Friday, November 12, 2003        Edition: #2908
Deja Moo!

BS SHOW BIZ BUZZ:
Now you can own a piece of Hollywood, literally – starting TODAY through NOVEMBER 22nd, 5 pieces of the original 1923 ‘Hollywood’ sign (parts of the ‘H’, ‘W’ and ‘Y’) will be auctioned off on eBay, with bids expected to reach $20,000 . . . SATURDAY CBS-TV is re-broadcasting the “Dallas Reunion” special that aired LAST SUNDAY due to ‘exceptional ratings’ (does that mean good or bad?) . . . Reps for Cameron Diaz & Justin Timberlake claim the duo acted in ‘self-defense’ when they were recently ambushed by a pair of photographers but one of the snappers disagrees, accusing them of both battery and grand theft – for stealing his camera . . . Production on “The Bernie Mac Show” has been delayed another week as the star is reportedly suffering from the effects of fatigue & pneumonia (in Hollywood, that usually means ‘rehab’) but FOX-TV is still promising Mac will be back on TV in JANUARY . . . Actor George Clooney & producing partner Steven Soderbergh are developing a ‘10 Commandments’-themed mini-series for FX in which a different writer & director will put a modern-day twist on one of the biblical laws in each episode (who’s the lucky stiff that gets ‘adultery’?).

BS MUSIC NOTES:
• Alicia Keys – TONIGHT she’s on “Tonight Show With Jay Leno”.
• Earth, Wind & Fire – Founder Maurice White is currently working on a musical based on the oldies group’s music, to be called “Hott Feett”.
• Nelly– TONIGHT he’s on “Jimmy Kimmel Live”.
• Lonestar – Guitarist Michael Britt & wife Renee are expecting their 2nd child in APRIL.
• U2 – Their new album “How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb” can be streamed and pre-ordered beginning TUESDAY at the MTV and VH-1 Websites, a week before its official release. (How exciting for all the people who’ve already downloaded it … illegally.)
• Gretchen Wilson – Her bodyguard has been charged with unlawful weapons possession after cops found 4 guns and hundreds of rounds of ammo in his SUV, parked outside the “CMA Awards” show. Danny Rhoades claims he ‘forgot’ the weapons cache was still in the vehicle after a recent hunting trip.
• System Of A Down – Their next album will be a 2-disc set but the discs will be released separately – in fact, 6 months apart. “Hypnotize” will be out in early 2005, “Mesmerize” in late summer.
• Clay Aiken – He spent a few hours flipping burgers at a McDonald’s in support of “World Children’s Day”. Ironically, when he applied for a job there at age 15, he was turned down.

TODAY’S MOVIE OPENINGS:
• “After the Sunset” (PG-13 Crime Comedy): Pierce Brosnan stars as a successful thief who retires to a tropical island to enjoy the fruits of his last heist with his partner (Salma Hayek). His FBI nemesis (Woody Harrelson) shows up, however, to double-check that he’s really retired, and a suspicion-filled game of intrigue begins.
• “Seed of Chucky” (R-Rated Horror): The son of killer doll ‘Chucky’ (Brad Dourif) & his bride ‘Tiffany’ (Jennifer Tilly) unknowingly resurrects his parents and they become a trio of rampaging, psychopathic dolls in this 5th film in the “Child’s Play” series that began in 1988. Britney Spears’ people nixed having “Baby One More Time” playing during a sex scene between dolls, then demanded that the disclaimer ‘Britney Spears does not appear in this film’ be added to trailers – but word is a Britney lookalike sure does!
• “Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason” (Limited Release Romantic Comedy): The sequel featuring Renee Zellweger, Hugh Grant & Colin Firth gets a 500-screen debut in ‘select cities’ to create some buzz before opening wide NEXT FRIDAY.

AMERICAN MUSIC AWARDS:
SUNDAY the 32nd American Music Awards air live on ABC-TV from LA’s Shrine Auditorium at 8 pm ET with host Jimmy Kimmel. Some highlights ….
• Performers include Usher & Alicia Keys, Jessica Simpson, Kanye West, Josh Groban, Gwen Stefani, Lenny Kravitz, Rod Stewart, Kenny Chesney, Toby Keith and Gretchen Wilson.
• Usher leads nominations with 4, followed by OutKast and Kanye West with 3 apiece.
• Jon Bon Jovi receives the annual ‘Award of Merit’.
• A recently rediscovered 2-and-a-half minute performance tape of The Beatles from 1964 will be played.
• The rock & roll trivia game “Rockit to Number 1″ from Ottawa-based Arteeno Entertainment  will be among the goodies in the gift bag handed out to participants. This year’s gift-filled duffel bags are valued at $32,000 in honor of the show’s 32nd anniversary. The contents include items such as jewelry, expensive clothes, various primping devices and certificates, electronic equipment and even a share in a racehorse. In addition, presenters and nominees will pick up a bag of ‘organic goodies’ (organics are hot, don’t ya know), with everything from chocolate and roses to coffee and – ‘personal lubricant’.
NET: http://abc.go.com/primetime/ama/index.html

