Archive for the ‘ Uncategorized ’ Category

Making a Career Out of Meatballs

Author: JoshB

Feb 23

By GRACE L. WILLIAMS

(See Corrections & Amplifications item below.)

Daniel Mancini, 51, spent 25 years working in the apparel industry, before turning back to a childhood passion: meatballs.

He started his career with department-store jobs in New York City that eventually turned into management roles. A six-month executive training program after college led him to now-defunct Gimbels department store, where he also served as a manager. Mr. Mancini held posts at a variety of other stores, like now-defunct Alexander’s department store on 59th Street and Sasson Jeans before he was recruited to work in sales for a junior collection company that launched in 1986 called Ultra Pink, where he rose through the ranks to become president.

“I love the fact that it’s very creative and wherever I was I always had my hand in on design,” says Mr. Mancini of the fashion industry.

[SECACTMEATBALLC]

4 Elbows, LLC

‘Meatball Dan’ Mancini

But as his career played out, Mr. Mancini began to wonder what might be next. It was memories of cooking alongside his grandmother Anna Mancini that led to a second act.

Some of Mr. Mancini’s earliest memories involved helping his grandmother in the kitchen. As he grew up, he became Anna’s right hand, helping her shop for groceries and cook the recipes she had memorized. At 15, he asked her to teach him exactly how to cook her dishes. “I just felt that if I didn’t learn all the recipes, they’d be gone,” he says. None of the 25 recipes used exact measures and he never wrote them down either.

In 2008, long after Anna had died and he had made his name in the garment industry, Mr. Mancini was looking for a new challenge. He had often cooked his grandmother’s recipes for friends, earning the nickname “Meatball Dan.” It was after one such meal that he decided to create a business that brought the family dinners he had enjoyed as a child to people outside his social circle. In a nod to his favorite dish, the meatball, Mr. Mancini went into business with his grandmother’s recipe, creating what became “Meatballs and Sunday Sauce.”

At first, he wasn’t sure what to do with his idea. Mr. Mancini sent an email to a local New Jersey market called Eden Gourmet (a division of Garden of Eden) about his product and was invited to bring them by. Mr. Mancini cooked up a batch of his grandmother’s meatballs in his own kitchen and served them up to the manager. After serving the meatballs to Eden Gourmet management, Mr. Mancini knew he was on to something, but wasn’t ready to quit his day job without financial backing. Once he had a working recipe, Mr. Mancini approached Carl Wolf, who lived in the same central New Jersey town as he did and who is the former chief executive of Alpine Lace Co., a deli cheese company, with his idea for a product that he named “MamaMancini’s.”

More Second Acts

Winemaker Turned Shoe Mogul

From Top Gun to Tech Guru

Finding a Future in Doggie Day Care

“He came to us and said he had the world’s greatest meatball,” says Mr. Wolf. “And we said, ‘Oh sure.’ Sure enough, it was a really good product.”

He worked at perfecting the recipe—which took over 18 months and involved turning a small scale recipe into thousands of meatballs. Mr. Wolf then agreed to license the product from Mr. Mancini for about $1.5 million. Under terms of the agreement, the name MamaMancini’s as well as recipes Mr. Mancini created are owned by Mr. Wolf. Mr. Mancini says that in addition to the licensing agreement, he receives royalties.

“I knew that if this was going to work, I had to make a deal with someone who was an expert,” says Mr. Mancini.

After that deal was inked, Mr. Mancini quit the garment industry to focus on becoming the face of a meatball empire. He declines to disclose his salary, but says it is about half of what he made in the garment industry.

Production was moved to a 17,000 square foot factory in East Rutherford, N.J., and the meatballs started rolling. After selling the product locally in supermarkets in New York and New Jersey, in April 2009, Mr. Mancini got his chance to go national with his product when the Martha Stewart Show featured Mr. Mancini with his meatballs.

The attention boosted the brand enough to catch on and win distribution with well-known supermarket chains, including Whole Foods, which carries the products in 24 stores in the Northeast.

The fact that his career change also pays tribute to his grandmother makes his success twice as sweet. “When I made this change, I was scared to death,” he says. “I felt in my heart that if you do something that you love, it will be successful.”

Corrections & Amplifications

MamaMancini’s, a gourmet food start-up, received $1.5 million in capital investments from investors including Carl Wolf, former chief executive of Alpine Lace. Mr. Wolf, his partner Matt Brown and Daniel Mancini started MamaMancini’s by developing over 18 months a meatball recipe inspired by Mr. Mancini’s grandmother. This article incorrectly says that Mr. Mancini received $1.5 million as part of a licensing agreement and that Mr. Wolf was still CEO of Alpine Lace. The article also incorrectly gave the company’s name as Mama Mancini, incorrectly said that the recipe took Messrs. Mancini and Wolf two weeks to develop and failed to note Mr. Brown’s involvement.

© 2011 Wall Street Journal (www.wsj.com)
  • Comments Off
  • Filed under: Uncategorized

    • Blur to play London’s Hyde Park at Olympics closing

    Author: JoshB

    Feb 23


    LONDON |
    Tue Feb 21, 2012 10:22am EST

    LONDON (Reuters) – British band Blur will headline a concert in London’s Hyde Park that coincides with the closing ceremony of the Olympic Games, organizers said on Tuesday.

    Highlights of the end of the Olympics will be beamed to tens of thousands of ticket holders in Hyde Park on August 12 via giant screens.

    Joining Blur will be The Specials and New Order in a line-up being billed as “Best of British.”

    Tickets for the closing ceremony celebration concert go on sale on February 24 and cost 55 pounds ($87) plus a booking fee.

    Another music concert will be held at the same venue on July 27 to mark the opening of the Olympic Games.

    (Reporting by Mike Collett-White, editing by Paul Casciato)

    © 2011 REUTERS (www.reuters.com)
  • Comments Off
  • Filed under: Uncategorized

    • How to Lower Your Workplace Stress

    Author: JoshB

    Feb 22

    By RUTH MANTELL

    Your workload has increased, so have your boss’s expectations. But scaling back could mean losing a job.

    Talk about stress.

    Paul Baard, an organizational and motivational psychologist at Fordham University’s graduate business school in New York, knows just how stressful a work environment can get. He has consulted with athletes in the high-stakes, high-pressure world of professional sports.

