BS SHOW BIZ BUZZ:
★ 83-year-old former “Star Trek” actor William Shatner is hoping to use crowdfunding on Kickstarter.com to publish a book explaining the mysteries of modern technology. “Catch Me Up” is intended to help the older generation come to grips with smartphones, email, and the Internet. It features stories of real people who’ve changed their lives by learning new tech skills. Those who donate money receive an array of benefits ranging from a mention on the book’s website ($1) to a table at Shatner’s annual charity gala ($10,000). The campaign, which ends in January, aims to raise $50,000. It’s already about halfway there.
– WENN.com
★ Oscar-winners Nicole Kidman & Reese Witherspoon are heading to the small-screen to appear in a new TV series from “Ally McBeal” writer-creator David E Kelley entitled “Big Little Lies”. Based on the Liane Moriarty book, the story follows 3 mothers with children in nursery school who get caught up in a murder mystery. Witherspoon and Kidman play 2 of the women, whose lives are turned upside down during a school fundraiser. The 3rd role is yet to be cast. The dramedy is currently being shopped to cable networks and streaming services like Netflix.
– “Hollywood Reporter”
★ And movie actor Benedict Cumberbatch wishes his fans would come up with a different nickname. The star of “The Imitation Game” (opening Friday) has a dedicated following of female supporters who call themselves … ‘Cumberbitches’. While the 38-year-old Brit says he’s flattered by the attention, he thinks they ought to choose a less ‘rude’ and more empowering nickname. Ideas, anyone? Cumbersomes? Cumbercollective? Cumberfans?
– ContactMusic.com’
 
TODAY’S SHOW BIZ SKED:
• “Football Night in America: Special Edition” (NBC) – Seattle Seahawks & San Francisco 49ers act like the NFL’s fiercest rivals. Could be the best game of the day.
• “Jimmy Kimmel Live” (ABC/CityTV) – New Basement Tapes Project (“Lost On the River”). Rerun.
• “Last Call With Carson Daly” (NBC) – You Me At Six (“Cavalier Youth”). Rerun.
• “Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade” (NBC) – The lineup for this morning’s 88th annual includes Idina Menzel (“Frozen”), KISS, Meghan Trainor, Nick Jonas, and Quvenzhané Wallis (“Annie”). There’s also a preview of “Peter Pan Live!” (airing  December 4th).
• “The Thanksgiving Day Parade on CBS” (CBS) – Kevin Frazier & Thea Andrews host; performances from Taylor Swift, plus the casts of the Broadway shows “Matilda” and “Pippin”.
• “Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” (NBC/CTV2) – Garth Brooks (“Man Against Machine”) has cancelled his scheduled appearance ‘in the wake of Ferguson MO unrest’. (Huh?)
• “A Very Bonnaroo Thanksgiving” (VH1) – This concert special highlights past performances from the annual Tennessee festival, including Arcade Fire, Elton John, Jack White, Metallica, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, Mumford & Sons, Paul McCartney, Pearl Jam and more. The long-running festival returns to Manchester TN next year June 11th-14th.
• “The View” (ABC/CTV) – Vintage Trouble (“The Bomb Shelter Sessions”). Rerun.

BS MUSIC NOTES:
• Fergie – We haven’t heard much from her for a while as she’s been uber-busy following the birth of Axl Jack Duhamel in August 2013. Quote: “Motherhood is amazing. I had no idea it would be so fun.”
• Lee Ann Womack – She sings the pre-game anthem ahead of this afternoon’s Philadelphia Eagles-Dallas Cowboys Thanksgiving Day game at AT&T Stadium in Arlington TX.
• One Direction – They’ve surpassed the milestone of 1 billion streams on Spotify, according to Billboard.com. The 1D hit “Story of My Life” is the service’s most-streamed track ever, with over 90 million plays worldwide.
• Prince – After joining Facebook and Twitter earlier this year, he’s now deleted his accounts and has also removed almost all of his videos from YouTube. He’s offered no explanation as to why. (Can you be a grumpy old man at age 56?)
• Quintavious Johnson – The 12-year old singer, who appeared on “America’s Got Talent”, performs the anthem prior to the Bears-Lions Thanksgiving Day game at Ford Field in Detroit MI.

