See Ya, Valentine’s Day! Only 7% of People Are “Very Romantic” – LINK
Scheduled Sex Is Just as Good as the Spontaneous Kind – LINK
Nearly 70,000 people have reported ‘romance scam,’ with losses topping $1.3B last year: FTC – LINK
Tinder Is Now Making It Easier to Avoid Coming Across Your Boss – LINK
A New App Can Tell You if Your First Date Is Going Well or Not – LINK
A Study Claims Men’s Average Junk Size Is Increasing Rapidly . . . And That’s a Bad Thing? – LINK
Actor, comedian, talk show host, and author Richard Belzer died yesterday at his home in France. He was 78 years old. There’s no word on the cause of death, but he’d reportedly been dealing with various health issues. Belzer was best known for playing “Law & Order” detective John Munch, and if you’re a fan, this probably won’t surprise you: A close friend says Belzer’s last words were, quote, “[Eff] you, mother[effer].” Belzer actually played Munch on 10 different shows, which is kind of amazing. The character originated on “Homicide: Life on the Street” in 1993. He’d also appeared as Munch three times on the original “Law & Order” in the ’90s. When “Homicide” was canceled in 1999, Belzer brought Munch to “Law & Order SVU”. He also appeared on “The X-Files”, “The Beat”, “Law & Order: Trial by Jury”, “The Wire”, “Arrested Development”, “30 Rock”, and “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt”. Belzer once said, quote, “I never asked anyone to be on their show. So it’s doubly flattering to me to see me depicted in a script and that I’m so recognizable and lovable as the sarcastic detective and smart-ass.” Belzer decided to take a risk and try comedy in the late ’60s, after his father took his own life. In the ’70s he was the warmup comedian for “Saturday Night Live”. In 1985, Belzer was hosting a Lifetime talk show called “Hot Properties”, when he was almost killed by . . . HULK HOGAN. (???) Hogan and Mr. T were on the show promoting the first “WrestleMania”, and Belzer allowed Hogan to put him in a front chinlock. Well, Hogan decided to actually choke Belzer out. Belzer went limp, hit the floor, and banged his head, drawing blood. He sued Hogan, Mr. T, and the World Wrestling Federation for $5 million and settled for $400,000 . . . which he used as a downpayment on his house in France. (Here’s video.) Belzer was also in several movies, including “Scarface”, “Fletch Lives”, and “The Man in the Moon”. And he wrote several books, including a novel where a fictionalized version of himself investigates a murder. (Hollywood Reporter)
Kellie Pickler’s songwriter husband, Kyle Jacobs, was found dead on Friday in their Nashville home. Authorities said it’s being investigated as a suicide due to a self-inflicted gunshot wound. He was 49. Kellie and her assistant were looking for him, and when they couldn’t open one of the rooms in the house, Kellie had her assistant call the police. Just the day before, Kyle celebrated an album he helped write going platinum. It was Lee Brice’s “Hey World”. Quote, “Deeply honored to be a creative part of it . . . Thank you Jesus!!!” Some of his other songwriting credits include Garth Brooks’ “More Than a Memory”, Trace Adkins’ “I Can’t Outrun You”, and George Strait’s “When the Credits Roll”. Kylie and Kellie got married in 2011. If you remember, they had their own CMT reality series, “I Love Kellie Pickler”, which ran from 2015 to 2017. (You can see more of Kyle’s songwriting credits here.) (People, NBC News)
Actor Tom Sizemore is in critical condition after suffering a brain aneurysm. The ‘Saving Private Ryan’ actor was rushed to the hospital Sunday morning and is being closely monitored in ICU. A rep said “It is too early to know about a recovery situation.” Sizemore has also starred in ‘Natural Born Killers,’ ‘Pearl Harbor’ and ‘Black Hawk Down’. He was recently on Netflix’s ‘Cobra Kai’.
