TV for the Tots
Tuesday November 01, 2005 5:00PM PT
SpongeBob Squares Off
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Today's kids certainly aren't the first to grow up with TV. We have fond memories of learning all about cooperation on Sesame Street. But no other generation of tots possesses the same array of entertainment and educational offerings that kids do now. With hundreds of TV stations, cable networks, DVDs, and digital recording, for better or for worse, TV seems to be firmly entrenched in the lives of children both in the U.S. and around the world.
We watched a number of popular TV characters and children's shows sprout up in the Buzz this past week -- evidence of a need for Halloween costume ideas as well as sustained popularity. Our beloved Sesame Street saw some sunny days with a 32% increase in Buzz. Searches for popular cartoon series Sailor Moon (+43%) also soared high in the sky, while the ever daring Dora the Explorer discovered a 30% increase in her Buzz. And queries on silly sea dweller SpongeBob SquarePants (+17%) ticked up a few leagues.
Demographics show that both kids and grownups are doing the searching, and we're sure parents don't really need any reminders about their kids' favorites. But just in case you need a list, here are some of the top tot TV shows and characters in the Buzz...
As the URL Turns
Tuesday November 01, 2005 11:00AM PT
Searching for URLs
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Far be it from us self-proclaimed "experts" to encourage bad search habits, but as long as folks continue to plug URLs into the Search box, the good news is we'll keep discovering which little-known web sites the world is looking for. To prove our point, let's take a sample of some of the past week's buzziest web sites and get a glimpse at the whats, whos, and whys...
familywatchdog.us (+1828%)
What: Gives you a map of nearby registered sex offenders when you enter in your address information.
Who: Searchers are 73% female, 28% male; almost 60% are over 30 years old.
Why: Making the rounds in blogs and discussion forums, the site taps into people's need to know and desire to keep their families and neighborhoods safe.
thisdayonline.com (+903%)
What: African news site.
Who: The majority of searchers are male (73%) between 25 and 44 years old.
Why: The source of the buzz is unclear to us, but it's likely last week's plane crash in Nigeria brought searchers to the site in hopes of more information.
bls.gov (+484%)
What: The U.S. Department of Labor's statistics bureau.
Who: Split evenly between men and women; ages also evenly distributed.
Why: With weather catastrophes, rumors of bubbles, and employment issues in the headlines, labor statistics are a consistent draw in search.
fpl.com (+474%)
What: Home page of Florida Power and Light, a public utility providing power across Florida.
Who: More females (53%) than males (47%) and almost entirely adults 30 to 64 (80%).
Why: Wilma left plenty of people in the dark.
pumpkingutter.com (+446%)
What: Web site showcasing the formidable pumpkin-carving talents of artist Scott Cummins.
Who: 47% female, 53% male. Searchers are mostly under 13 (27%) and between 35 and 44 (27%).
Why: Super-cool pumpkins.
Search Reigns Supreme
Tuesday November 01, 2005 3:00AM PT
Samuel Alito
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Before President Bush tapped Samuel Alito to replace Sandra Day O'Connor on the Supreme Court, before the commentators seized on the nomination, and before the conservative judge stepped forward to blink into the cameras, his name was already buzzing. On Sunday, the day before the nomination became official, Alito sprang up a sudden 320%.
We can't claim that the Buzz Log is clairvoyant, however, because court watchers also sent searches skyrocketing on other judges rumored to be in the running. Janice Rogers Brown, J. Michael Luttig, Maureen Mahoney, and Priscilla Owen all swept upwards in Search. But none so much as Judge Alito. And in this case, Buzz was dead-on. The president named his man Monday morning, and searches on the jurist haven't stopped pouring in.
Harriet Miers, meanwhile, has slipped back into the shadows. Searches on her name rose a scant 5% on Sunday but will surely recede from view soon. Before the loyal adviser retreats altogether, though, it will be interesting to see if there's any online interest in her response to Alito. Will she think he's a judicious choice? Only time will tell, but for now, here are some other searches reigning �supreme�...
