- Nog iets voor Arctic Monkeys fans: de Sheffieldse pub The Bowery is overgenomen door drummer Matt Helders en ex-bassist Andy Nicholson. Andy zou de zaak openhouden wanneer Matt aan het touren is.

- Snow Patrol gaat als allereerste een iPhone/ iPod touch album uitgeven. De bedoeling is dat je extra video's, lyrics en dergelijke op je iPrul kunt bekijken.

- Ik wist niet eens dat het zulke traditionele mannen waren, maar Iron Maiden geeft de opdracht aan zijn fans om het jaarlijkse kerstkaartje van hen te ontwerpen. "Email you entries to us, web@maidenmail.co.uk, title your email 'XMAS CARD' and please make sure you include your contact details. " zegt het officiële bericht. De wedstrijd loopt tot 15 oktober.

- "Schoenmaker blijf bij je leest": Kiss heeft zijn eigen ketchupmerk! Hotter Than Hell, enkel te kopen in hun café (hebben ze dat ook al) in South Carolina. Ze willen trouwens een keten starten, helemaal in Kiss thema, of course.

- Johnny Depp nieuws 1: Johnny Depp zou terug bij zijn band The Kids (nee, niet onze Belgjes) gaan spelen. Op Fade in-out van Oasis (te vinden op hun nieuwe cd) speelde hij eerder al gitaar.

- Johnny, Colin Pharrell en Jude Law hebben het geld dat ze ieders verdiend hebben met 'The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus' aan de dochter van Heath Ledger geschonken om haar toekomst te verzekeren. Deze film is tevens de laatste film waar Heath in te zien zal zijn.

- In de categorie "Beter vermijden dan genezen": de clevere organisator van het Engelse festival Bestival heeft een back-up plan voor als Amy Winehouse niet opdaagt. Ze is er de afsluiter.

- Morgen om 5u in de namiddag voor ons: James Ford op NME-Radio. James is o.a. de man achter albums als Myths of a near future van Klaxons en The age of understatement van Last Shadow Puppets.

- Ben je meer een Bloc Party fan, dan moet je morgen je radio op Studio Brussel afstemmen, waar ze heel de dag liedjes uit hun nieuwe plaat Intimacy gaan uitzenden.

- Les Paul gaat opgenomen worden in de Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame. Niets te laat, me dunkt.

- Henry Rollins had een tijdje wel een erg originele (om niet te zeggen, lugubere) penvriend: Charles Manson, de leider van de Family-sekte van bijna 40 jaar terug. Henry praatte gewoon over de muziek die hij met Black Flag maakte, maar wist je dat er naar schatting jaarlijks 60 000 brieven naar Manson worden verstuurd, om 'lid te worden van de Family'? Brrr!

- Weer een duet: Coldplay met Kylie Minogue. Het komt op de EP die Coldplay deze december uitbrengt.

- Op 12 september komt er een remix-cd van The Cure uit. Nee, hoge verwachtingen heb ik er niet van, aangezien de remixen gedaan zijn door 30 Seconds To Mars, My Chemical Romance, AFI en Fall Out Boy. Hopelijk weet 65 Days of Static de eer te redden.

In House of the Rising Sun (Season One) Sawyer is grilling Kate about if she is going to the caves with Dr. Jack or staying on the beach with " Captain Falafel" , otherwise known as Sayid

According to Wikipedia " Falafel (Arabic: فلافل‎ falaafil (help·info), Hebrew: פָלָאפֶל‎; also known in Egypt and Sudan as ta'meya, Arabic طعمية), is a fried ball or patty made from spiced fava beans and/or chickpeas. It is a popular form of fast food in the Middle East, where it is also served as a mezze (snack or tapas)....Falafel is generally served in pita bread, either inside the pita, which acts as a pocket, or wrapped in a flat pita. In many countries, falafel is a popular street food or fast food. "

Sawyer does love a good food related insult, doesn't he? ;)

Well, maybe this youtube video by RhettandLink ( The Food Cart Song-NYC), will help James have a new perspective about falafel, its vendors and their fellow food "cartists" ( Did I just make up a new word ? :) )

Whiteface Mountain in Wilmington, among the most challenging ski and ride mountains in the nation, will host the Third Annual 5 Kilometer Downhill Mountain Bike Race on Sunday, August 31. Race time is 12 p.m.

