November 22, 2013 INTL

Friday, November 22, 2013                   Edition: #5108


Can You Believe This Sheet?

BS SHOW BIZ BUZZ:
★ Famous psychic Sylvia Browne has passed away in San Jose CA, the cause of death unknown. Throughout her career, Browne appeared on a plethora of TV programs, including “Larry King Live”, “The Montel Williams Show” and “Unsolved Mysteries”. She specialized in psychic detective work and often offered her services in high profile missing persons cases. She was 77. (Shouldn’t she have seen this coming?)
– WENN.com
★ They’re already proud parents to a 1-year-old daughter. Now actor Chris Hemsworth is about to get a lot busier as the “Thor” star’s wife, “Fast & Furious 6″ actress Elsa Pataky, is pregnant with their 2nd child. The couple welcomed daughter India in May 2012. Hemsworth (30) and Pataky (37) started dating in early 2010 and wed in December that year. (We wonder, does he wear his ‘Thor’ get-up in the bedroom?)
– E News!
★ In the heart of the BBC’s newly refurbished Broadcasting House in London is a large open-plan ‘creativity area’, set up to encourage employees to get together and develop ideas. But it’s become known to staff as ‘Meerkat Alley’, as those using it are always jumping up to check who is in earshot before they start discussing ideas. (Also know as slagging colleagues.)
– PopBitch.com
★ And “Modern Family” actor Jesse Tyler Ferguson (‘Mitchell Pritchett’) reveals he was put on vocal rest after attempting to … stifle a sneeze. That forced him to rearrange his shooting schedule and, to add insult to injury, the visit from an Emergency Medical Technician cost him $2,000. It seems attempting to stop the sneeze ruptured a vocal cord, causing it to hemorrhage. (Holding in a sneeze? Dude, you’re lucky you didn’t blow out an eardrum!)
– Canoe.ca

WEEKEND SHOW BIZ SKED:
• “American Music Awards” (ABC) – Sunday Pitbull hosts the annual multi-genre music honors from LA’s Nokia Theater. The red carpet arrivals will be live-streamed for the first time on Yahoo! Red Carpet Live. Macklemore & Ryan Lewis lead nominations with 6, followed by Taylor Swift with 5. Performers include Florida Georgia Line, Imagine Dragons, Jennifer Lopez, Justin Timberlake, Katy Perry, Kendrick Lamar, Ke$ha, Lady Gaga, Luke Bryan, Miley Cyrus, and One Direction. Rihanna is honored with the first-ever ‘AMA Icon Award’.
NET: http://www.theamas.com
• “Arsenio Hall” (syndicated) – Tonight Toni Braxton w/Babyface (“Love, Marriage, Divorce”).
• “Ellen DeGeneres Show” (syndicated) – Today Fifth Harmony (“Better Together”).
• “Jimmy Kimmel Live” (ABC) – Tonight Charlie Wilson (“Love, Charlie”). Rerun.
• “Last Call With Carson Daly” (NBC) – Tonight Foals (“Holy Fire”). Rerun.
• “Late Night With Jimmy Fallon” (NBC) – Tonight Lenny Kravitz (“Are You Gonna Go My Way 20th Anniversary Deluxe Edition”).
• “Saturday Night Live” (NBC) – Host Josh Hutcherson (“The Hunger Games: Catching Fire”); musical guest Haim (“Days Are Gone”).
• “Tavis Smiley” (PBS) – Tonight Dave Stewart (“Lucky Numbers”).
• “Tonight Show With Jay Leno” (NBC) – Tonight Cassadee Pope (“Frame by Frame”).
• “The View” (ABC) – Today Pitbull (“American Music Awards”).
• “The Voice” (NBC) – Saturday the artists face elimination. Rerun.
• “Where Were You?: The Day JFK Died” (NBC) – Tonight retired news anchor Tom Brokaw commemorates the 50th anniversary of president JFK’s assassination through archival footage and stories of those who lived through it. (“Where Were You?” Is this a show for seniors?)

