Thursday, August 31, 2023 – Edition: #7545
The BS Press!
BS SUBSCRIBER NOTE:
The Bull Sheet will not be publishing on Monday, September 4 to observe the Labour Day holiday. All subscribers will receive credit for the non-service day. The Bull Sheet will resume publication on Tuesday September 5th.
BS SHOW BIZ BUZZ:
★ Aaron Paul is ready for Netflix to pay up. The actor, who played ‘Jesse Pinkman’ on “Breaking Bad”, joined a group of his former co-stars – including Bryan Cranston and Jesse Plemons – on the SAG-AFTRA picket line, where he made his intentions for being there crystal clear. According to him, he doesn’t “get a piece from Netflix on Breaking Bad…And that’s insane to me.” A big point of contention between actors and Hollywood studios is the issue of residuals, which is much money made when projects hit streaming services. According to Paul, the streamers “know that they have been getting away with not paying people a fair wage. And now it’s time to pony up.”
-Messenger
★ Bob Barker will be remembered with the one-hour special “The Price Is Right: A Tribute To Bob Barker”, airing tonight. An encore broadcast will air on Labor Day during the regular weekday timeslot for The Price Is Right. Current “The Price is Right” host Drew Carey will serve as host of the special, which will celebrate his longtime friend Barker’s life and career, following his death on Saturday at age 99. The special will feature on-camera moments from the multi-Emmy Award winner’s more than 50-year career including a look at his first appearance as host of what was then “The New Price Is Right” in 1972, and his final episode in 2007.
-Deadline
★ Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel, Seth Meyers, and John Oliver have launched a limited podcast series about their experiences navigating the writers and actors strike. The group, who were some of the first to shut things down when the WGA called its strike in early May, have announced “Strike Force Five” on Spotify. Proceeds from the show, which premiered yesterday, will go to out-of-work late-night staff from their shows.
-Deadline
★ It was a bad weekend for “Dune” fans, as Warner Bros. officially announced that it is delaying the release of “Dune: Part Two”. However, director Denis Villeneuve helped cushion the blow with some new comments about his plans for “Dune: Part Three”. He hopes to adapt the second book in the series to make the third movie in his trilogy. Since at least 2021 he has mentioned his hopes to make a trilogy of films – and in an interview with Empire Magazine, he mentioned the plan again, saying: “If I succeed in making a trilogy, that would be the dream.” Of course, that hinges on the success of the second movie, which is now scheduled for release on March 15, 2024.
-PopCulture
★ Even after her experience on “Newlyweds”, Jessica Simpson says she’d return to reality TV – but she isn’t exactly rushing to make her home life a public affair again. 20 years after documenting her marriage to now-ex Nick Lachey on the wildly popular MTV series, the 43-year-old revealed if she’d ever put herself, husband Eric Johnson and their 3 kids in front of the TV cameras, saying she’s up for a “docu-series”, which Newlyweds was supposed to be.” She believes her family “wouldn’t mind being on camera”…especially her 2 daughters, who are “definitely entertainers”.
-E!
★ Talk about irony. Travis Barker stepped out in quite the ‘statement T-shirt’ in Calabasas CA, wearing a tee that read “Famous People Suck”, as he enjoyed lunch with friends. Whether the Blink-182 drummer was poking fun at himself or his famous wife, Kourtney Kardashian, and her family, we’re not sure. He sported the white graphic T-shirt as he was photographed leaving a vegan eatery.
