BS SHOW BIZ BUZZ:
51-year-old actor Michael J Fox, who suffers from Parkinson’s disease, has begun shooting his new NBC-TV show “The Henrys” in NYC, playing a local newscaster who is married with 3 kids (other than the ‘newscasting’ part, the show is really based on his life) . . . JJ Abrams’ upcoming sci-fi sequel “Star Trek Into Darkness” will be debuting a couple of days earlier than scheduled on super-sized IMAX screens, opening May 15th in the specialty theaters (May 17th in conventional cinemas) . . . “Lord Of the Rings” actor Ian McKellen has been awarded an honorary degree from Northern Ireland’s University of Ulster (not coincidentally the university’s chancellor is James Nesbitt, his co-star in “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey”) . . . “X Factor” judge Demi Lovato has posted self-pics on crutches, her leg encased in a surgical boot, with the caption: “Never, ever, ever let your roommate clean your hardwood floors with Pledge” (who the heck would spray furniture polish on floors?) . . . Actress Katie Holmes is said to be ready to cautiously dip her toe back into the dating pool after 7 months of living the single life, but she’s vowing to take things slowly (unlike that last time she was recruited … er dated) . . . Speaking of which, it’s been revealed the Church Of Scientology paid close to $8 million to air that 60-second ad during the Super Bowl (whoa, Tom’s gonna need to line up another movie!) . . . And English soccer legend David Beckham has signed a 5-month contract with France’s Paris St Germain football club and is determined to learn French so he can communicate in press conferences (“Je screw up parce que je suis très old …”).
TODAY’S SHOW BIZ SKED:
• “Chelsea Lately” (E!) – Guest host Dave Grohl (Foo Fighters).
• “Conan” (TBS/CTV) – Randy Houser (“How Country Feels”).
• “Ellen DeGeneres Show” (syndicated/CTV2) – Tim McGraw (“Two Lanes of Freedom”).
• “George Stroumboulopoulos Tonight” (CBC) – k-os (“BLack on BLonde”).
• “Jimmy Kimmel Live” (ABC/CityTV) – Emeli Sande (“Our Version of Events”).
• “Last Call With Carson Daly” (NBC) – Tift Merritt (“Traveling Alone”).
• “Late Night With Jimmy Fallon” (NBC/CTV2) – Justin Bieber (“Believe Acoustic”); Local Natives (“Hummingbird”).
• “Late Show With David Letterman” (CBS/NTV/Omni1) – Elvis tribute artist Brandon Bennett.
• “Live With Kelly & Michael” (syndicated/CTV) – Katharine McPhee (“Smash”).
• “Marilyn Denis Show” (CTV/CTV2) – Megan Hilty (“Smash”).
• “Smash” (NBC/CTV2) – The 2-hour 2nd-season debut features guest stars galore including Jennifer Hudson, Liza Minnelli, Sean Hayes, and the return of Bernadette Peters as an overbearing stage mom.
• “Tonight Show With Jay Leno” (NBC/CTV2) – Lianne La Havas (“Is Your Love Big Enough?”).
• “The View” (ABC/CTV) – Jewel (“Sweet and Wild”).
BS MUSIC NOTES:
• Beyoncé – She’s announced her “Mrs Carter Show” world tour will kick off in Belgrade, Serbia on April 15th and end at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn NY on August 3rd.
NET: http://www.beyonce.com/tour-dates
• Coheed & Cambria – Today the rockers release “The Afterman: Descension”, the 2nd part of their current double-album set. “The Afterman: Ascension” was released in October.
• Fall Out Boy – After splitting 3 years ago they’ve reunited and recorded a new album, “Save Rock & Roll”, to be released May 7th. They’re playing 3 intimate club shows this week in Chicago, Los Angeles, and NYC.
• Michael Bublé – He’s accepted the gig as host of the 2013 “Juno Awards” on April 21st at the Brandt Centre in Regina SK. Nominees are being announced February 19th.
• Mumford & Sons – Tonight in Boston MA they begin an East Coast mini-tour in support of their latest album, “Babel”.
• My Morning Jacket” – Today frontman Jim James releases his first solo full-length release, “Regions Of Light And Sound Of God”, on which he plays nearly all of the musical instruments. The project has been recorded at his home studio in Louisville KY over the past 2 years.
• Passion Pit – Tonight in Norfolk VA they commence a round of 2013 headlining tour dates, with opening act Matt & Kim. The band then heads south for Lollapalooza Brazil and Lollapalooza Chile.
• Rihanna – She’s performing a special one-off performance with Bruno Mars and rock veteran Sting at Sunday’s “55th Grammy Awards” at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.
• Soulja Boy – He claims to have won $200,000 by betting on the Baltimore Ravens in Sunday’s Super Bowl.
• Tim McGraw – Today his first album since signing with Big Machine Records is out, “Two Lanes of Freedom”. In celebration, a special concert is being live-streamed on Yahoo! Music tonight from the USS Midway, a naval carrier museum in the San Diego CA harbor.