    What secret has he passed along to those clients? When you are in a slump, you can still contribute by encouraging your teammates.

    Enlarge Image

    15MWc

    Close

    15MWc

    Christoph Hitz

    Rather than burdening a team with distracting self-doubt and pity, try to help others, he advises. “In order to remain self-motivated, research has found that the innate psychological need for competence must be satisfied,” Mr. Baard says. “This drive pertains not only to the ability to do a job but to achieve something through it—to have impact, to contribute. A way an employee can expand opportunities to satisfy this need is to help her team succeed by encouraging others, even if her direct contributions are limited.”

    Click Here to View Other Health & Wellness Articles

    Age, occupation and family circumstances, among other factors, can all play a part in how workers respond to different stressors. But experts say there are steps that can help you take control of your happiness at work this year.

    Find meaning in your tasks. Commitment to a goal beyond self-promotion can help a worker manage stress levels, says John Weaver, a psychologist at Psychology For Business, a Brookfield, Wis.-based employment consultancy.

    Several years ago, Mr. Weaver consulted for a long-term-care facility in Wisconsin that had flooded. Because of the water damage, the residents and employees had been forced to move into an already occupied facility. Employees felt cramped and annoyed, he says, and pettiness abounded.

    To help the workers regain a positive attitude, Mr. Weaver asked each person this question: Why do you do this work?

    “People don’t work in nursing because it pays so much or it’s glamorous or it’s easy,” he says. “As they heard the question you could see their attitude change. They could see the reasons why they needed to work together, to put aside difficulties and compromise, and residents were treated better.”

    Remembering why you are in a business can help you manage stress, Mr. Weaver says.

    While working on his dissertation, Rick Best, now a health-services scientist for Lockheed Martin, researched stress among nurses who work with veterans, a group that faces high demands with low resources. One might have expected elevated levels of burnout. But there were high levels of satisfaction.

    “The meaning they got from their job was high,” says Mr. Best. “They went into the profession of nursing to help people. As a consequence, they derived much meaning from what they were doing, and they were better able to handle stress.”

    Reduce your expectations. Given how much energy employees devote to their job, there can be quite a few expectations wrapped up in work. Workers often look to employers for career, socialization, and personal and intellectual growth opportunities.

    “With so many expectations, it’s no wonder that work can’t meet all of that. So we get disappointed, but I don’t know that work could fulfill all those things,” says Ken Pinnock, associate director of employee relations and services at the University of Denver.

    Due to so many layoffs in the last few years, many have lost friends and colleagues, and have realized that job security, taken for granted at times, is gone. There have also been cuts when it comes to extras, such as educational opportunities, celebrations and room for career advancement.

    There can be an element of loss when employees realize that the workplace has changed. However, personal and professional goals can still be pursued without an employer’s support.

    “The way back from this is to try to gain perspective about work, realizing that we are still ultimately in charge of our careers and work, and we don’t have to turn to our employers to develop ourselves, or look to them to be responsible for us,” Mr. Pinnock says.

    Look at “challenges,” not “problems.” Rather than perceiving problems at work, look at them as challenges.

    “The people who approach work as an opportunity to learn are much more satisfied with their jobs and performance, and find themselves eager to take on new challenges,” Mr. Weaver says. “They aren’t trying to prove that they are the smartest. They are more likely to learn from their own experiences and mistakes.”

    Setting intermediate goals can also help workers derive a sense of accomplishment, and keep pace with longer-term targets, Mr. Best says.

    Write to Ruth Mantell at ruth.mantell@dowjones.com

    Ruth Mantell is a reporter for MarketWatch.

    © 2011 Wall Street Journal (www.wsj.com)
  • Comments Off
  • Filed under: Uncategorized

    • Gary Carter, Hall Of Famer And Mets Hero, Dies Of Brain Cancer At 57

    Author: JoshB

    Feb 22

    Story By: by Bill Chappell

    Gary Carter of the New York Mets looks on during a game in the 1989 season. The star of the Mets’ 1986 World Series win died Thursday, after a fight with brain cancer.

    Gary Carter, the former Major League Baseball catcher who helped the New York Mets win the 1986 World Series, has died of brain cancer at 57. In a career marked by tenacity — and the ability to hit homeruns — Carter was chosen for 11 All Star teams.

    Carter’s heroics helped the Mets come back to an improbable victory in their epic World Series against Boston — he singled and scored a crucial run, moments before teammate Mookie Wilson hit a ball that rolled through the legs of the Red Sox’ Bill Buckner. The Mets went on to win the championship.

    In recent years, Carter had been coaching Palm Beach Atlantic University’s baseball team. He managed to pay the team a visit before their season opener just two weeks ago, despite being weakened by his illness.

    In New York, WFAN’s website posted part of a statement from Carter’s family, in which his daughter wrote, “I am deeply saddened to tell you all that my precious dad went to be with Jesus today at 4:10 pm. This is the most difficult thing I have ever had to write in my entire life but I wanted you all to know.”

    Carter is the only player in baseball’s history to hit two homeruns in both a World Series game and an All Star game, the AP reports. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2003.

    Carter’s death comes one day after the Bleacher Report published a story lauding him as the greatest Mets catcher in history. Here’s a sampling of their praise:

    “As a Met, Carter nailed about 27 percent of would-be base stealers.

    “Carter was the team leader on a team of team leaders. The 1986 Mets included Keith Hernandez, Howard Johnson, Mookie Wilson and Ron Darling. Any one of them was capable of being team captain.”

    “Carter came through when it counted the most. He was not going to make the final out of the 1986 World Series. Down to his final strike, he singled off Boston Red Sox right-hander Calvin Schiraldi and the rest is history.”

    Carter’s career began with the Montreal Expos, and continued in New York. He then played for the Los Angeles Dodgers and the San Francisco Giants. He played behind the plate for most of his career, but the versatile Carter also spent time in the outfield, as well as playing first and third base.

  • Comments Off
  • Filed under: Uncategorized

    • Lowdown on the 2012 Brit nominees

    Author: JoshB

    Feb 22

    From household names to newcomers, we take an affectionate (and sometimes irreverent) look at all 46 artists nominated for the 2012 Brit Awards.

    Brief bio: Prolific poster boy of alternative country, who once described his music as "a Hallmark card if it was written in disappointment".

