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Buzz Interview: Sonya Walger Talks Pulling Double Duty For FlashForward and Lost

BuzzSugar — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 05:30:00 PDT

I've been hooked on FlashForward since I saw the pilot back at the TCA, thanks to the intriguing premise and action-packed episodes. Earlier this week I had the opportunity to chat with Sonya Walger, who stars as Olivia and also plays Penny on Lost. While she made sure not to reveal any spoilers, Sonya talked about her character, the comparisons between shows, and more.

On how her friends and family have responded to the show: They've been completely thrilled. It was fun, I was in London just last week. I had a few days off so nipped home to see my mom. It's so fun to have the show airing simultaneously there, in a real time experience. Everyone's excited about it. It's really exciting.
On having a new TV family: It's lovely. It's lovely to have a place to belong to and come to every week. The scripts are so fun to get. They're really exciting. Week after week it's just a treat to come home and find them on your doorstep.
On her hopes for Olivia and Mark's relationship: You hope for Olivia's sake and for their little girl's sake that they can stay together; but at the same time I wouldn't wish Olivia to stay in a relationship that was miserable and making her and the three of them unhappy. You just want the best for your character, really.

To see what else Sonya had to say about Lost, Halloween, and her other favorite show of the Fall, just

Would she take an opportunity to see a flashforward of her own? No, I'd hate it. I would turn it down, I wouldn't want anything to do with it.
On the comparisons between Lost and FlashForward: I feel the comparisons are inevitable, to be honest. Any time you've got a big show with an ensemble cast and they're all reacting to the same big event, then of course you're going to get Lost comparisons - particularly when you've got two cast members who are from the old show. I think and hope that quite quickly the comparisons will turn off. I think the shows are radically different; I think the way they unfold, the story lines, the scope of them, there's not that deep embedded mythology of Lost, we don't have that. We have big payoffs that happen in every single episode so you're not forced to wait for six seasons to find out what's going on. There are reveals that happen constantly. I think FlashForward will prove a much less daunting show to join. I think that one of the things about Lost is that the last season is starting and I can't imagine viewers will want to be joining it now when they've never seen it before, whereas I think that FlashForward is much more accessible. If you haven't seen the first five episodes you could easily join in and know exactly what's going on.
Other favorite shows of the Fall season?: I love Modern Family, I think it's a really smart, clever show.
On her Halloween plans: I'm going to be on a plane flying to Melbourne. So short of spooking the pilot, I don't have any plans.

Buzz News Roundup, 4/30

BuzzSugar — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 13:32:15 PDT

According to ComingSoon, America Ferrera will star in the coming-of-age drama An Invisible Sign of My Own, which will be directed by Mad Hot Ballroom's Marilyn Agrelo.
Paramount and Brad Pitt's production company Plan B have picked up the rights to two memoirs, Beautiful Boy and Tweak, Variety reports.
FX has ordered a series about a rebel motorcycle gang from one of the producers of The Shield, reports Zap2it.
Mariah Carey's album remains at the top of the charts for the second week in a row, while Ashlee Simpson is coming in at No. 4, behind Leona Lewis and the Flight of the Conchords album, writes E! Online.
The iTunes store has added three series from BBC America to its catalog, Broadcasting & Cable reports.
Reuters reports that there's already a book and documentary in the works about New York governor Eliot Spitzer.
Spike TV has given the green light to its first comedy series, The Factory, an improvised show from the co-creator of Strangers with Candy, writes the Hollywood Reporter.
Jonah Hill is in talks to provide the comic relief as Shia's sidekick in the Transformers sequel, writes ComingSoon.

Source

Buzz News Roundup, 11/30

BuzzSugar — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 12:39:25 PST

PopSugar shares the news that Reese Witherspoon was the year's top-earning actress, followed by Angelina Jolie and Cameron Diaz.
The Kennedy Center will honor Steve Martin this Sunday, Dec. 2, reports Variety.
According to ComingSoon, HBO will make a Barry Bonds movie based on the book Game of Shadows.
Reuters has news that Keri Russell will join Adam Sandler in Bedtime Stories, a fantastical family movie directed by Adam Shankman (Hairspray).
The Hollywood Reporter states that John Cusack will go back to doing the psychological thriller thing as he joins the cast of The Factory.
The 25th anniversary of Michael Jackson's album Thriller will be marked with a new edition of the set including remixes by Kanye West, Akon and will.i.am, writes Billboard.
It's a banner week for Elizabeth Berkeley: Fresh off winning a recurring role on CSI: Miami, she'll also be the host of Bravo's new dance show, according to Variety.
Pitchfork reports that Portishead will finally release a third album - 10 years after the group's last record.