TODAY’S VIDEO RELEASES:
• “Alex Cross” ( PG-13 Crime Thriller ): Filmmaker Tyler Perry (‘Madea’ movies) shifts gears to replace Morgan Freeman as the famed detective/psychologist from James Patterson novels. In this instalment, he’s pushed to the brink of his moral and physical limits as he tangles with a ferociously skilled serial killer. Co-stars Matthew Fox, Rachel Nichols, Edward Burns.
• “Flight” ( R-Rated Drama ): Denzel Washington plays a pilot who safely lands a crippled passenger plane with its engines afire. First hailed as a hero for miraculously saving lives, he finds himself seriously compromised and threatened during the post-crash investigation. Director Robert Zemeckis’ first live-action movie since “Cast Away”.
• “Here Comes the Boom” ( PG Comedy ): A former collegiate wrestler (Kevin James) who has become an apathetic high school teacher decides to raise money by moonlighting as a mixed martial arts fighter when cutbacks threaten to cancel the music program at his failing school. Co-stars Henry Winkler,Salma Hayek.
• Also released today: “Best of Warner Bros 20 Film DVD Collections: Musicals” (Compilation); “The Beverly Hillbillies: Collector’s Edition” (Vintage TV); “BMF: The Rise & Fall Of a Hip-Hop Drug Empire” (Documentary); “Cabaret: 40th Anniversary Edition” (Reissue); “Clifford: Celebrate With Clifford” (Family Animation); “Gunsmoke: The 7th Season” (Vintage TV); “Sesame Street: Elmo’s World – All Day With Elmo” (Family); and “Southland: The Complete 2nd, 3rd, and 4th Seasons” (TV).
LOOKING FOR SOME UNDERSTANDING?
If you need someone to feel your pain, try talking to a woman in her 50s or 60s. According to a University of Michigan study of more than 75,000 adults, women in that age group are more empathetic than men of the same age as well as younger or older people. Over all, late middle-aged adults are higher in both of the aspects of empathy measured: Reacting emotionally to the experiences of others, and trying to understand how things look from the perspective of others. (Call your mom.)
– Telegraph.co.uk
FROM THE BS POLL VAULT:
A statistical look at who we are and the things we do …
• 47% of women over age 45 would prefer a good sleep to good sex.
• 35% of us smile less than we think we do.
• 25% of us can’t park even 1 car in our 2-car garages because there’s too much stuff.
• 23% of us incur late-payment fees because we lose or misplace bills.
• 15% of taxi drivers have a college degree, up from fewer than 1% in 1970.
• 21% of us don’t make our bed daily.
SPACE RACE:
• 34-year-old Coco Brown (aka Honey Love) is now in the Netherlands training to become … the first porn star in space. The star of adult film epics like “Big Booty Bomb 2” and “Sugarwalls Slop Shots”, who is based in Germany, says the opportunity to go where no porn star has gone before is being provided by SpaceXC, a private Dutch company that’s attempting to make private space travel viable by Spring of next year. (Will she be filming “Star Whores” or “Sex Trek: The Next Penetration”?)
– HuffingtonPost.com
• This week Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has announced he’s ready to be the first human sent into orbit by Iran’s fledgling space program. Iran declared last week that it had successfully launched a monkey into space and retrieved it alive, which officials hailed as a major step toward their goal of human space travel. Ahmadinejad says, “Sending living things into space is the result of the dedication of thousands of Iranian scientists.” (Can we buy him a one-way ticket?)
– Reuters.com
DIGITAL TIP JAR:
‘CentUp’ is a new web tool that helps writers, musicians, photographers, and other creative types get a few cents for their work from fans. Instead of just ‘liking’ or ‘sharing’ their material, admirers can give actual money … even if it’s only a few cents a time. And the kicker is when you use the app, half of donations go to a charity. The process is simple: Sign-up for an account on CentUp. Pick the charity you want to support. Then load up your account with $20 using a credit card or Paypal. After that, each time you hit the ‘¢’ button you’ll be ticking away at your account while contributing to others. (After all, how much is a ‘like’ worth?)
NET: http://centup.org
– Good.is
BEST SCHOOL LUNCH SNACKS OF ALL-TIME:
At least, according to one website …
✓ Pretzel Sticks
✓ Trix Yogurt
✓ Fruit By the Foot
✓ Dunkaroos
✓ Peanut Butter Oreos
✓ Reese’s Bites
✓ 3-D Doritos
✓ Kool-Aid Jammers
✓ Worms in Dirt
✓ Cosmic Brownies
(Hey, what about Rice Krispies Treats?)
– Adapted from Buzzfeed.com
WE NEED THIS HERE:
Public restrooms in China will no longer be limited to just pedestrians. As part of new civility laws to keep city streets clean, China is now building public johns …. for pets. According to Chinese website “Shenzhen Special Zone Daily”, a trial project has been launched in the city of Shenzhen. The open-air pet facilities are filled with sand and measure about 1 square meter (10 sq ft) in size. About 80 pet toilets have been installed near parks and along sidewalks so far; as many as 1,000 more are expected to follow. (What, they don’t have hydrants?)