BS MUSIC NOTES:
• Beck – Sunday in Los Angeles he’ll play the tunes from his sheet-music-only “Song Reader” project with the aid of guests that include Childish Gambino, Jack Black, and Jarvis Cocker. Beck has announced he will release a new album, “Morning Phase”, in February.
• George Jones – Tonight what was to be the final concert of the late country icon’s career goes on as scheduled at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena, with tributes and performances by Alan Jackson, Dierks Bentley, Garth Brooks, Jamey Johnson, Josh Turner, Kenny Rogers, Kid Rock, Montgomery Gentry, the Oak Ridge Boys and many more. The show has long been a sell-out.
• Jennifer Lopez – Mattel has introduced ‘Jennifer Lopez Barbies’ in 2 versions: ‘Red Carpet’ and ‘World Tour’. Each is decked out in apparel Lopez once wore herself (Murad gown, sequined jumpsuit). The collector edition Barbies cost $36.
• John Lennon – Today a pair of detention sheets which reveal the schoolboy hijinks Lennon got into as a 15-year-old go on sale by auctioneer TracksAuction.com. Online bidding continues through December 5th. Among the admonishments listed by Liverpool’s Quarry Bank High School for Boys: ‘Fighting in class’, ‘nuisance’, ‘shoving’, and ‘just no interest whatsoever’.
• Justin Bieber – Saturday & Sunday in Auckland NZ he performs the first 2 shows of a tour Down Under. He then moves over to Australia for a series of 8 shows in 5 cities.
• Megadeth – Tonight they kick of their “Super Collider” headlining tour in Nashville TN. The trek runs through December 19th in Reno NV before heading south to NZ and Australia.
• Miley Cyrus – With her, there always seems to be something new. The latest? Bleached platinum-blond eyebrows. At this point, is anyone surprised?
• One Direction – To promote Monday’s release of their new album, “Midnight Memories”, they’ve declared Saturday “1D Day”. They’ll host a 7-hour livestream featuring celeb guests, special content created just for the show, and lots of fan interaction.
NET: http://www.1dday.com

TODAY’S MOVIE OPENINGS:
• “Delivery Man” ( PG-13 Comedy ): In Canadian director Ken Scott’s remake of his comedy “Starbuck”, Vince Vaughn plays an affable underachiever who finds out he’s fathered 533 children through anonymous donations to a fertility clinic 20 years earlier. After they file a lawsuit to learn his identity he must decide whether to come forward. Co-stars Cobie Smulders.
NET: http://www.dreamworksstudios.com/films/delivery-man
• “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire” ( PG-13 Action Adventure ): In the series’s 2nd film, ‘Katniss’ and ‘Peeta’ become targets of the ’Capitol’ after their victory in the 74th Hunger Games sparks a rebellion. Stars Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Philip Seymour Hoffman. Filmed in Hawaii, masquerading as the ‘Quarter Quell’.
NET: http://www.thehungergamesexplorer.com/us/epk/catching-fire/
• Opening in limited release: “Gori Tere Pyaar Mein” (Bollywood Romantic Comedy); “Is the Man Who Is Tall Happy?” (Animated Documentary); and “Philomena” (Drama).

NUTS TO YOU:
Help yourself to some nuts this holiday season! Regular nut-eaters were less likely to die of cancer or heart disease – in fact 20% less likely to die of any cause – during a 30-year Harvard study. The benefits were seen from pistachios, almonds, walnuts and other tree nuts, as well as peanuts (technically a legume). Researchers are unsure why nuts boost health but they seem to affect mortality in direct proportion to consumption. And there’s more good news: Contrary to popular thinking, the study finds that eating nuts does not make you get fat. (It’s the beer you quaff with them.)
– Associated Press

