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Emmys 2012: 'Grey's Anatomy's' Sandra Oh on Cristina's Emotional Season

Posted on June 26, 2012 by Danzig

ABC

"Grey's Anatomy's" Sandra Oh

Sandra Oh has five Emmy nominations under her belt for her role as Grey's Anatomy's meticulous Dr. Cristina Yang, but it's the ABC medical drama's recently concluded eighth season that the actress feels has provided her best material yet.

This past season on the Shonda Rhimes-created show, Cristina faced the emotional fallout from an abortion when her marriage to Owen (Kevin McKidd) crumbled after the couple swept their baggage under the rug for too long. The story arc, which slowly progressed over the season's 24 episodes, culminated with an emotional scene in which the stoic doc threw a bowl of cereal in her husband's face before they were able to address his infidelity and begin moving on.

As if that weren't already enough, the drama also concluded its year with a plane crash that left claimed the life of one of Seattle Grace's own and left Cristina, Meredith, Derek, Mark and Arizona stranded and facing injuries both big and small. The Hollywood Reporter caught up with Oh to discuss Cristina's challenging moments of the season, saying farewell to two castmembers and the benefits of filming on location.

STORY: 'Grey's Anatomy' Recap: Who Met Their Maker in the Deadly Season Finale?

The Hollywood Reporter: This season has been particularly grueling for Cristina: an abortion, a broken marriage and infidelity, all topped off by a plane crash. Which scene did you grapple with the most? Sandra Oh: It has been an extremely challenging year that has had a lot of ups and downs, both challenging and exhilarating. A lot of the scenes that Kevin McKidd and I did of Owen and Cristina arguing in their apartment was like its own story line. We would shoot all our scenes for a day or two straight, and that was extremely challenging because emotionally and physically it becomes really exhausting. Our finale was extremely challenging physically and emotionally. So, I'd say two things -- our finale and those apartment scenes where Cristina and Owen lock themselves in and just go at it.

Cristina tosses a bowl of cereal on him, which isn't a reaction that Cristina is typically prone to. Wasn't that good? Kevin had to have cereal thrown on him eight, 10 times for that one because we did a bunch of angles. There is that one shot -- and we only did it once -- which was his close-up, which was also my best and most direct hit. He was a great sport about that. Mark Jackson directed that episode, so we had special effects make a soft bowl because I'm not actually throwing an actual ceramic bowl at him. But that was real milk and Grape Nuts. I really liked that scene because that's her first actual moment of connection with him after he tells her the truth. Even though it's physical and it's violent, it's also a connecting moment between them where she looks at him and connects again.

PHOTOS: Spoiler Alert! From 'Game of Thrones' to 'Mad Men' -- TV's Most Shocking Deaths

Cristina rarely expresses so much emotion, which she did a lot of this season. It was a slow burn that started with the season premiere and carried throughout the season, which is different that the Grey's we've seen in the past. You see her express her emotions with only two people: her best friend Meredith and her husband Owen. To see someone being pulled apart so intensely, which honestly most everyone goes through in their life in some ways, if you're lucky you're completely pulled apart and then you have to pull yourself together, which hopefully will be the exploration within hopefully the next season. It's not like we played this in a couple of episodes; we've played this throughout the entire year, and the reality of the resentments building and things not being dealt with building and betrayals happening is closer to real time in the way that we played it. Being on a show for this long, you don't have to do things boom-boom-boom because you have eight years of history and developing the character. So you can take your time with things and let it soak in, in a different and deeper way. I'm super-proud of this year. Having been on a show eight years, for me to have the richest storyline now, I'm extremely grateful.

Originally posted here:
Emmys 2012: 'Grey's Anatomy's' Sandra Oh on Cristina's Emotional Season

Jason Freeny’s 18? Lego Men Dissections

Posted on June 24, 2012 by Danzig

Click to enlarge

Jason Freeny Lego Man skeleton trio (2)

Jason Freeny Lego Man skeleton trio (3)

The process…

Jason Freeny’s latest drool-worthy work is a trio of 18″ anatomical Lego men figures. You can see Jason’s entire creation process of these little masterpieces via his Facebook. I love seeing the “dissection” take place over time and how Jason builds the anatomy. It really makes you appreciate the detail and skill that went into the final products above!

Read our interview with Jason Freeny to learn more about the man behind the anatomical pop culture awesomeness!

