The Orange County All-Star Baseball Game rosters released today include the usual number of college-signed players that participate in the game each year.
Among the players selected to the game for graduating seniors are Mission Viejo pitcher Tanner Bibee who signed with Cal State Fullerton, Washington signee Jonathan Schiffer who is an infielder at Mater Dei, and Cypress pitcher Isaiah Parra who signed with San Diego State.
The game is June 6 at La Palma Park in Anaheim. The game is organized and managed by the Kiwanis Club of Greater Anaheim for charity.
The players and coaches:
North – Jesse Candelario, Rancho Alamitos; Jake Eisner, Troy; Jason Farese, Orange Lutheran; Tristan Hanoian, Orange Lutheran; Juan Hernandez, El Modena; Skyler Johnson, Katella; Jake Lopez, Villa Park; Jesse Lopez, El Dorado; Anthony Marquez, Cypress; Justin McHale, Valencia; Tyler Mills, Marina; Connor Montgomery, Canyon; Isaiah Parra, Cypress; Andre Perry, Buena Park; Austin Spinney, El Dorado; Mark Stanford, Los Alamitos; Cameron Tafoya, Foothill; Michael Townsend, Los Alamitos; Caeser Valencia, Garden Grove; Dylan Villalobos, Sonora; Ray Villanueva, Kennedy. Coach: Vince Brown, Foothill. Assistant coaches: Mark Alves, Fairmont Prep; Conrad Colby, Kennedy.
South – Andre Antone, Capistrano Valley Christian; Matt Austin, Mission Viejo; Tanner Bibee, Mission Viejo; Sam Cachola, Northwood; Will Cohen, Beckman; Demitri Collacchio, Aliso Niguel; Zach Espinosa, Beckman; Dante Faicchio, Laguna Beach; Jake Jackson, El Toro; Riley Kasper, Capistrano Valley; Jake Lachemann, San Juan Hills; Justin Mazzone, Fountain Valley; Josh Nicoloff, Santa Margarita; Kenny Oyama, El Toro; Mike Peabody, Mater Dei; Bryan Pope, San Juan Hills; Cole Samuels, JSerra; Austin Schell, Beckman; Jonathan Schiffer, Mater Dei; Cade Seabold, Newport Harbor; Trent Sievers, Fountain Valley; Brett Super, Sage Hill; Colin Townsend, JSerra; Spencer Weston, Woodbridge. Coach Kevin Lavalle. Assistant coaches: Bryan Brucker, Irvine; John Emme, Corona del Mar.
In a photo taken Wednesday, April 26, 2017, former boxer Chuck Wepner talks to The Associated Press in his home in Bayonne, N.J. Forty-two years after he stepped into the ring against Muhammad Ali as a 40-to-1 underdog, Wepner’s business card still has a picture of the moment when he knocked down the champ. Wepner’s life story has now arrived on the big screen with Liev Schreiber playing the Bayonne Bleeder in “Chuck,” which opens on Friday, May 5, 2017, in New York and Los Angeles before expanding nationwide. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
In this March 24, 1975, file photo, defending heavyweight champion Ali Muhammad and challenger Chuck Wepner trade blows before Ali was awarded a technical knockout in the 15th round to retain his title, at the Richfield Coliseum in Cleveland. Wepner’s real-life story is coming to the big screen, with Liev Schreiber playing Wepner in “Chuck,” which opens on Friday, May 5, 2017, in New York and Los Angeles before expanding nationwide. (AP Photo/Doug Pizac, File)
In this combination photo, Liev Schreiber, left, portrays boxer Chuck Wepner in a scene from the film, “Chuck,” and Chuck Wepner appears during a workout at his home in Bayonne, N.J. on Jan. 21, 1975. The film will open in limited release on Friday. (AP Photo/Sarah Shatz/IFC Films, left, and Ray Stubblebin)
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Chuck Wepner, a not-so-great white hope in boxing lore, can at least hold out hope that a two-for-one deal in how his life story has been told may be more than just a sidebar from what Sylvester Stallone strategically borrowed to create an Oscar-winning feature film some 40 years ago.
Liev Schreiber appears on the big screen portraying Wepner in the new movie “Chuck,” which launches in two L.A. and two New York theatres this weekend with plans for an expanded distribution nationwide by Memorial Day. It comes a knock-down, drag-out six years after an ESPN’s “30 For 30” documentary called “The Real Rocky” made its TV run (and still available on Amazon Films for $4.99 a watch).
