Tuesday, March 29, 2022 – Edition: #7198
Sheet Happens!
BS SHOW BIZ BUZZ:
(***UPDATE***) ★ Will Smith has issued an apology after slapping Chris Rock on the Oscars stage Sunday night. In an Instagram post yesterday afternoon, Smith wrote: “Violence in all of its forms is poisonous and destructive. My behavior at last night’s Academy Awards was unacceptable and inexcusable. Jokes at my expense are part of the job, but a joke about Jada’s medical condition was too much for me to bear and I reacted emotionally. I would like to publicly apologize to you, Chris. I was out of line and I was wrong. I am embarrassed and my actions were not indicative of the man I want to be.” He also included an apology to “the Academy, the producers of the show, all the attendees and everyone watching around the world” as well as the family of Venus and Serena Williams and those involved with the film for which he won his Best Actor award.
-Variety, CNN
★ After 100 days in movie theaters, Sony/Marvel’s “Spider-Man: No Way Home” has crossed another box office milestone, becoming just the third film ever to gross $800 million in North America. It joins “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” and “Avengers: Endgame” as the only movies to hit that rare benchmark in the U.S. and Canada.
-MSN
★ “American Idol” Season 20 auditions came to a close Sunday, and since it was ABC’s post-Academy Awards bonus episode, there obviously had to be a Hollywood connection. Enter second-generation musician Ava Maybee, daughter of drummer Chad Smith, whose band Red Hot Chili Peppers is receiving a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame this week. Maybee didn’t namecheck her famous father during her audition, possibly because the Peppers have never been huge fans of Idol. Regardless, Ava’s dad is clearly supportive of her career, as he has proudly promoted her music to his hundreds of thousands of followers. Lionel Richie gave her an enthusiastic “yes!” after her smoky audition of Stevie Wonder’s ‘Lately’.
-Yahoo
★ HBO Max’s animated superhero slate is expanding with a “Harley Quinn” spinoff. Series co-creator Patrick Shumacker has announced that the character ‘Kite Man’ is getting his own series. It will reportedly be a laid-back, sitcom-style show, but with supervillains instead of regular characters. So far, Kite Man has been a comic relief figure in Harley Quinn. No word yet on a release date.
-PopCulture
★ Somehow, despite appearing in “almost” every movie that’s been released since his birth, Samuel L. Jackson had never won an Oscar. Or at least, that was the case before his friend and colleague Denzel Washington rectified that gross oversight on Friday night. Jackson was honored with a lifetime achievement award during the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences annual Governors Awards ceremony, in an event that wasn’t televised or streamed anywhere. (Going by the word that I imagine he said repeatedly in his acceptance speech, maybe that’s a good thing!)
-TooFab
TODAY’S SHOW BIZ SKED:
• “Jimmy Kimmel Live” (ABC/Global): Donald Glover, Machine Gun Kelly
• “The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon” (NBC/CTV): Jared Leto, Stephen Merchant, Taylor Tomlinson
• “Late Night with Seth Meyers” (NBC/CTV): David Letterman, Adam Duritz, Counting Crows, Hayley Brownell (R)
• “The Late Late Show with James Corden” (CBS/CTV): Trevor Noah, Jake Johnson
• “The View” (ABC/CTV): Sen. Cory Booker, Kevin and Danielle Jonas
• “The Talk” (CBS): Jane Krakowski; guest co-host Paula Abdul
• “Live with Kelly and Ryan” (ABC/CTV): Elle Fanning, Raven-Symoné, Dr. Doris Day
• “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” (NBC/CTV): Lisa Kudrow, Ronda Rousey, Blue Man Group, Dezi Saenz
• “The Kelly Clarkson Show” (Check local listings): Michael Bublé, Randy Jackson
• “The Drew Barrymore Show” (Check local listings): Ted Danson, Ryan Michelle Bathe
• “Name That Tune” (FOX): Season 2 premiere. Celeb contestants Kelly Osbourne, JoJo, Vernon Davis and Victor Cruz
• “True Conviction: Scene of the Crime” (ID): Prosecuting powerhouse Anna-Sigga Nicolazzi and CSI expert Alina Burroughs examine the crime scenes that left investigators grappling for answers.
BS MUSIC NOTES:
• Miley Cyrus – Friday, she’ll release her first-ever live album “Attention: Miley Live”. Alongside a trailer for the 20-track collection, she tweeted: “My fans have been asking me for a live album for a long time & I am so exxxited to give it to them! This show was curated BY the fans FOR the fans!” LINK: https://tinyurl.com/4jppfb9u
• Kehlani – her new album will be called “Blue Water Road”. She calls it “a destination in my mind…It’s an emotional journey, a sexual journey, and a spiritual journey.” The follow-up to 2020’s “It Was Good Until It Wasn’t” drops on April 29.
