If We Gave Out Oscars

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Original air date: Monday, February 23, 2015

Episode Description:

We’re all caught up in Oscar Fever! Of course, if WE were in charge, things might look a little different. Your Pop Conscious pals, Malayna and Stacy, will not only discuss their Oscar-related opinions, but will also create their own categories and criteria, and dole out virtual awards of their own imaginary design! Join in the fun and maybe you’ll even come out a winner.

Malayna’s Tweets and Notes from before the show: but LISTEN for Stacy’s great Pop Conscious Oscar Awards! 

• “Stay weird, stay different, & when it’s your turn & you’re standing on this stage, please pass the same message …along” ‪#‎ItGetsBetter
  • Graham Moore, winner of best adapted screenplay oscar for The Imitation Game.
• Gaga just won generations of fans! So touched when Julie Andrews came out and hugged her!
• “Thank God that lives in us all!” -Common”This Bridge… Now is a symbol for change. The spirit of this bridge transcends race, gender, religion, sexual orientation & social status” “This bridge was built on hope, welded with compassion & elevated by love for all human beings.” – Common (Lonny Linn)
• Viewed around the world, “We are bound together by our fascination and passion for cinema.” Yay! – president of the Academy, Cheryl Boone Isaacs

• Patricia Arquette – Give Love.org – Community-led sanitation projects to improve public health & create jobs around recycling, Wage equality
• #‎EverythingIsAwesome !!! I want a Lego Oscar! ‪#‎Oscars Andy Samberg’s been busy! (SNL 40)
• “The most enduring mystery of the Universe is love.” – Shirley Maclaine
  • Lesson from Theory of Everything ‪#‎Oscars
• “In a darkened theater…differences seem to melt away. We laugh, or cry, as one…because movies…[are] about being human.” ‪#‎Oscars – Nicole Kidman with Chiwetel Ejiofor
• “The stories that motivate us that remind us to be brave…chase impossible dreams, and to stand up for our rights” #NPH #Oscars ❤
• “Tonight is for the people who love these movies. Who bought a ticket, who took a ride, who got lost in the stories that inspire us…”
• Dr Horrible’s Sing-Along Oscars! Loved it! @whedonesque @ActuallyNPH
• “Moving pictures: They may not be real life, but they’ll show you what life really means” #Oscars #NPH
• “How they move you…and improv you” #oscars opening
• Mental Floss @mental_floss
• When Hattie McDaniel won the Oscar 75 years ago, she had to make her way to the stage from a segregated table at the back of the room.

“The Oscar goes to ….Malayna……”!!!  (Melena Canonero for Grand Budapest Hotel)

My friend Chyla sang with John Legend and Common! (http://www.cdbaby.com/Artist/Chyla) “she grew up singing with remarkably talented artists such as Muse, Michael Jackson, P!nk and Alicia Keys.”

British Media From Across the Pond

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Original air date: Monday, July 14, 2014

Episode Description:

We at Pop Conscious are Anglophiles. As much as we are proud to be Americans, we also admire England, its people, and its culture.  Join us as we share our love of the British invasions into our pop culture awareness in music, comedy, film, television, and wherever we can find it. Pip, Pip, Cheerio!

Moral of the story:  We can declare our independence, and still celebrate our shared history.

We also learned that it’s hard to talk.  Listen and find out!

SHOW NOTES (from Malayna):

~ My dad was in the British Royal Navy, and lived in England for a short time before coming to the US
~ I went to London for the first time when I was 7 years old
Early pop culture influences:
•    Mary Poppins – Julie Andrews – (Practically perfect in every way), Bedknobs & Broomsticks, Alice in Wonderland

•    Shakespeare in 5th grade – Midsummer Night’s Dream – I was stage manager. The same year, My Fair Lady was the musical, I played Mrs. Higgins, Henry Higgin’s mum. On the school bus, there was a kid who used to lead us in Beatles sing-alongs on the way home.
•    Monty Python & Fawlty Towers – 1985
•    My bro loved The Who, my dad took him to see them live in 1982.

RESEARCH
•    The British Invasion the 1960s influx of British music groups like The Beatles, The Dave Clark Five, Herman’s Hermits, The Kinks,  The Rolling Stones, and The Who
(paraphrased from Wikipedia)

•   “Second British Invasion” The 80’s New Wave –In 1981, MTV ushered in new wave’s most successful era in the United States. British artists had learned how to use the music video early on — (especially Duran Duran’s musical travelogues of exotic locales like Sri Lanka & The Maldives).  New wave artists from the UK included Culture Club, Duran Duran and ABC, and The Thomson Twins.  (paraphrased from Wikipedia)
...Queen, George Michael, Elton John,
•    Do They Know It’s Christmas by Bob Geldof 1984, Live Aid 1985
•    Far Pavilions – 1984 – Amy Irving & Ben Cross  (Story of forbidden love in 1800’s Indi