the buzz log
Buzz Multiplex: Not Just a Test Animal
Not since the Kung Fu Hamster has a rodent shown such prowess. Among the strangely varied pickings in the Buzz Multiplex this weekend, elite guinea pig spies of Disney's 3D "G-Force" lead a surly orphan and romantically challenged woman.
Heroic mice have had plenty of screen time, but this particular critter hasn't had a chance at big-screen glory. In fact, guinea pigs don't get much respect. For one thing, they're neither porcine nor Guinean. (One possible answer to this etymological mystery explained here.) They're considered cheap pets for the home or classroom (subjecting them to much elementary school harassment) and subjects of scientific experimentation.
Even worse, sometimes people can't tell them apart from hamsters. SF Gate felt so aggrieved by this confusion that it came up with 11 distinctions between the Cava Porcellus and the Cricetinae critter.
Among them: Guinea pigs don't make cannibalism a practice. Admittedly, both hamsters and guinea pigs do engage in coprophagy (and if you have a weak stomach, don't click the link to find out what that means).
Despite the movie's popularity, there's yet another indignity: Searches on Yahoo! for "guinea pigs" and "guinea pigs for sale" are up (as predicted by leery guinea pig rescue groups), but still not yet enough to beat out the hamster. And that's not even including online lookups for the "hamster dance."
Filed under: Movies, Animals, Animation, Animated Characters
Election Collection, What's Your Affection?
I'm just a bill. Yes, I'm only a bill, and I sit here on Capitol Hill.
If those words have triggered an incessant yet pleasurable hum in your brain, you belong to a generation exposed to Atari video games, Shaun Cassidy, jelly sneakers (when they appeared the first time around), and "Schoolhouse Rock."
Musical cartoon shorts or "educational interstitials," the '70s-era "Schoolhouse Rock" comprised enlightened breaks between Scooby Doo adventures and Bugs Bunny reruns, and put topics like multiplication, grammar, and history to a jazzy uptempo or moody folk beat. Culling from that vast repertoire, Disney (which now owns the cartoons) has repackaged an election special DVD this week, to help a new generation get in tune during a presidential year and induce random lyrical outbreaks among older folks.
Oh, we were suffering until suffrage.
Not a woman here could vote no matter what age,
until the 19th Amendment struck down that restrictive rule.
Oh yeah!
As with all seemingly good acts, ABC's motives to air "Schoolhouse" weren't entirely pure: Consumer activists rebelled against the inordinate advertising time on Saturday mornings targeting kids, and the FCC decreed children's programming had to have an educational component (a ruling lifted during the Reagan years).
Oh, elbow room, elbow room,
Got to, got to get us some elbow room.
It's the west or bust, in God we trust,
there's a new land out there...
After a long absence, rock versions of the songs were released, Disney bought the franchise, and attempts at a musical have been made. While the math and grammar lessons still hold up, Time magazine's TV blog Tuned In took Tuesday's DVD release to muse about these segments as a post-Watergate "kind of socio-political time capsule," and how they couldn't perhaps be made today.
We're gonna elect a president! (No more kings)
He's gonna do what the people want! (No more kings)
We're gonna run things our way! (No more kings)
Nobody's gonna tell us what to do!
All the more reason to brainwash a new generation, although serious reviews suggest getting the comprehensive 30th Anniversary edition, released in 2002. After all, in any good election year, you also got to know some choice interjections.
Hallelujah. Yea.
Filed under: TV, Politics, Videos, Animation, Cartoons, Kids, Animated Characters, Elections
top movers
| Rank | Subject | 1-Day Move |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ford 400 | Breakout! |
| 2 | Indonesia Ferry | Breakout! |
| 3 | Jordan Chandler | 3481% |
| 4 | Evan Chandler | 2322% |
| 5 | American Music Awards | 1841% |
| 6 | John F. Kennedy | 1529% |
| 7 | Turkey Stuffing Recipes | 1361% |
| 8 | Liam Hemsworth | 1172% |
| 9 | Lou Dobbs | 1142% |
| 10 | Hendrick Motorsports | 888% |
top leaders
| Rank | Subject | Move | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Black Friday | +340 | 1290 |
| 2 | NFL | +489 | 670 |
| 3 | Jennifer Lopez | +451 | 515 |
| 4 | New Moon | -67 | 250 |
| 5 | American Music Awards | +236 | 249 |
| 6 | UFC | -36 | 239 |
| 7 | Miley Cyrus | +66 | 169 |
| 8 | Hulu | -11 | 154 |
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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