This NORBA-sanctioned event (National Off-Road Bicycle Association), part of the Gravity East series, will carry a $5,000 pro purse, with the top men and women receiving equal pay. There will be several thousand dollars additionally in bike-related merchandise for the top three finishers in each amateur class. Category 1 points on the USA Cycling calendar will be awarded.

The Whiteface Third Annual 5 Kilometer Downhill will present the longest mountain bike competition in the east, with 2,476 vertical feet from the top of Little Whiteface. James Ford of Chappaqua, N.Y., needed over six and a half minutes to conquer Whiteface in 2006. Most downhill events require less than three minutes. Derrick Nobman of Oyster Bay, N.Y. required over seven and a half minutes to win the 2007 event on a longer course, while only seven racers broke eight minutes.

Whiteface hosted the alpine skiing events during the 1980 Winter Olympics as well as the ski and ride competitions in the 2000 Winter Goodwill Games. The site remains a yearly stop for World Cup freestyle skiing and World Cup snowboarding.

"This race course starts off at over 40 miles per hour and then disappears into some of the best, naturally challenging downhill single-track anywhere," said race director "Downhill" Mike Scheur. "With no race conflicts in Quebec and Ontario, we are expecting a large contingent of Canadian riders which we haven't had the previous two years. The size of this year's field should be much bigger."

The race course will be marked five days prior to the event, and available for training seven days a week including race day. Participants can register at www.active.com until August 30 at 9 p.m. for just $28. Racers can also sign-in at Whiteface from August 29 until 11 a.m. on August 31 for $35. The competition will be timed by All Sports Events.

Interested participants can check out bike and stay packages, beginning at $69 per person including lift ticket and hot breakfast, at www.downhillmike.com. The website also offers specific race info, videos and photos. Cross country and advanced downhill mountain biking will be available to the general public on August 31 as some trails will be closed for the race. Normal operating hours from 10 am – 4 pm will be in effect. An awards ceremony will be held after 3 pm. Olympic Regional Development Authority (ORDA) concessionaire, Centerplate, will serve food and beverages throughout the day.

In Season One's " White Rabbit", Sawyer and Shannon Rutherford are negotiating the "price" of a can of bug spray, as he reads the first of the Island's many novels, Watership Down (turns out to be Boone's copy).

" Sticks" ( Shannon) is blocking the sun that was illuminating his reading material. Sticks? " As in those legs of yours" .

Well, that pretty much explains it ! ;)

Segundo o site ‘Carsale’, as grandes marcas americanas Ford e GM vão se unir para dividir tecnologias de motores. Porém isso não é inédito: as empresas ja trabalharam juntas na produção de transmissões de seis marchas. A Ford tem a ganhar quando o assunto são os motores de quatro cilindros. Já a GM, ganha quando o assunto é os tubos compressores e os sistemas de injeção direta de combustíveis.

A idéia tem como principal motivo, reduzir os custos de produção, pois ambas as companhias estão passando por problemas financeiros e os gastos nessa área é o mais alto.

Segundo o site ‘Carsale’, as grandes marcas americanas Ford e GM vão se unir para dividir tecnologias de motores. Porém isso não é inédito: as empresas ja trabalharam juntas na produção de transmissões de seis marchas. A Ford tem a ganhar quando o assunto são os motores de quatro cilindros. Já a GM, ganha quando o assunto é os tubos compressores e os sistemas de injeção direta de combustíveis.

A idéia tem como principal motivo, reduzir os custos de produção, pois ambas as companhias estão passando por problemas financeiros e os gastos nessa área é o mais alto.

