Latest news with #MattBrennan
Yahoo
18-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Spire pushes pay-by-bank model
This story was originally published on Payments Dive. To receive daily news and insights, subscribe to our free daily Payments Dive newsletter. For many merchants, a lower-cost payment alternative to credit and debit cards has been their chief goal for years. Players across the payments industry are pushing to bring the bank account to the point of sale to give merchants an even less-expensive option. Spire announced a new 'Pay with Spire' merchant-branded offering earlier this month with Discover Financial Services to bring pay-by-bank into the realm of routine daily spending, such as coffee, gasoline and rideshares. Spire contends its solution will save merchants 50% to 90% on processing fees compared to the 2.5% fee on credit card and 1.7% fee on regulated debit card transactions that many merchants pay. 'Pay-by-bank has not been able to interact with a point of sale,' Spire CEO Matt Brennan said in an April 9 interview. 'It never was able to do it. It really has been something that everybody's been striving to solve for.' Brennan, a former Apple executive, joined the Dallas-based company in September. Fintechs such as Plaid have worked to bring pay-by-bank into areas such as monthly bills, and Visa has discussed bringing pay-by-bank services to the U.S. In September, Walmart said it would work with Fiserv to expand its pay-by-bank offerings to help reduce credit card costs. Unlike a debit-card transaction, pay-by-bank requires a user to link their bank account for direct payments. At Spire, about 750,000 people have linked their accounts — a number Brennan said has doubled in four months. The company expects to end the year with 1.3 million to 1.5 million users. The consumer's incentive to sign up with Spire for a branded merchant card is typically a reward in the form of discounts, points or some other loyalty recognition, while the merchant gains a less-costly payment model. Discover charges Spire a fee per transaction but not traditional interchange. Spire arose from the remains of Merchant Customer Exchange, a company Walmart, Best Buy and other large merchants formed in 2012 to develop a mobile payment system. JP Morgan Chase acquired MCX's technology in 2017 after retailers began choosing to adopt Apple Pay and other mobile payment schemes in lieu of MCX's CurrentC payment app. Editor's note: This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity PAYMENTS DIVE: How has Spire evolved in the years since MCX ended? MATT BRENNAN: A number of the merchants continued to work with us to complete our platform. Through that journey, we started to gain some traction with some of the largest branded fuel merchants in the U.S. and into some grocery and convenience stores, for everyday spend kind of categories. So, we got to 2023, and what we had realized is that because we were providing the consumer with a payment method that was not really what they were used to, we were starting to see that we weren't getting the adoption that we had anticipated. One of the things that we try to do with our merchants is to get them to convert as many high-cost transactions, your debit and credit, to our lower-cost ACH payment. But we were starting to see that consumers really were wanting to use more familiar methods. We started to think through how could we come to market with a pay-by-bank solution that worked at the point of sale? What was the friction, and was that from the consumer or the merchant? At the consumer level, there wasn't really a significant increase in uptake of people wanting to use an app to actually transact at a point of still use traditional methods, and that's because they're familiar with it and because they're already convenient. There were not really any other factors besides just this lack of familiarity and the lack of pure, frictionless convenience. We started to think about ways in which we could kind of ride on what people are already familiar with. And so that's where we developed some technology to be able to translate an ACH transaction to credit card payment network providers in all the card-present technology and communication methods to be able to make the transaction on those rails. And as we shopped it, what we were realizing was that it was going to be the same cost to use other network providers. But we came across Discover, and Discover had a very different point of view. They were very creative, did something that has provided us with a unique offering. One, they provided a zero interchange product. Secondly, which probably is the most significant, they provided us with a non-financial institution issuing capability, which allows us to actually create a 16-digit Discover PIN when we enroll a consumer. And the third thing they did was they provided us with the capability to settle the transaction down the Discover rails directly with the merchants' acquirer. What are the economic incentives for Discover in your deal, beyond more volume on their network? We pay them for the utilization of their network. We just don't pay it in the form of interchange. Because we are a full-service card issuing platform, including processing, they don't