-PageSix
TODAY’S SHOW BIZ SKED:
• “Jimmy Kimmel Live” (ABC/Global): Lady Gaga, Jake Tapper (R)
• “The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon” (NBC/CTV): Drew Barrymore, Lizzy Caplan, Young Mazino, The National (R)
• “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” (CBS/Global): Corey Stoll, Geese (R)
• “Late Night with Seth Meyers” (NBC/CTV): David Duchovny, Sarah Jones (R)
• “The View” (ABC/CTV): Hot Topics
• “The Talk” (CBS): Brianne Howey (R)
• “Live with Kelly and Mark” (ABC/CTV): Heather Dubrow
• “The Kelly Clarkson Show” (Check local listings): Evangeline Lilly, Jonathan Daviss (R)
• “The Drew Barrymore Show” (Check local listings): Pamela Anderson (R)
• “Jennifer Hudson Show” (Check local listings): Jeannie Mai Jenkins, Robin Thede (R)
• “The Price Is Right: A Tribute to Bob Barker” (CBS): Drew Carey hosts a celebration honoring the life and career of the beloved TV legend.
• “Generation Gap” (ABC): Season 2 premiere. Host Kelly Ripa serves up some sweet challenges for seniors and juniors.
• “Big Brother” (CBS): A houseguest is evicted and interviewed; remaining houseguests compete for power in the next head of household.
• “Fight to Survive” (CW): After the first full week on the island, hunger takes its toll, and “Team Fight” gets aggressive.
BS MUSIC NOTES:
• Justin Timberlake and Timbaland – ESPN has announced it has teamed up with them to make music for select Monday Night Football games. Curated music from the superstar duo will run in Monday promo, live telecasts and pre-game shows for 7 weeks, starting with week one’s Bills vs. Jets game. That Sept. 11 game will feature the duo’s upcoming collab with Nelly Furtado ‘Keep Going Up.’
• Taylor Swift – As if there ever was any doubt, she has become the first female artist on Spotify to reach 100 million monthly listeners. The streamer announced the news, calling the accomplishment “Queen behavior.” LINK: https://tinyurl.com/5a4e8utf
• Blink-182 — Guitarist Tom DeLonge has confirmed that the band’s new album is imminent, and the trio shared a teaser video encouraging fans to “stay tuned”. It’ll be their first album with DeLonge back in the lineup, after re-joining last October, following nearly 10 years apart from Mark Hoppus and Travis Barker. LINK: https://tinyurl.com/4ffc78dp
• Foreigner — has extended its farewell tour by announcing the 2-part “Feels Like the Last Time” Las Vegas residency, which will take place at the Venetian Theatre in 2024. It comprises 16 dates and will run from March-April and Oct.-Nov. Tickets go on sale tomorrow.
• Brian Setzer — has shared the title cut from his forthcoming solo album “The Devil Always Collects”, out Sept. 15. He’ll embark on the “Rockabilly Riot” tour this fall, his first live shows in more than 4 years. LINK: https://tinyurl.com/t7yh593f
• Zach Bryan – has announced his “Quittin Time Tour,” set for March to December. The arenas and stadiums tour will see him play multiple nights in the same arena on the tour stops where he isn’t headlining a stadium. Stadium shows include Las Vegas, Denver, Foxborough MA, Atlanta, Tampa, and Arlington. Presale starts Sept. 5. LINK: https://tinyurl.com/mrvsxusx
• Morgan Wade – told People that she’ll undergo a preventative double mastectomy in Nov., after discovering she has a gene mutation that puts her at a higher risk of breast cancer. The 28-year-old’s family has a history with cancer. Her new album “Psychopath” was released last Friday
• Lainey Wilson, Darius Rucker and the Cadillac Three – have recorded a new version of ‘Comin’ to Your City’, which will be the ESPN’s College GameDay opening theme for this year, beginning Saturday. Big & Rich announced last week that their version would no longer be used. LINK: https://tinyurl.com/m4mh9eer
SHOOTING THE BULL
HEART-Y LAUGHTER:
It turns out that laughter really is the best medicine – at least for heart patients. Scientists in Brazil say a simple chuckle is enough to expand cardiac tissue and increase the flow of oxygen throughout the body – thereby providing exercise to a weak heart. In a study, they set out to prove that “laughter therapy” can improve cardiovascular health and ease symptoms of heart disease. They recruited 26 adults, average age of 64, who had been diagnosed with coronary artery disease. Each week for 3 months, half of the group watched comedy shows, while the other half watched serious documentaries. What happened? The group who watched comedies showed a 10% advancement in the amount of oxygen the heart could pump, plus improvement in their arteries’ ability to expand. The researchers suggest that laughter therapy be used for patients at risk of heart problems.