• Michael Bublé – says Paul McCartney encouraged him to cover one of his songs. After meeting about 10 years ago, McCartney wrote, saying he thought Bublé would do a “great job” on Paul’s 2012 song ‘My Valentine’. When it came time to record his new album “Higher”, Bublé not only recorded the song, he convinced McCartney to produce it.
• Phil Collins — bid farewell to fans at London’s O2 Arena on Saturday, at what’s expected to be his final performance with Genesis. The 71-year-old has been battling health problems including a dislocated vertebrae in his spine, which prevents him from playing drum, and requires him to remain seated while singing. His son, Nic Collins, took over drum duties for “The Final Tour”.
• Aerosmith – Joey Kramer won’t be taking part in the group’s 2022 “Deuces Are Wild” Vegas residency. The drummer is taking a “temporary leave of absence” to spend more time with his family, according to a band statement. Drum tech Jack Douglas will step in.
• Elton John – celebrated his 75th birthday Friday by releasing “Diamonds: The Ultimate Greatest Hits” on streaming platforms. It includes 48 songs mixed in Dolby Atmos for a “truly spatial listening experience”. It was originally released on CD and vinyl in 2017 to commemorate 5 decades of his work with songwriting partner Bernie Taupin.
• Jeff Carson – known for his 1995 #1 hit with ‘Not On Your Love’ and the top-5 hit ‘The Car’, has died of a heart attack at age 58. In 2009, he retired from music to become an officer with Franklin TN Police Department, where he remained on the force until his death. No word on exactly when he passed.
• Kenny Chesney – His “Here And Now 2022” tour kicks off April 23, and he says at this point, playing live is more of a “need” than a “want”. Quote: “You start to smell the smells and hear the guitars at soundcheck and you start to anticipate…the crowd and how excited they are and you know…they bought their tickets probably 6 months ago, they’ve been anticipating the moment you walk on stage …and that is a very, very powerful thing to be in the middle of.”
SHOOTING THE BULL
DIDN’T SEE THAT COMING:
A UK company has revealed a line of invisibility shields that rely on surprisingly simple technology to actually make users invisible to the naked eye. Startup Invisibility Shield Co. was inspired by Harry Potter’s iconic invisibility cloak to design a “precision-engineered lens array” to deflect light from the subject sitting behind the shield, away from the observer. The lenses are oriented to allow light from the subject to diffuse when it passes through the shield. Light from the subject’s background is refracted towards the observer who cannot see the subject hiding behind the shield. Because the invisibility shield relies solely on optics, it requires no power source to produce its magic. Despite being just over 2 inches (5cm) thick, it weighs just 9 pounds (4kg), making it fairly portable. And though you might think it would be expensive to be invisible, the 12 x 8 inch version is just $63, while the 3 x 2 foot model goes for a reasonable $394. LINK: https://youtu.be/2butkT8vb-E
(Looks awesome, but I still wouldn’t use one while naked, just in case!)
(They should call it: “The Other Guitarist in Guns N’ Roses”!)
-OddityCentral
ROOM NON-SERVICE:
One of the most important – and convenient – hotel amenities is disappearing these days, according to a NerdWallet report. Whether out of necessity due to staff shortages, or simply to save money, it seems that daily housekeeping in many hotels is becoming more and more rare. During the pandemic’s early days, when transmission was more of a mystery, many hotels cut housekeeping services to reduce contact between strangers. But more than 2 years later, it still hasn’t completely returned. Some hotels only offer housekeeping by request, with all rooms cleaned at least every 6th night. Others offer light housekeeping every second day, which might include towel replacement and garbage removal, but not bedmaking. And with the cutbacks now more about money than safety, experts don’t see the trend reversing any time soon. How to ensure that you’ll have housekeeping at your destination? Research your hotel ahead of time, or book at a higher-end place, most of which still provide traditional daily housekeeping services. And at budget hotels, you may still be able to have a daily room freshening if you just ask nicely.
(Cleaned every 6th night? Well, still better than at home…!)
(This is really going to cut into my supply of hotel shampoos and soap!)
(…as opposed to [***local dive motel***], where the housekeepers are LITERALLY disappearing!)
-NerdWallet
TECH TALK:
➢ A Tulane University student has come up with an app that “attends” Zoom meetings, so you don’t have to. What started out as a software program created to attend and record Zoom classes during the pandemic so he could sleep late, has been developed into a productivity tool designed to help students and business professionals better manage their time and improve their efficiency. The subscription-based AI productivity platform attends, records and transcribes online meetings and classes for users. It can be used for business meetings, classes, lectures, conferences, seminars, webinars and any other type of meeting or event conducted online. It can be used with Zoom, with additional platform compatibility expected soon. Oh, and its name? “Beulr”, of course! (Well, life DOES move pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it!)