Source

FabSugar Diary: Our Week in Pictures

FabSugar — Fri, 25 May 2012 07:36:47 PDT

No need for an iPhone - we're sharing our favorite Instagram snaps right here to offer a behind-the-scenes glimpse of our week. From a sneak peek at the Agyness Deyn for Dr. Martens collection to a tour of the famous footwear brand's factory, we had a busy week of British adventures. At Gap, we had color-coordinating tees and cocktails, plus a look at the coolest shades for sale. Click on for our photo highlights of the week - and if you're not following us yet, what are you waiting for?

If You Had to Completely Reset Your Phone, What Would Upset You the Most?

GeekSugar — Sat, 26 Feb 2011 04:05:27 PST

Phone trouble happens all the time, but there are some situations that are far worse than others. A friend's iPhone completely refused to turn on recently, and after the initial freak-out of having no phone, she took it to the Genius Bar to be repaired. Luckily, her phone was salvageable, but only after a factory reset, which completely wipes out the phone's data and restores it to factory settings.

As long as your phone's data is backed up on your computer, much of it can be restored. But there are a few things that could prove tricky to recover. If something like this happened to you, what would upset you the most?

Link Time: The Coolest Moments From the Atlanta Food & Wine Fest

Susannah Chen — Tue, 15 May 2012 10:22:15 PDT

The coolest moments from the Atlanta Food & Wine Fest - Zagat
Guy Fieri's ultimate dude role: Indy 500 pace car driver - Eater
All the egg breakfast sandwiches you ever wanted - Delish
That sushi salmonella outbreak was linked to an unsanitary Indian factory - HuffPost Food
How to use your leftovers creatively - Food52
Julia Child now has a commemorative children's book, too - Grub Street SF
How temperature affects food flavors - The Daily Meal

9 Freegan Tips to Save Money and the Earth

Emily Co — Thu, 10 May 2012 11:00:53 PDT

Although most of us associate freeganism with dumpster diving, freegans actually do advocate much more than sifting through garbage for food.

Madeline Nelson from freegan.info shared with me the ideology behind their lifestyle. She says, "Not all freegans are dumpster divers and not all dumpster divers are freegans. Freegans' focus is much broader and much more political - how to throw a cog in the corporate profit machine, help alleviate social injustice and ecological destruction, and create ways to live more independently of the giant corporations that now rule the word with the sole aim of profit for their owners and top managers."

Rummaging through trash receptacles is only for the bold, so for those of you who still want to do some good and save money at the same time, Madeline shares some easy tips you can implement in your everyday lifestyle.

Pick Your Produce With Care: Don't buy factory farmed animal products! There are so many reasons, from not ingesting the antibiotics and hormones still in the products, to the cruelty of factory farm conditions to animals and workers alike, to the 70 pounds of high quality vegetable protein wasted to produce a single pound of beef.
Support Local Farmers: Eat as local as you can afford to do; use farmers markets and CSAs if you can. By reducing the distance your food travels (these days, often 1000s of miles) you reduce your carbon footprint and opt out of the exploitation of tenant farmers whose kids are picking baby vegetables for the USA when they should be able to go to school.
Grow Your Own: The most local you can go is to grow your own fruits and veggies. Got a yard? Turn it into a pea patch. Don't? Join a community garden, make new friends, and learn relaxing new skills.
Dumpster Dive: Feeling brave? Try seeing what your local supermarkets are throwing out every day. Dumpster diving is often fun and always a wake-up call to waste being perpetrated in our names - we, who supposedly wouldn't buy an odd shaped potato or a nearly ripe banana. And it is economically much more viable than working a low wage job to earn enough to buy the same stuff.

