Category Archives: Human Interest

A Moment of Reflection

Below is a powerful segment Tom Brokaw aired this week.

George Takei commented on Pearl Harbor Day (Dec 7, 2015) “we remember the mistakes of the past so as not to repeat them. Honor history, honor the fallen, and work always toward peace, friends.”

I would love to see PBS work with George Takei to make a GREAT PERFORMANCES l PBS special of Allegiance – A New Musical so the entire country can see this powerful story he is sharing.

Media Matters for America posted this on facebook:

This is one of the most powerful segments we’ve ever seen. Tom Brokaw compares Donald Trump’s call to bar Muslims from America to Japanese internment, Nazi Germany, McCarthyism, and Jim Crow – and he didn’t stop there. This amazing video is well worth taking a moment to watch, via NBC News

Mr. Robot

The Hollywood Reporter shared in an article today:

“The previously filmed season finale of Mr. Robot contains a graphic scene similar in nature to today’s tragic events in Virginia. Out of respect to the victims, their families and colleagues, and our viewers, we are postponing tonight’s episode. Our thoughts go out to all those affected during this difficult time,” the network said in a statement.

It is unfortunate how often art not only imitates life, but life now imitates art in the least becoming of ways. Kudos to USA Network for recognizing the scenes in tonight’s scheduled episode would hit too close to home, not only for those who were directly affected by today’s events, but for those who may have been watching that interview when the events took place.

Waiting until Sept 2 to air the season finale, and re-airing a critical episode of Mr. Robot feels like a both considerate and responsible decision on the part of the network. This is not the first time a television show, or network, has found itself in the position of needing to make such a decision — but we can wish it was the last.

A Very Super(Hero) Year on Television

Gotham - Another Great Imagine (C) CW, this one found on Facebook

Gotham – Another Great Image (c) CW, this one found on Facebook

There are a LOT of potentially great shows coming out on television this season. Part of me wants to write about each and every one of them, and in time I hope to. Another part of me is trying to figure out the how and when to cover each. Tonight another episode of Gotham will air, tomorrow the Flash will zip onto the air with it’s first solo episode (if you missed Barry Allen’s many appearances on Arrow last season I do not anticipate you will feel you missed anything, that being said, I do recommend them as the show did more than merely give the Flash a backdoor pilot, but rather took the time to give a sense of the man and his personality so he would be a familiar persona when his own series hit the air) and Wednesday Arrow will launch it’s third season on the CW.

One of the truly great things about Arrow, is not just that the show sparkles on the screen, with the hero taking down those who have “failed” his city, but the lead actor Stephen Amell has a passionate and good heart, and is helping his fans find a way to fight for what they believe in — helping people with Cancer and Cancer research currently being the primary beneficiary of all that good intent.

Stephen Amell wearing Represent shirt raising money for Cancer Charity.

Many actors talk a good game, and put on a good face — but Stephen Amell, during the month leading up to the Season 3 return of Arrow, raised, with the help of his fans, roughly one quarter of a million dollars (yes, as in $250,000) for a Cancer charity by selling shirts, hoodies and other items featuring a design Amell had challenged his fans to design and vote on. According to the site 21354 items were sold, with 100% of the funds raised going to the charity.

At Fan Expo in Toronto when talking about a Raffle Stephen Amell had run to raise money for a family whose young daughter is battling cancer, Amell was very clear about the fact it is his fans raising the money, his fans doing this good deed, his fans who deserve the thanks, and that he feels very fortunate to be a part of all this good work — but he is aware that without the fans none of this would be possible.

Amell’s mother went through Breast Cancer, I believe while the actor has been on Arrow, and after her experience this is clearly a very personal cause to him, but he also has a very clear understanding that people dealing with Cancer want to take back some power in their life, want to embrace their victories, and he is rapidly becoming a fierce champion and Hero to those with Cancer in their lives, or those of their loved ones.

