Thursday, October 26, 2006              Edition: #3395
We’ve Got Our Sheet Together!

BS SHOW BIZ BUZZ:
TONIGHT there’s a star-studded tribute concert to country veteran Reba McEntire at the Kodak Theatre in LA, featuring performances by Kelly Clarkson, Trisha Yearwood, Faith Hill, Dolly Parton & Wynonna Judd (being taped for an upcoming TV special on CMT) . . . It’s been confirmed that Tom Cruise & Katie Holmes will wed NOVEMBER 18th in Italy (while George Clooney has refuted reports it will take place at his Lake Como estate, no one is denying it will be held at the nearby villa Cruise reportedly bought from Clooney) . . . ABC-TV is dumping “Extreme Makeover”, the human spruce-up show that spawned the bigger hit, “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” (apparently we like seeing houses painted more than faces) . . . SATURDAY’s Game 1 of “World Series” (FOX) had the lowest household rating for a World Series game – ever . . . And a woman who calls herself ‘dudu’ has filed court papers in LA claiming she is the real mother of Michael Jackson’s 3 kids and she’s asking for a say (as in a slice of the pie) in the child custody settlement between Jackson and his ex-wife Debbie Rowe (‘dudu’ also claims she still has ‘intimate relations’ with Mikey … ewww!). 

BS MUSIC NOTES:
• Chingy – TONIGHT he performs on the “The Tonight Show With Jay Leno” (NBC/A Channel).
• Ciara – TONIGHT she’ll “Get Up” and embark on a 16-city club tour in Washington DC.
• The Eagles — They’ve signed a long-term marketing agreement with Wal-Mart, which will include sponsorship, exclusive audio & video releases and product placement … likely in the discount oldies bin. 
• Jimi Hendrix – TODAY in NYC nearly 50 reel-to-reel tapes of raw recordings he made for himself go up for auction. Other items in the sale include his favorite buckskin fringe jacket, a silk shirt and a guitar believed to be the only left-handed one he owned.
• John Legend – TONIGHT he hits the road on a concert tour, beginning in Washington DC.
• Kiss – TONIGHT a 1976 performance taped at Cobo Hall in Detroit MI is getting a special bigscreen showing in select theaters, a promotion stunt to hype next TUESDAY’s release of the 2-disc DVD set, “Kissology: Volume One 1974-1977”.
• Justin Timberlake – TONIGHT he’s on “Jimmy Kimmel Live” (ABC).
• Paul McCartney – Lawyers for Heather Mills McCartney are denying reports that she’s been offered a $56 million settlement by McCartney. They say no settlement offer has yet been made.
• Sara Evans – TODAY a Franklin TN judge is expected to rule on several initial motions in her oh-so-messy divorce case, including a gag order to prevent the principals from further discussing the case with the media.

COMING ATTRACTIONS:
A selection of movies in the making …
• “Burn After Reading” – Actor George Clooney enjoys such a good working relationship with Joel & Ethan Cohen (“O Brother, Where Art Thou?”, “Intolerable Cruelty”), he’s signed up to star in a 3rd movie written, produced & directed by the moviemaking brothers. Clooney will play a killer in this upcoming spy comedy about a CIA agent who has lost the manuscript for a book based on his career.
• “Caught on Tape” – Now that Kevin Federline has made his ‘acting’ debut on “CSI” (10/12/06), he’s set for his first bigscreen gig in this upcoming hip-hop movie written and directed by rapper Sticky Fingaz, star of “Blade: The Series” (Spike TV). The ‘hardcore musical’, about a boy who secretly videotapes his mom’s boyfriend plotting a crime, will co-star Cedric the Entertainer and Vivica A Fox.
• “The Ha-Ha” – Tom Cruise is said to be considering this drama in which he would portray a Gulf War veteran who becomes mute from his injuries and has to take care of a 9-year-old whose mother disappears. It would be his first gig since he was unceremoniously dumped by Paramount Pictures.
• “Halo” – Filmmaker Peter Jackson is disappointed Hollywood studios Fox and Universal have pulled out of financing his planned $145-million movie based on the popular Xbox video game. The studios were concerned that the costly film is being made by a first-time director, 27-year-old South African Neill Blomkamp. But never fear, gamers! With Jackson’s name on the project and Microsoft wanting the promotional exposure, this baby’s more than likely still getting made.
• “Harry Potter & the Order of the Phoenix” – Filming on the next ‘Harry Potter’ movie has angered thousands of Londoners due to closures of an underground ‘tube’ station during shooting. Transport For London says the planned closures are timed to cause minimum disruption to passengers and besides … the production company has to pay a stiff fee. The film’s due in theaters JULY 13, 2007.

