Monday, February 13, 2006 Edition: #3217
Bull Soup For the Radio Personality’s Soul
WEEKEND TABLOID BS:
• Hit BBC-TV sitcom “The Office” was first successfully exported to the US (where NBC-TV’s version stars Steve Carell) and is now about to hit France where a French-language version will air, entitled “Le Bureau”.
– “Independent on Sunday”
• Oprah Winfrey has been overheard telling friends that Julia Roberts will use her upcoming 3-month Broadway appearance to split with hubby Danny Moder.
– PopBitch.com
• Former Creed frontman Scott Stapp and his fiancée, former ‘Miss New York’ Jaclyn Nesheiwat, were wed FRIDAY in Miami FL.
– “People”
• “The Apprentice 6″, which will move to LA for the first time, will include a cast member who is an Olympic athlete. Web surfers have the chance to vote in 1 of 12 who have presumably agreed to participate if selected. How exactly an Olympic athlete is qualified to be a cast member on “The Apprentice” isn’t exactly clear.
– “Reality Blurred”
• ABC-TV’s “World News Tonight”, already scrambling to fill the gap left by injured anchor Bob Woodruff, is facing further instability. Elizabeth Vargas, Woodruff’s co-anchor, is pregnant. She & her husband, singer-songwriter Marc Cohn, are expecting their 2nd child in late summer.
– “USA Weekend”
• Model Kate Moss may have bigger problems than getting over a cocaine habit. She’s reportedly spent 4 hours in consultation with a top brain specialist. Word is she flew into Heathrow and was taken straight to a London neurology clinic for the unknown treatment.
– “The Sun”
• Angelina Jolie has reportedly asked her former lesbian lover to be godmother to her children. She allegedly wants Jenny Shimizu, with whom she had a relationship while filming “Foxfire” in 1993, to give ‘spiritual guidance’ to her 2 adopted children, Maddox & Zahara, and her unborn baby with Brad Pitt. The Buddhist ‘guardianship’ ritual will purportedly take place later THIS YEAR.
– “Daily Star”
• One of the concessions that NBC-TV made to Disney’s ESPN in order to sign Al Michaels to do play-by-play on THIS FALL’s “Sunday Night NFL Football” was to turn over a package of early cartoons created by Walt Disney. Rights to the original silent animations featuring a character called ‘Oswald, the Lucky Rabbit’ – generally regarded as the forerunner to ‘Mickey Mouse’ – were owned by Universal Pictures.
– “Contact Music”
BS MUSIC NOTES:
• Barry Manilow – Thanks to the success of his cover compilation “The Greatest Songs of the Fifties”, he’s already looking at a sequel effort based on the ’60s. Uncle!
• Coldplay – When Chris Martin’s pants suddenly feel down at a recent Anaheim CA concert, he immediately launched into an impromptu song which he invented on-the-spot: “It should never have come to pass that you caught sight of my a– …”
• Garth Brooks – His album sales now stand at 116 million units, placing him just behind Elvis Presley as ‘Best-Selling Solo Artist in History’, according to new stats from the Recording Industry Association of America.
• Great Big Sea – THURSDAY their tour bus was involved in an accident, flipping over into a ditch 80 km east of Vancouver. Only the driver was slightly injured.
• INXS – TONIGHT they perform on “Late Show With David Letterman”.
• Jo Dee Messina – She’s in Torino, Italy to provide feature reports for Westwood One Radio Networks based on her day-to-day experiences as a fan & spectator at the Winter Olympics.
• kd lang – She’s chosen material from the first decade of her music career (1984-93) for the new compilation disc, “Reintarnation”, coming out APRIL 25th.
• Mariah Carey – Word has it she refused to leave her dressing room for a long time after the “Grammy Awards” because she didn’t win ‘Best Album’, losing out to U2 for “How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb”. After a long sulk, she holed up in her hotel room with a small group of friends.
• Sheryl Crow – TODAY she guests on the “Ellen DeGeneres Show”.
• 3 Doors Down – Frontman Brad Arnold is recovering from injuries sustained in a car accident FEBRUARY 1st. He needed 30-to-40 stitches to close a gash in his face and also had an ear sewn back on, but will reportedly be okay. He was a passenger in the car driven by his wife Terika when it spun out of control on a wet road near his home in Mississippi.
