Monday, November 11, 2024 – Edition: #7832

Deja Moo!

BS SHOW BIZ BUZZ:
★ The cast of “Saturday Night Live” cheekily pledged their allegiance to President-elect Donald Trump — and claimed they all voted for him in the first cold open since Tuesday’s election. The skit began with cast members solemnly discussing how Trump’s win over Vice President Kamala Harris would be “shocking” and “horrifying” for many of the liberal-leaning show’s viewers. They then said that Trump might seek “vengeance” against political opponents, leading cast member Kenan Thompson to say, “We at SNL would like to say to Donald Trump, we have been with you all along.” That was followed by followed by each of the main cast members talking about how much they “love”, and have “always loved”, the president-elect. Dana Carvey then appeared, portraying Elon Musk. After jumping up and down, he remarked: “But seriously, I run the country now.”
-NYPost
★ In another quiet weekend for the box office, “Venom: The Last Dance” cruised to a third #1 weekend with a domestic gross of about $16 million, topping newcomers “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever” and “Heretic”. “The Last Dance” made a projected total of $115 million, continuing its trajectory of finishing with a domestic and global total lower than the past two “Venom” films, but still profitable. The Best Christmas Pageant Ever and Heretic were in a narrow race for #2, with “Pageant” coming out on top with $11.1 million.
-TheWrap
★ On Friday, Sean “Diddy” Combs’ legal team proposed a new $50 million bail package backed by his Florida mansion that would see him released from the Brooklyn jail where he has been held for 8 weeks on criminal sex trafficking charges. Combs has been denied bail 3 times since his arrest, with multiple judges citing a risk that he might tamper with witnesses. He has pleaded not guilty to charges that he used his business empire to transport women and male sex workers across state lines, to take part in recorded sexual performances called “Freak Offs.”
-Reuters
★ Don’t worry fans, “Euphoria” isn’t going anywhere. An HBO representative shut down rumors that the show’s third season has been delayed or that it has even been canceled, calling them “absolutely false”, and adding that production on Season 3 is still on schedule to begin in 2025. HBO announced in July that Euphoria would start production on Season 3 in January 2025 — filming had previously been delayed in March, when the cast was given permission to pursue other opportunities.
-TheWrap
★ Comedian Tim Dillon, who has a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it role in “Joker: Folie à Deux”, recently appeared on “The Joe Rogan Experience” and trashed Todd Phillips’ controversial “Joker” sequel as “the worst film that has ever been made.” The sequel earned negative reviews and flopped at the box office. Dillon told Rogan that during shooting, crew and actors would gather during lunch breaks, and say things to each other like: “This is going to bomb, man”, and “What is the plot? Is there a plot?”. He also said the movie is “not even hate-watchable. That’s how terrible it is.”
-Variety

TODAY’S SHOW BIZ SKED:
• “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” (ABC/Global): Jeff Bridges, William Stanford Davis, Sting
• “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” (NBC/CTV): Dwayne Johnson, Rebecca Ferguson, Riley Green & Ella Langley
• “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” (CBS/Global): Chris Evans, Javier Bardem, Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson
• “After Midnight” (CBS/Global): Milana Vayntrub, Jessica Lowe, Jason Ritter
• “Late Night With Seth Meyers” (NBC/CTV): Jim Parsons, Wendi McLendon-Covey
• “Watch What Happens Live” (Bravo): Capt. Glenn Shephard and Danni Warren
• “The Daily Show” (COM): Host Jon Stewart
• “The View” (ABC/CTV): A Day of Hot Topics
• “The Talk” (CBS): Paul Scheer
• “Live With Kelly and Mark” (ABC/CTV): Sheryl Lee Ralph, Kyle Richards
• “The Kelly Clarkson Show” (Check local listings): Jon Batiste, Steve Martin, Alison Brown and Vince Gill
• “The Drew Barrymore Show” (Check local listings): Sunny Anderson, Scott Speedman, Can Souza
• “The Jennifer Hudson Show” (Check local listings): Ciara
• “The Voice” (NBC): The Knockouts Premiere: Sting and Jennifer Hudson serve as mega mentors.
• “NCIS” (CBS): NCIS works with the CIA to discover what secrets are being kept by Capt. Butler, an aging former spy. Followed by a new “NCIS: Origins”.
• “9-1-1: Lone Star” (Fox): TK gets a surprise on his 30th birthday when his stepdad arrives; Owen’s resentment of Enzo turns physical, The 126 must perform a surgery in the field after a man is impaled in a tree.
• “NFL Football” (ESPN, TSN): Miami Dolphins @ Los Angeles Rams

