Friday, June 9, 2017 – Edition: #5993

Sweet Sheet!

BS SHOW BIZ BUZZ:
★ Tom Cruise almost killed himself taking selfies on the set of  ‘The Mummy’. The 53-year-old actor terrified his co-stars and the crew when he hung out of a helicopter – which was 2,000ft above the Namibian desert – and took a candid photo of himself during a break from filming. Co-star Courtney B. Vance says that in spite of the fact that cast and crew were told not to take pictures, as soon as he was up in the helicoptor, Cruise said,  ‘Wanna take some pictures?’  (Dude does his own stunts….on and off-camera!)
-ContactMusic
★ Seth Rogen has fired back in true Seth Rogen style at Sony’s plan to make sanitized versions of 24 films available for viewing.  He tweeted “”Holy smokes. Please don’t do this to our movies. Thanks.” except of course Rogen didn’t use the word ‘smokes’.  The initiative allows viewers to screen the broadcast or airline versions of 24 films, (Grown Ups, Talladega Nights, Spider Man!!) free from certain mature content.  Obviously Seth Rogen is not a fan of the idea.  (If they tried to clean up some of HIS movies, there’d be nothing left!)
-Jam.Canoe
★ Kevin Hart unwittingly caused a multitude of disruptions on the set of the new ‘Jumanji’ remake because his co-star Dwayne Johnson would constantly prank the comedian with creepy crawlies.  The film was shot in the Hawaiian jungle, which naturally has lots of bugs, which Hart has an aversion to.  Johnson was well aware of his pal’s fear and decided to have a little fun on set – all at Hart’s expense.   According to Hart, The Rock would choose the moments after the director called ‘Action!’ to subtly put small objects in Hart’s ear. Hart would immediately ruin the shot, screaming that there were centipedes in his ear.  (It’s a lot better if you can picture Kevin Hart’s reaction!)
-WENN
★ It’s not uncommon for HBO’s Game of Thrones to break a record of some kind. But the upcoming seventh season is claiming a very different kind of record behind the scenes: The most people ever set on fire by an entertainment production. Showrunner David Benioff reports that in one battle scene they managed to set more stuntmen on fire than have ever been simultaneously set on fire before.  He says that the show’s Stunt Coordinator “really wanted to get in the Guinness Book of World Records for this”.
-EW
★ Dame Angela Lansbury is set to be honoured with the Rose d’Or Lifetime Achievement Award at this year’s ceremony.  The 91-year-old actress will pick up the prestigious gong at the 56th Rose d’Or award ceremony, which will take place in Berlin, Germany, on September 19.
-ContactMusic
★  Robert Downey Jr. says ”early screenings” of  ‘Spider-Man: Homecoming’ have turned out very well. Downey Jr. reprises his iconic role as Tony Stark and his superhero alter-ego Iron Man in Marvel’s second reboot of the Spider-Man film franchise – which stars Tom Holland as the web-slinger.  Apparently those who have been lucky enough to see the production before it’s scheduled release next month have given it ”10 out of 10”  (But really, what’s he gonna say?)
-ContactMusic

WEEKEND SHOW BIZ SKED:
• “Jimmy Kimmel Live” (ABC/Global): Mandy Moore, Jerrod Carmichael, Bebe Rexha featuring Lil Wayne
• “The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon” (NBC/CTV): Kate McKinnon, John Cena, Mac DeMarco
• “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” (CBS/Global): Jim Gaffigan, Anna Chlumsky, Louie Anderson
• “Late Night with Seth Meyers” (NBC/CTV): Jeffrey Tambor, Debra Messing, Michael Barbaro, Mark Guiliana (R)
• “Last Call with Carson Daly” (NBC/CTV): Abigail Spencer, Partybaby, Asia Kate Dillon ( R )
• “The View” (ABC/CTV): Niecy Nash
• “The Talk” (CBS): Jake Johnson, Lawrence Saint-Victor
• “Live with Kelly and Ryan” (ABC/CTV): Will Arnett, Kate Mara
• “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” (NBC/CTV): Liev Schreiber, Brett Eldredge
• “Wendy Williams” (FOX):Nicole Lapin ( R )
• “Harry” (NBC/CTV): Jeremy Renner, Chloe Hilliard ( R )
• “The Real” (FOX):Vivica A. Fox, guest co-host Joseline Hernandez ( R )
• “2017 NBA Finals” (ABC, TSN): LeBron James leads the Cavaliers when they host the Warriors in Game 4 of the NBA Finals.
• “America’s Got Talent” (NBC): “Auditions 2” Contestants of all ages audition for the chance to win the $1 million prize.
SATURDAY…
• “World of Dance” (NBC): The Qualifiers 2. Elite dance acts showcase their talents to move forward in the competition.
SUNDAY…
• “The 71st Annual Tony Awards” (CBS): The annual ceremony honors excellence on Broadway at Radio City Music Hall in New York. Hosted by Kevin Spacey
• “2017 Stanley Cup Final” (CBC, SN, NBC): Nashville hosts Pittsburgh in Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final. (if necessary)

