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NZ Herald
19-07-2025
- Entertainment
- NZ Herald
Chief of War: Jason Momoa on moving ‘home' to New Zealand and All Blacks' surprise cameos
'Here's the big thing I want New Zealand to know - they should take a deep, deep amount of pride in this because we would not be able to make this show had it not been for the help of Aotearoa - they need to know that. I'm very thankful. 'They bled for us and we united Polynesia,' says the Hawaiian-born actor. Momoa extends his gratitude to some unexpected legendary New Zealanders who flexed their acting chops for the first time, just for their 'brother' Momoa. Eagle-eyed fans may have already spotted rugby players including Piri Weepu, Renee Ranger, Frank Bunce, Troy Flavell, Kees Meeuws and Pita Alatini featuring as Koa, Polynesian warriors, in the trailer for the series. Piri Weepu, Rene Ranger, Frank Bunce, Ofa Tu'ungafasi, Troy Flavell and Pita Alatini all feature in the new Chief of War series. Photo / Apple TV+ Hesitant to spoil the plot of episode one, I tread carefully with questioning, before Momoa excitedly cuts in. 'No, let's say it, let's just say it - I'm a huge All Black fan. I love them. I tried to get Tana Umaga in there, but Kees Meeuws is one of my favourites of all time. So I got Kees and a bunch of them came to help,' Momoa adds. All Black prop Ofa Tu'ungafasi, who Momoa calls 'one of my closet friends' and 'my younger brother', has a starring role in episode one, battling with Momoa's character Ka'iana, a legendary Hawaiian warrior. 'He was so good. He was so scared to do it. He would not want me to tell you that, but that he was,' Momoa says with a laugh, adding, 'I was so proud of him.' Momoa recalls a particularly funny moment on set between Tu'ungafasi and his stunt double Kim Fardy, who is Australian and the brother of ex-Wallabies player Scott Fardy. 'Kimmy would always talk s*** about the All Blacks. And so I let Ofa know, I was like, 'just give a little sting because he's an Aussie'.' 'And sure enough, Ofa gave a little f****** extra dude,' Momoa laughs, recalling a hearty onscreen tackle between the two. 'He's a f******* wall, it's crazy. He's so strong.' In Chief of War a Hawaiian war chief embarks on a mission to unite his people. Photo / Apple The nine-part series also reunited two Hollywood heavyweights and Aotearoa acting royalty. Temuera Morrison and Cliff Curtis, who starred in the 1994 film Once Were Warriors, play Kings Kahekili and Keōua in Chief of War. Momoa says learning from Curtis was one of the big blessings from his time on set. 'It was nice to actually sit down and learn from Cliff,' Momoa says, crediting the duo's performances as award-worthy. 'Cliff Curtis and Temuera Morrison can come and play the biggest kings and pull that s*** off and learn our language and play it better than I've ever played before - those guys should be up for Emmys.' Momoa praised the pair's commitment to learning the language and cultural immersion, revealing that he teased the role to Morrison during the 2017 filming of Aquaman, which they starred in together. 'I told Tem on Aquaman, 'I wrote you the greatest role. You're gonna play the greatest game -an amazing king. It's unbelievable,' and he replies, 'Yeah, yeah, yeah boy. Yeah, yeah, yeah, true boy',' says Momoa, giving an impeccable Morrison impression. 'You gotta get the facial expressions down when doing it,' he adds with a laugh. Temuera Morrison and Jason Momoa have a very special bond after starring as father and son in Aquaman. Photo / Instagram His love for New Zealand actors, people and rugby players is no secret, but what keeps him coming back to Aotearoa? 'I came here when I was about 20 years old,' Momoa explains, 'and when I landed there, Hawaii is home, but there's never been anywhere in the world where I've ever felt more connected. 'I can't really explain it, if it was my destiny, my ancestors...I don't know what it was, but the moment I stepped off that plane I felt it, and I've always been drawn to it.' Momoa says that on a month-and-a-half trip he took as a 20-year-old, he scaled the country from 'top to bottom' and ultimately decided it was where he wanted to end up. 