MONDAY, Mar 3 – DAILY PREP TEXT VERSION

MORNING SIDEKICK DAILY PREP TEXT VERSION FOR MONDAY, March 3, 2025
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COMEDY MP3s POSTED ON OUR PREP SITE FOR TODAY: NEWSBLOCKER

TODAY IS …
(All days repeat annually on today’s date unless otherwise noted; days may or may not be called “National”/”International”/”World” depending on source; sources listed often have additional info. We generally do not list special days which were created by commercial companies for the purpose of marketing – including “holidays” created by the National Day Calendar and Wellcat websites to drive traffic to their websites – or the hundreds of disease awareness listings which occur each year.)

CANADIAN BACON DAY
The National Today website says this:
“Canadian bacon is slightly different from its American counterpart. While American bacon is mainly the fatty belly of the pig, Canadian bacon is cut from the loin of a pig. In Canada, this bacon is also known as Peameal bacon. Canadian Bacon Day is a day dedicated to this delicious food, a favorite breakfast item amongst millions in America, Canada, and some European countries.”

INTERNATIONAL IRISH WHISKEY DAY

NATIONAL ANTHEM DAY
The Holiday Insights website says this:
“The Star-Spangled Banner, written by Francis Scott Key, officially became our national anthem on March 3, 1931.”

NATIONAL COLD CUTS DAY

SIMPLIFY YOUR LIFE DAY
The Days of the Year website says this:
“Simplify Your Life Day began in 2011, founded by Carmen Coker, a professional organizer and former Air Force officer. She aimed to help people reduce stress and manage their lives better by encouraging them to declutter and simplify daily routines. Inspired by her military background, Coker developed strategies that promoted a more organized and balanced lifestyle.”

WORLD WILDLIFE DAY

March is:

Adopt a Rescued Guinea Pig Month
American Red Cross Month
Employee Spirit Month
Expanding Girls’ Horizons in Science and Engineering Month
Gender Equality Month
Irish-American Heritage Month
National Craft Month
National Women Inventors Month
National Women’s History Month
Read an E-Book Month

ENTERTAINMENT & CELEBRITIES

OSCAR AWARD WINNERS

Here are the main winners from Sunday night’s Academy Awards:
– Best Film: “Anora”
– Best Actor: Adrien Brody, “The Brutalist”
– Best Actress: Mikey Madison, “Anora”
– Supporting Actress: Zoe Saldaña, “Emilia Pérez”
– Supporting Actor: Kieran Culkin, “A Real Pain”
– Best Director: Sean Baker, “Anora”
– Animated Film: Flow
– Best Song: “El Mal” from “Emilia Pérez”

WHAT TO WATCH – New and Returning Shows and Movies
Premiering Monday through Wednesday
Listings sourced from the TV Guide, EW and other websites

MONDAY, March 3

“Celtics City”
HBO – New Docuseries
Synopsis: Chronicles the saga of the Boston Celtics, the NBA’s winningest and most storied franchise. From the team’s founding as one of the league’s original members to its triumphant 2024 championship, the documentary series delves into the fierce rivalries, defining moments, and societal forces that have shaped the organization’s enduring legacy.

TUESDAY, March 4

“Daredevil: Born Again”
Disney+ – Series Revival
Synopsis: A blind lawyer with extraordinary senses continues to seek justice through his thriving law practice and masked vigilante alter-ego, while a former mob boss sets his sights on politics in New York City.

“Denise Richards and Her Wild Things”
Bravo – New Reality Show
Synopsis: Richards, her husband, Aaron, and her daughters, Sami, Lola, and Eloise open up their home to the cameras.

“Jay & Pamela”
TLC – New Reality Show
Synopsis: Follows a couple who share the same rare brittle-bone disorder. Jay and Pamela must face difficult physical challenges daily as they make plans to marry and one day move into their own place.

“Sin City Gigolo: A Murder in Las Vegas”
Paramount+ – New Docuseries
Synopsis: Delves into the hidden dangers of fame and the gigolo lifestyle, culminating in a brutal murder.

“With Love, Meghan”
Netflix – New Lifestyle Show
Synopsis: The Duchess of Sussex hosts friends and celebrities at a beautiful California estate, where she shares tips on cooking, gardening, and entertaining.

WEDNESDAY, March 5

“Just One Look”
Netflix – New Limited Series from Netflix Poland
Synopsis: Follows a happily married jewellery designer whose life is turned upside down after discovering a mysterious photo of her husband amidst strangers.