A CAMEL PIE & A PINT:
The Westbourne Pub in London’s Notting Hill district is attracting criticism from animal tights activists for serving rare game meat fresh from safari. Among the pub’s weekly specials – ‘Zebra Burger with Root Vegetables’, ‘Camel with Chick Peas’, and ‘Llama Laced with Figs’. One activist claims it’s an irresponsible publicity stunt at a time when African nations are being encouraged to preserve their wildlife.
– “GQ”
DID YOU KNOW?
You’re 10 times more likely to be bitten by a human than a rat.
THINGS MEN SAY THEY HATE, BUT SECRETLY ENJOY:
Here’s a brief listing of guilty pleasures men around-the-globe have conspired to keep under wraps: cats, cooking, “Cosmopolitan”, foreplay, fashion TV, gossip, gymnastics, massages, shoes, shopping, women’s TV shows, and women’s tennis. Admittedly, some of these are secretly savored only because they involve the opportunity to ogle. Anything you want to add to the list?
– AskMen.com
WHAT MAKES A HIT A HIT?
When people choose a song to download, they select the ones they think others like, according to a new study. Columbia University sociology professor Duncan Watts says the ‘bandwagon effect’ around a tune can help catapult it to the top of the charts. For experiments, Watts and his team recruited over 14,000 participants through a teen Website, asking them to listen to music they were unlikely to be familiar with, and download what they liked. Interestingly, when a few songs began to be downloaded, others began to try those songs too. This ‘social influence’ became one of the factors that determined which tunes became most popular.
– “Science”
YOU CAN’T MAKE THIS STUFF UP:
• A Manchester UK man decided to celebrate his golden wedding anniversary by – eating a 50-year-old chicken. The canned whole chicken was given to Les & Beryl Lailey on their wedding day in 1956. It remained in their kitchen cupboard until they marked 50 years together earlier THIS MONTH.
• A 22-year-old Austrian dachshund by the name of ‘General Edi’ has been eating 10 cigarettes a day for 17 years. He eats the tobacco and paper, but spits out the filter.
• A mother in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania went into hysterics when she found her 6-month-old son, whom she’d left on a mat while hanging laundry in the yard, suckling on – dog’s milk. Fortunately, the baby is doing well and hasn’t shown any sign of illness since being nourished by the family dog.
• A group of 6 gay penguins at the zoo in Bremerhaven, Germany is refusing to mate with females flown in from Sweden LAST YEAR. The problem seems to be that the shy females won’t make the first move. It was hoped the Swedish hotties would help save the rare Humboldt species from extinction.
• A court in Focsani, Romania has ordered a 30-year-old man to bring nicer presents to his 36-year-old girlfriend – who’s serving 4 years for theft in the slammer. The woman sued because she was tired of receiving ‘useless things‘ like photos of her man partying with friends in clubs. A judge has ordered the twosome to agree on a list of gifts which he will bring when visiting her in jail.
SHE SAID IT:
“I really like my hands. I think I have nice fingers. I don’t like my ears … they’re a little weird.”
– Beyoncé Knowles, reviewing her best and worst features. (Actually, her ‘worst feature’ is “The Pink Panther”.)
THE BULL SHEET 02.13.2K6
TODAY’S CELEBIRTHDAYS . . .
1944 [62] Jerry Springer, London UK, trash TV talk show host (“Jerry Springer Show” since 1991)
1944 [62] Stockard Channing (Susan Stockard), NYC, TV actress (‘Abby Bartlet’ on “The West Wing” 1999-2006)/movie actress (‘Betty Rizzo’ in “Grease”)
1950 [56] Peter Gabriel, Woking UK, classic rock singer (“Sledgehammer”, “Big Time”)
1971 [35] Mats Sundin, Bromma, Sweden, NHL center (Toronto Maple Leafs)
1972 [34] Todd Harrell, Escatawpa MS, rock musician (3 Doors Down-“Here Without You”, “When I’m Gone”)
1974 [32] Robbie Williams, Stoke-on-Trent UK, arguably Britain’s #1 pop star who just can’t seem to crack the North American market (“Angels”)
1997 [09] Prince Michael Jackson Jr, Beverly Hills CA, Michael Jackson’s #1 son with ex-wife-baby carrier Debbie Rowe
TODAY’S BS REASONS TO PARTY . . .
• “Get A Different Name Day”, set aside to give us opportunity to pick one we’d really like. Find listeners with really odd names and ask them what nickname they’d like to be called. Or find them a cool new name at the ‘Baby Namer’ Website.
