This Week's Inspirational Pop Culture Moments

Photo by: Matthias Clamer/FOX

    

This week a Glee star honors celebs who get out and Do Smething, a movie star gets a big honor from the TV Academy, and a famous chef goes meatless on Mondays. Here are this week's most inspirational pop culture moment

Young Adults and Celebs Do Something in Hollywood

On July 19, Glee's Jane Lynch hosted The 2010 Do Something Awards on VH1, honoring celebrities who are giving back as well as activists under the age of 25 who are making a difference in their own communities and around the world. The star-studded evening featured performances by Natasha Bedingfield and Lifehouse, as well as appearances by celebrity presenters like Megan Fox, Matt Bomer, Paula Abdul, and Demi Lovato.

Lynch kept the audience laughing from the opening photo montage that depicted her with Mother Teresa and "the other Jane," Goodall, to clips of her good deeds like reading aloud to construction workers.

Kathy Griffin was given the Do Something Comedian Award for her campaign to raise cervical cancer awareness with her televised public pap smear and for organizing a Washington rally against the military's "Don't Ask Don't Tell Policy."

Leonardo DiCaprio won the Do Something Move Star Award for his generosity in giving $1 million to the Haiti Relief Fund. While Glee was honored with the Do Something TV Show prize for its work with the Grammy in the Schools program.

Olympic snowboard champion Hannah Teeter received the Do Something Athlete Award, which makes sense given her recent work with Doctors Without Borders, Ben & Jerry's, Kirindon, and Children International.

Two stars were honored for founding charities. Christina Applegate took home the Do Something Kick Ass for Survival Award for starting Right Action for Women. While Snoop Dogg was awarded the Do Something for the Kids prize for his Snoop Youth Football League.

Jessica Posner, 23, who co-founded Shining Hope for Communities went home with the $100,000 grand prize award. Shining Hope fights against gender inequity in Kiberia, Africa, where only 8% of girls currently receive an education.

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This Week's Inspirational Pop Culture Moments

This week Matt Damon offered to “take one in the kisser” for a good cause, Miss (Bald) America took the crown, and Sir Paul McCartney went viral for charity. Here are this week's most inspirational pop culture moments.

Matt Damon Says He'll Take "One in the Kisser" for 1Goal

The folks at 1Goal have, well, one goal and that is to see that everyone around the world has the chance to learn.

Organizers are attacking this global mission during the World Cup by "bringing together footballers, fans, charities, corporations, and individuals to lobby and achieve our ambitious aim of education for everyone."

There are many famous faces supporting the movement including soccer legend Pele, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and, of course, Bono.

Even Hollywood stars like Matt Damon and Jessica Alba are getting behind the organization. They recently filmed a really funny PSA, along with John Legend and Shakira. Damon's over the top admittedly caffeine fueled rant might go a bit too far for some as he shouts, "Who can I fight for 1Goal? Is there like a group of people I could fight for 1Goal? I mean, I'd take a couple of licks in the kisser for 1Goal. I'm down."

There's nothing like a good laugh to raise awareness. And it seems to be working. Over 9,775,000 people have joined the cause so far. If you want to be a part of it, visit www.join1goal.org.

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Doc Highlights the Lost Art of Playing Outside

This week a fashion designer built sustainable communities in Africa, a weatherman toured the country on a feel good gift giving spree, and a star-studded documentary encouraged kids to go outside and play.  Here are this week's most inspirational pop culture moments.


New York Street Games, a new documentary narrated by Hector Elizondo, features a wide array of notables like Ray Romano, C. Everett Koop, Joe "Joey Pants" Pantoliano, Regis Philbin, and Curtis Sliwa. It takes a look at the games kids used to play out in front of their own homes.

The film tells of a world before cell phones, the internet, XBox, and PSP when kids had to find entertainment all on their own. They used pink Spaulding balls, big pieces of chalk, old broom handles, and even their own bodies to play stickball, stoopball, kick the can, Johnny on a pony, and hopscotch.

The celebs reminisce about the games they played on the city sidewalks. It celebrates an era when there was a sense of community in every neighborhood, streets were safe for kids, childhood obesity was a rarity, and imagination was king. As Ray Romano puts it, "You were your own Nintendo."

The best part about the DVD? Every purchase includes a copy of the Street Games Rulebook, so you can relive the glory days and teach your kids the ropes behind games like boxball, slapball, and skully.

Purchase the DVD at Amazon or visit the official New York Street Games' website.













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This Week's Inspirational Pop Culture Moments

This week chicks announced they're rockin' for charity, a singer made plans to build a school, a child star urged fans to give back to other kids, stars and locals joined forces to save a landmark, and actors wrote letters to the troops. See which celebrities got involved in this week's inspirational pop culture moments.

The Ladies of Lilith Fair Give Back

The rockin’ ladies of Lilith Fair are hitting the road again this summer and they’re giving back locally. Tour organizers are launching the “Choose Your Charity” campaign on Facebook. Fans can go online and vote on a pre-selected list of women’s groups in their area.

Voting on a preliminary list of organizations starts on Monday, May 3 and will get whittled down to a group of the top five, and then three for each city on the tour. This final round of voting will start the next day and run until May 31.

Once Lilith Fair founders Sarah McLachlan, Terry McBride, Dan Fraser, and Marty Diamond pick the winners from the top three in each locale, the tour will donate $1 for every ticket sold in that town to the chosen charity.

And really, everyone who goes to see Lilith Fair wins. The summer concert series, which kicks off in Calgary on June 27 and wraps up in Dallas on August 18, features performances from artists like Corinne Bailey Rae, Martina McBride, Sheryl Crow, Kelly Clarkson, Selena Gomez, and Norah Jones.

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This Week's Inspirational Pop Culture Moments

This week some surprising celebrities dance for animal rights, take off their make-up, overcome illness, open a shelter, and speak out about school budget cuts. Here are our favorite inspirational pop culture moments of the week.


PETA Dances with the Stars and Adds Some Glee to Their Roster
This week People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) got support from two actresses who are getting a lot of attention these days. Lea Michele, who plays diva glee club singer, Rachel, on the hit Fox series Glee, is the latest star to stand up against the use of fur in a PETA PSA. Holding a cute little Chihuahua named Sailor, she asks why "join a club that wears someone else's coat?"


Michele has been a vegetarian and animal rights activists for years, making her first PETA PSA when she was on Broadway in Spring Awakenings.


PETA also got a big shot out from Pam Anderson on Dancing with the Stars. This week's episode featured the celebrities telling a story through their routine. So when the animal rights activist was assigned the Pasodoble, the dance of the bullfight, the Baywatch beauty used the opportunity to speak out against cruelty to all our furry friends. It seems, Anderson owes her increased fan base to PETA, who tweeted and blogged to members to vote for their favorite dancer.


A PETA spokesperson told MSNBC.com, “Pam's tireless work to expose cruelty in the meat and fur trades has created a very emotional bond with PETA's two million members and supporters who are thrilled to see her and vote for her on Dancing with the Stars.”


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