the buzz log

A collective exhale ushered the volatile 2008 out the door this week, although one baby who caused a political storm managed to quietly slip himself out before the end. Meanwhile, a long-time Oprah hoax and high-seas piracy stirred up the Buzz—and the searches—during this transition period.

Mom, Do We Have to Do a Combo Celebration?
Bristol Palin's boy emerged not as the grandson of the first female vice president, but as another December baby who will have to insist that his birthday celebrations remain separate from Christmas. Searches soared for the aptly named Baby Tripp, as well as for his momma (+851%) and all his youthful uncles and aunts. Meanwhile, proud grandma Sarah Palin—already busy defending her future son-in-law Levi Johnston's degree aspirations—used the happy event to warn against teen pregnancy on the governor's website. The message include Bristol calling her newborn "perfectly precious," although the timing itself hadn't been "ideal."

Oprah, Who Can You Believe?
The dominoes finally fell this week after Herman Rosenblat, who had been telling a sweet little story about meeting his wife at the fence of Buchenwald concentration camp in Germany for a dozen years, recanted his story. After a New Republic article raised many questions, publisher Berkley Books (already fooled twice by other authors) canceled his forthcoming memoir, and another publisher offered refunds for "Angel Girl," a children's book inspired by Rosenblat's tale. His hoax had charmed Oprah (twice), who declared his story the "single greatest love story...we've ever told on the air." Hollywood, which always changes the truth anyway, is going ahead with a film project based on the well-meant but discredited tale.

Captain, What Do We Do with the Fertilizer?
Apparently, oil and fertilizer don't mix. Pirates worked on New Year's Day and attacked two crafts. The high-seas bandits got hold of an Egyptian cargo ship with about 6,000 tons of fertilizer, but lost an Indian tanker with a full load of crude oil. The pirates haven't done too well lately: Water jets thwarted armed brigands last Friday, while a December defense, described in this BBC interview, involved cocktail bombs made out of beer bottles. Imagine what could've been done with the fertilizer.

Also buzzing...
  • "Catcher in the Rye" author J.D. Salinger turned 90 on New Year's Day, but remained in hiding for the grand event.
  • Soon-to-be Secretary of State Hillary Clinton dropped a Waterford crystal ball on Times Square, accompanied by her husband Bill and Mayor Michael Bloomberg, to welcome in the new year.
  • "Deliverance," which made banjo music creepy for men, and "Terminator," which made Arnold Schwarzenegger creepy for everyone, counted among 25 films to be preserved forever at the National Film Registry. Cue "Dueling Banjos."