NET: http://pregnancy.about.com/library/names/blbabynamer.htm
• “International Condom Week”. A poll by the makers of Durex condoms finds there aren’t many virgins left over the age of 25 – only 2% of those polled!
• “Read to Your Child Day”. It’s an investment in the kid’s future!
• “Tu B’Shevat”, a Jewish observance also known as the ‘New Year for Trees’.
NET: http://www.jewfaq.org/holiday8.htm
THIS DAY IN SHOW BIZ . . .
1933 [73] ‘Blondie & Dagwood Bumstead’ are married (and their kids STILL haven’t moved out!)
1994 [12] David Letterman’s ‘Olympic Reporter’, his mom Dorothy, interviews US first lady Hillary Clinton at the Olympic Games in Lillehammer, Norway
TODAY’S FIRSTS . . .
1841 [165] Kingston ON becomes the 1st capital of Canada
1947 [59] 1st major oil strike in Alberta gushes in Leduc
1969 [37] 1st ‘Human Egg Fertilized in a Test Tube’ (a womb with a view)
1988 [18] Opening of 1st “Winter Olympics” hosted by Canada (Canada fails to win a single gold medal at 15th Winter Games in Calgary)
1635 [371] 1st ‘Public School’ in America opens, the Boston Latin School (school cheer is ‘Ubi Sub Sububi’ [Always Wear Underwear])
1741 [265] 1st American magazine published, under the clever name “The American Magazine”
1920 [86] ‘National Negro Baseball League’ is organized, home to many of the greatest players of all-time, such as Satchell Paige
AND REMEMBER . . .
[Tues] Valentines Day
[Wed] “Juno Awards” nominations announced
[Wed] 2006 “Brit Awards”
[Fri] Second Honeymoon Weekend
[Sat] Thumb Appreciation Day
THIS WEEK IS . . .
Random Acts of Kindness Week / Jell-O Week / Celebration of Love Week / Heart Failure Awareness Week / International Flirting Week / Great Backyard Bird Count Week
BULL’S BITS
A GUY’S GUIDE TO SURVIVING VALENTINE’S DAY:
Listen up, men. If you want to live another day, be sure not to get tangled up in these “Valentine’s Day” gift goofs …
• Never buy anything in a size ‘large’. Always buy a size smaller than what you think she wears … even if there’s no way it’s going to fit.
• Don’t believe it when she says it’s just a ‘Hallmark holiday’ and you don’t need to buy each other gifts this year. She’s lying!
• Never say, “I’ll pick you up after I go out with the guys.”
• Unsure if chocolate will be welcome? Worried that lingerie might offend? Take the safe route and get her a gift certificate for a day at a spa.
• Never, ever suggest going to dinner on February 15th, when restaurants aren’t so crowded.
– Fun Online
BS VALENTINE QUIZ:
• What pagan fertility festival did “Valentine’s Day” replace?
a. Lupercalia. [CORRECT, when goats & dogs were sacrificed.]
b. Saturnalia.
c. Let-me-nail-ya.
• Who was the son of Venus, the Roman goddess of love?
a. Eros.
b. Cupid. [CORRECT]
c. Achilles.
• What herb was an early symbol of St Valentine’s Day?
a. Basil.
b. Bay leaves. [CORRECT]
c. Garlic.
• During the Middle Ages, young singles drew names from a bowl to see who their ‘Valentine’ would be. They’d then wear the names where?
a. On their foreheads.
b. On their sleeves. [CORRECT, the origin of the expression ‘wear your heart on your sleeve’.]
c. On their nether regions.
BS PHONE STARTER:
What’s the most romantic thing your partner does? And what’s the LEAST romantic?
BS WATER COOLER QUESTION:
Today’s Question: The average person will put their hands on THESE 14 times a day.
Answer to Give Out Next Show: Their eyes, to rub them.
BS DEEP THOUGHTS:
If music be the food of love, put it in high rotation!
LOOK WHO’S BS-ING NOW:
A big moo-out to Jeff & Jolene @ EZ Rock 99.3 [CKGB] Timmins ON; and Nuge & Roo @ sister-station Q92 [CJQQ] who are back for another full year of “BS”. And welcome aboard to this week’s samplers that include Justin Clapp @ Continuous Country Favorites [WRWD] Poughkeepsie NY; Belinda Bayiga @ Mix100 Kampala, Uganda; and Amanda Plant @ KWYW 99.1 Casper WY. Remember, we bonus you ONE MONTH FREE service for each and every new subscriber you refer!