    Nominated for: International male

    What they say: "The caricature painted of him over the years of a difficult, moody rock star with a ferocious appetite for drugs and booze is light years away from the polite, friendly, open man sipping a cup of tea in the sunshine." [The Quietus]

    What we say: We're still waiting for Ryan to form a supergroup with Bryan and Oleta. They could call it The Adams Family.

    Brief bio: One-woman saviour of the British record industry, whose voice literally exploded halfway through 2011.

    Nominated for: Best British female, Best British single (Someone Like You), Best British album (21)

    What they say: "She can seethe, sob, rasp, swoop, lilt and belt, in ways that draw more attention to the song than to the singer." [New York Times]

    What we say: She hates to turn up out of the blue, uninvited… but the Brits is certain to welcome Adele back with open arms. And a few trophies.

    Brief bio: Sheffield musical prodigies, led by kitchen sink wordsmith Alex Turner. Their first album was the UK's fastest-selling debut in history until it was overtaken by Susan Boyle.

    Nominated for: Best group

    They say: "Being up there in the limelight is something that didn't come naturally to me at all. But now I'm doing stupid crowd participation things. I have started to enjoy that side of things." [Alex Turner, speaking to 6 Music]

    What we say: Turner says he's stopped writing about "chip shops" and "taxi ranks" but his dry wit hasn't dried up. See, for example, the title track to their latest album Suck It And See: "That's not a skirt, girl, that's a sawn-off shotgun… and I can only hope you've got it aimed at me."

    Brief bio: Booty-shaking, record-breaking, man-baiting, Grammy-taking, hit-creating mother-of-one. Quite popular.

    Nominated for: International female

    What they say: "Such was her long-stemmed beauty, as she prowled and strutted in search of her missing skirt, that among the audience of 170,000 people there were young men who passed out standing up, their eyes wide open." [Telegraph]

    What we say: According to the lyrics of 1+1, Beyonce "don't know much about algebra", but she's definitely got talent where it counts.

    Brief bio: Innovative Icelandic musician, multimedia artist and noise provocateur. Her latest album, Biophilia, is available as a series of interactive iPad apps.

    Nominated for: International female

    She says: "How I hear music is more related to nature. It's not related to some Christian German guys, Bach and Beethoven. I don't mean that in a bad way. I totally respect Christians and Germans, it's just that I think there should be versatility." [National Geographic]

    What we say: If Bjork wins for her latest album Biophilia it will, by implication, mean the first ever Brit award for featured vocalist Sir David Attenborough.

    Brief bio: Consultant-turned-rapper-turned-crooner, whose austerity anthem I Need A Dollar tapped into the mood of a nation.

    Nominated for: International male, International breakthrough

    What they say: "He is an informed conversationalist, speaking calmly on all manner of topics, from breakdancing to Noam Chomsky." [Telegraph]

    What we say: It's a good thing Aloe adopted a stage name – Egbert Nathaniel Dawkins III would be hard to engrave on a statue.

    Brief bio: The Harold Pinter of dubstep, known for minimalist soundscapes punctuated by long… pauses. Not to be confused with the US tennis player.

    Nominated for: Best British male

    What they say: "On one hand, I don't understand this at all. On the other, it's just incredible music". [Comment on Blake's YouTube page]

    What we say: Like Sudoku or a bank heist, James Blake's album is difficult but rewarding.

    Brief bio: Revitalised Britpop survivors, fronted by musical polymath Damon Albarn.

    Recipients of: Outstanding contribution to music

    They say: "I've been to the Brits only two or three times [and] I felt slightly guilty about winning. I was worried that people would think we were spoilt brats. This time, sod it, I'm just going to lap it up I think." [Guitarist Graham Coxon, talking to The Daily Record]

    What we say: Blur's outstanding contribution prize comes five years after arch-rivals Oasis took home the trophy. So that's that argument settled.

    Brief bio: AKA Justin Vernon, whose moody debut For Emma, Forever Ago was famously recorded alone, in a snowbound log cabin. The self-titled follow-up won Vernon a Grammy for best new artist.

    Nominated for: Best international male, international breakthrough

    What they say: "Amorphous and triumphant – a haze of acoustic guitars, airy synthesizers and tumbling drums floating beneath Vernon's hallucinogenic yowl, like two stratus clouds overlapping in a dream" [Washington Post]

    What we say: Bon Iver's success has led to the creation of tribute band Bon Joviver, who cover soft rock classics with Vernon's distinctively spectral harmonies.

    Brief bio: Enigmatic singer-songwriter whose latest record is a concept album about snow. Her debut single, Wuthering Heights, was the first British number one to be both written and sung by a woman.

    Nominated for: Best British female

    She says: "I'm really looking forward to taking a break." [Huffington Post]

    What we say: Glaciers move faster than Kate Bush's release schedule, so the appearance of two albums in 2011 made her Brits nomination almost a certainty.

    Brief bio: Bird-like Twickenham singer with a voice like a hurricane. Her self-titled debut album was nominated for a Mercury in 2011.

    Nominated for: British breakthrough act

    What they say: "It almost feels like going into a trance when I sing." [Interview Magazine]

    What we say: Anna Calvi wrote the bulk of her album in her parents attic – she must have had lofty ambitions [you're fired - ed].

    Brief bio: South London dance duo Saul Milton (Chase) and Will Kennard (Status). Their mixture of rave, rock and ribcage-rattling bass won them a headline slot on Glastonbury's West Holts stage, where Saul celebrated his 30th birthday.

    Nominated for: Best group

    What they say: "Cherry-picks the chunkiest, most accessible, lowest-common-denominator features of half a dozen genres and splices them together into a Frankenstein's monster of an album, in which the modern Prometheus is lurching forward to catch the kitchen sink he's just been thrown." [Guardian]

    What we say: One of only two British dance acts with a nomination, despite a resurgence for the genre in 2011. Unlikely to win, nonetheless.

    Brief bio: Chart-toppling giants of soft rock, whose latest album hit number one in more than 30 countries. Frontman Chris Martin has two main lyrical themes: "Everything is going to be OK" and "I'm very sorry".