Alfre? Chx? Answering Search Questions
Monday October 31, 2005 5:00PM PT
Alfre Woodard
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Who: Alfre Woodard
What: Up 2,290% over the past week
Where: In Hollywood
Why: The Emmy-winning actress currently appears as Betty Applewhite on ABC's Desperate Housewives, a little show that you might have heard of. Buzz spiked last Sunday when a mysterious presence residing in Ms. Applewhite's basement was finally revealed.
Related Searches: "alfre woodard movies," "desperate housewives," "page kennedy"
Who: Chx Alcala
What: Up 3,138% over the past week
Where: In the Philippines
Why: This one-time contestant on Pinoy Big Brother knows how to drum up some buzz. The beat first sounded when cell-phone photos depicting Chx in compromising positions got loose on the Web. It intensified when fans of the reality series grew suspicious that Chx and a housemate on the show were more than friends. And it reached a thudding din when, on October 22, viewers voted the vampy Chx off the show.
Related Searches: "chx alcala scandal," "pinoy big brother chx," "chx"
Who: Rosa Parks
What: Up 2,045% over the past week
Where: Currently lying in state in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda
Why: Thousands lined up to pay their last respects to Rosa Parks this week. The matriarch of the Civil Rights movement died October 24 at the age of 92. In 1955, footsore and fed up, Ms. Parks refused to relinquish her bus seat to a white man. That small but courageous act helped spark the struggle for racial equality in the U.S.
Related Searches: "rosa parks biography," "pictures of rosa parks," "rosa parks timeline"
Who: Diwali Cards
What: Up 1,194% over the past week
Where: In India and throughout the rest of the world
Why: Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights, begins this week with the flash and spark of firecrackers.
Related Searches: "diwali 2005," "diwali festival," "diwali pictures"
Who: Siegfried and Roy
What: Up 778% over the past week
Where: In Las Vegas
Why: A former bodyguard of the tiger- and lion-taming duo has sued Siegfried, claiming that the German performer abused his onstage-partner Roy, who is reportedly still recuperating at home from a 2003 tiger attack.
Related Searches: "siegfried and roy lawsuit," "siegfried and roy news"
The Chocolate Buzz
Monday October 31, 2005 11:00AM PT
Loving Chocolate
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The piles of Halloween candy crowding grocery store shelves always give a little jolt to our sweet tooth. Of all the sugar-coated possibilities, we prefer the chocolate stuff. Whether gooey, crisp, solid, hollow, cr�me filled, sugarless, nutty, or just plain dark, our cocoa friend seems to be on the minds of searchers as well. Does the desire to perfect our chocolate-chip-cookie recipe send us running to the Search box? Is it the onset of cool weather that makes us dream of curling up with some hot chocolate and a good book? Is the love we get from chocolate Labs the sweetest? Let's stick our fingers in the top 20 chocolate searches and see what's inside...
The Horrifying Tales of Buzz
Monday October 31, 2005 3:00AM PT
Stephen King
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The lords of darkness must be chortling with pleasure, for searches on "horror stories" are terrorizing the Buzz. "Horror" reached a bloodcurdling level of activity just yesterday, and "halloween stories" has sent shivers up our spines. Here are the rest of the queries telling terrible tales in Buzz-land...
It doesn't stop there. Two of the most famous scribes of horror, Stephen King and Anne Rice, have surfaced in Buzz as well. The creator of "It" and "Carrie" has joined forces with Marvel Comics, while Anne Rice has penned a new novel about -- no, not a vampire, but -- well, Jesus. Ms. Rice may have forsaken the realm of the undead, but her presence alone evokes the pale dread of Lestat. Now, exhibiting a rare bravery, we lily-livered Buzz hacks venture into Search's dark reaches to see where King and Rice line up with their other horror-writing brethren. Read on, if you dare...
Search Shreds With Tony Hawk
Saturday October 29, 2005 9:00PM PT
Tony Hawk
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In case you missed it, skateboarding is big business. And Tony Hawk (+15%) -- one of the biggest players in the sport -- has parlayed his talent for gnarly half-pipe stunts into some serious dough. In the skateboarding industry, Hawk rules the boardroom as well as the board. His empire includes a series of games, a clothing line, a radio show, and the do-gooder Tony Hawk Foundation. (Someone has to be an advocate for skateparks.)
