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BS SHOW BIZ BUZZ:
Today’s Christmas tree lighting ceremony at the New York Stock Exchange features appearances by Billy Ray Cyrus, Collective Soul, David Nail (“Red Light”), and Twisted Sister (of these 4, only Nail’s stock is on the way up) . . . It’s been announced the low-rated syndicated “Bonnie Hunt Show” will wrap production at the end of this season (apparently daytime TV can only support 322 talk shows) . . . The History channel is getting into reality TV with the upcoming competition “Top Shot” (2010) in which contestants compete in a sharp-shooting challenges inspired by real-life events in history – from Wild West shootouts to sniper missions – for a shot at $100,000 (are you gonna tell someone with a gun in their hands that they lost?) . . . The Muppets’ cover of Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody”, which has generated over 9 million views on YouTube over the past couple weeks, is now being released as a digital single (Brian May scores another bingo!) . . . As if cash-strapped actor Nicolas Cage doesn’t have enough money problems, now he’s being sued by ex-wife Christina Fulton for $13 million as compensation for ‘mental, physical & emotional abuse’ (hon, he’s tapped out – haven’t you heard?) . . . 29-year-old famous person Jessica Simpson has apparently finally moved on from ex-boyfriend Tony Romo (Dallas Cowboys) and is now said to be dating 42-year-old rocker Billy Corgan (Smashing Pumpkins), even though friends think he’s way too old for her (they have so much in common – both has-beens) . . . 49-year-old Brit actor Colin Firth, who plays a gay college professor in his new movie “A Single Man” (out Friday), tells “Parade” magazine there are many secretly gay actors in Hollywood who won’t come out for fear of losing work (that’ll certainly lead to speculation – who do you think?) . . . Ever wanting to keep up with big sis’ Paris, Nicky Hilton has become the 2nd Hilton sister to be burgled this year, a break-in of her Hollywood home yielding several high-ticket items including a piece of Lalique crystal and – a laptop computer (oh-oh, here come the photos!) . . . And David Yates, director of the last 2 “Harry Potter” films, tells Spanish entertainment guide “La Vibra” that, even though they are not in the book, there are 2 naked scenes in the next movie, “Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows” (the bad news is, they involve ‘Albus Dumbledore’ and a ‘dementor’).

TODAY’S SHOW BIZ SKED:
• “Bonnie Hunt Show” (syndicated/CityTV) – Jackie, Jermaine, Tito & Marlon Jackson (“The Jacksons: A Family Dynasty”, debuting Sunday on A&E).
• “The Hour” (CBC) – Norah Jones “(The Fall”).
• “Jay Leno Show” (NBC/CityTV) – Barry Manilow (“In The Swing of Christmas”).
• “Jimmy Kimmel Live” (ABC/CityTV) – Timbaland (“Shock Value 2”).
• “Late Night With Jimmy Fallon” (NBC/A Channel) – Blakroc (“Blakroc”).
• “Late Show With David Letterman” (CBS) – Tori Amos (“Midwinter Graces”).
• “Live With Regis & Kelly” (syndicated/CTV) – Mariah Carey (“Memoirs Of an Imperfect Angel”); Billy Ray Cyrus (“Back to Tennessee”).
• “Today Show” (NBC) – Rob Thomas (“Cradlesong”).
• “Tonight Show With Conan O’Brien” (NBC/A Channel) – 30 Seconds To Mars (“This Is War”).
• “The View” (ABC/CTV) – Adam Lambert (“For Your Entertainment”).

BS MUSIC NOTES:
• Beyoncé – She’s in talks with Wynn Las Vegas about a lucrative, long-term contract to appear in the resort’s Encore Theater, where country star Garth Brooks plans to play a series of solo acoustic shows starting this Friday.
• Blink-182 – Drummer Travis Barker has settled his lawsuit against several companies over that plane crash in South Carolina last year that killed 4 people. As usual in these cases, terms of the settlement are confidential.
• Brooks & Dunn – They have announced dates for next year’s farewell tour. It begins April 23rd in Sacramento CA. They’ll visit 47 cities during what’s tagged the “Last Rodeo Tour”.
• Bruce Springsteen – Autopsy results show that his 36-year-old cousin Lenny Sullivan died of acute amphetamine and heroin intoxication. He was serving as assistant road manager to the E Street Band when he was found dead in Kansas City October 26th.
• Coldplay – They’re reportedly worried they’ve become a ‘stadium band’ and are trying to get back to their roots with a stripped-down acoustic album. To help them get in the mood, they’ve holed themselves up in an abandoned London church.
• Eminem – His new leaked song calls out Adam Lambert, Lance Bass and Clay Aiken, and seems to slip in an anti-gay slur. Lambert is taking the attention as a sign that he’s doing something right. (This guy’s wily!)
• The Fray – They’re amidst another ugly artist-management split. They’ve sued former manager Gregg Latterman for surreptitiously acquiring rights to some of their songs; he’s countersued, claiming the band owes him more than $750,000 in commission and expenses. (As usual, lawyers will be the winners in all this mess.)
• INXS – They’ve announced a new album featuring a group of guest singers, plus a world tour that will kick off with a show at the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver.
• Pearl Jam – Eddie Vedder has become engaged to longtime girlfriend, Jill McCormick. According to E! Online, he popped the question last Friday night in Washington DC while they were in town for the “Kennedy Center Honors”.
• Weezer – River Cuomo’s injuries when their tour bus crashed Sunday are apparently more serious than first reported. They include both a small cut on his spleen and a small puncture in his lung. The good news is, they say he is recovering in hospital. Weezer’s remaining December concert dates have been cancelled.

