the buzz log

Despite a three-day weekend, the Buzz was buffeted by hurricanes, the Republican National Convention, and slap shots over Sarah Palin. Still, life slogged on, football season started, and zucchinis went to great lengths. Let's put political differences aside and take a look back at what else got readers abuzz with the most popular and (mostly) apolitical stories this week.

In a World Where Farewells Are Hard to Say
Three men known best for their voices passed on this week: movie-trailer basso profundo Don LaFontaine, good ol' boy country-singer Jerry Reed, and "Peanuts" animator Bill Melendez. Besides numerous queries for LaFontaine's soundboards, voice clips, and salary, the Minnesotan was remembered for his rare on-camera work in a Geico ad. Mourners reminisced about Atlanta-born Reed's music, recurring "Smokey and the Bandit" role, and defining hit "Amos Moses." Last but not least, Mexican-born Melendez worked closely with Charles M. Schulz to bring his "Peanuts" comic strip to TV, and notably provided the barks and chirps of Snoopy and Woodstock. To all, a fond sendoff.

Two Who Didn't Get Away ... and One Who Did
After months of sordid investigations, angry denials, and a roughed-up process server, searches soared again after Kwame Kilpatrick ended his reign as Detroit's "Hip-Hop Mayor" with a plea deal for obstructing justice. The Detroit Free Press chronicled his glory days and explained how his flaws symbolized the Motor City itself.

While he got four months, former D.C. lobbyist Jack Abramoff got four years, and was quite poetic at his sentencing. He declared himself a "broken man" whose "name is the butt of a joke, the source of a laugh and the title of a scandal." Yes, a book is coming. Meanwhile, the FBI doubled the reward for the capture of elusive Boston mobster James "Whitey" Bulger, age 79 but still on the run.

Power Through Body Language and Napping
All the talk about leading the country may have helped InsideCRM get those approving votes for its meticulous leadership training on how to command respect through body language. The blog gives do's ("spread weight evenly on both feet") and don'ts (excessive blinking), explaining what impressions each gives off.  Readers perhaps tuckered out by the exercises went for power napping and this dreamy roundup of sleeping pods.

Finally, Fatherhood in the Buzz ...
• Tiger Woods had to bow out after the U.S. Open, but the break gives the golfer time to prepare for his second child. Wife Elin Nordegren is due in late winter.
• David Spade proved his surname wrong, after news emerged he was the father of a Playboy Playmate's daughter. Impressed searchers vaulted the comedian's buzz up 650%.

Filed under: Politics, Celebrities, Crime, Scandals

Madness doesn't even begin to describe the buzz in March. The tale of the apparent do-gooder brought down by his own wire transfers thrilled gossip-seekers, political newshounds, and calcified "Law & Order" scribes. However, it was Ashley Alexandra Dupre—alternatively know by searchers as "kristen" and "spitzer prostitute"—who burned up computer networks.

The "miss bimbo" query wasn't another Dupre alter ego, though you'd be forgiven for thinking so. Instead it refers to a U.K. website that lets kids play with a virtual doll... including buying her breast implants. And, in a month given over to the Beatles on reality TV shows and iTunes rumors, John Lennon's ex released a book about her arranged mistress-dom.

March wasn't all lust... It was also about basketball, politics and a Bear Stearns market. Celebrity babies came due, and while most people checked to see how mama was doing, a rare papa (Gabriel Aubry) got some online attention as well. Here are just some of the other searches that moved fast in this mad, mad, mad, mad month.

Filed under: Monthly Wrapup, Basketball, Recaps, Scandals, Wrap Up

News of Eliot Spitzer's connection to a prostitution ring swept like a grease fire across the Web. Articles on the New York governor's disgrace blazed upwards in Buzz, with a post from The Smoking Gun triggering one of the highest Buzz scores. The story drew so much traffic to The New York Times website, which broke the story, that it nearly brought the paper's webpage to its knees.

So far, the most heatedly sought-out searches are split between Spitzer and his office ("eliot spitzer," "new york state governor," "new york governor") and the salacious details of the ring itself ("emperors club vip"). Both "eliot spitzer" and "emperors club vip" roared into our top 10 hourly searches. As the story emerged—and the evidence against the Wall Street muckraker piled up—lookups of "spitzer resign" ignited.

Here are some of the other fastest-moving queries from the past several hours:

David Paterson—Currently the lieutenant governor of New York, he's next in line for the governorship if Spitzer steps down.

Silda Spitzer—Spitzer's wife. She appeared with him at the press conference this morning, but said nothing.

"Spitzer Clinton"—Spitzer is the governor of Hillary Clinton's state and a vocal supporter of the presidential candidate. If he stays in office, he will vote as a superdelegate in the Democratic primary. Does the governor's public fall from grace hurt the New York senator? Some analysts say yes.

Larry Craig—One sex scandal triggers thoughts of another, and here's buzz on the Idaho senator to prove it.

Filed under: New York, News, Scandals