Wednesday, March 10, 2021 – Edition: #6941
Get a Load of This Sheet!
BS SHOW BIZ BUZZ:
★ “The Queen’s Gambit,” is on its way to becoming a musical. Level Forward, has acquired the theatrical stage rights to Walter Tevis’ novel “The Queen’s Gambit,” which served as the basis for the miniseries. It centers on Beth Harmon, an orphan who discovers she has a preternatural ability to dominate her chess competition. The novel, published in 1983, follows her journey from Kentucky to Paris to Moscow, while she battles addiction and the prejudices of a male-centered world. Now, that journey will involve music, dance and singing, in addition to pawns and rooks. No timeline or creative talent has been announced.
-Yahoo
★ Tom Cruise visited a COVID-19 vaccination center last week to thank frontline workers who are administering vaccines to vulnerable patients. He stopped off at the center in London, where he met with staff who have been working tirelessly amid the pandemic. That comes after he went viral in December when a video surfaced of him raging at crew members on the set of “Mission: Impossible 7” – which has been filming in the U.K. – for not socially distancing on set, amid fears a COVID breakout could have shut down production.
-Canoe
★ Angelina Jolie is continuing to do her part to help both people and the planet. Her latest humanitarian project has her being named the “godmother” of the 2021 Women for Bees program. The project, in partnership with Guerlain and Unesco, will train women beekeepers from all over the world and empower them to be entrepreneurs. The goal is that in 5 years, 50 women will have gone through the program, 2,500 hives will have been built in 25 Unesco biosphere reserves, and 125 million bees will have been restocked.
-ETCanada
★ ‘Pepé Le Pew’ is the latest victim of cancel culture. The French cartoon skunk will reportedly not be making an appearance in “Space Jam: A New Legacy”, after being besieged by controversy when a New York Times columnist wrote that the cartoon character “added to rape culture.” A hybrid live-action animation scene between actress Greice Santo and Pepé Le Pew, shot in 2019 for “Space Jam 2”, was left on the cutting room floor.
-Deadline
TODAY’S SHOW BIZ SKED:
• “Jimmy Kimmel Live” (ABC/Global): Kevin Bacon, Travon Free, Daya
• “The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon” (NBC/CTV): Norman Reedus, Charli & Dixie D’Amelio, Mike Vecchione
• “Late Night with Seth Meyers” (NBC/CTV): Audra McDonald, Fruit Bats, John Herndon
• “The Late Late Show with James Corden” (CBS/CTV): Trevor Noah, Grouplove
• “Conan” (TBS): Chris “Ludacris” Bridges
• “Watch What Happens Live” (Bravo): Dolores Catania, Heather McMahan
• “The View” (ABC/CTV): Eddie Murphy
• “The Talk” (CBS): Lisa Vanderpump, Jessica Long
• “Live with Kelly and Ryan” (ABC/CTV): Kim Raver, Dr. Heather Loenser
• “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” (NBC/CTV): Rosamund Pike, Niecy Nash, Black Pumas
• “The Kelly Clarkson Show” (CHECK LOCAL LISTINGS): Dr. Jill Biden (R)
• “The Drew Barrymore Show” (CHECK LOCAL LISTINGS): Ike Barinholtz, Luvvie Ajayi, Joy Bauer
• “The Masked Singer” (FOX): Season 5 premiere. Group A performs as guest host Niecy Nash takes the stage, along with panelists Ken Jeong, Jenny McCarthy, Nicole Scherzinger and Robin Thicke.
• “Game of Talents” (FOX): Premiere. Contestants must spot a fire dancer, spider wrangler, gospel singer and a contortionist.
• “South Park” (COMEDY): As the citizens of South Park are clamoring for the COVID-19 vaccine, a militant group tries to stop the boys from getting their teacher vaccinated.
BS MUSIC NOTES:
• BTS — took top honor in music industry trade organization IFPI’s 2020 annual recording artist of the year award, a distinction calculated on global streams and sales. The rest of the top 5, in order: Taylor Swift, Drake, The Weeknd and Billie Eilish.
• Kanye West – Former bodyguard Steve Stanulis says 2 Hollywood streaming services are racing to create Kanye documentaries. Both projects aim to center on the rapper’s relationship with his onetime bodyguard, who is also a former cop and Chippendale’s dancer. He worked with West in 2016, and was around for incidents such as his behind-the-scenes meltdown on the set of “Saturday Night Live”.
• Post Malone – He and fellow first-time Grammy nominees BTS, plus others, have donated items to an auction to benefit the Grammy Museum and its music education initiatives. The online auction runs through March 23. Other nominees who donated “items and experiences” include Taylor Swift, Black Pumas, Billie Eilish, H.E.R. and Phoebe Bridgers. Link: https://www.charitybuzz.com/support/713
• The Killers — have rescheduled their “Imploding the Mirage” tour to 2022. They were due to head to the UK and Ireland in May this year, but due to the ongoing pandemic, all dates have been rescheduled to May and June 2022.
