On Today’s Show
Meghan Markle and Prince Harry are stepping back formally from royal duties … and the royal purse.
The pair shared Wednesday that they will “step back” as senior members of the royal family and “work to become financially independent while continuing to fully support Her Majesty the Queen.”
Over the holidays, after launching lawsuits against British tabloids for their coverage, the pair retreated to Canada, where they reportedly deeply enjoyed their time away from the spotlight with baby Archie.
So much so, they are opting to spend more time in Canada and the U.S. while also relinquishing their royal titles in order to have maximum freedom … and safety.
There’s already a snappy hashtag for this: #Megxit . . .
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A woman named Lihn Lee owns a barbecue joint in Lansing, Michigan, and didn’t know why she wasn’t getting any phone orders last month. It turned out her angry ex-boyfriend had recorded an outgoing voice message that said the place was closed for the holidays until March. So she lost out on a bunch of business.
Here’s the recording he left, along with the owner talking about it.
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ENTERTAINMENT
LEONARDO DICAPRIO rescued a guy who fell off a cruise ship in the Caribbean.
Leo and his girlfriend Camila Marrone were on a boat near St. Barts on December 30th when they found out there was an emergency search for the guy. So they joined in.
He was an employee on a Club Med ship, but he got too drunk and fell overboard. It was Leo’s boat that found him.
The poor guy had been treading water for ELEVEN HOURS before he was rescued.
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Peter Sarsgaard has joined the cast of “The Batman” in a mystery role. Fans are speculating that he might be the new District Attorney Harvey Dent, who becomes the villain ‘Two-Face’.
The new film, starring Robert Pattinson as Batman +is scheduled to hit theaters in 2021.
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TODAY IS……………….
1984, the very first Wendy’s “Where’s The Beef?!?” commercial aired
2000 [20] Sitcom “Malcolm In the Middle”, starring Frankie Muniz & future “Breaking Bad” actor Bryan Cranston, premieres on FOX-TV
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COUNTRY MUSIC NOTE
Willie Nelson‘s Stardust album was certified quadruple-platinum in 1990.
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Justin Bieber Has Been Dealing with Lyme Disease and Mono
JUSTIN BIEBER has been working on his mental health lately. But it turns out he’s been dealing with some heavy physical issues, too.
In an Instagram post yesterday, he put it all out there. He said, quote, “While a lot of people kept saying Justin Bieber looks like [poop], on meth etc., they failed to realize I’ve been recently diagnosed with Lyme disease.
“Not only that but I had a serious case of chronic mono which affected my, skin, brain function, energy, and overall health. These things will be explained further in a docu series I’m putting on YouTube shortly.
“You can learn all that I’ve been battling and OVERCOMING!! It’s been a rough couple years but getting the right treatment that will help treat this so far incurable disease and I will be back and better than ever.”
TMZ says the show is dropping on January 27th.
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GOOD NEWS
The fires in Australia may have already killed HALF-A-BILLION animals. Thankfully, some much-needed rain just arrived, which should help. But let’s take a second to look at some of the GOOD stories about the planet we saw last year.
Here are five positive things for the environmental that happened in 2019 . . .
- A bunch of countries planted a whole lot of trees. India planted 220 million in one day . . . Ethiopia topped that with 350 million . . . Canada promised to plant 2 BILLION by 2030 . . . and a tech company will plant another 1 billion using drones. (A climate study in July found we need to plant about a TRILLION. So it’s a start.)
- The humpback whale population boomed. A century ago, there were only 450 left because of whaling. But a new study found it’s back up over 25,000 again.
- A teenager came up with a new way to remove microplastics from the water supply. 18-year-old Fionn Ferreira won Google’s 2019 science fair after tests showed his method was 87% effective. He got $50,000 to keep working on it.
- Scientists in Mexico created a new type of plastic that’s biodegradable. It’s made from cactus, and breaks down in the soil after about a month.
- The Great Pacific Garbage Patch clean-up got under way. And again, a teenager was involved. Back in 2012, a 19-year-old engineering student came up with a way to collect it. Now they’ve started recycling it.
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BIRTHDAYS
(68) Crystal Gayle, Country singer. Loretta Lynn’s little sister.
[38] Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge (Kate Middleton), wife of Britain’s Prince William/mother of George and Charlotte/expected to be “Queen Consort”
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10 TOP GOOGLE SEARCHES IN 2019 (Canada):
1. Toronto Raptors
2. Kawhi Leonard
3. Canada Election Results
4. Luke Perry
5. Cameron Boyce
6. Game of Thrones
7. Bianca Andreescu
8. Don Cherry
9. Thanos
10. Hurricane Dorian
TOP “WHY” GOOGLE SEARCHES BY CANADIANS IN 2019:
1. Why is Toronto called the 6?
2. Why did Don Cherry get fired?
3. Why is blackface offensive?
4. Why is it called Good Friday?
5. Why am I always tired?
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New Study Shows You Should Always Trust Your Gut and Never Second-Guess Yourself
It’s time to stop listening to your brain and start trusting your gut.
A new study out of England found we’re better off just trusting our first instinct . . . act first, ask questions later. Because when we second-guess ourselves, we wind up making worse decisions.
The researchers say it’s because second-guessing leads to overanalyzing . . . and that just confuses our brain and stops us from thinking clearly.
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RANDOM REPORT
- Only 14% of American men are over 6 feet tall, but 58% of Fortune 500 CEOs are.
- A pilot episode of “Game of Thrones”was made in 2009, but it’s never aired or been released. A lot of it was rewritten and recast afterwards.
