BS SHOW BIZ BUZZ:
Apple Inc is in talks with News Corp (FOX), Walt Disney Co (ABC), and other media conglomerates about a plan to rent network programs from Apple’s iTunes store for 48 hours after broadcast (they’re free on network websites – now you wanna charge?) . . . The Brit version of “The X-Factor” is in the middle of a scandal after it was revealed contestants’ voices are altered using Auto-Tune (shocking, and have you heard that wrestling isn’t real?) . . . “Jersey Shore” star Sammi ‘Sweetheart’ Giancola reportedly stormed out of the show’s Seaside Heights NJ house after watching the recent episode in which on & off boyfriend Ronnie cheated on her (surprise, surprise – she’s back on set after realizing how much money she’ll make) . . . Rocker-turned reality show star Bret Michaels is reportedly close to getting engaged to girlfriend Kristi Gibson (no point in sending in your “Rock of Love” audition video then) . . . 50-year-old actor Sean Penn has been spotted walking the streets of Dublin, Ireland in bright red lipstick, long earrings, and big, teased hair, while shooting a scene for his new movie “This Must Be the Place” (it’s untrue locals crowded around, mistaking him for Susan Boyle) . . . It seems that famous frozen face Heidi Montag is done crying over the sex tape her ex, Spencer Pratt, is shopping around and is now in talks with Vivid Entertainment to also cash in on it (it features some of her best acting) . . . And this week Paris Hilton woke up to a knife-wielding nut-job trying to break into her LA home through a window (geez, what a way to start your afternoon!).

TODAY’S SHOW BIZ SKED:
• “Good Morning America” (ABC) – A feature about Nashville TN’s recovery from this May’s devastating flood includes a walk-through of country singer Julie Roberts’ partially-renovated home, which was destroyed by flood waters.
• “The Hour” (CBC) – Rosanne Cash (“Composed”).
• “Jimmy Kimmel Live” (ABC/CityTV) – Luke Bryan (“Doin’ My Thing”).
• “Last Call With Carson Daly” (NBC) – The Raveonettes (“In & Out of Control”).
• “Late Night With Jimmy Fallon” (NBC/A Channel) – Titus Andronicus (“Airing of Grievances”).
• “Late Show With David Letterman” (CBS) – The Specials (“The Best Of the Specials”).
• “Live With Regis & Kelly” (syndicated/CTV) – “American Idol” runner-up Crystal Bowersox.
• “Lopez Tonight” (TBS) – Lynyrd Skynyrd (“Live From Freedom Hall”).
• “Tonight Show With Jay Leno” (NBC/A Channel) – Robert Cray Band (“Cookin’ In Mobile”).

BS MUSIC NOTES:
• Eminem – Tonight he judges a rap contest in the style of his 2002 semi-autobiographical movie “8 Mile”. The ‘Red Bull EmSee: The Road to 8 Mile National Finals’ features 8 regional finalists competing for the overall title at St Andrews Hall in Detroit MI.
• Paul McCartney – He tells Britain’s “Daily Express” he doesn’t drink water while performing onstage because he doesn’t want to look ‘unprofessional’. (At age 68, it’s the diaper that would look unprofessional.)
• Taylor Swift – Seems she’s interested in more than just boys, unicorns, and more boys. She also apparently really digs rock bands Paramore and New Found Glory.
• U2 – They’ve announced that Jay-Z will open their “360” tour dates in Australia and New Zealand later this year.

COMING ATTRACTIONS:
A BS selection of movies in the making …
• “Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close” – Tom Hanks & Sandra Bullock are in negotiations to star in this adaptation of the 2005 novel by Jonathan Safran Foer. The story centers on an extremely intelligent 9-year-old boy searching for a lock to match a key given him by his father prior to his death in the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Bullock & Hanks would play the child’s parents.
• “Joyful Noise” – Dolly Parton is returning to the bigscreen, co-starring with Queen Latifah in this story about 2 women who join forces to prevent a small-town gospel choir from shutting down.
Parton plays the choir director’s widow who hopes to take over her late husband’s job. She hasn’t made a major feature film since 1992’s “Straight Talk”.
• “LOL: Laughing Out Loud” – In this coming-of-age comedy, Miley Cyrus stars as ‘Lola’, a teenager who talks about sex incessantly, smokes marijuana, kisses a girl, and gets wasted and accidentally shows her mom (Demi Moore) her Brazilian wax. Hmm, ‘Hannah Montana’ she is not. This remake of a 2008 French film is now shooting in Detroit, Chicago, and Paris.
• “Hysteria” – Jonathan Pryce & Hugh Dancy star in this upcoming romantic comedy set in Victorian England that centers around the inventors of a new electrical device to treat hysterical women … the vibrator. Maggie Gyllenhaal and Rupert Everett will co-star in the film, which is slated for a 2011 release.
• “Indiana Jones 5” – Actor Shia Labeouf has confirmed he’s in talks to return for another installment in the adventure saga, but Harrison Ford says he will only sign up if he likes the story. To that end the script is currently being intensively worked on. The film is reportedly due for a 2012 release, to coincide with Ford’s 70th birthday.