    Nominated for: Best British album (Mylo Xyloto)

    What they say: "Coldplay's semi-experimental approach to arena anthems has made them one of the most commercially successful rock band of the 2000s." [Billboard]

    What we say: Chris Martin says he "made up" the words Mylo Xyloto and that we, the listeners, should determine the meaning. Bet he's a nightmare at Scrabble.

    Brief bio: Big-hearted poets of English suburbia. Their fifth album, Build A Rocket, Boys! was an understated, tender reaction to the success of their Mercury-winning breakthrough The Seldom Seen Kid.

    Nominated for: Best group

    They say: "You can't completely ignore the fact that when you've had a bit of success, people – especially financiers – are expecting more of the same, but we didn't let it change the way we wrote." [Frontman Guy Garvey, Paste Magazine]

    What we say: Garvey got in trouble with his band when he drunkenly announced the title of his album on radio. Imagine what secrets he might give away after a night of free record company booze at the Brits.

    Brief bio: Garrulous dance guru, whose stage name derives from the fact his initials are E.G. (Elliot Gleave). His third album, Playing In The Shadows, debuted at number one.

    Nominated for: Best British single (Changed The Way You Kissed Me)

    He says: "This album was aimed at getting me into arenas. And it has." [This Is London]

    What we say: Hit single Stay Awake features the world's worst product endorsement deal, as Example promises to "stick around like Elastoplast".

    Brief bio: Leslie Feist from Nova Scotia, purveyor of quirky, textured folk-pop. Her career received a boost when Apple chose the lighthearted single 1-2-3-4 for an iPod commercial.

    Nominated for: Best international female

    What they say: "Her voice shines in a downcast way, drawing just the right amount of emotion from the lyrics, never overwrought or melodramatic but potent nonetheless." [New Zealand Herald]

    What we say: When Shia LeBeouf insisted on playing Feist's album on the set of Transformers 3, director Michael Bay stormed off the set. Is there any way we could book Feist's next tour around the production schedule for Transformers 4?

    Brief bio: Seattle five-piece, whose rustic harmonies and flashes of psychedelia recall Fairport Convention and Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young.

    Nominated for: Best international group

    What they say: "Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and beards" [Spin]

    What we say: Hirsuites you, sir.

    Brief bio: Pale-faced musical foghorn Florence Welch and her ragtag band of minstrels. Fond of percussion. Mad as a hatstand.

    Nominated for: Best British female, Best British album (Ceremonials)

    She says: "I wanted to call this whole record just Violence. A violent emotion. You can feel things violently. It's a beautiful word." [USA Today]

    What we say: This is the sort of music you hear just before they sacrifice you to the volcano gods.

    Brief bio: Rock survivors, who rose from the ashes of Nirvana and fought their way through the ranks. One of their 2011 shows triggered volcanic tremors in New Zealand.

    Nominated for: Best international group

    Dave Grohl says: "It's weird when there's a kid on the bill who comes up and says, 'Your band was my first concert'. You just think, 'Oh no. I'm that guy, now? What am I, Gandalf?'" [Entertainment Weekly]

    What we say: Rock and Roll isn't dead, it's just hibernating in Dave Grohl's beard.

    Brief bio: LA indie pop quartet. Their background as jingle writers shines through in their supremely catchy pop hooks.

    Nominated for: International breakthrough

    What they say: "Foster The People make infectiously good music, don't stick to a formula and make you yearn to lie on your back in the middle of a field, feeling the hot sun streaming down on your face." [Music OMH]

    What we say: The band's breakthrough hit Pumped Up Kicks is the best pop song about a high school massacre since I Don't Like Mondays.

    Brief bio: Former Oasis guitarist and his furious eyebrows, now striking out with solo project Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds.

    Nominated for: Best British male

    He says: "It is a new sound… but only from taking things away. The excesses of Oasis, like the extra guitars, I just took 'em away. I didn't add anything." [Music Radar]

    What we say: The most famous roadie the Inspiral Carpets ever had.

    Brief bio: French DJ-turned-producer, whose thumping dance tracks are fronted by R&B royalty from Usher to Rihanna.

    Nominated for: Best international male

    What he says: "I think America was always scared of dance music. We came with a new sound, creating that bridge between the electro culture that comes from Europe and the urban culture that is more American – it's such magic." [Idolator]

    What we say: Would you recognise David Guetta if he fell out of a hammock labelled "This is David Guetta's Hammock"?

    Brief bio: The only person to have won the Mercury Prize twice, Polly Jean Harvey's latest album narrates the grim effects of war on generations of English soldiers.

    Nominated for: Best British album (Let England Shake)

    She says: "It took four years of writing before I ended up with the songs on this record, and I had to discard a huge amount of material." [BBC]

    What we say: In the 1990s, Radio 1 presenter Emma Freud introduced her as "PJ and Harvey". Sadly, Polly's version of Let's Get Ready To Rhumble wasn't a patch on the original.

    Brief bio: Two titans of hip-hop, joining forces for a gold-plated album of rap duets. The gold-plating was literal for anyone who invested in the deluxe CD.

    Nominated for: Best international group

    What they say: "Just two guys sitting on a stoop, telling stories, lamenting the mistakes they've made, expressing hope that the next generation might learn something from them." [New York Times]

    What we say: The rappers also go by the names Hova and Yeezy which, coincidentally, are the noises we made last time we had an asthma attack.

    Brief bio: Fright-wigged pop banshee, who released the best-selling debut album of 2011.

    Nominated for: Best British female, British breakthrough act, Best British single (Price Tag)

    She says: "I see my music as Emotional Therapeutic Pop music that bleeds into loads of different genres." [Seventeen]

    What we say: "It ain't about the cha-ching, cha-ching; Ain't about the ba-bling, ba-bling" is now the official slogan of the Eurozone.

    Brief bio: Perennially popular male vocal harmony group, already hard at work on their fourth album.

    Nominated for: Best British single (She Makes Me Wanna)

    What they say: "They may be more popular than Simon Cowell could possibly have imagined – he turned them down twice, you know – but JLS are no musical innovators." [BBC Music]

    What we say: Marvin! Oritse! Aston! JB! They tend to sing about "da club" a lot, as this is where the Honeys regularly spend the evening.

    Brief bio: Respected producer, who gives life to the music of Laura Marling, Kings Of Leon, Ryan Adams and Emmylou Harris, amongst others.