“The Leopard”
Netflix – New Series
Synopsis: In 1860s Sicily, the Prince of Salina leads a life surrounded by beauty and privilege. But as Italy moves towards unification and the old aristocratic order is threatened, he realizes that his family’s future is in jeopardy. New allegiances must be made, each one a threat to his principles.

“Medusa”
Netflix – New Series from Colombia
Synopsis: Somebody wants to kill CEO Bárbara Hidalgo. Can she find the culprit as her family schemes ruthlessly for control of their Colombian business empire?

Season Premiere:
CBS – “The Amazing Race”

THE BUZZ

ACTUALLY, I WOULD WISH THAT ON MY WORST ENEMY

Reddit asked, “What is something you WOULD wish on your worst enemy?” Some of the responses:
– “That their socks are always a little damp.”
– “Stubbing your little toe every morning.”
– “Their sneeze always going away before the ‘-choo.'”
– “Constantly feeling like there’s a hair in your mouth when there isn’t one.”
– “All their garbage bags break while carrying them to the trash.”
– “Every time they try to open a drawer, there’s a spatula getting stuck and jamming it. Even if its not a utensil drawer, there will always be a spatula that they have to unjam.”
– “The fleas of a thousand camels to infest their armpits.”
– “I wish they would bang their shins on a trailer hitch every day.”
– “To be forgotten by all who met them.”
* PHONE TOPIC: What curse would you wish upon your worst enemy?

U.S. NEWS

GOVERNMENT URGING PEOPLE TO EAT NUTRIAS

As part of its National Invasive Species Awareness Week, which ended on Friday, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service released a list of five invasive creatures that they’re encouraging people to hunt and eat as a way to protect native species. Invasive species outcompete native wildlife, destroy habitats, and mess up ecosystems, says the Wildlife Service. But rather than just complaining about them, they say, “Let’s put them on the menu.” At the top of the list is the nutria, a large, water-loving rodent that resembles a beaver without the flat tail. Nutria are native to South America. They were brought to the U.S. by fur traders in the 1930s, and now they are overabundant along the Gulf Coast, on the Atlantic coast and in the Pacific Northwest and parts of California. The Wildlife Service describes nutria meat as lean and mild, with a flavor similar to “rabbit or even the dark meat of a turkey.”
* All you have to do is mention that nutria meat makes you lose weight, and they’ll be extinct by Christmas.
* Critical question: Do they have cute little faces? It’s all gonna hinge on that.
* At least if you’re cooking a beaver, the tail is a plate you can put it on.
* We need some restaurant chains, like KFN, Kentucky Fried Nutria, or IHON, International House of Nutes.
* How about nutria for breakfast: Honey Nute Cheerios, or Kellogg’s Special N, or Grape Nutes – a part of this Nutria breakfast.
* They COULD just use nutria in dog food – but they’re not. That’s not a good sign.

VIDEO GAMES YOU CAN TASTE

A team of international researchers has developed a new human-machine interface that allows users to taste virtual flavors. Aptly named e-Taste, the device releases salty, sour, sweet, bitter, and umami chemicals directly into the user’s mouth in response to remote stimuli. e-Taste releases these chemicals in gel form through a tab that extends from the small device to the tongue. An electromagnetic pump controls the delivery, coordinating with whatever thing you have it attached to. The makers of the device say potential applications include immersive gaming, online shopping, remote education, weight management, sensory testing, physical rehabilitation, and more.
* Mmmmmm… Minecraaaaft…
* Donkey Kong: Taste the Monkey!
* One key phrase missing from the description: “Easy to clean.”
* Soon to be as popular as “Smell-O-Vision” TVs.
* See if I’ve got this right: You’ve got a controller in your hands, ear buds in your ears, virtual reality goggles on your eyes, and now a stick in your mouth. That deaf, dumb and blind boy sure plays a mean pinball.
* e-Taste is the wrong name. They should have called it “Suck It.”