Superheros have long been near and dear to the hearts of those who needed a champion, someone to help them fight the battles that seemed impossible, or more than they could handle alone. With these raffles, and the Represent.com campaign Stephen Amell has embraced some of the best qualities of his hero character and brought them out into the real world.

For two seasons we have watched Amell play a publicly irresponsible playboy who was privately fighting for what was right, and along the way learning a great many lessons about what it means to be a hero, and in the process he was as an individual coming out of a dark place.

The Flash is a show that, from the beginning, looks like it will be following an idealistic man who believes in doing the right thing, in wanting to be more than he is and using it for good, which as a show may serve as a counterpoint to Gotham which seems to feature a great many villains and what, based on the behinds-the-scenes and first look materials released before the show, appears to be an almost Al Capone-ish era of Gotham City.

Don’t mistake me, I believe Gotham and The Flash will be equally entertaining shows, but with vastly different color pallets and feels to them, showing different periods and aspects of life DC Universe, and the three shows combined may well remind audiences that while Marvel is currently dominating on the big screen, the DC Characters have more to them than many recall when put on the spot and first asked to talk about them.

Gotham airs Mondays, 8:00-9:00 PM ET/PT on Fox
The Flash airs Tuesdays 8:00-9:00 pm ET/PT on The CW
Arrow airs Wednesdays 8:00-9:00 p.m. ET/PT on The CW

The Flash features: Grant Gustin as Barry Allen/The Flash, Candice Patton as Iris West, Rick Cosnett as Eddie Thawne, Danielle Panabaker as Caitlin Snow, Carlos Valdes as Cisco Ramon, with Tom Cavanagh as Dr. Harrison Wells, and Jesse L. Martin as Detective Joe West.

Arrow features: Stephen Amell as Oliver Queen/Arrow, Katie Cassidy as Dinah “Laurel” Lance, David Ramsey as John Diggle, Willa Holland as Thea Queen, Emily Bett Rickards as Felicity Smoak, Colton Haynes as Roy Harper, John Barrowman as Malcom Merlyn, and Paul Blackthorne as Detective Lance.

Gotham features: Ben McKenzie as Detective James Gordon, Donal Logue as Detective Harvey Bullock, Jada Pinkett Smith as Fish Mooney, Sean Pertwee as Alfred Pennyworth, Robin Lord Taylor as Oswald Cobblepot/The Penguin, Erin Richards as Barbara Kean, David Mazouz as Bruce Wayne, Camren Bicondova as Selina Kyle/the future Catwoman, Zabryna Guevara as Captain Sarah Essen, Cory Michael Smith as Edward Nygma/the future Riddler, Victoria Cartagena as Renee Montoya, Andrew Stewart Jones as Crispus Allen, and John Doman as Carmine Falcone.

Check out the facebook page for the Cancer Charity Stephen Amell and his fans raised so much money and awareness for:

Stephen Amell raised funds, and awareness, for a Cancer Charity throughout September of 2014

Make sure to give a listen to the joint PopArtsPlace.com and ComicBookPage.com podcasts for Season 1 and Season 2 of Arrow, and let us know what you think, and if you are interested in podcasts about Gotham, The Flash, or any other shows or movies.

Stand Up To Cancer 2014

The Stand Up To Cancer press release says so well what they are about, and what is going on tonight. Normally we avoid the copy and paste approach with press releases… but in this case, the details matter too much, and we want to get it exactly right.

