January 4, 2012 INTL

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Wednesday, January 4, 2012        Edition: #4661


Sheet Happens!

BS SHOW BIZ BUZZ:
Angelina Jolie has reportedly bought partner Brad Pitt an entire waterfall in rural California for his birthday, so the architecture buff can re-create his hero Frank Lloyd Wright’s famous Fallingwater Estate (kind of makes that $20 gift certificate you gave your spouse seem like crap, doesn’t it?) . . . “So You Think You Can Dance” judge & executive producer Nigel Lythgoe is planning a revamped format for the show’s new season at the end of May, now that FOX-TV has cut it back from 2 nights a week to 1 (the real prob is far too many dance shows – not to mention singing shows) . . . 33-year-old actress Rachel McAdams tells the new issue of “Glamour” that film sets are ‘too busy and too distracting’ for romance but admits there are opportunities for relationships to strike up when co-stars are on the road promoting their movies (thus explaining her personal hit list that includes Michael Sheen, Ryan Gosling) . . . It looks like Ryan Gosling & Eva Mendes are getting serious, as they spent New Year’s with his mommy (pitiful, man) . . . 43-year-old Debra Messing, who recently split from her 10-year husband Daniel Zelman, is now apparently ‘messing’ with 41-year-old Will Chase, her co-star on the upcoming NBC-TV comedy “Smash” (this news comes just before it premieres in February – coincidence?) . . . And despite having grossed over $7.7 billion in worldwide box office the ‘Harry Potter’ franchise has yet to be recognized with any major Academy Awards, so this year the producers are pushing hard, campaigning to have the final film (“Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows Part Two”) honored with a trophy or two (how about a special award for filthy lucre?).

TODAY’S SHOW BIZ SKED:

• “Conan” (TBS) – Chris Isaak (“Beyond the Sun”).
• “Ellen DeGeneres Show” (syndicated) – Justin Bieber (“Under the Mistletoe”).
• “Jimmy Kimmel Live” (ABC) – Lloyd (“King of Hearts”).
• “Last Call With Carson Daly” (NBC) – Lykke Li (“Wounded Rhymes”); MNDR (“Cut Me Out”). Rerun.
• “Late Show With David Letterman” (CBS) – Wu Lyf (“Go Tell Fire To the Mountain”).
• “Tonight Show With Jay Leno” (NBC) – Shaggy (“Summer in Kingston”).

BS MUSIC NOTES:

• Aretha Franklin – The 69-year-old ‘Queen of Soul’ has announced her engagement to lifelong friend Willie Wilkerson. It will be her 3rd marriage. They plan to wed this Summer in Miami, as confirmed by Franklin in a statement that jokingly adds: “No I’m not pregnant!”.
• The Beatles – Ringo Starr tells “Mojo” magazine he’s teamed with former Eurythmics rocker Dave Stewart to write a musical. They’re hoping to stage it on Broadway but he admits it will more likely end up as a movie.
• Coldplay – Their latest chart entry, “Paradise”, has become the first #1 single of 2012 in the UK.
• Creedence Clearwater Revival – Founding members Stu Cook & Doug Clifford have ruled out reuniting the 1960s-70s band with frontman John Fogerty, saying his recent offer of reconciliation comes ‘20 years too late’. Are we bitter old men?
• Elton John – He says Justin Timberlake tops his wish list to play him in an upcoming film about his life. Elton and partner David Furnish are producing the bio-pic, which has the provisional title of “Rocket Man”.
• 50 Cent – He’s refusing to promote his upcoming 5th studio album, saying he’s ‘lost all faith’ in his record label Interscope. Instead, he says, he’ll be focusing on his next movie project. How to honor those commitments, dude!
• Ke$ha – She’s preparing to hit the studio to record her next album which she brags will spur a rock rebirth. Quote: “People say that rock & roll is dead, and it is my mission and my goal to resurrect it.”
• Lady Gaga – She remains the ‘Queen of Twitter’ with 17.5 million followers. Justin Bieber, Katy Perry, Kim Kardashian, and Britney Spears round out the first Twitter.com ‘Top Five’ of 2012.
• Pink Floyd – Britain’s “ Daily Express” suggests they’re set to reunite at the upcoming London Olympics. They last put their differences aside to play the charity gig “Live 8” back in 2005.

