrian Peterson's indictment for child abuse charges.
And yet, the season rolls on as fans continue to pack stadiums, buy jerseys and keep their eyes glued to the TV screen on Sundays.
Sports agent Leigh Steinberg, who has represented professional football players for decades, joins Take Two for a discussion about what the recent controversies mean for the NFL.
Adrian Peterson arrest raises questions about child discipline, race
NFL star Adrian Peterson turned himself in to Texas authorities Saturday on charges of child abuse. The Minnesota Viking's running back is accused of disciplining his 4-year-old son with a small tree branch, or "switch," causing injuries to his arms, legs, back, scrotum, hands, and buttocks.
The situation raises questions about child discipline and, for some, race. Journalist DeNeen Brown wrote about the debate around spanking, especially within the African American community, for the Washington Post back in 1998. And Peterson's arrest prompted the Post to republish it.
Brown joined Take Two on Monday to continue the conversation. According to Brown, experts she spoke to in her reporting said that spanking is seen by some within the Black community as a cultural tradition thought to prepare children for "a world that will be mean to them because of the color of their skin." But, she points out, most of her African American friends have chosen not to discipline their children in the same manner, choosing to raise their children differently than the way they were raised.
On The Lot: 'No Good Deed' tops the box office and the Daniele Watts story develops
What's going on in the entertainment industry? That's a question we answer every week with Rebecca Keegan from the Los Angeles Times, in our regular segment, On The Lot.
1) Idris Elba's new horror movie, "No Good Deed" topped the box office this weekend, and it got there by using a unique social media campaign.
2) A "Frozen" attraction is going to be making its way to Orlando, Florida.
3) Benedict Cumberbatch's new film "The Imitation Game" made huge waves at the Toronto Film Festival, and it might be the first real sign of what's to come during Oscar season.
4) Daniele Watts, an actress who appeared in "Django Unchained", was handcuffed by the LAPD, and her boyfriend alleges that the LAPD mistook her for a prostitute.
Orange County man seeks burial place for Vietnamese vets
American veterans have the right to be buried in veteran cemeteries. But, you don't qualify if you fought alongside U.S. forces, like South Vietnamese troops did during the Vietnam War.
New America Media's Ngoc Nguyen met a group of Vietnamese vets establishing the first National South Vietnamese Cemetery in Southern California.
Look back at Japanese social clubs: A place for girls exploring American identity
In the 1930s, thousands of second generation Japanese-American girls banded together through social clubs under their church or YWCAs.
It was a way to explore their American identity, but also play sports, do community service and, unofficially, meet boys.
"I’m sure parents thought it was one way to keep an eye on their daughters and know who their friends were," said UCLA historian Valerie Matsumoto, who wrote about these clubs in her book City Girls: The Nisei Social World in Los Angeles.
These social clubs saw their peak in the late 1930s, when they numbered anywhere up to 600, Matsumoto said. But the stories of these clubs are quickly fading as members age and die, reports KPCC's Josie Huang.
Read the full story: Growing up Nisei: The social clubs of Japanese-American girls
Allah-Las: How working at a record store helped the band get its start
As U2, Beyonce and Radiohead are pushing the digital platform to sell albums, lesser-known bands are selling more records through vinyl. At least that's the case for L.A.’s garage-rock band Allah-Las.
The band formed in 2008 when most of the members were working at Amoeba — L.A.'s largest record store. Drummer Matthew Correia says that's also where the band's sound was shaped.
"We worked upstairs ... switching CD cases into new ones and we listened to a lot of records that way."
One record Correia was influenced by was "I Tried to Save This Love of Ours" by Faine Jade — a '60s psychedelic-garage-rock band.
Correia says when he learned to play drums, he played along to this song.
"I think it was just the way they recorded the drums for those demos. Not a lot of mics, and things are kind of simple. And I think that I was used to hearing things that were polished and turned down, and that affected me. I thought it was pretty cool."
Another record the band stumbled upon at a record store was "Back to Stay" by Bridget St. John.
Bassist Spencer Dunham says he was attracted to the '60s British folksinger's voice, which sounds a lot like Nico from The Velvet Underground.
"That's one of the most heartbreaking songs I've ever heard and it was produced by someone who was involved with Pink Floyd's early records and they used this thing called the celestial organ on it, and it has this very ethereal vibe."
Singer Miles Michaud says he frequented Amoeba throughout high school and discovered a lot of artists he would have never found otherwise. Michaud says, "It was the beginning of a long musical journey."
Allah-Las new album, Worship the Sun, will be released in record stores on Sept. 16.
Guatemalan cuisine: A bitter taste foraged from the land
Generally when we hear about Central America and Guatemala these days, it's about the crushing poverty that sends thousands of people risking their lives to cross the border.
But, Take Two food contributor Bill Esparza has seen a different side of the country after a culinary tour of 13 towns in Guatemala where he tried many traditional Mayan dishes.
Esparza, who writes for Los Angeles Magazine and his own blog Street Gourmet LA, says the small country has a national cuisine with regional dishes.
"The flavor profile of Guatemala is like a bitter flavor, which is not a bad thing," Esparza says. "It's one of the four flavors we should be experiencing. They have a lot of bitter herbs and vegetables."