Richard Gere is recovering from pneumonia. The actor was vacationing with his wife, Alejandra Silva, for her 40th birthday. Their two young sons traveled with them. Sources said Gere had developed a bad cough before the trip. During the vacation, he needed to check into a hospital for an overnight stay. Gere is reportedly doing much better. One Sunday, Silva posted a photo of herself, Gere, and one of their sons on Instagram with the message, “I woke up this morning and I saw the news and all your kind and [worried] messages, he is recovering ❤️🩹 he is felling much better today! The worst has already [passed]! Thank you all for [your] sweet messages we really appreciate them! ♥️♥️ #thankyou.
Sammy Hagar is still waiting for Metallica to pay up a $200 bet they lost in 1988. Sharing a picture from ’88’s ‘Monsters of Rock’ tour on Instagram, Hagar explained “This was the press conference for the Monsters of Rock stadium tour… Metallica hadn’t [broken] yet with ‘Enter Sandman,’ but they crushed it every night [and] put a big hurt on Dokken, who had to follow them — ouch!” He added “I bet the members of Metallica $100 each that at the end of this tour their next record would go platinum. So far Lars and Kirk are the only ones that paid up. Ha ha.” While Metallica may be in the hole a couple hundred bucks with Hagar, the band did just donate $250,000 to earthquake relief in Turkey and Syria.
Linkin Park’s previously unreleased ‘Meteora’ track, “Lost” debuted at number one on Billboard’s Rock & Alternative Airplay chart. It’s the first rock or alt song to debut on the chart in over ten years. “Lost” is one of only four songs to debut at number one since the chart premiered in June 2009. The other three songs were Linkin Park’s “Catalyst”, Foo Fighters’ “Rope” and Green Day’s “Oh Love”. Linkin Park’s 20th anniversary ‘Meteora’ box set drops April 7th.
Ant-Man & The Wasp Quantumania continues to keep Disney and Marvel Studios in the money. In its opening week, the third Ant-Man movie will finish with an estimated $114 million in domestic ticket sales over the four-day President’s Day weekend. The film officially introduced Jonathan Majors as Kang: The Conquerer. He will be the next big villain in upcoming Marvel phases. The rest of your top five movies from the weekend are Avatar: The Way of Water, Puss in Boots: Last Wish, Magic Mike’s Last Dance, and Knock at the Cabin.
Frankie Muniz accomplished one of his life dreams and nearly cracked the top 10 in his big race car driver debut! The actor-turned-driver raced in the ARCA Menards Series Saturday at the Daytona International Speedway down in Florida — marking his first time driving with the pros. It was an 80-lap journey, with around 40 drivers going round and around. The Malcolm in the Middle star placed 11th overall, and the final lap proved to be quite dramatic, with Frankie climbing back from 12th place. He cracked the top 10 several times throughout the course and was ecstatic about it all! “Holy moly!!! That was the most insane thing I’ve ever done. Got up into the top 3 before getting turned and causing damage. Went to the back and went from 24th to 11th in the final 2 laps. I’m so grateful to my team and @hairclub and sponsors for making my dream a reality!,” he wrote on social media. The legend Dale Eanrhardt Jr. commented writing, “Fun to watch 👍🏼.” Muniz raced as part of Rette Jones Racing and will compete in 19 more races throughout the course of the season.