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The State of Organ Donation in the US

Posted on June 24, 2012 by Danzig

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Organ Donation infographic The Impatient List by Good and Column Five

GOOD collabed with awesome infographic’s studio Column Five to create this visual breakdown on the state of organ donation today.

All-in-all the state of organ donation in the US is getting slightly better, but there are still too many people waiting for organs, some of which pass away before getting any chance. Kidney’s are the highest in demand right now and people aged 50–64 make up the highest percentage of candidates who are waiting. What’s really interesting is that countries, such as Spain that employ an opt-out system, have some of the highest organ donation rates. Hmm, maybe they’re onto something there…

[via GOOD Magazine]

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Anatomy of a bottleneck

Posted on June 25, 2012 by Danzig

As tight spots go, the stretch of St. Clair West that ducks beneath the Georgetown rail corridor, between Old Weston Road and Keele Street, is as close to a traffic funnel as can be found anywhere in Toronto.

Densely populated neighbourhoods fan out to the east. To the west sit acres of car-friendly big box stores, with more on the way. Since construction this year closed a shortcut around the area, cars, buses and trucks crawl through the underpass, which offers one lane in either direction. Streetcars use a dedicated right-of-way.

You stand here for a little while and youll get a glimpse of what the people deal with everyday, Don Panos, chair of the St. Clair Gardens BIA, said recently as he stood at the corner of Old Weston, watching trucks trying to make tight right turns as cars backed up towards Caledonia. You just see how frustrating it is.

Council is considering how best to break the logjam, recently voting for an environmental assessment. One idea, favoured by the areas representative, Cesar Palacio, is to add two lanes to the underpass, but its a highly complex venture that would take years to complete and would cost more than $30-million.

Traffic engineers say the problem isnt just the width of the underpass; it also involves the constricted layout of busy intersections at either end, which regulate the volume of traffic passing beneath the 80-year-old bridge.

During the construction of the right-of-way, the intersections were not built according to approved designs because the city wanted to cut the cost of the land acquisitions needed to widen parts of the roadway, TTC experts said.

We have intersections that are not designed in accordance to what was agreed to, said TTC service planning manager Mitch Stambler. Decisions were made that were outside the planning and EA process by the construction managers.

Gord MacMillan, the citys director of design and construction, acknowledged that pressure to complete the project made it impossible to buy the additional strips of land for new turn lanes. As well, city project managers encountered technical problems that didnt surface during the planning process, he said.

Its impossible to know if the original design would have eased congestion. Yet the question is not moot. Traffic will swell in coming years with waves of new development. Metrolinxs Air Rail Link, slated to run on the Georgetown corridor starting in 2015, will make it much more complicated to rebuild the underpass once it is operating.

How to open the bottleneck:

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Anatomy of a bottleneck

Grey's anatomy: Victory for faith

Posted on June 23, 2012 by Danzig

The grey: Erewhon (2) ridden by Rod Quinn (maroon, white star on cap). Picture: Damian Shaw. Source: The Sunday Telegraph

PUNTERS may have sacked him but Darley trainer Peter Snowden never lost faith in problematic galloper, Erewhon, who was back in the winner's stall at Warwick Farm yesterday after an absence stretching back to his Group 1 Spring Champion triumph in 2010.

The son of Commands opened up at $3.50 in the ring but couldn't find a friend and wound out to $5 by the time the field jumped.

Erewhon settled behind leader O'Crikey ($21) and the well-fancied San Zaim ($4) before peeling three wide around to mount his challenge. Jockey Josh Parr drove Erewhon to the lead at the 200m from which point the grey had to repel challengers to his inside and out before holding on for a hard-fought win.

"It's very satisfying because it's been a long time between drinks," Snowden said. "The horse has so many problems with his feet; he's had four quarter-cracks in the past 18 months which has given us hell but we've finally got them right now, so it's been a good job by all the staff.

"Erewhon is a Group 1 winner and Group 1 winners are hard to get, so you want to hang on to them as best you can. But it's just been one thing after another with him, to get him back to his best."

Erewhon was crunched from $9 into $5.50 equal favourite when he made his long-awaited return to racing at Rosehill last month but was soundly beaten. "I was disappointed with his first-up run because I thought he was more forward than that but these older horses once they get out of form or don't race for quite a while, it takes them a lot longer to get them back," Snowden said.

"He's needed the two runs before this."