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

MILAN FASHION WEEK: BUTT CRACKS

At Milan Fashion Week last week, fashion line Diesel debuted its fall/winter 2025 collection. The highlight: low-cut pants in which models bared the tops of their butt cracks. According to one fashion critic, Diesel’s latest collection was meant to be “elevated yet disrupted, corrupted, slashed, destroyed, and impossibly low-cut” (* Which is it? Elevated or low-cut?) The response from the internet:
– “PLEASE do not make plumber cracks a trend. I do not want to live in that world.”
– “Low rise jeans: yes. plumber cracks: no.”
– “Why ya’ll using cracks as accessories.”
* Yet plumbers everywhere are giving it two thumbs up.
* The designer obviously has a crack problem.
* The company wants everyone to remember: it’s not just clothing – it’s their bottom line.
* When it comes to ideas, Diesel has run out of gas.
* Butt cracks. Worse than muffin tops? Let’s open the phones.

SOCCER GAME CALLED ON ACCOUNT OF TESTICLE BITE

In Germany, a referee cancelled a soccer game on account of debilitating pain he endured after a player’s child bit him in the testicle. Referee Stefan Kahler said the incident occurred as he was completing the final checks before a soccer match between FC Taxi II and Rot-Weiss Mulheim III, two lower-tier German teams. He said a child belonging to one of the FC Taxi players came up to him, “Then suddenly – to my complete surprise – gave me a sharp bite in my left testicle,” Kahler wrote in a report. He cancelled the game due to the pain caused by the bite and the absurdity of the situation itself.
* It’s more than absurd – it’s nuts!
* Is this another dumb spinoff of “The Walking Dead”? “The Soccer Dead”?
* I hope the kid’s father takes the kid home and explains to him that when he grows up he should play rugby.
* As a referee, he always has to carry a Yellow Card, a Red Card, and now, a Blue Cross Card for the trip to the hospital.
* Time for referees to start wearing protective cups.

THE 24-HOUR BANANA

A British biotech company has invented a banana that will not go brown for at least 12 hours. The company, Tropic, has altered the fruit’s genetics so it remains firm, fresh and yellow for about 24 hours after peeling, even when sliced. The advantage, they say: you can add them to fruit salads and they won’t turn ugly. The scientists were able to locate the enzyme that causes browning, called polyphenol oxidase, and disable it.
* Because it’s so hard to eat a whole banana after you peel it.
* The only problem with it is, after you eat a few, you’re no longer able to go out and get a sun tan.
* When you said ’24-hour banana,’ I thought this might have been a Viagra story.
* No mention of how much more they’ll cost than “regular” bananas. Must have forgot.
* I can see where a 24-hour banana would have appeal.
* Now do apples.

TRENDING

HARRISON FORD HAS SHINGLES

Harrison Ford had to cancel out of being a presenter at Sunday’s Oscars because he came down with the shingles. Ford, 82, was reportedly diagnosed with the viral infection on Friday. So remember: even if it’s Indiana Jones, shingles doesn’t care.

BILLY JOEL FALLS OVER

Billy Joel fell over on stage last week. Footage from his gig at Mohegan Sun resort in Stamford, Connecticut on February 22 shows Billy performing “It’s Still Rock and Roll to Me,” twirling a microphone stand before throwing it across the stage, and then suddenly falling over. Attendees said the 75-year-old star was helped up by his band and managed to sing his final song to end the gig, but was “visibly thrown off” by the fall. “He just didn’t look well hobbling across the stage,” one concerned fan shared.

THE RAZZIE AWARDS

Here are the winners of the 2025 Razzy Awards, awarded to the worst achievements in cinema over the past year.
– Worst Picture: Madame Web
– Worst Prequel, Remake or Sequel: Joker: Folie à Deux
– Worst Actor: Jerry Seinfeld / Unfrosted
– Worst Actress: Dakota Johnson / Madame Web
– Worst Supporting Actor: Jon Voight / for 4 movies! – Megalopolis, Reagan, Shadow Land & Strangers
– Worst Supporting Actress: Amy Schumer / Unfrosted
– Worst Director: Francis Ford Coppola / Megalopolis
– Worst Screenplay: Madame Web
– Worst On-screen Combination: Joaquin Phoenix & Lady Gaga / Joker: Folie à Deux

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE (Feb 28-March 2)

1. Captain America: Brave New World – $15 million
2. Last Breath – $7.8 million
3. The Monkey – $6.3 million
4. Paddington In Peru – $4.5 million
5. Dog Man – $4.2 million

ALMANAC

NOTABLE DATES, UPCOMING U.S. OBSERVANCES

TOMORROW – Shrove Tuesday/Mardi Gras
March 9, Sunday – Daylight Saving Time Begins
March 17, Monday – St. Patrick’s Day
March 20, Thursday – Spring begins, Spring Equinox is 5:01 a.m. EDT
April 1, Tuesday – April Fools Day
April 15, Tuesday – U.S. Tax Day
May 11, Sunday – Mother’s Day
May 26, Monday – Memorial Day