WHAT YOUR UNDIES HUE SAYS ABOUT YOU:
What color underwear did you wear on New Year’s Eve? Your choice may say something about your culture and your hopes for 2012 … at least in some South American countries, including Brazil and Argentina. If you wore yellow, that supposedly enhances your chances for abundance and reaping more money. If it was red, you’re more likely to find love in 2012. And if you were sporting white underpants, preferably new and clean, then peace was your top priority for the coming year. (If you weren’t wearing any … it really was a Happy New Year, wasn’t it?)
– CNN.com

2012 BENCHMARKS:
• 200th birth anniversary of celebrated English author Charles Dickens.
• 100th anniversary of Hollywood’s Paramount Pictures; Edgar Rice Burroughs’ “Tarzan”; the Girl Scouts; the Calgary Stampede; the sinking of the ‘Titanic’.
• 50th anniversary of both the Beach Boys and the Rolling Stones; as well as John Glenn becoming the first American to orbit Earth.
• 40th anniversary of The Eagles.
– QMI Agency

YOU SMELL ANGRY:
Ever feel like you can sense when your partner is upset? A new study has found we can actually smell a change in someone’s state-of-mind. Researchers tested the ability of participants to identify emotional cues from another person based on chemo-sensory compounds released by the body that have no noticeable odor but nonetheless transmit info about emotional states. The results show that we indeed can distinguish emotional sweat from regular perspiration in both partners and strangers. And the ability to do so improves the longer a couple has been together. (I’m sensing that you haven’t showered yet this morning …)
– ScientificAmerican.com

HOW TO GET A JOB:
If you’re looking for a new gig in the new year you should stop spending so much time on job boards and pick up the phone. Career counselor Hannah Morgan points out that, even if you have great credentials, most companies do their hiring based on referrals and suggestions from current employees … or at least those referrals get interviews. So you’re better off spending time calling friends and family, past supervisors, colleagues, vendors, and other people in your professional network and let them know you’re looking for new opportunities and are willing to talk to people they can send your way. (Old adages like ‘It’s not what you know but who you know’ become adages because … they’re true.)
– Lifehacker.com

WHAT’S IN A NAME?

Many celebs use ‘stage names’ for fear their given names will not be appealing. New research suggests that regular people might want to consider doing this as well. In several experiments, people rate easier-to-pronounce names as ‘more likable’ and evaluated political candidates more favorably if they had more pronounceable names, even in the case of unusual ethnic names. Also, an analysis of names sampled from major law firms reveals that lawyers with more pronounceable names have more senior positions, even when analyzing just the Anglo-American names. (An ‘on-air name’ is also useful for radio personalities with tough-to-pronounce names; also gives you the chance to have a private life using your real name.)
– “Boston Globe”

MYSTERIES OF HUMAN BEHAVIOR:
Scientists may have split the atom, put men on the Moon, and mapped human DNA, but they have yet to fully explain …
• Blushing – Why would evolution make us turn red when we lie? It’s a sure sign that alerts others to our deceit.
• Body Hair – The pattern of density is the direct opposite to primates, our closest animal relatives. Why? Nobody knows.
• Dreaming – The reason why we see such strange visions during dreams has never been scientifically explained.
• Generosity – Giving things away with no certain return may help us with group bonding or simply give pleasure, but is a trait seldom seen in the animal kingdom.
• Kissing – The explanation for planting lips on one another and sharing saliva is unlikely to be genetic as not all human societies do it. So why do we do it?
• Laughter – Sure, mood-improving endorphins are released when we laugh but explain this … a recent study finds that more laughter is produced by banal comments than jokes.
• Nose-Picking – The unappealing but common habit of ingesting ‘nasal detritus’ offers almost no nutritional benefit, so why do a quarter of teenagers do it, on average 4 times a day?
• Superstitions – They make no evolutionary sense. This impulse is likely motivated by the uniquely human characteristic of needing something to believe in. (But 4-leaf clovers?)
– “New Scientist Magazine”

BS AMAZING FACTS:

• US & Canadian movie theater attendance slumped by 4.2% in 2011 to 1.3 billion theater-goers. That’s the lowest since 1995.
– Jam! Showbiz
• Sales of vinyl albums rose by 40% last year despite a fall in CD sales and an overall decline in the music market.
– Telegraph.co.uk

BS CHRONOMETER 01.04.12


TODAY’S CELEBIRTHDAYS . . .
1960 [52] Michael Stipe, Decatur GA, retired rock singer-songwriter (REM-“Everybody Hurts”, “Losing My Religion”)

1965 [47] Julia Ormond, Epsom UK, movie actress (“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”, “Legends Of the Fall”)/TV actress (2010 Emmy Award-“Temple Grandin”)

1966 [46] Deana Carter, Nashville TN, country singer (“How Do I Get There”, “Strawberry Wine”)

TODAY’S BS REASONS TO PARTY . . .