Segundo o site 'Carsale', as grandes marcas americanas Ford e GM vão se unir para dividir tecnologias de motores. Porém isso não é inédito: as empresas ja trabalharam juntas na produção de transmissões de seis marchas. A Ford tem a ganhar quando o assunto são os motores de quatro cilindros. Já a GM, ganha quando o assunto é os tubos compressores e os sistemas de injeção direta de combustíveis.

A idéia tem como principal motivo, reduzir os custos de produção, pois ambas as companhias estão passando por problemas financeiros e os gastos nessa área é o mais alto.

"Metro" was given to Boone Carlisle during a scuffle about food between Hurley and Sawyer, in his attempt to break it up (Season One, "Walkabout") . Sawyer was suggesting that Boone was a little on the "high maintenance" side. That he ( Boone) is a guy who appears to spend a bit too much time on his "look" instead of on other more "useful" pursuits ( Ironically, the same thing that Boone was busting Shannon about).

Now, just because Boone is " pretty" does not mean he is not tough and resourceful when the "chips are down".

Wasn't he the first one to think of the pen thing when Rose was unconscious, huh? I guess that wasn't technically "neccesary".

Wait! Didn't he go and save JoAnna from drowning? Well, he DID drowned a little in the attempt, despite being a lifeguard..but STILL!

But wasn't he the first one to volunteer to be "on watch" when weird stuff started happening on the beach? Ok...he did fall asleep and Scott got mangled during his charge. Hey, that could happen to ANYBODY!

Hold on! Didn't he scale that cliff to reach the Nigerian drug plane, actually getting a signal on the radio that could...have...gotten...them...res...cued.

Yeah...well... Boone ran a wedding planning business almost all by himself before the crash. How do you like him NOW?! ;)

Poor Hurley! Sawyer tags him yet again with a food related nickname, " Pork Pie". He lets this one fly during an altercation between them over who "took" the last of the airline cuisine in the Season One episode, " Walkabout".

Pork pies, according to Wikipedia, " are a type of meat pie and are traditional British food. They consist of roughly chopped pork and pork jelly sealed in a hot water crust pastry, and are normally eaten cold. In Yorkshire, a pork pie is occasionally referred to as a "growler". Pork jelly is a mixture of leftover pig organs, such as trotters, ears and snouts, boiled in vinegar, bay leaves, chili pepper and lemon and then pickled in their own jelly". Ahhh.....yum??? .

There is even a Pork Pie Appreciation Society, listing any pork pie news, recipes, events and even get togethers with fellow porcine in pastry devotees.

Wiki also points out that " Pork pie or Porkie Pie, often shortened to porky, is the Cockney rhyming slang term for lie " Now how could lying and Hurley be connected together? Let's see... ( Oceanic 6)....I can't think of anything off hand (telling Sawyer he's being banished) nothing really comes to mind....(tricking people into thinking he was kidnapped, tied up in closet) ...Oh well, I give up. ;)

Sawyer uses the term "boy" for various people in the first few episodes (Sayid, Boone, Ed Mars) and probably peppered throughout the series. It seems that he uses it sometimes in ways to belittle others that he percieves to be trying to assert some sort of "power" over him. That they "know their place" . James needs to know that he has the upper hand in every situation. But it could also be seen as a generic or benign , bordering on friendly, word, like when he is speaking about the wounded Marshall, Edward Mars. Mars wasn't exactly showing aggresion with "a piece of medal the size of my head stickin' outta his bread basket " :)

Most likely though, I'm guessing it's probably just used as a "standard" Southern colloquialism. But hey, I think it's about bunnies. So what do I know ;)

In Season One episode " Tabula Rasa", this is the first time we hear the nickname "Freckles" (Kate Austen) where the Island's initial " Oceanic 6" (Kate, Sawyer, Charlie, Shannon, Boone, and Sayid ) are sitting around the campfire, talking about what just happened to them (the crash) and what didn't happen for a mysterious French woman some 16 years ago (rescue).