Erewhon's return to form came at the expense of a conga line of unlucky horses, beginning with the John O'Shea-trained Glintz ($10) who had his chances ruined by a chequered passage in the straight. A noted front runner, connections opted for a change of tactics after two poor runs. This time the son of Pins parked back in the field in an awkward position.

Glintz looked likely to threaten inside the final 100m but was held up at crucial stages, going down by a half-head at the wire.

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Grey's anatomy: Victory for faith

RESURRECTION! A Gala Benefit to Rebuild The Morbid Anatomy Library, Saturday, June 30th, 8:00 PM

Posted on June 24, 2012 by Danzig

For those of you who might not have already heard, on Good Friday of this year, The Morbid Anatomy Library suffered a mighty and devastating deluge. On Saturday, Saturday, June 30th, Observatory and Morbid Anatomy will host an epic and underground-star-studded rebuilding gala, and we would love to see you there.

The fête will be hosted by Evan Michelson of The Science Channel's "Oddities" and cult writer and luminary Mark Dery, and will feature mini-lectures by such luminaries as Mike Zohn and Ryan Mathews of "Oddities;" Melissa Milgrom, author of Still Life: Adventures in Taxidermy; New York Magazine's Mark Jacobson; Carl Schoonover, author of Portraits of the Mind, and many more. The silent auction to follow will include works by such amazing artists and makers as Mark Dion and Dana Sherwood, Rosamond Purcell, Robert Marbury, Sophie Blackall, Jessica Joslin, Paul Koudounaris, Sue Jeiven, Daisy Tainton, Sigrid Sarda, Saul Chernick, Nicholas Kahn, Laura Splan, Alex Kanevsky, Erika Larsen, Shannon Taggart, and Justine Cooper.

Full details follow, and invitation can be found here. Hope very very much to see you there!

RESURRECTION! A Gala Benefit to Rebuild The Morbid Anatomy Library
Date: Saturday, June 30
Time: 8:00
Admission: $25
Presented by Morbid Anatomy
On Good Friday, 2012, The Morbid Anatomy Librarysuffered a deluge; a fire in an upstairs gallery set off the sprinkler system, dousing the library below and destroying many books and artifacts.
On Saturday, June 30th, join Observatory and The Morbid Anatomy Library for a star-studded resurrection spectacular MCed by Evan Michelson of TV's "Oddities" and cult writer and luminary Mark Dery. Presenters will include Mike Zohn and Ryan Mathews of TV's "Oddities;" Melissa Milgrom, author of Still Life: Adventures in Taxidermy; New York Magazine's Mark Jacobson; Carl Schoonover, author of Portraits of the Mind; Barbara Mathé of AMNH; Lisa O’Sullivan, director of the Center for the History of Medicine and Public Health at the New York Academy of Medicine; Lord Whimsy of The Affected Provincial's Almanac Volume 1 and Amy Herzog of Queens College. There will be screenings of The Midnight Archive, complimentary cocktails, performances by Jonny Clockworks, and droll giveaways from the design firm Kikkerland. Attendees are encouraged to dress "Obscurely."
Following the festivities, be sure to stick around for a scintillating silent auction of Morbid Anatomy-themed taxidermy, artworks, specimens and artifacts, which will include pieces by fine artists Mark Dion and Dana Sherwood, Rosamond Purcell, Minnesota Rogue Taxidermist Robert Marbury, MTA Artist-in-Residence Sophie Blackall, creative taxidermist Jessica Joslin, Ryan Mathews of "Oddities," Empire of Death author/photographer Paul Koudounaris, anthropomorphic taxidermist Sue Jeiven, anthropomorphic insect shadowbox maker Daisy Tainton, waxworker Sigrid Sarda, and museum-exhibit designer Christopher Muller, as well as unforgettable works by photographers Erika Larsen, Shannon Taggart, Julia Solis, and Justine Cooper, artists Saul Chernick, Nicholas Kahn, Laura Splan, Alex Kanevsky, Suzanne Anker, Friese Undine, Demetrios Vital, Cindy Stelmackowich, GF Newland, and Andrea Meadows, to name just a few.

If you can not join us at the benefit and are interested in aiding in rebuilding efforts, here are a few things you can do:

Make a monetary donation; to do so, simply click on the black "Donate Here" button on the top right hand side of this blog
Sponsor a book; Click hereto see a list of damaged books; books purchased here will automatically ship directly to The Library and populate our sadly empty shelves.
Help spread the word!
Donate new books or artifacts for the collection: Mailing Address: Joanna Ebenstein, c/o The Morbid Anatomy Library, 543 Union Street #1E, Brooklyn, NY 1121

Thanks so much! And hope to see you soon at a bigger, better Morbid Anatomy Library very very soon!

