On Today’s Show
A mom in Scotland posted video of her nine-year-old-son using Alexa to help with his math homework. He doesn’t know his mom’s in the room until she calls him out on it.
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Want to stay in a real-life version of Barbie’s Malibu Dream House? In honour of the 60th anniversary of Barbie you can, thanks to Airbnb. They made a real version in California, and one person will get to stay there later this month.
From the pictures, the place looks very impressive. And it’s just $60-a-night.
Reservations open next Wednesday at 2:00 P.M. Eastern and if you’re the one lucky person who gets through, you and up to three other people can stay there from Sunday the 27th through Tuesday the 29th.
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ENTERTAINMENT
- “Zombieland: Double Tap” (R-Rated, Action/Comedy): Columbus, Tallahassee, Wichita, and Little Rock move to the American heartland as they face off against evolved zombies and fellow survivors. (Emma Stone, Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg)
- “Maleficent: Mistress of Evil” (PG, Action/Fantasy): Maleficent and her goddaughter Aurora begin to question the complex family ties that bind them.
(Angelina Jolie, Elle Fanning, Michelle Pfeiffer)
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Martin Scorsese ruffled some feathers by saying that the Marvel movies are “not cinema. He compared them to theme parks and said, quote, “It isn’t the cinema of human beings trying to convey emotional, psychological experiences to another human being.”
” “Guardians of the Galaxy” director James Gunn said he was “saddened” by his comments, and Samuel L. Jackson said, quote, “Everybody doesn’t like his stuff either.”
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TODAY IS……………….
- “Alaska Day”, commemorating the formal transfer of Alaska from Russian to USA control on this date in 1867, one of the sneakiest real estate deals ever. The US paid $7.2 million, less than 2 cents an acre. Alaska currently produces about 600,000 barrels of oil per day.
- “Mammography Day”, observed on the 3rd Friday in October, “Breast Cancer Awareness Month”. On this day, or sometime this month, women are encouraged to make a mammography appointment.
1977 [42] In Game 6 of the World Series vs LA Dodgers, NY Yankees slugger Reggie Jackson (‘Mr. October’) hits 3 home runs off 3 consecutive pitches from 3 different pitchers (Yankees win the game and the series, the team’s first since 1962)
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COUNTRY MUSIC NOTE
Deana Carter climbed to Number One on the Billboard chart with “How Do I Get There” in 1997.
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BABE RUTH BAT UP FOR AUCTION
The bat used by Babe Ruth to slug his 500th career home run in 1929 is going up for auction, nearly 75 years after he gave it to a friend whose family has kept it ever since.
In the mid-1940s, Ruth gave the bat to his friend Jim Rice, who was mayor of Suffern, New York. Ruth and Rice enjoyed golfing, bowling and dining together, and Ruth was a regular visitor to the Rice household.
Terry Rice, an attorney in Suffern and Jim’s only son, is selling the bat. He remembers Ruth’s bat sat in the corner behind the television in the family’s den.
“No one said I couldn’t touch it. I never took it out and played baseball with it.”
Good thing, too, since the bat was recently authenticated and received the highest grade given.
The Louisville Slugger shows marks on the upper barrel where Ruth knocked mud off his cleats. The left barrel has impressions where the bat made contact with the ball. There’s also a bit of green paint from where the bat rested in the dugout between uses.
Rice talked to his two older sisters before deciding to sell. They plan to split the proceeds.
Officials from SCP Auctions in Laguna Niguel, California, estimate the bat could sell for over $1 million. Ruth’s bat used to homer on Opening Day of the 1923 season at Yankee Stadium for $1.26 million in 2004.
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RANDOM REPORT
- A lightning bolt is hotter than the surface of the sun. Lightning can be over 53,000 degrees . . . the sun’s surface is about 10,000 degrees. (The sun’s core, though, is 27 million degrees.)
- The country of Monaco is so small it could fit into Central Park in New York . . . twice.
- Vikings didn’t wear helmets with horns. It comes from a performance of Richard Wagner’sopera “The Ring” in 1876. The costume designer made horned helmets for the Vikings in the show, and the image stuck.
- The first album ever on CD was “Living Eyes”by the Bee Gees in 1981.
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GOOD NEWS
A 54-year-old former boxer named Jean-Paul LaPierre was stepping off a metro train in Chicago on Sunday when he saw people rushing for the doors. Then someone told him a guy with a GUN was robbing other passengers.
So he got back on the train . . . confronted the guy . . . wrestled the gun away . . . handed it to someone else . . . and held the guy until police got there.
Then after it was all over, Jean-Paul left the metro station . . . and ran the entire Chicago MARATHON.
It turns out he’s from Boston, and was in town for the race . . . the 12th time he’s run it. But he admitted he’s a “bandit runner” and doesn’t always pay the entry fees.
He told the local news that he hates bullies. And he got really angry when he saw the guy’s gun. Then once he was a few feet away, he knew the guy wouldn’t have time to react. So that’s how he managed to disarm him.
One of the other passengers got some of it on video. And now the footage is making the rounds online.
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THEY RUNNETH THEIR CUPS OVER:
One of the most frustrating parts of the morning routine for many is the 5 or 10-minute wait in line at the coffee shop. That and the fact that your cup might end up in the garbage is exactly what the New York startup “Goffee” aims to help you avoid.
The fast-growing service delivers coffee in ceramic mugs to workers’ desks every morning — and picks them up for washing so they can be used again the next day. Goffee is currently delivering 1,000 cups per day to offices throughout Midtown.
