It looks like Halloween has come early, judging from the scary list of top gaining search queries. Google’s weekly Zeitgeist report is filled with natural disasters, tragedy, horror movies, and pop culture.
The Top Ten
1. -pluto- Pluto met a swift planetary death on August 24, as the International Astronomical association decided big dirty snowballs couldn’t be planets. Halley’s Comet can stop applying now, they’re not listening.
2. -national hurricane center- Hurricane season’s been as disappointing for the storm trackers as it has been for TV news. How would you feel if you traveled all the way to Florida, got dressed up in your yellow hurricane reporter raincoat, and the darn thing just fizzled out on you?
Luckily for Michelle Kosinsky, nobody spotted the guy off camera making wind noises and holding a water can.
3. -hurricane ernesto- A hurricane that fizzled out by Florida was third on the gainers list, followed by a memorial to -hurricane katrina- at number 13.
4. -natascha kampusch- The chilling story of an Australian girl, who spent the second half of her childhood captive in the basement of a Vienna monster, took the fourth spot on the Zeitgeist list. After escaping, her captor committed suicide.
5. -silent hill- It’s been a while since horror movies really captured the buff’s imagination. First a video game, then a movie whose theatrical release propelled it and its characters to the top of the gainers list, the DVD release puts Silent Hill back onto the charts.
6. -emmys- Societal critics, horrified on a daily basis by Access Hollywood, the Enquirer, and Billy Bush, have their torture continued as the pat-us-on-the-back fest ensued at the Emmys, and then was number six on the minds of searchers.
7. -cheetah girls- Just when they thought it was over, Cheetah Girls were next, the latest Disney “tweener” made-for-TV soul-and-wallet-sucking incarnation of the pop culture demon. Scary stuff, dude.
8. -apple battery recall- Apple laptop owners, with images of flaming Sony batteries dancing in their heads, searched for a how to give them back before this happened to them.
9. -beerfest- The only scary part about this gainer is that it only made $6.5 million at the box office. Doesn’t everybody love a low-budget Beerfest?
10. -tom cruise- ‘Nuff said. Run, Katie, run!
The rest of the Google Zeitgeist gainers:
11. US Open
12. Vince Papale
14. Comair - R.I.P. Flight 5191
15. Katherine Heigl
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