Wednesday, April 9, 2008        Edition: #3750
Bull Works!

BS SHOW BIZ BUZZ:
Fiery 37-year-old model Naomi Campbell has been banned for life from flying on British Airways following her alleged loogie-launching confrontation with a Heathrow airport cop LAST WEEK . . . Quality TV to look forward to THIS SUMMER: Former *NSYNC singer Joey Fatone & former Spice Girl Melanie Brown co-host “The Singing Office” (TLC), a tongue-in-cheek reality competition that pits teams of crooning co-workers against each other; and Pamela Anderson is getting her own E! channel reality series with the clever working title of “Pamela” in which cameras follow the thrice-divorced mom of 2 around as she jiggles – er juggles career and family life . . . TV actor Rob Lowe (“Brothers & Sisters”) has launched a $1-million lawsuit against a former nanny he’s accusing of defamation and breach of contract, contending she wrongfully disclosed details about her employment and lied about the working conditions (sledgehammer on a thumbtack – how’s a nanny gonna come up with that kind of loot?) . . . Lowe’s 61-year-old TV co-star Sally Field says she’s seriously considering plastic surgery because the thinks her peers all look great after going under the knife (yeah, Priscilla Presley is stunning) . . . The 1980s cult movie comedy “Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure”, which starred a then-little-known Keanu Reeves, is scheduled for a remake . . . SUNDAY’s CTV audience for the 2008 “Juno Awards” was up a whopping 56% from LAST YEAR . . . And actor/director George Clooney says he avoids Googling his name online because he doesn’t like the ‘angry people’ who inhabit cyberspace (instead of buying tickets to his movie “Leatherheads” dammit!).

BS MUSIC NOTES:
• The Beatles – Vandals have beheaded a statue of Ringo Starr in Liverpool, England after he made disparaging remarks about his hometown in a TV interview.
• Bob Dylan – The 66-year-old singer/songwriter has been awarded an honorary “Pulitzer Prize” for his ‘profound impact on popular music’, the first ever awarded to a rock-era musician.
• Carrie Underwood – She’s confirmed she & “Gossip Girl“ actor Chace Crawford have split. She claims to have no hard feelings even though he reportedly dumped her by text message.
• Faces – Guitarist Ronnie Wood wants to reunite the band he quit in the 1970s to become a Rolling Stone. His former bandmates, including Rod Stewart, Kenney Jones, and Ronnie Lane, are said to be stoked on the idea.
• Sex Pistols – The punk icons are planning to release their 1st-ever concert movie, showing the original line-up both onstage and backstage at London’s Brixton Academy LAST YEAR.
• Stone Temple Pilots – The Scott Weiland-fronted band has announced they’ll reunite for a 65-city North American tour set to begin MAY 17th in Columbus OH.
• Trace Adkins – The “You’re Gonna Miss This” country singer is featured on a new informational poster for the Food Allergy & Anaphylaxis Network. He became interest in promoting awareness because his daughter has food allergies.
• Velvet Revolver – In an online poll, fans have picked former Audioslave frontman Chris Cornell as their favorite to replace Scott Weiland, who’s either left or been fired depending on whose story you believe.

TODAY’S SHOW BIZ SKED:
• “American Idol Gives Back” (FOX/CTV) – The 2nd annual “Idol Gives Back“ special, taped SUNDAY night at LA’s Kodak Theatre. It features Bono, Brad Pitt, Carrie Underwood, Celine Dion, Daughtry, Fergie, Mariah Carey, Maroon 5, Miley Cyrus, Reese Witherspoon, back-to-back Super Bowl MVPs Eli Manning & Peyton Manning, Teri Hatcher, and many more. Ellen DeGeneres returns as co-host. LAST YEAR’s event raised $76 million for kids in need; THIS YEAR’s target is to top $100 million. Note: THIS WEEK’s results show airs TOMORROW.
• Elton John – He performs a solo concert fundraiser for Hillary Clinton at NYC’s Radio City Music Hall. The event is called “Elton & Hillary: One Night Only”.
• “Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson” (CBS) – Counting Crows promote their new album “Saturday Nights & Sunday Mornings”.
• “Late Show With David Letterman” (CBS) – Michael McDonald performs.
• “The View” (ABC/CTV) – Country star Trisha Yearwood appears.

BS CUTTING-EDGE VOCAB:
New terms leaking into the English lingo …
• ‘Speed Mentoring’ – Akin to ‘speed dating’, this is where you get career and/or life advice in a series of short conversations with experts and other mentors. (“Okay, live within your means; do something for a living that you love; make time for those you care about … next!”)
• ‘Thrisis’ – An early mid-life crisis experienced by those in their 30s who are juggling work and family and doubting decisions they’ve made both professionally and personally. (“I’m trying to work my way through a thrisis but can’t afford a sports car to make me feel better.”)
• ‘Underconsumption’ – A worldwide shift toward more budget-conscious, environmentally sensitive spending by consumers. More & more of us are finally realizing the fact that every act of consumption has a consequence. (“We’re doing our reno using materials from the ReStore as our contribution to underconsumption.”)