    Recipient of: Best British producer (awarded last week)

    What they say: "He's very, very patient, and he's got a very good ear. He's the first person I go to with my songs." [Laura Marling]

    What we say: A hugely talented producer, Johns learnt the trade from his father, Glyn Johns, who sat behind the mixing desk for The Eagles, The Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin.

    Brief bio: Grandiloquent rockers, based in Leicester. Claimed their fourth album Velociraptor! would change people's lives.

    Nominated for: Best group

    They say: "Velociraptors used to hunt in packs of four. They were the rock'n'roll band of the dinosaurs." [Guitarist Serge Pizzorno in the NME]

    What we say: Oh come on, everyone knows the most rock'n'roll dinosaur is the Brachylophosaurus.

    Brief bio: Country trio formed in Nashville (where else?) six years ago. A big crossover act in the US, they recently won the Grammy for best country album.

    Nominated for: Best international group

    The band says: "We won't just throw a fiddle on the song if it doesn't really call for it." [The Banter]

    What we say: Lady A's perfect smiles are no accident – guitarist David Haywood's dad invented teeth bleaching in the 1980s.

    Brief bio: Shy, subtle, retiring performer of popular song. Once attended an awards ceremony in a dress made of meat.

    Nominated for: Best international female

    What they say: "Excess is Gaga's riskiest musical gamble, but it's also her greatest weapon… While most 21st-Century pop stars pulverize their imperfections into an Auto-Tuned slurry, she boldly wears her audacity like a meat dress." [Spin]

    What we say: Why don't people make more fuss about the meat dress?

    Brief bio: Long-legged pop waif, born Victoria Louise Lott in 1991. Skipped school to get a recording contract at the age of 15 and earned her first platinum disc three years later.

    Nominated for: Best British single (All About Tonight)

    What they say: "Even with a newfound smokiness to her vocals, she delivers all the passion of a student singing in school assembly." [Independent]

    What we say: For her new album Pixie wrote a tribute to Stevie Wonder called Stevie On The Radio, then persuaded Stevie Wonder to play harmonica on it. How postmodern.

    Brief bio: Wan, shy folk singer from Hampshire. The surprise winner of last year's best British female award, she released her haunting third album A Creature I Don't Know in September.

    Nominated for: Best British female

    What they say: "While she may not be a particularly revealing performer, she's an extremely commanding one." [Pitchfork]

    What we say: Last year, Laura gave her Brits trophy to her mum. Another one would really tie the room together.

    Brief bio: Briefly popular chart rock band, whose career was revitalised by radio-friendly disco stomper Moves Like Jagger.

    Nominated for: Best international group

    They say: "Only Jagger has the moves like Jagger. But it's attainable… I don't think anyone could claim to have the moves like James Brown, or the moves like Michael Jackson, or the moves like Prince." [singer Adam Levine on NPR]

    What we say: No doubt inspired by Mick Jagger's anti-establishment politics, Maroon 5 recently created their own flavour of iced tea.

    Brief bio: Hawaiian-born soul star whose backing band are tighter than Lycra. Co-wrote Cee-Lo's Forget You and scored a trio of number ones with solo singles Just The Way You Are, Grenade and The Lazy Song.

    Nominated for: Best international male

    What they say: "His skill is an ease with both old‑fashioned songcraft and hip‑hop swagger." [Guardian]

    What we say: Fans of genetic improbability will be pleased to know that Bruno recently tweeted "I'm pretty sure I'm pregnant".

    Brief bio: A choir of (you guessed it) Military Wives, put together for a TV show. Their love song, Wherever You Are, sold 631,000 copies and was the 2011 Christmas Number One.

    Nominated for: Best British single (Wherever You Are)

    They say: "I can't believe that I can actually sit here on Christmas Day and say I've got a single out that is number one… it feels unreal." [Choir member Emma Williams]

    What we say: The best chart act the armed forces have produced since Robson and Jerome.

    Brief bio: Outlandish, Trinidadian-born musician who rose to fame by upstaging the likes of Lil Wayne and Mariah Carey with guests verses on their singles.

    Nominated for: International breakthrough

    What they say: "One of Minaj's most endearing qualities is, despite the funny faces, the fact that she's an MC with her heart on her sleeve and a sad story to tell." [No Ripcord]

    What we say: Nicki has recorded a concept album about her alter-ego Roman Zolanski. We are not making this stuff up.

    Brief bio: Armed with a guitar and tender vocals, Morrison tackled the death of his father on third album The Awakening, which quietly charted at number one last autumn.

    Nominated for: Best British male

    He says: "I'd love to do a side-project where I'm not James Morrison, I just put a vocal on a fat beat or something." [Female First]

    What we say: A deserving nominee, given his cross-generational appeal, but Morrison remains as popular and edgy as a facecloth.

    Brief bio: Perma-grinning X Factor nice guy who scored two number one singles in 2011. Your mum likes him.

    Nominated for: Best British single (Heart Skips A Beat)

    He says: "That's probably the best thing about being famous… you are able to help and support other people and make a difference." [The Banter]

    What we say: Cliff Richard for the 21st Century.

    Brief bio: X-Factor endorsed boy band. Average age 18-and-a-half.

    Nominated for: Best British single (What Makes You Beautiful)

    What they say: "Aimed solidly at teenage girls (and boys) who are waiting for somebody to be secretly in love with them, What Makes You Beautiful is so unthreatening it might have to think twice about holding hands." [NME]

    What we say: One Direction have fans who call themselves The Directionettes. They throw carrots at the band when they play live. Carrots.

    Brief bio: Kermit-voiced rapper, born in Hackney. Formerly known as Stephen Manderson, he has transcended his past as an "angry youth" to become one of the UK's most successful hip-hop artists.

    Nominated for: Best British male

    What they say: "It's easy to understand the appeal of Professor Green, the gobby class clown who's always disrupting lessons with a crude comment. Problem is, he could really do with some fresher jokes." [NME]

    What we say: In his number one single Read All About It, Professor Green confesses: "I write songs I can't listen to." Don't be so hard on yourself, son, they're not that bad.

    Brief bio: Cartoonishly pretty, enigmatic femme fatale with a line in alluring noir pop. Despite the success of her debut single Video Games, she is plagued by accusations of inauthenticity by critics incensed that she (gasp) changed her name.