BS MUSIC NOTES:
• Beyoncé – You’ve probably heard it by now, but it’s worth noting: She received 11 Grammy nods for her album “Cowboy Carter”. That brings her total nominations to 99—the most in Grammy history — and 11 more than her husband, Jay-Z. She currently has 32 Grammy wins, more than any other artist. The 2025 ceremony is Feb. 2.
• Charlie Puth – has released the new holiday single ‘December 25’. In a press release, he explained that the song was written and recorded “completely on a whim a few weeks ago” while working on his new album. He’ll tour this winter, starting in China on Nov. 21.  LINK: https://tinyurl.com/mua8jw26
• Jason Derulo & Snoop Dogg – Their ‘Wiggle’ music video has hit 1 billion views on YouTube. The song was featured on Derulo’s 2014 ‘Talk Dirty’ album.
• Pink Floyd – On “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon”, David Gilmour put to rest the rumor that the group created their album “The Dark Side of the Moon” to synch with the visuals from the 1939 movie “The Wizard of Oz”. Quote: “I only heard about it years later…There are these strange coincidences.”
• Sting – will appear as a mega mentor on “The Voice” beginning tonight. But he told People that he wasn’t sure about accepting the gig – because he’d never watched the show before. As a result, he was “anxious”, but “I know Gwen very well. I’m a big admirer of Snoop Dogg, and so I thought, I’m going to take a risk.” He calls his experience coaching the contestants “nourishing and joyful.”
• Carly Pearce and Michael Bublé – He posted a vid that shows them doing the viral #suspectchallenge, where you pretend you’re running from police while someone else humorously describes you. She says: “Suspect won’t wear headphones…because he doesn’t wanna mess up his hair”. He says: “Suspect won’t stop chewing gum, even in a really sad music video.” It ends with both running, and saying: “Suspects just recorded the greatest Christmas song ever.” LINK: https://tinyurl.com/39hvpc3t
• Cody Johnson and Carrie Underwood — took a different route when it came to their new duet ‘I’m Gonna Love You’. They actually recorded it together in studio, live. These days, with busy schedules, it’s nearly impossible to get together in a studio. And with the power of tech, artists can collaborate from opposite sides of the world. He called their method “so organic, just like singing in church.” LINK: https://tinyurl.com/4pm8hcsj
• Zach Bryan – has released 2 new songs, but they’ve been overshadowed by his ex-girlfriend Brianna LaPagalia’s claims that he verbally abused her and her friends. She also alleges he wanted her to sign a $12-milliion non-disclosure agreement to keep quiet her about their relationship. Shortly after their Oct. breakup, she said in an interview: “I’m still scared right now ’cause I’m scared of him.”

SHOOTING THE BULL

SIT BIT:
We all know by now that one of the keys to a long and healthy life is regular exercise. And that’s why the results of this study are so unnerving. Scientists found that millennials spend an average of more than 60 hours per week…sitting. And their sedentary lifestyles are quietly accelerating their biological clocks. Researchers from University of Colorado Boulder and University of California Riverside examined over 1,000 adults between ages 28-49, and found reason to challenge the common assumption among young adults that they don’t need to worry about the health impacts of their lifestyle choices until middle age. On average, these individuals reported sitting almost 9 hours daily, with some sitting up to 16 hours. They averaged 80-160 minutes of moderate physical activity weekly and less than 135 minutes of vigorous exercise. Those who sat for longer periods showed higher “bad” cholesterol readings and higher BMIs, even when meeting the recommended physical activity guidelines, increasing their risk of heart disease and other age-related health conditions far earlier than previously thought.
(I know! The only vigorous exercise I get is hurrying home so I can sit around all evening!)
(Thank goodness I bought that standing desk that experts said last week is good for nothing!)
-StudyFinds