(I just want to know what show they were watching – ‘cause I’m not seeing many ‘LOL’-worthy shows these days!)
(Wouldn’t you see the same results by making them watch movies that scare the bajeepers out of them? What? Too much?)
-NYPost
NEW TO YOU (AND ME):
⇒ It just might be the next ‘Wordle’. A new puzzle called ‘Connections’ became available through the New York Times this week, following a summer trial, where it became the paper’s second-most played game behind Wordle — despite minimal promotion. Connections, which also can be played on desktop and mobile, is a word association game. Players are presented with 16 words, and are challenged to group them together in 4 different topics. Players have 4 chances to solve the puzzle before losing. Connections showed up in the Times’ Games app and in the news app under the Play tab beginning this week. (And if it’s anything like Wordle, it’ll show up all over our social media feeds next week!)
⇒ Google is testing a new feature that will allow us to search for songs on YouTube . . . simply by humming — or singing. Android users who are in the beta group can toggle the new feature from YouTube’s voice search and “hum or record the song you’re searching for 3 or more seconds.” Once the song has been identified by the software, YouTube will send the user all “relevant official music content, user-generated videos, and/or Shorts featuring the searched song in the YouTube app.” Right now, only a small portion of Android users have the feature, but if successful, it’ll be made available to everyone. (Identify a song by MY singing? Challenge accepted!)
-CNN, NYPost
THE WORD ON WEDDINGS:
Forget ‘The Wedding March’ — a new survey says that couples today are looking to make their wedding as unique…as they are. The poll of 2,000 adults in serious relationships, engaged or married, of various ages, found that 68% feel it’s important that their wedding is customized to be unique to them — rather than follow tradition. 45% said that means hosting the ceremony in a place with personal significance. What else makes a wedding unique to the couple? 36% said that involves staying away from “traditional” wedding music and choosing a different song to walk down the aisle. 29% feel the need to change up the traditional wedding dress code, and 18% are looking to choose an unconventional wedding theme. Customs considered outdated by respondents include: Not seeing each other before the ceremony (36%) and wearing a white dress (36%). But that doesn’t mean guests should show up in white. Almost one in 5 Gen-Zers say wearing white is the rudest thing you can do as a guest, but only 2% of baby boomers would take offense.
(Actually, I can think of a TON of things you could do as a guest that are WAAAAY ruder than wearing white…which may explain why I never seem to get invited to weddings anymore!)
(The problem with choosing an ‘unconventional’ wedding theme is this: For the next 2 years, everyone who does that is going to choose something from the “Barbie” soundtrack!)
-SWNS
FLIGHT PLANNING:
Google Flights has revealed the “hottest” winter holiday spots. Here are the most-searched destinations on Google Flights this year, for trips departing the US from December 20 to January 5…
1. Cancun
2. Miami/Fort Lauderdale
3. London
4. New York
5. Tokyo
6. San Juan
7. Honolulu
8. Orlando
9. Paris
10. Los Angeles
Google also said the best time to book flights for Christmas vacations is around early October.
-CNN
AGELESS CELEBS:
Recently, on AskReddit, the question was posed: “Which celebrities have aged well?” Here are some of the answers…
☞ “Marisa Tomei. Quite possibly the most naturally beautiful person on the planet.”
☞ “My pick is Jennifer Connelly. She’s 52 and still beautiful.”
☞ “Paul Rudd. He hasn’t aged; he looks just as young as when he was in his 20s.” (You saw that one coming…)
☞ “Salma Hayek. Had a crush on her when I was 14 and saw her in From Dusk till Dawn. Now I’m almost 40 and still have a crush on her. Some things never change, I guess…”
☞ “Non-traditional choice: Eminem.”
