Latest news with #Coppola
USA Today
15-07-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
Chicago Cubs select LHP Pierce Coppola in Round 7 of 2025 MLB draft
The Chicago Cubs took Florida left-hander Pierce Coppola 13 picks after Jake Clemente went in the seventh round of the 2025 MLB draft. Coppola's 211th overall pick has a slot value of $278,500. Pegged as a weekend starter from the time he was a prospect, injuries slowed down the 6-foot-8 lefty's career, keeping him on the shelf for the better part of two seasons. When Coppola was healthy, he was among the best strikeout artists in the SEC. Coppola learned to rely on break more than power after making multiple returns to the mound, and it's easy to see why the Cubs were willing to grab him a bit higher than projections suggested. Coppola followed Clemente and Colby Shelton (Round 6, Pick 166) in a string of Gators coming off the board. Pierce Coppola before Florida Coppola was a top-50 high school player in the class of 2021 out of Verona High in New Jersey. Perfect Game ranked him the ninth-best left-hander in the class, and he had Day 1 draft pick potential. Injury concerns and a strong commitment to Florida led to Coppola going undrafted. Out of high school, Coppola threw 92-93 mph and topped out at 94 with an obviously projectable frame. The big slider and changeup also played at the prep level. Injuries slow start in Gainesville Once Coppola got to Florida, he immediately slotted into the Sunday starting role. He made his lone appearance for 2022 season against Liberty, striking out seven of the 20 batters he faced over 4 1/3 innings. Bulging disc surgery sidelined him for the rest of the year, burning his redshirt after things got worse quicker than expected. Coppola could have appealed for a medical redshirt after throwing just one game before the injury, but a shoulder issue led to him missing the entirety of Year 2. By this point, the hype on Coppola was still there, but he never stayed healthy enough to pitch when it mattered in spring. Return to action, twice Coppola made his return in SEC play during the 2024 season. He started all eight games he appeared in but ramped up from 1-plus innings to five in an elimination game against Kentucky. Coppola gave up 23 runs over 23 2/3 innings as a redshirt sophomore, but his strikeout rate stayed above 30%, even against SEC bats following a two-year break. Things looked good for Coppola to start the season. He went five strong in each of his first two starts, striking out 20 of the 37 batters he faced. The injury bug bit again during his third start of the year during the Miami series. It led to the rise of Aidan King in the rotation, but it's another tough blow for a player who can't seem to stay healthy. All the injuries are seemingly unrelated, too. Coppola came back in May to help a depleted pitching staff in Gainesville through the end of the year. His 2.53 ERA and 46.7% strikeout rate over 21 1/3 innings is the stuff that gets drafted in Day 1, but there's more to the story with Coppola. If he can stay healthy, he'll be a steal for the Cubs. Follow us @GatorsWire on X, formerly known as Twitter, as well as Bluesky, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Florida Gators news, notes and opinions.