• “Elizabeth Ann Seton Feast Day” (1174-1821), celebrating the first American-born saint. The legacy she left now includes 6 religious communities with more than 5,000 members, hundreds of schools, social service centers, and hospitals throughout America and around-the-world.

• “Spaghetti Day”, celebrating the Italian pasta dish seemingly everyone loves. Marco Polo brought the recipe for pasta back with him to Europe after his famous trip to China in the 13th century.

• “Trivia Day”, honoring those with ‘doctorates in uselessology’. For a switch, try playing ‘Stump the Chump’, where listeners call in questions for YOU to answer.

• “World Braille Day”, observed on the anniversary of the 1809 birth of Louis Braille of France. In 1829, he published “Method of Writing Words, Music & Plain Song by Means of Dots, for Use By the Blind”. Today, the ‘Braille method’ is used in virtually every language as the standard form of reading & writing by those with vision-loss.
NET: http://www.cnib.ca/en/living/braille/louis-braille

• “World Hypnotism Day”, with the objective of correcting the myths and misconceptions about hypnotism while promoting the  truth and benefits of the process that helps many put aside fears, and change what they believed was unchangeable. (Not to mention bark like a dog.)
NET: http://www.worldhypnotismday.com

THIS DAY IN SHOW BIZ . . .

1996 [16] 1st ‘Live Rock Concert On the Internet’ features Deborah Harry, Joan Jett, Joey Ramone, The Lunachicks

TODAY’S MUSIC EVENTS . . .

1991 [21] 1st recording artist to release 7 singles from 1 album (Janet Jackson-“Rhythm Nation 1814”)

2011 [01] British musician-songwriter Gerry Rafferty (“Baker Street”) dies at age 64 of multi-organ failure

TODAY’S FIRSTS . . .

1493 [519] Christopher Columbus returns to Europe from what he thought was India with 6 Native-Americans that he ignorantly refers to as ‘Indians’

1999 [13] New European Union currency, the ‘euro’, debutsas a financial unit in corporate and investment markets (goes into circulation January 1, 2002)

TODAY’S RECORD . . .

2010 [02] The Burj Khalifa, ‘World’s Tallest Building’ (828 m or 2,717 ft), is officially opened in Dubai UAE

COMING UP . . .

[Thurs] “Jersey Shore” 5th season debut (MTV)
[Thurs] Bean Day
[Thurs] Bird Day
[Fri] “The Devil Inside” opens in movie theaters
[Fri] Carnival Season begins
[Sat] Orthodox Christmas
This Week Is … Diet Resolution Week
This Month Is … Child-Centered Divorce Awareness Month

BULL’S BITS


BS REJECTED LIFE SAVERS FLAVORS:
100 years ago (1912), the Life Savers brand of ring-shaped hard candy was introduced in the original ‘Pep-O-Mint’ flavor. Fortunately, they decided against these tasty alternatives …
• Disembowel Mint
• Smouldering Wig
• Fruit-of-the-Loom
• #10 Steel Lock Washers
• Rashberry
• Suck This!

BS U-PICK TRIVIA:

• The average bed is home to over 6 billion of what?
a. Dust mites. [CORRECT]
b. E coli.
c. Hollywood starlets.

• The average human produces some 10,000 gallons of what in a lifetime?
a. Tears.
b. Spit. [CORRECT]
c. Methane.
– “Land O’ Useless Facts”

BS RANDOM JOKE:

A paperless office has about as much chance as a paperless bathroom.

BULL’S EYE:

If you live where Winter weather is severe enough to require snow tires, you may have noticed an awful lot of cars are sporting no wheel discs (aka hubcaps) these days. Why the bare wheels? We asked local tire retailer Harvey Hainer about it and here’s the deal: Many of today’s vehicles come equipped with odd-sized or oversized (ie: 17”) wheel rims and their owners are opting to have snow tires permanently installed on normal-sized rims as it’s actually cheaper than changing tires each year. Besides, in many cases, there aren’t even snow tires made in these odd sizes as yet. Regular-sized rims are smaller, meaning factory-supplied hubcaps simply don’t fit. So that’s why it looks like a line-up of farm vehicles on the freeway each morning. BTW, Harvey says most guys think bare wheels look ‘cool’, but not women.

BS PHONE STARTER:

Which classic movie heroine would best survive as a modern-day woman?

BS WATER COOLER QUESTION:

Question: According to dating experts, you should not do THIS on a first date.
Answer: Wear a scent.

BS DEEP THOUGHT:

No one can get ahead of you when they’re kicking you in the rear.

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