➢ Tesla CEO Elon Musk says he’s giving “serious thought” to creating a new social media platform. On Saturday, he responded to a Twitter user’s question on whether he would consider building a social media platform that would prioritize free speech, and where propaganda was minimal. Musk, a big user of Twitter himself, has been critical of the social media platform, and said the company is undermining democracy by failing to adhere to free speech principles. This happened a day after he put out a poll asking users if they believed Twitter adheres to the principle of free speech, to which over 70% voted “no”. (Couldn’t he just buy Twitter?)
-Yahoo, Reuters
THE BENEFITS OF RED WINE, ACCORDING TO SCIENTISTS:
(Although some reports conclude there’s simply no amount of alcohol that’s healthy, many published papers point to the ways red wine benefits us. Here are some…)
✓ May improve gut health: OK, maybe not the sexiest benefit to start off with, but studies show those who even drink it occasionally enjoy increased gut microbiota diversity (one benefit of which is antioxidants), plus lower levels of “bad” cholesterol and obesity.
✓ Diabetes prevention: Just one glass with dinner can reduce blood sugar levels, as opposed to drinking beer or liquor with food, which increases your diabetes risk.
✓ Improves blood pressure: Flavonoid-rich foods such as berries, wine, apples, and pears have a positive effect on blood pressure levels. 3 glasses of red wine per week also appears to do the trick. (Of course, breaking the cork into the bottle has the opposite effect…)
✓ Brain health: If you pair wine with cheese, it appears to contribute to better cognitive health as you age, which may also help fight Alzheimer’s disease.
✓ Walking on Mars(!): Without gravity, human muscles and bones quickly deteriorate and lose strength. On a 9-month journey to Mars, this would be a big problem. But resveratrol, found in red wine, has displayed the ability to preserve muscle mass and strength in rats exposed to simulated Mars gravity.
(For me, the biggest benefit of red wine is the fact it gives me the ability to deal with my kids, my partner…and my own cooking!)
(Wine improves with age. The older I get, the better I like it.)
(You bet, Shiraz!)
-StudyFinds
DID YOU KNOW?
It turns out, in space, people actually CAN hear you scream (or even sing). New data collected by NASA’s Perseverance rover has allowed the space agency to come up with an online tool to replicate how people would sound on Mars compared to Earth. To find out what their voice would sound like on the red planet, “Earthlings” asks users to upload a 10 second clip. Go to the “Sounds of Mars” section on NASA’s website, navigate to “You on Mars,” then click to record your greeting. Next, you’ll be invited to download or play the “Mars version” of the audio file. According to NASA, on Mars, you would sound “quieter” and “more muffled”, and you’d wait slightly longer to hear it. LINK: https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/participate/sounds/?voice=true
-NYPost
BS CHRONOMETER 03.29.22
TODAY’S BS REASONS TO PARTY . . .
• “Mom & Pop Business Owners Day”, honoring family-run, small-time business operations. (***Ask listeners for the most unusual combination of services offered by a single business that they’ve come across, ie: “Sam’s Roofing & Dry Cleaning”…***)
• “Smoke & Mirrors Day”, The name is based on magicians’ illusions, in which they make objects appear or disappear by extending or retracting mirrors amid a confusing burst of smoke. But ‘smoke and mirrors’ may refer to any presentation in which the audience is intended to be deceived. (A press conference, for instance.)
• “Vietnam Veterans Day”, The last US troops left Vietnam 49 years ago today, in 1973. In 1971, at the height of the conflict, some 33,000 soldiers deserted, many moving to Canada.
• “Knights of Columbus Founders Day”, the world’s largest Catholic fraternal service organization. Founded by Father Michael J. McGivney in New Haven CT, in 1882, it was named in honor of explorer Christopher Columbus.
• “National Lemon Chiffon Cake Day”, the recipe for chiffon cake debuted in a 1948 edition of Better Homes and Gardens. General Mills marketed it as “the first new cake in 100 years” and it quickly became a sensation. The secret recipe called for vegetable oil instead of butter or shortening, and instructed the baker to beat the egg whites and egg yolks separately.
• “Piano Day”, takes place on the 88th day of the year, because of the number of keys on the instrument being celebrated.
AND REMEMBER . . .
[Wed] Pencil Day
[Wed] Doctors Day
[Thurs] “She’s Funny That Way” Day
[Thurs] Farm Workers Day
TODAY’S CELEBIRTHDAYS . . .