have to go and distribute a lot of the interchange to the different constituents. They only have to charge us and bill us for the usage of the network on a transaction basis. What might happen for your business under Discover's new ownership, if regulators allow their sale to Capital One to close? We are part of what (Discover) sees as being a portfolio of card-based payment methods to offer to merchants. And so even though we're an alternate (payment), I think potentially it will become far more mainstream. They have credit, they have debit and they have pay-by-bank. In fact, I would argue that they now are probably the most versatile offering as a merchant service provider. We don't really see any change, because Capital One is going to continue to provide either branded or non-branded services, just like Discover does, in order to grow volume on the network. What are the actual purchase mechanics like? This sounds like a debit card transaction. It really does resemble, for the consumer, a debit and PIN transaction. It's very familiar: Card-based, tokenized wallet app, all of those capabilities. On the merchant side, that's the same. It's a debit-PIN experience. However, we are able to take away the regulated and unregulated interchange fees, both with debit and with credit, and so we come in at a significantly lower per transaction cost. In an everyday spend environment, which is where we're laser focused, we offer the merchant a big savings on fees. What are they doing with those fees? We help them reinvest those fees to incentivize the consumer to continue to convert high-cost transactions to low-cost transactions. And the result of that is that we're seeing greater loyalty. We see increased basket size, we see increased repeat visits, all funded by the fees that they were paying for these high-cost credit and debit card transactions. Recommended Reading Walmart, Fiserv team to offer real-time payments Sign in to access your portfolio
Los Angeles Times
07-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
How ‘The Traitors' saved its season with a killer cliffhanger
Welcome to Screen Gab, the newsletter for everyone who's 100% faithful — to the reality competition 'The Traitors.' In this week's newsletter, Screen Gab editor Matt Brennan shares his thoughts on the U.S. edition's recently concluded third season, streaming recommendations for your weekend and more. Must-read stories you might have missed Justin Baldoni's tumultuous road to the center of a Hollywood scandal: The actor-director built a career blending his Bahai values and storytelling. Now allegations involving Blake Lively and 'It Ends With Us' threaten his image. 'The White Lotus' critiques luxury tourism while also promoting it with partnerships: HBO's anthology is a class satire that skewers high-end tourism, but for Season 3, it also has served as an ad for luxury travel with partnership and marketing deals. Vincent D'Onofrio breaks down the 'Daredevil: Born Again' reunion we've all been waiting for: Back as Wilson Fisk in 'Daredevil: Born Again,' the actor discusses returning to 'Daredevil,' how the diner reunion came together, Fisk's marriage counseling and more. Conan O'Brien navigates the Oscars through song, dance and awards: The comedian and former late-night host led the ceremony replete with musical numbers and nods to L.A., filmmaking and the current political climate. Recommendations from the film and TV experts at The Times 'Toxic Town' (Netflix) Self-dealing politicians rewarding cronies; nervous whistle-blowers; riled up mothers taking on the government; and a selfless lawyer sticking with a case across decades: All inform this splendidly executed, fact-based, four-hour U.K. drama. Written by playwright and screenwriter Jack Thorne, most recently known for 'Harry Potter and the Cursed Child,' it's based on the Corby toxic waste case, in which a cluster of birth defects were associated with the careless removal and transportation of waste from decommissioned steel mills. There's something inherently dramatic, suspenseful, enraging and exciting about the material — it's not the first time we've seen this sort of legal drama, and it's an especially good time to add another to the list. But what takes the series to a higher level is the work of a great cast, including Jodie Whittaker (you know her, the 13th Doctor), Aimee Lou Wood (currently seen on 'The White Lotus'), Robert Carlyle ('The Full Monty'), Rory Kinnear (so many things) and Brendan Coyle (Mr. Bates of 'Downton Abbey,' not nearly so nice here). Even in small scenes, they animate the personal story inside the political. — Robert Lloyd 'With Love, Meghan' (Netflix) Will I be harvesting my own honey in this lifetime? No. Do I often comment on the beauty of an egg yolk? Honestly, in this economy, maybe I should. But I have spent an afternoon fashioning giant bows out of pink plastic table cloths from Dollar Tree for affordable Galentine's Day decor (thanks for the tip, TikTok!) and, in my head, I am Ina Garten's West Coast bestie. I fear I am the target audience for a celebrity lifestyle series like 'With Love, Meghan.' Domestic doyennes like Garten and Martha Stewart certainly bring more genuine knowledge and skill to the format, but while there is