- The largest city in the world in terms of area is Hulunbuir, in Inner Mongolia in China. It’s 101,913 square miles, which makes it bigger than 42 U.S. states.
- From 1935 to 1937, restaurants in Wisconsin were legally required to serve cheese and butter with every meal.
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Top Five Things People Do to Start Their Days Off Right
What do you do in the morning to make sure every day is an exciting new opportunity and not just another step on the slow, cold journey to death?
According to a new survey, the most common thing people do to get their days started off right is . . . drinking coffee. HALF of people say that’s the key to getting their day going in the right direction.
Here’s the full list of things we do to start our days right . . .
- Drink coffee, 50%.
- Exercise, 48%.
- Smile and think something positive, 48%.
- Wake up early, 48%.
- Meditate, 43%.
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THURSDAY JANUARY 9TH
TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS
(68) Crystal Gayle, Country singer. Loretta Lynn’s little sister.
[38] Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge (Kate Middleton), wife of Britain’s Prince William/mother of George and Charlotte/expected to be “Queen Consort”
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- NHL
WPG 4 – TOR 3 SO PHI 3 – WSH 2 DAL 2 – LAK 1
With his appearance in Saturday night’s game for the Atlanta Hawks against the Indiana Pacers, Vince Carter became the first NBA player in history to play in four different decades. The 42-year-old had already set a record for longevity when he re-signed last summer with Atlanta for his 22nd NBA season.
- James Holzhauer won day two of the “Jeopardy! The Greatest of All Time” event by 25,014 points. James and Ken Jennings both have 1 win now. The guys will keep playing until one of them wins three matches. Winner gets bragging rights and one million dollars. By the way, Brad Rutter is having a tough time. He was in the red for one of the games last night. (From “Jeopardy! The Greatest of All Time” on Wednesday, January 8, 2020)
- “Truth and Lies: Jeffrey Epstein” (ABC): A look at his life, including details about how he made his money; his relationships with notable individuals; his decades of alleged sexual abuse; and the federal sex trafficking charges he faced before he died.
- According to Proctor & Gamble, its old-fashioned dish soap is not made for applying directly to sponges and dirty dishes, but rather in water to create suds. But now they’ve created a spray just for those single-dish, wash-as-you-go sessions that CAN be sprayed directly on your dishes.
- Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, Uber’s flying car, and the new show with masked dancers. (From Jimmy Fallon, Seth Meyers, and Jimmy Kimmel on Wednesday, January 8, 2020)
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MURDER MYSTERY,’ ‘STRANGER THINGS 3’ TOP NETFLIX 2019 RELEASES
What did you watch on Netflix this year? The streaming service released several lists featuring the year’s top ten fiction, nonfiction, documentary, comedy, international, and family/kid-friendly content. While they didn’t release any exact numbers, Netflix’s movie “Murder Mystery” which stars Jennifer Aniston and Adam Sandler was their most popular release of 2019., followed by the third season of “Stranger Things,” and Henry Cavill’s “The Witcher” came in third place.
“Tidying Up with Marie Kondo” was the most popular in the nonfiction category, while “Conversations With a Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes” was this year’s most popular documentary. When it comes to comedy, “Dave Chappelle: Sticks & Stones” came out on top. Rounding out the top five most popular releases of 2019 are “The Incredibles 2,” in fourth place, and “The Irishman,” in fifth place.
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Brantley Gilbert Takes His Two-Year-Old Son on Motorcycle Rides
BRANTLEY GILBERT has been riding motorcycles since he was a kid. He started out with dirt bikes, and by the time he was 18 he was riding in a motorcycle pack.
His latest riding buddy is his two-year-old son Barrett, and the kid has already graduated to the big machines. Not alone, of course.
Brantley says, quote, “I don’t know if I should say this or not, I’ll probably get lit up for it . . . but I can sit him on the front seat with me and just kinda ride. He’s got a little helmet and we just ride in circles.
“Our driveway’s a big circle and we’ll just ride around on it, and he absolutely just cheese-grins the whole time. And then when you try to pull him off of it, he gets upset.”
LUKE BRYAN IS IN ‘ALBUM-MAKING MODE’
Luke Bryan fans could be hearing a new album soon. Luke’s been actively working on the follow up to his 2017 What Makes You Country project and that includes writing a bunch of songs. He tells us: [“I’ve written a lot for this album. I’ve written more than I have on the past couple of albums and I don’t know if that’ll equate to me having more songs on the album but I have quite a few songs recorded and am certainly in album-making mode right now.”]
That album will likely include Luke’s latest hit single, “What She Wants Tonight,” which he co-wrote, as well as the chart-topping “Knockin’ Boots.”
Luke heads to Cancun, Mexico from Jan. 22-25 for his annual Crash My Playa event featuring Jason Aldean, Dustin Lynch, Old Dominion, Lee Brice, Scotty McCreery, Jordan Davis and several others. The event is sold out.
FAST FACTS
Luke was named the most-heard artist of the decade in December by Country Aircheck.
He returns to American Idol for the third season on ABC beginning on February 16th.
BLAKE SHELTON, GWEN STEFANI TO DUET ON GRAMMY AWARDS
This year’s Grammy Awards will feature a performance by Blake Shelton and Gwen Stefani of their latest recording together, “Nobody But You.” The song is included on Blake’s latest project, Fully Loaded: God’s Country.
Blake is also nominated for Best Country Solo Performance for “God’s Country.” The Grammy Awards will air live from Los Angeles on Jan. 26th on CBS.
