BS SHOW BIZ BUZZ:
★ Former “Seinfeld” star Jason Alexander has thrown his support behind an Australian bar inspired by his character on the long-running TV comedy. The actor, who played ‘George Costanza’, discovered a pub in Melbourne called George’s Bar had launched on New Year’s Eve, offering ‘Costanza’-themed cocktails and snacks. The 56-year-old actor writes in a Twitter post: “I may not have an Emmy, but I got me a bar in Melbourne!” The venue’s co-owner Dave Barrett says his love of “Seinfeld” (1989-98) was the driving factor behind the establishment. (About 18 years late?)
– BuzzFeed.com
★ Andrew Lloyd Webber has said he fears it will be more difficult to find British children to perform in his new rock musical because Brits don’t have rock & roll “in their DNA” like Americans. The composer, who is celebrating a record-breaking opening run on Broadway with “School of Rock”, has disclosed that he may have to delay opening the London version until early 2017 if finding enough Brit children to play the roles proves difficult. He says the process is more challenging in the UK where kids are taught to play the recorder or violin in school rather than electric guitar or drums. (The recorder has always proven such a useful instrument to learn, right?)
– “Daily Telegraph”
★ Beyoncé is reportedly planning to co-write and star in a movie based on the life of a South African woman who was enslaved in a freak show in the 1800s. Saartjie Baartman was sold to a Scottish doctor, who then put her on show in London UK … because she had an abnormally large butt. The woman, who was given the name ‘Hottentot Venus’ in the freak show, eventually lost a court case to obtain her freedom and died at the age of 25. A report claims Bey is so passionate about the project that she’s recruited a team of screenwriters and acting coaches to help her pull it off. (She certainly has the physical ‘props’ for the role.)
– TheSun.co.uk
★ And 33-year-old Anna Camp & 28-year-old Skylar Astin are engaged. The happy Hollywood couple have shared the news via Instagram. They met on the set of the original “Pitch Perfect” film in 2012, where they discovered an immediate connection. They both also appeared in last year’s sequel, “Pitch Perfect 2”. “We were friends first and just hit it off,” she told Glamour.com in 2014. But their romance suffered a few snags in the beginning as he was dating somebody else and she’d just been through a divorce. Despite the breakdown of her marriage, it seems she isn’t put off walking down the aisle again. (Maybe in the next “Pitch Perfect” they’ll actually share a scene?)
– ContactMusic.com

TODAY’S SHOW BIZ SKED:
• “Conan” (TBS/CTV) – Lil Dicky f/Rich Homie Quan (“Professional Rapper”).
• “Ellen DeGeneres Show” (syndicated/CTV2) – Jennifer Lopez (“American Idol”).
• “Jimmy Kimmel Live” (ABC/CityTV) – PVRIS, pronounced ‘paris’ (“White Noise”).
• “Late Night With Seth Meyers” (NBC/CTV) – Guns ‘N Roses drummer Matt Sorum.
• “Marvel’s Agent Carter” (ABC) – Season 2 debut.
• “New Girl” (FOX) – Season 5 premiere.
• “The Shannara Chronicles” (MTV) – Series premiere. Based on Terry Brooks’ sci-fi novels, it’s set in a post-apocalyptic world where peace is about to be shattered by, you know, evil.
• “Tavis Smiley” (PBS) – Ringo Starr (“Postcards from Paradise”).
• “Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” (NBC/CTV2) – Cage the Elephant (“Tell Me I’m Pretty”).

BS MUSIC NOTES:
• Justin Bieber – Latest rumor has the 21-year-old hooking up with Hollywood offspring Hailey Baldwin, the 19-year-old daughter of actor Stephen Baldwin. They’ve apparently been vacationing together on Anguilla and St Bart’s in the Caribbean. She claims they’re just friends, having known one another for years.
• Miley Cyrus – She & former fiancé Liam Hemsworth have been spotted together at Australia’s Falls Music Festival in Byron Bay, fueling rumors that they’re very much back ‘on’ 2 years after their split.
• Miranda Lambert – She’s made her new relationship official by posting a photo of herself snuggling with fellow country singer Anderson East. Lambert split from husband Blake Shelton last Summer. He’s now dating “The Voice” co-star Gwen Stefani and now it seems Miranda has moved on as well.
• Sam Smith – He’s suffered cuts and bruises … while playing hide & seek with his security guard. The “Stay With Me” singer was in a market place on the Spanish island of Ibiza during a vacation, and got so involved in the chase he took a tumble, cutting his knees and bashing his head.

