the buzz log
Buzz Multiplex Charts: Better Based on Fiction Than Fact
Top Three Movies of the Week, as ranked by Yahoo! searches
1. "Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire" (R, limited release). A film adaptation of the 1996 award-winning novel took 13 years, so little wonder that pent-up anticipation has exploded online. The searches have been phenomenal, partly helped by the directorial creds (Lee Daniels produced "Monster's Ball") and an eclectic cast (Mo'Nique, Mariah Carey, Lenny Kravitz). Plaudits are already being loaded on star Gabourey Sidibe, who takes on the unspeakable role of horribly abused, obese 16 year old. Despite the R rating, expect the females to queue up (they make up 77% of searches) where they can.
2. "The Fourth Kind" (PG-13). Milla Jovovich has carved a niche of sorts in vanquishing 15th-century English colonialists, corporate-created zombies, and the occasional evil police force. Who better (well, besides the recently departed guv) to lead a "fact-based" drama about UFOs mixing it up with Alaskans. The film has hoax written all over it, but viral marketing helps it snag the No. 2 slot (and inspire searches like "nome alaska abductions" and "alien abduction"). Now let's see if the 13-44 year olds crowd will actually pay for a ticket. Except in Alaska: The movie's evidently not showing there.
3. "The Men Who Stare At Goats" (R). Even more fact-based than Nome abductions, the spoof checks out elite psychics practicing their skills on behalf of military intelligence (so to speak). Ewan McGregor plays the reporter checking out mind-reading warrior George Clooney. Kevin Spacey and Jeff Bridges add to the over-40 powerhouse crew (well, McGregor's 38). Quirky title aside, the critics aren't just mostly unimpressed—they're making bleating noises. Well, at least fainting goats are getting some online love.
October 2009 Buzz: Halloween Haunts, Flyboys and Cheating Hearts
A deceptive autumn lull settled on the domestic scene, partly as people tried to dodge H1N1. Amidst all the handwashing, though, tumult remained over health care discussions, Afghanistan policy, and an exciting but perplexing Nobel Peace Prize honor bestowed on a freshman president. Besides headlines and Halloween, the Buzz had time to listen to creepy confessions and flights of fancy. Below, just a bit of the stories—and searches—on Web overdrive.
The Other Kind of Swine
The tale of cheating men is as old as man itself, but yet their shenanigans never fail to rivet...especially when it involves David Letterman, who has taken jabs over the decades at cheaters, and attempted blackmail by a CBS "48 Hours" producer. The host made a "creepy" confession on his show and another apology to offended females this year. The late-night drama made the sex-addiction confession by fired ESPN baseball analyst Steve Phillips seem tame, although he got the boot for canoodling with a 22-year-old production assistant (one of many events that helped end his 19-year-old marriage). Philips entered sex rehab. At this rate, someone might want to start a mobile clinic.
Frolicking Flyboys
Eyes turned to the skies when it seemed an amateur storm chaser's son had accidentally taken off in a helium ballon. The media frenzy was for naught, as the now ironically named Falcon Heene had hid in the rafters, and the whole episode turned out to be a really bad reality-TV audition. No hoax but questions remain over how Northwest Flight 188 pilots overshot their destination by 150 miles and remained incommunicado for 75+ minutes. The cockpit blamed "heated" scheduling discussions and laptop distractions. The FAA called their excuses "a frolic" and suspended them. Passengers can still believe in the skies: Hudson River hero Captain Chesley Sullenberger published his biography this month.
Afghan Course
In the long conflict, October has proven the deadliest for US forces in Afghanistan. General Stanley A. McChrystal has argued for more manpower and, after much consultation with military commanders and civilian advisers, the White House will lay out "broad strategic guidelines" until the Nov. 7 election runoff between President Hamid Karzai and challenger Abdullah Abudullah...even if the challenger boycotts. Reports point to a compromise which follows American history, as Newsweek details in a look back at troop requests since the Revolutionary War.
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Filed under: Reality TV, Celebrities, Monthly Wrapup, Hoaxes, Military, Halloween, War, Nobel Prize, Barack Obama, David Letterman, Afghanistan, Wrap Up
Crossbows, a New Drill, and the Sisterhood: Buzz Week in Review
Outbursts, rebukes, and undercover videos made for a raucous week, but the Buzz sat up and took notice of some tough femmes going on the offensive this week.
Prey Tell
In their maiden alligator hunts, two females armed with crossbows bagged some mighty big prey.
New mom Arianne Prevost, 23, took a break from diaper duty and snagged an 11-footer in Florida. Over in South Carolina, 16-year-old Cammie Colin was better known for being a softball player and a junior varsity cheerleader, until she went out in the dead of night with her male kin and brought down a gator measuring 10' 5" and 353 pounds. Their beginner's luck have
made them Fox News darlings
for being straight shooters. Both Florida and South Carolina issue limited hunting permits for alligators as part of state programs to control their reptile populations.
Drill Major Drill
Teresa King—or Command Sgt. Maj. to you—will be the first female top honcho of the U.S. Army Drill Sergeant School in Fort Jackson. The daughter of a sharecropper, King learned about strict discipline from the get-go with her dad being a strict disciplinarian to his 12 kids. A 28-year army vet who has served in South Korea and Europe, she'll start her new job Sept. 22.
