BS SHOW BIZ BUZZ:
If last night’s premiere of the new sci-fi series “V” (ABC/CTV) looked somewhat familiar, it might be because the ‘new show’ is actually a re-working of a 1984-85 series of the same name (it’s a green show – recycled) . . . 34-year-old Oscar-winner Kate Winslet has settled a lawsuit against British tabloid “Daily Mail” over an article labeling her ‘World’s Most Irritating Actress’, agreeing to accept $40,000 and a sincere apology (she kind of just proved the point) . . . 29-year-old model Gisele Bundchen (Mrs Tom Brady) has passed the written exam for her helicopter pilot’s license (she’ll likely wait for the practical part until she gives birth next month, freeing up space in the cockpit) . . . Recently canceled NBC-TV drama “Southland” has been rescued and will move to the TNT network beginning in January (Ben McKenzie fans will be thrilled) . . . Jay Leno tells “Broadcasting & Cable” magazine he would have rather stayed put on “The Tonight Show” and if NBC-TV offered him that job again, he’d take it (BS translation: I’m floundering in primetime) . . . 30-year-old actress Kate Hudson tells “Elle” magazine that men are easy to figure out, they’re all about sports, food, and sex (well, her boyfriend is nicknamed ‘A-Rod’) . . . 37-year-old Montréal-born actress Jessalyn Gilsig hasn’t let her success playing ‘Terri Schuester’ on “Glee” (FOX) go to her head, recently taking a part-time catering job (relax girl, you’re not in Canadian show biz anymore!)  . . . 44-year-old “Entourage” actor Jeremy Piven (‘Ari Gold’) says he’s given up supposedly healthful soya milk because he found out it has enough estrogen in it for him to grow breasts (and he’s already a big enough boob) . . . And, in addition to admitting drug addiction, former tennis ace Andre Agassi reveals another jaw-dropper in his upcoming autobiography, “Open” (out next Monday) – his famous ‘lion-mane’ locks were, in fact, a wig (no wonder he always wore a headband – it was holding his hair on!).

TODAY’S SHOW BIZ SKED:
• “Ellen DeGeneres Show” (syndicated/A Channel) – Mariah Carey (“Memoirs Of an Imperfect Angel”).
• “Late Night With Jimmy Fallon” (NBC/A Channel) – Monsters Of Folk (“Monsters Of Folk”).
• “Late Show With David Letterman” (CBS) – Ryan Bingham & the Dead Horses perform “Tell My Mother I Miss Her So”.
• “Live With Regis & Kelly” (syndicated/CTV) – Sean Kingston (“Tomorrow”).
• “New York Comedy Festival” (NYC) – The 5-day festival of stand-up opens, featuring some 150 performers in 10 venues. Among the headliners: Bill Maher, Dane Cook, Tracy Morgan, and British comic Ricky Gervais.
• “Tonight Show With Conan O’Brien” (NBC/A Channel) – The Bravery (“Stir the Blood”).

BS MUSIC NOTES:
• The Beatles – Their entire catalogue is available digitally – for now – on a website charging just 25 cents per track. The site is also streaming their recently remastered albums for free. It’s unlikely the service will be available long once EMI and Apple Corps become aware of it.
NET: http://bluebeat.com
• Kings of Leon – The “Use Somebody” hitmakers have teamed up with French fashion house Surface to Air to create a 12-piece fahsion collection which features their trademark checked shirts and leather jackets. The line will launch in Denmark in December. (Proving just about anyone can have a clothing line nowadays.)
• Lady Gaga – She has become the first artist to have 4 consecutive singles from a debut album reach #1. Should it make it to the top, “Bad Romance” would be the 5th.
• Mariah Carey – While filming a recent commercial, she insisted on having several assistants to watch over her Jack Russells ‘Cha Cha’ and ‘JJ’. (Even her dogs have their own entourage!)
• Rihanna – She tells “Glamour” magazine: “I hope I find love in the next 10 years … that will be pretty annoying if I am 31 and still have never been in love!” (Ooh Chris, she dissed you big time!)
• Taylor Swift – She says she can’t wait to host “Saturday Night Live” this weekend. On Twitter she admits she’s over-preparing for it like everything else she does, bringing in dozens of ideas for skits. (That’s okay, that show can use the help.)
• U2 – The official attendance figure for their October 25th Rose Bowl concert in Pasadena CA is 97,014. That breaks their own record for ‘Largest Attendance at a Single-Act Concert’ in America (previously 86,145 at Philadelphia’s JFK Stadium during 1987’s “Joshua Tree” tour).
• Whitney Houston – She’s selling her old marital home, the 5-bedroom New Jersey property where she wed Bobby Brown in 1992, for $2.5 million. That’s said to be less than half its estimated worth. (Sorta like Bobby.)