Miami Herald
15-07-2025
- Sport
- Miami Herald
NSU and Barry University starting women's lacrosse programs for the 2027 season
Barry University and Nova Southeastern University have joined the lacrosse movement. There are approximately 935 NCAA lacrosse teams – 538 for women and 397 for men. There are also at least 200 club programs and an unspecified number that compete in the junior-college and NAIA ranks. Indeed, lacrosse is considered the NCAA's fastest-growing sport as the number of schools competing has doubled over the past 20 years. In addition, lacrosse will make its return as an Olympic sport in the 2028 Los Angeles Games. It will be the first time since 1908 that lacrosse will be an Olympic-medal sport. Also, Florida State added women's lacrosse for the spring of 2026. Locally, the Sunshine State Conference will now have 10 of their 11 schools playing women's lacrosse, starting in the spring of 2027. That includes Barry and NSU. As for men's lacrosse, there will be nine schools playing the sport once Barry begins action in 2027. NSU has no current plans for men's lacrosse. Here's a closer look at how NSU and Barry are handling lacrosse: ▪ NSU last week announced the hiring of Heather Coppola as its new women's lacrosse coach. By the way, she's no relation to Godfather director Francis Ford Coppola – 'I wish,' she said. Heather Coppola comes to NSU after five years at another NCAA Division II team, the University of Mount Olive in North Carolina. In those five years, Mount Olive went 68-23 overall, including 42-1 in conference play. Given that success, why start all over again at NSU? 'We have all the tools here to be successful,' Coppola said of NSU. 'There's a championship standard here, and a recipe for success. 'I can't find a negative at NSU.' Coppola, a 35-year-old native of the Syracuse (N.Y.) area, previously served as an assistant at the Division I level at Robert Morris. But she said Division II is the perfect fit for her. Since being hired on July 7, Coppola has been recruiting some of the hottest areas in the country for lacrosse talent – Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware. 'Players want to come to where it's warm,' Coppola said of her recruiting strategy. 'We're also in a major metropolitan area.' Coppola said an average college lacrosse roster has between 27 and 35 players, and she plans to be in that range. She is recruiting freshmen from the Class of 2026, and she will be active in the transfer portal, too. And Coppola won't limit herself to the U.S. Australia, New Zealand, England and Canada are other hotspots she will recruit. Coppola, who has already secured a Fort Lauderdale apartment, will also soon hired one full-time and one part-time assistant coach. ▪ Dr. Scott Smith, Barry's athletic director, said he is hoping to hire lacrosse coaches by January. Recruiting will start once the coaches are hired, and the players will be enrolled by the fall of 2026. Barry said the lacrosse programs will have lofty goals. 'We want to bring a lacrosse national championship to South Florida,' Smith said. 'By the fourth or fifth year, we want to be competitively nationally.' Smith also said that since 2023 Barry has added 10 sports, including men's volleyball and women's beach volleyball. The other eight sports are: lacrosse, swimming, cross-country and track (both men and women for each). 'Our student-athlete enrollment has more than doubled,' Smith said. 'But it's not just about enrollment. The quality and the caliber of the student-athletes that we bring in – they retain well, they persist in their graduation rates. 'Our academic-success rate over the past 10 years is 90 percent or better among student-athletes. And our student-athletes overall have grade-point averages that are higher than the regular student population.'
Time Business News
15-07-2025
- Business
- Time Business News
James Martin Copa Di Vino Sued by Francis Ford Coppola
James Martin , the founder of Copa Di Vino, gained national attention after his appearances on ABC's 'Shark Tank' in 2011 and 2012, where he pitched his innovative single-serve wine product. Despite the exposure, Martin's journey has been marred by controversy and legal challenges. During his 'Shark Tank' appearances, Martin's confrontational demeanor, non-stop sweating during the business pitch, and refusal to negotiate deals led to friction with the show's investors. Kevin O'Leary, one of the 'Sharks,' expressed his frustration, stating , 'I'm very frustrated with that guy'. In addition to his abrasive negotiations, Martin misrepresented key aspects of his business. He falsely claimed to have created the methodology for bottling the wine and to own the patent. However, the US patent that Copa Di Vino 'founder' James Martin claimed to hold was registered in France ( CA2430159A1 ) and belongs to the French bottler, Pascal Carvin. In 2014, Copa Di Vino partnered with 3G's Vino, a distributor founded by Joseph Falcone. Unbeknownst to Martin, Falcone was