June 1, 2011

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Wednesday, June 1, 2011        Edition: #4518
Sheeters Always Prosper!

BS SHOW BIZ BUZZ:
Scottish “X-Men” actor James McAvoy tells Sky News that British filmmakers ‘dumb down’ their movies so Americans can understand them (speaking of which, “X-Men: First Class” opens Friday) . . . Just as pseudo-rocker Courtney Love has been ordered to pay $35,000 in back wages to 2 former maids she’s being sued again, this time by her former attorney over derogatory comments Love allegedly made on Twitter (thank goodness she’s not blowing Kurt Cobain’s money on stupid stuff) . . . Director Rob Marshall (“Pirates Of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides”) tells “LA Times” he’s convinced Johnny Depp will one day be classed in the same category as Hollywood’s all-time top leading men, alongside the likes of Humphrey Bogart and Clark Gable (maybe, but not because of that lame movie) . . . Ironically, the latest “Pirates Of the Caribbean” film is apparently not popular with pirates, an illegal pirated copy available online via BitTorrent has generated little interest (you know you’re in trouble when even free is too much) . . . Nicole ‘Snooki’ Polizzi has been involved in a car accident while filming the 4th season of “Jersey Shore” (MTV) in Florence, Italy after driving a Fiat into a police car – that was intended to be her safety escort (like that wasn’t in the script) . . . “The Hobbit” films, now shooting in New Zealand, have been given their official titles, the first to be called “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey” (December 2012) and the second, “The Hobbit: There & Back Again” (December 2013) . . . Actor James Franco has delayed the opening of his James Dean-inspired art exhibition in Venice, Italy because he needs more time to ‘fully realize his vision’ (was that the problem when he hosted the Oscars?) . . . And new figures show that Philippe Dauman, the CEO of entertainment company Viacom (Paramount Pictures, CMT, Comedy Channel, MTV, Nickelodeon, etc) drew the largest compensation package in corporate America last year: $84.5 million, a 149% raise from the previous year (did your boss give you that?).

TODAY’S SHOW BIZ SKED:
• “Conan” (TBS/CTV) – Teddy Thompson (“Separate Ways”).
• “Ellen DeGeneres Show” (syndicated/A Channel) – The Strokes (“Angles”).
• “Jimmy Kimmel Live” (ABC/CHCH) – Maybach Music Group featuring Rick Ross.
• “Last Call With Carson Daly” (NBC) – The Greenhornes (“Four Stars”).
• “Late Night With Jimmy Fallon” (NBC/A Channel) – Twin Shadow (“Forget”).
• “Live With Regis & Kelly” (syndicated/CTV) – “American Idol” runner-up Lauren Alaina.
• “Lopez Tonight” (TBS) – Lauren Pritchard (“Wasted in Jackson”).
• “Tonight Show With Jay Leno” (NBC/A Channel) – Steven Tyler (“American Idol”); Civil Wars (“Barton Hollow”).

BS MUSIC NOTES:
• Buffalo Springfield – Tonight the “For What It’s Worth” band, featuring original members Neil Young, Stephen Stills & Richie Furay, kick off a 6-date California tour in Oakland. It’s their first tour since breaking up way back in 1968.
• Lady Gaga – She tells “Financial Times” she was $3 million in debt at one point because she plowed all her money back into the lavish stage sets and production costs of her “Monster Ball” tour.
• Muse – Chris Wolstenholme has taken over responsibility for creating new material while frontman Matt Bellamy focuses on becoming a first-time father with fiancée Kate Hudson.
• Sean Kingston – “Billboard” reports the 21-year-old, who was hospitalized Sunday after crashing his jet-ski into a Miami bridge, has now been moved from the trauma unit to intensive care, indicating some improvement.
• U2 – Tonight their “360” tour hits Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton AB. Opening act is The Fray.

CHEAPER GASOLINE?
Saudi Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal says he wants oil prices to drop so that the Western world doesn’t accelerate efforts to wean itself off his country’s supply. The grandson of the founding king of modern Saudi Arabia contends that oil prices should be somewhere between $70-and-$80 per barrel, rather than the current level over $100. The higher the price of oil goes, he claims, the more the West has incentive to find alternatives. (No wonder this guy’s the 26th richest person in the world.)
– CNN.com