☞ “Halle Berry is still… Wow.”
☞ “Ethan Hawke is more attractive to me now than he was in his 20s, but I doubt he’s had any work done. He’s just someone who wears age well.”
☞ “Elijah Wood 100% still has the ring.”
☞ “Magic Johnson is still going strong!”
☞ “Jeff Bridges. Yum.”
☞ “J-Lo… She still has a rocking body!”
☞ “Angela Bassett – just wow.”
☞ “Kate Beckinsale is 50, but looks like she’s in her 30s.”
☞ “Benedict Cumberbatch, for sure. Dude used to look like a human/Salarian hybrid, but now he actually looks quite handsome.”
(Who else? Ryan Reynolds? Elizabeth Hurley? Willie Nelson?)
-BuzzFeed
DID YOU KNOW?
The great thing about Zoom is that by using it, you don’t have to physically go to meetings. But if Google Meet’s new AI tools are as good as advertised, you might not even have to show up online. At its Cloud Next conference, Google revealed a handful of new AI-powered features coming soon. One of them is the ability for Google’s “Duet AI” to take notes in real time. Simply click “take notes for me,” and the app will capture a summary and action items as the meeting is going on. If you’re late, it’ll show you a mid-meeting summary so you can catch up. During the call, you’ll be able to talk privately with a Google chatbot to go over details you might have missed. And when the meeting is over, you can save the summary and come back to it later. And considering it can even include video clips of important moments, why be there at all? (To show off my new bookshelf, of course?)
-TheVerge
BS CHRONOMETER 08.31.23
TODAY’S BS REASONS TO PARTY . . .
• “Eat Outside Day”, a great excuse to eat outside one more time before Summer comes to an end and we all get busy with Fall activities. (Did anyone book the ants?)
• “Love Litigating Lawyers Day”. Well, they DO love litigating… (You know the problem with making lawyer jokes? Lawyers don’t think they’re funny, and no one else thinks they’re jokes.)
• “Trail Mix Day”, celebrating the combination of nuts, seeds, dried fruits (bark, twigs, compost, etc.) . . . that takes about a gallon of water to wash down.
• “Matchmaker Day”, honoring those romantics (aka busybodies) whose dauntless pursuit of perfect matches for cupid’s arrow results in long-lasting love stories. Playing matchmaker requires a bit of social savvy, the ability to listen, and timing.
• “We Love Memoirs Day”. How is a memoir different from an autobiography? An autobiography may cover a person’s whole life, but a memoir has a narrower focus, covering a significant period in a person’s life. Some historically important memoirs include Henry David Thoreau’s “Walden”, and Anne Frank’s “The Diary of a Young Girl”. (Also, Tommy Lee’s book…)
• “Thoughtful Thursday”, part of “Be Kind to Humankind Week”, a time to be mindful of others—at home, work, and in public—and realize that they may have thoughts, concerns, and needs that we aren’t aware of.
AND REMEMBER . . .
[Fri] American Chess Day
[Fri] Letter Writing Day
[Sat] Beard Day
[Sun] Pet Rock Day
This Month Is…Save a Tiger Month
This Month Is…Sandwich Month
TODAY’S CELEBIRTHDAYS . . .