orchestrating a fraudulent scheme, using the association with Copa Di Vino's 'Shark Tank' fame to solicit investments. He misappropriated approximately $527,000 for personal expenses, including paying off a Florida mortgage and funding online securities trading. In 2020, Falcone was sentenced to two years in prison and ordered to pay $1.8 million in restitution to seven investors. Although Martin and Copa Di Vino were not implicated in Falcone's fraudulent activities, the association brought negative attention to the brand. Martin stated , 'Joseph Falcone did not pitch Copa di Vino on Shark Tank, nor was he ever an investor in the product… but was very saddened to hear that he was using our Copa di Vino brand to mislead investors'. Further adding to Copa Di Vino's legal troubles, in 2016, legendary filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola (The Godfather Trilogy) sued the Oregon-based vineyard, claiming that its 'Winemaker's Cut' product was a copycat of Coppola's own 'Director's Cut' wine. The lawsuit, filed in California federal court, accused Copa Di Vino of trademark and trade dress infringement, as well as unfair competition. The lawsuit highlighted similarities between the label designs of both wines and claimed that James Martin was fully aware of Coppola's 'Director's Cut' wine before launching his own similarly named product. The filing revealed that Martin had approached Coppola's winery in 2011 with a proposed business venture, further proving his knowledge of the brand. GMYL, the owner of Coppola's wine-related trademarks, filed the claim on August 30, 2016, at the US District Court for the Central District of California, arguing that Copa Di Vino and Martin engaged in unfair business practices. In 2020, Copa Di Vino was sold to Splash Beverage Group in a transaction valued at $5.9 million. Despite the sale, the brand continues to navigate the challenges stemming from its controversial past and the legal issues associated with its former distributor. James Martin's journey with Copa Di Vino serves as a cautionary tale about the complexities of business partnerships and the unforeseen consequences that can arise from associations with unscrupulous individuals. TIME BUSINESS NEWS
New Indian Express
12-07-2025
- Entertainment
- New Indian Express
On Francis Ford Coppola's operas, chamber pieces and Trump's Godfather resemblances
Francis Ford Coppola. Music is integral to the Godfather director's films. Rarely ornamental, it sets the scene, drives and influences the narrative. The iconic use of music in the flawed and ultimately unsatisfying Apocalypse Now, especially The Door's The End synchronised to the sound of helicopter rotor blades and Wagner's Ride of the Valkyries during the helicopter assault scene, shapes the visual spectacle. But it goes deeper. Just like composers often work in different formats, Coppola created introspective chamber music pieces (The Conversation) or extroverted grand operas (The Godfather and Godfather Part II ). The Conversation, made in 1974, is ostensibly a thriller. Set almost entirely indoors in claustrophobic shots, the film has an oppressive atmosphere and relentless tension. The central character Harry Caul (played by the late Gene Hackman in one of his finest performances) is a surveillance expert for hire. It opens at San Francisco's Union Square when we follow a man (Frederick Forrest) and woman (Cindy Williams). We make out snippets of conversation, jazz and singing. What we are hearing is Caul and his associates' remote recording of a private conversation. The plot revolves around the tape which was commissioned by the Director (Robert Duvall) as evidence of what may be an incriminating liaison between the man and the woman who could possibly be his wife. The recording turns out to be a trap designed by someone, we are never clear whom, to lure the Director to a hotel room where he is to be assassinated. The Conversation revels in ambiguities. Caul, the consummate professional, finds himself tricked into revealing confidences by a competitor planting a cheap pen with a built-in listening device on him. He is successful but is a failure in his personal relationships and his employee (John Cazale). Intruding into other private lives, he has none of his own. It culminates in a memorable final scene. Caul suspects that he is now under surveillance, the person who bugged other people is now being listened to. He dismantles his entire apartment, including breaking apart a figurine of the Virgin Mary, to locate any concealed listening devices. The closing has Caul sitting in the wrecked premises playing his saxophone as the camera pans back and forth furtively The film was intended by Coppola as a showcase for the talents of Walter Murch, his brilliant long time sound and film editor. Fittingly, the audio elements, sometimes simple but at others multi layered, are central throughout. When Caul goes to see the Director who hired him and is met by the man's assistant (Harrison