THIS WEEK’S VIDEO RELEASES:
Out today on DVD, Netflix, Google Play and/or other video providers …
• “Irrational Man” ( R-Rated Mystery Drama ): In Woody Allen’s latest, a tormented philosophy professor finds a will to live when he commits an existential act. Stars Joaquin Phoenix, Emma Stone (who also appeared in Allen’s “Magic In the Moonlight” in 2014), and Parker Posey. Shot in Rhode Island.
• “Sicario” ( R-Rated Action Thriller ): This thriller from Denis Villeneuve (“Prisoners”) stars Emily Blunt as an idealistic FBI agent enlisted by a government task force to take out a Mexican drug-cartel leader. The cast also includes Benicio del Toro, Josh Brolin, Jon Bernthal (“The Walking Dead”) and Daniel Kaluuya (“Skins”).
• “The Visit” ( PG-13 Horror Comedy ): In this campy low-budget thriller from director M Night Shyamalan, a single mom finds that things in her family’s life go very wrong after her 2 young children visit their grandparents. Stars Olivia DeJonge, Ed Oxenbould, Deanna Dunagan, and Peter McRobbie.
• “The Walk” ( PG Biographical Thriller ): Joseph Gordon-Levitt stars as real-life high-wire artist Philippe Petit as he prepares his 1974 death-defying stunt of walking a tightrope between NYC’s World Trade Center towers. Co-stars Ben Kingsley, James Badge Dale. Based on the 2008 Oscar-winning documentary “Man on Wire”.
• Also released today: “A Brave Heart: The Lizzie Velasquez Story” (Documentary); “Elmo’s World: Elmo Wonders” (Kids); “The Green Inferno” (Horror); “Infinitely Polar Bear” (Drama); “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia Season 10” (TV); “Shanghai” (Historical Drama); and “Sleeping With Other People” (Comedy).

SMALLER IS BETTER:
Siblings in bigger families encounter more challenges in life, according to a new analysis of 26 years of data. Researchers say families face a substantial quantity-quality trade-off because an increase in family size decreases parental involvement. In fact, the amount of time parents spend with each child drops by 3% for every additional child. That can lead to a decrease in childhood cognitive abilities and an increase in behavioral problems. It’s also found that children receive an average of 0.13 years less education for each sibling they have. The conclusion: Children with more siblings have worse lives in the long run. (There are a lot of really tight big families who would no doubt disagree.)
– “Washington Post”

RESOLVING RESOLUTIONS:
It’s “New Year’s Resolutions Week” through Friday. A few facts …
● About 90% of us make New Year’s resolutions. Of those, 78% fail, according to studies. 23% of pledges are broken within a week, 45% within a month.
● “Parents” magazine reports that 6 months into the year, 60% of ‘resolvers’ have given up.
● Researchers who’ve tracked resolutions say you should make no more than 2 resolutions to have a higher chance of success.
● “Psychology Today” says you’ll be more likely to live up to resolutions if you tell someone else about them.

SIM MODEL:
With real people apparently increasingly unable to afford its luxury handbags, Louis Vuitton is opening up a whole new market … fake people. The company has announced the ‘face’ of its next ad campaign is ‘Lightning’, a collection of pixels that form a major character in the “Final Fantasy” videogame series, considered one of the most iconic franchises in gaming history. A video of ‘Lightning’ aggressively modeling the company’s newest products has been posted on Instagram. The ‘Lightning’-starring campaign, dubbed Series 4, is said to be one in which ‘reality and fantasy become one’. This isn’t the character’s first foray into modeling. She and other “Final Fantasy” characters appeared in a Japanese magazine’s 2012 Prada fashion spread. (You can sculpt these models with Photoshop and no one seems to care.)
– TheVerge.com

GOT A HANKERING FOR HEINZ?
Each country seems to have a different use for ketchup. Here’s a sampling …
• Sweden … on pasta.
• Britain … on fish & chips.
• Spain and India … on eggs.
• Eastern Europe … on pizza.
• Japan … on rice.
• Denmark … on spaghetti.
• Thailand … as potato chip dip.
So what’s the weirdest thing you’ve ever seen someone put ketchup on?
– PA News

HAIR TODAY; HAIR TOMORROW:
One man’s back hair is another man’s canvas. At least that’s how Mike Wolfe of Nampa, Idaho has decided to approach ‘manscaping’. After years of feeling ashamed of his body hair, he asked a friend in 2008 to trim a flag on his back rather than undergoing hair removal processes like shaving or waxing. Since then, the two have met up several times to design a new creation on Wolfe’s back. Tyler Harding, a former graphic artist who has been friends with Wolfe for more than a decade, says it takes about an hour to complete the artistic trim. And the creations can now be seen on a 2016 calendar – called the ‘Calend-hair’ – available for $20. (Hmm, seems Wednesday is going to be short and curly.)
NET: http://tinyurl.com/qdyath5
– CNN.com