nothing groundbreaking about this Netflix offering — it's too well-tailored, too beige and too precious — there's still something fascinating in observing the former 'Suits' star-turned-monarchy defector make a balloon arch or assemble tea bags with bath salts. Maybe it's the joy she has in doing it, sometimes leaving the viewer with the same look of dumbfound curiosity and wonder that guest Mindy Kaling has seeing the host make star-shaped cucumber sandwiches for an imaginary children's party. Or maybe it's the fact that her doing it enrages people. I'm not a hate-watcher: It's the distraction I need. Plus, as someone who will find any excuse to host so I can make themed invites on Canva, the overly curated content that is 'With Love, Meghan' is definitely my vibe. Who doesn't dream of making beeswax candles, topping naked cakes with berries and writing on labels with picture-perfect penmanship? — Yvonne Villarreal Everything you need to know about the film or TV series everyone's talking about As a reality fan who generally avoids competition series, the occasional 'Top Chef' or 'Project Runway' excepted, I approached Peacock's Emmy-winning 'The Traitors' with a fair amount of skepticism: If I didn't find 'Survivor' castaways or 'Big Brother' house guests compelling, what could I possibly see in a glorified game of Mafia? Three seasons into the U.S. edition, hosted by Alan Cumming at a sumptuously appointed highland castle, I'm eating Scottish crow. Though the money-earning 'missions' remain a snooze, the real game play, in which a super-majority of 'faithfuls' try to sniff out the traitors in their midst, has proved highly addictive. I'd even go so far as to call the format's confrontational roundtable meetings, where cast members lob accusations, sow confusion and 'banish' their brethren, better television than a 'Housewives' reunion. And, unlike a contrived season of Bravo's shady flagship, 'The Traitors' has already shown the capacity to course-correct. After all, the current season of 'The Traitors U.S.,' which concluded Thursday, seemed destined to be plagued by its ham-fisted start. A trio of reality-competition 'gamers' joined the proceedings midstream; a spate of entertaining but feckless contestants were eliminated early on; and unprecedented levels of traitor-on-traitor bickering threatened to derail their usual gleeful scheming. But 'The Traitors' is all about trust, and I should have trusted that the format would come through as it always has. With the emergence of 'Big Brother' veteran Danielle Reyes as the season's anxious anti-heroine, diabolically plotting to steal the prize money despite heavy suspicions of her loyalty, the series steered itself back on course — and set up one of the best reality-TV cliffhangers in recent memory. I won't spoil the outcome of last night's finale by telling you whether Reyes, who we last saw locked in a life-or-death tie at the roundtable, lived to betray another day. I'll simply say that 'The Traitors' has my loyalty because it can turn on a dime, or a knife in the back. I guess I'll be checking out the Australian version in the offseason. — Matt Brennan A weekly chat with actors, writers, directors and more about what they're working on — and what they're watching A little bit 'Succession,' a little bit 'Goodfellas' and a whole lot of funny, 'Deli Boys' (Hulu), the first Asian American / Pacific Islander-centered series from Disney's Onyx Collective brand, leaves no viewer expectation unturned. From the surprisingly bloody pilot on, creator Abdullah Saeed's tale of polar-opposite brothers (Asif Ali and Saagar Shaikh) who inherit a very different family business from the one they planned on defies convention; stay tuned in particular for 'Never Have I Ever's' Poorna Jagannathan playing deliciously against type as a crime syndicate consigliere. Showrunner Michelle Nader stopped by Screen Gab recently to discuss what's so 'radical' about its depiction of Pakistani Americans, what she's watching and more. — Matt Brennan READ MORE: 'Deli Boys' is a quirky and smartly written crime comedy What have you watched recently that you're recommending to everyone you know? 'Sly Lives: aka The Burden of Black Genius' on Hulu. Questlove directed this documentary and it's a beautiful exploration of Sly and his singular talent. What's your go-to comfort watch, the film or TV show you return to again and again? My comfort watch is 'Seinfeld' [Netflix]. I have specific episodes that I watch for certain feels. But in general Season 4 is my go-to. The Pakistani American community at the heart of 'Deli Boys' has often been erased or villainized in Hollywood film and television. What blind spot or misconception were you most adamant about avoiding or combating with this series? Abdullah was very intentional about making a show about a family. Not just a Pakistani family. They are Pakistani and illustrate the richness of their culture but that wasn't the goal of the series. That is the radical new perspective. Between 'Deli Boys,' your ABC sitcom 'Shifting Gears' and the projects you've got in development, you've got to have a hectic schedule. What's your go-to convenience store (or other) snack when you are stressed? My favorite snack is a glass of orange wine.