1943 [79] Eric Idle, South Shields England, comedian-actor, author, singer-songwriter (member of the ground-breaking Monty Python comedy troupe, writer-singer of their classic ‘Always Look on the Bright Side of Life’/composer of the hit Broadway musical “Spamalot”)
1947 [75] Bobby Kimball, Orange Texas, rock singer (Toto 1977-84, 1998-2008-‘Africa’, ‘Rosanna’)
1959 [63] Perry Farrell, Queens NY, rock singer (Jane’s Addiction-‘Been Caught Stealing’, Porno for Pyros-‘Pets’)/“Lollapalooza” founder (1991)
1964 [58] Elle Macpherson, Killara Australia, model (nicknamed “The Body” by members of the press and fashion industry, 5-time Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue cover model)/movie actress (“Batman and Robin”, “Friends”)/TV host (“Fashion Star”, “Britain and Ireland’s Next Top Model”)
1968 [54] Lucy Lawless, Mount Albert New Zealand, TV actress (“Xena: Warrior Princess” 1995-2001, “Battlestar Galactica” 2005-2009)
1971 [51] Lara Logan, Durban South Africa, TV correspondent (“60 Minutes” 2005-18)
1980 [42] Chris D’Elia, Montclair NJ, actor-comedian (“Whitney” 2011-13)
THIS DAY IN SHOW BIZ . . .
1987 [35] Prince is named ‘Worst Actor’ and ‘Worst Director’ for “Under the Cherry Moon” at the Golden Raspberry Awards. The film also earns Razzies for ‘Worst Picture’ (tied with “Howard the Duck”), ‘Worst Supporting Actor’ (Jerome Benton), and ‘Worst Original Song’ (‘Love or Money’)
TODAY’S MUSIC EVENTS . . .
2019 [03] 17-year-old Billie Eilish releases her debut album “When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?”, which debuts at #1 in America
2019 [03] The Cure, Def Leppard, Janet Jackson, Stevie Nicks, Radiohead, Roxy Music and The Zombies are inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame
TODAY’S FIRSTS . . .
2004 [18] Ireland becomes the first country to ban smoking in all workplaces, including bars and restaurants
2008 [14] 35 countries and more than 370 cities join in the first international “Earth Hour” (it started the year before in Sydney, Australia)
2014 [08] The first same-sex marriages in England and Wales are performed
TODAY’S RECORD . . .
1990 [32] The ‘World’s Largest Yo-Yo’ goes up-and-down 12 times while suspended from a 160-foot crane (built by a Jasonville, Indiana high school woodworking class, it measures 6-ft in diameter and weighs 820 lbs)
BULL’S BITS
BS WHACK FACTS:
✓ All babies are born with blue eyes.
✓ Your fingernails grow faster when you are cold.
✓ A housefly’s taste buds (located on its feet) are 10 million times as sensitive as yours.
✓ The largest living organism in the world is a fungus. It is in Oregon, covering 2,200 acres, and is still growing.
✓ One of the ingredients needed to make dynamite is peanuts.
✓ Cookie Monster originally had pointy teeth.
-WhattheFFacts, KidsActivitiesBlog
BS PONDERABLES:
• Why does the word “monosyllabic” have 5 syllables?
• If poison is past its expiry date, does it become no longer poisonous, or more poisonous?
• How does the guy who drives the snowplow get to work in the morning?
• The only time “incorrectly” isn’t spelled incorrectly is when it’s spelled incorrectly.
• Why do they call a building a “building” when it is already built?
• If honesty is the best policy, then is dishonesty the second best policy?
• Why are there interstate highways in Hawaii?
• Can you still cry underwater?
• Have you ever imagined a world with no hypothetical situations?
• (***Caution***) If you throw a cat out a car window, does it become kitty litter?
-Gettoknowu
Best of BS . . .
BS SIGNS YOU’VE SCREWED UP:
• You wake up wearing clothes that aren’t yours.
• You receive a text back that says “Fine”.
• Your last 4 status updates have been from prison.
• You receive an invitation to a “mandatory” meeting with HR.
• Your priest tells you to gargle holy water.
• Strangely, there is a horde of reporters gathered outside your office.
• Your lawyers have lawyers.
• You ask where your pillow is, and she points toward the couch.
• You recognize your house on “COPS Live”. Then the doorbell rings.
• You got caught.
-Twitter, first published in BS in 2019
BS WEB GOODIE:
Mind. Blown: https://tinyurl.com/ef9jp4zy
BS RANDOM JOKE:
It is useless to try to hold a person to anything he says while he’s madly in love, drunk, or running for office.
BS PHONE STARTER:
What rule do you wish they would introduce into your favorite sport (or game)?
BS WATER COOLER QUESTION:
Question: You’ll consume 9% fewer calories if you do THIS while eating. What is it?
Answer: Wear a blindfold
BS DEEP THOUGHT:
No one is you. And that is your power.