FRIEND FINDING:
If you want to stay healthy, keep your circle of friends small. That’s the suggestion of a new study of monkeys conducted by the University of Exeter. In their research, the team, from the university’s Centre for Research in Animal Behavior, found that aging rhesus macaques are less likely to contract diseases when they are less social. Like humans, monkeys are social creatures, and also similar to us, they tend to experience social aging, meaning that social connections decrease as one gets older. While older adults have weaker immune systems, and therefore should be more prone to catching infectious diseases, the data showed that older macaques had lower infectious disease rates than younger macaques, which would possibly explain that “social aging” has evolved as a form of protection of older adults.
(Of course, it’s also possible that your friends simply don’t want to hang out with you anymore if you keep making them sick!)
(Not only does having just a few friends help you avoid getting sick, it all helps you avoid drama!)
-StudyFinds

MALL THE RIGHT REASONS:
If you are one of the seemingly dwindling number people who still regularly visit a mall, what’s your go-to reason for going there? According to a new survey, we visit malls these days for 2 reasons, and neither one is to shop. Yelp research found that people are visiting shopping malls for dining and experiences more than to buy things. Chain restaurants like the Cheesecake Factory and California Pizza Kitchen, which are often located in shopping centers, hold 17 of the 25 top categories in mall brands. Yelp said: “While traditional retail remains important, the focus has shifted towards food and entertainment, with restaurants playing a central role in attracting visitors.” Also among the top 25 brands that attract visitors are Chili’s, Starbucks and Olive Garden. Current trending indicates that people are deciding to go to malls because of a restaurant they like, and after eating, they stroll around, and sometimes look for entertainment in places such as a movie theater or bowling, or an arcade, like the ones found at Dave & Buster’s locations.
(Me? I’m there strictly for Cinnabon!)
(Of course, there a dude named ‘Santa Claus’ who’ll be attracting a few people there over the next month or so!)
-TheBoot

LEST WE FORGET . . .
Six things you probably didn’t know about poppies:
✓ There are more than 70 kinds: The one in ‘Flanders Fields’ is a “common poppy”, also known as “corn poppy” or even “Flanders poppy.” It is different from the kind that produces opioids, called the “opium poppy”.
✓ Poppy seeds lie dormant until the ground is tilled: When the soil is tilled to plant, say, corn, poppies often come up too. Presumably, the digging of graves in Flanders Fields did the same.
✓ The poppy seeds in your bagel are mostly cultivated from the opium poppy. That’s why poppy seeds are banned in several countries, including China — the worry is that they’ll be used to grow drugs.
✓ The 25-cent coin with the red poppy released by the Royal Canadian Mint in 2004 was the first circulated coin in the world to have color.
✓ About half of all legally grown poppies (for medicine) are grown in Tasmania.
✓ Poppies have been used by humans for thousands of years as traditional medicine. The remains of Neolithic humans in the Alps have been found with a pouch containing wheat, barley, and poppy. The Flanders poppy makes a compound called rhoeadine that has effects on people, but it’s very mild compared to opium.
-CTV, first published in BS in 2020

DID YOU KNOW?
Computer hackers have demanded $125,000 worth of baguettes as ransom from a French company. The hacking group, known as Hellcat, breached the systems of the French multinational corporation Schneider Electric and gave it until late last week to cough up the ransom. Hellcat posted to its dark web ransomware leak site that it had stolen “more than 40 GB of compressed data” from the energy management and digital automation company. It also wrote “To secure the deletion of this data and prevent its public release, we require a payment of $125,000 USD in Baguettes.” Last year, ABC News reported the average price of a baguette in France to be about 90 cents. No word on whether they came up with the “dough”!)
-NationalPost