BIZARRE REALITY-TV SHOWS:
They’re strange but they’re real …
• “I’m Hotter Than My Daughter” – Moms reverse roles with their daughters, dressing young, tight, and skimpy while hitting the social scene.
• “Man Vs Beast” – Answers pressing questions like, can a team of midgets pull an aircraft down a runway faster than an elephant? Also featured: ‘Chimp vs Navy Seal’ and ‘Gymnast vs Orangutan’.
• “Silent Library” – 6 students sit in a library where they have to remain absolutely quiet while enduring annoying tortures inflicted on them such as ‘rabbit crap on face’ and ‘nose fishing’.
• “There’s Something About Miriam” – An odd UK version of “The Bachelor” in which 6 alpha males vie for the affections of an attractive Mexican model … who turns out to be transgender.
• “Touch the Truck” – The last contestant to take their hand off a truck wins the truck. A mob of 50 participants start; a winner is declared 88 hours later. Makes for riveting television, no?
(While these shows are truly weird, they don’t even begin to compete with the plethora of wacky Japanese TV shows.)
– Lunch.com

WONDER BUG:
Perhaps this is the answer to the question, where did all the oil go? A newly discovered type of oil-eating microbe is suddenly flourishing in the Gulf of Mexico. Scientists have discovered the new microbe while studying the underwater dispersion of millions of gallons of oil spilled into the Gulf following the explosion of BP’s Deepwater Horizon drilling rig. And what’s even better, researchers at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory say the microbe seems to work without significantly depleting oxygen in the water. (You can bet somebody somewhere is already trying to patent this baby.)
– ScienceMag.org

ONLINE DATING TIPS:
Researchers believe the web will soon eclipse ‘friends’ as the primary source for finding mates. A recent poll finds that 22% of heterosexual couples first met online. So what’s the secret to attracting someone suitable? Dating website OkCupid offers the following observations …
• Men get more responses from women if they don’t smile in their profile pictures.
• Women find most men ‘below average’ in attractiveness … but write to them anyway.
• A man needs to make tens-of-thousands extra to compensate for being an inch shorter.
– “Boston Globe”

WHY WE HATE BROWN NOSERS:
Social psychologists at Washington State University have found that better workers in a group are the least popular because … they make everyone else look bad by comparison. The new study suggests that unselfish colleagues come to be resented because they ‘raise the bar’ for what’s expected of everyone. As a result, workers feel the new standard will make them look bad. Furthermore, it doesn’t matter that the overall welfare of the group or the task at hand is better served by eager employees’ unselfish behavior … they are still resented. (What, you expect us to actually work?)
– ScienceDaily.com

BS INTERNATIONAL MOOS:
• Bochum, Germany – A man shot in the head with a .22 caliber bullet at a New Year’s Eve party didn’t notice until he recently went to a doctor complaining of head pain. Presented with the 5.6-mm bullet, the man recalled he’d received a blow to the head around midnight at a New Year’s party … in 2004 or 2005. (He’s unsure which because he was drunk at the time.)
– Telegraph.co.uk
• New South Wales, Australia – Drivers Down Under are trying to hit 111 mph to see the ghost of a dead motorcyclist in their rearview mirrors. Legend has it that the ghost biker appears when you hit that dangerous speed along the Lemon Tree Passage Road between Newcastle and Sydney. (Go fast enough to see a ghost and you might become one!)
– NYPost.com
• Changle, China – A man in Fujian province has found an unusual way to control his temper … growing his fingernails. The 41-year-old says he was always getting into fights before he began growing the nails on his left hand 13 years ago. Now that his longest nail is 35-cm (14-ins) long, he can no longer make a fist. (Great, except picking his nose has become a real pain.)
– Orange.co.uk

BS GIZMOS & GADGETS:
• The ‘Heliotrope’ is an innovative new home designed by German architect Ralph Disch. To maximize exposure to sunlight, the entire building rotates to track the Sun. That allows daylight to continually course though its triple-pane windows and energize its large roof-mounted solar array and solar thermal pipes.
– Techeblog.com
• The ‘GlowCap’ is a simple idea yet so useful. It’s a special cap that fits on top of a standard pill bottle and lights up whenever the patient needs to take his or her medicine. The hi-tech cap is also WiFi-enabled and can send reports about how well a patient is doing at sticking to the medication schedule.
– TheGlobeandMail.com

