Happy Friday. On today's show, we're talking to Simon Pegg about his new film "Hector and the Search for Happiness." Also, the Cosby Show turns 30 and there's a Feline Film Festival happening in L.A.
White House says 'It's On Us' to prevent campus sexual assault
The White House launched its "It's On Us" campaign today, the latest in the Administration's attempts to combat sexual assault on college campuses across the U.S.
They've called on some celebrities and some big corporate partners to help launch the latest phase in the campaign.
Watch the "It's On Us" PSA:
That PSA started with a man's voice, Actor Jon Hamm of Mad Men fame, and ended with one -- President Obama. That's because "It's On Us" aims to engage more men in sexual assault prevention efforts, in hopes of shifting the culture surrounding the issue.
For more, we're joined by Allie Grasgreen, higher education reporter with Politico.
The Flashback: President Obama and terror, the NFL's problem with domestic abuse and Supreme Court learns hop hop
It's our weekly look at the week in news. Joining us today from Washington,
, national political reporter for The Atlantic, and
, political columnist for the LA Times.
We start with President Obama's plan to fight the terror group known as The Islamic State. The Senate approved a plan Thursday to train and equip Syrian rebels. While it passed, it wasn't universally approved.
One of the criticisms of the Obama offensive is that he did not seek Congressional approval. The administration has said that they don't need approval. But it made many ask: Are we at war or not?
Now to sports and the NFL. On the heels of Ray Rice and Adrian Peterson, we now have Arizona Cardinals Jonathan Dwyer was arrested for assaulting his wife and allegedly breaking her nose with a head butt. What can the league do to respond?
Women's groups are pushing to have commissioner Roger Goddell fired, but the NFL has seen huge revenues under his tenure. Is it likely to happen?
And finally, it's not often that Supreme Court justices tune in to the likes of Tupac Shakur, Public Enemy's Chuck D and the Wu Tang Clan. We'll learn what's behind the lesson.
Scotland votes 'no' on independence from United Kingdom
The votes have been tallied and the results are in: Scotland will remain a part of the United Kingdom.
Lynn Ferguson, a Scottish-born writer and storyteller with the public radio program The Moth, couldn't vote in yesterday's election, but if she could have, she says she would have voted for independence.
Ferguson joins Take Two for her reaction to the results of the vote.
The Cosby Show at 30: Changing the face of black America
Thirty years ago, on September 20,"The Cosby Show" debuted on NBC and went on to dominate our screens for almost a decade.
The award-winning sitcom introduced us to the Huxtables, an upper-middle class black family made up of Heathcliff, Clair and their five children. Plus a cast of ugly sweaters.
"The Cosby Show" covered familiar territory; from children getting body piercings, bad boyfriends and maintaining a long term relationship as parents with professional lives.
Speaking to Take Two's Alex Cohen, Mark Anthony Neal, professor of African and African American Studies at Duke University said "The Cosby Show" broke down racial stereotypes.
"It really was the first program to present not just a middle class, or upper-middle class black family, but a professional family. Clair and Heathcliff Huxtable were educated, they had advanced degrees. It was an image we hadn't seen before."
From 1985 to 1990, "The Cosby Show" held the number one spot in the TV ratings war, appealing to audiences across color lines. Black viewers in particular welcomed a broader representation of African American life on screen, building on the success of shows such as "The Jeffersons", "Sanford and Son" and "Good Times".
"Bill Cosby was very honest about the fact that when he conceived the character of Heathcliff Huxtable, he was looking for images that countered, say, Fred Sanford who was a junk dealer, or James Evans, Jr. in 'Good Times' who was always struggling to find a job. Bill Cosby wanted to bring a different view of the black family into the mix."
Despite its popularity, some people took issue with how "The Cosby Show" tackled race issues.
"It's not that black Americans didn't enjoy the show, but there were criticisms because it didn't explore the broader world of African Americans." says Professor Neal. "The Huxtable family became a stand in for the successes of the civil rights movement. It became the rationale that if the Huxtables can do it, why can't other African Americans do it?"
Today's media landscape is very different to the one "The Cosby Show" existed in. For this reason, says Professor Neal, its success has been difficult to replicate.
"Right after it went off the air, cable TV takes hold and we get this niche programming. Many African American programs ended up on Fox, UPN and the WB, so there was no incentive for the major networks to do any Cosby-like programming with a black family at the center."
With the debut of ABC's "Blackish" on September 24, it's hoped this will go some way to fill the Cosby-shaped void. In the meantime there's always YouTube and re-runs. Just be thankful Heathcliff's ugly sweaters are a thing of the past.
Nuestra Familia: 10 years inside one of California's powerful gangs
A wailing mother in a hospital room. A broccoli field at dawn. A teenage boy trying to break with his past and attend college.
These are the scenes captured by journalist Julia Reynolds in her new book, "Blood in the Fields: Ten Years Inside California's Nuestra Familia Gang."
Reynolds spent more than a decade exploring the inner workings of the violent Nuestra Familia gang in Salinas, a town known more as the birthplace of celebrated author John Steinbeck or the setting for key events in the farm workers movement.
It's a story she felt compelled to tell.
"I was repulsed by this story originally," said Reynolds. "I was the editor of a Latino magazine and we were celebrating Latino culture. The idea of gang members was this living stereotype that I wanted nothing to do with."
But soon she began to notice something in Salinas.
"A lot of young kids were dying," she recalled. In the farm cities along California's northern coast, shootings and revenge hits were tearing communities apart.
"I finally decided that as a journalist and living in the area, it was my responsibility to face this issue and see what was going on," said Reynolds.