This unique double feature, spearheaded on both ends by well-versed documentarian and film producer Mike Tollin, was supposed to happen on a tighter timeline. But the ultimate purpose of the multi-media approach is to give each audience what it professes to want – a sports doc for ESPN, then a based-on-a-true-story drama for movie-goers who don’t want to feel confined by the trappings of a “boxing film” genre that ironically is what led to the success of Stallone’s “Rocky” franchise.
“It’s been an epic journey, but really it’s a confluence of events – the ESPN documentary raised the profile of the Wepner story, with all those interviews we did, and then this script was also done to propel this forward,” said Tollin, the San Fernando Valley-based producer of sports films such as “Varsity Blues,” “Radio” and “Coach Carter,” as well as the HBO doc “Kareem: Minority of One” and ESPN’s miniseries “The Bronx is Burning.”
Tollin, who teamed with Peter Guber to launch Mandalay Sports Media as a company to champion a new way of getting scripts made into movies at a more lean-and-mean cost, is also partnered with IFC Films and Millennium Films to get “Chuck” to the finish line.
THEY BLEED FOR THIS
For several years, as backers for the independent film came and went, the story was pitched as “The Bleeder: The Untold True Story of the Real Rocky.” But Tollin said a newer round of test audiences gave them a fresh look at it – make it less about sports, more light-hearted retro ’70s aura like “American Hustle.” One reviewer has already called it “The ‘Goodfellas’ of boxing movies.”
“We ultimately didn’t want this promoted as much as a ‘boxing film’ because there have been a number of them lately and we wanted to avoid that genre,” said Tollin, not even having to note “Hands of Stone” on Roberto Duran, “Bleed For This” on Vinny Pazienza and even “Creed,” another “Rocky” spinoff in 2015.
“This is really about a man’s relationships, his downward spiral, and ultimately his redemption. After the test screening by IFC, we found that people who knew nothing about boxing loved the story of Wepner as a man, a character, and the title would be too much of a misdirection or a distraction.”
As it turns out, the only real fight scenes are in the first third of the film. The rest is Wepner being Wepner, after his fame faded.
“The Bleeder” is actually a shortened version of Wepner’s nickname, “The Bayonne Bleeder,” after the tough New Jersey town where he learned to fight and became a club boxer/bouncer before turning pro.
His career highlights: A three-round loss to George Foreman, the need for 72 stitches after a loss to Sonny Liston, an upset over former heavyweight champ Ernie Terrell and then his 15 rounds of fame in an epic opportunity to take on Muhammad Ali in Cleveland in 1975 – Wepner signed for $100,000, while Ali was guaranteed $1.5 million.
Wepner scored a ninth-round knockdown. That woke up Ali, who finished him off with 19 seconds left in the 15th and final round with a TKO.
Strike up the trumpet section.
Wepner eventually sued Stallone for the similarities of his career to the script and received an “undisclosed settlement.” Stallone, who appeared in the ESPN doc, also gave Wepner a role in a “Rocky” sequel. The result of that arrangement is all chronicled in “Chuck” in the spirit of Wepner’s 6-foot-5, bigger-than-life persona.
And after all that, this new film seizes on the tagline: “You know Rocky, now meet Chuck.” So it’s payback time.
SCHREIBER ROLLS WITH THE PUNCHES
After its debut at film festivals in Venice and Toronto to get the film on path to distribute before the onslaught of the summer season, “Chuck” was embraced at the Tribeca Film Festival last weekend in New York and had a screening in Hollywood last Tuesday.
Wepner, 78, has been making appearances with Schreiber, the 49-year-old who acknowledges that had the film been delayed any longer he might not be up for the boxing scenes or the two-hour process in the make-up chair to put on the prosthetics.
Schreiber, with production and writing credits in “Chuck” after having been involved with the script the last 10 years, said he is ultimately fine with a change in the movie title and strategy.
“I understand it – there are people much smarter than me who felt it would introduce the film to the right demographic,” said Schreiber, the “Ray Donovan” star who played in a sports-movie heavy before as a notorious brawler in the 2011 hockey comedy “Goon,” as well as the sequel that came out earlier this year.