COMING ATTRACTIONS:
A BS selection of movies in the making …
• “Knights Of the Round Table” – Jude Law re-teams with his “Sherlock Holmes” director Guy Ritchie in the role of the villain in at least the 1st movie of a planned ‘King Arthur’ franchise. The 6-film series already has Charlie Hunnam in the lead role of ‘Arthur’, with Astrid Berges-Frisbey playing ‘Guinevere’. Plot details are being kept under wraps, but the film will open in July 2016.
• “Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck” – The 1st authorized documentary about the late Nirvana frontman will debut on HBO in the US next year, followed by an international roll-out in theaters. Oscar-nominated director Brett Morgen, who previously tackled the Rolling Stones in the documentary “Crossfire Hurricane”, is helming the film, which has been 8 years in the making.
• “Let it Snow” – Jake Gyllenhaal will produce and star in an adaptation of the 1990 novel “The Man Who Made It Snow”, the true story of Max Mermelstein, who turned Pablo Escobar’s Medellin drug cartel into a billion-dollar enterprise, but then turned in his colleagues to the cops. The movie, being directed by Antoine Fuqua, is set to begin filming at the end of 2015.
• “1984” – “Bourne Ultimatum” director Paul Greengrass has signed on to take charge of the latest adaptation of George Orwell’s classic dystopian tale that follows the fortunes of ‘Winston  Smith’ as he dreams of sparking a rebellion against the omnipresent ‘Big Brother’. No cast details have been announced. John Hurt played the lead role in a 1984 film adaptation.
• “Three Generations” – This indie film is a transgender drama that centers on a NYC teenager (Elle Fanning) who’s decided to transition from female-to-male. Naomi Watts co-stars as her single mom; and Susan Sarandon plays her grandmother (hence the title). Tate Donovan also co-stars as a boyfriend of the teen. Watts is an exec producer on the project, due in 2015.

TOP CELEB SEARCHES OF 2014:
Based on queries from 100 million global users …
5. Joan Rivers
4. Kim Kardashian
3. Jay Z
2. Jennifer Lawrence
1. Robin Williams
The IAC company notes that searches for Bill Cosby have spiked recently, but despite the large volume of negative press surrounding him, he’s not a sure bet to make this year’s top 10.
– Ask.com

CHARGE YOUR PHONE IN 30 SECONDS:
A groundbreaking new ‘sponge’ battery uses nano-technology to store a much higher charge more quickly. ‘StoreDot’ sprang from research into Alzheimer’s at Tel Aviv University in Israel. Researchers discovered naturally occurring crystals 2 nanometers in diameter that act like a super-dense sponge to soak up power and retain it. The company claims they can store a charge or emit light, are cheap and easy to make, and are non-toxic. As well as quick-charging cellphones, the batteries can also charge an electric car in just minutes. (Bring ’em on … quick!)
– DailyMail.com

LEAST INFLUENTIAL PEOPLE OF 2014:
The annual antithesis of “TIME” magazine’s ‘Most Influential People’ list, these are some of the folks who tried to capture our imagination this year but failed …
5. Zach Braff … crowd-funded $3 million to basically film a “Garden State” do-over movie.
4. Carter Bays & Craig Thomas … to blame for the lame “How I Met Your Mother” finalé.
3. Donald Sterling … the racist/slumlord/pervert/nudist ex-NBA owner.
2. Barack Obama … even some of his most ardent supporters have become disappointed.
1. U2, especially Bono … aside from the spam album, the BS he constantly spews has become tiring.
(Special mention: Roger Goodell, the NFL commish who has made liking football feel gross and wrong.)
– GQ.com

ODD THINGS THAT HAVE BEEN SENT INTO SPACE:
Space is littered with cultural artifacts and bric-a-brac from space missions over the past 6 decades. Amongst the trash …
• A recording of “Across the Universe” by The Beatles.
• “Johnny B Goode” by Chuck Berry.
• “Up In the Air” by 30 Seconds to Mars.
• Luke Skywalker’s “Star Wars” Lightsaber prop from 1983.
• A ‘Buzz Lightyear’ astronaut action figure from “Toy Story”.
• The ashes of “Star Trek” actor James Doohan, who played ‘Scotty’ on the TV series.
• The ashes of Gene Roddenberry, the creator of “Star Trek”.
• Dirt from the pitcher’s mound at NYC’s Yankee Stadium.
• 100,000 Craigslist ads, including ‘Free kittens to a good home’.
• A tandoori lamb chop.
• A corned beef sandwich.
• Lots and lots of vomit bags.
– Telegraph.co.uk

WHEN FRENEMIES ARE HURTFUL:
A new Brigham Young University study suggests that about half our acquaintances are people we simultaneously love and hate, and they can cause our blood pressure to spike if they’re in the same room … or even if their names are just mentioned. The anxiety is apparently caused by the anticipation of having to interact with them. The researchers say the stress of these so-called ‘ambivalent relationships’ in our social network can actually be harmful. However, as opposed to social isolation, it’s recommended we foster the positive aspects of imperfect relationships, rather than cutting people out of our lives. (Use ’em and dump ’em. How classy.)
– Condensed from BBC.com