    Nominated for: International breakthrough

    She says: "I love to sing and I really love to write, but in terms of being onstage, I'm not that comfortable." [GQ]

    What we say: Basically a musical incarnation of The Great Gatsby's Daisy Buchanan.

    Brief bio: Bajan pop princess with an astonishing work rate. Rihanna has released six albums in seven years, and played 10 dates at the O2 arena in 2011.

    Nominated for: Best international female

    What they say: "I wish no ill will against Rihanna and her friends. Perhaps they could acquaint themselves with a greater God." [Northern Irish farmer and local councillor Alan Graham, who put an end to the singer's raunchy video shoot on his land last October]

    What we say: Needs no introduction. A mainstay of the Brits and a phenomenally successful artist. She won this prize last year, and could easily do it again in 2012.

    Brief bio: Former medical student with a knack for writing catchy, classy R&B hooks. A stellar 2011 saw her reach number one with Professor Green before launching her solo career with top 10 hit Heaven.

    Nominated for: British breakthrough act

    Recipient of: Critics' Choice award

    She says: "If the sun is out, the songs I write are usually rubbish. The best songs come around 2am for me." [Orange Music]

    What we say: Aberdeen's other best-known exports are Annie Lennox and granite. Sande models her career on one and her hair on the other.

    Brief bio: A little bit jazz, a little bit hip-hop, Ed Sheeran is a songwriting prodigy who built his fan base organically through extensive touring. Result: 791,000 albums sold in 2011.

    Nominated for: Best British male, British breakthrough act, best British single (A Team), best British album (+)

    What they say: "The incessant melodrama can grate, but Sheeran's voice, alternating between soulful huskiness and stuttering sing-speak, is a treat." [Telegraph]

    What we say: Ed's fans are like putty in his hands. Hormonal teenage putty.

    Brief bio: Wily rock quartet and saviours-du-jour of British guitar music, who mix blistering garage rock with brooding odes to Post Break-Up Sex.

    Nominated for: British breakthrough act

    What they say: "Guitarist Freddie Cowan is so toffee-nosed he's 14th in line to the throne and gets carried to gigs on a sedan chair." [NME]

    What we say: The Vaccines played more than 50 festival dates in 2011 and are slowly turning into falafel.

    Brief bio: Five boys next door with a chart-friendly line in ravepop. Vaguely more "rough" than JLS or One Direction, The Wanted have scored two Top 10 albums in as many years.

    Nominated for: Best British single (Glad You Came)

    They say: "We have to remember that as well as the horny mums who like us, we're writing to girls too, so we don't want to go too overboard." [Jay McGuiness, speaking to Digital Spy]

    What we say: They may be heart-throbs but "I decided you look well on me" is the most clunky, unromantic lyric of the year.

    © 2011 BBC News (www.bbc.co.uk)
  • Comments Off
  • Filed under: Uncategorized

    • Funny National Treasures

    Author: JoshB

    Feb 21

    By NANCY DEWOLF SMITH

    Even the best comedians can’t explain where jokes come from, and it’s probably better that way. So David Steinberg’s new interview series with 19 famous comics only takes us partway behind the curtain. The mystery, the tiny, glittering surprise at the heart of every gag, remains hidden from view.

    Enlarge Image

    TV_REVIEW

    Close

    TV_REVIEW

    Showtime

    David Steinberg and Martin Short in ‘Inside Comedy.’

    Inside Comedy


    • Thursdays at 11 p.m. on Showtime

    Almost everyone on “Inside Comedy”—from Mel Brooks and Carl Reiner to Billy Crystal and Martin Short, to Jane Lynch and Steve Carell (this week’s pair of guests) and many more—got their start doing stand-up. But genre is not the most important common denominator. Neither is the way these people get laughs. In a broad sense, what’s funny about Jonathan Winters or Tim Conway is nothing like what makes us laugh at Sarah Silverman or Garry Shandling.

    Yet all of these comics are exactly alike in at least one respect: Each faces the same essential audience every time he or she goes on. Whether by accident or editing—and during often hilarious trips down memory lanes—most of the people here are the most interesting, and the most revealing about their art, when they talk about their relationship with us.

    Mr. Steinberg, a comedian who is now also an admired television director, is the ideal interviewer. He does not focus on himself but is exquisitely tuned in to his subjects, many of whom he knows well. This seems to have relaxed some of his guests to the point where they appear more natural, and less switched on—as entertaining as that can be—than they are with other interviewers.

    Larry David, for instance, recounts a story—most amusing for “Seinfeld” fans—about the time he loudly quit his job as a writer for “Saturday Night Live,” bitterly regretted it and showed up the next workday as if nothing had happened. Yet Mr. David seems more real when he elaborates on the discovery early in his stand-up career that being yourself on stage is not an option. “I tried to be the person I was with my friends” who always laughed at him, he explains. But “the audience was not my friend…. I couldn’t ingratiate myself with them.”

    Ellen DeGeneres also remarks on the impossibility of performing without artifice. As much as she enjoys doing comedy, she says—and even after the liberation of coming out as a gay woman—it is only now, on her TV talk show, that she can be, at last “completely myself.”

    Many of Mr. Steinberg’s guests talk about the origins of their style. Ms. Silverman, for instance, says she became “addicted” to attention when she was a tot, after she noticed that the swear words her father had taught her produced “shock and feedback” among adults.

    Don Rickles has some great stories, including one about being in a bar in Monte Carlo with Frank Sinatra in the wee small hours when a big lightening storm broke out. Mr. Sinatra, always on the lookout for journalists to hate, mistook the lightening for the flash bulbs of celebrity photographers and sent Mr. Rickles out into the rain to chase the SOBs away. As for the distinctive Rickles style, he says that when he began, he was bad at impressions and couldn’t tell jokes so he talked to the audience. Here, as elsewhere in the series, old film reveals the comics in nearly forgotten past incarnations.

    Mr. Winters honed his craft as an obscure radio host in the Midwest. Unable to countenance another show about the alfalfa harvest, he announced to his Dayton, Ohio listeners one night that his guest was a British Air Force officer who had just flown to their city on a secret aircraft. And how was your flight? Mr. Winters asked his guest. Oh, I have flown over Germany, over India and over Cairo, the wing commander told the good folk of Ohio in an impossibly plummy British accent. “But flying into Dayton was like flying over millions of diamonds on a black velvet carpet.”

