Monday, September 8, 2008 Edition: #3852
Bully For You!
WEEKEND BLOG BS:
• 34-year-old actress Eva Mendes (“Ghost Rider”) has finally ‘fessed up about what caused her to check into rehab earlier THIS YEAR … ‘fame guilt’. Yup, she claims she was really uncomfortable with having success and enjoying it. So now, she deals with it by giving things away. (Not to cause you more therapy or anything but … you’re not that famous.)
– Eonline.com
• Sometime-actress Lindsay Lohan has turned down a reported $700,000 offer to pose nude for “Playboy” magazine. It was rumored she was considering a topless spread in the upcoming 55th anniversary issue, but now her rep says she will ‘definitely not’ be appearing in it. (BS translation: How about an even million?)
– PageSix.com
• Blake Lively & Leighton Meester from “Gossip Girl” (CW) will guest-star in an upcoming episode of “30 Rock” (NBC) in a flashback sequence about the 20-year high school reunion of main character ‘Liz Lemon’, played by Tina Fey. (The list of people who WON’T be on “30 Rock” will soon be really short.)
– EW.com
• THIS WEEK a new episode of “ER” (NBC) entitled “Heal Thyself” is shooting, starring former series star Anthony Edwards. But didn’t his character ‘Dr Mark Greene’ die of a brain back in 2002? True. That’s why he’ll be appearing in multiple flashback scenes to give insight into the past of Angela Bassett’s ‘Cate Banfield‘ character. It’s the show’s final season after a 15-year run. (Most of us quit watching about a decade back.)
– ”TV Guide”
• It seems 48-year-old “Californication” star David Duchovny’s ‘sex addiction’ went a little beyond pixilated online pictures and naughty chat rooms. A new report claims he has a history of indiscretions and only went into rehab after actress-wife Téa Leoni finally caught him and gave him an ultimatum. (Get help now or I’ll make you a soprano.)
– “National Enquirer”
• 19-year-old Daniel Radcliffe, the “Harry Potter” actor-turned-Broadway star (“Equus”), tells “Details” magazine that he celebrated reaching Britain’s age-of-consent, 16, in the ‘customary manner’ with an older girlfriend. The age difference wasn’t ‘ridiculous’, he says, but ‘would freak some people out’. (How old is Helen Mirren again?)
– Dose.ca
• Veteran actor Tommy Lee Jones is suing the makers of “No Country For Old Men” for $10 million, claiming he was promised significant box-office bonuses but so far has received nada. In the legal filing, he alleges Paramount Pictures paid him a reduced up-front fee in return for a cut of the action and now that the film is an Oscar-winning hit, he’s owed some payback. (We’d like to sue them for the movie’s dumb ending.)
– TMZ.com
• In case you missed it YESTERDAY, Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Chad Johnson (#85) has managed to get his nickname, ‘Ocho Cinco’ (‘85′ in Spanish), on the back of his uniform. Strict NFL rules only allow for real surnames, so what did Chad do? He got his name legally changed to ‘Chad Ocho Cinco’. So the NFL now has no choice but to let him wear it. (Que payaso!)
– Neatorama.com
TODAY’S SHOW BIZ SKED:
• “Canadian Idol” (CTV) – Mitch MacDonald (Port Hood NS) & Theo Tams (Lethbridge AB) go head-to-head in the season’s final performances. WEDNESDAY the winner’s announced in a 2-hour finalé featuring Mariah Carey, Hedley, and John Legend.
• “CCMA Awards” (CBC) – Terri Clark hosts the annual “Canadian Country Music Awards” from Winnipeg. Newcomer Jessie Farrell leads nominations with 7. Doc Walker, Emerson Drive, George Canyon, Jessie Farrell, and Paul Brandt are up for the “Fans’ Choice Award”. Performers include Dierks Bentley, Doc Walker, Emerson Drive, and Johnny Reid.
• “CMA Music Festival: Country’s Night to Rock” (ABC) – A 2-hour special highlighting performances by country stars at JUNE’s annual fan gathering in Nashville, hosted by Taylor Swift, Kellie Pickler, and Julianne Hough.
• “Jimmy Kimmel Live” (ABC/CityTV) – Country band Lady Antebellum (“Love Don’t Live Here”) performs.
• “Last Call With Carson Daly” (NBC) – Katy Perry (“I Kissed a Girl”) is the guest.
• “Monday Night Football“ (ESPN) – For the 20th season Hank Williams Jr sings the show opening theme “All My Rowdy Friends Are Here on Monday Night” prior to kickoff of the “MNF” season-opening doubleheader (Minnesota/Green Bay, Denver/Oakland).
• OJ Simpson – His long-awaited trial on armed robbery & kidnapping charges is scheduled to begin in Las Vegas. The judge has issued a stern warning to lawyers that there should be ‘absolutely, positively no reason’ to postpone trial again.
BS MUSIC NOTES:
• Keith Urban – He’s finally provided details about his health problem by admitting he’s suffering from ‘a bulging L-5′. More specifically, that would be an inflamed disc affecting the 5th lumbar vertebra. He says his condition has improved greatly since the back pain first appeared.
