Sep 05
We’re getting our first look at the most hyped addition to Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. in, well, I’d argue forever. He’s hot, he’s smoldering and he really loves hanging out in trash piles.
Sep 04
Next week is going to be a big, big deal with an Apple event and a Sony event on Sept.7th which is going to make for a pretty brutal four-day work week around here. While we’re busy prepping for that, don’t miss all the #IFA2016 action from our edi…
Sep 04
L.A. Swim Week; a Summer Highpoint
Posted in: Today's Chili
LA Swim Week model in Pauleth Swimwear 2016 (photo:Jon Malan)
“Why should Miami be the only place to show beachwear? We have better weather anyway!” says Connie Borja, executive producer of L.A. Swim Week, which returned for the second year in Los Angeles in July and which was held in the Skirball center. The day long event was a splashing success as the attendance doubled this year from last year’s spectator headcount of 550.
The swimwear fashion show was her inspiration to secure a foothold for beachwear fashion in the city with some of the most famous beaches in the world, which amazingly, doesn’t exist in Los Angeles, but is the domain of Miami.
The one day event also had pop up shops and designers with trendy fashion selections on sale in the foyer as well as a red carpet.
Borja, who designs her own beach fashion line Amour, originally thought up the event to showcase her own fashion line, but it has blossomed beyond her expectations. “Last year we had 10 designers, this year we have 22 with three returning.” And some of those designers are heavy hitters, Leonisa, 60 years in the business returned, as well as Beachflirt22 from Greece, as well as Duskii from Australia and Sezuki Kenzo from Tokyo.
Leonisa 2016 (photos Vincente Tabora)
Beachflirt22 with designer Eleni Armaos (photo Vincente Tambora)
Ladyswim 2016 (photo: Derrick Bracks)
Pauleth Swimwear 2016 (photo: Derrick Bracks)
Sezuki Kenzo 2016 (photo: Derrick Bracks)
Duskii 2016 (photo: Philip Morton)
The event was inspiring, exciting and at times jaw dropping. The designs were thoughtful, colorful, running from riske to traditional, and always sensual, alluring and evocative.
Dustin Quick and Medi EM perform at LA Swim Week open (photo: Vincente Tabora)
Vanessa Sanchez, at 15, is a new comer to the fashion scene who launched her own swimwear line last year. ‘Nessy Swimwear’ keeps it simple, with great lines and color choices.
Nessy Swimwear 2016 (photo: Vincente Tabora)
And Amour Swimwear, bold, athletic, exciting:
Amour 2016 (photo Vincente Tabora)
“Our dream is to add more days next year, and grow to have a full week for designers who want to be known in Los Angeles.” Pop up shops and platinum level seating sold out for her event this year, proving the demand for an event like this in Los Angeles.
“We’re new, and we’re excited to create a platform where designers can get connected and come together.” Borja also had buyers from Macy’s and Diane’s swimwear in attendance so that designers could connect directly to the actual market place.
LA Swim Week is a smart and stylish addition to the LA fashion scene, one you might have expected we already had, as the beach is synonymous with all things LA,. From Malibu to Zuma down to Redondo and up to Matador we have one of the most iconic coasts in the world and now it seems we have a local fashion platform to properly strut our stuff.
For more information on LA Swim Week, recap of the event and information on some of the participating designers.
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Sep 04
An unidentified fireball was spotted blazing across the night sky in Oregon on Friday.
Video (around the 1-minute mark above) shows the bright object move through the air for several seconds before going out of view.
Witnesses of the “fireball event” logged more than 200 reports with American Meteor Society, with accounts spanning as far north as British Columbia down to southern Oregon.
It’s “hard to say if it was a spacecraft debris or not,” Jim Todd, director of Space Science Education at the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry, told KOIN.
“I haven’t ever seen anything like this. It was a shooting fireball,” one witness said, according to KGW.
“It was incredible!” said another witness in Quincy, Washington.
Here’s a second view of the fireball in the sky:
— This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.