HEIGH HO, HEIGH HO:
Highlights from a new study of commuting trends by the Transportation Research Board …
• 128 million Americans commute to work on a regular basis.
• The percentage of people who walk to work has dropped to 2.9%.
• More people are driving to work alone.
• Average commuting time has risen to 25.5 minutes.
• Increasingly more commuters, particularly men, are leaving for work between 5 am and 6:30 am.
• The percentage of people working from home has risen to 3.6%.
– Reuters

ARE YOU LISTENING?
In 2 years’ time a technology that will enable users to speak without uttering a sound might become commercially available. The ability to communicate silently could assist us in everyday situations such as phone conversations on a crowded subway or any other time we’d prefer that others don’t hear us. It could aid security and special operations forces, people with vocal cord problems, and might even find a place in gaming. So-called ‘Subvocal Speech’ is silent or sub-auditory speech, such as when a person silently reads or talks to himself. Even when reading or speaking to oneself with or without actual lip or facial movement, biological signals arise. NASA researchers are currently working to find a way to read those signals. (Just by looking at you [co-host], I hear that you are sceptical.)
– “The Future of Things”

BS AMAZING FACTS:
• 17% of consumers say they plan to visit a haunted house this Halloween season. (What’s really creepy is most of them will do it at home.)
• A Holstein cow’s spots are like fingerprints – no 2 have the same pattern of spots. (Does CSIS keep records?)
• The Sanskrit word for ‘war’ means ‘desire for more cows’. (Does the ‘Iraq Desire For More Cows’ sound worth dying for?)
• Before 1800 there were no separately designed shoes for right and left feet. (Back then it was much easier putting on your slippers in the dark!)

RICH STIFFS:
According to the 6th annual ‘Top-Earning Dead Celebrities’ list, here are the wealthiest who aren’t with us anymore …
10. Johnny Cash
9. Screen siren Marilyn Monroe
8. Ray Charles
7. Kids’ author Dr Seuss (Theodor Geisel)
6. Artist Andy Warhol
5. Albert Einstein
4. John Lennon
3. Cartoonist Charles M Schulz
2. Elvis Presley
1. Kurt Cobain
Cobain earned a whopping $50 million in the past year, most of it thanks to his wife Courtney Love’s sale of 25% of Nirvana’s song catalogue. The heirs of former list-topper Elvis still did okay – they took in $42 million.
– “Forbes Magazine”

THE BULL SHEET 10.26.06

TODAY’S CELEBIRTHDAYS . . .
1946 [60] Pat Sajak, Chicago IL, TV game show host (“Wheel of Fortune” since 1981)

1946 [60] Ivan Reitman, Komarmo, Slovakia [raised in Canada], movie producer (“Trailer Park Boys: The Movie”)/director (“My Super Ex-Girlfriend”)

1947 [59] Hillary Rodham Clinton, Park Ridge IL, US Senator (Democrat-NY since 2001)/former US First Lady (1992-2000)/2008 Presidential candidate?

1954 [52] James Pickens Jr, Cleveland OH, TV actor (‘Chief-of-Staff Dr Richard Webber’ on “Grey’s Anatomy”)

1963 [43] Natalie Merchant, Jamestown NY, classic rock singer (“These are Days”, “Jealousy”)/former 10,000 Maniacs lead

1967 [39] Keith Urban, Whangarei, New Zealand, country singer (“Once in a Lifetime”, “Better Life”)  FACTOID: Even though he may still be in rehab, his new album “Love, Pain, and the Whole Crazy Thing” will be released NOVEMBER 7th as scheduled.

1977 [29] Jon Heder, Fort Collins CO, movie actor (“Monster House”, “Napoleon Dynamite”)

BS REASON TO PARTY . . .
“International Red Cross Day”, in honor of its founding on this date in 1863 in Geneva, Switzerland.