• INXS — founding member and songwriter Andrew Farriss will release his debut self-titled solo album on March 19. The outlaw-inspired country release has been a passion project for more than a decade. The single and video ‘Run Baby Run’ is out now. LINK: https://tinyurl.com/hc5ftr6z
• Miranda Lambert – has shared more details about her new restaurant and bar coming to Nashville. “Miranda Lambert’s Casa Rosa” will be a 4-floor complex, including a rooftop bar with Nashville skyline views. The menu will feature classic Tex-Mex fare and an “extensive” margarita and tequila menu. The building is currently undergoing renovations, and Casa Rosa is due to open this summer.
• Gabby Barrett – On Tuesday, she will release the EP “Live From the Goldmine” — which was captured during the launch event last summer for her “Goldmine” album. It will feature 7 songs, including the hit ‘The Good Ones’.
• Garth Brooks — In a recent podcast interview, he said it was George Strait who inspired him to become a country artist. Quote: “When I heard George Strait, I went holy cow, that’s what I want to do.”
SHOOTING THE BULL
HASTA LA VISTA, BABIES:
The joke at the start of lockdown was that all those people spending all that time at home would lead to a baby boom. The funny thing is, though, the exact opposite has come true (at least in the western world), according to a report in the Wall Street Journal. France, Japan, Germany, the U.K., and the U.S. reported fewer births in 2020, with the most significant decrease in Italy — the European country that suffered the most serious early COVID-19 losses. (The official stats for Canada aren’t yet available, but several provinces, including BC and Alberta have already reported birthrates nearing decade lows.) Laura Wright, an associate sociology professor at the University of Saskatchewan, says this is probably just the tip of the iceberg, and she expects birth rates to drop ever further in 2021, considering the impact of COVID-19 on the economy and employment.
(Too much Netflix and not enough chill?)
(You just can’t overestimate the impact of spending all day with teenagers!)
(At least that means it won’t become even more difficult to ‘social distance’ in the future…)
-HuffPost
SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE:
Most Alexa users probably think they’re just dealing with Amazon’s friendly voice-activated assistant. It turns out, though, Alexa is just a “middle woman” for countless third parties that could put your private information in harm’s way, according to researchers from North Carolina State University. They say that Alexa has a number of vulnerabilities when dealing with the programs users interact with via the popular device. The danger stems from the thousands of programs, or skills, that can run on Alexa. These function like the apps on a smartphone, doing everything from playing music to ordering groceries. There are currently over 100,000 skills users can install, and the majority of them are created by third parties. The researchers found that not only could skill developers participate in phishing scams with Alexa users, they could also alter service agreements after a skill is placed in stores, and that almost one-quarter of the tested programs which request user data either don’t have a privacy policy or their agreement is misleading or incomplete.
(Try asking Alexa about THAT!)
(“Alexa, WTF?”)
(Well. That makes me happy that I still haven’t figured my Alexa out yet!)
-StudyFinds
BEER I GO AGAIN:
It’s a whole new spin on giving up something for Lent. Rather than giving up sweets or smoking, Cincinnati brewery owner Del Hall (“A Real American Beer-o”) has given up all food and beverages — except beer. That’s right, since Feb. 17, and through until Apr. 4, Hall is consuming a diet consisting of only malt, barley and hops – in liquid form. (Plus a little water, black coffee, and herbal tea, for health reasons.) Why? he is doing it to raise money for those in the hospitality industry that have been affected by the pandemic. His goal is $50,000. And this isn’t his first time. It’s the third year in a row he has had only beer for Lent. Hall says he “enjoys” 3-5 beers per day, and in the previous 2 years, he lost 40-50 pounds each time. On Monday, he reported on Instagram that he had lost 23.1 lbs. (10.5kg) in 20 days.
(Some people never really outgrow their college years…)
(Only a brewery owner could AFFORD to do this around here!)
(I wish I heard about this sooner. Up until around the start of March, I’d still have been eligible to join him!)
-BroBible
AWFUL LYRICS THAT RUIN OTHERWISE EXCELLENT SONGS:
Redditor u/Cobbo95 asked, “What’s a terrible lyric in an otherwise great song?” The responses didn’t disappoint…
➢ “Uno, dos, tres, catorce!” — U2, ‘Vertigo’ (Edge: “Look, we need to tell him or we’ll listening to him say that for the next 30 years.”
➢ “Should’ve known you were trouble from the first kiss. Had your eyes wide open, why were they open?” — Bruno Mars, ‘Grenade’ (How did he know they were open if his weren’t open too?)