BS AMAZING FACTS:
• Two-thirds of the top 50 Hollywood box office stars from the late 1930s through the 1940s endorsed tobacco products in advertising.
– TTP
• In 1943, Philip Morris tobacco company ran an ad acknowledging ‘smoker’s cough’. But it claimed it was caused by smoking brands other than Philip Morris.
– MentalFloss.com
• How many cigarettes can you smoke before you start to do some damage? The sobering answer is … zero. That’s the conclusion of a new study from researchers at Weill Cornell Medical College and Cornell University in New York.
– “Los Angeles Times”

BS CHRONOMETER 08.26.10

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TODAY’S CELEBIRTHDAYS . . .
1961 [49] Jimmy Olander, Palos Verdes CA, country singer (Diamond Rio-“I Believe”, “Beautiful Mess”)

1966 [44] Dan Vickrey, Walnut Creek CA, rock guitarist/vocalist (Counting Crows-“Accidentally in Love”, “Einstein On the Beach”)

1969 [41] Adrian Young, Long Beach CA, rock drummer (No Doubt-“It’s My Life”, “Hey Baby”)

1975 [35] Tyler Connolly, Delta BC, rock singer/guitarist (Theory Of a Deadman-“Bad Girlfriend”, “No Surprise”)

1980 [30] Macaulay Culkin, NYC, former child star (“Home Alone”, “Uncle Buck”)/former Michael Jackson pal

1980 [30] Chris Pine, LA CA, movie actor (‘James T Kirk’ in “Star Trek”, “Smokin’ Aces”)  COMING UP: Co-stars with Denzel Washington in “Unstoppable”, opening November 12th.

1986 [24] Cassie (Cassandra Ventura), New London CT, one-hit-wonder pop singer (“Me & U”)

BS REASONS TO PARTY . . .
• “Make Your Own Luck Day”, a day to take affirmative action to gain control of your life. Taking responsibility for your own actions … what a concept!

• “Montréal World Film Festival”, the 37th annual through September 6th. It includes movies from more than 70 countries in various categories: ‘World Competition’, ‘First Films World Competition’, ‘Documentaries Of the World’, etc.
NET: http://www.ffm-montreal.org/en_index.html

• “National Dog Day”, to support, rescue, and help dogs in need.
NET: http://www.nationaldogday.com

• “Single Parent Family Day”, a day to celebrate the efforts of one parent doing the work of 2.

• “Women’s Equality Day”, celebrating the civil rights movement by women that had its formal beginnings in 1848 at the world’s first women’s rights convention, in Seneca Falls NY.

TODAY’S MUSIC EVENT . . .
1970 [40] Jimi Hendrix plays his final concert at the UK’s Isle of Wight Festival (3 weeks before his death)

TODAY’S FIRSTS . . .
1925 [85] In Toronto, Ted Rogers Sr invents the alternating-current tube, making possible electric radios with no batteries (the call sign of his former station CFRB stands for ‘Rogers Batteryless’)

1961 [49] ‘Hockey Hall of Fame’ opens in Toronto

1996 [14] Electronics giant Philips unveils the 1st ‘Flat TV’, which can be hung on a wall

TODAY’S RECORD . . .
2009 [01] Country singer Jack Ingram breaks world record for ‘Most Consecutive Radio Interviews in 24 Hours’ … 215

COMING UP . . .
[Fri] Global Forgiveness Day
[Fri] Oil & Gas Industry Appreciation Day
[Fri] Reading & Leeds Festivals begin (UK)
[Fri] “Avatar: Special Edition”, “The Last Exorcism”; “Takers” open in theaters
[Sat] Crackers Over the Keyboard Day
[Sun] More Herbs, Less Salt Day
[Sun] 62nd Primetime Emmy Awards (NBC)
This Week Is … Save Your Smile Week
This Month Is … Cataract Awareness Month

BULL’S BITS

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MORE BS WHYZITS:
• Whyzit that all the people who know how to run the country are busy driving taxis and cutting hair?
• Whyzit that people who park illegally turn on their hazard lights? Do they think it makes their vehicle invisible?
• Whyzit a ‘jack-of-all-trades’ is usually unemployed in all of them?
• Whyzit people will keep running over a string a dozen times with a vacuum cleaner, then reach down and pick it up to examine it, then put it back down to give the vacuum one more chance?
• Whyzit your car will not malfunction in the presence of a mechanic?

BS PHONE STARTER:
Which disbanded recording act should get together for a reunion?

BS RANDOM JOKE:
One thing I love about radio is that you have a little privacy from your audience. For example, I’ve worn this same shirt for 3 years.

BS WATER COOLER QUESTION:
Today’s Question: On average women do THIS 5 times a day; guys just 3 times.
Answer to Give Out Next Show: Apologize.

BS DEEP THOUGHT:
A boy becomes a man when he walks around a puddle instead of through it.