• Jessica Simpson – She was reportedly so nervous at a live performance of her new country music album “Do You Know” in Nashville, she warned guests that she might throw up. (Well, she’d fit right in then.)
• Jimi Hendrix – A Fender Stratocaster he once set afire onstage has sold for a song at that “More Than Rock ’n Roll” memorabilia auction in London … just $497,500. It was thought it would fetch closer to a million. The Beatles’ original management contract with Brian Epstein evaluated at a half-mill made almost that much: $426,000.
• Nickelback – They’re currently recording the follow-up to 2005’s “All The Right Reasons” with famed rock producer Mutt Lange (Shania Twain’s estranged hubby) in their homebase of Vancouver. The yet-to-be-titled album is due NOVEMBER 18.
• Tim McGraw – He’s postponed his sort-of-annual “SwampStock” festival in Louisiana due to damage from Hurricane Gustav. The charity softball game/concert event scheduled for this SATURDAY will now be held in 2009.
DTV TRANSITION BEGINS:
TODAY Wilmington NC becomes the first city in North America to turn off its analogue TV stations and switch to digital. The FCC is using the city as a test market to determine what problems, if any, will be experienced in FEBRUARY, when all US broadcasters will be required the make the transition. After the switch from to digital broadcasts is complete, analogue TVs will be incapable of receiving over-the-air broadcasts without the addition of a set-top converter box. Much of Europe has already made the move. Canada expects to be totally digital by 2011. (Say g’bye to your ‘rabbit ears’.)
– CBC News
WHAT A KICK!
The next “World Cup For the Homeless” is taking place in Melbourne, Australia in DECEMBER. Nope, it’s no joke: soccer teams made up of homeless players from 56 different nations will go at it to see who’ll reign supreme. LAST YEAR Kyrgyzstan got the glory but this time they’ll face stiff competition from strong teams in Brazil, France, Japan, and the US. 77% of players have experienced a ‘significant life change’ after participating in the event. The 2008 event will mark the first time a companion “Women’s Homeless World Cup” is staged, as some 80 women from 8 countries compete. (Sure is tough controlling a soccer ball while pushing your shopping cart.)
NET: http://homelessworldcup.org
– AFP
RACKING UP THE RUBLES:
According to the 2008 list of world billionaires, fully 74 of them call Moscow their home, and their average net worth is about $5.9 billion. In 2002, the list featured substantially fewer billionaires in the Russian capital – only 5. Many of them owe their wealth to oil, although the country’s wealthiest person, Oleg Deripaska, made his fortune in aluminum. (Foiled again!)
– “Forbes Magazine”
AND THE RICH GET RICHER:
Even as world financial markets broke down in the past year, personal wealth worldwide grew 5% to $109.5 trillion, according to a new global wealth report from Boston Consulting Group. It was the 6th consecutive year of expanding wealth. The fastest growth was among households in developing regions, such as China and the Gulf States, and among families who were already rich. The wealth is also increasingly concentrated among the very richest. The top 0.001% of monied households now hold 20% of the world’s total wealth. (Right, Oprah?)
– Reuters
SOCIAL STUDIES:
• When it comes to reading the subtleties of emotion, women are the stronger sex, according to recent research. While men almost always correctly recognize happiness in a female face, they pick up on distress just 70% of the time. A woman’s face has to be really sad for a guy to notice. (Does this explain the yelling?)
– “Psychology Today”
• According to a recent study published by the American Medical Association, older men are more likely to suffer heart attacks on their birthdays. (If you have a really rich uncle with a heart condition, this might be a good year to throw him a surprise party!)
– “New York Times”
• The mere threat of being awakened can disrupt sleep. The fitful sleep that afflicts emergency workers, medical students, and doctors is known as ‘On-Call Syndrome’. These occupations lose an average of 1-and-a-half hours sleep when on-call, even if their services aren’t needed. (Around here, we suffer from ‘Getting Up Way Too Freaking Early Syndrome’.)
– “American Health”
FOR THE RECORD:
Chen Wangsong, a farmer in China’s Guangdong province has set a new record by flying his so-called ‘king of kites’ for more than an hour. The dragon-shaped kite is an amazing 3,000-meters-long, or 1.87-miles. The maker of more than 10,000 kites intends to extend his masterpiece to a length of 4,000 meters in the coming months in an attempt to break his own “Guinness World Record”.
– “China Daily”
DID YOU KNOW?
• We humans share about 40% of our DNA sequence with … lettuce. Author Mary Roach uses that fact to underscore the point that sharing 98% of our DNA with chimpanzees isn’t quite as meaningful as it might seem.
– “National Geographic”
• The nation with the tallest people is the Netherlands, where the average man is 6 ft-1 and the average woman about 5 ft-7. The United States, meanwhile, has the dubious distinction of having the shortest population in the industrialized world.
– ABC News
BS CHRONOMETER 09.08.08
TODAY’S CELEBIRTHDAYS . . .