Telling West Where to Go
The celeb sisterhood rallied around singer Taylor Swift after Kanye West lost his mind and his manners at the MTV Video Music Awards. West, who has a long history of speaking out, interrupted the 19-year-old's acceptance speech for Best Female Video. His behavior got a chorus of boos and even two presidential vetos, but the firmest slap-downs came from Pink, Katie Perry, Kellie Pickler, and Kelly Clarkson, who used firm and decidedly unladylike language in angry tweets and blog posts. Since the Sunday outburst, West apologized on "Jay Leno," his website, and finally to Swift herself after she appeared on the ultimate sisterhood cocoon, "The View."
Also buzzing this week...
- A passing of three entertainment eras with the deaths of Henry Gibson; Mary Travers of Peter, Paul, and Mary; and Patrick Swayze...
- Dan Brown's instant bestseller's out, but don't forget Jane Austen's sea monsters...
- One year after Lehman Brothers falls, the recession's over...
Filed under: Music, Hunting, Military, Women, Week in Review, Scandals, Wrap Up
Induction Hosts, Warrior Mindset, Sheepskin Boots: What's the Buzz
Our picks from the day's hottest searches.
- David Thompson (breakout). Michael Jordan, headed to the Hall of Fame on Friday, anointed North Carolina alum "Skywalker" to host his induction.
- Obama School Speech (+581%). No. 44 released his speech in advance and addressed the nation's children today.
- Warrior Mind Training (+289%). Time magazine profiled an Army program out to teach 1.1 million soldiers "the art of mental toughness."
- Uggs (+185%). Ladies are putting away the whites and pulling out the sheepskin boots.
- State Capitals (+125%). It's homework time. Here are some answers: Tallahassee, Frankfort, and Olympia.
Filed under: Sports, Education, Military, Shoes, Barack Obama, Geography
A WWII Hero's 21st-Century Salute
Internet stories that sound "too good to be true" sometimes turn out to be just that.
In the June maelstrom of celebrity deaths, a World War II vet died on June 17 at age 86. His passing got some mention in the Roanoke Times, but someone believed that Darrell "Shifty" Powers deserved a lot more notice: The former soldier had served in the 101st Airborne Division, part of the fabled Easy Company that inspired the book and 2001 HBO miniseries, "Band of Brothers."
So an anonymous email, sent out July 7, called out for a "nationwide memorial service" to recognize an American hero. The writer wasn't a friend or family member, but a stranger who had a chance airport encounter with an elderly Powers. The vet's story might get interest from "a bunch of military-minded friends," the writer thought, and that would be it.
But a funny thing happened on the Web. Blogs started mentioning Powers' legacy. The message gave fodder for some people to ding "the media" for overlooking a chance to honor Powers' service. One even posted the email in the comments area of a story about a state trooper injured in a golf cart accident.
Then, the unsigned email itself became news. Was the author actually test pilot Chuck Yeager? McClatchy Newspapers military columnist Joseph Galloway? ABC finally tracked down the writer, who turned out to be one Mark Pfiefer, a retired Dow Jones employee.
The moment of silence that Pfiefer had wanted for Powers ended up being a social networking salute on July 20. Searches on Yahoo! for "darrell shifty powers" rose 63% from people 21 on up. No less than six memorials appeared on Facebook, with 1,620 members so far in one. And the Twittering continues.
The Military Times caught up with Pfiefer, who said he "had no idea it would take off the way it did." As for Powers' family, his daughter Margo believed her dad would "say everyone is just making too much of a fuss, but that's just the way he was, very humble." And Margo's husband, Sheldon, called this online call-out "too good to be true, like those fake stories that make the rounds on the Internet." And, agendas aside, this one turned out even better than planned.
Below is an interview with Powers about the HBO series.
top movers
| Rank | Subject | 1-Day Move |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nidal Malik Hasan | Breakout! |
| 2 | Fort Hood Shooting | Breakout! |
| 3 | Tyrannosaurus Rex | Breakout! |
| 4 | Fort Hood | 43518% |
| 5 | Tropical Storm Ida | 4377% |
| 6 | Willie Aames | 3325% |
| 7 | Shannon Dedrick | 3299% |
| 8 | Gretchen Rossi | 2702% |
| 9 | Epic Mickey | 2583% |
| 10 | Lee Harvey Oswald | 1907% |
top leaders
| Rank | Subject | Move | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Danica Patrick | +194 | 207 |
| 2 | Fort Hood | +185 | 185 |
| 3 | Angelina Jolie | +114 | 164 |
| 4 | Rihanna | +39 | 157 |
| 5 | New York Yankees | +54 | 154 |
| 6 | Alicia Keys | +139 | 153 |
| 7 | +1 | 153 | |
| 8 | NFL | +6 | 138 |
what's the buzz?
A subject's buzz score is the percentage of Yahoo! users searching for that subject on a given day, multiplied by a constant to make the number easier to read. Weekly leaders are the subjects with the greatest average buzz score for a given week.
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