His latest game, Tony Hawk's American Wasteland, was released this week and soared up the Buzz charts. Related Tony Hawk searches include �tony hawk underground,� �tony hawk pro skater,� �tony hawk cheats,� �tony hawk clothing,� and, of course, �tony hawk pictures.� How else could you pull off that sweet backside grab or hip ollie?
Hawk�s particularly popular with the grommets -- kids under 17 account for close to 40% of his searches. But there's also plenty of interest from older dudes, with 30% of searches coming from 35- to 50-year-olds. Is Dad trying to keep up with the kids or just holding onto that fading hipness? We just hope he wears a helmet and has a good insurance policy.
The Windy City Wins in Search
Friday October 28, 2005 5:00PM PT
Chicago Triumphant
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They say there are two Chicagos. One is the North Side with its hustle and bustle and white-collar professionals. Their team is the Chicago Cubs. Then there's the unsung Chicago, the South Side, with its blue-collar inhabitants. Their team is the newly anointed champions, the Chicago White Sox.
Whether or not this Chicago rift really exists, things like baseball -- and winning a World Series -- have a way of transcending differences, even class and race distinctions, to bring rival factions together if just for a brief but intense burst of revelry.
We'd like to join both Chicagos, as well as White Sox fans everywhere, in celebrating their historic victory and world-class host of a city. Let's take a look at searches on that "City of the Big Shoulders." We think you'll see many sides of Chicago reflected here...
Search by the Numbers
Friday October 28, 2005 11:00AM PT
Kids Do the Math
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Here at the Buzz, we make it our business to know the numbers. Okay, sure, we have a computer helping us out with the calculations, but we're a big hit at cocktail parties when we toss around lingo like median, statistics, and percentage change without blinking. However, we'll let you in on a little secret, dear reader: It was not always thus. Perhaps you've felt our pain?
In the pantheon of school subjects, searches on "math homework help" rank well within our top 20,000 searches -- beating out those for English, history, and social studies help, and just clobbering geography searches. The math searches span the range of specialties. Geometry seems to make most of us feel obtuse, and fractions, that divisive subject, follows close behind. Sometimes the searches get straight to the point, with the plaintive, "do my math homework."
So why can't Jane and Johnny do math? The Mayo Clinic recently published a study finding that math learning disorder may run as high as 14% among American schoolchildren, and others have proposed that widespread innumeracy could be the root of Americans' problems with debt. Sounds pretty grim, but there may be a flip side: SAT math scores are on the upswing, as are 15-year trends in kids' math skills.
Whenever the numbers get our heads to spinning and faces all aflush, we just refer to the quote taped above our screen: "Do not worry about your difficulties in mathematics, I assure you that mine are greater." - Albert Einstein
Countdown From Daylight-Saving Time
Friday October 28, 2005 3:00AM PT
Daylight-Saving Time
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We'll admit it: We run late. We wander off. We get distracted and don't pay attention. But not this time around. This season, we're planning ahead and marking our calendars -- the government won't catch us by surprise with its sneaky changes of the hour. Not on this occasion, anyway.
On October 30, the nation will retreat from daylight-saving time by turning back the hands of its clocks by one hour. And we're not the only ones determined to stay alert for it. Already this month, searches on "daylight savings time" have jumped up, "time change" has stirred, and "fall time change" has roused itself from a long slumber.
Concern over Congress's recent move to extend daylight-saving time by one month also sparked searches. News queries such as "daylight savings time change," "daylight savings delay," and even "daylight savings bush" all spiked. But friends, never fear. That change won't happen until 2007. We're impressed, though, that you're thinking that far ahead.
If past seasons are reliable guides (and we always have faith in days gone by), we'll also see a rise in searches such as "what time is it," "current time," "atomic clock," and "official u.s. time" as the big day nears.
So don't be caught by surprise. Remember to reset your clocks on Saturday night and catch that blissful extra hour of snooze on Sunday morning.
The Tao of Buzz
Thursday October 27, 2005 5:00PM PT
Oprah Winfrey
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Oprah's book club selections always have readers rushing to the bookshelves and their computers. Her latest choice is no exception. Turning away from the classics, Oprah is now highlighting works by contemporary, living writers. Her first choice on this path, James Frey's (+33%) memoir A Million Little Pieces, has shot up the Buzz charts 157% since September.
