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Notables: In the last Pop Culture Roundup, I mentioned how Sex and the City cleaned up at the box office. I wasn't lying. It made a little over $55 million. And just like that, the chick flick toppled the action flick. I do wonder how many husbands/boyfriends got their wives/girlfriends to go see Indy by promising to go see Carrie (that would be the lead character in Sex in the City—and I swear I only know that by reading the reviews). As for the rest: The Strangers is a horror movie (critics say it's a particularly dumb one), Iron Man is still going strong, and Prince Caspian just doesn't seem to have the battle legs to go much further. Up this weekend: a new movie by Adam Sandler and the kid-friendly Kung Fu Panda.

Top Five Books
1. The Last Lecture, by Randy Pausch and Jeffrey Zaslow
2. Blood Noir, by Laurell K. Hamilton
3. Twilight, by Stephenie Meyer
4. Eclipse, by Stephenie Meyer
5. High Noon, by Nora Roberts

Notables: Laurell K. Hamilton's Blood Noir is "the latest in the vampire/werewolf series featuring vampire hunter Anita Blake." Stephenie Meyer's Twilight and Eclipse are part of a multi-volume book series tagged as "a vampire love saga." When three of the top five books are about vampires, it's safe to assume our nation is a bit obsessed. I'm not sure how you might want to make connections to this flurry of interest through your preaching, but I do know that Anne Rice, famed author of the "The Vampire Chronicles"—and recent convert back to Christianity—offered this intriguing thought in a recent 10 Questions column for Time magazine: "For me, supernatural characters were a way to talk about life and reality—vampires are the perfect metaphor for the lost soul." One other note about this list: I'm fairly certain that Nora Roberts writes a new book every other day—and people buy a Nora Roberts book every other day.

Top Five Albums
1. Here I Stand, by Usher
2. Sex and the City, Various Artists (movie soundtrack)
3. 3 Doors Down, by 3 Doors Down
4. II Trill, by Bun-B
5. Spirit, by Leona Lewis

Notables: Carrie and the gang from Sex and the City snagged the top spot at the box office, but they missed it by this much on the Billboard 200. Besides R & B artist Usher, the other albums listed just swapped a few places from last week. A lot of the songs from Here I Stand will probably stick around this summer (as they did with Usher's last album). Interestingly, one of the artists featured alongside Usher in the album—rapper and producer Jermaine Dupri—had this to say about Here I Stand: "Usher's album is more about teaching men [that] at some point, you gotta grow up. And growing up is respecting a woman and having a woman in your life and taking care of your woman. That's his definition of growing up." Adding to that air of "growing up," it's interesting to note that the cover of the album features a car with the license plate "1126." Wikipedia points out that 11-26-07 is the date that Usher's son was born.

Top Five Digital Downloads
1. "Viva La Vida," by Coldplay
2. "Lollipop," by Lil' Wayne (featuring Static Major)
3. "I Kissed a Girl," by Katy Perry
4. "Time of My Life," by David Cook
5. "Take a Bow," by Rihanna

Notables: I'm not surprised to see Coldplay take the top spot. They performed "Viva La Vida" to rave reviews at the MTV music awards. Also, as noted in the last Pop Culture Roundup, Coldplay is about to unleash their new album, which was recorded in churches and other locations throughout Latin America and Spain. The idea of heartbreaking revolution seems to be a recurring theme in the work. The other songs listed are similar to last week except the one you probably all noticed: "I Kissed a Girl." You probably noticed it because it's sung by a girl. Well, the song title pretty much sums up what she sings about in the song. Now, you can't always trust Wikipedia, but get this: according to their site, Perry was "the middle child of two pastors, [and] she grew up listening to gospel music and singing in church." In fact, her first album was a gospel album, recorded under a different name. Just an interesting fact to consider as you (maybe) read the lyrics.

Top Five Web Searches (according to Google Trends)
*Exercise caution when searching; some topics may be inappropriate.
1. michelle young
2. national donut day
3. dinosaur day
4. krispy kreme
5. june 6 1944

Notables: Today, June 6, 2008, is National Donut Day. All you need to know is this: on National Donut Day, you can get a free donut of your choice at Krispy Kreme. It seems this is also "Dinosaur Day" somewhere in the world. All you need to know is this: on National Donut Day, you can get a free donut of your choice at Krispy Kreme. On a more serious note, today is also the anniversary of D-Day, the most pivotal day of battle in WWII. We lost thousands of soldiers that day. National Donut Day is celebrated on the first Friday of June, but it does seem a little awkward that it falls on the same day as D-Day this year.

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