the buzz log
Oscar Leftovers
Last wandering thoughts...and Search spikes...triggered by the 81st annual Academy Awards:
Presentation, People, Presentation
- Character actors opted for the old "fashion-inverse-to-talent" rule as Tilda Swinton (+1,242% up in searches) went mousy beige and Philip Seymour Hoffman (+326%) matched his tuxedo with a knit cap.
- Jennifer Aniston ended up being the evening's most popular presenter, according to searches. Nothing like having the camera pan twice to reaction shots from your ex and his current lady in the front row during your segment.
- Robert Pattinson brought tween cred to the fusty old Academy. His English accent makes the "Twilight" vamp that much more deliciously dangerous.
- Bringing up the delicate "age" question (in order of Web queries): How old is Jerry Lewis (82), Sophia Loren (74), Miley Cyrus (16) and Goldie Hawn (63)?
- No truth to the rumor that Jessica Biel's dress doubled as a towel dispenser backstage. Someone tell her beau Justin Timberlake, this is a wardrobe malfunction.
The Old Song-and-Dance
- How well did Hugh Jackman do? Enough to make the top 5 most-searched 2009 onstage hosts, and stimulate online investigations into his bio, films, wife, and how he looks in the buff.
- Natalie Portman likens co-presenter Ben Stiller's homage to Joaquin Phoenix as someone who works in a "Hasidic meth lab." Good idea... forget Phoenix's rap: Phoenix and Stiller either as the Hasidic Blues Brothers or a ZZ Top tribute band.
- Beyonce may have lip-synched, but she's too popular for Searches to care. Besides, they're busy looking up the lyrics to winning Oscar song, "Jai Ho."
- Angelina Jolie pulled in the most searches of any nominee, but disappointed a few when she didn't adopt the cast of "Slumdog Millionaire."
- Kate Winslet snapped her losing streak and snags most popular Oscar winner on the Web. Will Jackman watch her movie now?
- Most popular spouse? Husband: Matthew Broderick (to Sarah Jessica Parker). Wife Robin Wright Penn (to Sean Penn).
- Gone too soon: The memory of Heath Ledger evokes Web nostalgia for his old movies, former co-stars like Shannyn Sossamon and even the late James Dean.
- "Man on Wire" high-wire artist Philippe Petit balanced the Oscar for best documentary on his chin. Let's bring the Oscars to Vegas, baby!
Winners' (and Losers') Circle
Filed under: TV, Award Shows, Oscars, Angelina Jolie, Jennifer Aniston, Jessica Biel
Buzz Multiplex: A Frightening Mix of Musicals, Mayhem, and Angelina Jolie
Forget red and blue states. This week at the Buzz Multiplex, the cheery Disney crowd will be commingling in the ticket lines with horror fans. Following a safe distance behind is Clint Eastwood's next Oscar hopeful, but that's not counting the Jolie factor.
1. "High School Musical 3: Senior Year" (G). Without tallying up all the HSM hysteria, the cable-behemoth-turned-big-screen-spectacle would still rock the top movie spot. Add up all those lookups for the soundtrack, lyrics, premiere and tickets, though, and the Disney juggernaut boasts a two-fold lead and numbers (top 500 searches this week) that are in superhero blockbuster territory. For those who have successfully dodged the phenom and now are resigned to learning Troy Bolton and Gabriella Montez's backstory, you can catch up on one and two here, and in Time's review. The (mostly under-17 female) fans already hankering for a fourth outing should go read, of all things, the Wall Street Journal's assessment.
2. "Saw V" (R). One thing this crowd has in common with the "HSM" kids—they're already ready for another go. This merry return to psychopathic fantasies lists Tobin Bell in the cast, although he died in "Saw IV" ... or did he? Oddly, movies in this genre don't usually get lookups for reviews, but maybe economic times dictate where money is best spent. According to opinions like the one from the New York Daily News critic, this version's not worth the admission price. Still, expect a healthy if twisted crowd given the huge Search interest (top 500) and the affection for actress Meagan Good.
3. "Changeling" (R, limited release). Director Clint Eastwood's latest thriller has been getting Oscar vibes since its Cannes Film Festival screening. The story's partly based on the so-called Wineville Chicken Coop Murders, focusing upon a missing boy's mother who accused the police of deliberately returning the wrong boy. Despite the Oscar glow, AP finds nuance missing in the "heavyweight drama," but Rolling Stone can't get enough of the "creative mojo" and the "force of nature" that is star Angelina Jolie. As for Jolie, she reaps more searches then every single movie opening this week, including her own. Now that's a force of nature.
Others sought out on the Buzz Marquee... "Pride and Glory" (R) pairs Edward Norton and Colin Farrell as diametrically opposed cops and brothers-in-law ... A bullied boy finds a friend in his neighbor, who happens to be a vampire, in "Let the Right One In" (limited) .... Bollywood animation teams up with Disney in "Roadside Romeo" (limited) who's a pampered dog that gets dumped in the mean streets.
Filed under: Movies, Horror, Musicals, Angelina Jolie, Disney
All in the (Jolie) Family
Angelina Jolie isn't popular. She's way beyond that. When it comes to the "Wanted" star and mother of six, we need a new word for "popular"—a term that means "crushing, limitless, and white-hot obsession." Or something like it.
Sure, her mega-wattage partner ups the ante. But lately, he has seemed almost secondary. Yesterday, Jolie cracked the top 100 searches on Yahoo!. No other human came close to joining that list. Now, the irresistible force that surrounds her has drawn in members of her extended family, too.
Over the past week, the response to the luscious lady's new children sparked colossal surges in queries like "angelina jolie brad pitt baby pictures" (+1,797%) and "angelina jolie's twins" (+1,488%). That's not surprising, but the Jolie-aganza doesn't stop there.