Obviously, Sawyer calls her " Freckles" because....well, she has FRECKLES! :) But there has been speculation that in Season 3's Finale " Through the Looking Glass " , our corn fed fuggie from Iowa appears to have lost her trademark marks. With Desmond's and Daniel's dimensional discoveries, digited does (rabbits) and "do over " dead (?) doctors , could the dappleless damsel be a doppelganger? ( I think I just sprained something with that last sentence ;) )

Sawyer's next nickname appears in the Season 1 Kate-centric episode " Tabula Rasa" . It's "Abdul" and it is for Sayid " And I am a torturer" Jarrah.

I'm assuming that Mr. Ford called him this because it is a fairly common name among people from the Middle East and using it as a slight. However, after much reflecting and roaming a little on youtube to back up my suspicions, it may be a nod to dancer/singer/ choreographer and American Idol's sideways-clapping judge, Miss Paula Abdul. But YOU be the judge. (Video by RemieVander for youtube) :)

Nickname #4 is "Sweet Cheeks" (Season 1 Pilot Part Two) directed at the spunky and spoiled Shannon Rutherford.

Seeing that it is Sawyer, he was probably making a snarky comment about her backside. But there is a chance that he could have been referring to her youthfulness.

< Kate made mention of her concern that Shannon might be a little on the "young" side for such a treacherous trek up "Hollywood & Vines" Mountain. Shannon swiftly quelled Kate's fears in her signature demure manner with the reply "What are you, two years older than me? Please!"

The next Sawyer nickname that I detected was " Sweetheart" , pinned onto the lovely but lethal Kate Austen .

According to a summerized explanation of the term "Sweetheart" from the book "Why You Say It" by Webb Garrison (Rutledge Hill Press, Copyright 1992) at www.brownielocks.com

Many years ago, the heart was considered the "seat of the emotions" and that this was facilitated by its biological function (i.e. pumping blood). Knowledge of the circulatory system was minimal. So personality traits were attributed to it: terms like kind hearted, soft hearted , heavy hearted, cold hearted, etc.
Because of the "rush" that people would feel when they were attracted to someone, making the heart beat faster, a new term for this love enduced quickening was adopted, "swete heart". It was later changed to the "sweetheart" we've come to know today for someone that makes out ticker go "pitty pat".

But I can't see how this would be applicable to Sawyer & Kate ;) .

The next Sawyer nickname, "Doc", ( Pilot episode Part 2) is for this guy
Dr. Jack Shephard.

Obviously, "Doc" is just a friendly, abbreviated version of Doctor. At this point, Sawyer didn't have a major ax to grind with Jack. This will soon change with the vying for the affections of a certain freckle-faced fugitive. (Who DO I mean?!) :)
Don't fret about Sawyer. All he needs is a couple bandaids and a bottle of peroxide. ;)

Other famous "Docs"

Doc Holliday : Dentist by trade, gunfighter out of necessity, gambler extraordinare, fought at the OK Corral, had tuberculousis, looked like Val Kilmer.

Doc Marten: Maker of high quality, yet provocative, leather footwear

Doc: One of the adorable dwarfs from the Disney version of "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs"

Doc Brown : Beloved wacky scientist from the time traveling " Back to the Future" movie series. (It's all about the gigawatts.)

Doc : T. V. Show, formally on PAX TV , starring Billy Ray Cyrus, about a country doctor practicing medicine in the big city. It was a heart warming, but unfortuately, mullet-free program.

We are into the first month or so of the LOST hiatus. Hopefully, it will not be stretched out further than January with the possible Actors Strike (for everyone involved) . But to fill the empty spaces, I've decided to do a little odd undertaking. I am going to attempt (whether I succeed is another story) to rewatch the episodes, in order, and find out the root of as many of James "Sawyer" Ford's nicknames as I can.