Ford), he refuses to hand the tapes over. Hurrying out of the office building, he notices that the man and woman he recorded work for the same company. At this point, the soundtrack becomes a melange of noises which is suddenly drowned out by the sounds of a tape recorder running dramatically transitioning to Caul listening to the recordings in an effort to establish its content. The Godfather and Godfather Part II, released in 1972 and 1974 but best thought of as one continuous film, operate on a grander scale. They are operatic melodramas carried by superb performances (Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, Robert de Niro, James Caan, Robert Duvall, Diane Keaton, Talia Shire, John Cazale and others) and the cinematography. As to the later, Gordon Willis crafted the first film in stately browns and church-like solemnity but in Part II alternated interior darkness with light filled outdoor scenes recreating Lake Tahoe, Havana and Sicily. Like all opera, the plot is trite although individual set pieces are often dazzling. There are unforgettable scenes in The Godfather – the opening at Sonny's wedding, the making of "an offer that you can't refuse" to a Hollywood producer, the various meetings of Mafia bosses, the shooting of Don Corleone, the revenge killing of the Mafioso and policeman protecting them and, of course, the climactic murders of other family bosses against the background of a church baptism. It ends with a long shot of Michael Corleone effortlessly taking over from his father. Godfather Part II is illuminated by the sequences of the young Don Corleone in New York, the Senate Investigation sequence, the attempted assassination of Michael Corleone and the prolonged shots of him alone in crushing solitude. Befitting its operatic framing, the films are ultimately tragedies concerned about human fallibility. It explores the characters' embrace of a pervasive evil, which is frequently justified as necessity. Michael Corleone is meant to be separate from the family's nefarious business but finds himself unable to escape it. There is the absence of opportunities for immigrants which encourages a life of crime. Both films are haunted by weakness, portrayed by Fredo's failures, and the long-suffering women excluded from the predominately male world. Nino Rota's music scores are powerful and nostalgic. Their repetitive themes, like the Godfather Waltz, accentuate the visuals beautifully. Ultimately, great films are universal. They resonate and inform different epochs. The Conversation and The Godfather films are especially relevant to our times. In The Conversation, Coppola shows a fascination with security technology and its use in the same way that Michelangelo Antonioni did in his 1966 film Blow Up. Today, far more pernicious camera and audio surveillance is found across many countries not just authoritarian states, as Edward Snowden's disclosures revealed. In the film, Coppola shies away from the obvious issues around spying on people, focusing on the ambiguity of the information and how we understand its relevance. The recording from the surveillance is never quite what it seems. It appears for much of the film to be sought for one purpose but plot twists undermine this rationale replacing it with a more complex and sinister reason. The emphasis, consistent with the work's intimate chamber piece quality, is on individual moral and ethical responsibilities. Caul's absorption with the technology is evident at the start of the film: "I don't care what they're talking about, all I want is a nice flat recording." This quest for technical excellence avoids confronting the real purpose of spying. His assistant dismisses the content as "what a stupid conversation!" When Caul finally deciphers the words, playing the recording over and over, a chilling phrase emerges: "He'd kill us if he got the chance." Caul's concern comes from Catholic guilt about an earlier job he carried out where the three subjects were later murdered. When the recording's import become clearer, he is too late to prevent events from taking their course. The Godfather films serve as an allegory for American capitalism providing an interesting metaphor for the current US President and his administration. The Corleone family believes in the Darwinian survival of the strongest and most adaptable to circumstances. There is an equation of crime and business. In The Godfather, the meeting between Don Corleone, his son and consigliori with Sollozo to discuss entering into drug trafficking resembles a corporate board meeting considering a new investment. There is a moment in The Godfather Part II, when Hyman Roth tells Michael Corleone that they are "bigger than US Steel". The corrupting effect of absolute power underscores the Godfather films. The Corleone and other families ruthlessly pursue and eliminate enemies, real and perceived. They dominate by violence and fear. They equate money and authority. Family values cover the brutal nihilism that