Sep 04
Liev Schreiber in Venice: Movie Star, 'The Bleeder' and Persol Visionary Talent of 2016
Posted in: Today's Chili
Laura Didoni for Persol, Liev Schreiber and Venice Film Festival Director Alberto Barbera
Just what makes a movie star? While there are as many different answers as there are stars, journalists and audience members, to me a real rockstar of the big screen is someone with an oversupply of the “C” word: Charisma.
Sitting at a roundtable with six other journalists, and by sheer luck right next to Liev Schreiber at a junket for Philippe Falardeau’s The Bleeder, it was clear that Schreiber held us captive with his palpable magnetism. While I hardly could pull my gaze away from his strong face, his engrossing tone of voice and the brightest blue eyes this side of the Grand Canal, if I did manage to glance at my colleagues across the table, men and women alike were mesmerized. And all completely and utterly star struck.
That is a real movie star. But perhaps the true wonder of someone like Schreiber is that he’s not just a movie star — which in itself would be enough — he’s also a filmmaker, a father, a TV star, a loving partner to co-star in life and film Naomi Watts, and a man. What we all felt at that table was the sort of respect that true men command, and it was exhilarating for those twenty-odd minutes.
This year at the Venice Film Festival, Schreiber is promoting The Bleeder, the story of real Rocky inspiration Chuck Wepner, the boxer who went fifteen rounds with Mohammad Ali, only to then loose to the champ. Schreiber also accepted this year’s Persol Tribute to Visionary Talent Award, a prestigious prize that has gone to the likes of Frances McDormand and Jonathan Demme in past years. And he’s doing all of this, a grueling schedule in Italy before stepping off to Toronto to begin it all again, with class and grace.
When I asked Laura Didoni, the Global Luxury Brands Director for Luxottica Group, why Persol had chosen Schreiber, she explained “Liev Schreiber is a person who is really constantly reinventing himself,” then continued “La Biennale and Persol saw in Liev something very close to our brand. He’s a very respected Shakespearean actor, so he has a theater heritage, something we have in common really going back to ancient arts. But still he’s also made cinema, as an actor and director, very eclectic, and that’s why there is a connection, we feel. We have a very unique heritage as well, while also trying to keep an expression that is very fresh. We experiment sometimes, but we never forget where we are coming from. There are a lot of similarities in our stories.”
Persol itself has a heritage deeply rooted in Italian cinema and history, from its roots, which Didoni explained by saying that “the brand was founded in 1917 and the first style was created to protect tram drivers in Turin, from the dust and the elements, because trams were open.” Then came the iconic Fellini, La Dolce Vita and Marcello Mastroianni’s glasses, and of course Steve McQueen, whose love of the brand still holds a special place in cinematic history.
So, considering the definition of elegance that Didoni gave me, “effortless authenticity,” then continuing “we [at Persol] think you have something special, everyone has something special, you don’t need to follow anyone else or anything else… That’s elegance!” I believe wholeheartedly that Schreiber was their perfect choice. And the perfect choice to play Wepner, a man whose courage and virtue, although maybe hiding just beneath the surface, were there all along, plentiful and sincere.
What is it about boxing that every good actor in his career has to make a movie as a boxer?
Liev Schreiber: I don’t know what the connection between actors and boxing is, but I suspect it has something to do with fear. But it wasn’t the boxing that interested me about this story, it was the kind of rabbit hole of narcissism that the character goes down I found compelling.
Do you think that has a connection with acting?
Schreiber: (laughs) Absolutely!
Do you think Chuck Wepner is Shakespearean?
Schreiber: He’s absolutely Shakespearean! But you’re talking to a guy who thinks everyone is Shakespearean.
That’s why I’m asking! What’s Shakespearean about him?
Schreiber: The duality, the conflict, the human tragedy, also his vulnerability, his openness, his innocence, his naiveté, he doesn’t hide his mistakes, he makes them beautifully out in the open, exquisitely clumsy. And that’s Shakespearean.
What is your experience with fame, and how to handle it?
Schreiber: If we believe the central lie that is at the core of fame, which is that we are the most interesting person in the room, the room quickly becomes empty, and it’s a very lonely existence. I think we all struggle with the desire to be appreciated and adored and loved by many. I think actors do it publicly, athletes do it publicly, whereas most of us do it in private and therefore are able to manage it. Whereas when you have real returns from this kind of a feeling, life gets dangerous.