    After the show a puzzled station executive rushed up to Mr. Winters:

    “Who was that guy you interviewed?”

    “Me.”

    “Don’t do that anymore.”

    The comics are busting with insights on how to work a room, a vulgar word to avoid, and the way to keep moving on stage so you aren’t such an easy target for hecklers. Yet heckling has not always been as brutal and nasty as it can be today. Robin Williams remembers working in San Francisco’s folk-music bars, where a coffeehouse crowd shouted critiques like no others. “Interesting concept” someone might yell. “Talk more about your early years.”

    Jerry Seinfeld says that there is nothing more “intimate” and “intense” than stand-up, because nothing stands between the comic and his audience. This should mean that over time comics learn a lot about what makes us tick. And what do audiences respond to the most? Chris Rock answers: “Political stuff gets the most attention,” because it’s easy for the media to write about. “But the relationship stuff sells tickets…. You got to get into the complexities of men and women.” The same relationship jokes work in every country too, from Europe to Australia, he chuckles. “It’s primal stuff.”

    ***

    Enlarge Image

    TV REVIEW

    Close

    TV REVIEW

    Discovery Channel

    Ian of ‘Bering Sea Gold’

    Bering Sea Gold


    • Fridays at 10 p.m. on the Discovery Channel

    There is something primal about Discovery’s “Bering Sea Gold,” too. This “reality” series taps into the treasure-hunting urge that’s hard-wired in our brains. It’s set in the waters off Nome, Alaska, where glaciers have washed gold into the sea and where, for three months a year, the weather permits people to dredge or vacuum sediment from the seafloor. In the first two episodes one barge has scooped up a total of more than $150,000 in gold dust and particles.

    Primeval best describes the assorted screw-ups and oddballs enlisted for the cast. One fellow says he needs $150,000 to pay child support and other debts. Another man caps a good day on the sea by getting stabbed in the back in a drunken bar fight. More baffling is the apparently literate couple who live in a shabby yurt, while she—a soi-disant “dredge slave”—dreams of earning the tuition to study opera in Europe. As for the barely floating “fleet,” it makes the postapocalyptic boats in “Waterworld” look like Chris-Craft Corsairs. Week after week, it’s like watching an accident in slow motion. We’re wired for that too.

    © 2011 Wall Street Journal (www.wsj.com)
  • Comments Off
  • Filed under: Uncategorized

    • Meryl Streep showered with gifts, praise in Berlin

    Author: JoshB

    Feb 21

    Meryl Streep was given a bouquet of flowers, a gift and a kiss at the Berlin film festival on Valentine’s Day, and they weren’t from her husband.

    The 62-year-old actress on Tuesday received a lifetime achievement Golden Bear. At a packed press conference following a screening of her latest movie The Iron Lady, Streep reflected on the price of fame and on how playing Margaret Thatcher in the biopic had changed her opinion of the former British Prime Minister.

    “
    How beautiful. My husband didn’t send me flowers, so thank God for Dieter

    Actress Meryl Streep

    ‘How beautiful’

    At one point, a journalist climbed up on stage, presented Streep with a bunch of white flowers and gave her a kiss. "How beautiful!" she said, adding later: "My husband didn’t send me flowers, so thank God for Dieter!"

    Article continues below

    © 2011 Gulf News (www.gulfnews.com)
  • Comments Off
  • Filed under: Uncategorized

    • Is Age a Factor in Teaching Field?

    Author: JoshB

    Feb 21

    By ELIZABETH GARONE

    Q:
    The Bureau of Labor Statistics lists the demand for post-secondary instructors as one of the top 10 U.S. labor needs in the next decade. Although I am 56 years old and hold a Master’s degree, I am considering going back for a Ph.D. with an eye toward teaching once I receive my degree. I think I can make it through the program in about three years. My only question is whether you believe unwritten age discrimination would render my efforts and cash outlay completely moot.

    A: The good news is that of all the fields out there, higher education is one that tends to have less of an age bias than many others, say the experts.

    Enlarge Image

    books0503

    Close

    books0503

    Getty Images

    Experts say that higher education is a field that tends to have less of an age bias than many others.

    “A certain degree of ageism exists pretty much everywhere in our youth-oriented culture,” says Paul Powers, a management psychologist in Wellesley, Mass., and author of “Winning Job Interviews.” “That said, in my 30 years of consulting as a management psychologist, I have observed less ageism in higher ed than in other industries.”

    Plantation, Fla.-based executive career coach Debbie Benami-Rahm encourages her older clients to focus on the positive attributes that come with more years of experience: stability, knowledge, dependability and loyalty, for example. “In academia, I believe it actually helps to have more world experience,” she says.

    Rather than focus too much on your age, which you might be able to mask but can’t change, you’ll want to look closely at whether the particular degree you are considering is likely to pay off in the coming years.

    First, ensure that you are picking a field that has a strong need, says Ms. Benami-Rahm. For example, math and science have been identified as areas with huge gaps between the number of projected positions and qualified instructors.

    It would help if you also choose a field of study that you already have some experience working in, says Seattle-based career coach Rita Ashley. “Educators hire based on three factors: visibility, the degree and the experience one has in the field using that degree,” she says. So, even the prestige of a doctorate degree may not be enough to offset a lack of experience in that field ref.

    Next, you’ll want to do some “reality testing,” says Mr. Powers. Start by visiting campuses and speaking with professors to determine the pros and cons of such a move. You’ll also want to find out what the current trends are in the field you are considering. One way to do this is to speak with people in human resources and administrators. “Try to determine your realistic chances of getting hired a few years down the road, recognizing that this down economy has hit higher-education budgets and payrolls as it has elsewhere,” says Mr. Powers.

    Ms. Benami-Rahm suggests setting up informational interviews with people you know who hold post-doctorate degrees. Their experiences will be a good indication of how you might fare if you pursue that route. “Really pick their brains,” she says. “Find out the opportunities. How are they doing in the academic world? What courses do they teach? What do they project it to be like in three years?”

    You’ll need to engage them in order to learn what it took to get there, says Ms. Ashley. She suggests asking: “If you wanted your job today, what would you do and what credentials would you need to obtain that position?”

