October 24, 2016

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Monday, October 24, 2016 – Edition: #5835

Thanks a Sheetload for Choosing “BS”!

BS SHOW BIZ BUZZ:
★ Netflix and CBC-TV have announced that Irish actress Amybeth McNulty has been cast as ‘Anne Shirley’, title character in the upcoming 8-part adaptation of LM Montgomery’s novel “Anne of Green Gables”. McNulty is one of 1,889 actresses who auditioned for the role. The series follows 13-year-old orphaned ‘Anne’ as she moves in with ‘Marilla’ (Geraldine James), an elderly spinster, and her aging brother ‘Matthew’ (RH Thomas). But don’t expect the production to tread the same ground as previous adaptations. The Netflix show aims to honor the original novel while also tackling new ground by having ‘Anne’ and friends deal with issues such as feminism, bullying, prejudice. and identity. “Anne” will premiere in 2017.
– EW.com
★ Former celeb-du-jour Lindsay Lohan is allegedly facing bankruptcy after failing to pay the rent on her $4.3 million London flat. Lawyers for the landlord of the property, located in the exclusive Knightsbridge area of the British capital, have issued the 30-year-old with legal papers demanding payment of 6 months of overdue rent, totaling – whoa! – $95,000. They will also petition for her bankruptcy on November 8th if she fails to pay. Her ex-boyfriend, Russian tycoon Egor Tarabasov, paid a 3-month deposit up front and agreed to split the $3,700-a-week rent, but he says Lindsay has never paid her share.
– Mail Online
★ And 33-year-old former “Community” star Donald Glover is joining the “Star Wars” universe. Disney has announced the actor, writer, and rapper is playing ‘Lando Calrissian’ in the upcoming ‘Han Solo’ spinoff film. The movie explores ‘Lando’ in his formative years, before the events in “The Empire Strikes Back” and “Return Of the Jedi”. In those films he was played by Billy Dee Williams (now 79). The untitled new film is set for release in 2018. Glover currently stars in the half-hour comedy “Atlanta”, which he created for FX.
– Postmedia Network

TODAY’S SHOW BIZ SKED:
• “Dancing With the Stars” (ABC) – The remaining celebrities dance to popular songs from the 1920s to the 1990s during ‘Eras Night’.
• “Last Call With Carson Daly” (NBC) – Moving Units (“Neurotic Exotic”).
• “Late Late Show With James Corden” (CBS/CTV) – Norah Jones (“Day Breaks”).
• “Late Night With Seth Meyers” (NBC/CTV) – Spencer Ludwig (“Diggy”).
• “Live With Kelly” (syndicated/CTV) – Guest co-host Michael Bublé.
• “Man With a Plan” (CBS) – Comedy series debut starring Matt LeBlanc as a dad who finds out parenting is harder than he thought after his wife goes back to work and he’s left at home to take care of the kids.
• Show Up & Vote (Las Vegas NV) – Today and tomorrow Ani DiFranco, Talib Kweli, Vic Mensa, and Wale perform as part of Global Citizen’s campaign to inspire young Americans to vote in the upcoming election. The initiative hits Columbus OH on Friday and Orlando FL November 3rd.
• “Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” (NBC/CTV2) – Michael Bublé “(Nobody But Me”).
• “The Voice” (NBC/CTV2) – Tim McGraw & Faith Hill serve as key advisers as the competitors prepare for ‘Knockout Rounds’.

BS MUSIC NOTES:
• Boy George – He performed a moving tribute to David Bowie as he sang “Starman” with the NHS Choir on UK Channel 4’s “Stand Up to Cancer” special. His rendition moved fans to tears, some suggesting he release his cover version as a Christmas charity single.
• Garth Brooks – Tonight he’s playing a huge free concert at the Ascend Amphitheater in Nashville TN to mark his recent 7-album RIAA Diamond sales designation.
• Jason Aldean – “They Don’t Know” tops tomorrow’s new ‘Billboard Country Albums’ chart. Kenny Chesney is #1 on the ‘Hot Country Songs’ chart with “Setting the World on Fire” f/Pink.
• Lady Gaga – In conjunction with her new album “Joanne”, she’s released a custom sticker pack that fans on Twitter can use to recreate the album cover with their own faces. Gaga designed the stickers herself: a big pink hat, glasses, a crop top, a microphone, and a guitar.
• Negativland – The veteran San Francisco experimental-music band’s new album “Over the Edge Vol 9: The Chopping Channel” comes with an incentive for fans to buy the physical edition. Each comes with 2 grams of late vocalist Don Joyce’s ashes (while supplies last).
• Radiohead – They’re the first act named to headline next year’s Glastonbury festival in the UK. They’ll top the bill on the Pyramid Stage Friday, June 23, 2017. It’s the 3rd time they’re leading the iconic festival, following appearances in 1997 and 2003.
• Rascal Flatts – Their newly-released “The Greatest Gift of All” is their first-ever holiday album. The 10-track project is produced by the band themselves.
• Shania Twain – She’s confirmed she has a new recording in the works. Quote: “This album is more diverse than any other album I’ve ever done.”
• Zac Brown Band – They’ve expanded by one as of Friday. Keyboardist Coy Bowles welcomed a daughter, Hattie, to the group with his wife Kylie.