– Sourced from TheGlobeandMail.com
BS AMAZING FACTS:
• The price of college textbooks in the US has risen faster than healthcare, house prices, and inflation.
– “The Atlantic”
• 1 in every 10 people uses the same PIN number … 1234.
– Guardian.co.uk
• 38% of companies have at least 1 person whose job is to monitor employees’ email.
– BennyDesk.com
BS CHRONOMETER 02.05.13
TODAY’S CELEBIRTHDAYS . . .
1934 [79] Don Cherry, Kingston ON, “Hockey Night in Canada” commentator (“Coach’s Corner” since 1980)/former NHL coach (‘Coach Of the Year’ with Boston Bruins 1975-76)
1964 [49] Duff McKagan, Seattle WA, rock bassist (Velvet Revolver-“Fall to Pieces”, “Slither”, ex-Guns N’ Roses-“November Rain”, “Sweet Child o’ Mine”)
1971 [42] Sara Evans, Boonville MO, country singer (“A Real Fine Place to Start”, “Suds In the Bucket”)
1985 [28] Cristiano Ronaldo (dos Santos Aveiro), Funchal, Portugal, arguably the world’s top soccer player (Real Madrid, Portugal National Team)/2008 World Player Of the Year
1987 [26] Darren Criss, San Francisco CA, TV actor (‘Blaine Anderson’ on “Glee” since 2010)
BS REASONS TO PARTY . . .
• “Constitution Day” in Mexico, honoring the country’s ‘Political Constitution of the United Mexican States’, approved on this date in 1917.
• “Weather Forecasters Day”, commemorating the 1744 birth of Boston MA physician Dr John Jeffries, one of the first to keep detailed records of weather conditions (from 1774-1816).
• “World Nutella Day”, the 7th annual celebration of the chocolate-y hazelnut spread that’s best eaten right out of the jar … by the handful.
NET: http://www.nutelladay.com
THIS DAY IN SHOW BIZ . . .
1953 [60] Disney’s “Peter Pan” premieres at NYC’s Roxy Theatre
1992 [21] For the first time, an animated feature is nominated for a ‘Best Picture’ Oscar – Disney’s “Beauty & The Beast”
TODAY’S FIRSTS . . .
1952 [61] 1st city to adopt ‘3-Color Traffic Lights’, with red, green AND yellow (NYC)
1996 [17] 1st ‘Online Banking’ (Bank of America website)
TODAY’S RECORDS . . .
1978 [35] Fred Newman makes 88 consecutive basketball free throws … blindfolded!
1981 [32] World’s ‘Largest Jell-O’ contains 9,246 gallons of watermelon-flavored mix (Brisbane, Australia)
AND REMEMBER . . .
[Wed] Digital Learning Day
[Wed] Girls & Women in Sports Day
[Thurs] “Community” season debut (NBC)
[Thurs] Ballet Day
[Thurs] Wave All Your Fingers at Your Neighbor’s Day
[Fri] “Identity Thief”; “Side Effects”; “Top Gun” (IMAX 3D) open in movie theaters
[Fri] 2013 MusiCares Person Of the Year (Los Angeles)
This Week Is … School Counselling Week
This month Is … Children’s Dental Health Month
BULL’S BITS
BS WAYS TO GET THROUGH YOUR DAILY COMMUTE:
• Put your arms down the legs of an extra pair of trousers, put sneakers on your hands, and lean the seat back as you drive.
• Occasionally wave a stuffed animal out your sunroof. Feel free to make it dance.
• Have conversations, looking periodically at the passenger seat … while driving alone.
• Wave at people often. If they wave back, offer an offended and angry look as if they gave you an obscene gesture.
• Squeegee your windshield at every stop.
• Wear snorkel gear and hang fish from the ceiling.
• Stop and pray for roadkill.
• At stoplights, run out of your car, place pylons around you, then gather them back up as the light changes and drive off.
• Have a friend ride in the back seat … gagged.
BS RANDOM JOKE:
If I were any lazier, I’d slip into a coma.
BS FIND THE FAKE:
One of the following is NOT a real invention. Unbelievably, the others are. Which are which?
a. ‘Odor Eaters with Fluoride’ for people who always put their foot in their mouth. [BS FAKE]
b. ‘The Shoe Umbrella’, tiny canopies to protect shiny new shoes from rain.
c. ‘Insect Balls’, sprayed with bug repellant then attached to the back of a hat on an antennae.
BS PHONE STARTER:
☎ How do you most often connect with friends, family, or co-workers? New research reported by PsychCentral.com finds that Gen X adults engage in about 75 face-to-face contacts or conversations monthly, compared to about 74 electronic contacts. It’s thought electronic contacts will soon eclipse in-person interactions.
BS WATER COOLER QUESTION:
Question: Only about 10% of THESE ever get used.
Answer: Frequent flier miles.
BS DEEP THOUGHT:
Some people aren’t hard of hearing, but hard of listening.
