Whine & Cheese

Shaving Private Ryan

Ok, when exactly is my Entertainment Weekly arriving in the mail?!?!?

Ryan Reynolds is certainly looking good on this week's EW cover...

However, he joins the list of hotties (i.e. someone the gay cyberland seems perpetually drooly about) that I am more familiar with his body, than his body of work.  Chris Evans, Eddie Cibrian... Ryan... I can't say that I have seen anything that they've done acting-wise... but who cares.  Though I do know that Ryan recently married Scarlett Johansson not too terribly long after a lengthy relationship (and broken engagement) to Alanis Morissette.

If there is any movie I would see Ryan in, there is a good chance that it would be The Proposal.  I will whole-heartedly admit a crush on Sandra Bullock.  Sandra is one of those rare folk who can be a saving grace in a so-so movie, and she's certainly made some clunkers... and while this movie looks like your standard romantic-comedy fare where all the best parts have been given away in the trailer, it still looks like a lot of fun... and them, ummm... there's Ryan on top of Sandra... and literally if you've seen the trailer! 

But anyhow, I have a a feeling this week's cover will be face down as it might prove to be too distracting otherwise.

My post title is a spoof of a spoof... there is a porn called Shaving Ryan's Privates (I think, perhaps it's just myth... as I think it is just a joke about what a funny porn title would be... hmmm!?)... but of course, it's a take-off on Speilberg's Saving Private Ryan... but anyhow, I thought it was an appropriate title as Ryan's chest hair seems to come and go...

And just to be a search hit whore:
Ryan Reynolds Entertaintment Weekly cover
Ryan Reynolds EW cover
Ryan Reynolds shirtless

Rafa Link

Se você estiver procurando por fotos de Rafael Nadal, clique aqui!

For my regular readers... no worries W&C hasn't gone bilingual on you...

Yesterday morning when I checked in my blog stats, I already had a crazy amount of hits and they were coming in at a rate of about 100 an hour... so I knew something was up!.   It was quickly apparent that this tennis website linked to my Rafa post from Friday -- well, technically they linked to my entire blog and not to that particular entry... or better yet to ALL my Rafa posts...

Since I didn't really have all that much to say yesterday, I just decided to keep Rafa as the latest post so folks wouldn't be all "WTF?!?" when they hit that front page.  However, I can only use that excuse for so long, so I'll keep this post "locked" to top until the search hits start to dwindle (which they already have)... but look (or at least glance down for new entries below this one) for new entries. 

Oh, the foreign language thing... well, the best I could figure out was that it was a Portuguese tennis site ... or, at least, that's what Google Translate did the best job at deciphering for me and likewise offering assistance in the other direction (you can probably figure it out, but that first line says: "If you are looking for pictures of Rafael Nadal, click here!")

UPDATE:  Thanks to Alexandre for leaving me a comment... he is the owner of the Brazilian tennis website, who has increased my traffic very nicely this week (as of right now, nearly 700 hits).  I am glad I was able to figure out the language was Portuguese (the official language of Brazil) and lead folks to more of my Rafa pix...

The Power of "Nude"

If anyone is looking for advice on how to increase traffic to their website or blog, my advice is pretty simple... use the words "nude," "naked," or "shirtless" somewhere/anywhere... and any person you ever mention will somehow be linked to those words ... and voila... lots of search hits. 

Granted you likely won't be giving them what they want, but you'll see those numbers rise regardless.  I am quite happy that I get, on average, about 700 visitors a day... granted I don't get too excited about that since the very large majority coming via search engines which again, more than likely results in the searcher not getting what they came for... though I do come thru on the occasional "shirtless" search. 

So when I got back from San Diego late Sunday afternoon, I was pretty shocked to see that my visit hits had exceeded 3,000... and ultimately would just break 4,000.  The next day, almost as good 3,100+... and trickling down on Tuesday and Wednesday (1,400+ and just short of 1,000 respectively)... before returning to "normal" by midweek.

Well, thanks to Site Meter I can figure out what exactly is bringing in the traffic... and I have the Wimbledon men's final to thank... and its two participants, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer.

I decided to investigate a bit further and Googled the most popular search... and lo and behold, this is largely the reason for the big spike in traffic: 

Hey, pretty impressive... I'm #1 at something!!   Again, too bad it's not accurate... ha!   For this particular search, I also come in at #8 (had to crop out some stuff on the right, that did feature some extra skin, needless to say, not Nadal)

Slipped a spot to #2 when it comes to Roger... but still not bad... and still not accurate... oh well!  Though I have to say the Fed skin I did share was a tad better than those around me ... though the first pic is also part of my little collage.

But nice to know I apparently have a little tennis skin niche going on...

Crazy Busy (Or Just Crazy)

I am hoping next week settles down a bit... is it just me, or does it always seem that on a cusp of a vacation you are brought the the edge of insanity.  Folks are coming out of the proverbial woodwork work-wise and I have this annual hellish black-hole of a project that is zapping my spirit..

...and within the past day or two, our darling almost six-month old puppy has decided to get destructive on us... making a good dent into some furniture... probably delayed payback for cutting off his balls a couple of weeks ago.  Plus his relationship with the more unstable and mentally fragile cat continues to deteriorate.  This is particularly not fun when said cat is laying on your chest/stomach, gets scared, digs in, and jumps off your chest... leaving nice claw tracks through whatever shirt you are wearing.   Oh, and after a few good weeks... he's also had a couple of accidents in the past couple days!

... and we have quite the active weekend ahead... so no rest for the weary (and Todd has it at least 10x worse than I do when it comes to work)... a musical tonight, catching Kathy Griffin on Saturday night, and visiting with Todd's Dad (and Mom) on Sunday for Father's Day.