CRYPTIC COMPETITION:
You could spend a night in Dracula’s Transylvania castle. Airbnb is offering 2 guests an overnight stay at Bran Castle in Romania on Halloween night. The great grandnephew of Bram Stoker, who based his 19th-century novel on the very place, is hosting the contestants who give the most creative answer to what they’d say to ‘Dracula’ in a face-to-face meeting. After being transported to the castle via horse-drawn carriage, the winning couple can explore all 57 rooms where Vlad the Impaler, inspiration for ‘Count Dracula’, is once believed to have lived. You can even try sleeping in a pair of velvet-lined coffins in a crypt, though beds are also available. The online contest is open until Wednesday. (Fangs for entering!)
– Telegraph.co.uk

WHY 3 TO-DO LISTS ARE BETTER THAN ONE:
Some tips to get you more organized when listing tasks …
✓ You need to have several types of to-do lists. One size (or one list) does not fit all. You need a different type of list for each different purpose.
✓ Your ‘Master List’ is a brain dump you can use when you have an idea that you don’t want to forget. Write it down as it occurs to you. You can add and subtract items based on importance.
✓ Your ‘Weekly List’ includes projects and tasks from the Master List that need to get done this week. You will use this list to create your Daily List.
✓ Your ‘Daily List’ is a Post-it note that you keep on the monitor of your computer. It has no more than 5 tasks from the previous list that must get done today.
(The above list is a ‘Condensed From a Massively Wordy 4-Page Article Just For You’ list.)
– Adapted from HuffingtonPost.ca

DIET BOOMERANG:
A new study out of the National Institutes of Health explains why weight-gain after weight-loss is so common … and so difficult to avoid. Researchers say weight-loss puts the body in a sort of fight mode that results in a strong increase in appetite, prompting people to eat an extra 100 calories daily for every 2 lbs lost. This is the first time that number has been quantified. These new findings suggest it’s very hard to keep the scale from tipping back toward its starting point. The good news is that pharmaceuticals already exist to suppress appetite, and these findings may establish the need to add a prescription to the post-weight loss period. (One Oprah Winfrey fan says that if Oprah can’t buy permanent weight-loss, maybe it can’t be bought.)
– WebMD.com

COOL DESTINATION:
Iceland is hot, and no, it’s not about global warming. Since the tiny island in the north Atlantic began keeping tabs in 1949, the number of tourist visits has climbed from roughly 5,000-a-year to more than 500,000 in 2010. Then, in 2011, things went bonkers. Iceland’s tourism board pounced on all the attention from a volcanic eruption with a series of “Inspired by Iceland” videos that featured everything from glaciers and fjords to women dipping in hot springs sans bathing suits. Now 1.61 million have visited the country so far this year. Compare that to the nation’s population … 332,000. Travel website Kayak.com lists Iceland’s capital Reykjavik as #8 on its list of ‘Top 10 Wallet-Friendly International Destinations’. And this year Global Peace Index has named Iceland the safest country in the world. (The Euro Cup run didn’t hurt either.)
– Vox.com

COMP CRACKDOWN:
The days of comped drinks for Las Vegas gamblers may be coming to an end. In recent months 2 of the biggest casino owners have launched systems to regulate the free alcohol being handed out to video poker players. That means it’s likely only a matter of time until similar systems are put in place at bars all over Vegas before being rolled out to slot machines and beyond. Currently, the changes mean gamblers can no longer milk cheap video poker games in order to drink free. MGM Resorts has adapted its poker machines to only print out drink vouchers when gamblers have been playing long enough to make it profitable. Caesars has installed colored lights on its machines. If you bet the max ($1.25 or so) for 4 or 5 hands, the green light goes on and a free drink is headed your way. (If you drink less, you bet less, no?)
– “Los Angeles Times”

BS AMAZING FACT:
You can’t return or rescind a Nobel prize. Bob Dylan has been described as “impolite and arrogant” by a member of the Swedish Academy after the singer-songwriter has remained silent over the decision to award him the 2016 Nobel Prize for Literature.
– “Daily Telegraph”

BS CHRONOMETER 10.24.16

TODAY’S CELEBIRTHDAYS . . .
1947 [69] Kevin Kline, St Louis MO, movie actor (“A Fish Called Wanda”)/TV voice actor (“Bob’s Burgers” since 2011) COMING UP: “Beauty & The Beast (2017)

1980 [36] Monica (Arnold), College Park GA, pop singer (“So Gone”, w/Brandy-“The Boy Is Mine”)

1985 [31] Wayne Rooney, Liverpool UK, soccer star (Manchester United, England national team) who seemingly always chokes in Euro- and World Cups

1986 [30] Drake (Aubrey Drake Graham), Toronto ON, pop singer-songwriter (“One Dance”, “Hotline Bling”)/former actor (“Degrassi: The Next Generation” 2001-09)

1989 [27] Shenae Grimes, Toronto ON, TV actress (“90210” 2008-13, “Degrassi: The Next Generation” 2004-08)/movie actress (“Empire State”)

TODAY’S BS REASONS TO PARTY . . .
• “Bologna Day”, a good day to fry up a slice to add to your peanut butter sandwich. Yummers!