BS CHRONOMETER 11.11.24

TODAY’S BS REASONS TO PARTY . . .
• “Remembrance Day”, commemorating the end of WWI at 11am on the 11th day of the 11th month in 1918. It’s observed in Canada, the UK, and Australia (and other Commonwealth countries) …and in Belgium & France as “Armistice Day”. The original tradition is to observe 2 minutes of silence at 11am, following a playing of ‘The Last Post’.
• “Veterans Day” in the USA, the annual observance originally called “Armistice Day”, renamed in 1954. The day now honors all American military veterans.
• “Martinmas”, the date of the annual “Martinmas Goose Celebration” at the town hall in Sursee, Switzerland. Blindfolded participants try to cut down a suspended goose with a single sword stroke. The warm weather that (sometimes) occurs around this time is called ‘St Martin’s Summer’ in Europe.
• “Origami Day”, celebrating the ancient Japanese art of paper-folding. (Scrunch, scrunch, scrunch, hey look what I made … it’s a flu virus!)
• “Singles Day” in China, begun by college students in the 1990s as a version of Valentine’s Day honoring those who’ve yet to wed. It has developed into a major shopping day for gifts to woo that special someone. It’s scheduled on 11-11 because it’s the date with the most ‘singles’. LINK: http://tinyurl.com/mhf7kub
• “Metal Day”, in honor of the classic 1984 metal mockumentary “This is Spinal Tap”, which, among others, gave us the classic line: “These go to 11” to describe how the band’s amps go up to “one louder” than 10. The day was first celebrated in 2011 (so yes, 11-11-11) by VH1 Classic. (So, flash the Devil horns, crank it to 11 and have . . . a good time . . . all the time!)
• “Sundae Day”. Did you know that the most expensive sundae ever sold for $60,000? California ice cream brand Three Twins offered it, featuring ice cream hand-churned with glacial ice from the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro. And the purchaser actually got to eat it on the summit. And got to fly there first-class, and stay in a 5-star hotel. Plus a souvenir T-shirt. And $10,000 went to charity. (So, the sundae itself was basically worth…$6.99, same as at Dairy Queen?)
• “World Orphans Day”, raising awareness about children who are orphaned and displaced around the world, with the goal of strengthening humanitarian aid towards them. Organizations, groups, and individuals in more than 50 countries observe the day.
AND REMEMBER . . .
[Tues] Happy Hour Day
[Tues] Chicken Soup for the Soul Day
[Wed] Sadie Hawkins Day
[Thurs] Loosen Up, Lighten Up Day
This Week is…Dear Santa Letter Week
This Month is…Gluten-Free Diet Awareness Month

TODAY’S CELEBIRTHDAYS . . .
1948 [76] Robert “Mutt” Lange, Mufulira Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia), songwriter/music producer (AC/DC; Def Leppard; Bryan Adams; Foreigner, The Cars, Nickelback, Shania Twain)/married to Shania Twain 1993-2010

1950 [74] Jim Peterik, Berwyn IL, rock guitarist-singer/songwriter (Survivor-‘Eye of the Tiger’, Ides of March-‘Vehicle’)

1960 [64] Stanley Tucci, Peekskill NY, movie actor (“The Hunger Games” films, “The Devil Wears Prada”) COMING UP . . . “The Electric State”, 2025

1962 [62] Demi (Demetria) Moore, Roswell NM, movie actress (“Striptease”, “Ghost”)/married to Ashton Kutcher 2005-12, Bruce Willis 1987-2000. COMING UP… “Landman” series

1964 [60] Calista Flockhart, Freeport IL, TV actress (“Brothers & Sisters” 2006-11, “Ally McBeal” 1997-2002)/married to Harrison Ford since 2010

1974 [50] Leonardo DiCaprio, Hollywood CA, movie actor (“Titanic”, Oscar-“The Revenant)/environmentalist (established the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation in 1998, devoted to promoting environmental awareness) COMING UP… “The Battle of Baktan Cross”, 2025

1996 [28] Tye Sheridan, Elkhart TX, movie actor (“Ready Player One”, ‘Cyclops’ in “X-Men” films)

THIS DAY IN SHOW BIZ . . .
2004 [20] M’hammed Soumayah, bodyguard for Liza Minelli, sues her for $100 million for allegedly forcing him to have sex with her — or be fired.