For more freegan tips, read on.

Avery Island, Part Deux: Boils, Bottles, Bloodies & Boudin

OnSugar Blog — Thu, 03 May 2012 05:45:45 PDT

If you're itching for a culinary adventure, there's no need to leave your home! Escape to Avery Island for a crawfish feast with Food Orleans.

This was my lunch. I ate it all.

Avery Island is a gorgeous place; it's surrounded by a long lace of bayous, has plenty of wildlife roaming around freely (deer, bears, raccoons, alligators), and houses the beautiful Jungle Gardens and Bird Sanctuary. You can spend a full day there soaking up the splendor, especially if you pack in a trip to the Tabasco factory.

We had a lovely, long ride down the bayou to the McIlhenny family's trapper's camp, just so we could get in some air boat rides (FUN!) and a little of this:

My favorite lunch in the world! These fellas were HUGE.

I'm only partly responsible for this amount of crawfish carnage. Let's just say that my tablemate, Cecil, is one fast picker.

Earlier that day, we had a tasting of all seven flavors of Tabasco sauce, led by CEO and Chairman of the Board Paul McIlhenny. His chief flavor developer, Charlie Chang, who has worked for the McIlhennys for over 30 years, was also present at the tasting. It was fascinating listening to the two describe how certain flavors were inspired, or how they were refined to become what they are today. I have to say, my new favorite hot sauce is Tabasco Habanero. It's Jamaican inspired and has a lot of fruit flavor to it, plus it packs a slow, intense heat that hits you at the end. For the tasting, we had saltine crackers and softened butter to help us tolerate the high amounts of heat in some of the sauces. I discovered that a saltine cracker spread with butter and topped with a little Habanero sauce is extremely delicious--like eating a wicked little butter cookie. I'm in love.

For more on this tasty adventure, plus a Tabasco-inspired mixology lesson, keep reading!

Do You Work More Than 40 Hours a Week?

Emily Co — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 15:54:02 PDT

There's a reason why we call your day job a "9 to 5." That's eight hours a day we're supposed to be working, which equates to 40 hours a week. We've all been guilty of working more than that, but if you're justifying the hours with the fact that you're getting more work done, you may be wrong. Inc.com says:

In the early 1900s, Ford Motor ran dozens of tests to discover the optimum work hours for worker productivity. They discovered that the "sweet spot" is 40 hours a week - and that, while adding another 20 hours provides a minor increase in productivity, that increase only lasts for three to four weeks, and then turns negative.

Anyone who's spent time in a corporate environment knows that what was true of factory workers a hundred years ago is true of office workers today. People who put in a solid 40 hours a week get more done than those who regularly work 60 or more hours.

Adding to that, Inc. mentions that people who work long workweeks have a higher chance of burning out. What about you - do you work more than 40 hours a week?

What Grocery Stores Aren't Telling You About Generic Goods

Emily Co — Sat, 28 Apr 2012 00:15:11 PDT

Although many taste tests say that generic items measure up to brand-name goods, there may be some products you're not willing to go generic for because you think the generic's quality is poor. Redditor LincolnSt, who said he has worked at grocery stores his entire life, says that the producers of the brand-name goods are actually repackaging the generic items at the same factory, which means that the quality of the product is about the same (even though they may have different ingredients). Here's how to find out which store-brand goods are the same quality as their brand-name counterparts:

Here is a picture of a package of Johnsonville Brats. Do you see the small circle above "Previously handled frozen for your protection. Refreeze or refrigerate"? That is the serial number for the factory or slaughterhouse where the meat was packaged (in this case, 34225).

Even the biggest names only have a handful of places that will package their product and (usually) only one that will handle the grocery chains in your region. That location will also handle or package the store-brand items.

So match the serial number on a name-brand meat product that you know to be of good quality with the store-brand meat product of a similar type. If they are the same, you have found out who actually makes the store-brand item. It takes a little while to find out exactly who is making what, but it will save you money if you are looking for quality along with low prices.

If this seems like too much of a hassle for a few dollars, just remember that you only have to do it once, and then you'll know which store-brand goods to buy going forward.