LADIES WHO LAGER:
Breweries have traditionally thought of women as adornments in ads rather than actual customers; now the tables have turned. A feminist movement is bubbling up in the beer biz, as more women are buying – and brewing – craft beers. It’s a grassroots movement that’s fermenting in the booming microbrew world. Women now make up 37% of those downing craft beers. Female hop-heads seem to prefer adventurous beers with big flavors, such as chocolate and coffee. One Long Island NY watering hole is cashing in on the trend by hosting a weekly ‘Girls Pint Out’. (‘Beer guts’ are just a myth … aren’t they?)
– “New York Daily News”

CHAMPS MACHINE:
Need a glass of bubbly to take the edge off while holiday shopping? You’ll find what you need at London’s upscale Selfridges department store, which has just installed a Moet & Chandon champagne vending machine. The blinged-out mini bottles of bubbly are wrapped in gold and bedecked with 350 deco-inspired Swarovski mini-crystals. Each 200 ml bottle costs $29. Some see the marketing movie as the champagne house’s attempt at making bubbly more accessible to the general public. (Also known as the riff-raff.)
– Agence France-Presse

DID YOU KNOW?
Lee Harvey Oswald still has an overdue library book from the Dallas Public Library.
– “Dallas Morning News”

BS CHRONOMETER 11.22.13


TODAY’S CELEBIRTHDAYS . . .
1940 [73] Terry Gilliam, Minneapolis MN, comic/writer (Monty Python)/animator (“Monty Python’s Flying Circus”)/director (“Monty Python & The Holy Grail”)

1950 [63] Steven Van Zandt, Winthrop MA, rock guitarist (Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band)/TV actor (“Lilyhammer” since 2012, “The Sopranos” 1999-2007)

1958 [55] Jamie Lee Curtis, LA CA, movie actress (“Freaky Friday”, “True Lies”)/daughter of actors Janet Leigh & Tony Curtis

1970 [43] Chris Fryar, Birmingham AL, country music drummer (Zac Brown Band-w/Alan Jackson-“As She’s Walking Away”, “Chicken Fried”)

1978 [35] Karen O (Orzolek), South Korea, indie rock singer (Yeah Yeah Yeahs-“Heads Will Roll”, “Zero”)

1984 [29] Scarlett Johannson, NYC, movie star (“Iron Man” films, “Vicky Cristina Barcelona”)

SATURDAY –
TV host Robin Roberts (“Good Morning America”) is 53; TV personality Nicole ‘Snooki’ Polizzi (ex-“Jersey Shore”) is 26; Pop singer Miley Cyrus (“Wrecking Ball”) is 21.

SUNDAY –
Alt-rock guitarist Chad Taylor (Live) is 43; Movie-TV actor Colin Hanks (“W”) is 36; Movie actress Katherine Heigl (“Knocked Up”) is 35; TV actress Sarah Hyland (“Modern Family”) is 23.

BS REASONS TO PARTY . . .
• “Cashew Day”, celebrating the yummy nut that sounds like a sneeze. (ca-SHEEEWW!)
• “Go For a Ride on Something Day”, a day to take a breather and go for a relaxing ride on a bus, horse, motorcycle, boat … whatever! (Or go to a used car dealer and get taken for a ride.)
• “International Aura Awareness Day”. Hey, what’s that hovering around your head?
• “St Cecilia’s Day”, honoring the patron saint of music and musicians.
NET: http://tinyurl.com/aev3dsq
• “Start Your Own Country Day”, a good excuse to ask listeners what 3 things would be different if they ran their own nation. (How about no taxes, no taxes, and no taxes?)
• “Stop The Violence Day”, observed annually on the anniversary of the assassination of US President John F Kennedy (1963).

