Here’s The Things You’ll Want To See Hear and Know Today.
The Big Picture
Three stars from the Discovery Channel show “Storm Chasers” died on Friday, in the tornado that hit El Reno, Oklahoma. Tim Samaras, his son Paul, and their partner Carl Young got caught in the tornado after it changed direction suddenly. Tim was found in his truck with his seatbelt on. Paul and Carl were both pulled out by the tornado, and one of them was found half a mile away. Here’s Tim talking about his work, and why he studies tornadoes.
Tony Stewart won the FedEx 400 yesterday in Dover, Delaware for his first victory of the season. Juan Pablo Montoya and Jeff Gordon came in second and third. (It was a benefit race for Autism Speaks. Tony was able to pass up Montoya for the lead with two laps to go, after Jimmie Johnson got a penalty for an early restart.)
Showbizzy Newz
Jean Stapleton died on Friday. She played Edith Bunker on “All in the Family”. She won three Emmys for the role. Check out the last appearance of Jean and Carroll O’Conner on the Donnie and Marie Show:
Jesse Eisenberg did an interview last week for his new movie “Now You See It”. And he was NOT in the mood for it. It was for a Univision web series called “Say My Name With Romina”. And he tried to pick a fight with the host over just about everything she said. (Early in the interview she was talking about the movie, and she called Morgan Freeman by his last name. And Jesse asked her if she was on a baseball team with him. Watch the video here, then read Romina’s response here.)
Angelina Jolie appeared in public for the first time since she announced that she’s had a double mastectomy. It was at the premiere for “World War Z”, Brad Pitt’s new zombie movie. Here’s Angelinatalking to reporters at the event.
http://youtu.be/KoYONNKuzdw
PHILIP SEYMOUR HOFFMAN has revealed that he just went to DETOX for narcotics abuse . . . including HEROIN. He’d had substance abuse problems in the past, but he’d been clean for 23 years before falling off the wagon recently. It started with prescription pills, then escalated to SNORTING heroin.
After about a week of doing that, he checked himself into a 10-day detox program. He got out May 24th, and is already back on the set of his latest movie. He says a “great group of friends and family” encouraged him to seek help.
Q Country Closeup
RONNIE DUNN confirmed that he and GARTH BROOKS will be performing at TOBY KEITH’Supcoming tornado benefit . . . and it will most likely go down over the July 4th weekend in Norman, Oklahoma. Ronnie says, quote, “There are a lot of moving parts to work out. But that’s what we’re aiming for.”
BLAKE SHELTON’S “Healing In The Heartland” benefit raised over $6 million last Wednesday.
KENNY CHESNEY was allowed to strap on a Seattle Seahawks helmet and practice with the team on Friday. Kenny explains how it came about. He said, “I met [coach] PETE CARROLL a couple of years ago at our show at the Tacoma Dome. We kept in touch and when we were coming he asked me if I’d like to work out with the team. I didn’t have to think about it . . . The answer was, ‘Yes!'”
After the practice came the bragging: Quote, “You know when you’ve caught a pass from [quarterback] RUSSELL WILSON. It’s not like when we play football backstage . . . it’s pretty serious. And I caught a few of ’em, too. So it was a really good day!”
The Backside of the News
Do you love eating hamburgers, but HATE having to actually hold one up to your mouth? Burger King has a solution.
Burger King in Puerto Rico just introduced a HANDS-FREE WHOPPER HOLDER.
Basically, it looks like one of those harmonica holders you see folk singers wear. But instead of holding a harmonica, it holds a delicious hamburger. That way, you don’t have to use your hands while you’re stuffing your face.
Unfortunately they only manufactured 50 of them, and distributed them in Puerto Rico. So you’ll just have to keep lifting up your burger with your hands like a caveman or something.
On Thursday, the Los Angeles police responded to a silent panic call from an office building. They reported to the scene and saw what looked like an ARMED SNIPER in the window. So they STORMED the building. But here’s the thing. The building is the home of a video game company called Robotoki. And the armed sniper was actually just a life-size statue of a character from “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2”. Owner Robert Bowling was the only one left in the office when they got there. He talked to local news about it later. (He says they raided the place, made him come outside with his hands up, and detained him . . . all while he was TRYING to tell them it was a statue. Eventually, they cleared everything up. Some of the other employees had hit the panic button ON PURPOSE when they were leaving, just to see what it would do. They left without telling anyone, because it was a silent alarm and they didn’t realize anything had happened.)
A pet llama in Florida escaped on Friday night and ended up getting TASED by local sheriff’s deputies, after it spit at the officers and ran over one of them. It’s a legal pet, so they took it back to its owner. The deputies and the llama are all okay. (The deputy who talks in this clip is Tony Drzewiecki, the one who got trampled and spit at. Watch the video here. When the llama screams at the beginning of the clip, it’s not because it’s being tased. That happened when they had a rope around its neck and they were trying to pull it into a trailer.)
A guy in California just got arrested and charged with a felony, for painting his own crosswalk in an intersection near his house. It was one of those intersections where they have three crosswalks, and you’re not supposed to cross on the side that doesn’t have one. After he got out of jail he talked to local news about why he did it. (He might be a LITTLE bit crazy. His name is Anthony Cardenas, and it happened in Vallejo, California. He wanted to cross on the side where it wasn’t allowed, so he painted his own crosswalk overnight. He says he’s witnessed people getting hit by cars in that intersection many times, but the cops say they have no record of any accidents there.)
Randoms
Kim Kardashian announced the sex of her baby over the weekend. On her TV show, of course. Last night on “Keeping Up With the Kardashians” she went to get an ultrasound, and they found out it was a girl.
DICK VAN DYKE recently announced that he was suffering from some kind of “neurological disorder” that no one could diagnose. Turns out his trouble was caused by titanium dental implants.
CHANNING TATUM and JENNA DEWAN are parents. Jenna gave birth on Thursday. There’s no official word on the gender, but sources say it’s a girl.
According to new research, dogs show more aggression toward strangers when they’re ‘left-pawed.’ And yes, there is such a thing.