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Museums of London Tour, October 5-14, with Jim Edmonson of the Dittrick Museum

Posted on June 24, 2012 by Danzig

Friend of Morbid Anatomy Jim Edmonson of Cleveland's Dittrick Medical Museum has just informed us that he will be leading a guided tour of London Museums this October 5th to 14th; stops along the way include such wonderful museums as The Wellcome Collection (who is celebrating its 5th birthday today! Happy birthday!), The Hunterian, and the Old Operating Theatre.

Blurb follows; full details can be found here:

Museums of London Tour
Art, History and Medicine, October 5-14, 2012

We invite you to join Catherine Scallen, Chair of the Art History department and Jim Edmonson, Curator of the Dittrick Museum on the campus of Case Western Reserve University, for this custom designed tour of the key museums of London, England. Jim's contact with fellow curators and museum directors opens doors and provides the group with unique insights into their collections and aspects not normally open to the general public. Catherine's experience teaching and researching the masters of European Art from 1400 to 1900 will provide historical depth that makes the art museums' collections come alive.
Please note that our deadline for reserving a place on the London tour is June 30,
so contact us today to secure your reservation.

Please note: the final sign up day has been extended to June 30 from June 15th. If interested, you can find out more here.

Photo: The Hunterian Museum, London, from the museum's website.

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'Grey's Anatomy's Chyler Leigh: 'Mark, Alexis could have a destiny'

Posted on June 23, 2012 by Danzig

Chyler Leigh has opened up about the love story between her character and Mark Sloan (Eric Dane) on Grey's Anatomy.

Leigh made her debut as Lexie, the half-sibling of main character Meredith Grey, on the ABC series in 2007, where she had an on-off relationship with plastic surgeon Sloan until her death in a plane crash on last season's finale.

"The rollercoaster between them was always very dynamic and I think realistic," she shared to TV Guide. "When it comes to death we never know the date or the hour. There is absolute shock value to that.

"As far as their relationship, it was in some ways very young. So Rachel and Ross [from Friends]. It's so hard to put a pin in what went wrong or how it could have gone better.

"But will Mark go on? Absolutely. He'll move right along. That's just what Mark Sloane does. But initially I hope there will be a devastation."

When asked if Mark was the love of Lexie's life, Leigh answered: "I do. She learned so much from him about herself and about life in general. I do think there could have been a destiny for that."

Leight also revealed that she "didn't push" for a primetime Emmy consideration for her death scene on the season finale.

Watch a clip of Grey's Anatomy featuring Chyler Leigh and Eric Dane below:

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'Grey's Anatomy's Chyler Leigh: 'Mark, Alexis could have a destiny'

Anatomy of a scam

Posted on June 23, 2012 by Danzig

By: Allen Breed | Associated Press Published: June 23, 2012 Updated: June 23, 2012 - 12:18 PM

With their elderly parents seated across the octagonal oak table, Donna and Jim Parker were back in the kitchen they knew so well - the hutch along one wall crammed with plates, bells and salt-and-pepper shakers picked up during family trips; at the table's corner, the spindly wooden high chair where a 7-year-old Jim had tearfully confessed to setting a neighbor's woods ablaze.

It was Christmastime, but this was no holiday gathering. Now, it was the parents who were in deep trouble, and this was an intervention.

For the past year, Charles and Miriam Parker, both 81, had been in the thrall of an international sweepstakes scam. The retired educators, with a half-dozen college degrees between them, had lost tens of thousands of dollars.

But money wasn't just leaving the Parker house. Strangely, large sums were now coming in, too.

Their four children were worried, but had been powerless to open their parents' eyes. Maybe, Donna thought, they'd listen to people with badges.

And so, joining them at the family table that late-December day in 2005 were Special Agent Joan Fleming of the FBI and David Evers, an investigator from the North Carolina attorney general's telemarketing fraud unit.

The home was littered with sweepstakes mailers and "claim" forms, the cupboards bare of just about everything but canned soup, bread and crackers. Charles Parker acknowledged that he'd lost a lot of money, but expressed confidence that he and his wife would eventually succeed if they just kept "investing."

Evers and Fleming showed the couple a video of other elderly scam victims, then played a taped interview of a former con man describing how he operated. Charles was alarmed by what he was seeing and hearing, but his wife seemed to be barely paying attention.