'I just loved it, just being in the outdoors, man. Being down in Queenstown and experiencing that - snowboarding, mountain biking, rock climbing.' Cliff Curtis in Chief of War. Photo / Apple TV+ 'I just was like, 'I'm gonna live here.' I was going to spend the rest of my life here one day, and now having the opportunity to come down and film,' he explains, the passion for our country clear as he circles back to 'the greatest f******* rugby team of all time', and goes off script. 'I mean, listen, I'm in Hawaii right now and I'll just...' Momoa pauses, turning his camera on during the Zoom call to show me the Steinlager Pure beer he's drinking on the couch, raising it for New Zealand before turning his camera off again. 'That's Steinlager P right there.' . Momoa admits he still feels a call to relocate, saying eventually that's the plan. 'I will eventually move one day, that's where I'll live and work. I don't want to leave - I'm gonna keep coming down. I just love it.' But with his passion project about to be seen by the world, in two short weeks, Momoa, who also worked as a director, writer and producer on the series, says right now his focus is on the series and Hawaii. Temuera Morrison in Chief of war. Photo / Apple TV+ 'I don't have anything that I will ever do in this life that'll be bigger than this - this is my heart and soul. You live with it for a decade, and then you finally get it up, and you get to make all the choices, direct, act, learn the language that you've always wanted to learn, that you've never learned.' But it hasn't been easy: 'No one will ever understand the battles I went through for my culture'. 'This is as big as it gets, you know. This is the tip of the spear of everything. After this is just an actor paid to go do some s***. This is my heart and soul in here.' But before he polishes off the rest of the 'Steinlager P', Momoa says he wants Kiwi fans to know one more thing: 'I'll see you soon. Next year. Aotearoa, I'm coming home, baby.' Chief of War premieres on Apple TV+ on August 1. Jenni Mortimer is the NZ Herald's chief lifestyle and entertainment reporter. Jenni started at the Herald in 2017 and has previously worked as lifestyle, entertainment and travel editor.
The Mainichi
06-07-2025
- Sport
- The Mainichi
Where did Japan's Hanshin Tigers emblem come from? Icon gives glimpse into team's history
OSAKA -- The year 2025 marks the 90th anniversary of the founding of Japan's Hanshin Tigers. While the professional baseball team's tiger emblem is well-known, it's less commonly known that the Tigers' first ace pitcher and a designer employed by Hanshin Electric Railway Co. teamed up to produce it. The tiger emblem was already appearing on posters as early as the year following the squad's founding in 1935. The Mainichi Shimbun took a closer look at the team's history from the perspective of the logo's iconic design. Inspiration from alma mater of first pitching ace "Before the word 'brand' became established in Japan, the Tigers had already branded their tiger emblem and logo, and it's been loved by fans for 90 years," says Masaki Omori, 58, a railway designer from the Hyogo Prefecture city of Ashiya in western Japan. According to Omori, the birth of the tiger emblem can be traced back to Tadashi Wakabayashi (1908-1965), the team's first ace. The team was founded in December 1935 as the Osaka Baseball Club. When the Osaka Tigers was chosen as the team's name, Wakabayashi, a Hawaiian-born "nisei," or child of Japanese-born immigrants, recalled that his alma mater, President William McKinley High School, had a sports team also called the "Tigers" with a tiger emblem. He accordingly proposed adopting a tiger emblem for the Osaka team, Omori says. One of Wakabayashi's high school classmates, Susumu Hoshina (1906-2000), who went on to become the first coach of Hosei University's American football team, drew the initial draft, which was then incorporated into a design by Genichi Hayakawa (1906-1976), a designer at Hanshin Electric Railway. Omori praised the design, saying, "The shape of the eyes and fangs are drawn accurately, the