BS MUSIC NOTES:
• U2 – have added more North and South American stops to their “Joshua Tree” tour.  The new dates run Sept 3-Oct 19 and wind up in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
• Guns N’ Roses –are now in an elite club of music artists who have had an album surpass 400 weeks on the Billboard 200 chart, after their “Greatest Hits” album passed the milestone recently.  Others in the club? Pink Floyd, Metallica, Journey, Bob Marley…and Johnny Mathis?
• John Mayer – says he would love to collaborate with Jay-Z.  Mayer notes he has had a “record concept in my mind for years”.  (A ‘Blueprint’?)
• Cher – a musical based on her life story is set to debut on Broadway next year.
• Cyndi Lauper – will write the music for a stage version of the Melanie Griffith movie ‘Working Girl’.  She won a Tony in 2013 for writing the music for ‘Kinky Boots’. (See ‘This Day in Showbiz’)
• Olivia Newton-John – is ”confident” her cancer battle will be a ”positive success story”. She is already feeling better after undergoing a short course of photon radiation therapy and other natural treatments. Her husband, John Easterling, says that her pain has gone from “eight to about a two.”
• Brad Paisley – showed up for commencement at Barrington High School in Illinois.  The seniors there won Paisley’s video contest to describe what they will miss most about high school but didn’t find out that they won until he showed up to speak.
• Trace Adkins – will be among the performers at the July 4 Independence Day celebrations at the U.S. Capitol.  Also on the bill: Beach Boys with John Stamos, The Four Tops and The Blues Brothers.
• Florida Georgia Line – Add Tyler Hubbard and his wife Hayley to the list of country couples expecting a baby in 2017! The Florida Georgia Line member and his wife have shared the news that their family is growing.

TODAY’S MOVIE OPENINGS:
• “The Mummy” (PG-13, Action/Drama): Tom Cruise headlines a spectacular, all-new cinematic version of the legend of an ancient princess who is awakened from her crypt beneath the desert. With her come terrors that defy human comprehension. (Sofia Boutella, Annabelle Wallis, Russell Crowe)
• “It Comes at Night” (R-Rated, Drama/Horror): Secure within a desolate home as an unnatural threat terrorizes the world, a man has established a tenuous domestic order with his wife and son, but this will soon be put to test when a desperate young family arrives seeking refuge. (Joel Edgerton, Christopher Abbott, Carmen Ejogo, Riley Keough)
• “Megan Leavey” (PG-13, Drama): Based on the true life story of a young Marine corporal whose unique discipline and bond with her military combat dog saved many lives during their deployment in Iraq. (Kate Mara, Ramon Rodriguez, Tom Felton, Bradley Whitford)
• “The Hero” (R-Rated, Drama): An ailing movie star comes to terms with his past and mortality. (Sam Elliott, Laura Prepon, Krysten Ritter, Nick Offerman)
• “My Cousin Rachel” (PG-13, Drama/Romance): A young Englishman plots revenge against his mysterious, beautiful cousin, believing that she murdered his guardian. But his feelings become complicated as he finds himself falling under the beguiling spell of her charms. (Rachel Weisz, Sam Claflin, Iain Glen, Holliday Grainger)
• “Beatriz at Dinner” (PG-13, Comedy): A holistic medicine practitioner attends a wealthy client’s dinner party after her car breaks down. (Salma Hayek, John Lithgow, Connie Britton, Jay Duplass)