Friday, September 5th (8:00 – 9:00 PM ET/PT) Stand Up To Cancer (SU2C), a program of the Entertainment Industry Foundation (EIF), will stage its fourth biennial fundraising event. Robert Downey Jr., Melissa McCarthy, Steve Carell, Sofia Vergara, Ben Falcone, Kevin Bacon, Anna Kendrick, Tony Goldwyn, Dave Grohl, Hailee Steinfeld, Josh Gad, Giada De Laurentiis, Jaime King, Mira Sorvino, Joe Manganiello, Jordana Brewster, Alison Sweeney, Amanda de Cadenet, Charlie Wilson, and Diem Brown, will be part of the star-studded appeal to help build public support for SU2C’s groundbreaking translational research that can provide patients with new therapies to save lives now. They join previously announced participants including Gwyneth Paltrow, Katie Couric, Reese Witherspoon, Pierce Brosnan, Jennifer Aniston, Halle Berry, Jon Hamm, Kiefer Sutherland, Ben Stiller, Will Ferrell, Mark Harmon, Rob Lowe, Eric Stonestreet, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Tony Hale, Dane Cook, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Marg Helgenberger, Matt Passmore, Rob Riggle, Italia Ricci, Ethan Zohn and Bree Turner. Special musical performances include: The Who, Jennifer Hudson, Lupe Fiasco & Common, Ariana Grande, and Dave Matthews Band.

Gwyneth Paltrow and Joel Gallen of Tenth Planet Productions will co-executive produce the September 5th broadcast, live from the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. ABC, CBS, FOX and NBC, along with ABC Family, American Forces Network, AXS TV, Bravo, Cooking Channel, Discovery Fit & Health, E!, Encore, Encore Espanol, EPIX, ESPNEWS, FOX Sports 2, FXM, HBO, HBO Latino, ION Television, LMN, Logo TV, MLB Network, National Geographic Channel, Oxygen, Palladia, Pivot, SHOWTIME, Smithsonian Channel, Starz, TNT and VH1 are donating one hour of simultaneous commercial-free primetime for the nationally televised fundraising special on Friday. In addition, the show will stream live on both Hulu and Yahoo.

Instead of the traditional phone bank staffed by celebrities, the September 5th telecast will feature a “digital lounge” on the set, hosted by Yahoo News Global Anchor Katie Couric. Stars in the digital lounge will reach out to viewers via phone, Facebook, Instagram and other social media platforms through an exciting new campaign called “We’re Calling You” that SU2C’s supporters can sign up for at werecallingyou.org.

In the on-stage digital lounge, Katie Couric will tap into the Facebook Mentions Box, which allows supporters to share their connection to cancer and receive real-time responses from celebrities. Other celebrities in the digital lounge will participate in Facebook Q&As, using their own pages to respond live to fan questions. Facebook and Instagram will also have a presence on the star-studded red carpet on September 5th with a photo experience that will capture the stars as they make their way into the Dolby Theatre, sharing those images and videos with fans. All of this, and much more, can be followed on Stand Up To Cancer’s social media feeds (facebook.com/su2c | Instagram: @SU2C | Twitter: @SU2C).

In addition to Facebook, an array of digital and social media platforms and influencers— ranging from Shazam, reddit, Nerdist, Tumblr, Yahoo, Hulu, AOL, and The Huffington Post— are helping support SU2C this year.

For the first time, there will be a Canada-inclusive co-broadcast of the 2014 telecast, which will air simultaneously on all four major English-language Canadian networks: CBC, City, CTV and Global, along with Canadian services AMI, CHCH, CHEK, Fight Network, Gusto TV, Hollywood Suite and TLN. All funds received from the Canadian general public during the broadcast will be directed towards the creation of collaborative research teams, as well as education and awareness programs conducted in Canada.

The first three SU2C telecasts took place on September 5, 2008, September 10, 2010 and September 7, 2012, and were made available to more than 190 countries. To date, more than $261 million has been pledged to support SU2C’s innovative cancer research programs. Since 2008, SU2C has funded 12 “Dream Teams” of researchers and two translational research teams, as well as 26 young innovative scientists whose high-risk, potentially high-reward projects are aimed at ending cancer’s reign as a leading cause of death worldwide.

There are times when it seems competition and the free market reign supreme, but Stand Up To Cancer is a prime example of an industry pulling together as one united force in opposition to something that touches lives daily throughout the world. As they say on the StandUpToCancer website:

1 in 2 men and 1 in 3 women will be diagnosed with cancer in their lifetimes. We can change these odds.