“I think there’s absolutely a sports story at the heart of this, but it feels to me like ‘Rocky’ didn’t handle it all from the fiction perspective. There’s the metaphor of the boxer rising to the occasion through punishment and a personal victory. I think in ‘Chuck,’ there is still the incredible resiliency he had, an obsession and competitive quality that some great athletes have and most people don’t understand.
“Some super great athletes are driven by this compulsive behavior, but what was fascinating for me was how Chuck came to self-realize he wanted more, and he wanted to tell his story. I loved ‘The Bleeder’ because it was symbolic of what Chuck was willing to go through, for his audience. He took the punishment as far as he could and that’s where it becomes really compelling.
“But then, Chuck’s love story with his wife, Linda, and his eccentricity – that ‘Rocky’ hook is just a wonderful side dish to the main course.”
As it turns out, “Chuck,” gaining traction at the Archlight Cinema in Hollywood and Landmark in West L.A., has already made it onto one list of the “Greatest Boxing Films of All Time.” Sometimes, you just know what passes the glove test.
The Big Baller Brand released its first pair of Lonzo Ball shoes on Thursday. (Big Baller Brand photo)
Big Baller Brand hasn’t yet executed its plan of partnering with a larger company, but that didn’t slow the production of former UCLA star Lonzo Ball’s first signature basketball shoe.
The projected No. 2 pick in the upcoming NBA draft released a video via SLAM Magazine on Thursday introducing the ZO2 Prime, a shoe Ball said was independently produced by Big Baller Brand.
The shoes retail from $495 to $695. An autographed version of the shoes being sold on bigballerbrand.com is listed at $995.
A handful of PETA animal rights activists will target South Coast Plaza’s Louis Vuitton store on Friday to protest the luxury store’s sale of crocodile-skin handbags.
The protesters are expected to converge outside the boutique around noon wearing only green and brown bodypaint and urge shoppers not to purchase products made of tormented animals.
Two bloody crocodiles will hang out of an oversized purse with the phrase: “Louis Vuitton: A Look That Kills.”
“Every crocodile-skin handbag represents the hideously gruesome death of a sensitive animal,” said PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman in a statement.
On Thursday, May 4, the group released a video of crocodile farms in Vietnam where the reptiles are viciously killed. Two of the farms have supplied crocodile skins to Louis Vuitton’s parent company, the statement said.
Workers in the video are seen hacking into the crocodiles’ necks and ramming metal rods down their spines.
“PETA is calling on shoppers to keep reptiles’ blood off their hands by choosing vegan clothing and accessories,” Reiman said.
Calls and emails to Louis Vuitton were not immediately returned.
PETA has targeted South Coast Plaza before. In 2010, activists stood in front of Saks Fifth Avenue and Macy’s on Black Friday with signs that read, “Fur is dead” and passed out literature to shoppers.
In 2013, a band of Santas held signs outside the shopping center urging shoppers to buy vegan. Several PETA members protested Hermes after the store’s suppliers allegedly mistreated alligators.
Last month, PETA pledged to donate $5,000 toward Councilman John Stephens July 4 celebration. The group praised Stephens plan to use silent fireworks, which it said was better for cats and dogs.
RETAIL REINVENTION: Project Womens is on board with the lifestyle trend at retail, with a new concept set to debut on its show floor in August focused on home and giftable items.
The Coeur x Project Womens space is set to feature items from between 20 and 30 brands focused around apothecary, home, tech accessories and giftable items.
“We really feel that the retailers are looking for an added value for some lifestyle and gift items so Coeur was the perfect partner for us to launch this new concept area,” saidProject Womens vice president Kelly Helfman. “It’s just really where retail’s looking right now to add that sort of product to their everyday retail apparel stores, and so we listened to our buyers that are walking our show.”
Capri Blue, Lux/Eros, Los Poblanos and Esselle are among the brands confirmed to show in this new space.
A special buildout in the center of this marketplace, which will total about 3,000 square feet, will show retailers how the product can be incorporated in with their ready-to-wear and accessories within stores.
“It’s really a lot of point-of-purchase items, but I think it’s more about not just carrying these sorts of items near the register,” Helfman said.
The new
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PARIS — How to bring dynamism back to denim and reinvent the segment were the hot topics at the recent Denim Première Vision trade show here.