With the couple's permission, Evers installed a "mooch line" on the kitchen phone so they could capture incoming calls. The Parkers pledged their cooperation.

John Travolta & Vin Diesel: Anatomy of a Hollywood Gay Rumor

Posted on June 22, 2012 by Danzig

Another day, another gay rumor for John Travolta. Why do some celebrities like the Pulp Fiction star,XXXstarVin Dieseland George Clooney continue to face gay rumors? And how do they address them?

News broke Thursday (June 21) that author Robert Randolph was suing Travolta for libel. The trouble started after the married star and his lawyer made statements about Randolph and his book You'll Never Spa in This Town Again, in which he claimed he had a gay affair with the star.

For decades, men have made wild accusations in tabloids like the National Enquirer, claiming they had sex with Travolta. Just this year, he faced allegations of sexual misconduct by three unnamed male masseurs. And he's always adamantly denied it all and in many cases, he involved his lawyer Martin Singer.

The Descendants star dismissed a strategy of vigorous denial that other celebrities turn to, saying, "Who does it hurt if someone thinks Im gay? Ill be long dead and there will still be people who say I was gay. I dont give a sh*t."

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John Travolta & Vin Diesel: Anatomy of a Hollywood Gay Rumor

Anatomy of a leak

Posted on June 23, 2012 by Danzig

Its hard for a journalist to be objective on the subject of leaks, a bit like asking a lawyer if he thinks litigation is a good method for resolving disputes. People in the news business always have a bias toward more information, even on sensitive subjects involving intelligence policy.

So the reader should discount for my inherent bias in favor of informing the public, and of the process that leads to disclosure namely, leaks.

David Ignatius

Ignatius writes a twice-a-week foreign affairs column and contributes to the PostPartisan blog.

'Grey's Anatomy's Chyler Leigh: 'Mark, Lexie could have a destiny'

Posted on June 23, 2012 by Danzig

Chyler Leigh has opened up about the love story between her character and Mark Sloan (Eric Dane) on Grey's Anatomy.

"As far as their relationship, it was in some ways very young. So Rachel and Ross [from Friends]. It's so hard to put a pin in what went wrong or how it could have gone better.

"But will Mark go on? Absolutely. He'll move right along. That's just what Mark Sloane does. But initially I hope there will be a devastation."

When asked if Mark was the love of Lexie's life, Leigh answered: "I do. She learned so much from him about herself and about life in general. I do think there could have been a destiny for that."

Leight also revealed that she "didn't push" for a primetime Emmy consideration for her death scene on the season finale.

Watch a clip of Grey's Anatomy featuring Chyler Leigh and Eric Dane below:

Go here to see the original:
'Grey's Anatomy's Chyler Leigh: 'Mark, Lexie could have a destiny'

Keck's Exclusives: Grey's Anatomy's Chyler Leigh Speaks About Lexie's Heartbreaking Death

Posted on June 22, 2012 by Danzig

Chyler Leigh

More than a month after we lost Lexie on the chilling Grey's Anatomy season finale, it still hurts to think about helpless Little Grey trapped under the wreckage of a downed plane as she struggled to breathe through bloodied teeth. Well, Lexie's portrayer, the always lovely Chyler Leigh, is happy to remind us, "I'm alive." Here, for the first time since she released a brief statement explaining her reasons for leaving the series [we agreed not to get back into that], Leigh opens up about her last moments on set, what's next and being honored by an organization helping to bring water to the world's thirstiest.

TV Guide Magazine: Chyler! How are you? Leigh: I'm good. If I cough, I'm sorry. I'm kind of getting overa little cold.

TV Guide Magazine: Well, you're in much better shape than the last time we saw you on TV. Leigh: [Laughs] For sure.

TV Guide Magazine: I first have to tell you, as hard as it was to lose you, your death scene was brilliantly acted. Leigh: Aww. Thank you. I wasn't really dying though. That was quite an experience. I haunted a lot of people.

TV Guide Magazine: We'll talk more about that. In the meantime, what have you been up to? Leigh: Life. A whole lot of life and I am so grateful that I get to be home with my kids who are three beautiful, complicated, dynamic children. I have a lot of life to live.

TV Guide Magazine: You also had a movie out that Justin Chambers [Alex] was originally slated to be in. Leigh: Yes, Justin wasn't available [because of his Grey's shooting schedule] but we still made the movie called Brake with Stephen Dorff as the main character. I played his wife. It came out in March. A really incredible little movie.