1945 [78] (Ivan) ‘Van’ Morrison, Belfast Northern Ireland, rock-pop-blues singer (‘Moondance’, ‘Brown Eyed Girl’, w/Them-‘Gloria’)/Rock & Roll Hall of Fame 1993
1948 [75] Rudolf Schenker, Hildesheim Germany, rock guitarist (Scorpions-‘Rock You Like a Hurricane’)
1949 [74] Richard Gere, Philadelphia PA, movie actor (“An Officer and a Gentleman”, “Pretty Woman”) COMING UP…”Longing”
1957 [66] Gina Schock, Baltimore MD, pop-rock drummer (The Go-Go’s-‘Our Lips Are Sealed’, ‘Vacation)
1970 [53] Deborah Gibson, Brooklyn NY, pop singer (‘Only in My Dreams’, ‘Lost in your Eyes’)
1972 [51] Chris Tucker, Atlanta GA, movie actor (“Rush Hour” movies)/stand-up comedian. COMING UP…”Rush Hour 4″
1975 [48] Sara Ramirez, Mazatlan Mexico, TV actress (‘Dr Callie Torres’ on “Grey’s Anatomy” 2006-16), “And Just Like That…” since 2021/Broadway actress (Tony Award -“Spamalot”)
ON THIS DAY…
1997 [26] Diana, Princess of Wales, is killed at age 36 in a car crash in a tunnel in Paris. Also killed are her companion, Dodi Fayed, and their driver, Henri Paul. Bodyguard Trevor Rees-Jones, the only one wearing a seat-belt, survives.
THIS DAY IN SHOW BIZ . . .
2004 [19] Action star-turned-California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger addresses the Republican National Convention, telling pessimists about the economy not to be “girly men”.
2018 [05] “A Star is Born” film remake, directed by and starring Bradley Cooper, and starring Lady Gaga, premieres at the Venice Film Festival (8 Oscar noms).
TODAY’S MUSIC EVENT . . .
2002 [21] NASA announces ’NSYNC’s 23-year-old Lance Bass as the first celebrity astronaut, aboard a future Russian Soyuz mission (It doesn’t happen because he fails to pay the $20-million tab).
TODAY’S FIRST . . .
1990 [33] Ken Griffey and Ken Griffey Jr. become the first father and son to play on same MLB team (Seattle Mariners). The pair hit back-to-back singles in the first inning.
TODAY’S RECORD . . .
1995 [28] 6 people die attempting to rescue a chicken that has fallen down a well in Egypt (only the chicken survives).
BULL’S BITS
BS WHACK FACTS:
✓ Saint Lucia is the only country in the world named after a woman.
✓ Coffee is the world’s most recognizable smell.
✓ Shoelaces untie themselves because the knot is subjected to forces of up to 7G with every step that the wearer takes.
✓ Drowning, not thirst, is the leading cause of accidental deaths in the Sahara Desert.
✓ On average, people flex their finger joints 25 million times in their life.
✓ Wasps get aggressive towards the end of summer because they get drunk on fermenting fruit hanging from trees.
-TheFactSite, BathroomReadersInstitute
Best of BS . . .
August is “National Inventors Month”… today’s our last chance to review the…
BS ALL-TIME MOST USELESS INVENTIONS:
• The Waterproof Tea Bag
• World’s Largest Microchip
• The Glow-in-the-Dark Sundial
• Imitation Cubic Zirconia
• The Compact Limousine
• The Impact-Triggered Parachute
• All-Terrain Roller Blades
• Armpit-Scented Deodorant
-First published in BS in 2015
BS STUPID STUFF MEN DO:
• Add hot sauce to spicy food.
• Watch the news 8 times a day and expect something new.
• Think Axe body spray is an effective substitute for a shower.
• Tell her to ‘calm down’.
• Get married. I’ll hide now.
• Mansplain. That means a man explaining something to a woman in a condescending manner, ladies.
• Hold my beer and I’ll show you…
-Twitter, first published in BS in 2020
BS WEB GOODIE:
Cover version (sound up): https://tinyurl.com/4ue9bwfz
BS RANDOM JOKE:
We’ve all heard that a million monkeys banging on a million typewriters will eventually reproduce the entire works of Shakespeare. Now, thanks to the internet, we know that’s not true.
BS PHONE STARTER:
What is the biggest difference between school now – and when you went?
BS WATER COOLER QUESTION:
Question: According to a survey on office etiquette, 93% of people agree: You should not do THIS at your desk. What is it?
Answer: Clip your fingernails
BS DEEP THOUGHT:
Respect other people’s feelings. It might mean nothing to you, but it could mean everything to them.
