Tuesday, March 7, 2000 Edition: #1758
Today is “Mardi Gras”, aka “Fat Tuesday” or “Pancake Day”, the last big blow-out before Lent begins. So here’s a look at . . . .
BS WAYS YOU CAN TELL IT’S “PANCAKE DAY”:
• Price of syrup doubled yesterday.
• ‘Aunt Jemima’ has just made “Fortune” magazine’s “Top 10”.
• You shake hands and your palms stick.
• A whole lot of wacky-lookin’ Frisbees in the schoolyard.
• Only day of the year anyone uses the word “shrove”.
BS SHOW BIZ BUZZ:
Tonight Louisiana native Britney Spears acts as grand marshall of New Orleans’ biggest “Mardi Gras” parade, called the ‘Endymion’ (Mardi Gras safety tip: Look both ways before throwing up in the street) . . . Buzz is Rupert Everett was offered a blank cheque to play ‘Will’s’ gay lover on “Will & Grace” but declined because he’s tired of doing gay roles (so explain that new flick with Madonna) . . . “Alien” actress Sigourney Weaver recently took her Italian greyhound to a NYC chapel to marry another mutt, where the bride and groom actually exchanged collars (and just like human grooms, he was immediately put on a leash) . . . Word is Vancouver native Joshua Jackson, who plays ‘Pacey’ on “Dawson’s Creek” and was formerly involved with castmate Katie Holmes, is now involved with castmate Brittany Daniel (look out James Van Der Beek, you’re next!).
NEW VIDEOS OUT TODAY:
Tom Cruise plays a doctor and Nicole Kidman his art curator wife who indulge their sexual fantasies in Stanley Kubrick’s sex and psychology opus “Eyes Wide Shut” (today is coincidently the 1st anniversary of Kubrick’s death) . . . Jack Warden stars as a grandfather who nurses a beaten dog back to health with his grandson in the family drama “A Dog of Flanders”.
TOP VIDEO RENTALS:
1. “American Pie”
2. “Runaway Bride”
3. “Stir of Echoes”
CLASS ACT:
Internet retailer OurYearbook.com is in the biz of putting old high school yearbooks online and giving alumni opportunity to communicate with former classmates and to update their yearbook entries with multimedia enhancements. (Now that goofy picture of your chess club will be around for future generations to mock.)
PAIN IN THE GRASS:
New research from Harvard shows that the risk of having a heart attack is 5 times higher an hour after smoking marijuana. (Wouldn’t have anything to do with inhaling 6 bags of fat-laden corn chips, would it?)
CANADIAN CUP?
For the first time in a long time, all 6 Canadian NHL teams are in the hunt for post-season play.
NET INCOME:
This April for the first time, Statistics Canada will analyze Canadian Internet commerce in an effort to measure the nation’s ‘digital economy’. (Problem with the economy at our house is not ENOUGH ‘digits’.)
THE BULL SHEET 03.07.00
TODAY’S CELEBRITY BIRTHDAYS . . .
1942 [58] Michael Eisner, Mt Kisko NY, Walt Disney Co CEO (pay package includes $250 million plus stock options)
1945 [55] John Heard, Washington DC, TV actor (Perfect Murder Perfect Town, Detective Vin Makazian-The Sopranos)/movie actor (Home Alone, The Client)/ex-Mr Margot Kidder
1960 [40] Joe Carter, Oklahoma City OK, baseball analyst (CTV)/former MLB slugger (2 World Series-Toronto Blue Jays)
1971 [29] Alison Herst, Toronto ON, Olympic kayaker
1980 [20] Laura Prepon, Watchung NJ, TV actress (Donna Pinciotti-That 70’s Show)
BS REASONS TO PARTY . . .
Today is “Shrove Tuesday” or “Pancake Day”, kicking off “National Pancake Week”. The tradition of a “Pancake Race” in Olney, England is over 500 years old. For the past 50 years, contestants in Liberal, Kansas have competed with Olney’s racers for the best combined time.
ON THIS DAY IN THE ’90S . . .
1995 Seattle businessman John McCaw Jr assumes control of both NHL Vancouver Canucks and NBA-expansion Vancouver Grizzlies (that went well)
1996 Tracy Chapman releases hit single “Give Me One Reason”
1999 Celine Dion cleans up at 28th Juno Awards in Hamilton
TODAY’S FIRSTS . . .
1876 [124] Alexander Graham Bell patents the ‘telephone’ (3 days later, he makes 1st phone call)
1897 [103] 1st ‘corn flakes’ (Dr John Kellogg-Battle Creek MI)
1911 [89] Willis Farnsworth patents ‘coin-operated locker’ (paving the way for heist movies)
AND REMEMBER . . .
[Wed] International Women’s Day
[Fri] Employee Appreciation Day
[Sun] Juno Awards
National Professional Pet Sitters Week
International Mirth Month
BULL’S BITS . . .
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MONOPOLY:
67 years ago today (1933), unemployed engineer Charles B Darrow of Germantown PA invented the game of “Monopoly”. Game fax:
• World’s biggest-selling copyrighted game. More than 160 million copies of the game have been sold in 45 countries and printed in 25 languages. 300,000 copies are sold yearly in Canada alone.
• There are 22 properties on which houses and hotels can be built. The 3 most-landed-on properties are Illinois Avenue, GO and the B&O Railroad.
• More than 5.1 billion green houses have been “constructed” since the game’s introduction.
• World records are maintained for the longest game in a treehouse (286 hours), underground (100 hours), in a bathtub (99 hours) and upside down (36 hours). The longest recorded game took 70 days.
• The total amount of money in a game is $15,140.
• The character on the cover of the game is ‘Rich Uncle Pennybags’ while the man locked in jail is ‘Jake the Jailbird’, sent there by ‘Officer Edgar Mallory’.
(Source: “The Monopoly Book”)
THE LAST WORD: Some people say that I’m superficial, but that’s just on the surface.