COMING ATTRACTIONS:
A BS selection of movies in the making …
• “Brother’s Keeper” – This family drama from WWE Films stars wrestling champ John Cena (“Twelve Rounds”), alongside Patricia Clarkson & Danny Glover. The story follows a teenage boy’s attempt to reunite his mother and estranged older brother 10 years after the death of their father, who was a wrestling legend. In order to pull the family together, the teen decides to join the high school wrestling team. Shooting is underway in New Orleans.
• “Happy Feet 2 in 3D” – Elijah Wood (‘Ramon’) & Robin Williams (‘Mumble’) are in negotiations to reprise their roles as the lead voices in this sequel to the 2006 Oscar-winning animated hit. The original grossed some $384 million in worldwide box office. The actors will travel to Australia in late January/early February to record the voicetracks. Details of the new storyline are being kept on ice. The film is scheduled to debut in 2011.
• “Lost Girls & Love Hotels” – Kate Bosworth stars as a young woman who tries to forget her past while working in Tokyo at a stewardess training institute by day and losing herself in drug-addled oblivion by night. She finds herself on the road to redemption when she becomes interested in a missing girl. Helmed by Montréal director Jean-Marc Vallee (“CRAZY”).
• “One Day” – This romantic comedy based on a novel by British author David Nicholls revolves around a couple who meet for the first time during their graduation in 1988 and proceed to meet one day each year for the next 20 years. The story tracks their lives and loves until they realize they were meant for each other. No casting announcements have yet been made.

LEAST FASCINATING CELEBS OF 2009:
• Amy Winehouse – She hasn’t actually recorded anything since 2006 and she’s running out of ways to shock us … other than a boob job that apparently leaks.
• Gwen Stefani & Gavin Rossdale – They might just be the most grounded parents in Hollywood, carting their tots Kingston and Zuma everywhere they go. Yawn!
• Jennifer Lopez – In years past, she thrilled us with her outlandish rider demands and way-beyond-diva sense of importance. Nowadays … uh, is she still around?
• Jessica Alba – So hot, yet so uninteresting … how is that possible?
• Kate Hudson – Does anyone really care about what she does, aside from whichever guy she’s currently sleeping with? Her last good movie: “Almost Famous” (2000).
• Kris Allen – He won the “American Idol” battle but lost the war for the public’s interest. He’s a fine musician … but oh so dull!
• Lily Allen – The Brit pop star has twice announced her intention to quit the music biz this year but no one seems to care.
• Miley Cyrus – No more racy self-shots; her most controversial move this year? Quitting Twitter.
• Sarah Jessica Parker – She’s no ‘Carrie’ in real life. The most interesting thing to happen to her this year was when a couple of cops tried to sell info about her surrogate kid to the tabloids.
• Shakira – Despite her sex-kitten act, the deepest, darkest secret of this “She Wolf’s” life is that she – gasp! – enrolled for classes at UCLA.
(And who would you add to the list?)
– Adapted from Celebuzz.com.

MOST POPULAR SEASONAL SONGS:
Based on recent airplay on adult contemporary radio …
1. “A Holly Jolly Christmas” … Burl Ives.
2. “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” … Brenda Lee.
3. “The Christmas Song” … Nat King Cole.
4. “Jingle Bell Rock” … Bobby Helms.
5. “All I Want For Christmas Is You” … Mariah Carey.
(Which over-played holiday tune makes you most want to scream?)
– “Billboard”

VATICAN TOP 10:
In an unusual move, the Vatican has listed Tupac Shakur’s 1998 hit “Changes” as one of the institution’s ‘12 Favorite Songs’ on its MySpace Music listing. The song joins the ranks of works such as “Don Giovanni” by Mozart, the Vatican’s own “Advocata Nostra”, featuring the voice of Pope Benedict XVI, and “After The Rain”, by Shirley Bassey. The webpage says the genres may be very different from each other, but all the tracks share the aim to reach the heart of good minded people. The distinction is the first time the Catholic Church has officially recognized the work of any popular recording artist. (Have they considered Judas Priest?)
– FMQB.com

BS AMAZING FACT:
Photo website Flickr hosts some 3 billion photos; but social website Facebook hosts more than 10 billion.
– DidYouKnow.org

BS CHRONOMETER 12.10.09

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TODAY’S CELEBIRTHDAYS . . .
1960 [49] Kenneth Branagh, Belfast, Northern Ireland, movie actor (“Valkyrie”, “Harry Potter & The Chamber of Secrets”)/movie director (“Thor” [2011], “Sleuth”)/screenwriter (“Hamlet”)

1964 [45] Bobby Flay, NYC, TV chef (8 different Food Network programs)

1970 [39] Kevin Sharp, Redding CA, country singer (“Nobody Knows”, “She’s Sure Taking It Well”)

1974 [35] Meg White, Grosse Pointe Farms MI, rock drummer (White Stripes-“Icky Thump”, “Seven Nation Army”)  FACTOID: In the early 1990s, she met musician/songwriter Jack Gillis while working as a bartender in Royal Oak MI. They were reportedly married on September 21, 1996 when in his characteristically unorthodox fashion, he took her last name.