Yahoo
06-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
CrowdStrike Signs Distribution Agreement with Arrow Electronics to Accelerate Cybersecurity Transformation Across North America
Arrow will enable enhanced security postures and streamlined security operations for its channel partner base across the U.S. and Canada with the CrowdStrike Falcon platform AUSTIN, Texas, March 06, 2025--(BUSINESS WIRE)--CrowdStrike (NASDAQ: CRWD) today announced a distribution agreement with Arrow Electronics, bringing the industry-leading CrowdStrike Falcon® cybersecurity platform to Arrow channel partners and customers across the U.S. and Canada. This collaboration expands CrowdStrike's robust channel ecosystem, enabling Arrow's channel partner base of leading resellers, CSPs, MSPs and MSSPs to drive system consolidation and help stop breaches with the world's most advanced AI-native cybersecurity. Arrow is committed to bringing the best cybersecurity solutions to its channel partner base serving both enterprise and mid-market customers across North America. With deep expertise in powering SIEM, cloud and cybersecurity transformation services, Arrow will leverage Falcon® Next-Gen SIEM, Falcon® Cloud Security and the broader Falcon platform, providing its channel partners with the ability to modernize security operations and address customer challenges around consolidating vendor costs and closing protection gaps between disjointed point products. Through ArrowSphere marketplace, channel partners can seamlessly procure and deploy the Falcon platform, simplifying security management and accelerating adoption with flexible billing, streamlined licensing, and easy integration with existing IT infrastructure. "Expanding our channel ecosystem with Arrow bolsters CrowdStrike's partner-first strategy, equipping even more top resellers and service providers with the industry's most advanced cybersecurity platform," said Dan Danielli, vice president, global distribution at CrowdStrike. "Together, we look forward to leveraging the power of the Falcon platform to protect organizations of all sizes across industries from evolving threats." "Arrow is committed to offering best-in-class cybersecurity solutions that help organizations mitigate risk and strengthen security postures," said Matt Brennan, vice president of supplier management for security and modern infrastructure at Arrow's enterprise computing solutions business. "CrowdStrike's Falcon platform provides a great option for businesses to unify their data, security and IT solutions faster, with better protection at a lower overall cost." "At e360, we're committed to delivering best-in-class security solutions that help our customers navigate an increasingly complex threat landscape," said Mike Strohl, CEO at e360, a leading enterprise IT services company and Arrow channel partner. "With CrowdStrike's Falcon platform now available through Arrow, we can more easily integrate AI-native cybersecurity into our service offerings, helping customers strengthen their security posture." "As cyber threats continue to evolve, organizations need streamlined access to the best security solutions available," said Mark Jones, CEO at Blacklake Security. "This collaboration between CrowdStrike and Arrow makes it easier for us to deliver the Falcon platform to our customers, helping them consolidate tools and transform cybersecurity." About CrowdStrike CrowdStrike (NASDAQ: CRWD), a global cybersecurity leader, has redefined modern security with the world's most advanced cloud-native platform for protecting critical areas of enterprise risk – endpoints and cloud workloads, identity and data. Powered by the CrowdStrike Security Cloud and world-class AI, the CrowdStrike Falcon® platform leverages real-time indicators of attack, threat intelligence, evolving adversary tradecraft and enriched telemetry from across the enterprise to deliver hyper-accurate detections, automated protection and remediation, elite threat hunting and prioritized observability of vulnerabilities. Purpose-built in the cloud with a single lightweight-agent architecture, the Falcon platform delivers rapid and scalable deployment, superior protection and performance, reduced complexity and immediate time-to-value. CrowdStrike: We stop breaches. Learn more: Follow us: Blog | X | LinkedIn | Facebook | Instagram Start a free trial today: © 2025 CrowdStrike, Inc. All rights reserved. CrowdStrike and CrowdStrike Falcon are marks owned by CrowdStrike, Inc. and are registered in the United States and other countries. CrowdStrike owns other trademarks and service marks and may use the brands of third parties to identify their products and services. View source version on Contacts Media Contact:Jake SchusterCrowdStrike Corporate Communicationspress@