➢ “Now you get to watch her leave out the window, guess that’s why they call it window pane.” — Eminem, ‘Love the Way You Lie’
➢ “Zip your lip like a padlock.” — Kesha, ‘Blah, Blah, Blah’ (Since when do padlocks “zip”?)
➢ “So gangster, I’m so thug.” — Train, ‘Hey, Soul Sister’ (Because when you think ‘thug’, you definitely think the singer from Train!)
➢ “LOL to the bank, checkin’ my account. Bank teller flirtin’ after checkin’ my account.” — Nicki Minaj ft. Drake and Lil Wayne, ‘Truffle Butter’ (Wouldn’t it be better if the 2nd line was “seein’ the amount”?)
➢ “If the light is off, then it isn’t on.” — Hilary Duff, ‘So Yesterday’
➢ “Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Saturday, and Sunday.” — Black Eyed Peas, ‘I Gotta Feeling’
➢ “Suckin’ on chili dogs outside the Tastee Freez.” — John Mellencamp, ‘Jack & Diane’ (The next line is worse!)
➢ “She had dumps like a truck truck truck” — Sisqó, ‘Thong Song’
And my person fav – “We got no class, And we got no principles, And we got no innocence, We can’t even think of a word that rhymes” – Alice Cooper ‘School’s Out’
-BuzzFeed
DID YOU KNOW?
A pizza place in Iowa has gained viral fame for putting Fruit Loops cereal on pizza. Fong’s Pizza menu features the item in the breakfast section as “Loopy Fruits Pizza.” The dessert-style dish features a sweet cream cheese sauce, mozzarella cheese and the brightly-colored fruity cereal. The restaurant’s co-founder Gwen Page says they came up with the loopy menu item as a way to provide an option that is fun for children, and because they “love doing things that are just off-the-wall.” One Twitter user called the pizza “a sacrilege” and “an affront to every Italian.” (At least now there’s a “fruity” pizza that’s worse than Hawaiian!) PIC: https://tinyurl.com/4b68hhy4
-Fox
BS CHRONOMETER 03.10.21
TODAY’S CELEBIRTHDAYS . . .
1940 [81] (Carlos) Chuck Norris, Ryan OK, martial artist/TV actor (“Walker, Texas Ranger” 1993-2001)/movie actor (“Way of the Dragon”)
1949 [72] Barbara Corcoran, Edgewater NJ, businesswoman/TV personality (“Shark Tank” since 2009)
1958 [63] Sharon Stone, Meadville PA, movie actress (“Basic Instinct”, “Casino”) COMING UP…“What About Love”, 2022
1963 [58] Rick Rubin, Long Beach NY, music producer (AC/DC, Adele, Ed Sheeran, Jay Z, Josh Groban, Justin Bieber, Kanye West, Metallica, etc.)
1971 [50] Jon Hamm, St Louis MO, TV actor (“Mad Men” 2007-15)/movie actor (“Minions”, “The Town”) COMING UP . . .“Top Gun: Maverick”, 2021
1972 [49] Timbaland (Timothy Mosley), Norfolk VA, music producer (Jay Z, Justin Timberlake, Madonna, Nelly Furtado, Rihanna, Usher, etc.)
1977 [44] Robin Thicke, LA CA, pop singer (‘Blurred Lines’, ‘Sex Therapy’)/son of Alan Thicke and Gloria Loring
1983 [38] Carrie Underwood, Muskogee OK, country singer (‘Something In the Water’, ‘Before He Cheats’)/married to ex-NHLer Mike Fisher since 2010
1984 [37] Olivia Wilde, NYC, movie actress (“TRON: Legacy”)/TV actress (“House MD” 2007-12) COMING UP…”Don’t Worry Darling”
1994 [27] Bad Bunny (Benito Ocasio), Almirante Sur Puerto Rico, reggaeton rapper-singer-songwriter (w/Cardi B and J Balvin-‘I Like It’, ft. Drake-‘Mia’)
BS REASONS TO PARTY . . .
• “International Day of Awesomeness”, a day to recognize that people are awesome every day, frequently don’t realize it, and their awesomeness is rarely recognized.
NET: http://dayofawesomeness.com
• “Mario Day”, saluting anyone with that name because the abbreviated date (MAR-10) sort-of spells ‘Mario’. Famous Marios include TV chef Mario Batali, NHL Hall of Famer Mario Lemieux, TV personality Mario Lopez and ‘Mario’ of “Super Mario Bros” videogame fame, of course.
• “Discover What Your Name Means Day”, a day to learn what your name and the names of others mean. There are many sources on the internet that can help you. The day can also be used to give your name its own meaning—one that reflects who you are.
• “International Bagpipe Day”, to celebrate the world’s many bagpipes and piping traditions.