ONE FEWER REASON TO LOOK FORWARD TO THE WEEKEND:
Doctors are always telling us to get at least seven hours of sleep per night.  But if you are like many of us, you skimp a bit during the week, and hope that you can ‘catch up’ with a nice lazy, sleepy, no-alarm type of morning (or two!) on the weekend.  Now the good doctor is pouring cold water on that idea as well.  Seems that extra sleep could be slowly killing you.  Or at least negatively affecting your health.  A new study says those extra hours of sleep on the weekend, known as ‘social jetlag’ can not only lead to bad moods and fatigue, but for each hour of ‘catch-up’ sleep that you get, it could increase your risk of heart disease by 11%.  Chalk up another point for a regular sleep schedule.
(How about instead of on the weekend, I grab a few extra hours on, say, a Wednesday?)
-Newsweek

REMEMBER WALKIN’ IN THE SAND:
I’ve just discovered that people who know these kinds of things are telling us that the world is running out of sand.  A United Nations Environment Report has concluded that the mining of sand and gravel “greatly exceeds natural renewal rates”.  Why? Well, a lot has to do with rapid development in Asia, but up until now, I had no idea of all the things that we need sand for.  Check this out: A typical house requires more than a hundred tons of sand, gravel, and crushed stone, and more than two hundred tons if you include its share of the street that runs in front of it. A mile-long section of a single lane of highway requires thirty-eight thousand tons. In China, they are in the midst of building 165,000 miles of roads.  Windowpanes, wineglasses, and cell-phone screens are made from melted sand. Sand is used for filtration in water-treatment facilities, septic systems, and swimming pools. Oil and gas drillers use huge quantities of sand. Sand is needed for the manufacture of most iron and metal products, like cars and stuff.   Get the picture?  And get this.  Desert sand cannot be used for construction.  Or pretty much anything else.  Is sand really in danger of becoming scarce?  Already in India, useful sand is so rare that markets for it are dominated by “sand mafias”—criminal enterprises that sell material taken illegally from rivers and other sources, sometimes killing to safeguard their sand.
(Sand can be used for all those important things…PLUS beach volleyball!)
(I will not miss that stuff in my socks and shorts, though!)
-New Yorker

BS CHRONOMETER 06.09.17

TODAY’S CELEBIRTHDAYS . . .
1956 [61] Patricia Cornwell, Miami FL, one of the world’s top-selling crime novelists (latest book in her series about forensic pathologist ‘Dr Kay Scarpetta’ is “Chaos”)
1961 [56] Michael J Fox, Edmonton AB, TV actor (“Family Ties” 1982-89, “Spin City” 1996-2000)/movie actor (“Back To the Future” films)/founder of Michael J Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research.  What does the ‘J’ stand for?  Andrew, of course.
1963 [54] Johnny Depp, Owensboro KY, movie star (“Alice in Wonderland” films, “Pirates Of the Caribbean” movies)
1978 [39] Matthew Bellamy, Cambridge UK, rock guitarist-keyboardist-vocalist (Muse- “Uprising”, “Supermassive Black Hole”)/actress Kate Hudson’s baby daddy
1978 [39] Michaela Conlin, Allentown PA, TV actress (‘Angela Montenegro’ on “Bones” 2005-16)/movie actress (“The Lincoln Lawyer”)
1981 [36] Natalie Portman (Hershlag), Jerusalem, Israel, movie actress (Oscar-“Black Swan”, “Thor” films)
SATURDAY:
1921 [96] Prince Philip Mountbatten (Philippos Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderbert-Glucksburn, Prince of Greece), Corfu, Greece, Duke of Edinburgh & Mr Queen Elizabeth II since 1947
1965 [52] Elizabeth Hurley, Basingstoke UK, TV actress (‘Queen Helena’ on “The Royals” since 2015, “Gossip Girl” 2011-12)/movie actress (“Austin Powers” films)/model (Estée Lauder)
1992 [25] Kate Upton, St Joseph MI, fashion model (“Sports Illustrated”, 100th anniversary “Vanity Fair” cover)/sometime movie actress (“The Other Woman”, “Tower Heist”)
2001 [16] Sasha (Natasha) Obama, Chicago IL, younger daughter of former US president Barack Obama & first lady Michelle Obama
SUNDAY –
Movie/TV actor Hugh Laurie (“House”) is 58; TV personality Mehmet Oz (“Dr Oz Show”) is 57; TV actor Peter Dinklage (“Game of Thrones”) is 48; TV/movie actor Joshua Jackson (“The Affair”) is 39; Rock singer Josh Ramsay (Marianas Trench) is 32; Movie actor Shia LaBeouf (“Transformers”) is 31.