The company’s owner says that will quadruple by the end of the year, fueled by aggravation over lengthy morning lines at coffee shops, which have only gotten worse with mobile apps which allow people to order ahead and jump the queue. Workers can choose from 25 different coffee brands, plus lattes, cappuccinos, cold brew, tea, hot chocolate and even matcha.
The bill for a 30-person office works out to about $900 per month, which usually works out to $1.50-2.00 per cup.
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EATING MORE PUMPKIN CAN HELP YOUR HEART
Pumpkin flavored foods and drinks are everywhere you look right now, and it’s easy to forget that pumpkin is actually a nutritious fruit.
The festive, orange fruit is an excellent source if Vitamin A (which is important for eye health), Vitamin C (which helps strengthen the immune system), potassium, magnesium, and also contains carotenoids (which give the pumpkin its color and also act as antioxidants.)
Also pumpkin is high in fiber and low in calories, so it’s a healthy choice to full up on if you’re trying to lose weight. If you’re reaching for canned pumpkin just be sure nothing is added to it, like sugar, and it’s just as healthy as fresh pumpkin.
Some other things to note: pumpkin seeds are very healthy, pumpkin-spice flavored things don’t actually contain pumpkin, and the healthiest way to eat fresh pumpkin is to grill it and add cubes or slices of it to your salads, kebabs, or simply pair it with your favorite protein.
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FRIDAY OCTOBER 18TH
TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS
[81] Dawn Wells, actress (‘Mary Anne’ on “Gilligan’s Island” 1964-67)
[67] Chuck Lorre, TV producer (“The Big Bang Theory”, “Two and a Half Men”, “Mom”)
[59] Jean-Claude Van Damme, action movie actor (“The Expendables 2″, “Timecop”)
[32] Zac Efron, actor (“Baywatch”, “High School Musical”) COMING UP…”Scoob”, 2020
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- MLB
The Houston Astros beat the N.Y. Yankees 8 – 3 last night in New York. Here are their two, three-run homers. Houston is now a game away from heading to the World Series with the Washington Nationals, as they lead the series with New York, three games to one.
(Because of Wednesday’s rain out, they’ll continue the series tonight in New York, then hustle to Houston on Saturday, if needed.)
NFL
Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes hurt his ankle in the first game of the season. After going 4-0 he re-injured it and they lost 2 games in a row so a church in Kansas wants to have a prayer service to help heal him . . . which seems like an even better idea since he had to leave last night’s game after he dislocated his kneecap. The Chiefs still won, 30-6 over the Broncos.
- “Zombieland: Double Tap” (R-Rated, Action/Comedy):
(Emma Stone, Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg)
“Maleficent: Mistress of Evil” (PG, Action/Fantasy):
(Angelina Jolie, Elle Fanning, Michelle Pfeiffer)
- A man in Georgia has been using the same Halloween decoration for years. It’s a guy with a pumpkin head who’s MOONING drivers, and his backside is also pumpkins. But apparently his homeowners association got complaints. So he had to put a sign up to censor it this year.
- Jim Gaffigan wonders, why even go into a sauna? The hot rocks, the sweating, and the naked old guys. (From his 2018 “Noble Ape” special.)
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SAM HUNT SAYS ‘RESPONSIBILITY’ OF MUSIC CONTRIBUTED TO HIS HIATUS
Sam Hunt has arguably changed the landscape of country music with hits like “Take Your Time” and “Body Like A Backroad,” and while he didn’t give it much thought at the time, he tells us he now feels the weight of his responsibility as a country artist, which contributed to his desire to step out of the limelight for a while. [“It feels like a big responsibility. If you are influential, and maybe I am to some degree, I start feeling really responsible. Originally I felt free just to kind of go and do. I just did what I felt like was right and hopefully it’ll work. I didn’t think about the fact that it might be influential or it might change the direction of where things are going or be a part of that change. That’s a big responsiblity I feel like, so that probably was another big part of me taking a step back and saying, ‘Hang on a second, this is important stuff. This matters, like, what you’re saying and how you’re saying it,’ and so I do feel the weight of that for sure.”]
Of course, Sam is back now with a new single called “Kinfolks.” He’s expected to release another song before the holidays, and he plans to make touring a focus in 2020.
FAST FACTS
Sam has still only released one album to date, and that was 2014’s Montevallo.
GARTH BROOKS & TRISHA YEARWOOD JOIN FORMER PRESIDENT CARTER FOR ‘HABITAT FOR HUMANITY’ PROJECT
Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood have been spending time this week engaging in one of their personal passions and are encouraging others to do the same. They’ve been hands-on with Habitat for Humanity. The annual event that took place in Nashville this year, is part of an ongoing initiative spearheaded by former President Jimmy Carter and his wife Rosalynn, who were also there and working. In fact, they constructed parts of front porches of all 21 houses that were built. Wearing his construction gear, a blue hard hat, leather work gloves, and muddy boots, Garth told us this: [“This is beautiful. What these guys build are a lot more than homes. They build hope. They build love.”]
Players from NFL’s Tennessee Titans also took part in construction.
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FLORIDA GEORGIA LINE RELEASE ‘THE ACOUSTIC SESSIONS’ TODAY AT WALMART
Florida Georgia Line release a 17-track acoustic project, simply called The Acoustic Sessions, today (Friday, October 18th) exclusively at Walmart. The career-spanning project will include all their hits beginning with “Cruise” and ending with their pop crossover hit, “Meant To Be” with Bebe Rexha.
FGL is climbing the charts with “Blessings,” the latest single off their Can’t Say I Ain’t Country album.