BIRTHDAYS

Jessica Biel (actress, Mrs. Justin Timberlake) … 43
David Faustino (actor, Bud Bundy on “Married with Children”) … 51
Julie Bowen (actress, “Modern Family”) … 55

Today’s Birthdays grade: A lot of fringe birthdays didn’t make the cut, but we’ve got cast members from an old classic sitcom and a newer classic sitcom, and Jessica Biel, who hasn’t got anything spectacular on her resume but she is married to a superstar, if that counts. Grade: C-minus.

[Want to try something different with the daily birthdays? Try grading them! Some days have “good” celebs, some have “great” celebs, some have “lousy” celebs. For fun, give the group an arbitrary grade: A-plus through F-minus. Sidekick will give you our take on it; you can to take the concept and run with it.]

THIS DAY IN HISTORY

2005 – Steve Fossett became the first person to fly an airplane around the world solo without any stops and without refueling – a journey of 25,000 miles completed in 67 hours and 2 minutes.
* The event was sponsored by Depends.

1999 – Bertrand Piccard and Brian Jones began their attempt to circumnavigate the Earth in a hot air balloon non-stop. They succeeded on March 20, 1999.
* It was the second-longest record for non-stop floating, after Willie Nelson.

1991 – Los Angeles police officers beat black motorist Rodney King after a high-speed chase in a case that sparked controversy when it was captured on a home video. The police officers’ subsequent acquittal touched off the LA riots of 1992.
* People couldn’t believe they beat Rodney King – then beat the rap!

1978 – The first aerobic dance lessons were given.
* And we’re all so thin and fit now!

1931 – “The Star-Spangled Banner” officially became the national anthem of the United States.
* ‘Cause after all, can’t most people sing four octaves?

1863 – The U.S. Congress authorized the first draft for military service. You could pay $300 and be exempted.
* So, the idea that people who have money can get off easy isn’t exactly a new thing.

1847 – The U.S. Post Office authorized the first postage stamps.
* Taping your money to the envelope wasn’t working out so well.

THIS DAY IN MUSIC HISTORY

2010 – A woman claiming to be the wife of Sean Combs was freed on $5,000 bail after being arrested near the rapper’s home on Long Island, New York. Cemelia Green claimed to be married to the rapper and producer. There was no official comment from Combs, who was unmarried.

2004 – Elton John announced he was planning to marry his long-term partner David Furnish, if new UK laws would allow it. A Civil Partnership bill was being passed through Parliament which would give gay couples greater rights.

2002 – Jennifer Lopez started a six-week run at No. 1 on the U.S. singles chart with “Ain’t It Funny.”

2000 – Former Bay City Roller Derek Longmuir was released on bail on charges of downloading child pornographic images from the internet and keeping indecent videos in his home. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 300 hours’ community service, but he maintained that the offending materials did not belong to him but were left behind by an acquaintance.

1999 – Music professor Peter Jeffrey went to court to sue The Smashing Pumpkins, their promoters and a company who make ear plugs, after claiming his hearing was damaged at a concert in Connecticut. The lawsuit was settled for undisclosed terms.

1990 – Janet Jackson started a three-week run at No.1 on the U.S. singles chart with “Escapade,” her third U.S. No.1.

1985 – Michael Jackson visited Madame Tussaud’s Waxworks in London to unveil his waxwork look-alike.

1979 – The Bee Gees went to No.1 on the U.S. album chart with “Spirits Having Flown,” the brothers’ second U.S. No.1 album.

1966 – Neil Young, Stephen Stills and Richie Furay formed Buffalo Springfield in Los Angeles.

X-TREME TRIVIA CHALLENGE

Every installment of X-Treme Trivia Challenge includes three mystery factoids. Create your own “Impossible Question” contest – great for listener giveaways and phone interaction starters! Also a perfect sponsorship opportunity!

1. About 1/4 of Americans admit they’ve lied about THIS, and 1/2 of those say it’s “no big deal.” What is it?
They lied on their resume’

2. When it comes to communication at work, 39% of managers say THIS is unprofessional. What is it?
Using emojis in emails

3. According to a recent survey, almost 45% of people say work has caused them to do THIS. What is it?
Gain weight – because they’re too tired to exercise

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