BS REASONS TO PARTY . . .
• “Dewey Decimal Day”, honoring Melville Dewey who was born December 10, 1851 in Adams Center NY. When he was just 21, he invented the ‘Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC) System’ while working as a student assistant in the Amherst College library. For creating this revolutionary new filing system, he’s known as the ‘Father of Modern Librarianship’.

• “Festival of Whirling Dervishes” in Konya, Turkey. Traditionally-dressed male dancers present their ’sena’ or whirling ceremony when they spin in tight circles to achieve mystical union with heaven. This dizzy week-long custom goes back over 700 years.

• “International Human Rights Day”, honoring the UN Declaration of Human Rights in 1948.

• “Nobel Prize Awards Day”. The awards were established by the will of Swedish chemist and dynamite inventor Alfred Nobel and have been held on this date since 1901. The current value of each award is over $1 million. The star-studded “Nobel Peace Prize Concert” is staged tomorrow.

THIS DAY IN SHOW BIZ . . .
1990 [19] 1st “Billboard Music Awards” (Janet Jackson picks up 8 trophies)

2005 [04] Envelope-pushing comedian Richard Pryor dies in Encino CA at age 65

TODAY’S MUSIC EVENTS . . .
1984 [25] African famine relief song “Do They Know It’s Christmas” by Band Aid is released

1994 [15] Kenny G’s “Miracles: The Holiday Album” hits #1 on album charts and becomes best-selling Christmas album in history, selling over 8 million units

TODAY’S FIRST . . .
1998 [11] Team of 6 astronauts becomes 1st to occupy the International Space Station

TODAY’S RECORD . . .
1972 [37] ‘Longest Non-Scoring Pass’ in NFL history as St Louis Cardinals QB Jim Hart passes from his own 1-yard-line to Bobby Moore (now known as Ahmad Rashad) who’s tackled at LA Rams’ 1-yard-line … a total of 98 yards with no score!

AND REMEMBER . . .
[Fri] Salesperson Day
[Fri] International Mountain Day
[Fri] UNICEF Birthday
[Fri] Day Of the Horse
[Fri] Chanukah begins at sunset (Jewish)
[Fri] “Invictus” opens in movie theaters
[Sat] Poinsettia Day
This Week Is … Human Rights Week
This Month Is … World AIDS Month

BULL’S BITS

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BS WHYZITS:
• Whyzit people on TV never go to the bathroom?
• Whyzit the fellow who says “I’m no speechmaker” never lets it go at that instead of giving a demonstration?
• Whyzit people who know the least know it the loudest?
• Whyzit, whether you ‘sit up’ or ‘sit down’, the result is the same?
• Whyzit the practice is called ‘fasting’ when time passes so slowly while you’re doing it?
• Whyzit the phrase ‘It is none of my business’ seems to always be followed by the word ‘but’?

BS PHONE STARTER:
What’s your absolute favorite aroma? (According to a new survey of thousands by OnePoll, the top 5 are: Freshly Baked Bread, Clean Sheets, Freshly Mown Grass, Fresh Flowers, and Freshly Ground Coffee. It seems ‘fresh’ is a big part of the appeal.)

TRUTH OR BS?
Are the following statements true or just a pile o’ crap?
• It takes 540 peanuts to make a 12-ounce jar of peanut butter. (TRUE)
• On an average day North American hospitals treat 120 toilet seat-related injuries. (TRUE)
• The average person consumes about 16,000 gallons of beer in a lifetime. (BS. Not beer, water.)
• Charles Dickens, author of “A Christmas Carol”, always faced north when he slept or worked on books. (TRUE, he believed this helped him tap into his dreams and write better novels.)
• Covering your head on a cold day does nothing to preserve body heat. (BS. Your mother was right – you can lose from half to three-quarters of your body heat by NOT covering your head.)
• An old English sport called ‘gouging’ was popular around 1800 in which the object was to gouge out your opponent’s eye using a thumbnail. (TRUE.)
• The pyramids of Ferrein are much older than the Great Pyramids of Egypt. (TRUE, because they, along with the pyramids of Malpighii, are found in the human body – in the kidneys!)

BS RANDOM JOKE:
Whoever coined the phrase ‘Quiet as a mouse’ has never stepped on one.

BS WATER COOLER QUESTION:
Today’s Question: The average age of someone who earns one of THESE has risen from 34- to 39-years-old.
Answer to Give Out Next Show: A Nobel Prize. (“Newsweek”)

BS DEEP THOUGHT:
It’s better to be looked over than overlooked.