Personally, we're still frolicking in Oprah's Summer
of Faulkner, but we can't wait to read Frey's book -- a gripping memoir about his drug and alcohol addiction and subsequent recovery. In it, Frey recounts how his brother gave him a copy of Lao-Tzu's Tao Te Ching when he entered a 12-step recovery program. Frey drew inspiration from the classic Chinese text during the program. Both his memoir and Oprah's book club site are peppered with quotes from the sage piece.
With searches on Tao up more than 2,000% over the last month, Frey is not the only one who looks to the great book for guidance. In homage to �the Way,� let us now ponder the top 12 Tao searches...
Are You Into InuYasha?
Thursday October 27, 2005 11:00AM PT
InuYasha
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Take one 17-year-old half-demon boy pinned to a tree in medieval Japan. Introduce him to a 15-year-old schoolgirl sucked back in time by a monster centipede. Throw in a dead priestess; a blood-sucking flea spirit (who is still, improbably, one of the good guys); and dozens of scurrilous and formidable sprites. And then place all these characters in heated pursuit of the shards of a magical gem.
Oh, and throw in a romance to boot.
Toss all that into the big, multicolored, anime pot and you get InuYasha, one hot show in Buzz. Searches on "anime inuyasha" doubled over the past week, and we're bombarded daily with hundreds of thousands of searches for the manga, its movies, and the TV series, which currently airs during Adult Swim on the Cartoon Network.
And before you think that it's just the boys involved in this demon lair stuff, we'll duly inform you that 60% of the show's searches come from young ladies, thank you very much. But judging from the effusive activity going on at the Search box, everyone�s favorite characters are: InuYahsa, Kagome, Sesshoumaru, Sango, Miroku, and Kikyo. (Now, quick, repeat those names back to us.)
In heated pursuit of the shards of data, we gathered our courage and ventured into the time warp to bring back these top InuYasha searches currently doing battle in Buzz...
Dare to Take the News Quiz
Thursday October 27, 2005 3:00AM PT
USC Player
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You wouldn't believe the amount of useless knowledge swimming around in our heads. It's truly, truly sick. We have to watch ourselves at parties, because the moment we let slip that we know: a) Who Tara Reid is, b) The name of her now (thankfully) defunct reality show, and c) Which network wisely canceled it, we immediately betray our disgusting infatuation with vapid starlets as well as our utter lack of social lives. Yes, we too are part of the problem.
But not any more! We're turning over a new leaf. To prove it, we're giving our loyal readers a Buzz quiz that requires a bit of real news knowledge -- not just the fluff we devour in People, Us Weekly, or, God help us, In Touch. Read on -- you just might learn something.
Round One
Clue #1: In college football, the top of this poll is definitely where you want to be.
Clue #2: When rearranged, its initialism is the same as that of a leading TV network.
Clue #3: This year, the schools with the top two rankings will meet in the Rose Bowl.
Clue #4: Searches on this poll jumped 295% after Texas leaped over USC to take the top spot.
Answer: Click here.
Round Two
Clue #1: Lifetime original miniseries that doesn't star Kate Jackson or Jaclyn Smith.
Clue #2: Deals with the very serious topic of modern-day sex slavery.
Clue #3: Its star won an Oscar for her work in Mighty Aphrodite.
Clue #4: Searches surged 152% following its cable premiere.
Answer: Click here.
Round Three
Clue #1: President Bush recently declared him the country's new "money man."
Clue #2: Assuming things go according to plan, he'll soon occupy the spot vacated by Alan Greenspan.
Clue #3: The stock markets reacted positively to his nomination -- always a good sign.
Clue #4: Searches on this number cruncher performed like a bull, up big in active trading.
Answer: Click here.
Round Four
Clue #1: Born in Prague, Czechoslovakia, in 1937.
Clue #2: Her first name is the same as that of a famous series of children's books (though spelled differently).
Clue #3: The first female secretary of state for the U.S.
Clue #4: Searches on this highly respected stateswoman took a positive turn after her appearance on Gilmore Girls.