To end on a positive and happy note, my search hits often give me a giggle (a google giggle?).. .and this one was too good not to share. Check out the gray bar at the very bottom of the graphic to read the whole search... I particularly love searches that ask a question!

Have a nice weekend!

Back Seat Action?!?

One of my greatest amusements in maintaining this blog is checking out search hits. 

I would guess 70-80% of the time, folks will not find what they are looking for... one search word/phrase coming from one post with (an)other being pulled from a completely different and unrelated entry.

A perfect example of this is item #12 below...

...since I don't quite recall ever doing the horizontal shuffle in my MINI... let alone blogging about it.

But I couldn't help but wonder ... what exactly was this person hoping to find?!?!

Tips? Pictures?  If it's at all possible?  And if so, how to do it with any kind of comfort?!

But it put a smile on my face.

Now as far as the other searches go, while I dabble in #11 at W&C occasionally... I would likely send them over to Scott's if they are looking for that type of home.

And, believe it or not, I can help with the other one... on a lark, I posted some pix from a certain episode of Desperate Housewives that featured #13 (well kinda)... and over the past year, it has proven to be one of my most steady and popular search hits.

Why Is A Strikeout A "K"?

This particular search hit seems to come up at least once a week...

So I figured it was time for it to be an official "Googlemania" post... where I try to fulfill a search hit request that was never really addressed here at W&C (this is post that this particular search hit is going to).  And heck, every so often, I should do one that does not involve a visual with someone without a shirt on!

So in scoring a baseball game, why is a strikeout in baseball referred to as a K?

In 1861, Henry Chadwick invented a scoring system which used a series of letter symbols.   He selected "K" for "struck out".   He explained that "K" was the prominent letter in the word "strike" and it would be easy to remember.   The reason a strikeout isn't a "T" is because "struck" was the preferred term of the day. Also, a "S" was already used for a sacrifice... and "SO" for a shout-out shut-out. Stories have circulated that M.J. Kelly of the New York Herald was the first to use "K" for a strikeout and that it was because it was his last initial.    Actually, Mr. Chadwick was the first baseball editor for the New York Herald and Kelly learned it from him.

But what about forward and backward Ks?

The forward ("as is") K, is used for a batter swinging on the 3rd strike. 

The backwards K for a called third strike is a more recent scoring devise. The backward K signifies the batter was caught looking - the K is drawn as if looking back to see the ball go into the catcher's mitt.

Hope that helps!

Rafael Nadal Shirtless

Bad News
Rafael Nadal had to retire with a shoulder ailment in his quarterfinal grass-court match (vs. Lleyton Hewitt) at the Stella Artois Championships at Queen's Club today.

Good News
We finally get some quality shots for the long overdue and eagerly anticipated...
Rafael Nadal Shirtless post!

Now... ahem... you'll have to excuse me... Enjoy!

Googlemania: Bradley Cooper Shirtless II

... or You Give Me Fever... in the right way.

I have been getting quite a few search hits for Bradley Cooper these days...

I am guessing it is the buzz from his role in the Broadway play, Three Days of Rain, opening tomorrow... though his female co-star making her Broadway debut seems to be getting all the press (Julia Roberts?  Anyone, anyone?).

Just last week, I stumbled across this picture of Brad... it is a fairly recent pic (though the text mentions his not so long ago cancelled series Kitchen Confidential)...and, heck  it was just too adorable not to post!

So to assist in my Google search hits:
Bradley Cooper shirtless
Bradley Cooper in a bathtub
Bradley Cooper bare feet (fetish alert!)

For my first round of BC Shirtless... click here.

Googlemania: TAR9 Eric & Jeremy Shirtless

In preparation for tonight's new episode of The Amazing Race, last night had to catch Todd up on the two-hour premiere that he missed while he was away on his business trip.

While re-watching the opening sequence where we were introduced to the teams... I decided I must face the very grim task of creating some screen-caps of Eric & Jeremy as they cavorted on the beach and basketball court without shirts.  The things I do for this blog!

... and for Googlers too!  This lack of modesty from these Floridians (Can you blame 'em? If I looked like that someone would have to explain to me the whole "shirt" concept thingy!) generated some buzz on my search hits last week, too.

So without further ado, I present my montage of:

The Amazing Race 9 Eric & Jeremy Shirtless

(more stuff after the pix...)

Thanks to "J" in the comments for alerting me to some more non-TAR pics of this duo (click the link to "pop-up" the picture)... first we have the two of them just standing around in their underwear for some reason and also pretty yummy pic of Jeremy (I'm thinking he must work out).

Googlemania: Roger Federer Shirtless

Thought it was time for another edition of Googlemania... again, this is the little W&C feature where I take a search hit that is bubbling under the radar and try to move it on up the list (which I have been fairly successful at thus far).

Since it is Valentine's Day, I thought I take this already kind of humorous picture and have some fun:

In this almost shirtless shot, it almost looks as if the #1 tennis player in the world, Roger Federer, is trying to make a little heart for us (so I just helped him along a bit).

But since that is just a teaser, let's get to the real thing: Roger Federer Shirtless

These shirtless pix are kind of hard to stumble by... unlike a lot of other tennis players, Roger does not seem to doff the shirt all that often... and certainly not "on purpose."   We are just lucky to get an occasional AP/Getty photo at a changeover or a practice session.

Now Roger likely won't be making an appearance in any A&F catalog or swimsuit calendar... but that is what I really like about him.  He is fit and trim without being tongue-hanging, knock-out bod gorgeous... just pretty realistic and accessible. Though I do hear he is physically more impressive in person (unfortunately, I can not tell you this based on first-hand experience). A commentator at this year's Australian Open said he had shoulders like a linebacker.  Hmmm. And heck, it is nice to see a little chest fuzz for a change in this plucked, shaved, nair-ed world!