BS SHOW BIZ BUZZ:
★ Actress Cate Blanchett has revealed she has dated women ‘”many times”. The Australian star romances Rooney Mara in the new film “Carol”, premiering Sunday at the Cannes Film Festival. The movie is based on author Patricia Highsmith’s controversial 1952 gay romance novel “The Price of Salt”. While Oscar-winner Blanchett (“Blue Jasmine”) has opened up about her sexuality, she refuses to elaborate on details of past romances. She’s been married to filmmaker Andrew Upton since 1997 and they have 4 children together.
– Variety.com
★ Celebrity chef Sandra Lee is set to undergo a double mastectomy this week after being diagnosed with breast cancer. The 48-year-old, known for her show “Semi-Homemade Cooking with Sandra Lee” on the Food Network, discovered she had the disease in March after undergoing a routine mammogram and is now preparing for surgery in order to avoid undergoing a course of radiotherapy. Quote: “I plan to spread the word about early detection.” Lee has been New York Governor Andrew Cuomo’s partner for 10 years.
– “People Magazine”
★ And “The Muppets” are headed back to primetime TV. It’s a bit of a departure from “The Muppet Show” of yore (1976–1981), as the gang gets back together to work on a project … trying to put out their very own television show. It looks like we’ll be learning a little more about the interior lives of our old friends. For instance, ‘Fozzie’ seems to be dating a human woman and other Muppets are involved in more adult situations than were depicted in the original TV series. The new version of “The Muppets” is coming to ABC-TV in the Fall. They’ll tell you all about it here …
NET: http://tinyurl.com/q5v2bdm
– TheFrisky.com

TODAY’S SHOW BIZ SKED:
• “Conan” (TBS/CTV) – Sleater-Kinney (“No Cities to Love”). Rerun.
• “Jimmy Kimmel Live” (ABC/CityTV) – José González (“Vestiges & Claws”); Ludacris (“Ludaversal”).
• “Last Call With Carson Daly” (NBC) – Young Rising Sons (“The High EP”).
• “Late Late Show With James Corden” (CBS/Omni 1) – One Direction (“Four”).
• “Late Show With David Letterman” (CBS/Omni1) – Tom Waits (“Bad as Me”).
• “Meredith Vieira Show” (syndicated) – Darius Rucker (“Southern Style”).
• “Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” (NBC/CTV2) – Snoop Dogg (“Bush”).
• “The Vampire Diaries” (CW/CTV2) – 6th season finalé. The series has been renewed for a 7th season, but ‘Elena’ won’t in it as lead actress Nina Dobrev has announced she’s leaving.
• “Wayward Pines” (FOX/CityTV) – Debut of a 10-episode psychological thriller from M Night Shyamalan (“The Sixth Sense”) about a Secret Service man (Matt Dillon) on a mission to find 2 missing federal agents in a deceivingly pleasant town. Co-stars Terrence Howard (“Empire”).

BS MUSIC NOTES:
• Darius Rucker – Tonight his “Southern Style Tour” kicks off in Holmdel NJ. The Summer-long trek in support of his 4th solo album runs through August 30th in Virginia Beach VA.
• Dolly Parton – Her life story is coming to TV as NBC airs the made-for-TV movie “Coat of Many Colors”, named after her song and based on her upbringing. No air-date yet announced.
• Ed Sheeran – He’s compiled 5 early, self-released EPs as a digital collection simply titled “5”. The album is now available digitally via Sheeran’s Gingerbread Man Records imprint. He is currently on a sold out North American tour.
• Juicy J – His 25-date “The Hustle Continues Tour” gets underway tonight in Houston TX. The major-market trek runs through June 28th in Tampa FL. His new album, “THC: The Hustle Continues”, is due out June 12th.
• Little Big Town – They’ve added a Fall leg to their “Pain Killer Tour”, kicking off in early October in Minnesota and ending in November in Washington. They’ve already hit more than 50 markets on this headlining tour.
• Radiohead – They appear to be putting the finishing touches on their 9th studio album as longtime producer Nigel Godrich has tweeted a photo of lead guitarist Johnny Greenwood at the mixing board. They began recording the follow-up to 2011’s “The King of Limbs” last year.
• U2 – Despite Bono’s recent cycling accident the band is launching their stripped-down “Innocence + Experience Tour” in Vancouver BC tonight. A few facts …
– They’re performing in indoor arenas for the first time in a decade.
– They’re visiting 19 cities, with at least a pair of shows at each stop.
– The tour concludes, 44 performances later, in Paris, France on November 15th.
– They’re playing 2 sets at each show, separated by an intermission.
– The sound system is being mounted to arena ceilings, with an oval of 12 speaker arrays that sends the music downward evenly everywhere in the venue.
• The Who – Tonight guitarist Pete Townshend and Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder are teaming up for a benefit concert in Chicago IL called “Celebrating The Who”. The show raises funds for Townshend and Roger Daltrey’s charity organization Teen Cancer America.