I think having children certainly helped, because you realize you must be able to pay attention to them. I mean to try to teach your kids to look at the world with as much wonder as it looks at you is important and hard and I think Chuck’s life is a beautiful analogy of that story and he learned it so well. You see him now with his family and he’s a remarkable husband, a great dad and a really, really beautiful guy. But I think it’s because he went through that battle. I certainly think his battle with his own demons was much much worse than fifteen rounds with Mohammad Ali.
What did you learn about boxing?
Schreiber: I’ve been boxing around fifteen years, not seriously, just as a way to keep fit and it’s a sport I enjoy. I was a competitive fencer and it felt a lot like fencing initially. I never really boxed with anyone trying to hurt me… I mean I’ve had my nose broken a couple of times but it’s not as bad as people think it is. I think that’s the fascination with boxing. It doesn’t hurt to get punched in the face as much as you think it does. There are few nerves and it’s all psychological. It’s the terror of being punched in the face that’s so crippling. It’s not the pain. I think initially I was so terrified of being punched in the face that my feet were frozen. And it’s when you actually get punched in the face that you go, “oh, that’s not so bad” and you loosen up and you’re able to see it.
The instinct to move towards danger rather than away from it… is very strange. It’s something Chuck possesses in great quantity, he always moves forward, moves forward. And this is a man who’s been punched by the likes of Sonny Liston, George Foreman and Mohammad Ali. Arguably the most powerful punchers in the history of boxing and he moves forward, forward, forward and that says everything about the man on many levels.
You were talking about redemption before, Chuck’s redemption, so how much do you think that redemption has to do with the woman that he ends up with?
Schreiber: So much of it has to do with it. I think his redemption is looking for himself and he finds himself in loving another person. And maybe the answer to the riddle of narcissism, you know, we often find out who we are through giving something, through being generous and taking the attention off of ourselves. And I think the redemptive thing for him was to be loved by a one person rather than millions.
Working with Ms. Watts, what was that like?
Schreiber: (giggles, yes a grown man giggle) We can’t do it very often because we have kids together so if one person’s working the other takes care of them. But this is not a character that’s particularly close to Naomi, as a person she’s kind of a demure English girl, so it was really fun to see her walk out of the wardrobe trailer with the red wig and the fake boobs and the leopard print tights… Not many people know how funny she is so I was really enjoying it.
Was she worried that you were getting so much into these fights?
Schreiber: No, she enjoyed it, she loves seeing me get punched in the face.
We were talking before about the danger of fame. When did you have your ten minutes of madness?
Schreiber: I’m having it right now. As we speak. I started in the theater, a microcosm of it, it was very good training for an actor, because it’s a microcosm of fame. If you go through that you come out the other side and go, eh uh, I want something with more continuity, what am I doing and what am I doing it for? Am I learning anything, am I giving anything, and that helps because then you get to the film business and it gets crazy! And then you get to TV and it gets even crazier.
Is it crazier on TV?
Schreiber: Suddenly you are in everyone’s living room and there is an intimacy that people feel with you that until you experience that, you really don’t know what fame is. To have millions and millions of people think they know you, and feel intimate with you, it’s a very strange feeling. Talk to you on the street, and call you “Ray”. It’s very complicated when someone comes up to you and does that, part of you feels genuine gratitude because they spent that much time with you and they consider what you did worthy of their attention, so there is a real feeling of gratitude, and at the same time, a human instinct to share in the intimacy, but you don’t have the intimacy because you don’t know them. But they, because they’ve watched the show, have a level of intimacy with you that you’re not aware of. And it’s a very strange relationship.
Why did you want to become an actor in the first place?
Schreiber: Probably some tragic level of narcissism that I’ve come to terms with, but certainly in the beginning I really liked having people’s attention. I still do. Well, it’s a really good feeling. What you do with it is important. Nothing really compares with live theater. You know you repeat a play eight times a week, it will drive you fucking mad. What changes every night, the one thing that makes it survivable is the audience. A new character comes in every night and does the play with you. And you feel their attention, if you’re doing your job right, they’re connected, they are energized and they’re enjoying it. They are following you and they are leading you and they are nudging you, and you feel by their laughter, by their lack of laughter, by their reactions, you feel connected.