Los Angeles Times
28-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
Why Hulu's ‘Paradise' is a TV show worth obsessing over
Welcome to Screen Gab, the newsletter for everyone who loves a disaster movie. 'Paradise,' which premiered on Hulu last month and was recently renewed for a second season, has managed its heady brew of political intrigue, murder mystery, interpersonal drama and planetary destruction with aplomb, as Screen Gab editor Matt Brennan writes in this week's Turn On. Plus, 'Found' star Gabrielle Walsh drops in to talk about idolizing 'Law & Order's' Mariska Hargitay and we offer more streaming recommendations for your weekend. Must-read stories you might have missed 'Beyond the Gates' is making history, but it's also a 'messy and entertaining' soap: The first soap opera to premiere in more than 25 years will feature a primarily Black cast, a historic breakthrough for a genre that is a throwback to an earlier time. As 'Buffy's' Dawn Summers and Nona in 'Pete & Pete,' Michelle Trachtenberg made her mark: Two appreciations for the actor, who died this week at 39. 'The White Lotus' Season 3, Episode 2 recap: Put on your yoga pants, we're relaxing: This week, our trio of ladies give us 'Real Housewives' vibes, the Ratliff family relaxes, Gaitok asks Mook out, and we learn more about Gary a.k.a. Greg. With 2025 SAG Awards, Netflix proved it isn't solving awards season ratings crisis: The awards show with the largest percentage of famous faces failed to grow its audience in 2024 when it made its Netflix debut. This year's telecast won't save the format either. Recommendations from the film and TV experts at The Times 'Paradise' (Hulu) Though its most explicit point of reference is the 1988 action classic 'Die Hard,' my latest TV obsession won me over with its allusions to two beloved titles from a decade later: 'Deep Impact,' Mimi Leder's tale of an ambitious journalist who discovers the world is about to end, and 'The Truman Show,' Peter Weir's portrait of a man born and raised in a fake-reality bubble. Set in the suburb-like bunker where the president (James Marsden), his Secret Service guard (Sterling K. Brown) and approximately 25,000 others are riding out the apocalypse, 'Paradise' rarely goes in for pyrotechnics, preferring to plant the seeds of its many plot twists through careful character development and tantalizing time jumps. The result is a wildly entertaining political thriller that scratches beneath the surface of human emotion in extremis, much like its late-1990s inspirations or creator Dan Fogelman's tearjerking family drama 'This Is Us' — including that of its villain, grief-stricken tech billionaire Samantha Redmond, played by Julianne Nicholson in one of the performances of the year so far. — Matt Brennan READ MORE: Sterling K. Brown and James Marsden say 'Paradise' brings twists and existential questions 'Sly Lives! (aka The Burden of Black Genius)' (Hulu) A good rule of thumb for music documentaries: If Ahmir 'Questlove' Thompson directed it, you should watch it. Following the Oscar-winning 'Summer of Soul (...or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)' (Tubi, Hulu) and the best part of the 'Saturday Night Live' 50th celebrations, 'Ladies & Gentlemen... 50 Years of SNL Music' (Peacock), Thompson puts his focus on Sly Stone, leader of the still-influential Sly & the Family Stone. It charts the meteoric rise and fall of Stone, although leaving out some of the lower points after his surprise appearance at the band's 1993 induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. The archival footage of interviews with Stone himself are enlightening, but the doc is missing a modern Stone in his own words. However, for music nerds there are gems throughout, such as Grace Slick talking about Stone producing a pre-Jefferson Airplane recording of 'Somebody to Love' and Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis telling the story of how a dinner out led them to using 'Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)' as the foundation for Janet Jackson's 'Rhythm Nation.' — Vanessa Franko Everything you need to know about the film or TV series everyone's talking about Sometimes the algorithm works. For months, my PBS subscription through Amazon Prime has been insisting that what I really want to watch next is 'Astrid,' a Franco-Belgian detective series known in its native land as 'Astrid et Raphaëlle.' Not being a fan of the algorithm, I resisted, then finally caved — only to discover that, in this case, the coders were right. Set in Paris, 'Astrid' is a terrifically entertaining and sneakily