I shall now proceed with the one that started it all.....Lardo < (directed at Hugo "Hurley" Reyes, Pilot episode, Part 2).

According to msn Encarta® World English Dictionary [North American Edition] © & (P)2008 Microsoft Corporation,

lard [ laard ]
noun
Definition:
white cooking fat: white, slightly soft, pork fat. Use: cooking, in ointments and perfumes

verb (past and past participle lard·ed, present participle lard·ing, 3rd person present singular lards)

Definition:
1. transitive and intransitive verb add lard to meat before cooking: to thread strips of fat or fatty bacon through holes made in a lean cut of meat to keep the meat moist while cooking

2. transitive verb include extra words in text: to include an unnecessary or undesirable amount of additional material in a speech or piece of writing
larded with quotations

[14th century. < French, "bacon" < Latin lar(i)dum]

Lard can be made into soap and even a form of biofuel. (Wikipedia : under Lard)

I even found this article about lard actually being healthy(?!) by Pete Wells of Food and Wine.com.

So lard seems to be very useful and may even be good for us. Interestingly, in Season 3's "Left Behind" , it was the roasting of a boar, with all of its many uses ,that positioned Sawyer into being seen by the group as a potential leader. Even....a nice guy? All from the help of who? Oh yeah, Hurley. :)

Già che ci sono, dopo la collaborazione che ha dato vita ai Raconteurs, ne approfitto per spendere due parole su un'altra collaborazione recente: dietro al lungo e altisonante nome The Last Shadow Puppets si nascondono infatti Alex Turner, leader degli Arctic Monkeys, e Miles Kane dei Rascals.
Uno stuzzicante esperimento costituito da ritmi incalzanti e rollanti (lo stampo delle scimmie artiche è riconoscibilissimo, ma meno banale, più filtrato ed elaborato), melodie malinconiche e scanzonate, arrangiamenti orchestrali (opera del geniale violinista Owen Pallet, che ha esordito da solo col nome Final Fantasy in He poos clouds, un lavoro molto originale). Permane l'immediatezza del rock'n'roll indie molto in voga oggi, ma con un taglio decisamente più sperimentale... insomma si sarà capito che non adoro gli artisti coinvolti (Alex Turner su tutti - scandalo!), ma non posso negare che l'idea e la riuscita di questo album realizzano un pop di gran qualità, da non sottovalutare. Mi fanno venire in mente i Beatles più sperimentali dei Settanta (altro gruppo che non adoro - scandalo bis!). Gran merito va anche ad un produttore di tutto rispetto come James Ford, almeno per quanto riguarda la capacità di far approdare al grande pubblico realtà alternative come gli Arctic Monkeys stessi o i Klaxons.

profMau
The Last Shadow Puppets - The age of the understatement (2008 )
1. The Age Of The Understatement
2. Standing Next To Me
3. Calm Like You
4. Separate And ever Deadly
5. The Chamber
6. Only The Truth
7. My Mistakes Were Made for You
8. Black Pant
9. I Don’t Like You Anymore
10. In My Room
11. The Meeting Place
12. Time Has Come Again

Happy LOST Thought of the Day: Sawyer gets a fish bisquit.

It has been sometime since I last considered my list. Since it is a popular hit on my blog (people would rather look at pictures of pretty men than read the crap I come out with apparently), I thought I would have another look. I am changing things up though and this time I am picking winners in five different categories. Oh and I will also mention the runners-up so you know how hard it was to make my choice! I have spent WAY too much time on this. Also, I found it really hard to find pics which truly showed off the awesomeness of the guys I chose. I like to think this is because I like them for their 3-D versions more than just their pretty looks. Or it could be because I am one plane ticket away from being a professional stalker.

Best on TV (past):
Michael Vartan as Agent Vaughn (Alias)

For all the wrinkle-brow concern.  For the shoot-em-beat-em holster-wearing goodness.  For coming back from the dead, simply because we demanded it.  And don't even get me started on when he speaks his mother tongue.