WEAPONS OF MINOR DESTRUCTION:
A new study has found that air rifles, paintball pistols and BB guns injure as many as 21,000 every year and these ‘non-powder guns’ also kill an average of 4 North Americans annually. The study comes just weeks after the accidental BB gun death of an 8-year-old South Carolina boy. The investigating coroner warns that today’s BB guns are extremely high-powered and can shoot with a velocity nearly matching a .22-caliber rifle. (BB guns don’t kill people … BBs do.)
– The journal “Pediatrics“.

EVEN WOMEN WITH NO TIME SHOP:
A study of working women aged 18-plus finds some intriguing details about their media usage and buying habits …
• 90% do shopping research online.
• 80% watch TV for an hour a day or more.
• 60% say they don’t have enough time for their personal life.
• 60% are online more than 60 minutes a day.
NOTE: See “Bull’s Bits” for a cool ‘BS Working Women Quiz’.
– “Washington Post”

CUZ WE AREN’T GETTING ENOUGH TV:
The world’s largest wireless phone company, Vodaphone, plans to soon offer TV on cell phones. Minute-long episodes based on the FOX-TV drama “24″ will be available in JANUARY  via high speed cellular service in the UK and in up to 23 other countries by late NEXT YEAR. The mini-shows are being called ‘mobisodes’ [MOE-bi-sodes] because cell phones in Britain are commonly known as ‘mobile phones’. Commercials and clips of upcoming movies are also planned. (Oh how cool! Please, can I get commercials on my toaster, too?)
– ABC News

BS AROUND-THE-WORLD:
• A member of the legislative assembly in India has pledged to give up sex for the rest of his life – to compensate for his political sins. 34-year-old Bhavin Sheth and his wife of 9 years, Pinky (huh?), have taken an oath of celibacy. But many of his constituents view the celibacy pledge as simply a ‘political stunt’. (Saying, “He’s just screwing with us!”)
•  A man from Konya, Turkey who lost his cellphone discovered its whereabouts when he dialled the number and – his dog’s stomach started ringing! The man claims that, thanks to ‘nature’s course’, he was reunited with his Nokia the next day. (No, we’re not sure how a dog passes a phone, either.)
• Speaking of which, a police dog that was let out into an empty field to answer the call of nature ended up finding a secret drug stash. Alerted by their German Shepherd, cops in Helsinki, Finland, found 2 jars containing more than a pound of amphetamines. (This is one pooch who has a leg up on crime!)

BS AMAZING FACT:
Congratulations to KZMU Moab UT, the first radio station to be powered entirely by wind-generated electricity. (Wow, they really are ‘on-air’!)

THE BULL SHEET 11.12.2K4

TODAY’S CELEBIRTHDAYS . . .
1944 [60] Al Michaels, Brooklyn NY, TV sportscaster with 3 Emmy Awards and a bad hairpiece … or is it a comb-over? (“ABC Monday Night Football” since 1986)/National Sportscasters & Sportswriters Association Hall of Fame (1998)

1945 [59] Neil Young, Toronto ON (raised Winnipeg MB), classic rocker (“Heart of Gold”, Crosby Stills Nash &Young-“Woodstock”)

1958 [46] Megan Mullally, Oklahoma City OK, TV actress (‘Karen Walker’ on “Will & Grace” since 1998)

1966 [38] David Schwimmer, Astoria NY, unemployed TV actor (“Friends” 1994-2004)

1982 [22] Anne Hathaway, Brooklyn NY, movie actress (“The Princess Diaries 1 & 2″)  UP NEXT: Co-stars with Jake Gyllenhaal & Heath Ledger in “Brokeback Mountain”, coming in 2005.

SATURDAY’S BIRTHDAYS . . .
Producer/director-actor Garry Marshall is 70; Actress Frances Conroy (“Six Feet Under”) is 51; Actor Chris Noth (“Sex & the City”) is 50; Comedian Whoopi Goldberg is 49; TV host Jimmy Kimmel is 37; Rock bassist Nikolai Fraiture (The Strokes) is 26.

SUNDAY’S BIRTHDAYS . . .
Britain’s Prince Charles is 56; US National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice is 50; Rock drummer Travis Barker (Blink 182) is 29.