So she embarked on a journey that took her inside the lives of the gang's top leaders, operating from Pelican Bay State Prison, to its foot soldiers and recruits on the streets of Salinas, recording both the mundane and the chilling details of Nuestra Familia. She also explores the law enforcement agents and their battle against the gang.
Read an excerpt from the prologue below:
Blood in the Fields: Ten Years Inside California's Nuestra Familia Gang
Excerpted with permission from Blood in the Fields: Ten Years Inside California's Nuestra Familia Gang by Julia Reynolds. Published by Chicago Review Press.
Death, dysfunction mined for laughs in 'This Is Where I Leave You'
The new film "This Is Where I Leave You" centers on the Altman family. When their father passes away, the family's four grown children— who've never been able to get along— return to their childhood home.
Soon after, their mother reveals that it was their father's dying wish that they all spend a week in mourning together, the Jewish tradition known as sitting shiva.
And that's when the dysfunctional family hilarity ensues:
The movie "This Is Where I Leave You" is based on writer Jonathan Tropper's novel of the same name. Tropper also wrote the screen adaptation, and he says adapting your own novel into a movie can often be a tricky thing to do.
"I've compared it numerous times to doing surgery on your own child. Which I think they don't recommend," Tropper says.
But the process on this film, he says, was different. Director Shawn Levy was such a fan of the book, that he was the one who wanted to add more of the elements of the novel into the film.
"They usually worry that the novelist will be too precious with his own material as a screenwriter. And in this case it was the director telling me, 'Get that back in there!'"
"This Is Where I Leave You" opens Friday, September 19.
Former South Pasadena students recall 1940 murder spree
School shootings have grown common in recent years, but that wasn't the case in 1940, when a shocking case of multiple murder unfolded in quiet South Pasadena.
The arrest last month of two South Pasadena High students who authorities say threatened a mass murder at their school has revived memories of the killings 74 years ago.
For the full story with archival photos, click here.
Your Take: story on bike buffer law brings out the bike hate
We did a breakdown on California's new bike buffer law earlier this week -- a law which says vehicles must give cyclists at least 3 feet of space as they pass.
But afterwards, the online conversation took a detour when people brought out a bit of road rage.
One example on Take Two's own website:
And another on NPR's Facebook page when they reposted the story:
The hatred towards bikers isn't just because of this new law: the grudge between drivers vs cyclists is long-standing.
KPCC's Leo Duran explains that part of the frustration stems from some bad apple bikers, and a fight over the idea of who the roads were created for.
Weekend Guide: Feline Film Festival and other things to do in LA
The heatwave is over. That means we can finally leave the house.
KPCC’s social media producer
joins us to share her picks for fun and cheap events happening around SoCal this weekend.
For a full rundown with event details, click here.
Santa Ana play captures magical realism of its immigrant community
Two years ago, Orange County’s South Coast Repertory commissioned playwright José Gonzalez to write a play about the city of Santa Ana. But the job came with unusual instructions for developing the plot.
"We went into the community and engaged with about 1,200 people from Santa Ana in story circles," Gonzalez said. At workshops held across the city over the course of a year, Gonzalez heard residents tell stories about daily life in their immigrant community: buying fruit from vendors downtown, struggling to keep up with the rent, fears of being deported.
For the full story, click here.
Simon Pegg fights 'beige' life in 'Hector and the Search for Happiness'
British actor Simon Pegg has had the chance to take on some pretty fun roles. He’s battled zombies in Shaun of the Dead. He’s taken on the role of Scotty in the J.J. Abrams reboot of "Star Trek." And he plays an Impossible Missions Force technician alongside Tom Cruise in the Mission Impossible film series.
In his latest film release, Pegg plays Hector, a psychiatrist who decides his life is just too “beige,” so he sets out into the world to find out what makes people truly happy.
Pegg joins Take Two to talk about what Hector’s journey brings him in “Hector and the Search for Happiness.”
“Hector and the Search for Happiness” opens in the U.S. September 19th.
Interview Highlights:
On prepping to play the psychiatrist, Hector:
“Rosamund Pike and I…had dinner with a psychiatrist prior to starting shooting just to see, sort of, how he felt about dealing with people who have problems which aren’t necessarily, real problems, you know; which are what people call first world problems on Twitter.”
Why Hector sets out on his journey:
"I think Hector, at the beginning of the film, has a life that is very satisfactory; and to that degree, he’s unhappy…And, you know, what he learns is, you need more than that emotionally in your life to truly be happy. You know, if everything’s kind of just beige, you’re never going to be happy. You need to know misery, you need to know fear, and you need to know abandonment."
A little perspective:
"It was a very interesting thing to be shooting in Johannesburg, and to get out into…the townships…and see societies which contend with just abject poverty, and hardship everyday; but seeing so many smiles, and so many people genuinely joyful. And then get into the interior of Johannesburg, where there’s a lot of white people living in, sort of, gated communities, terrified...And see less smiles. It’s a very odd thing. And very, in keeping with the message of the film, which is, avoiding unhappiness is not the root to happiness.”
On his favorite emotion to convey as an actor – happiness, sadness, or anger:
“It’s a weird thing, I think, acting, sometimes. I sometimes almost resent it because you go through this sort of Pavlovian trauma sometimes because you have to recreate certain things that are sometimes a bit stressful.”
“Happiness is always a nice one because it’s fun to laugh on screen or to recreate moments of joy or euphoria, cause you do get a buzz from it, you know, you get this…vicarious, sort of, happiness in yourself. But that works as well for having to replicate sadness, or fear, or anger, or love even. “
“Your body thinks, ‘Oh, are we doing this now? Are we in love with someone here? Are we scared of something [laughs]?’ And you have to constantly intellectualize and remind your hormones that you’re actually – ‘No. This is fake, okay. You’re actually not about to die.’”