Having a “very particular set of skills” has become a huge cliché, ever since Liam Neeson spoke those words to his daughter’s abductor in the 2008 action hit “Taken”. But Liam had NO IDEA it would become such an iconic speech. In fact, when he was delivering those lines, he actually thought they were CORNY. Quote, “It was a cornball. I really did feel that. It’s nice to be proven wrong.” Neeson has mentioned in past interviews how he thought the movie was going to go straight to video and be forgotten. Instead, it launched a franchise and made him an action star in his mid-50s. He said, quote, “I feel very privileged, and a little bit guilty. I’m having fight scenes with guys half my age and I just can’t stop laughing.” (Entertainment Weekly)
“Judge Mathis” and “The People’s Court” are both ending their runs at the end of the current season. “Judge Mathis” has been on the air for 24 seasons, and won a Daytime Emmy in 2018. Greg Mathis is the longest-running black male host on TV. The current version of “The People’s Court”, featuring Judge Marilyn Milian, is in its 26th season. Milian was the first Latina judge to host a nationally syndicated TV court show. The original version of “The People’s Court”, with Judge Joseph Wapner, ran from 1981 to 1993. (Hollywood Reporter)
“The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers” and “Big Shot” are canceled at Disney+. (Full Story) BUT There’s a live-action “Lilo & Stitch” in the works for Disney+. It’ll star Zach Galifianakis, but there’s no word yet who he’ll play. (Full Story)
Roald Dahl wrote some of the greatest and most enduring children’s stories of all time. But they’re apparently too MEAN for today’s kids. The Dahl estate, along with the Puffin publishing house, are EDITING several of his books for the sake of sensitivity and inclusivity. They’re removing potentially offensive words and phrases, including “fat” and “ugly”. Here’s a quick example from “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”: The character Augustus Gloop was originally described like this: “A nine-year-old boy who was so enormously fat he looked as though he had been blown up with a powerful pump. “Great flabby folds of fat bulged out from every part of his body, and his face like a monstrous ball of dough.” Here’s the new version: “A nine-year-old boy who was so enormous he looked as though he had been blown up with a powerful pump. Great folds bulged out from every part of his body, and his face was like a ball of dough.” They’re also making the Oompa Loompas GENDER NEUTRAL . . . referring to them as “small people,” rather than “small men.” They reportedly made “hundreds” of changes throughout Dahl’s various works.
Author Salman Rushdie spoke for a lot of people when he Tweeted, quote, “Roald Dahl was no angel but this is absurd censorship. Puffin Books and the Dahl estate should be ashamed.” (People, TMZ)
With all the talk of Unidentified Flying Objects in the news these days, “Ultimate Classic Rock” put together a list of the Top 30 rock songs about UFOs. Here are some highlights:
- “Starman”, David Bowie
- “Come Sail Away”, Styx
- “Rapture”, Blondie
- “Starship Trooper”, Yes
- “Mr. Spaceman”, The Byrds
- “Mothership Connection (Star Child)”, Parliament
- “It Came Out of the Sky”, Creedence Clearwater Revival
- “Space Truckin'”, Deep Purpl
- E.T.I. (Extra Terrestrial Intelligence)”, Blue Oyster Cult
- “Planet Claire”, The B-52’s (Check out the complete list at UltimateClassicRock.com.)
Bad sequels. You have your opinions, but we have the NUMBERS. MentalFloss.com listed the 25 WORST sequels of all time, based on their ratings at Rotten Tomatoes. So what’s the absolute worst?
Well, there’s basically a 14-way tie for that honor, because that’s how many of them have a 0% rating.
Here they are:
- “Superbabies: Baby Geniuses 2”, 2004
- “Jaws: The Revenge”, 1987
- “Return to the Blue Lagoon”, 1991
- “Staying Alive”, 1983
- “Highlander 2: the Quickening”, 1991
- “Police Academy 4: Citizens on Patrol”, 1987
- “The Ring 2”, 1999
- “The Gallows Act 2”, 2019
- “Atlas Shrugged: Who Is John Galt?”, 2014
- “The Sting 2”, 1983
- “The Crow: Wicked Prayer”, 2005
- “Police Academy 5: Assignment Miami Beach”, 1988
- “Police Academy 6: City Under Siege”, 1989
- “Police Academy: Mission to Moscow”, 1994 (Check out the rest of the list here.)
Tiger Woods Faces Backlash After Handing Tampon To His Golf Partner – LINK
Stutzle, Tkachuk power Senators to 7-2 win over Blues – LINK
Battlehawks rally to win, thanks to XFL PAT rule – LINK
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. wins longest Daytona 500 in history – LINK
Separated by 2023 All-Star Draft, Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown shine in Salt Lake City – LINK