NET: http://www.internationalbagpipeorganisation.com
• “Salvation Army Day”, on the anniversary of its establishment in the US on this day in 1880. The Sally Ann was founded by William Booth in London in 1865, then came to NYC to provide food, shelter and clothing to needy Americans.
• “Pack Your Lunch Day”, from the classic PB&J to the Pinterest-worthy mason jar salad, homemade
lunches are both fun and filling. Best of all, since you make it yourself, you can pack all your favorite foods! (But don’t just pack yourself a lunch full of brownies — your mother taught you better than that.)
COMING UP . . .
[Thurs] Dream Day
[Thurs] National Promposal Day
[Fri] Girl Scout Day
[Fri] Alfred Hitchcock Day
[Sun] Daylight Saving Time begins (North America)
THIS DAY IN SHOW BIZ . . .
1997 [24] “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” starring Sarah Michelle Geller, premieres on WB Television Network
2009 [12] Actress Mandy Moore (“This is Us”) weds singer-songwriter Ryan Adams in a quiet ceremony in Savannah GA (they divorce in 2016)
TODAY’S MUSIC EVENTS . . .
2003 [18] AC/DC, The Righteous Brothers, Elvis Costello and the Attractions, The Clash, The Police, and Floyd Cramer are inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
2008 [13] Madonna is inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, along with John Mellencamp, The Dave Clark Five, The Ventures and Leonard Cohen
2003 [18] During a concert in London, UK, Dixie Chicks singer Natalie Maines says she’s “ashamed the president of the USA is from Texas” (severely impacting their career)
TODAY’S FIRST . . .
1876 [145] In the first-ever telephone call, Alexander Graham Bell says “Mr. Watson, come here, I want to see you” to his assistant Thomas Watson
TODAY’S RECORD . . .
2015 [06] Marvin Gaye’s estate wins a $7.3 million lawsuit for music copyright infringement against Robin Thicke, Pharrell Williams, and T.I., after a jury finds the Robin Thicke song ‘Blurred Lines’ is too similar to Gaye’s 1977 hit ‘Got to Give It Up’
BULL’S BITS
BS WHACK FACTS:
✓ During the Alaskan gold rush, potatoes were worth their weight in gold.
✓ Some air fresheners contain numbing agents, which anesthetize the nose.
✓ Matt Damon refused to be involved in the “Bourne Conspiracy” video game because it was too violent.
✓ Honeybees can be trained to detect explosives.
✓ The world’s first known vending machine dispensed holy water. (Egypt, A.D. 100)
✓ The Los Angeles coroner’s department has a gift shop.
-BathroomReadersInstitute
Best of BS . . .
BS TV SHOWS AND MOVIES IN THE AGE OF CORONAVIRUS:
• Stay Home Alone
• Infector Gadget
• Sneezy Rider
• Bacteria to the Future
• Ten Things I Hate About Flu
• Cloudy With a Chance of Quarantine
• The Facemasked Singer
• How to Win Friends and Influenza People
-Twitter, first published in BS in 2020
TODAY’S SLICE OF BS:
➠ An observatory in Tucson, Arizona, has discovered a comet that will pass Earth this December. (In case you’re wondering, a comet is a gigantic mass wandering space pointlessly. Sorry. Thinking of William Shatner.)
➠ New York couple, Joy Morrow-Nulton and John Shults, just got married at the age of 94. (The bride said, “This is a moment I’ll never forget.” Then, she forgot!)
➠ Country star and “American Idol” season 4 winner Carrie Underwood is 38 today. (Carrie says she still talks to runner-up Bo Bice. (…when he delivers the occasional flower arrangement — or in the case of today…her birthday cake.)
➠ Chuck Norris is 81 today. (He doesn’t blow out the candles on his cake anymore. Instead, out of respect, they extinguish themselves.)
➠ Jon Hamm of “Mad Men” is 50 today. (He’ll spend the day being handsomer than you or I could ever hope to be.)
BS WEB GOODIE:
Spa day: https://tinyurl.com/2vs77493
BS THREEZER:
(Give contestant the clues, they must tell you what all three have in common…)
• Crunch, America, Kangaroo
(Answer: Captains)
• Charging, blocking, traveling
(Answer: Basketball violations)
• A radio station, a race horse, a menswear store
(Answer: They all have jockeys)
-TriBond
BS PHONE STARTER:
What 4-word phrase definitely means trouble? (“License and registration, please”, “I’m from the government”, “Where have you been?…”)
BS RANDOM JOKE:
If you’re happy and you know it, what combination of prescription medication are you on?
BS WATER COOLER QUESTION:
Question: A survey of current remote workers asked about the things they miss most about the office. Being face to face with others topped the list. What came in at #7?
Answer: Their chair
BS DEEP THOUGHT:
The man on top of the mountain didn’t fall there.