WHAT’S YOUR WEB IQ?
Highlights of a new Pew Research Center survey on what the average person knows about today’s technology …
• 83% can identify Microsoft founder Bill Gates on sight.
• 74% know that a ‘megabyte’ is bigger than a ‘kilobyte’.
• 69% know that URL stands for ‘Uniform Resource Locator’. (Seriously?)
• 82% of online users know that ‘hashtags’ are used on Twitter.
• 60% correctly answer that ‘tweets’ are limited to 140 characters.
• 23% are cognizant that the ‘Internet’ and ‘World Wide Web’ are not the same thing. (The ‘net is the architecture; the web is the network.)
The poll is part of an ongoing series Pew is doing to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the World Wide Web. (After all those years, nobody knows what the ‘Scroll Lock’ does.)
– USAToday.com

BS AMAZING FACT:
“Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo” is a grammatically correct sentence.
– Sourced from BuzzFeed.com

BS CHRONOMETER 11.27.14

TODAY’S CELEBIRTHDAYS . . .
1951 [63] Kathryn Bigelow, San Carlos CA, movie director-producer-writer (“Zero Dark Thirty”, 2010 Academy Award-“The Hurt Locker”)/wed to fellow director James Cameron 1989-91

1957 [57] Caroline Kennedy-Schlossberg, NYC, 29th United States Ambassador to Japan since 2013/author/attorney/only survivor of family of 4 that included JFK, Jackie O, and JFK Jr

1969 [45] Myles Kennedy (Bass), Boston MA, rock singer-songwriter-guitarist (Alter Bridge-“Addicted to Pain”, “Isolation”)

BS REASONS TO PARTY . . .
• “Bavarian Cream Pie Day”, an annual salute to the delicious, chilled dessert made with cooked egg custard layered with whipped cream and toppings in a pie shell.

• “Freckle Pride Day”, a day to stand up for your spots. Join ’em all together and you’d have a tan. Or maybe if you connect them they make a picture?

• “Grey Cup Festival” gets underway in Vancouver BC. Slated events include …
– CFL Awards (tonight)
– Grey Cup Street Festival (Friday-Saturday)
– Team parties (Friday-Saturday)
– Grey Cup Festival Parade (Saturday)
– Pregame Tailgate Party (Sunday)
– Grey Cup Fan March (Sunday)
– 102nd Grey Cup Championship Game (Sunday)
NET: http://www.102greycupfestival.ca

• “Pins & Needles Day”, a celebration of the fine art of sewing, needlework, cross-stitching, etc.

• “Thanksgiving Day” in America, a yearly tradition on the 4th Thursday of November since 1879.

THIS DAY IN SHOW BIZ . . .
2009 [05] Golf superstar Tiger Woods is taken to hospital following a single-car accident near his Florida home (Highway Patrol says he pulled out of his driveway at 2:25 am, hit a fire hydrant, and then drove into a tree on a neighbor’s property)

TODAY’S MUSIC EVENTS . . .
2005 [09] Aerosmith and 50 Cent headline a $10-million bar mitzvah in NYC

2006 [08] It’s reported that rocker Kid Rock & actress Pamela Anderson have filed for divorce after just 4 months of marriage

TODAY’S FIRST . . .
2005 [09] 1st partial human face transplant is completed in Amiens, France

TODAY’S RECORD . . .
1966 [48] Highest-scoring NFL game (113 points: Washington Redskins 72, NY Giants 41)

COMING UP . . .
[Fri] Black Friday
[Fri] Buy Nothing Day
[Fri] Sinkie Day
[Sat] Electronic Greetings Day
[Sat] 50th Vanier Cup (Montréal QC)
[Sat] Square Dancing Day
[Sun] “2014 Soul Train Awards” (BET)
This Week Is … Cookie Week
This Month Is … Pet Cancer Awareness Month

BULL’S BITS

IT PAYS TO BE IGRANANT:
Contestant must get all 10 questions WRONG to win. The trick is to answer with something so outrageous, it couldn’t possibly be correct. Way tougher than it seems!
• What is the best thing to use to dig out after a snowstorm?
• The hottest team in sports is …?
• What’s the best way to lose weight?
• Name a common house pet.
• What’s the year 2014 in Roman numerals? (CAN’T say M-M-X-I-V.)
• What’s one of the most popular Christmas traditions?
• What’s a dog normally chasing when it runs around in circles?
• What is the most common first word uttered by babies?
• What 3 colors appear on traffic lights?
• What’s your name?

BS RANDOM JOKE:
I am willing to make the mistakes if someone else is willing to learn from them.

BS PHONE STARTER:
☎ How much will Santa spend on your household this year? (In a poll, 59% say under $500.)

BS WATER COOLER QUESTION:
Question: Around-the-world, over half of THESE have the color blue in them.
Answer: Flags (53%).

BS DEEP THOUGHT:
Yeah, being young is beautiful; but being old is comfortable.