2021 [03] Socialite Paris Hilton marries venture capitalist Carter Reum in Bel Air CA.

TODAY’S MUSIC EVENTS . . .
1994 [30] Christie’s auction house in New York holds its first-ever auction of rock memorabilia, including The Beach Boys’ guitars, a stage outfit worn by Jimi Hendrix, and John Lennon’s famous Army fatigues.

2009 [15] 19-year-old country music sensation Taylor Swift becomes the youngest to win ‘Entertainer of the Year’ at the CMA Awards.

TODAY’S FIRST . . .
2011 [13] The clock registers 11:11 on 11-11-11 (a hot date for many couples to get married).

BULL’S BITS

BS WHACK FACTS:
✓ An espresso has less caffeine than a cup of coffee (115 to 80mg).
✓ The 3 things pregnant women dream of most during the first trimester are: 1) frogs 2) worms and 3) potted plants.
✓ The length from your wrist to your elbow is the same as the length of your foot.
✓ It takes twice as long to lose new muscle if you stop working out, than it did to gain it.
✓ At any given moment, there are 1,800 thunderstorms happening on Earth. (This amounts to 16 million each year.)
✓ Frank Sinatra was offered the lead role in “Die Hard”.
-DidYouKnow, BathroomReadersInstitute

Best of BS . . .
BS FAMOUS LAST WORDS:
• “The red wire, right? Definitely cut the red wire?”
• “I don’t think it’s Ebola…I think it’s the burrito.”
• “Do not enter? Why would it say that?”
• “What are you gonna do? Stab me?”
• “I KNEW I should have forwarded that email to 10 people…”
• “Niiice wolfie…”
• “Please clear my browser history.”
• “There’s absolutely nothing wrong with gas station sushi.”
• “Come on! What’s the worst that could happen?”
• “Woman! Make me a sandwich!”
-Twitter, first published in BS in 2019

TODAY’S SCOOP OF BS:
➠ Analysts are saying that Kamala Harris underperformed among women, African-Americans, Hispanics, and young voters. (Turns out, the only place she did very well was among pollsters!)
➠ A study shows that PG-13 movies from today are more violent than R movies from the ’80s. (…but there’s a lot less acid wash. So, take the good with the bad, people!)
➠ “Sesame Street” turned 55 yesterday. (If you’re not familiar, Sesame Street is what we used to shove in front of our kid’s faces before iPads were invented!)
➠ Neil Young turns 79 tomorrow. (Okay, I think it’s safe now to call him just: “Neil”.)
➠ A poll suggests that 6 out of 10 people pee while showering. (Not me. I’m terrible at multitasking…!)

BS WEB GOODIE:
…or maybe not:  https://tinyurl.com/mpvy52aw

BS RANDOM JOKE:
My Roomba just beat me to a Cheeto I dropped on the floor. This is how the war against the machines begins…

BS U-PICK TRIVIA:
• Which is the largest food and drink company in the world?
a) Nestlé [CORRECT]
b) Pepsi
c) Kellogg
d) Hyundai

• The name of which game is derived from the Swahili word which means ‘to build’?
a) Lego
b) Jenga [CORRECT]
c) K’Nex
d) Ikea

• Which company was the first to use Santa Claus in an ad?
a) Walmart
b) Pepsi
c) Coca Cola [CORRECT]
d) lululemon
-QuizWitz

BS PHONE STARTER:
☎ Pet peeve time! What’s yours? And keep politics out of it…

BS WATER COOLER QUESTION:
In a poll, fully 45% of people said THIS was the most stressful event of their life. What is it?
Answer:  Moving

BS DEEP THOUGHT:
In peace, sons bury their fathers. In war, fathers bury their sons.