SATURDAY –
• “Family Volunteer Day”, the 22nd annual celebrating the power of families who volunteer together, an activity that helps communities, strengthens family communication, and provides opportunities for family members to be role models.
• “National Adoption Day”, an annual event in which courts and communities across America come together to finalize thousands of adoptions of children from foster care. Rachel Crow (“The X Factor”, Nickelodeon) is the 2013 spokesperson.
NET: http://www.nationaladoptionday.org

SUNDAY –
• “Banquet for Monkeys”, the 23rd annual feast on the last Sunday of November for over 500 simians in Lop Buri, Thailand. The 80-table banquet of fruit barbecues is prepared by 5-star hotel chefs as payback to the critters for bringing the town tourism. (Not to mention aroma.)
NET: http://www.thecircumference.org/experiences/lopburi
• “Cannabis Cup” in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, where sparking up a stick is legal. The 26th annual competition through Thursday seeks the world’s top weed while participants attend seminars and ‘sample’ product.
NET: http://cannabiscup.com
• “Celebrate Your Unique Talent Day”, saluting the individual abilities each of us has. OK, so what is it that you can do that no one else can?

THIS DAY IN SHOW BIZ . . .
1995 [18] Disney’s “Toy Story” opens in movie theaters, the 1st computer-animated movie

2002 [11] “Die Another Day”, starring Pierce Brosnan, is released 40 years after the first ‘Bond’ film, “Dr No”

TODAY’S MUSIC EVENTS . . .
1934 [79] 1st performance of the holiday classic “Santa Claus Is Comin’ to Town” (Eddie Cantor radio show)

2003 [10] ZZ Top plays the final show at the Compaq Center (formerly The Summit) in Houston TX before it is closed down (and renovated into TV evangelist Joel Osteen’s mega-church)

TODAY’S FIRST . . .
2005 [08] Angela Merkel becomes the 1st female Chancellor of Germany (remains one of the world’s most powerful women)

TODAY’S RECORD . . .
1986 [27] At age 20, Mike Tyson becomes ‘Youngest World Heavyweight Boxing Champion’, after a 2nd-round  knockout of Trevor Berbick in Las Vegas

AND REMEMBER . . .
[Mon] International Day For the Elimination of Violence Against Women Day
[Mon] Shopping Reminder Day
[Tues] Cake Day
[Thurs] Thanksgiving Day (USA)
[Thurs] Chanukah (Judaism)
This Week Is … Game & Puzzle Week
This Month … Pomegranate Month

BULL’S BITS


Today Microsoft launches its latest game console Xbox One in 13 countries, including Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, the UK, and USA. Remaining markets will follow in early 2014. BBC News notes that the release sets up the first new console war since 2006, the last time both Microsoft and Sony PlayStation had fresh gaming machines on the market.
LEAST POPULAR BS VIDEOGAMES:
• Bloodless Coup!
• National Geographic’s Dung Beetle Simulator
• Amish Kombat
• Sermon Master 3D
• EA’s Homework Assault!
• Super Baldwin Brothers

FILM NOIR TITLE OR REGRETTABLE LOWER-BACK TATTOO?
• “Blonde Crazy” [Film Noir]
• “Dead End” [Film Noir]
• “Never Lie” [Tattoo]
• “The Beast Of the City” [Film Noir]
• “Two Seconds” [Film Noir]
• “Cat Scratch” [Tattoo]
• “Blind Alley” [Film Noir]
• “Bordertown” [Film Noir]
• “I’m Going to Kill You Ray Romano” [Tattoo]
• “You Only Live Once” [Both]
– Thanks to Amanda Marbais

BS PHONE STARTER:
☎ Do you use all your vacation days? (According to a new Expedia survey, the French lead the world in vacationing, using up all of their 30 allotted days. As of 2013, US workers earn 14 vacation days on average but claim only 10; out of 18 possible vacation days, Japanese workers average just 7; and South Koreans use just 7 of every 10 days of leave on average.)

BS RANDOM JOKE:
I wrote a few children’s books … not on purpose.

BS WATER COOLER QUESTION:
Question: By the end of 2013, THIS product’s sales will have become a $9 billion-a-year industry.
Answer: Man purses (aka murses, manly satchels, men’s bags, etc).

BS DEEP THOUGHT:
The dictionary is the only place where success comes before work.

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