FOODS NAMED AFTER PEOPLE:
Ever wonder who’s behind the name affixed to certain dishes? Check these out …
• ‘Beef Stroganoff’ – The creamy beef dish takes its name from Count Pavel Stroganov, a Russian statesman and military leader. It’s been around at least as far back as the 1860s.
• ‘Chicken a la King’ – Chef George Greenwald at the Brighton Beach Hotel in Brooklyn NY named his special chicken dish after the owner of the hotel … E Clark King.
• ‘Fettucine Alfredo’ – In 1914 Alfredo di Lelio, a restaurant owner in Rome, upped the amount of butter in an old recipe in an attempt to find something his pregnant wife would enjoy eating.
• ‘Graham Crackers’ – 19th-century American diet proponent Sylvester Graham invented them as part of a regimen to keep his patients from having ‘impure thoughts’.
• ‘Nachos’ – Invented in 1943 by chef Ignacio Anaya, better known by his nickname ‘Nacho’, when he needed to improvise a last-minute meal at the Victory Club in Piedras Negras, Mexico.
• ‘Salisbury Steak’ – James Salisbury was a 19th-century doctor who advocated a diet heavy on lean meats. He recommended 3 meat dishes per day, washed down with a glass of hot water.
– Condensed from “Mental Floss” magazine

BOT VOCAB:
Robots at the University of Queensland in Australia are developing their own language to help other robots navigate to specific locations. The ‘Lingodroid Research Project’ lets robots generate random sounds for the places they visit. The ‘words’ are shared with others as the robots play games to establish which sound represents which location. Project leader Dr Ruth Schulz says the robot-to-robot language leaves humans completely out of the loop. (OK, this is getting creepy now.)
– BBC News

BS BUZZWORDS:
New cutting-edge vocab …
• ‘Brain Waste’ – Immigrants who were skilled professionals in their home countries but have been forced to take unskilled jobs in their new country. (“Take me to the airport pronto, Dr Gupta!”)
• ‘Haycation’ – A vacation on a farm. (“I hit the jackpot this year! I’ve lined up a bunch of haycationers who are willing to pay by the week for the privilege of mucking out the stable.”)
• ‘Zipper Merge’ – A road merge where drivers use both lanes all the way to the merge point, and then take turns merging. (“And this morning we have a backup due to construction on the 405 at the 102 junction where the zipper merge is undone.”)

IN THE NAME OF ART:
Conceptual artist Tania Bruguera has eaten dirt, hung a dead lamb from her neck, and served trays of cocaine to a gallery audience, all as an expression of her ‘art’. Now she’s sharing a tiny apartment in Queens NY with 5 illegal immigrants and their 6 children, including a newborn, while scraping by on minimum wage, and without health insurance. She hasn’t fallen on hard times … she’s performing a year-long ‘art piece’ meant to improve the image of immigrants and highlight their plight. (A lot of people refer to this as ‘life’.)
– “New York Times”

SAFEST SUNGLASSES:
The eyes and the skin around them are common hot spots. So you should shield yours by purchasing shades that say, ‘UV absorption’, ‘UV protection’, or ‘Meets ANSI UV requirements’ on the label; these terms indicate that the lenses block more than 99% of UV rays. Steer clear of glasses marked ‘cosmetic’, which means they only repel 70% of UV rays. And don’t be fooled by dark lenses; UV protection comes from an invisible chemical applied to the lenses, not from their color. (To be extra safe, try a tinted scuba mask and a golf visor.)
– “Cosmopolitan”

HOT TOPICS ONLINE:
According to Long Island-based research firm General Sentiment, these topics have prompted the most discussion in blog posts and on social networks, news websites, etc so far this year …
1. Osama bin Laden’s death.
2. Royal Wedding.
3. Super Bowl.
4. Academy Awards.
5. Oprah Winfrey’s final TV show.
– ContactMusic.com

FOR THE RECORD:
Daniel Jubb of Mojave, California is the chief rocket engineer for the Bloodhound SuperSonic Car, which aims to reach a speed of 1,600 km/hr (1,000 mph) on the salt flats in Hakskeen Pan, South Africa sometime in 2013. The current record is 1,227 km/h (762 mph), set in 1997 by the Bloodhound team driver, Andy Green, in a car called ‘Thrust SSC’. By developing new rocket technology on land, these scientists hope to eventually create safer space travel.
– NewScientist.com

DID YOU KNOW?
• Picture this: If Marilyn Monroe were alive, today she’d turn 85.
– FamousBirthdays.com
• A single 3-letter word does much of the heavy lifting in the English language. The little word ‘run’ now has 645 distinct meanings … in its verb form alone.
– NPR.org

BS CHRONOMETER 06.01.11

TODAY’S CELEBIRTHDAYS . . .
1937 [74] Morgan Freeman, Memphis TN, movie actor (“The Dark Knight”, Academy Award-“Million Dollar Baby”)/advertising pitch-voice (VISA)  COMING UP: “The Dark Knight Rises” (2012).