Angelina's father, Jon Voight, spiked 135% in Search on Tuesday, while her brother, James Haven, leapt nearly 420%. In the past days, mother Marcheline Betrand and ex-hubbies Jonny Lee Miller and Billy Bob Thornton have also posted double or triple digit gains.
The way things are going, we'll soon be seeing queries like "angelina jolie second cousin removed" or "angelina jolie's grandma." Actually, we shouldn't even joke about that. When you're blasting through worlds far, far beyond popular, anything is possible.
Filed under: Celebreality, Angelina Jolie
Buzz Multiplex: Kill or Be Cute
Yin-yang rules the Buzz Multiplex this week in another double-release, as well-intentioned assassins face down a lovable trash compactor. This could get ugly-cute.
1. "Wanted" (R). The massive Angelina Jolie appeal has been probed at length, so let us move on to why else the "brotherhood of assassins" might have a killer box-office weekend. For one thing, Russian-Kazakh director Timur Bekmambetov brings his cult-following cred. Besides Jolie, star power also glows in Search for James McAvoy, Morgan Freeman, Common, and Kristen Hager. Finally, while Newsweek calls the film's "overamped style... oppressive," outlets like Rolling Stone unashamedly embrace the addictive trash.
2. " Wall-E" (G). A strong second, but the animated entry could pull in the bigger audience this weekend, given critical superlatives: AP says "boldest," Roger Ebert adds "enthralling," and the Hollywood Reporter says the Oscar race can now begin. The excitement has also spurred searches for the entire Pixar library, especially "Ratatouille" and "Cars." Overall searches aren't in the same league as Iron Man's pre-premiere following, but the family movie of the week still hovers near the top 1,000 searches.
Filed under: Movies, Cartoons, Angelina Jolie
Wanted: Action Heroine
One moment, Angelina Jolie urges awareness for World Refugee Day. In the next moment—as in June 27—she bloodies the screen as a well-meaning assassin in "Wanted." Throughout all this, she looms as a larger-than-life mother figure, spurring premature hysteria around the birth of her twins (as of now, still safely in the womb).
In an industry that thrives on typecasting, Jolie's draw has been her seeming contradictions, and every outlet—and searchers—want a piece of her. Both Vanity Fair and Entertainment Weekly put her on their covers, and Radar revealed how Jolie-starved tabloids stole scraps to make their own stories. Huffington Post counted the Goodwill ambassador among the top 10 green girls (thanks to single-handedly funding a $5-plus mil Cambodian wildlife sanctuary). USA Today called her "scary sexy," and Forbes magazine ranked her third in the Celebrity 100, after Tiger and Oprah. Searches have been swelling around her past movies ("beowulf," "tomb raider"), family ("twins," Pitt), and tattoos.
Detractors will always think of the Oscar winner as the woman who stole Brad Pitt from Jennifer Aniston. Critics and fans however stumble over themselves to define her genre-busting, gender-defying appeal that breaks Hollywood constructs of what a female actress—or a woman—should be. Two years after Salon placed Jolie in the same breed as Marlon Brando and Jack Nicholson, USA Today likens her inventiveness to Madonna and sexpot grace to Sophia Loren, and the New York Post contrasts her fierece independence with the feminine interpendence of, say, the "Sex And The City" gals.
The Post also poses the billion-dollar question: Why doesn't Jolie get more lead action roles and give "nongirly girls" a role model? At a time when blockbusters hog the big screen, the kind of meaty women's roles owned by Bette Davis, Katharine Hepburn and other power actresses of yesteryear have shrunk to the small screen. SATC's crossover success surprised Hollywood observers, a reaction that EW.com complained shows how women have to prove their box-office appeal over and over. Meanwhile, Jolie's willingness to take action in between dramas is seen as challenging the big blockbuster boys on their own turf.
Her action heroism should rock the multiplex: "Wanted" has been attracting healthy searches, and she herself is settled among the top five most-searched personalities. If the action flick does well, especially on the heels of SATC's success, it might convince Hollywood that girls can beat the boys at their own game.
Filed under: Movies, Women, Angelina Jolie
Celeb Ink
Celebs and tattoos tend to walk hand in well-inked hand. Angelina Jolie recently added to her collection of body ink. Pink says she won't put a tatt of hubby Carey Hart's name on her well-inked bod. And it sure looks like Anna Nicole's baby daddy had an image of the buxom blonde permanently etched on his back.
But which celebrities inspire the most searches on their body art? For answers, we turned to the buzz to find the top 20 celeb tattoos...
Filed under: Celebrities, Tattoos, Angelina Jolie
top movers
| Rank | Subject | 1-Day Move |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Worst Airports For Delays 2009 | Breakout! |
| 2 | How To Survive A Recession | Breakout! |
| 3 | Ice Cream Calorie Counter | Breakout! |
| 4 | Jayson Williams | Breakout! |
| 5 | Alexandra Kerry | Breakout! |
| 6 | Chaz Bono | 10707% |
| 7 | Kelly Osbourne | 3298% |
| 8 | Jennifer Hudson | 3218% |
| 9 | Nicole Richie | 2075% |
| 10 | Thierry Henry | 1125% |
top leaders
| Rank | Subject | Move | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Black Friday | +413 | 1016 |
| 2 | Elizabeth Lambert | -677 | 263 |
| 3 | NFL | +66 | 235 |
| 4 | New Moon | +74 | 213 |
| 5 | Bing | +83 | 209 |
| 6 | Kelly Osbourne | +193 | 199 |
| 7 | Hulu | +7 | 139 |
| 8 | Nicole Richie | +124 | 130 |
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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