Answer: Click here.
All My Children: The Jackson Edition
Wednesday October 26, 2005 5:00PM PT
Janet Jackson
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In our last episode, a costume malfunction in front of hundreds of millions people stirred up interest in Ms. Janet Jackson in Search. In this latest installment, rumors of a "secret" daughter brought searches on "janet's jackson's daughter" up 689% in the Buzz.
See, it all started when Janet married James DeBarge, for three months back in 1984. This was between the time she released Janet Jackson and Control, for those of you who follow discographies. According to DeBarge's younger brother -- aptly named Young Debarge -- Janet and James had a baby named Renee, who is now 18 years old.
We've never been too good with math here at the Buzz, but somewhere in this story, logic escapes us. If Jackson's daughter was conceived and/or born during her and DeBarge's marriage, wouldn't that make Renee Jackson 21 years old? Of course, the two could easily have had a child outside of the span of their marriage, say sometime in 1987. But we've been mystified why few of the news stories are following up on these details.
Is Young DeBarge's tale true? Jackson's camp has officially denied the story. And rumors of a secret Jackson baby have been the stuff of urban myth for years. Adding to the implausibility, Janet's former mother-in-law, Etterline DeBarge, told the New York Daily News, "No one knows for sure." Grandma doesn't know for sure? Will Renee Jackson come forth? We won't hold our breath. But we'll surely be staying tuned for the next episode of All My Children: The Jackson Edition.
The Warriors Got Game
Wednesday October 26, 2005 11:00AM PT
The Warriors
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There are two kinds of gang movies. The first is the cautionary tale about a young guy with family issues who joins a gang. Bad things happen, he tries to quit but can't get out, etc. The second kind is far more entertaining. The street tuffs are over-the-top and relatively harmless, there's no annoying moral to the story, and the dialogue is delightfully dated with words like "suckas" tossed around liberally. Longtime cult favorite The Warriors fits this mold to a tee.
Searches on "the warriors" are up 546% this month, thanks to a "special edition" DVD and a new video game from the criminal masterminds at Rockstar. The 1979 film got the director's cut treatment for the DVD release, so now the trolling gang of wannabe mimes is even more unintentionally terrifying. And for longtime fans, we're happy to report the movie's signature line "Warriors...come out to plaaaaaay!" remains untouched.
In interactive inner-city warfare, the Warriors video game is making ground as "the warriors ps2" and "the warriors cheats" gobble up Buzz turf. And while we're on the topic of movie-to-game adaptations, searches on "scarface game," "godfather game," and "king kong game" are all climbing the charts. Will this trend extend to other, less obvious films? We don't know about you, but we'd gladly plunk down $49.99 for Shakespeare in Love: The Game (provided we can play as Judi Dench, of course).
Bar Mitzvah Bash
Wednesday October 26, 2005 3:00AM PT
Bar Mitzvah Bash
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We've never met a coming-of-age ceremony we didn't like. From proms to homecomings to Sweet 16s, we relish them all. So our reverence for the bar mitzvah, the Jewish celebration of adulthood for 13-year-old boys, and the bat mitzvah, its female equivalent, should come as no surprise. Any event described as a "potent cocktail of ritual, acne, insecurity, and hormones," and that can inspire The New York Times to run pictures of chortling kids with big hair and braces earns our hard-won esteem.
And judging by the hundreds of searches pouring in each week, we're not the only ones that feel this way. Sure, the Search numbers aren't quite up to, say, Super Bowl-level. Still, queries like "bar mitzvah themes, "bat mitzvah dresses," and -- this one from the parents, we presume -- "bar mitzvah etiquette" continue to whoop it up online. So, with no further ado, we present our top bar mitzvah searches. Mazel tov!
Searching for the Funnies
Tuesday October 25, 2005 5:00PM PT
Bill Watterson
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Comic strips, sequential art, or the plain old funnies -- whatever you call them, the Buzz loves 'em. From the single-panel visual puns in The Far Side (and its many imitators) to the seminal Peanuts to the workplace wit of Dilbert, we read them every day, just like many of you.