1947 [64] Ronnie Wood, Hillingdon UK, classic rock guitarist (Rolling Stones since 1975, The Faces 1970-73, Jeff Beck Group 1968-70)/Rock & Roll Hall of Fame (1989)

1953 [58] Ronnie Dunn, Coleman TX, country singer (“Bleed Red”, Brooks & Dunn-“Red Dirt Road”)

1969 [42] Teri Polo, Dover DE, movie actress (“Little Fockers”, “Meet the Parents”)/TV actress (“The West Wing” 2005-06)

1973 [38] Heidi Klum [‘kloom’], Bergisch-Gladbach, Germany, fashion model/TV host (“Project Runway” since 2004, “Germany’s Next Top Model” since 2006)/wed to singer Seal (2005)

1974 [37] Alanis Morissette, Ottawa ON, pop singer (“You Oughta Know”, “Hand in My Pocket”)/”Jagged Little Pill” album (1995) sold over 33 million units worldwide

TODAY’S BS REASONS TO PARTY . . .
• “Atlantic, Caribbean & Gulf Hurricane Season” begins and continues through November 30th. Forecasters predict the 2011 season will entail 12-to-18 named storms, 6-to-10 hurricanes, and 3-to-6 major hurricanes. Storms are named in order from alphabetical lists. This year’s first 5 will be named ‘Arlene’, ‘Bret’, ‘Cindy’, ‘Don’, ‘Emily’. (‘Hurricane Don’ doesn’t sound very threatening, does it? But then ‘Katrina’ sounded cute when we first heard it.)

• “Go Barefoot Day”, a day to enjoy the comforts and pleasant sensations of shedding footwear.
NET: http://yhoo.it/lDIkrz

• “Heimlich Maneuver Day”, honoring the ‘abdominal thrust’ method of stopping choking, first described by Dr Henry Heimlich in a June 1974 article in the journal “Emergency Medicine”. Dr Edward Patrick, a Heimlich associate, claims to be the procedure’s uncredited co-developer.

• “National Day Against Homophobia”, an annual Canadian event organized by the Fondation Émergence in 2002.

• “New Year’s Resolution Recommitment Day”, a chance to revisit all those promises you made to yourself a half-year back on New Year’s Day and then promptly forgot by January 3rd.

• “Say Something Nice Day”, a day to thank someone, encourage someone, compliment everyone. Remember, if you can’t say something nice … mum’s the word!

• “World Milk Day”, initiated by the Food & Agriculture Organization of the United Nations to focus attention on milk and the milk industry. (Humans are the only animal that drinks another animal’s milk.)
NET: http://www.worldmilkday.com

THIS DAY IN SHOW BIZ . . .
1980 [31] Cable News Network (CNN) begins broadcasting

2008 [03] Legendary French fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent dies in Paris at age 71

2009 [02] Conan O’Brien debuts as host of NBC’s “Tonight Show” (steps down after 7 months due to a dispute with the network)

TODAY’S MUSIC EVENTS . . .
1967 [44] The Beatles release the classic, “Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band”, which goes on to top album charts all over the world

1969 [42] John Lennon & Yoko Ono record “Give Peace a Chance” during a ‘Bed-In’ in Room 1742 of the Queen Elizabeth Hotel in Montréal

TODAY’S FIRST . . .
1938 [73] ‘Superman’ first appears in “Action Comics” (his illustrator, Toronto artist Joe Shuster, later sells his rights to the character for $130)

TODAY’S RECORDS . . .
2002 [09] 16 skydivers set a new world record by jumping simultaneously from a hot-air balloon 10,000 ft (3,048 m) over Peterborough, England and landing safely on 6,000 rolls of bathroom tissue as a PR stunt

2009 [02] General Motors files for chapter 11 bankruptcy, the 4th-largest bankruptcy in US history

AND REMEMBER . . .
[Thurs] Leave the Office Early Day
[Thurs] Tailors Day
[Sat] Do-Dah Day
[Sat] Trails Day
[Sun] 20th MTV Movie Awards
[Sun] Cancer Survivors Day
This Week Is … Fishing Week
This Month Is … International Men’s Month

BULL’S BITS

BS SIGNS YOUR CAT IS GETTING OLD:
• Total time of ‘catnaps’ has now reached 23-and-a-half hours a day.
• Trades in his ‘Whiskas’ for prune-flavored ‘Whippasnappas’.
• Instead of shredding your drapes, she sub-contracts the job.
• Spends all day on the front porch, yelling at the squirrels to get the hell out of his yard.
• Has to drink a whole bottle of Rogaine just to cough up one hairball.
• Instead of dropping dead mice at your feet, starts leaving bingo cards.
• Has given up on chasing mice; now focuses on that elusive dust bunny.
• Occasionally forgets to ignore you.

BS PHONE STARTER:
What unusual ‘talent’ were you born with?

BS RANDOM JOKE:
Why be difficult when with a bit of effort you can be impossible?

BS WATER COOLER QUESTION:
Today’s Question: According to a recent survey, THIS usually happens within 20 minutes of arriving home from work.
Answer to Give Out Next Show: A marital argument.

BS DEEP THOUGHT:
Tact is the ability to describe others as they see themselves.

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