BS REASONS TO PARTY . . .
TODAY is “National Pizza With The Works Except Anchovies Day”. The word ‘pizza’ comes from the Latin word ‘picea’ which the Romans used to describe the blackening of bread in an oven. The world’s first true pizzeria, Antica Pizzeria Port’Alba, opened in 1830 and is still in business today in Naples, Italy. An Italian immigrant named Gennaro Lombardi opened the first American pizzeria in 1895 in NYC. Pizza is now consumed all over the world – with or without anchovies!

TODAY is “Chicken Soup for the Soul Day”, honoring the sappy series of feel-good books whose mantra is ‘changing the world one story at a time’. (Or is it ‘making a fortune by paying starving writers squat to fill up our books’? … we can’t remember.)

SATURDAY is “World Kindness Day” and THIS WEEK is the 10th annual “World Kindness Week”, sponsored by the non-profit Random Acts of Kindness Foundation. It involves tens of thousands of volunteers and school kids taking part in local ‘kindness’ events in more than 5,000 communities and 35 countries.
NET: http://www.actsofkindness.org

SATURDAY is “Sadie Hawkins Day”, named after the “Li’l Abner” cartoon strip character ‘Sadie Hawkins, the ‘homeliest gal in the hills’. The tradition is that on this one day of the year women and girls take the initiative in inviting the man or boy of their choice out on a date, typically to a dance. So how do you turn down an unwanted invitation?
NET: http://www.lil-abner.com/sadiehawk.html (“Li’l Abner” official site)
NET: http://www.holidayinsights.com/other/sadie.htm (Holiday Insights)

TODAY’S FIRSTS . . .
1745 [259] 1st ‘Happy Hour’, in a pub in Ireland (2-for-1 drinks and all the potatoes you can eat)

1931 [73] Maple Leaf Gardens opens in Toronto as the new home of the NHL’s Maple Leafs (vacated when the Air Canada Centre opened, it’s now being developed as a Loblaws supermarket to open by 2005)

1951 [53] ‘National Ballet of Canada’, founded by Celia Franca, gives 1st performance (Toronto)

1910 [94] 1st ‘movie stunt’ (a jump into Hudson River from a burning balloon)

1973 [31] 1st ‘ATM’ installed, at a Chemical Bank in NYC (only function is to dispense cash from credit cards)

TODAY’S RECORD . . .
1955 [49] Washington State and San Jose State play a college football game in front of the lowest paid attendance on record – one person

AND REMEMBER . . .
[Sun] Operating Room Nurse Day
[Sun] Eid-Al-Fitr, celebrating end of Ramadan (Islam)
[Mon] Clean Out Your Refrigerator Day
[Mon] Pack Your Mom’s Lunch Day
[Wed] National Farm Joke Day
This Week Is . . . Key Club International Week / Chemistry Week
This Month Is . . . Peanut Butter Lover’s Month / Model Railroad Month

BULL’S BITS . . .
BUZZ INDEX:
The week’s most searched terms on the Web …
1. Eminem
2. Usher
3. Britney Spears
4. Halloween
5. Nelly
– Yahoo!

BS WORKING WOMEN QUIZ:
We give you female TV characters, you give us their occupation …
• ‘Gabrielle Solis’ (played by Eva Longoria) on “Desperate Housewives”. [Ex-Model]
• ‘Alexx Woods’ (Khandi Alexander) on “CSI: Miami”.  [Chief Medical Examiner]
• ‘Grace Adler’ (Debra Messing) on “Will & Grace”. [Interior Decorator]
• ‘Sarah MacKenzie’ (Catherine Bell) on “JAG”. [Lawyer]
• Twila (Tanner) on “Survivor: Vanuatu”. [Highway Repair Worker]
• ‘Sara Sidle’ (Jorja Fox) on “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation”. [Crime Scene Investigator]
• ‘Lilly Rush’ (Kathryn Morris) on “Cold Case”. [Homicide Detective]
• ‘Carrie Heffernan’ (Leah Remini) on “The King of Queens”. [Legal Secretary]
• ‘Samantha Spade’ (Poppy Montgomery) on “Without a Trace”. [FBI Agent]
• ‘Hailey Nichol’ (Amanda Righetti) on “The OC”. [Stripper]

TRUTH OR BS?
True or false? Krispy Kreme doughnuts are kosher. [TRUE! Each of the chain’s kitchens is inspected by a rabbi and certified every 2 months.]

BS WATER COOLER QUESTION:
Today’s Question: THIS is the big reason couples are living together rather than getting married these days, according to a new study.
Answer to Give Out Next Show: They’re broke.

BS DEEP THOUGHT:
A verbal agreement isn’t worth the paper it’s written on.