COMING ATTRACTIONS:
A BS selection of movies in the making …
• “The Basis Of Sex” – 33-year-old actress Natalie Portman is reportedly in talks to play real-life US Supreme Court Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, while Marielle Heller is in negotiations to direct the project. The biopic focuses on Ginsburg’s extraordinary career and tireless campaigning for women’s rights. No start date for shooting has yet been announced.
• “The Fugitive” –A new version of the action-thriller about a wrongfully accused doctor pursuing a devious 3-limbed murderer while being pursued himself by a tough-as-nails lawman is in the works. One of the biggest TV hits of the 1960s, it became one of the biggest movie hits of the 1990s. No word yet if it will somehow involve original stars Harrison Ford & Tommy Lee Jones.
• “Independence Day 2” – Actress Sela Ward has been cast to play the US president in the upcoming sequel, due in 2016. The Emmy-winner (“Sisters”) follows in the footsteps of Bill Pullman, who portrayed the prez in the 1996 original. The project reunites Ward with director Roland Emmerich, who last worked with her on 2004’s “The Day After Tomorrow”.
• “Kingsman 2” – A follow-up to Colin Firth’s 2014 spy comedy “Kingsman: The Secret Service” is in development. The surprise blockbuster, based on the comic book “The Secret Service”, quietly raked in $400 million+ in global box office. It’s unclear if Firth will reprise his role as agent ‘Harry Hart’. Co-stars Samuel L Jackson and Michael Caine were killed off in the first film.
• “A Willing Patriot” – Even though he said he’d never do another action pic, actor Liam Neeson (“Taken”) is in final negotiations to star as a CIA agent who tries to outsmart and capture a terrorist. This comes after 62-year-old Neeson recently revealed he tries not to shoot a fight scene more than 3 times because he’s worried about being ‘exhausted’. The film is due in 2016.

SELFIE EXAMINATION:
You can now study ‘selfie theory’ at USC. The University of Southern California is offering a class that’s titled “Writing and Critical Reasoning: Identity and Diversity”, but it’s actually about selfies. Associate professor Mark Marino says that his freshman #SelfieClass is actually about how people construct “an image of their identity – their gender, their ethnicity, their sexuality, their socioeconomic status” through selfies. Oh, we thought they were just being narcissistic. (More legit than the college courses offered on “The Simpsons”. Or maybe not.)
– LAWeekly.com

WEIRD REASONS GUYS MAKE DUMB DECISIONS:
• Digital Distraction – Media multitasking has consistently been shown to torpedo your ability to focus and make smart decisions. Just knowing there’s an unread email in your inbox hurts your ability to concentrate in the same way a 10-point IQ drop would, according to one UK study.
• Eating – You make better choices when you’re hungry, finds a recent study in “PLOS One”. Your brain often gets in the way of good judgment because you tend to overanalyze. You’re better off trusting your gut, which is your default decision-making mode when you’re hungry.
• Education – Studies show the more education you have, the more likely you are to take risky, speculative gambles when it comes to finances. Why? Your fancy book-learnin’ makes you overconfident in your own abilities … even when you don’t know what the hell you’re doing.
• Hot Guys – A recent Australian study finds that when the average heterosexual man sees another guy who is extremely good-looking, he feels less attractive. This, in turn, motivates him to increase his appeal to women in other ways … and make dumb decisions.
• Finances – The stress and mental strain of financial struggles can drop your IQ by up to 13%, roughly the same loss you’d experience from missing a night of sleep, shows a recent Harvard University study. That means guys who are broke are more likely to make bad decisions.
• Gaming – Playing a videogame that rewards risky or reckless behavior encourages you to take similar gambles in the real world. One study from Germany has found that guys who play games that involve crazy, balls-to-the-wall driving also do dumb stuff on the road in real life.
• Job – The more power and authority you have, the more likely you are to make questionable decisions, finds a USC study. As your career star rises, you feel increasingly confident in your abilities. As a result, you spend less time considering others’ opinions or doubting yourself.
– Condensed from MensHealth.com

DRINKABLE SUNSCREEN:
How can leathery-skinned animals stay out in the sun all day and not get sunburns? They secrete their own sunscreen, that’s how. Ohio State University researchers have found that several types of birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish have the ability to produce and secrete a compound called ‘gadusol’, which protects the skin from UV-B rays. Trout, alligators, sea turtles and clucking hens can all hang out on the beach and not worry about whether they left the lotion in the car. Unfortunately, humans and mammals don’t have the ability to make this compound so researchers are currently working on cost-effective ways to synthesize and grow it in the lab. It’s thought that could lead to the creation of an ingestible sunscreen. (“Aiden, before you go outside drink your Coppertone!”)
– UPI.com

THE EXACT NUMBER OF EMAILS YOU SHOULD CHECK DAILY:
Science has finally determined how many times you should be checking your inbox per day. The magic number is … 5. In a recent University of British Columbia study, that’s the level of activity that reduced stress levels for study participants in professions ranging from student to physician. What makes 5 so perfect? As it turns out, that’s how often people checked their email when they promised to check only 3 times. Reducing daily checks to that number seemed to reverse the benefits and began to again increase stress, so 5 has proven a happy medium. But researchers say the number is not important; the real key is to decide what activity is truly necessary and what is simply compulsive. (How long could you last with zero?)
– Condensed from CBC.ca