lies at its core. Its principles, such as Omerta so central to the second film, are hollow. Given that there isn't much to redeem any character, the films are morally ambiguous in the same way as Bernardo Bertolucci's 1970 The Conformist. Director Nicholas Roeg complained that he found the Godfather films a "doom-laden, black nasty thing". Writing in the Financial Times, columnist Gideon Rachman openly compared President Trump's approach to politics and diplomacy to that of Don Corleone. Like a movie mob boss, President Trump alternates between menace and magnanimity. He employs fear and threats as a tactic for shaking down nations, businesses, educational institutions and legal firms. The language is telling. The President and Vice President have repeatedly stated that other nations, seen as competing crime families, have to show "respect". During the 2024 election campaign in remarks made at his golf course in Bedminster, New Jersey, President Trump specifically referred to the "Biden crime family". The relentless pursuit of opponents and the disregard for the rule of law parallel that of the Corleones. Erratic and escalating demand for payment in return for "protection", such as the mineral deal with Ukraine, is difficult to differentiate from blackmail. The President's son urged countries targeted with tariffs to quickly buy off his father, writing at @realDonaldTrump : "I wouldn't want to be the last country that tries to negotiate a trade deal … The first to negotiate will win — the last will absolutely lose." He added: "I have seen this movie my entire life." The similarity of President Trump and his entourage's approach to The Godfather is striking. The Conversation, the chamber music offering, and The Godfather and Godfather Part II, the operas, represent the highpoint of Francis Ford Coppola's films. As with any significant and enduring work, the line between life and art is never clear. Jointly published with Feuilleton is historically a part of an European newspaper or magazine devoted to material designed to entertain the general reader. Extraneus, in Latin 'an outsider', is a former financier and author. A reasonable club cricketer, he took up a career in money markets because he wasn't good enough to be a professional cricketer, needed to make a living and no one offered him a job as a cricket commentator or allowed him to pursue his other passions.
Yahoo
07-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Metropolis or Atlanta? ‘Superman' coming to life after being filmed in Georgia
After filming at a metro Atlanta film studio for nearly a year, 'Superman' is about to hit the big screen. The Man of Steel is back to fighting crime, and this time he did it about 30 miles outside of Atlanta. Channel 2's Karyn Greer visited Trilith Studios in Fayetteville, the largest production studio in North America, and spoke to the CEO about all the massive projects undertaken there. [DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks] 'We've done a lot of big films, a lot of the Marvel movies, like 'Avengers: Infinity War' and 'Endgame.' We recently finished Mr. Coppola, Francis Coppola's 'Megalopolis,' and, of course, 'Superman,'" CEO Frank Patterson said. Patterson said he's proud to be part of the latest rendition of the iconic superhero. 'It's incredible. So you're talking about one of the greatest storytellers of our time, [director] James Gunn, making a movie about one of the biggest mythical characters in our culture,' he described. 'So we, needless to say, we were very excited about supporting it, and it was a heavy lift, as you might imagine.' But if you're hoping to see anything that looks familiar, Patterson you'll see much more of Superman's home, the fictional Metropolis, than Atlanta. RELATED STORIES: There's a new Superman: See David Corenswet put on iconic supersuit 'Hollywood of the South;' Here's where you've seen metro Atlanta on the big screen First comic book to feature Superman fetches $6M in Heritage Auctions sale Some of the film's stars hit the red carpet in midtown Atlanta earlier this week to get people excited about the film. 'There's so much humor, there's action, there is real heart and there's love. I think audiences are going to walk away feeling really satisfied, really happy and honestly, you're going be able to see it more than once because there's just so much to it,' said actor Anthony Carrigan, who plays Metamorpho. 'To shoot this movie was very, very exciting. I have never been a part of something where it's a huge ensemble and every role is significant because James cares about his universe and the details,' said actress Isabela Merced, who plays Hawkgirl. [SIGN UP: WSB-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter] David Corenswet stars as Superman and his journalist alter ego, Clark Kent. Rachel Brosnahan and Nicholas Hoult take on the iconic roles of journalist and love interest Lois Lane and villain Lex Luthor. 'Superman' opens in theaters nationwide on July 11.
