the buzz log
Palin vs. Johnston: Snark Fest!
Sarah Palin must be kicking herself. The former Republican vice-presidential candidate made Levi Johnston the poster child of teen fatherhood (He is the baby daddy of her grandchild): Palin paraded him before the world when she accepted her party's nomination. Had he been under the radar, the ex-boyfriend of Bristol Palin might have just disappeared.
But now he's running his mouth about the Palin fam — and says he's got way more dirt to dish out, and promises a book. The 19-year-old squared off against the ex-governor of Alaska with all kinds of tales that must make Palin crazy. She called her baby retarded! She left her office for money! She and Todd talked divorce! The future presidential contender chose to engage by sniping back at the snarky stories, calling them "mean-spirited, malicious, and untrue," and calling Johnston "desperate." Me-ouch.
Truth or lies, the back-and-forth has caused major interest in Web searches: One-day Yahoo! lookups for "Levi Johnston" soared a whopping 1,992%. Popular queries also included "sarah and levi," and "sarah palin book tour."
Pace yourselves. Johnston made clear on the CBS "Early Show" he is just warming up to this "he said, she said" business. The smooth talking teen let loose this juicy gem: "I have things that can, you know — that would get her in trouble, and could hurt her." But for now, this guy's lips are sealed. Kind of. His handler says he's working on a book, and the bombs he dropped in his recent Vanity Fair piece were nothing compared to what could come out.
That's not all that's being revealed. Johnston confirmed he will pose for Playgirl (on the same day Palin will appear on "The Oprah Winfrey Show," natch), which will show off Levi's "Johnston," as Gawker put it. We have to admit, this guy knows how to get his sort of ex-mother-in-law's attention, and not in a good way. Who's gone rogue now?
Filed under: Politics, Sarah Palin
Bush Wants to Motivate You: New Speaking Tour
Move over, Sarah Palin. There's a new guy in town ready to do the speaker circuit. And English is not his best language.
George Bush is back. That's right — his new gig: motivational speaker. Bush stepped out for his first big engagement in the U.S. (he's already been on the speaking circuit in Canada) to talk about how people's prayers really affected him in office, although he "could not prove it to you."
As the Fort-Worth Star Telegram noted, Bush told his audience that he still felt confident in his decisions, even if it hurt his popularity. He told the 11,000 supporters that popularity "is fleeting" and "not real." The "Get Motivated" event included dancing to the Beach Boys "Surfin' USA" and throwing beach balls into the crowd.
According to the Christian Science Monitor, the light-hearted speech also included an admission that the Dallas resident now cleans up after his dog, Barney. Bush reportedly told the crowd, "Man, my life has changed!” The crowd ate it up.
The Washington Post wrote that the former president "Could have said a thesaurus was a big scaly creature that roamed the planet millions of years ago and they would have applauded." Youch.
All jokes aside, you will be hearing a lot more about the ex-president. He apparently has quite a few speeches planned, and a book about the 28 hardest decisions he ever made is due out next year. He's also got his library to plan, which will be at his wife's alma mater, Southern Methodist University, and a legacy to defend. If anyone is motivated, it's this guy.
Filed under: Politics
Sarah Palin's Next Act: Raves or Revile?
Sarah Palin is looking for a second act. Her memoir's turned in, and it's already a hit. Now that she's no longer in office, she could be your next motivational speaker. Maybe.
The ex-gov first wowed the American public when she was plucked from Alaska to run as John McCain's VP back in 2008. But wow quickly turned to "ow" as the troubles piled on, from wardrobe-gate to media hate to Tina Fey's dead-on mockery on "Saturday Night Live." So will things go her way, or awry?
First, the ex-gov wanted a clean slate. So she started by writing her own story. Sort of. Although she gets extra credit for turning her memoirs in early, and a mere two months after stepping down from office, the first-person account has signs of "ghostwriter" written all over it. (Not that there's anything wrong with that.)
But just because the book might not have been written by her doesn't mean the masses don't want to see it. Pre-sale orders have shot it up to number one on Amazon, overtaking Dan "Da Vinci Code" Brown. And yes, making it a bestseller way before it hits bookshelves on Nov. 17. HarperCollins must have figured as much, since they ordered an initial print run of a whopping 1.5 million books.
The folksy-talking hockey mom's latest gig is to get out on the lecture circuit. But her dance card is embarrassingly empty. Perhaps the reportedly way-high asking price of $100,000 is to blame. To add insult to the underwhelming response, the New York Post's gossipy Page Six turned to an industry insider who said talent bookers are scared to secure her because "they think she is a blithering idiot." Yikes.
Still, signs are good she could turn it all around. Marketwatch bets that if Palin can whip up a buying frenzy along with good reviews for her book, it could lead to major media offers — and the chance to show the world she's still got it. Heck, America loves a comeback. You betchya.
Filed under: Politics
September 2009 Buzz
Holidays both holy (Ramadan and Yom Kippur) and secular (Labor Day) dominated September, but the autumnal change of pace didn't always mean peace. Interruptions and protests testified to high anxieties. Those were dwarfed by an unrelenting series of natural disasters. Below, the events that bestirred the Buzz.
The disaster roll
Some took mere seconds, others lasted for days, but all left a wracked landscape. In the state of Georgia, five days of rain dumped as much as 20 inches, left at least nine dead, and flooded more than 1,000 homes. Typhoon Ketsana left a crueler mark through Southeast Asia, wiping away villages and killing more than 300. Quakes shattered Samoa, American Samoa, and the Sumatra island of Indonesia. Help has been at the ready: Federal aid has come to Georgia and the Samoa, the international community—already helping the hard-hit Philippines—are also reaching out to the tiny Pacific islands, and charities worldwide are heading to West Sumatra.
Outbursts, tantrums, and protests
Lots of angst was unleashed in September. Thousands converged to protest big government in a tea-party style gathering fueled by Glenn Beck and organized by FreedomWorks. Talk-show host Beck was awarded a ceremonial key to his hometown, but he may not want to use it. And while President Obama made some UN headway at the general assembly, his follow-up act Moammar Khadafy caused walkouts and his translator to collapse. Would have been a good time for Kanye West to pop up.
In memoriam
"Nobody puts baby in a corner" became the online eulogy for Patrick Swayze, who died of pancreatic cancer this month. Other passings noted: journalist William Safire who famously penned "nattering nabobs of of negativism" for Nixon's vice president Spiro Agnew; neoconservative architect Irving Kristol; and the "father of the green revolution" Norman Borlaug.
Search Terms with the Biggest Percentage Changes
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Filed under: Politics, Monthly Wrapup, Disaster, Recaps, Death
Impolitic Picture
We're not sure what's stranger: that the The U.S. State Department has a Flickr photo stream, or some odd moments that have been captured.
One photo that caught the eye of Gawker is this gem: Barack and Michelle Obama pictured with the Spanish prime minister and his all-in-black, combat-boot-clad daughers.
Fine, right? Wrong. Apparently a law in Spain allows the Spanish leader to block photos of his 16- and 13-year-old girls from the press — and he has been taking full advantage. OK, so they're not Michelle Obama mini-mes, like Sasha and Malia, but they sure do look like teens. Pretty cool ones, too.
The photo made its way to the Spanish newspapers, giving the country its first look at the girls. We're hoping this isn't the start of an international incident.
Filed under: Politics
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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