TRULY TARGETED ADVERTISING:
Hypersonic sound is being developed as a new advertising medium. It broadcasts audio in a focused beam so that only a person standing directly in its path hears the message. It’s said to mimic the experience of a nearby person speaking directly to you. Cable channel A&E is using the technology to promote a show about the paranormal  in Manhattan, where presumably thousands of people walk through the message ‘beam’ daily. (It’s sort of electronic word-of-mouth.)
– “Wired”

FROM THE BS POLL VAULT:
A snapshot of who we are and what we do …
• 85% of us say having an affair is the #1 immoral thing you can do. (Cheating on taxes is #2.)
• 80% of kids polled don’t know their own phone number (thanks to speed dialing and cellphone lists).
• 51% of hiring managers say they do not give the job to applicants who dress inappropriately.
• 49% of us have tried to spot our own homes from an airplane. (Only 29% have succeeded.)
• 28% of us carry chewing gum around with us at all times.
• 14% of the food in the average North American household is wasted.

PAST GAMES ARE ALL ON ICE:
Just as the Stanley Cup playoffs get underway TONIGHT, the NHL is souping up its website with interactive features, including a new video player that can display archived highlight clips going back 3 years. Footage can be retrieved by searching either a player’s name or the game date. Another innovation on the league’s official website is a ‘More’ button that allows users to select and view specific goals from game highlights.
NET: http://www.nhl.com
– PaidContent.com

THE QUIRKS OF OWNERSHIP:
In his book “Predictably Irrational”, author Dan Ariely argues that ownership has strange effects on us, including …
• Increasing Perceived Value – As soon as we acquire something we start to develop an attachment to it and that increases how much we value it. (The reason garage sale prices often seem outrageous?)
• We Focus on Loss – When selling something we tend to overlook the money we’ll be gaining and focus on the object we’ll be losing. (It’s sad to leave a house, even when you’ve sold it for a good price.)
• We Assume Others Share Our Perspective – We expect potential buyers to understand how strongly we feel about our stuff. (They’re more likely to notice the flaws, like the 27 dents in your used car.)
• Our Efforts Increase Perceived Value – Furniture you’ve struggled to assemble seems worth more than furniture for the same price that comes assembled. (IKEA Syndrome.)
• Virtual Ownership – Once we begin to fantasize about ownership of something we want, the price we’re willing to pay goes up. (Why you ignore a previously set maximum bid on eBay.)
• Partial Ownership – We don’t usually return items within the money-back guarantee period because we grow attached to them … they become ‘ours’. (The oldest marketing trick in the book: try it out for awhile, no charge.)
– “Mental Floss”

DOUBLE DUTY DAYCARE:
A new innovation in San Francisco CA may quickly catch on elsewhere. It’s a combination drop-in workspace and daycare center. For years, ‘co-work centers’ have offered solo entrepreneurs and telecommuters drop-in office cubicles as an alternative to working at home. Now a ‘co-working’ center named Cubes & Crayons has added a licensed child care facility. Now the parent can work while the child plays … all in one location.
– “San Francisco Chronicle”

BS AMAZING FACTS:
• An average of 2 people per year die in the USA from … flatulence. (Not with a whimper but a bang!)
• Hair is 70% easier to cut when soaked in warm water for 2 minutes. (Downside: you drown.)
• Despite all those ‘Swiss Army Knives’, Switzerland hasn’t gone to war with another country since 1515. (And guess who has all the world’s money locked up?)

BS CHRONOMETER 04.09.08

TODAY’S CELEBIRTHDAYS . . .
1926 [82] Hugh Hefner, Chicago IL, “Playboy” magazine founder/reality TV show personality (“The Girls Next Door”)  FACTOID: At a weekend birthday celebration in Las Vegas, Pamela Anderson surprised him with a lap-dance (ew, creepy!).