TV Guide Magazine: So what's next? Leigh: A few things. My husband [actor Nathan West] and I write. There's a musical thing and a children's book we're in the process of. It's still all very much in the developmental stage.

TV Guide Magazine: Why is a children's book something you wanted to do? Leigh: We read books to our kids every night and my husband is such an amazing storyteller. He has them rolling with laughter. So we had some pretty profound ideas come up.

TV Guide Magazine: You and Nathan are being honored next week with the Pioneering Spirit Award by an organization called the Thirst Project. What's this all about? Leigh: The Thirst Project is a phenomenal organization [about] the water crisis. Almost one billion people on our planet don't have access to any clean drinking water. 4400 kids die every single day from diseases caused by contaminated water. And eighty percent of all global diseases are water-born. It's ridiculous. My eight-year-old son will complain about having to drink a cup of water and I'll show him a video to watch. The Thirst Project has been able to build wells in several developing countries all around the globe and teach the people in the villages how to maintain them so they have clean water for life. Clean water has been brought to over 100,000 people over the world in just four short years. For my husband and I to be able to put our names out there, we're able to be a part of it. We were also able to finance a well in Swaziland that's making an impact.

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Keck's Exclusives: Grey's Anatomy's Chyler Leigh Speaks About Lexie's Heartbreaking Death

Sira-sira store: Anatomy of a cocktail

Posted on June 22, 2012 by Danzig

Friday, June 22, 2012

NEVER has a cocktail gained more fame than the liquid food known as BM or Bloody Mary.

Because the drink is served cold, it makes an excellent refresher even if it has alcohol. It makes you imagine a white beach, some pretty bikini-clad girls and you, with no care in the world.

Have something to report? Tell us in text, photos or videos.

The worlds most complex cocktail has securely established itself in popular culture. A Family Guy episode couldnt resist the enticing drink. One scene had Peter Griffin drinking a Bloody Mary to ease the symptoms of a hangover. His drink was garnished with celery.

Bloody Mary is the drink of choice of George (actor Bob Hoskins) in Mona Lisa. He orders several glasses in the 1986 film. In Back to the Future III, Emmett Brown (Christopher Lloyd) pops out from unconsciousness with a Bloody Bull Shot, a variant of BM, that the bartender renames as Wake-Up Juice.

In the film Johnny English, Rowan Atkinson orders a Bloody Mary not too spicy from a waiter at the unveiling of the crown jewels.

Two names are linked with the drink. One is George Jessel, who claims to have created the grandmother of all BMs with his concoction around 1939. His prototype was made with half tomato juice, half vodka.

Fernand Petiot, a bartender at the New York Bar (later named Harrys New York Bar), in Paris, France, is the second claimant to the cocktails birth. He said he invented the drink as we know it today in 1921.

He said the first two customers for whom he made the drink were from Chicago, and they say there is a bar there named the Bucket of Blood. And there is a waitress there everybody calls Bloody Mary. One of the boys said that the drink reminds him of Bloody Mary, and the name stuck, according to wikipedia.com.

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Sira-sira store: Anatomy of a cocktail

The Anatomy Of A Heat Celebration & Parade

Posted on June 21, 2012 by Danzig

MIAMI (CBS4) The last time the Miami Heat won an NBA title was in 2006. It was their first.

So if the Heat win the Finals, people will party. To find out what a celebration might look like, we went back in time.

It was six years ago when the Miami Heat beat the Dallas Mavericks and won the NBA Finals.

Five minutes later, Im not kidding you, people started coming out with pots, and pans, said CBS4s Marybel Rodriguez, who was reporting from Hialeah that night. I remember this one guy was on top of his car, with a huge pink flamingo just screaming Go Heat!

There must have been thousands of people in Hialeah. They had their own Heat parade the night the Heat won, she said.

That wasnt even the official parade we saw a few days later.

We turned to CBS4 Sports Anchor Jim Berry to find out what a Heat celebration this year could be like.

Celebration? What celebration? Theyve gotta win it first! You trying to jinx the Heat? asked Berry.

CBS4s Lisa Petrillo remembers the 2006 celebration well.

Crazy, hot, and crowded, she said.