One of the more memorable dishes he tried was a crab soup cooked with an herb called chipilín.
"It wasn't the usual soup we're used to with lots of stock inside of it. It was a really light, clear broth, and it had this chipilín just loaded up in there — that and the crab gave it so much flavor," Esparza says, adding that a lot of the ingredients used are foraged from the land.
Peculiarly-themed museums in China boast concrete, socks and roast duck
There's an ongoing battle for culture in China, and it's being fought with museums. There's a sock museum, a concrete museum — even a watermelon museum. Chinese day-trippers are now spoiled for choices and, last year, a new museum opened its doors there almost every day.
"China's cultural scene has certainly flourished in recent years from art, to music and, of course, museums," reports BBC's Martin Patience. "Curator Cheng Guoqin says part of the reason the government supports the opening of new museums is that it improves the country's image."
Read the full story: China's museum boom hatches roast duck tribute
TIFF14: Kevin Smith's 'Tusk' and audience fandom at Midnight Madness
When Kevin Smith premiered his new movie, "Tusk," in the Midnight Madness program of this year's Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), it was a career high for the filmmaker. (No, that's not a pun on how Smith is promoting "Tusk" through tie-in strands of medicinal marijuana at L.A.'s Buds & Roses.)
Smith told The Frame producer Michelle Lanz that being part of the famed late-night section of TIFF for the first time in his career "...makes a fella feel good. I can still show 'em something new after two decades doing the job."
"Tusk" is a comedy-horror flick about a crass podcaster played by Justin Long (the guy who was the Mac in those Mac ads with John Hodgman as a PC). He gets captured by a sadistic old man who wants to turn him into a walrus. Yes, a walrus.
Colin Geddes, the programmer for TIFF's Midnight Madness section, told Lanz: "'Tusk' was so committed in its WTF-ness, that I had to pick it."
Since 1997, Geddes has been selecting the movies for the Midnight Madness program. Each year he gets hundreds of submissions, but can only choose 10 films. Of those that get screenings there's a chance a career could be made. That happened in 2002 when Eli Roth's "Cabin Fever" premiered and sparked a fierce bidding war among film buyers who wanted the distribution rights.
But Geddes says that what he keeps foremost in his mind when programming Midnight Madness is the unique and committed audience.
"Out of all the films at the festival, the Midnight Madness audience I would say is the audience that is most excited to be there. At the same time they're also really smart and savvy cinephiles. We have directors and actors that [believe] no one's going to be around for a Q&A at 1 o'clock, 2 o'clock in the morning. [But] my audience always does me proud and always asks sharp and pertinent questions and they really surprise the talent."
Toronto local Boyn Deen is one of those devoted audience members. Standing at the front of the line to see the Belgian slasher film, "Cub," Deen explained why she and her friends attend Midnight Madness:
"Some of these movies will never see another screen in North America. Some of the movies never get distribution in North America. You can't get it on DVD. So you want to see something weird and new? You do Midnight Madness."
To learn more about TIFF's Midnight Madness mayhem, check out their blog.
Where unaccompanied minors go when they immigrate to LA
More than 40,000 unaccompanied children have fled to the U.S. since January to escape violence plaguing their home Central American countries.
However, minors have been coming to the U.S. for years without their families — sometimes to escape violence and other times to make money they can send back home.
Stephanie Canizales, a USC doctoral student, has been researching how these minors grew up alone in a foreign land. She has been documenting a support group in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Pico-Union for former child migrants — now in their 20s in and 30s — many of whom came for economic opportunities.
"These are adults who arrived when they were as young as 12 years old," she says. "Parents have no idea what their children are facing, so children are left in a bubble of isolation."
Canizales says some of them left at a young age against their parents' wishes.
"Sometimes the parents are begging their children, 'Don't go,' and once they're here, 'Please come back.'"
Once they arrive, she says some will find shelter in a church. Others will accept the fact that they'll be homeless for a few days or weeks until they find work and, through other employees, a place to live. Sometimes they'll find a relative, but Canizales says she's seen several cases where siblings living in Los Angeles choose not to live with each other.
"I think it has to do with people being unable to provide support that does not put them into some financial bind," she says. "Because of these conditions of poverty, there is no sense of, 'I'm responsible for you.'"
Their journey would be much different if they arrived as adults, too, with more stable social networks and a better education.
"They talk a lot about retraso — setback," she says. For example: At 16, one child might be working to save enough to be comfortable 3-4 years down the line. By that time, he's aged out of the high school system, and so it will take him 5-6 years to earn a GED or diploma.
That will place him far behind other people his age in America.
Plus, she says the traumas of migrating at such a young age can delay a person's settling into the US even longer.
"There's a case of a young man who, at 14 years old, migrated," she says. He was traveling with his cousin at the time, but had to leave him in the desert because of his failing health and the environmental conditions. "He spent his first three years in the U.S. with depression, and a sense of guilt and shame."
For many, Canizales said, the struggle is worth it.
"The conditions of poverty [in their home countries] is so strong that they would still come," Canizales says. "They say, 'We work harder than the average American 18 year old. My parents don't support me.'"