balance of the stripes is just right and it's superb." Hanshin's beautiful baseball tickets The 1936 poster "The Osaka Tigers are Coming" (held by the Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum), designed by Hayakawa, already featured the tiger emblem. The following year's admission ticket marking one year since the team's founding was beautifully colored with a red circle containing the tiger emblem against a base of yellow and black stripes. "Printing technology was underdeveloped at the time, and I think multicolor printing was likely expensive, but the Tigers continued to produce beautiful tickets from the start," Omori recalls. Shigeyuki Yamagishi, 51, a company worker in Nagoya who has collected tens of thousands of baseball tickets dating from before World War II to the present, also praises the tickets, saying, "In the era before the war, when most tickets only had text, those adorned with the tiger emblem and the 'TIGERS' logo were by far the coolest." Attention to striped uniform detail Hayakawa, who hails from Tokyo, studied design at Kyoto Craft High School (the present-day Kyoto Institute of Technology), and went on to enter Hanshin Electric Railway Co. Materials relating to Hayakawa are retained at Osaka company Shiura Sports Yohin Co., which supplied uniforms to the Tigers in the 1950s. Including the word "OSAKA" that decorated the chests of the uniforms, Hayakawa paid attention to details that would typically be outsourced to manufacturers today. This included hand-drawing the stripes one by one to make samples to show the difference in width. The team's name changed to the current "Hanshin Tigers" in 1961. Even after retiring in 1958, Hayakawa continued to work with the team, designing the cover for "Tigers 30-year history" in 1965 and a Hanshin Department Store poster featuring pitcher Yutaka Enatsu in the 1970s. Original strength from yellow and black Incidentally, it was in 1953 that the Yomiuri Giants, founded in 1934, adopted orange as their team color, while the Hiroshima Carp, founded in 1950, chose red in 1975. The "raging bull" emblem of the Osaka Kintetsu Buffaloes (1949-2004) was designed by renowned Japanese artist Taro Okamoto but has faded from view since the team's merger with Orix. Omori reflects, "I think the raging bull emblem is a wonderful work of art, but I got a keen sense of how difficult it is for designs to endure, no matter how good they are." In the 2000s, it became more common for teams to wear not only home and away uniforms but also revived designs and ones with different color schemes. Since 2013, the Hanshin Tigers, too, have adopted different uniform designs each year under the theme "Urutora (Ultra) Summer" -- a play on words incorporating the Japanese word "tora" for "tiger." Even when a green-themed uniform was introduced, the yellow and black tiger emblem on the sleeve ensured that the "Tigers' identity" was not lost. Omori, a Hanshin fan from Tokyo, fell in love with the design of the yellow and black baseball cap as an elementary school student. Having designed train cars for JR West, he found a connection with Hayakawa, who also worked as a designer for a railway company, and has made researching Hayakawa his life's work. For 90 years, the tiger emblem has continued to be loved by fans. "I feel the original strength anew," Omori says, expressing respect for Hayakawa. (Japanese original by Mayu Maemoto, Osaka City News Department) Exhibition underway in Hyogo Pref. The Otani Memorial Art Museum in Nishinomiya, Hyogo Prefecture, is currently hosting an exhibition titled " Baseball and Design: Tracing the Hanshin Tigers Through Design." The exhibition features posters by Hayakawa, along with many caricatures and other items from teams other than Hanshin, including a caricature of famed Giants player Shigeo Nagashima, who passed away in June. Yamagishi's ticket collection and Omori's collection of historical Hanshin baseball caps are also being displayed. The exhibition runs through July 27, and is closed on Wednesdays, with general admission costing 1,200 yen (about $8). For more information, phone the museum on 0798-33-0164 (in Japanese).