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The Anatomy Of A Heat Celebration & Parade

Chyler Leigh Opens Up About Filming Grey's Anatomy Death Scene

Posted on June 22, 2012 by Danzig

When Chyler Leigh decided to leave Grey's Anatomy in May after five-and-a-half years, the actress wrapped up Lexie's storyline on her own terms -- but that doesn't mean filming her death scene was a total dream.

"It was cold," Leigh, 30, recalled to TVGuide.com of filming her character's final scene, which took place in the aftermath of a plane crash. "We were up at Big Bear and at one point it had snowed. Then it would rain and be sunny and hot. I never died before [on camera]. That sounds funny saying that. I think everyone has an emotional wellspring and that happened to be a moment where I was sprung."

VIDEO: How the Grey's cast kills time on set

As all eyes were on Leigh's Lexie Grey during those last scenes, the actress quickly realized she could call the shots to keep herself comfortable. "Everybody was very accommodating -- the crew, cast. And I opted to stay underneath [the wreckage] for the most part over two days rather than trying to get in and out," she explained.

Leigh tells TVGuide.com that of all of her Seattle Grace scenes, Lexie's last moments were a highlight. "Ironically, I think [I'm most proud of] her death. It really was a chance for me to be able to go from the beginning of the character to the end," Leigh -- who worked closely with Grey's Anatomy creator Shonda Rhimes to prepare a fitting end for Lexie -- explains.

PHOTOS: Grey's most memorable moments

"There's something that's very bittersweet about that. Something about being able to be there for the moment of her death that I appreciate. I don't know if that's morbid or not, but that's how I feel," she continues.

Taking a break from TV for the time being as she raises her three children with her actor husband, Nathan West, Leigh wouldn't be opposed to returning to the small screen. "I'm always down to do a sitcom. I did That 80's Show back in the day and that was a really great experience. I think comedy would be good for a while," she hints.

PHOTOS: TV bombshells

In the meantime, Leigh -- who is working on a children's book with her husband - is relishing in extra family time. "Right now I'm just taking a pause from everything," she tells TVGuide.com. "I am so grateful that I get to be home with my kids who are three beautiful, complicated, dynamic children. I have a lot of life to live."

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Chyler Leigh Opens Up About Filming Grey's Anatomy Death Scene

The Anatomy of a Huge Trading Loss

Posted on June 22, 2012 by Danzig

How human biology can explain the behavior that drives banks to the brink of disaster

Jeff Hutchens / Getty Images

As the world's economy struggles to pull out of a recession, traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange in the New York financial district on Wall Street on April 8, 2009 in New York City.

Coates' latest book is The Hour Between Dog and Wolf: Risk Taking, Gut Feelings and the Biology of Boom and Bust

Every so often we read of a star trader who has lost so much money that he has given back all the profits he made in the previous few years and shaken his bank to its foundations. How on earth does this happen? Were the risk managers at the bank mistaken all along about this traders skill?

Maybe. But recent research in physiology and neuroscience suggests an alternative explanation that the winning streak itself changed the trader. Human biology can today help explain the behavior that drives traders to acts of folly.At the heart of this research lies an important fact that is frequently overlooked: when we take risk, including financial risk, we do a lot more than think about it we prepare for it physically. Body and brain fuse as a single functioning unit.

(MORE:The $2 Billion Boo-Boo)

Consider what happens when an important piece of news flashes across the wire. At that very instant, across the trading floor, traders senses are placed on high alert, allowing them to hear the faintest noise, see the slightest movement. Breathing accelerates, and they feel the thump of a heart gearing up for action. Muscles tense, stomachs knot and an imperceptible sheen of sweat creeps across their skin, anticipatory cooling for the expected activity. We do not regard information as a computer does, dispassionately. We register it physically.

This fusion of body and brain normally endows us with the fast reactions and gut feelings we need to survive in a brutal world, and a brutal market. My colleagues at the University of Cambridge and Ihave conducted a series of experiments on a trading floor in London and found thatunder circumstances of extraordinary opportunity otherwise known as a winning streak our biology can overreact, and our risk taking become pathological. A model from animal behavior, called the winner effect, provides an intriguingly illustration of how this can happen. When males enter a fight or competition their testosterone surges which increases their hemoglobin and hence their bloods capacity to carry oxygen; and in the brain it increases confidence and appetite for risk. The winner emerges with even higher levels of testosterone and this heightens his chances of winning yet again, leading to a positive feedback loop. For athletes preparing to compete, traders buying risky assets, even politicians gearing up for an election, this is a moment of transformation,what the French in the Middle Ages called the hour between dog and wolf.