TODAY’S BS REASONS TO PARTY . . .
• “Donald Duck Day”, marking the cartoon character’s debut on this day 82 years ago (1934) as a bit player in the Walt Disney cartoon “The Little Wise Hen”.
• “Strawberry Rhubarb Pie Day”, honoring the popular pie that mixes the sweet and the tart. Rhubarb is a very old plant. Earliest records date back to 2700 BC in China where it was cultivated for medicinal purposes.
• “Marriage Day”, celebrate National Marriage Day by renewing your vows, getting married, or attending a marriage ceremony (or, you know, installing a ball and chain…)
• “Earl Day”, dedicated to those with a particular qualification and a genuine capacity for achievement.  On National Earl Day we honor those legends named Earl.
SATURDAY —
• “Ball Point Pen Day”, commemorating its 1943 invention by Lasalo Biro of Budapest, Hungary. During WW2, Britain’s Royal Air Force commissioned him to develop an instrument that could write under low atmospheric pressure at high altitude. (Ummm….pencil, anyone?)
• “Iced Tea Day”, celebrating the favorite Summer cooler of millions. Tea is the world’s 2nd-most-popular beverage … after water.
• “Herb and Spice Day”, an essential part of flavorful cooking as well as fun and easy to grow.
SUNDAY —
• “Corn On the Cob Day”, celebrating the only ears most of us will ever eat.
• “King Kamehameha Day”, honoring Hawaii’s first king, who unified the Hawaiian Islands in 1810. Not very significant to the rest of us … but it sure is fun saying ‘Kah-MAY-uh-MAY-uh’!
• “Children’s Day”, an annual celebration of wee folk, annually on the 2nd Sunday in June.

THIS DAY IN SHOW BIZ . . .
2006 [11] Animated movie blockbuster “Cars” debuts in theaters (“Cars 3″ opens June 16)

2013 [04] “Kinky Boots”, with music by Cyndi Lauper & book by Harvey Fierstein, wins ‘Best Musical’ and several other Tony Awards

TODAY’S MUSIC EVENT . . .
2007 [10] Veteran pop star George Michael becomes the first music artist to perform at the new Wembley Stadium in London, playing the first of 2 shows at the venue during his “25 Live Tour”

TODAY’S FIRSTS . . .
2003 [14] Hillary Clinton’s 576-page memoir “Living History” hits bookstores, for which she receives a $2.85 million advance (576 pages? That’s all she wrote?)
2007 [10] Top-seeded Justine Henin defeats Ana Ivanovic, becoming the 1st female to win 3 French Open championships in-a-row since Monica Seles in 1992

BULL’S BITS

BS AMAZING FACT:
There’s a 99.9999% chance that any given person is your 16th cousin.
-Amazing Facts

BS REASONS TO BEWARE OF CAMPING WITH YOUR KIDS:
A few things to consider before that family tenting trip …
• All of your kids’ socks will become wet within 5 minutes of your arrival.
• Starting a fire on purpose is really hard. Starting one by accident is very easy. It’s kind of like making a baby.
• Your morning bathroom ritual will go from being your favorite part of the day to an hour of panic.
• Your kids will each find a special rock and then promptly lose it, causing you to spend the entire weekend searching for that rock.
• Ever try to get a 3-year-old to sit down? Now try it in a canoe.
• You’ll say, “I think that’s poison ivy” at least 40 times and be right twice.
• You’ll spend approximately 75% of each night explaining what that noise was.
• Two words: Tent farts.
– Excerpted from JasonGood.net, first published in BS in 2014.

BS RANDOM JOKE:
When my boss asked me who is the stupid one, me or him? I told him everyone knows he doesn’t hire stupid people.

BS PHONE STARTER:
☎What’s something you thought as a child that you realize today is ridiculous?

BS WATER COOLER QUESTION:
Question: Doing this is the most common #1 on people’s bucket lists, narrowly beating skydiving.
Answer: Driving a racecar

BS DEEP THOUGHT:
A lot of problems in the world would disappear if we talked to each other instead of talking about each other.