1971 [37] David Arquette, Winchester VA, movie actor (“Hamlet 2“, “Scream 1-3”)/Mr Courteney Cox since 1999/brother of actresses Patricia & Rosanna Arquette UP NEXT: “Scream 4“ (2009).
1979 [29] Pink (Alecia Moore), Doylestown PA, pop singer (“So What”, “Get The Party Started”)
TODAY’S BS REASONS TO PARTY . . .
• “Boss-Employee Exchange Day”, observed annually on the 2nd MONDAY of SEPTEMBER to help bosses and employees appreciate each other by exchanging points of view. (“Boss, from my point of view I deserve a raise.” “Well, that’s interesting because the view from over here says you’re fired.”)
• “The Horn Dance”, one of Britain’s longest-standing rural traditions on the MONDAY between SEPTEMBER 6th and 12th. In the village of Abbots Bromley, participants perform a ritualistic dance to traditional music along a 10-mile route, taking in farms and pubs around the village. Some don antlers to become ‘deer-men’, and there’s also a costumed ‘fool’, ‘hobby horse’, ‘bowman’, and a ‘Maid Marion’. The tradition goes back to 1226, and now attracts visitors from around-the-world. (Uh, somebody ought to check the local water.)
• “International Literacy Day”, established by the United Nations to promote reading & writing programs worldwide. (For more information, see their pamphlet.)
• “National Day” for the tiny principality of Andorra that’s sandwiched between Spain and France. Andorra has the greatest life expectancy of any country: 82.7 years for a baby born THIS YEAR, compared with 81.2 in Canada and 78.1 in the United States.
THIS DAY IN SHOW BIZ . . .
1966 [42] “Star Trek” premieres on NBC-TV (cancelled in April, 1969 after just 79 episodes) FACTOID: It spawns perhaps the most successful TV/movie franchise in history with 4 spin-off TV shows (“The Next Generation”, “ Deep Space 9″, “Voyager”, “Enterprise”), an animated series, and 9 motion pictures (soon to be 10).
1986 [22] Syndicated “Oprah Winfrey Show” debuts (she made circa $300 million in 2007)
2006 [02] Country singer Toby Keith makes his bigscreen debut, producing and starring in the movie “Broken Bridges”
TODAY’S FIRSTS . . .
1921 [87] 15-year-old Margaret Gorman from Washington DC (30-25-32) is crowned 1st ‘Miss America’ in 1st-ever bathing beauty contest (2-day pageant)
1977 [31] Toronto’s Cindy Nicholas becomes 1st to swim English Channel non-stop … both ways!
TODAY’S RECORDS . . .
1965 [43] Kansas City Athletics’ Bert Campaneris plays all 9 positions in a single Major League Baseball game
1998 [10] St Louis slugger Mark McGwire breaks Roger Maris’ MLB single-season home run record set in 1961, by hitting his 62nd of the season (apparently thanks to steroids)
AND REMEMBER . . .
[Tues] “Aunts Day”
[Tues] “Expectant Father’s Day”
[Tues] “Teddy Bear Day”
[Wed] “Canadian Idol” season finalé
[Wed] 2008 CMA Awards nominees announced
[Thurs] 9/11 Remembrance Day
[Thurs] I Want to Start My Own Business Day
[Fri] Video Game Day
THIS WEEK IS . . .
Assisted Living Week / Invisible Chronic Illness Awareness / Fall Hat Week / Housekeepers Week / Line Dance Week / Suicide Prevention Week
BULL’S BITS
BEST OF BS:
A highlight bit culled from 15 years of “Bull Sheet” back issues …
WORLD’S BIGGEST BAKED BEAN EATERS:
Beans ‘n toast is a favorite in the UK and Ireland … for breakfast! Worldwide, these are the countries where you’re most likely to find folks fulla beans …
5. Australia (1.9 kg/4.2 lbs per capita per year)
4. USA (2 kg/4.4 lbs)
3. New Zealand (2.3 kg/5 lbs)
2. Britain (4.8 kg/10.5 lbs)
1. Ireland (5.6 kg/12.3 lbs)
(Canada ties Mexico for 10th at 1.2 kg/2.6 lbs)
– “Top 10 of Everything”
BS PHONE STARTER:
“Popular Mechanics” notes that most people nowadays can’t perform even the simplest automotive tasks, such as changing a tire. What do-it-yourself skills do you lack that your grandparents had? (Plumbing? Baking? Carpentry? Quilting?)
BS MONDAY MORNING BRAIN BUSTER:
Q: If rubber shoes are used in tennis and basketball, studs in football, and spikes in running, in what sport are the shoes made entirely of metal?
A: Horse racing.
BS RANDOM JOKE:
Monday is a cruel thing to do to your weekend.
BS WATER COOLER QUESTION:
Today’s Question: At the beginning of a marriage, THIS lasts about 40 minutes. Later, the average time drops to less than 15 minutes.
Answer to Give Out Next Show: Dinner conversation.
BS DEEP THOUGHT:
Love is like the measles; we all have to go through it.