Irish Examiner
25-06-2025
- Sport
- Irish Examiner
Return time uncertain but injury-plagued Roman Salanoa pens one-year Munster extension
Tighthead props Roman Salanoa and Conor Bartley have both signed contract extensions with Munster, the province announced on Wednesday. Hawaiian-born Salanoa, 27, has not played since coming off the bench in the URC Grand Final victory over the Stormers in Cape Town 25 months ago, his 21st appearance of that title-winning campaign and his 30th overall of an injury-hit five years at Munster. The former Leinster academy player has signed a one-year deal to the end of the 2025-26 season as he continues his rehabilitation from a problematic knee injury. It is understood there is still no specific date set for Salanoa's return to action as the Munster medics and fitness staff carefully manage the front-rower back to match readiness and it is unlikely he will be ready for the start of pre-season under incoming head coach Clayton McMillan. Bartley, meanwhile, has extended his stint with Munster with a new short-term deal. Signed from Young Munster last November and with a decade of All Ireland League experience, the 29-year-old is yet to make a senior debut for the province. He will continue to provide back-up to senior tightheads John Ryan and Oli Jager, with Ronan Foxe also in the selection mix to add to his URC experience as an academy player. Munster's record appearance maker and veteran tighthead Stephen Archer retired on May 31 following his 304th performance for the province.
USA Today
16-06-2025
- Entertainment
- USA Today
Look: Rams' practice field in Maui features awesome alternate logo at midfield
Look: Rams' practice field in Maui features awesome alternate logo at midfield The Los Angeles Rams are holding their mandatory minicamp this week, but it won't be at their headquarters in Woodland Hills. Instead, they're in beautiful Hawaii, specifically on the island of Maui. It's a special edition of minicamp, which the Rams are calling 'Mauicamp,' and it's only appropriate that the practice field at War Memorial Stadium gets a special design, too. Rather than putting their traditional logo at midfield, the Rams used an alternate logo designed by Hawaiian-born artist Aaron Kai, who's now based in Los Angeles. Kai tweaked the Rams' LA logo to make it Hawaii-themed, turning the white-and-yellow horn shape into waves. The Rams previewed the field design on social media. And here's a look at some of the merchandise the Rams are selling at a pop-up shop in Maui, all designed by Kai himself. It's awesome that the Rams aren't just relocating minicamp to Maui, but they're going all-in with community events and this special merchandise run with a renowned Hawaiian artist. It should be a fun week for the team in Hawaii as they wrap up their offseason workout program before training camp kicks off next month.
USA Today
12-06-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
MLB draft prospects in College World Series: Is No. 1 pick playing in Omaha?
MLB draft prospects in College World Series: Is No. 1 pick playing in Omaha? Show Caption Hide Caption Which NCAA baseball teams could blow up the bracket The Montgomery Advertiser's Adam Cole and The Southwest Times Record's Jackson Fuller break down who could wreck the tournament bracket. With one month until Major League Baseball's draft, all but a handful of the hundreds of draft-eligible players have concluded their amateur seasons. Yet the 2025 College World Series will provide a final showcase for a fortunate few – including a group that will hear their names called very early on draft night. Others may have to wait a day, although the high-profile platform the CWS affords can likely only help their stock, even as most of the data is already in hand. MLB MOCK DRAFT: Who will Nationals take with first pick? With bracket play commencing in Omaha, USA TODAY Sports examines eight draft-eligible players among college baseball's final octet: Aiva Arquette, SS, Oregon State It could be a long stay in Omaha for the Beavers, but a very short draft night for their 6-5, 220-pound anchor. Arquette has, according to some draft projections, joined the pool of players under consideration for the No. 1 overall pick by the Washington Nationals and shouldn't fall beyond the top three. His farewell to Corvallis