THIS DAY IN SHOW BIZ . . .
1970 [36] “Doonesbury” comic strip by Garry Trudeau debuts in 28 newspapers

TODAY’S MUSIC EVENT . . .
2002 [04] Pop singer Jessica Simpson weds boy-band singer Nick Lachey (leading to MTV show “Newlyweds” and more fame and money than either deserve)

TODAY’S FIRSTS . . .
1975 [31] ‘Heimlich Maneuver’ 1st approved as aid for people choking on food (named for its developer, Dr Henry Heimlich)

1982 [24] ‘Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame’ organized in Toronto (permanent site in St Mary’s ON includes regulation diamond nicknamed ‘Field of Dreams’)

1997 [07] The expansion Florida Marlins, who debuted during the 1993 season, become the 1st wild card team to win the “World Series” (their manager, Jim Leyland, is now the Tigers’ skipper)

2001 [05] Microsoft launches “Windows XP” computer operating system

TODAY’S RECORD . . .
1990 [16] 1st NHLer to reach 2,000 career points (Wayne Gretzky, while playing for LA Kings)

AND REMEMBER . . .
[Fri] Bring Your Jack-o-Lantern to Work Day
[Fri] Cranky Co-Workers Day
[Fri] Frankenstein Friday
[Sat] Chocolate Day
[Sat] Plush Animal Lovers Day
[Sun] Daylight Saving Time ends (2 am)
[Tues] Halloween
This Week Is … Peace, Friendship & Goodwill Week
This Month Is … Cosmetology Month (honoring those who make a living off hair and nails)

BULL’S BITS

BS WHYZITS:
• In regards to Daylight Saving Time, whyzit we don’t move the clocks half-an-hour and be done with the whole thing?
• Whyzit restaurant servers always come and ask if everything is okay when you have a mouthful of food?
• Whyzit you immediately become a safe and cautious driver when you suddenly realize you left your driver’s license at home?
• Whyzit the keypad on a phone is the very opposite of the keypad on a calculator?
• Whyzit we always remember where we were when someone famous was killed? Do we feel we might need an alibi?
• Whyzit anybody driving slower than you is an idiot but anyone going faster than you is a maniac?
• Whyzit pilots say “We are now making our final approach”? Did they make other approaches that they didn’t tell us about?
• Whyzit the ‘early bird gets the worm’ but ‘good things come to those who wait’? Isn’t life confusing enough?

SCARIEST MOVIES EVER MADE:
According to a new poll of over 100 Hollywood actors and insiders …
5. “Jaws”
4. “Halloween”
3. “The Shining”
2. “Rosemary’s Baby”
1. “The Exorcist”
– “Stuff”

BS ‘MAKE HIM MAD’:
Got a really good ‘guy prize’ to give away? Let women try to win it for their men. Have them call their mates at work and try to make ‘em mad within an allotted time. Most women know exactly which buttons to push. If he loses it … he wins!

BS HALLOWEEN QUIZ:
• Who first celebrated what we’ve come to know as Halloween?
a. The Druids. [CORRECT]
b. The Romans.
c. The Christians.

• The tradition of dressing up in costumes started …
a. To try to scare away evil spirits. [CORRECT]
b. As a way to honor the dead.
c. So when the evil spirits came, they wouldn’t recognize you.

• The ancient celebration of ‘Samhain’ at this time of year was to honor …
a. The god of the dead.
b. The end of summer. [CORRECT]
c. The priest who held the first Halloween service.

• The Romans called Halloween “Pomona Day”. What was Pomona?
a. The town where the Romans first celebrated “Pomona Day”.
b. The goddess of fruits and gardens. [CORRECT]
c. The place where evil spirits dwell.

• Halloween falls on the night before …
a. All Soul’s Day.
b. All Saint’s Day. [CORRECT]
c. The first Harvest Moon.

BS RANDOM JOKES:
Whenever I get a grip on reality, the handle falls off.

BS PHONE STARTER:
Imagine a ‘best day ever’. What kinds of things would you do?

BS WATER COOLER QUESTION:
Today’s Question: More and more, women are doing THIS in order to advance their careers.
Answer to Give Out Next Show: Lowering the pitch of their voice.

BS DEEP THOUGHT:
If there is a 50/50 chance, 95% of the time you will choose the wrong one.