DID YOU KNOW?
• “Interstellar” was the most pirated film of 2015.
• The word ‘sex’, used to mean sexual intercourse, was first used in 1929.
• Plastic surgery dates back to 600 BC and the first nose job was in 1000 AD.
• Reports of UFOs have dwindled to almost zero since the late 1990s.
– BBC News

BS CHRONOMETER 01.05.16

TODAY’S CELEBIRTHDAYS . . .
1931 [85] Robert Duvall, San Diego CA, movie actor (“The Judge”, 1984 Oscar-“Tender Mercies”)

1942 [74] Charlie Rose, Henderson NC, TV personality (“CBS This Morning” since 2012)/TV journalist (“Charlie Rose” since 1991, “60  Minutes” since 1999)

1946 [70] Diane Keaton (Hall), LA CA, movie actress (“The Family Stone”, 1978 Oscar-“Annie Hall”)

1968 [48] Carrie Ann Inaba, Honolulu HI, dancer/TV personality (“Dancing With the Stars” judge since 2005)

1969 [47] Marilyn Manson (Brian Warner), Canton OH, shock-rock musician (“Personal Jesus”, “The Dope Show”)

1970 [46] Rick Campanelli, Hamilton ON, TV personality (“ET Canada” since 2005)

1975 [41] Bradley Cooper, Philadelphia PA, movie actor (“Silver Linings Playbook”, “The Hangover” films)

1978 [38] January Jones, Sioux Falls SD, TV actress (“Mad Men” 2007-15)/movie actress (“We Are Marshall”, “Love Actually”)

TODAY’S BS REASONS TO PARTY . . .
• “Review Your Wrestling Holds Day”, a day to try to find someone who’ll let you practice all the wrestling holds you learned as a kid … the hammerlock, half-nelson, flying scissors, etc. (Don’t try the sleeper!)

• “Secondhand Wardrobe Day”, celebrating the unique finds available in vintage clothing stores and thrift shops. Don’t think of second-hand clothes as ‘hand-me-downs’, think of them as ‘broken in’ so they are not stiff or scratchy like new clothes.

• “Twelfth Night”, the “Eve of Epiphany”. Tomorrow is the “Twelfth Day Of Christmas” when, according to the carol, your true love should give to you ’12 drummers drumming’. Different traditions mark the date of “Twelfth Night” on either the 5th or 6th of January.

THIS DAY IN SHOW BIZ . . .
1995 [21] After 82 episodes of the mega-hit NBC-TV sitcom “Seinfeld”, Kramer’s given name is revealed … ‘Cosmo’

TODAY’S MUSIC EVENT . . .
2004 [12] Britney Spears’ marriage to childhood friend Jason Alexander is annulled … after 55 hours

TODAY’S FIRST . . .
2005 [10] Eris, the largest known dwarf planet in the Solar System, is discovered by a team at the Palomar Observatory in San Diego County, California

TODAY’S RECORD . . .
1987 [29] Tony Ferko sets a new world record by juggling 7 ping-pong balls … with his mouth

COMING UP . . .
[Wed] “People’s Choice Awards” (CBS)
[Wed] “American Idol” final season debut (FOX)
[Wed] “American Crime” Season 2 premiere (ABC)
[Wed] International Consumer Electronics Show begins (Las Vegas NV)
[Thurs] “Shades of Blue” series debut (NBC/Global)
This Week Is … Diet Resolution Week
This Month Is … Child-Centered Divorce Awareness Month

BULL’S BITS

This week the new ‘Winter season’ of TV shows is debuting. So here are a few …
REJECTED NEW BS SHOWS:
✗ “Mob Dermatologist”
✗ “Underwater Cowboy”
✗ “So You Think You Can Whistle?”
✗ “Albania’s Next Top Albanian”
✗ “Squat Squad”
✗ “Tax Clown”
✗ “The Dentalist”

BS RANDOM JOKE:
The fortuneteller told me: “You will be cursed. All your children will look like you.”

MORE BS QUESTIONS PLAGUING HUMANKIND:
● Why is it we spell the names of planets with a capital, but most of the time we spell ‘Earth’ with a lower case ‘e’?
● Why do people who know the least know it the loudest?
● Does distressed leather come from very tense cows?
● Why is it the things most people want to know about are usually none of their business?
● Why is there no canned broccoli?

BS PHONE STARTER:
☎ What’s the best new marathon-viewing series on Netflix? “The Last Kingdom”, anyone?

BS WATER COOLER QUESTION:
Question: Close to 20,000 people per year injure themselves doing THIS at the gym.
Answer: Falling on a treadmill.

BS DEEP THOUGHT:
Anything free is worth what you pay for it.