BS BUZZWORDS:
New terms leaking into the lingo …
• ‘Beer Miler’ – A person who competes in races that combine running with beer drinking. (“I’m entering the ‘Guinness Relays’ for beer milers. You run a mile then drink a pint … then crawl a mile and …”)
• ‘Gender Fatigue’ – The lack of energy to continually ensure the workplace is gender neutral despite the fact sex discrimination continues to exist. (“I’d go to HR to complain about hitting the glass ceiling again but I’ve come down with a bad case of gender fatigue.”)
• ‘Neurosecurity’ – A future security worry related to neural interfaces that will enable us to control computers and other machines using only thoughts. (“I’ve checked the neurosecurity records for your workstation from the past week and all that’s registered is a blank screen.”)

TUBE VIOLENCE:
A new study from the State University of New York at Albany finds the more TV 3-year-olds watch, the more likely they are to behave aggressively. And here’s what’s truly scary – just having the TV on in the background, even if the child isn’t watching it, has also been linked to aggressive behavior, though the relationship isn’t as strong. As a result of their findings, the researchers recommend that parents should limit children’s TV time, pay attention to the content of programs, and consider how TV is used throughout the home. (There’s a reason the damn thing has an ‘off’ button.)
– Reuters Health

MODERN MYTHS ABOUT MUSIC LISTENING:
A new research paper by the Council for Research Excellence dispels many myths about how people now listen to music. The study uses data from AC Nielsen to determine how adults use radio and other forms of audio. Among the myths debunked …
• Myth #1: People Don’t Listen to Radio Anymore. Broadcast radio by far has the broadest reach (79% of adults 18+) as a source of music, and commands the most listening time (average of 122 minutes per day).
• Myth #2: Young People Listen to Radio Far Less than Older Adults. As well as older adults, 79% of 18-to-34 year-olds listen to broadcast radio. They average 104 minutes per day.
• Myth #3: Nobody Listens to CDs Anymore. CDs are second behind broadcast radio as a source of music, with an average listening time of 72 minutes per day by users. CDs represented 16% of daily music listening time in the study.
(Chin up, peeps. Everything’s gonna be alright.)
– Billboard.biz

VIRTUAL ASSURANCE:
People scared of flying can now press a button on their iPhone to help them deal with their panic. The ‘Flying Without Fear’ app has a video-based in-flight explanation of a flight, frequently asked questions, relaxation exercises, and a fear attack button with breathing exercises for emergencies. Long-haul airline Virgin Atlantic Airways has launched the app, based on its fear-conquering course that boasts a success rate over 98%. (Is there a ‘Barf Bag App’ in the works?)
– TheProvince.com

ANCIENT CHINESE SECRET?
Children suffering from H1N1 flu could benefit from taking ‘traditional Chinese medicine’, according to the Traditional Chinese Medicine Bureau. A spokesperson claims some children can be cured with only a single dosage of ‘No 2 Cold Medicine’, and that many may be cured within 3 days. The ‘No 2′ medicine is basically the same as regular anti-flu Chinese medicine. It can be purchased for around 6 yuan (about 90 cents). In Beijing, 20 traditional Chinese medicine hospitals have now opened 24-hour anti-H1N1 departments. In response, the World Health Organization says it is unfamiliar with traditional Chinese medicine and can not comment. (Unlike the world’s pharmaceutical companies, TCM doesn’t have billions to grease palms.)
– “China Daily”

BROWSER STATS:
New stats show that Google’s ‘Chrome’ is still the 4th-place web browser in terms of usage (preferred by about 6%), but it gained more than all others in October when it comes to stealing usage away from Microsoft’s dominant ‘Internet Explorer’. Use of ‘Explorer’ has dropped from 66% to 65%. Next comes Mozilla’s ‘Firefox’ (24%), and Apple’s Safari, now the preference of 4.4% of web surfers.
– CNET News

FAT BOOKS:
‘Chick lit’ has relied for years on repetitive plot lines with heroines who agonize about their weight as they swig Chardonnay, smoke cigarettes and have sex with their bosses, but the latest publishing phenomenon features a new kind of heroine: the young woman who is seriously overweight … and doesn’t care. Observers think women want to read about others who are learning to love themselves whatever their weight, because then they won’t have to go through that pesky problem of dieting themselves. Author Julia Llewellyn (“Love Nest”), says there’s a ‘big market’ who want to hear that message. (Apparently a really big market.)
– “The Observer”

GETTING WASTED:
Ever wonder how much time is wasted in your life? Recent research has turned up some surprising stats. An average 2.5 years is wasted due on things like traffic jams, shopping line-ups, waiting for public transportation, and dealing with needless bureaucracy. Every week, we squander about 1 hour, 24 minutes looking for stuff we can’t find at home, and another 1 hour, 18 minutes shopping for things without success. The study also concludes that young people waste twice as much time as older people, and men waste more time than women.
– PA News