revelatory odd-couple procedural that explores the wide-ranging geography of the human mind and heart while zipping around Paris and the rest of France to solve all manner of colorful murders. The odd couple in question is the impetuous, outspoken French police inspector Raphaëlle Coste (Lola Dewaere) and the self-contained, deeply methodical and neurodivergent police archivist Astrid Nielsen (Sara Mortensen). When Astrid gives Raphaëlle not just the file she requested but also another case that Astrid believes is related (her version of 'you might also like'), the inspector quickly realizes that a brilliant criminologist is being wasted among the stacks. Not everyone in the department is convinced. Astrid's autism, including her ability to instantly spot details and adamantly announce conclusions, initially makes many of Raphaëlle's colleagues uncomfortable, and Astrid herself is, not surprisingly, reluctant to deviate from her professional and personal patterns. The results, however, are inarguable: Astrid is almost never wrong, her knowledge of past cases appears bottomless and she cannot resist a puzzle. The cases they solve are clever, occasionally bordering on wacky, but the real mystery 'Astrid' continually explores is that of human connection and communication. Over the course of four seasons (the fifth just finished airing in France and will be available on PBS Masterpiece early next year), we learn how Astrid's late father, a police inspector himself, battled to keep his daughter from being institutionalized and how she, with the aid of a 'social skills' group of neurodivergent people, struggles to understand and cope with the neurotypical world. In Raphaëlle, she finds the perfect partner — intent on solving every case, Raphaëlle sees Astrid for what she is, a brilliant woman whose experience of the world is valuable not in spite of but because of its divergence. Both women must adapt to each other's perspective and foibles, and each grows in the process. Raphaëlle gives Astrid confidence and Astrid offers Raphaëlle clarity. The social skills group, led by William (Jean-Benoît Souilh), provides a delightful reversal of stereotypes — why, its members wonder, can't neurotypicals just say what they mean? (good question) — and an occasional resource for members of Raphaëlle's team, who soon come to admire, and even adopt, some of the habits they once found so off-putting. It's not the first series to use neurodivergence or other atypical thought patterns to solve mysteries; 'Monk' made obsessive-compulsive disorder part of the title character's detective work and 'The Good Doctor' linked autism with medical genius. But 'Astrid's' portrayal of its main characters' willingness to accept, and adapt to, each other's differences make it as much a love story as a murder mystery. Which is, apparently, what the algorithm had been trying to tell me for so long. — Mary McNamara A weekly chat with actors, writers, directors and more about what they're working on — and what they're watching 'Found,' NBC's sophomore drama about systemic neglect of missing persons cases involving people of color, is about as heart-wrenching as TV series get. But Gabrielle Walsh, like her character Lacey Quinn — a law student and former kidnapping victim — refuses to 'let life's bitterness turn [her] sour.' Instead, the actor, wellness aficionado and TV buff chooses love, empathy and 'The Office.' As 'Found' awaits news of a Season 3 renewal, Walsh stopped by Screen Gab to discuss her childhood dreams of playing a lawyer, what she's watching and more. — Matt Brennan What have you watched recently that you're recommending to everyone you know? I would have to say 'Apple Cider Vinegar' [Netflix]. The storytelling is incredible. Just like the allure of social media, it sucks you in. The visual aspects and performances mirror the addictive pull of our need for control and love. It turns the wellness movement on its head! Although I agree that modern medicine is a wonder and a miracle, I also believe there is more than just one answer. Nature is our biggest healer, along with human connection. Being intentional about your wellness journey is essential. As a fan of the holistic healing and personal development, what we put into our body, mind and what we choose to surround ourselves with dictate how we experience the world both physically and mentally. Stay ahead of your health by becoming more conscious of how you are treating yourself. Health is wealth, and I plan to live a long life if I can help it! What's your go-to comfort watch, the film or TV show you return to again and again? How can I choose? I am such a binger, and it switches constantly, but my mains are: 'The Office' [Peacock], 'Seinfeld' [Netflix] and 'American Dad' [Hulu]. 