Runners up:

Bradley Cooper as Will Tippin (Alias)
Michael Weatherly as Logan Cale (Dark Angel)
David Boreanaz as Angel (Buffy the Vampire Slayer / Angel)
Bryan Greenberg as Jake Jagielski (One Tree Hill)

Best on TV (present):
John Krasinski as Jim Halpert (The Office, An American Workplace)

Sure, he doesn't have the Davidoff beach bod of Sawyer or the grufty ruggedness of Jack but the Lost boys lose out to John everytime.  We really mean it when we say sense of humour is important. 

Josh Holloway as Sawyer/James Ford (Lost)
Matthew Fox as Jack Shephard (Lost)
David Boreanaz as Seeley Booth (Bones)
Zachary Levi as Chuck (Chuck)

Best in Music:
Dave Grohl (Foo Fighters)

No-one comes close in this category.  He is ultra-talented, the essence of cool and as I keep telling my husband, I just wish he were our friend.  His voice is yum.

Runners up:

Chris Cornell (Soundgarden / Audioslave)
Justin Timberlake

Best in Film:
Christian Bale

A shameful omission from my previous list and the only Brit in attendance, Christian is hot and deep.  Very talented and also plays a superhero.  I do have a thing for Superheroes.  Don't tell the feminist inside me.

Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson
Josh Lucas
Johnny Depp
Brandon Routh

And in the They Haven't Made The Cut But They Are Really Rather Charming category:

Joshua Jackson
Matthew Settle
Lee Pace
James Denton
James Tupper
Hugh Jackman (as Wolverine!)
Tom Welling
Karl Urban
Ryan Egghold
Danny Masterson (in That 70s Show - it's the sideburns!)

And finally, Best in real life (Lifetime Achievement Award):

Ricardo. No Runners- Up.

Best on TV (past):
Michael Vartan as Agent Vaughn (Alias)

For all the wrinkle-brow concern.  For the shoot-em-beat-em holster-wearing goodness.  For coming back from the dead, simply because we demanded it.  And don't even get me started on when he speaks his mother tongue.

Runners up:

Bradley Cooper as Will Tippin (Alias)
Michael Weatherly as Logan Cale (Dark Angel)
David Boreanaz as Angel (Buffy the Vampire Slayer / Angel)
Bryan Greenberg as Jake Jagielski (One Tree Hill)

Best on TV (present):
John Krasinski as Jim Halpert (The Office, An American Workplace)

Sure, he doesn't have the Davidoff beach bod of Sawyer or the grufty ruggedness of Jack but the Lost boys lose out to John everytime.  We really mean it when we say sense of humour is important. 

Josh Holloway as Sawyer/James Ford (Lost)
Matthew Fox as Jack Shephard (Lost)
David Boreanaz as Seeley Booth (Bones)
Zachary Levi as Chuck (Chuck)

Best in Music:
Dave Grohl (Foo Fighters)

No-one comes close in this category.  He is ultra-talented, the essence of cool and as I keep telling my husband, I just wish he were our friend.  His voice is yum.

Runners up:

Chris Cornell (Soundgarden / Audioslave)
Justin Timberlake

Best in Film:
Christian Bale

A shameful omission from my previous list and the only Brit in attendance, Christian is hot and deep.  Very talented and also plays a superhero.  I do have a thing for Superheroes.  Don't tell the feminist inside me.

Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson
Josh Lucas
Johnny Depp
Brandon Routh

And in the They Haven't Made The Cut But They Are Really Rather Charming category:

Joshua Jackson
Matthew Settle
Lee Pace
James Denton
James Tupper
Hugh Jackman (as Wolverine!)
Tom Welling
Karl Urban
Ryan Egghold
Danny Masterson (in That 70s Show - it's the sideburns!)

And finally, Best in real life (Lifetime Achievement Award):

Ricardo. No Runners- Up.