    Lastly, do your own cost-benefit analysis, says Ms. Benami-Rahm. Once you graduate and start working, will you be able to repay the investment you made in the program? It is not just the cost of the actual program but the years of missed income that you will need to consider when doing your analysis. If the numbers still add up, you may want to go for the degree. Otherwise, you would probably be better off investigating teaching opportunities that don’t require a Ph.D.

    Write to ELIZABETH GARONE at cjeditor@dowjones.com

    © 2011 Wall Street Journal (www.wsj.com)
  • Comments Off
  • Filed under: Uncategorized

    • Happy Valentine’s Day: Every Love Song Is A Parenthetical Away From Despair

    Author: JoshB

    Feb 21

    Story By: by Linda Holmes

    Today is February 14 — that means that whether you are ready or not, it is Valentine’s Day. And what is most wonderful about Valentine’s Day is not its straightforward appreciation of romance and warmth and other similar nonsense, but its tremendous adaptability.

    You see, for every heart-shaped box of candy, there is a dark heart fantasizing about throwing a bucket of water on the people canoodling at the restaurant. And for every love song, there is a parenthetical that robs it of its sweetness and makes it the hard-edged, angry, possibly passive-aggressive and resentful ode it has always been on the inside.

    “Strangers In The Night (I’m Not Looking For Anything Serious; I’m Really Busy With Work Right Now)”

    “When A Man Loves A Woman (He Doesn’t Act Like That, Honey)”

    “Have I Told You Lately (Not To Do That, Because I’m Pretty Sure We Talked About It Yesterday)”

    “You Are So Beautiful (Why Are You So Moody?)”

    “Just The Way You Are (, Huh?)”

    “Bridge Over Troubled Water (Love Theme From The Gowanus Canal)”

    “I Don’t Want To Miss A Thing (No Really, This Is FASCINATING)”

    “Endless Love (Or At Least It Feels That Way)”

    “My Funny Valentine (Maybe Not Funny Ha-Ha)”

    “Escape (The Pina Colada Song)”

    “Up Where We Belong (Or At Least I Do)”

    “(Everything I Do) I Do It for You (Which Is Fine)”

    “Love Will Keep Us Together (I Suppose)”

    “You Send Me (Jokes Forwarded By Your Aunt)”

    “In The Still Of The Night (When You Stop Talking)”

    “(I Figured) You’d Be So Easy To Love”

    “I Want To Know What Love Is (In Your Opinion)”

    “I Just Called To Say I Love You (NO I’M NOT DRUNK YOU’RE DRUNK)”

    “Careless Whisper (Suspiciously Long Explanation)”

  • Comments Off
  • Filed under: Uncategorized

    • Panel reinforces Ecuador award halt in Chevron case

    Author: JoshB

    Feb 21


    By Braden Reddall

    Fri Feb 17, 2012 2:30pm EST

    <span class="articleLocation”>(Reuters) – An arbitration panel reinforced an order that Ecuador’s government seek to suspend an $18 billion court award against U.S. oil company Chevron Corp over pollution in the South American country’s rainforest.

    A year after its original order, the three-person panel, working under The Hague’s Permanent Court of Arbitration, told the Republic of Ecuador on Thursday to “take all measures necessary” through its judicial, legislative or executive branches to suspend enforcement of the award at home and abroad.

    It is the latest sign that the landmark litigation, which has run almost two decades, could go on for years longer as it works its way through legal channels outside the country where the pollution occurred.

    Chevron has also appealed last February’s ruling against it to Ecuador’s top court. The California company inherited the case with its 2001 takeover of Texaco, which left Ecuador nine years earlier after three decades in the country.

    The arbitrators, who previously ordered Ecuador to take measures to suspend the damages without specifying how, are weighing whether they should decide if Ecuador violated a U.S.-Ecuador treaty by failing to ensure Chevron had a fair trial.

    But the plaintiffs awarded the $18 billion a year ago say they could try to collect in countries where Chevron has assets, and believe the panel’s ruling will not affect those plans.

    Pablo Fajardo, lead lawyer for the local communities in that case, argued in a statement on Friday that the panel’s ruling violated provisions of Ecuador’s constitution prohibiting interference in its courts, as well as treaties obligating the government to protect citizens’ rights to seek legal redress.

    “The United States would never abide by such a ruling,” said Karen Hinton, Washington D.C.-based spokeswoman for the Ecuadorean plaintiffs. “Nor will Ecuador or any other country that has a system based on due process of law.”

    TO ECUADOR AND BACK

    The plaintiffs accused Texaco of dumping oil-drilling waste in unlined pits, causing illnesses among local people. They began the case in 1993 in New York, before it was moved to a court in the Amazonian town of Lago Agrio nearly a decade later.

    Anticipating defeat in Lago Agrio, Chevron filed to set up the arbitration tribunal in September 2009, and the company’s general counsel, Hewitt Pate, said on Friday it would seek opportunities with Ecuador to resolve the arbitration.

    “Chevron welcomes the constructive steps that Ecuador has recently taken, such as the announcement that Petroecuador will remediate sites impacted by oil production and the acknowledgement that the tribunal’s award applies to all (government) branches,” Pate said in a statement.

    Working under rules set by the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law, the panel includes an arbitrator named by Chevron, Horacio Grigera Naon of the American University law college, and one by Ecuador, Oxford Professor Vaughan Lowe. Naon and Lowe agreed on a third, London-based lawyer V.V. Veeder.

    While the treaty giving them authority was signed on August 27, 1993, just months before the first Texaco case, Ecuador argued it does not apply since it only took effect in 1997.

    The panel must now decide whether it has jurisdiction in the case. Arbitration could then take years, if the last Chevron dispute with Ecuador is a guide. It took four years for that panel to rule Ecuador must pay Chevron $96 million in connection with claims made in its courts in the 1990s.

    Chevron has also filed a civil racketeering lawsuit in New York accusing the plaintiffs and their U.S. supporters of extortion. That court initially froze the $18 billion award, in a decision which was later overturned on appeal.

    But on Thursday, the judge in the racketeering case lifted a stay on the proceedings and ordered the two sides to meet to discuss how to move ahead, before filing a report by March 7.

    (Reporting by Braden Reddall in San Francisco, editing by Dave Zimmerman)

    © 2011 REUTERS (www.reuters.com)
  • Comments Off
  • Filed under: Uncategorized
    • View more posts »