• “Food Day”, a day to resolve to make changes in our diets and take action to solve food-related problems in our communities. The 2016 theme is ‘Toward a Greener Diet’.

• “United Nations Day”, honoring the 71st anniversary of the day in 1945 that the majority of the world’s countries adopted the charter that formed the UN.

THIS DAY IN SHOW BIZ . . .
2006 [10] “Forbes” reveals that Kurt Cobain has overtaken Elvis Presley as ‘Highest-Earning Dead Celebrity’ in the past year, $50 million vs $42 million

TODAY’S MUSIC EVENTS . . .
2009 [07] Michael Bublé hits #1 on the album chart with “Crazy Love”, his 4th studio album

2012 [04] Garth Brooks is inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame (Bob Seger, George Strait, and James Taylor perform at the ceremony)

TODAY’S FIRSTS . . .
2008 [08] Guns N’ Roses release their 1st new material since 1999 as the title track of the new album “Chinese Democracy” is issued as a single

2011 [05] The Northern Lights (Aurora Borealis) become visible over much of North America due to a ‘coronal mass ejection’ (ooh, that sounds serious!)

TODAY’S RECORDS . . .
2008 [08] ‘Bloody Friday’ as many of the world’s stock exchanges experience the worst declines in their history, with drops of 10% or more on most indices

2004 [12] Arsenal Football Club loses to Manchester United, ending a row of unbeaten matches at 49, the record in England’s Premier League

COMING UP . . .
[Tues] Visit a Cemetery Day
[Tues] International Artists Day
[Tues] World Pasta Day
[Wed] Howl At the Moon Night
[Thurs] “The Great Indoors” series debut (CBS)
[Thurs] Cranky Co-Workers Day

THIS WEEK IS . . .
Disarmament Week / Give Wildlife a Brake! Week (prevent roadkill) / Kids Care Week / Lead Poisoning Prevention Week / Massage Therapy Week / Nuclear Science Week / Prescription Errors Awareness Week / Pro Bono Week / Respiratory Care Week / Rodent Awareness Week

BULL’S BITS

BEST OF BS:
Highlight bits culled from 23 years of “Bull Sheet” back issues …
BS CREATIVE EXCUSES FOR A DAY OFF:
• “I can’t come in to work today because I’ll be stalking my previous boss, who fired me for not showing up for work. OK?”
• “I seem to have contracted Attention Deficit Disorder and, hey, how about them Cubs? So, I won’t be able to, yes, could I help you? No, no, I don’t want to change phone services …”
• “I just found out that I was switched at birth. Legally, I shouldn’t come to work knowing my employee records may now contain false information.”
• “The psychiatrist said it was an excellent session. He even gave me this jaw restraint so I won’t bite things when I am startled.”
• “I can’t come to work today because environmentalists have determined my house is completely surrounded by wetlands and I have to arrange for helicopter transportation.”
• “The dog ate my car keys. We’re going to hitchhike to the vet.”
– First published in “BS” 2001.

BS THINGS THAT NEEDED 1 MORE ITERATION BEFORE BEING READY TO MARKET:
• WD-39
• “Love Potion No. 8”
• Alberto VO4.9
• Heinz 56
• “98 Luftballoons”
• 6-Up
• Chanel No. 4
• 2M
• Boeing 746
• “Two Times a Lady”
• R2D1 and C2PO
• iOS 10 (or Windows 10)
– First published in “BS” 2014 .

BS PHONE STARTER:
☎ What’s your best Halloween jack-o-lantern hack or tip?

BS U-PICK TRIVIA:
You’re visiting the Bahamas and experience a ‘banana wind’. What is it?
a. A curved wind, sort of like half a hurricane.
b. A wind strong enough to blow bananas off trees. [CORRECT. Not as dangerous as a hurricane.]
c. Encountering someone suffering from fruit farts.

BS RANDOM JOKE:
There are 2 wind turbines in a field and one says to the other, “Do you like music?”
“Actually,” the other replies, “I’m a big metal fan.”

BS WATER COOLER QUESTION:
Question: THIS is the most popular food item to post a pic of on social media.
Answer: Shrimp.

BS DEEP THOUGHT:
Never ask a barber if you need a haircut.

NOW ON OUR SHEET LIST:
Willie McKenzie @ Stirling City Radio, Stirling, Scotland; and Leighton Morris @ Wolverine Radio [WJGP] Jewett City CT.

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