Bill Watterson's The Complete Calvin and Hobbes recently hit bookshelves, and despite a bulky price tag, the collection has risen to the heights of bestseller lists and shopping wish lists alike. With a 277% increase in buzz over the weekend, the adventures of one little boy and his stuffed tiger seem to be one of our best-loved comic strips -- even though
Calvin and Hobbes was canceled by its reclusive creator over 10 years ago.
One of the country's most controversial strips, The Boondocks, has also piqued the interest of searchers in advance of its upcoming placement on Adult Swim, the Cartoon Network's block of mature animation. Set to premiere on November 6, The Boondocks will feature the suburban adventures of brothers Huey and Riley Freeman and their grumpy Granddad, with all the indignation, pre-adolescent black nationalism, and all-around craziness that has put the strip in and out of newspapers since its debut in 1999. Searches on "the boondocks" rank within our top 25,000.
Now we're just sitting around, waiting for The Boondocks to premiere and for our copy of The Complete Calvin and Hobbes to arrive in the mail... Until then, guess we'll see you in the funny papers.
Answering Search Questions
Tuesday October 25, 2005 11:00AM PT
Miss Earth 2005
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Who: Miss Earth 2005
What: Up 431%
Where: Alexandra Braun Waldeck was recently crowned Miss Earth 2005 in a ceremony in the Philippines. Tiaras for everyone!
Why: Why do beauty pageant searches spike? Hmm, we'll give you a two-word hint. Hot. Chicks.
How: The lovely Venezuelan was declared the winner and will go forth and spread the word about environmental issues, world peace, and blah blah blah. Say, got any more pictures?
Who: Friday the 13th
What: Up 409%
Where: Oh...my...God. There's a psycho in a hockey mask standing right behind you!
Why: The old-as-the-hills horror franchise recently celebrated 25 years of low-budget terror with a party at Universal Studios. Naturally, Jason got to cut the cake.
How: We're a little tired of watching amorous teens get hacked to pieces. And Jason already took on Freddy Krueger in a "killer" crossover. How about he slices and dices the wacky cops of Police Academy next?
Who: Lamb and Lynx Gaede
What: Up 879%
Where: Performing for all-white audiences since they were nine, the girls, known as Prussian Blue count David Duke as one of their biggest fans.
Why: The 13-year-old twin singers may look sweet, but their hate-fueled lyrics are causing alarm.
How: Disturbing proof that racism comes in all shapes and sizes.
Who: "Spears baby pictures"
What: Up 585%
Where: Supposedly leaked online. Britney is threatening to get litigious on anyone who dares publish them.
Why: We have no idea why people are so eager to see the spawn of Spears. A baby is a baby is a baby. Unless...
How: Does K-Fed have lil' Sean Preston on a diet of strained Cheetos and Mountain Dew? Perhaps the photos are the smoking gun.
Who: Scott Podsednik
What: Up 200%
Where: On his way to Houston, with his high-flying White Sox up two games to none.
Why: After he belted a walk-off home run in game two of the World Series, searches on the speedy Chicago outfielder spiked heroically.
How: Fans love players who come through when it counts, and nothing says "clutch" like a homer in the bottom of the ninth.
Going Organic
Tuesday October 25, 2005 3:00AM PT
Organic Food
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Here at the Buzz, we like our searches all-natural and our queries fertilizer free. And we never, ever test our Web matches on laboratory animals. So when The New York Times recently assessed how the cosmetics industry has responded to USDA standards for organic-food labeling, we embarked on our own Buzz appraisal. What other products, beyond fertilizers and pesticides, get the organic stamp in Search?
First, we begin at the cosmetics counter. There, our study reveals the limits in how far a lipstick-wearing lady will go: Neither organic cosmetics nor organic makeup get much attention online. However, lotions and ointments are a different matter � organic skin care, essential oils, and soap all entice the online shopper. Those interested in going au naturel have pushed the following items from other departments up our Search charts: organic sheets, organic cotton, organic cleaning products, and Organic Style Magazine.
Moving from the department store to the farmers' market, we discover the most plentiful array of organic searches. We can't guarantee these are USDA certified, but they definitely boast the Buzz stamp of approval. Whole Foods, eat your heart out...