(MORE: Five Ways to Be Better at Risk-Taking)

The rest is here:
The Anatomy of a Huge Trading Loss

Anatomy of attack ads that work – or flop

Posted on June 19, 2012 by Danzig

(CBS News) NEW YORK -- This year's presidential race is expected to be the most expensive ever.

The campaigns and their supporters will spend billions of dollars on television ads before it's all over.

Longtime Republican strategist Frank Luntz, a pollster and communications specialist, has studied hundreds of political TV spots.

He says most don't work.

"You get about 20 percent that actually help the candidate that they're designed to support," Luntz observed on "CBS This Morning." "Twenty percent turn people off -- and that's what's amazing about this -- because they don't understand the ad, it's too complicated, it's too gimmicky. And so, the person watching it actually ends up supporting the other candidate."

To determine whether an ad will hit the spot, media companies bring people into rooms and measure their response.

"We use something called 'instant response,' Luntz explains."And (people sitting in a room) react on a second-by-second basis. The dial is about the size of a remote control. They turn it up to every word, every phrase, every visual. And so, we can figure out, second-by-second, the exact moment when something either works, impacts them, or turns them off."

Full coverage: Election 2012

Luntz showed examples of ads taking on both President Obama and his presumptive GOP rival, Mitt Romney. Both, he said, have their intended impact.

Both used their own word against them, showing actual statements they made that their foes would feel came back to haunt them.

View post:
Anatomy of attack ads that work - or flop

Anatomy of an Internal Link

Posted on June 21, 2012 by Danzig

Internal Linking to Promote Keyword Cluster explained the math of how strength passes internally between pages of a website and how it can be influenced with a focused and planned internal linking structure. The limitation of this approach is that it assumes that all internal links are created equal. This isnt the case.

Several factors influence the weight and relative importance of an internal link. For example the format of that link, its position on the page, its position relative to other links, etc. While the specific way that the engines weigh individual links is not known (and would likely change even if it was), there are principles you can be apply to understand how the weight is being carried through your site past simple mathematics.

The simplest (and arguably most effective) first step is to think like a visitor. In the desire for search engines to provide as relevant a result as possible, they work hard to emulate as best they can a visitor experience.

While the fine folks at Google (and Bing of course) can't visit every site on the web, they can create automated systems that do an excellent job at understanding how the web works, how elements are positioned on a page, and what those elements look and behave like. From this they can gather an understanding of how important a link is.

Let's look at the following basic diagram of a simple website (the dotted line indicates where the fold line is, everything above it is visible to the average user on first visiting the site):

The rule of thumb you can follow is this: the more visible the link is, the higher the weight it will pass. Let's look at each of the main link elements and grade them on a scale of 1 to 10:

I list the sidebar links first as I tend to use them as my baseline. Sidebars are often the spot for links you want people to be able to find easily enough but not important enough to make it to your main navigation. They are positioned above the fold, however there are usually many of them in a list, thus reducing their visibility. When I'm thinking about my weighting of links, I usually use the sidebar links as the baseline at 5 and grade the rest up-or-down from there.

This is the single most visible link area on a page. The majority of websites use the logo as a link to the homepage. The weight of this link will be high as Google knows that this link is extremely visible and highly clickable. As far as a link zone is concerned, the header is the 10 as far as potential weight passing is concerned.

These links are highly visible and engines know that these links tend to point to the key pages on a website. This is where you as a visitor look to find product or contact information, and the engines know that. Pages linked to in this area will be given a high relative weight. This zone is given a 9 out of 10 for weighting.

See the article here:
Anatomy of an Internal Link

Lara Dann

Posted on June 17, 2012 by Danzig

Lara Dann is an artist with quite a varied and inspiring path in life. At the end of a 6 year career in advertising design, she decided to leave, go back to school and become a licensed massage therapist, specializing in deep tissue therapy.

Lara says of her experience,

I had a strong personal desire to lead a life with more meaning and purpose so I decided to take a bold leap and a different direction into a career as a licensed massage therapist. I am pleased with the decision, as it enriched my life and also my knowledge of the human anatomy.

After 8 years and 2 children, Lara has spent the last 3 years perfecting her art skills and developing her vision as an artist.

To learn more about Lara Dann and to see more work, read her fascinating interview on Eclectix. It was a joy to read this morning over a cup of coffee!

[via Eclectix]

Source:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/streetanatomy/OQuC

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