MOST DEPRESSING PLACENAMES IN NORTH AMERICA:
✗ Boring, Maryland
✗ Cape Disappointment, Washington
✗ Dead Horse Bay, New York
✗ Death Valley, California
✗ Dismal, North Carolina
✗ Forget, Saskatchewan
✗ Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump, Alberta
✗ Little Hope, Texas
✗ Lower Economy, Nova Scotia
✗ Misery Bay, Michigan
✗ Wawa, Ontario
(Additions, anyone?)
– Adapted from MentalFloss.com

DID YOU KNOW?
The ‘religious goods’ business in Italy is estimated to be worth about $5.2 billion, more than the country earns from exporting wine.
– BBC News

BS CHRONOMETER 05.14.15

TODAY’S CELEBIRTHDAYS . . .
1944 [71] George Lucas, Modesto CA, really rich retired filmmaker (“Star Wars” series, “Indiana Jones” series)

1969 [46] Danny Wood, Boston MA, pop singer (New Kids On the Block-“Step by Step”, “Hangin’ Tough”)

1969 [46] Cate Blanchett, Melbourne, Australia, movie actress (“The Hobbit” films, 2004 Oscar-“The Aviator”)

1971 [44] Sofia Coppola, NYC, movie director (“The Bling Ring”, “Lost in Translation”)  COMING UP: “Little Mermaid” (2016).

1979 [36] Dan Auerbach, Akron OH, indie rock singer-guitarist (The Black Keys-“Gold On the Ceiling”, “Lonely Boy”)

1981 [34] Mike Retondo, Villa Park IL, pop-rock guitarist-vocalist (Plain White T’s-“1-2-3-4 “, “Hey There Delilah”)

1984 [31] Mark Zuckerberg, White Plains NY, founder & CEO of Facebook/one-time ‘World’s Youngest Self-Made Billionaire’/net worth $35.1 billion (March 2015)

BS REASONS TO PARTY . . .
• “Dance Like a Chicken Day”. Everybody do the chicken dance now: “Dadda dadda dadda dah, dadda dadda dadda dah, dah dah dah dah, dum dum dum dum …”

• “Motorcycle Riders Day”, an annual celebration of the joys of biking. (Harley-Davidson SFX: http://tinyurl.com/cfoufvx)

THIS DAY IN SHOW BIZ . . .
1998 [17] 76.3 million TV viewers tune in for the series finalé of “Seinfeld” (NBC)

2006 [09] NBC-TV airs series finalé of long-running, award-winning White House drama “The West Wing”

TODAY’S MUSIC EVENT . . .
2011 [04] Country singer Blake Shelton (34) weds country singer Miranda Lambert (27) at Don Strange Ranch in Boerne, Texas before 550 guests, including Cee Lo Green, Charles Kelley (Lady Antebellum), Dierks Bentley, Kelly Clarkson, Martina McBride, Reba McEntire, and Trace Adkins (it’s their ‘Fruit or Flowers Anniversary’)

TODAY’S FIRST . . .
2014 [01] “New York Times” fires its 1st female executive editor Jill Abramson after 3 years on-the-job and replaces her with Dean Baquet, the paper’s 1st African-American executive editor

COMING UP . . .
[Fri] “Mad Max: Fury Road”; “Pitch Perfect 2” open in movie theaters
[Fri] Hangout Music Festival begins (Gulf Shores AL)
[Fri] Rock On the Range festival begins (Columbus OH)
[Fri] Endangered Species Day
[Fri] Bike to Work Day
[Sat] Preakness Stakes (Baltimore MD)
[Sun] “2015 Billboard Music Awards” (ABC)
This Week Is … Dog Bite Prevention Week
This Month Is … Tourette Syndrome Awareness Month

BULL’S BITS

MORE BS QUESTIONS PLAGUING HUMANITY:
• If people from Poland are called ‘Poles’, why aren’t people from Holland called ‘Holes’?
• Do 10 millipedes equal 1 centipede?
• Why is it most nudists are people you don’t want to see naked?
• How come as soon as you’re doing what you want to be doing, you want to be doing something else?
• If you keep you eye on the ball, your shoulder to the wheel, your nose to the grindstone, your feet on the ground, and your head on your shoulders … how the hell are you supposed too get anything done?

BS PHONE STARTER:
☎ What makes you want to kiss someone? (A “Glamour” poll finds the qualities that most often lead to a kiss are: Good looks, a winning smile, a positive attitude, and nice lips & teeth.)

BS RANDOM JOKE:
There are 3 ways to get things done: Do it yourself, hire someone, or forbid your kids to do it.

BS WATER COOLER QUESTION:
Question: 1-in-10 couples say they often do THIS separately.
Answer: Grocery shopping.

BS DEEP THOUGHT:
The quickest way to have a family reunion is to win the lottery.