the buzz log

Doomsday thrills may be gripping moviegoers, but the stealth hit may come from the animated limited release "Fantastic Mr. Fox," a "rascally" caper about a fox who settles down but can't reform his thieving ways.

"Fox" is catching praise and Web attention for its throwback stop-motion artistry and its pedigree. The voice cast features George Clooney and Meryl Streep, and director Wes Anderson ("The Royal Tenenbaums") based his first animated film on a book by the late children's author Roald Dahl.

The match-up of Anderson's surreal quirk and Dahl's dark-flavored impishness has restored the director's cred. Unlike the disappointment felt by many fans of "Where the Wild Things Are," book lovers are pleased with adaptation's "existential heft."  Critics are talking Oscar about the sly "Fox" doing well in a "record" year for animation: Colorful competition includes Pixar's "Up" and "Disney's A Christmas Carol."

But the online love's all for Dahl: Web fans have pushed his searches on Yahoo! up 89%. And the man, who died in 1990, deserves the attention.

Bullied Child, Adventurous Adult
Among the many books Dahl wrote, one was an autobiography that told of his troubled childhood and adventurous youth. His father died when Dahl was three, leaving his mother to raise six kids. Beatings and bullying were common at his school. Maybe eager to leave home far behind, Doahl worked for Shell Oil in an African jungle before becoming a fighter pilot during World War II. He almost died after being mistakenly directed into a no-man's land.

Big Screen Books
No surprise that kind of living lent a dark undertone to his writings, whether for kids or adults. The new movie's triggering sentimental queries for "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" (+26%) and "Matilda," both adapted into cinematic favorites (even if Dahl distanced himself from the film "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory"). Other works that got the celluloid treatment: "James and the Giant Peach, "James and the Giant Peach, "Danny the Champion of the World," "The Witches," and the adult short-story, "The Smoker" (snagged by Quentin Tarantino for the ill-received "Four Rooms").

The Bond Connection
If children's books, housewife-crime tales and freaky ghost stories weren't enough, Dahl didn't do badly with screenplay adaptions either, including "You Only Live Twice" and "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang."

Still Giving
His fearless nature didn't end during the war: He helped create the Dahl-Wade-Till valve, which drained fluid from the brain and let people, like his son Theo, live without being hooked up to a machine. The altruism came from personal tragedies, including his own blood disorder, his first wife's triple strokes while pregnant, and his son's brain-damage from an accident.

In addition to a museum, playful websites, and awards, his name also lives on in a nonprofit foundation that offers assistance to "young people with brain and blood problems." Classic Dahl.

Filed under: Movies, Authors, Animation, Books

Today is Seuss' birthday! Sakes alive, that's 105!

The Web's observing "dr. seuss birthday" (+177%) with activities (+546%), books (+157%) and games (off the chart). Aside from dressing for the occasion (in a natty "dr. seuss hat," of course), searchers have been catching up on his many works: In the past seven days, the favorites have been "The Cat in the Hat," "Green Eggs and Ham," "Horton Hears a Who," "The Grinch Who Stole Christmas," and "One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish."

A proper celebration also calls for brushing up on the background of the Massachusetts author (and artist). To call back to an old Buzz Log when "The Cat in the Hat" turned 50, "Theodor Geisel took his pen name from Mum/And met with a challenge/To write primers less dumb."

And also less boring. Geisel took a list of 400 words and cut it to 220 to write about that cat. His addictive rhythm, anapestic tetrameter, stems from the Romantic period, which he'd shake up so readers never got too comfortable.

According to Mental Floss, he first adopted his Seussdonym after he got kicked off the college humor magazine for throwing a "drunken bash" (as befitting a descendant in a "long line of German brewmasters,") but continued to write using his mom's maiden name. Dartmouth didn't hold a grudge: His alma mater gave him the honorary title "Doctor," which probably made his father happy considering Geisel dropped out of his Oxford Ph.D. program in literature.

The salute to mom is especially fitting: She made up rhyme chants to sell her dad's pies to customers, and chanted them to Geisel when he couldn't sleep. Geisel, by the way, never had children ... unless you count the millions who adore his books.

Filed under: Literature, Authors, Books, Children, Birthdays

Below the purple haze of American politics, beyond the sheer historicity of Election Day, were events of passing significance. In other words, other things happened besides the U.S. elections. Take a breather from gloried events and muse over monsters from Mexico, excessive palimony payments, and literary figures who said goodbye.

The Creature From the Lake Resort
The axolotl: so elusive, so slimy, so near extinction. USA Today examined the possible fate of Mexico City's water monster, aka the Mexican walking fish. Scientists aim to save the creature, which has so far survived conquistadors, fishing, pollution, tourism, and singing gondoliers. The salamander has been the stuff of Aztec legend and Ogden Nash poetry, but may survive only another five years without help. People need way more time than that to practice pronouncing ACK-suh-LAH-tuhl.

The Realities of Romance
Reality TV pseudo-celebrities decided this week "yes we can" and "no we can't" when it came to matrimonial alliances. "The Bachelorette" DeAnna Pappas, once publicly rejected, did the spurning this time when she ended her engagement to Jesse Csincsak. The move also resulted in Pappas (metaphorically) shoving aside Rahm Emanuel as the fastest moving search term in the last seven days (+136,990%). "Girls Next Door" star Kendra Wilkinson, obviously so on the rebound from Hugh Hefner, announced her engagement to NFL wide receiver Hank Baskett. Lastly, Simon Cowell's longtime gal pal Terri Seymour dumped the "American Idol" judge last week, but she burst into Buzz for getting a nearly $10 million parting gift. This should re-inflate Simon's ego: The New Republic suggests Cowell "saved American democracy." Now that's surreal.

Epilogue: Literary Farewells
Michael Crichton was the latest literary figure to pass on in the past few weeks. Cinematical honors the thriller author's best seven onscreen translations. The author, who died of cancer at age 66, follows the departures of oral historian Studs Terkel, mystery writer Tony Hillerman, and New Age instigator Marilyn Ferguson.

Also buzzing...
• Soap star Lisa Rinna admits to plastic surgery overload.
• New Hampshire wants kids out of high school and into college by their sweet sixteen.
• OK, for the political junkies: Election Day search by search, John McCain's elegant concession, and a linguist's take on Barack Obama's speech.

Filed under: Celebrities, Celebrity Couples, Authors, Science, Fish