And you’ve got a team, you share something and you’re going to hunt together and you’re not alone. Probably many actors started someplace feeling very alone, for one reason or another, and want to change that. I think Chuck’s an example of that. He’s not an actor but somebody who really felt he had to make his impression on the world so much so that he was going to withstand being punched by the greatest fighter of all times for fifteen rounds. And not go down, by sheer will, because he had to let people know that he was one of them. And that’s such an alienating tough position and it’s a testament to the success of the Rocky franchise, because we all feel that. It’s ironic that we all feel alienated but that’s what Stallone tapped into.
The Bleeder screens next at the Toronto International Film Festival.
All images courtesy of La Biennale, used with permission.
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Sep 04
While speaking with a 20-something the other day for the first time about what she wishes to do next with her career, I encouraged her to think carefully and analytically about what she liked and disliked about her previous jobs. I pressed her to consider not only the teams she worked with, bosses she reported to, and how she spent her days, but also whether she fit naturally into those roles, and why or why not that was true.
Since then, the theme of following your instincts and applying to work what you’re good at keeps turning up in front of me. I listened as Tony Kornheiser spoke to Bill Simmons about, among other things, how he believes columnists are born of a certain persuasion and others simply can’t be trained; I saw that the most on-demand soft skills are topics I obsess over on a regular basis; and I read an argument from a George Mason University professor in defense of liberal arts majors. Wherever I look, I see good cases being made for allowing young people to explore and find their way, at their own pace.
The common thread here for me is that I know now, with the comfort of hindsight, that my decision to pivot from a career in media and publishing and to pursue instead one in marketing in communications was the right decision for me. At the same time, I know that my former colleagues who have gone on to work at some of the most well-known publications in the world made the correct calls for themselves. We all may have shared a passion for writing and editing, but my skill set and area of interest is slightly different from theirs. While they aspired to be reporters, I sought to spread their articles around.
My greatest professional asset is in my ability to write good emails, knowing how to craft a short one and also a long one when it’s called for. Not surprisingly then, my current job in press and partnerships requires me to be skilled at outreach over email. I’m a growth hacker, focused on communications. In a world where Slack and other chat software are trying to supplant email, my correspondence skills remain of the utmost importance. I use Slack and social media, too, learning and developing how outreach can be done effectively elsewhere, but at least for now it all circles back to email.
When you’re 23, you don’t know that being great at writing emails can be the framework for a job. That’s why I tell 20-somethings to drill down more than what field they’d like to enter or which companies are on their shortlists. They should find one area where they excel more than the average person does, even if it’s something as seemingly mundane (or ridiculous) at penning emails that people read and respond to. Most likely, whatever they come up with, it won’t be the title of or nature of a job right away, yet it’ll undoubtedly be the basis for one at a later point.
The question therefore isn’t where you want to be in 10 years, rather how you can take what you are today and to build around those skills for 1, 5, and 10 years down the line.
This post originally ran on LinkedIn.
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Sep 04
If you’re taking advantage of the long holiday weekend to visit your favorite theme park, take a moment to learn a little about the underlying physics of roller coasters, via the latest video from the folks at SciShow.
Sep 04
Until Hermine blew through the Florida Panhandle and up into Georgia, Florida had experienced a pleasant, hurricane-free few years. In fact, as The Weather Channel noted, Florida went nearly eleven years without a single hurricane making landfall.
Sep 04
Acer’s made gaming laptops before, but none of them are quite like this. The behemoth you see here is the Predator 21X, which is the most redonkulous notebook I’ve seen in my life. The term desktop replacement is quite literal here, as it has a massi…
Sep 04
It’s a simple question: How would you sell my Dad a drone? Right now, most drone buyers are professionals, hobbyists or video enthusiasts. That leaves a pretty big number of people not currently browsing for a quadcopter. At least, not yet. My Dad is…
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