was outstanding: Arquette had 14 hits in 36 at-bats (.389) during regional and super regional play as the Beavers survived winner-take-all tilts in both rounds. Arquette plays as large as his measurements suggest, which theoretically might pose a problem as a future shortstop, but he has very smooth actions around the bag and a deluxe offensive package (.354, 18 homers, 1.124 OPS, 112 mph maximum exit velocity). Wehiwa Aloy, SS, Arkansas Not sure if two Hawaiian-born shortstops have ever squared off in the CWS, but that would occur if the Beavers and Razorbacks advance to the championship series. And while Aloy won't likely elbow his way into the draft's top 10, he hardly takes a backseat to Arquette. The SEC player of the year, Aloy is a specimen himself, at 6-foot-2, 200 pounds, and cranked 20 home runs for the Razorbacks. A Golden Spikes Finalist, Aloy has elite arm strength and committed just five errors in more than 200 chances this season, and played his way into at least the teens of the first round. Kade Anderson, LHP, LSU The Razorbacks and Tigers are the lone SEC survivors in this diverse pool, and they'll meet in Saturday's opener – with a decent chance at a repeat engagement. Catch Anderson while you can: He'll likely fall somewhere between No. 1 and No. 5 on draft night. In his first season as a starter, Anderson is second in the nation with 163 strikeouts in 103 innings, with a powerful repertoire that belies his 6-2 frame. Zach Root, LHP, Arkansas Root might have been leaped by rotation mate Gage Wood on the draft board, but his import to the Razorbacks can't be undersold. He pitched seven innings of one-hit ball eliminate Tennessee in the super regional and, in 13 postseason innings, given up just four hits and one run. Root, a transfer from East Carolina, seems burlier than his 6-2, 210-pound frame would indicate, but pumps his fastball up to 97 mph and features a fastball-changeup-curveball mix that seems pro-ready. Likely on the outskirts of the first round at the moment, and could benefit from a high-profile Omaha showcase. Mason White, SS, Arizona A third-generation Wildcat, White offers one of the most compelling narratives in this CWS, as his two-run single atoned for an earlier error and lifted Arizona past North Carolina in the decisive super regional game at Chapel Hill. White, at 5-11 and 180 pounds, is the glue for the Wildcats and is aiming to play his way into a first-day draft selection. He went a long way toward that this season, equaling his 19 home runs as a sophomore while cutting his strikeout rate from 30.5% to 21.2%. Jacob Morrison, RHP, Coastal Carolina While the Chanticleers' lone first-round hope is contact-crazy catcher Caden Bodine, Morrison is crucial to their survival in Omaha. He's already slain one big-conference giant, tossing six innings of six-hit, one-run ball at Auburn to eliminate the Tigers. Now, he'll be tough to miss: At 6-8, Morrison is a towering presence on the mound, using that extension to cultivate weak contact and finish sixth in the nation with a 2.15 ERA. Like White, Morrison will be on the fringes of the first-day selection pool, but could be a nice mid-round find for a pitching-hungry team. Daniel Dickinson, 2B, LSU While Anderson figures to be their lone first-round pick, the Tigers will be littered all over the first few rounds. Dickinson's one who will be fun to watch in Omaha. In his lone season in Baton Rouge, the Utah Valley transfer posted a .312/.463/.534 line, stole nine bases and hit 12 home runs. A late bloomer, the 6-foot Dickinson bats third and is a contact machine, drawing 39 walks to just 36 strikeouts over 286 plate appearances. Multiple projections peg him in the second to third round. Payton Brennan, UCLA We'd be remiss to ignore the Bruins, who have quietly dominated their Westwood regionals yet feature few draft-eligible stars. No, the Bruins are a year ahead of schedule, with shortstop Roch Cholowsky a likely top 10 pick in 2026 and a bevy of power arms right behind him. So let's toss some roses to Brennan, a third-year sophomore who's produced 12 hits in 24 at-bats this postseason and slashing .304/.384/.500, with 11 steals this season. The USA TODAY app gets you to the heart of the news — fast. Download for award-winning coverage, crosswords, audio storytelling, the eNewspaper and more.