DID YOU KNOW?
• The electric chair was invented by a dentist. (In case a root canal goes bad?)
• The pleasant feeling of eating chocolate is caused by a chemical called ‘anadamide’, which is also produced naturally in the brain. (Proving chocolate is a chemical dependency.)
• Mammals are the only animals with flaps around the ears. (For more information, Google ‘Prince Charles’.)
– DidYouKnow.org

BS CHRONOMETER 11.04.09

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TODAY’S CELEBIRTHDAYS . . .
1946 [63] Laura (Welch) Bush, Midland TX, US First Lady 2001-2009)/Mrs George W Bush/mother of twins Jenna & Barbara  FACTOID: Tonight she guests on the “Jay Leno Show” (NBC/CityTV).

1960 [49] Kathy Griffin, Oak Park IL, comedian/TV personality (“Kathy Griffin: My Life On the D-List” since 2005)

1962 [47] Jeff Probst, Wichita KS, Emmy-winning TV reality show host (“Survivor” since 2000)

1969 [40] Matthew McConaughey, Uvalde TX, movie actor (“Ghosts of Girlfriends Past”, “A Time to Kill”)

1969 [40] Diddy (Sean Combs), Harlem NY, hip-hop artist (“Shake Ya Tailfeather”, “I’ll Be Missing You”)/recording mogul (Bad Boy Records)/fashion designer (Sean John)/TV producer (“Making the Band”)/sometime actor (“Raisin In the Sun”, Monster’s Ball”)

BS REASONS TO PARTY . . .
• “Children’s Goal-Setting Day”, to encourage parents to foster goal-setting habits in their children’s lives. Children need goals, because they spend altogether too much time goofin’ around – you know – acting like kids.

• “Take Our Kids to Work Day”, the 15th annual national program instigated by The Learning Partnership in which hundreds-of-thousands of Grade 9 students spend the day at workplaces experiencing a wide variety of career options. About 2 million young Canadians and tens-of-thousands of workplaces nationwide have participated in the program since 1994.
NET: http://www.thelearningpartnership.ca

TODAY’S MUSIC EVENT . . .
1997 [12] Shania Twain releases smash album “Come On Over” (over 34 million copies sold worldwide)

TODAY’S FIRSTS . . .
1920 [89] Canadian Marconi’s radio station CFCF Montréal broadcasts 1st commercial radio show (station began in December 1919, reputedly making it the oldest in the world)

1939 [70] Packard unveils the 1st automobile with ‘Air Conditioning’

2008 [01] Barack Obama becomes the 1st African-American to be elected President of the United States

TODAY’S RECORD . . .
2001 [08] Arizona Diamondbacks become Major League Baseball’s quickest expansion team to win the “World Series” by beating the NY Yankees in just their 4th season of existence

AND REMEMBER . . .
[Thurs] 2009 MTV Europe Music Awards
[Thurs] Men Make Dinner Day
[Thurs] Billboard Touring Awards (NYC)
[Fri] “A Christmas Carol”; “The Box”; “The Fourth Kind”; “The Men Who Stare at Goats” open in movie theaters
[Sat] International Men’s Day
[Sun] Cook Something Bold & Pungent Day
This Week Is . . . National Fig Week
This Month Is . . . Runaway Prevention Month

BULL’S BITS

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MORE BS QUESTIONS PLAGUING HUMANKIND:
• Why does the person that snores always fall asleep first?
• If I save the whales, where do I keep them?
• Why do psychics have to ask you for your name?
• Is it only coincidence that ‘stressed’ spelled backwards is ‘desserts’?
• What are chickens called if they are scared to do something?
• How come the foods that are good for you tend to seek the back of the refrigerator?
• If evolution really works, how come mothers only have 2 hands?

BS U-PICK TRIVIA:
• What has decreased in size by over 50% in the last 20 years?
a. Automobile fuel tanks.
b. Office cubicles. [CORRECT]
c. Women’s underwear.

• In a survey of people 8-years-old and older, what do 39% admit they have done with milk?
a. Drunk it out of a carton.
b. Cried over spilling it.
c. Blown it out of their noses. [CORRECT]

BS RANDOM JOKE:
What do computer engineers use for birth control? Their personalities.

BS PHONE STARTER:
Which modern-day toys will stand the test of time and still be around in 50 years? (“Kiplinger Newsletter” suggests Legos, Sesame Street plush toys, Tonka trucks, Play-Doh, Nerf toys, Barbie and Transformers, among others.)

BS WATER COOLER QUESTION:
Today’s Question: It’s not a country but if it was, THIS would have the 6th largest population in the world.
Answer to Give Out Next Show: Facebook.

BS DEEP THOUGHT:
96.7% of all statistics are made up.