In a relatively stagnant market and a particularly tough climate for apparel retail in the U.S. and parts of Western Europe, reinventing brand identity through differentiation was seen by many as the key to attracting consumers, especially Millennials. Technology and sustainability were strong points of focus for exhibitors at the event, which ran from April 26 to 27 at the Paris Event Center.
“We want to evolve the show to give a maximum amount of input and information to the industry, exhibitors and visitors alike, to help drive change, especially through innovation,” said show director Chantal Malingrey.
“Denim originally had strong, deeply rooted values like rebellion and freedom, but new consumers just don’t have those same references,” she explained. “Customers are really changing, especially in the 18-30 age bracket. Brands need to evolve in line with this.”
Cone Denim had integrated performance characteristics into vintage-style fabrics.
Dominique Maître
Global retail sales of jeans grew 3.7 percent to $92.88 billion last year, according to data from Euromonitor International. Sales in North America were up 1.7 percent, while in Western Europe, they increased
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Artist Anish Kapoor helped city officials kick off this year’s edition of NYCxDESIGN, a three-week citywide effort that celebrates design in all its forms.
With more than 7,500 design firms and 50,000-plus full-time designers based here, New York is has more designers than Los Angeles and Chicago combined. Having seen a 30 percent gain in the number of design firms in the last decade, the sector brings in more than $555 million annually in city tax revenue. The average full-time designer earns $50,000. New York’s design workforce is being groomed in part thanks to 10 design and architecture schools that turn out twice as many design and architecture students as any other American city.
Wednesday morning’s press event at Brooklyn Bridge Park doubled as the opening of Kapoor’s installation “Descension,” which is presented by Public Art Fund as part of its 40th anniversary season. Alicia Glen, deputy mayor for Housing and Economic Development, was also joined by Interior Design magazine’s editor in chief Cindy Allen, among others. This year’s event will run through May 24 and features new tie-ins such as retail partnerships, design-focused events, window displays and installations at Brookfield Place, the MoMA Design store, the Microsoft store, WantedDesign shops and
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SNAP-HAPPY: Karl Lagerfeld has been tapped to be the guest of honor for the 2017 edition of Paris Photo, the sprawling fair featuring thousands of photographs at the city’s Grand Palais museum. It is set to run from Nov. 9 to 12.
“Today, photography is part of my life. It completes the circle between my artistic and professional restlessness,” Lagerfeld said.
Helping mark the occasion, he has chosen some of his favorite pictures from among those that are due to be displayed to appear in a special-edition book published by Steidl. That gives a peek into Lagerfeld’s aesthetic universe while offering his vantage point from which to view what the galleries and curators will be showcasing at Paris Photo’s 21st edition.
The designer — a multihyphenate, who is also a publisher and book dealer — began working as a photographer in 1987. He subsequently was granted the Cultural Prize from the German Photographic Society and the ICP Trustee Award from the International Centre of Photography.
Lagerfeld’s own photographs have been the subject of numerous solo exhibitions. Last May, for instance, there was one held in Cuba, which was organized by the Alliance Française. One month later, in June 2016, another was staged at Pitti Uomo in Florence.
The
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THE POWER OF YOUTH: Ahead of the Copenhagen Fashion Summit next week, students from around the world will gather to draft the first-ever United Nations resolution on fashion, to be presented to the U.N. later this year in New York.
Fashion students taking part in this year’s Youth Fashion Summit from May 9 and 10 will negotiate with companies including H&M and Swarovski and non-governmental organizations like Greenpeace before presenting their resolution on stage during the Copenhagen Fashion Summit, which centers on sustainability in fashion, on May 11.
At last year’s youth event, 116 students from 40 countries, with participating schools including Aalto University School of Arts, London College of Fashion, Esmod Berlin, McGill University and Princeton University, explored how the 17 U.N. Sustainable Development Goals offer opportunities for companies to align their sustainability goals with broad societal aims. This year, the same students will return to draft the resolution demanding corporate action.
The Youth Fashion Summit is a collaboration between Global Fashion Agenda, organizer of the Copenhagen Fashion Summit, and the Copenhagen School of Design and Technology, and is organized in partnership with Swarovski.
The event will open with a keynote speech from Dax Lovegrove, Swarovski’s global vice president of corporate sustainability and
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