'The Office' is my top choice. I have watched it hundreds of times. Ridiculous slice-of-life humor is my jam! I often joke that I got my J.D. at 'The Good Wife' University. Given that your character, Lacey, is training to be a lawyer, I wondered what your favorite legal drama is and why. First off, I love 'The Good Wife' [Paramount+]. I channel Alicia Florrick any time I need to win an argument. But my first love would have to be 'Law & Order: SVU' [Peacock]. Playing a lawyer or detective has always been a part of the dream. Growing up, my mom loved 'SVU,' and I had it in my mind to be either a lawyer or an actress. Then I thought, 'I'll just play a lawyer on TV!' It could be more fun that way, and then I could explore all the other ventures of life along with the people who inhabit them. I fell in love with Mariska Hargitay as Olivia Benson. The way she connects with the victims and fights like hell, using the law and morality as her weapon, is not just astounding, it's inspiring. She is my superhero. I hope to portray Lacey with half the compassion, competence and fire that woman holds as Olivia Benson. Despite the trauma she's suffered, Lacey remains a fundamentally sunny person. What have you learned about overcoming adversity from playing her? Lacey has been a great channel for conveying what life has already taught me. I've faced many personal challenges in my life and made a promise to myself to choose love. As a little girl, I made a decision to never to let life's bitterness turn me sour. I had seen the cold, jaded nature of some people and, beneath that, saw a need to be loved and accepted, just like me. I desire to understand people beyond their choices and life circumstances, to empathize rather than judge or condemn. I am not perfect, but I try to see where the light can shine in. In turn, I better understand myself and am kinder when I, too, am fallible. It requires a lot of letting go and focus-shifting, but what is truly important should feed the soul in a way that uplifts. A lot is happening in the world today and in our personal lives. Rather than absorb the poison presented to us, let's do our best to transmute and transform, to create a life worth living — a life that chooses love over hate and faith over fear.
Los Angeles Times
21-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
'Mythic Quest' Cast Shares Behind-the-Scenes Secrets and Upcoming Storylines
Fans of 'Mythic Quest' recently enjoyed an exclusive preview of Episode 404 at The Landmark Westwood on February 4. This special gathering, moderated by Matt Brennan, deputy editor for entertainment and arts at the Los Angeles Times, gave attendees a rare peek behind the curtain of a series that masterfully juggles the highs and lows of both professional and personal realms under the relentless glow of office lights. The cast and creators of 'Mythic Quest' provided a compelling look at the inner workings of the show, highlighting why it stands as a remarkable exploration of the video game industry. Under the leadership of Rob McElhenney and with the insights of Charlotte Nicdao, Naomi Ekperigin, David Hornsby, Ashly Burch, Danny Pudi, and Jessie Ennis, the discussion illuminated the evolving journeys of their characters across the series, showcasing the depth and breadth of their development. Nicdao offered an in-depth look at her character Poppy Li's transformation from a perceived underdog to a character wrestling with her ego, aiming for personal betterment and a fuller existence beyond her career milestones. Nicdao explained, 'I think we gave her the space to become quite monstrous throughout the next couple of seasons … it's almost like she had this personal growth where she decided that's not who she wants to be, and she's almost done a full 180.' This narrative arc reflects one of the show's larger themes, where the characters delicately balance ambition with ethics and creativity with turmoil. One standout feature of Mythic Quest is the creative engagement of the actors, who are encouraged to take on roles as writers and directors. This approach enhances the narrative and forges a deeper bond among the cast, transforming the series into a deeply cherished endeavor for all those involved. Celebrated for its candid and comedic portrayal of the video game industry, 'Mythic Quest' tackles the hurdles of innovation, the intricacies of office politics, and the personal evolution of its characters. With its mix of humor, drama, and authentic character portrayals, the series continues to enchant audiences, promising more adventures and insights into the lives of its beloved characters.
