By Gary Gerard Hamilton
NEW YORK (AP) --Most travelers to new places usually aren't looking for a fight. Frank Grillo definitely is.
"Fightworld," a new Netflix docu-series, follows Grillo, an actor and self-described "fight enthusiast," as he goes globe-trotting to explore fighting styles and the cultures behind them.
"I immerse myself in certain fight cultures" said Grillo. "And through the eyes of the fighters, we explore the culture of that place in a very different way. It's very similar to what Anthony Bourdain did, but instead of food, it was fighters."
Grillo travels to places such as Mexico, Thailand and Senegal, locations chosen based on his familiarity with those country's various fighting disciplines such as Muay Thai, wrestling and boxing. "I know these things well, so I could go there and immediately embed myself," he said.
Grillo also visited Israel, where citizens are required to join the army since the country is surrounded by hostile nations. He asked the mayor of Jerusalem to define Israelis in one word. "He said 'fight' because that's in their in their DNA, that's in their blood."
Grillo has had film roles in "Zero Dark Thirty," ''End of Watch" and plays Brock Rumlow in "Captain America: The Winter Soldier" and "Captain America: Civil War." He hears lots of rumors about the next Captain America, even that the iconic character may not look like previous versions of the superhero.
"I don't know what will happen with Captain America. But wouldn't it be great if Captain America was African-American?" Grillo remarked. "Or a woman?" Then he said: "Or an African-American woman?"
He also hopes that instead of asking people of color to portray traditional superheros, it might be better to create new, diverse characters.
"Superman was a white guy with black hair and who has a curl, right? So that's kind of the iconic look of Superman. Could Superman be Anthony Mackie? Yeah, sure. But I'd rather see Anthony Mackie do something else," said Grillo. "Where are the new characters who represent certain people?"
SMPTE elects board officers, regional governors
SMPTE®,the home of media professionals, technologists, and engineers, has revealed the board officers and regional governors who will serve terms beginning in January 2025.
Three new officers--Richard Welsh as SMPTE president, Eric Gsell as SMPTE executive VP, and Polly Hickling as SMPTE Education VP--have been elected for a two-year term from Jan. 1, 2025, to Dec. 31, 2026. One SMPTE officer, Lisa Hobbs, will be continuing her service as SMPTE secretary and treasurer for another two-year term. Additionally, Raymond Yeung will be stepping into the role of standards VP on Jan. 1, 2025.
“SMPTE’s membership has spoken,” said SMPTE interim executive director Sally-Ann D’Amato. “These officers have been tasked with an important responsibility, one each of them is prepared to tackle head-on. These next two years are looking bright for SMPTE!”
In addition to the officers, 10 regional governors were elected by the Society to serve two-year 2025-2026 terms.
These include the following regional governors, re-elected to continue their service:
Asia-Pacific Region Governor
Tony Ngai, Society of Motion Imaging Ltd.
EMEA - Central & South America Region Governor
Fernando Bittencourt, FB Consultant
United Kingdom Region Governor
Chris Johns, Sky UK.
USA - Central Region Governor
William T. Hayes, Consultant
USA - Eastern Region Governor
Dover Jeanne Mundt, Riedel Communications
USA - Western Region Governor
Jeffrey F. Way, Open Drives
Also elected were four newcomers to the SMPTE Board:
Canada Region Governor
Jonathan Jobin, Grass Valley
USA - Hollywood Region Governor
Allan Schollnick, Voxx... Read More