1954 [54] Dennis Quaid, Houston TX, movie actor (“Flight of the Phoenix”, “Yours, Mine & Ours”)/formerly married to actress Meg Ryan (1991-2001)/brother of actor Randy Quaid

1966 [42] Cynthia Nixon, NYC, movie actress (“Sex & the City: The Movie”, opening MAY 30th)/TV actress (‘Miranda Hobbes’ on “Sex & the City” 1998-2004)

1977 [31] Gerard Way, Summit NJ, alt-rock singer (My Chemical Romance-“Famous Last Words”, “Welcome to the Black Parade”)

1984 [24] Adam Loewen, Surrey BC, MLB pitcher (Baltimore Orioles)

1986 [22] Leighton Meester, Marco Island FL, TV actress (‘Blair Waldorf’ on “Gossip Girl” since 2007)

1987 [21] Jesse McCartney, NYC, wannabe pop singer (“Leavin’”, “Beautiful Soul”)/songwriter (co-wrote Leona Lewis’ “Bleeding Love”)/movie actor (“Horton Hears a Who!”, “Alvin & the Chipmunks”)/sometime TV actor (“Summerland” 2004-05)

1990 [18] Kristen Stewart, LA CA, movie actress (“Into the Wild”, “Panic Room”)

TODAY’S BS REASONS TO PARTY . . .
• “Astronauts Day”, celebrating the dedication & courage of those who dare to dream and reach for the stars … while wearing diapers.

• “Chicken Little Awareness Day”. Look up. Look waaay up. What d’ya see? Oh no!

• “Former Prisoner of War Recognition Day”, observed annually by presidential proclamation, it commemorates the outstanding sacrifices made by members of the US armed forces who’ve been held captive.
NET: http://tinyurl.com/yo98vb

• “Name Yourself Day”, a day for anybody with a name they hate to tag themselves with a brand new label. Have people with weird names call in, then help re-name them using  the perfect tool … the Internet ‘Random Name Generator’. You can even set the ‘obscurity factor’ from 1-to-99.
NET: http://www.kleimo.com/random/name.cfm

THIS DAY IN SHOW BIZ . . .
2002 [06] Elaborate funeral in London for Britain’s Queen Mother, who has passed away at 101

2005 [03] Britain’s Prince Charles & Camilla Parker Bowles wed in Windsor, England

TODAY’S MUSIC EVENT . . .
1977 [31] Abba’s “Dancing Queen” reaches #1 on pop charts

TODAY’S FIRSTS . . .
1912 [96] 1st baseball game at Boston’s legendary Fenway Park (Red Sox beat Harvard 2-0)

1945 [63] NFL makes socks mandatory for all players (the next season … pants!)

1965 [43] 1st ‘Indoor Baseball Game’ (Houston Astrodome)

TODAY’S RECORD . . .
1992 [16] ‘Heaviest Chocolate Easter Egg’ weighs 10,483 lbs and measures over 23-ft-high (Ringwood, Australia)

AND REMEMBER . . .
[Thurs] Siblings Day
[Thurs] Salvation Army Founders Day
[Thurs] Golfers Day
[Thurs-Sun] Masters Golf Tournament (Augusta GA)
[Fri] Barbershop Quartet Day
[Fri] Thank You School Librarian Day
[Sat] “Canadian Idol” auditions (St John’s)
This Week Is … Be Kind to Animals Week
This Month Is … Sea Cadet Month

BULL’S BITS

WORLD’S WEIRDEST DISEASES:
• Alice in Wonderland Syndrome – Sufferers perceive things as either far away or extremely close compared to reality.
• Blaschko’s Lines – Strange stripes all over the body, usually forming a ‘V’ over the spine and ‘S’ shapes over the chest, stomach, and sides.
• Blue Skin Disorder – Blue, plum, indigo, or almost purple skin, a trait that’s passed on.
• Elephantiasis – Grossly enlarged or swollen arms and legs caused by parasitic worms.
• Human Werewolf Syndrome – Causes sufferers to grow hair all over the face and upper body.
• Jumping Frenchman Disorder – Sufferers flail their arms, cry out, and repeat words when they are startled by an unexpected noise or sight.
• Pica – The urge to eat non-food substances such as dirt, paper, glue, and clay.
• Progeria – A genetic defect that can cause young children to look 80-years-old.
• Vampire Disease – Direct sunlight causes sufferers extreme pain and their skin to blister.
• Walking Corpse Syndrome – Sufferers believe they have already died, often claiming they can smell their own rotting flesh and feel worms crawling through their skin. (Breakfast, anyone?)
– Oddee.com

BS PHONE STARTER:
Should you tell the kids you’re going to marriage counselling?

BS RANDOM JOKE:
We got rid of our kids. The cats are allergic.

BS U-PICK TRIVIA:
After the NBA, where would you find the ‘2nd-oldest professional basketball league in the world’?
a. Italy
b. Spain
c. Philippines [CORRECT. The Philippine Basketball Association began 33 years ago TODAY in 1975. The Continental Basketball Association in the US has been around in various incarnations longer but only since 1978 with that name.]

BS WATER COOLER QUESTION:
Today’s Question: Dads do THIS 18% of the time; moms do it the rest of the time.
Answer to Give Out Next Show: Make a home-cooked meal.

BS DEEP THOUGHT:
Hating people is like burning down your own house to get rid of a rat.