It's a little late—but better late than never, right? I was on vacation last week. Sorry about that. I won't let it happen again. Here's what people are watching, reading, listening to, and learning about (or at least they were last week)...
Top Five Movies (according to box office returns)
1. Kung Fu Panda (PG)
2. You Don't Mess with the Zohan (PG-13)
3. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (PG-13)
4. Sex and the City: The Movie (R)
5. The Strangers (Rated PG-13)
Notables: What an eclectic plate of movies the week served up: a kid-friendly story of a ninja-Panda; a junior-friendly story of an Israeli counter-terrorism commando who becomes a hairstylist; an 80s-friendly sequel; a television-series-becomes-a-movie-franchise-in-the-making; a horror movie that nobody liked, but somebody is still going to.
Top Five Books
1. When You Are Engulfed in Flames, by David Sedaris
2. New Moon, by Stephenie Meyer
3. Twilight, by Stephenie Meyer
4. The Last Lecture, by Randy Pausch and Jeffrey Zaslow
5. Eclipse, by Stephenie Meyer
Notables: David Sedaris is an extremely popular writer.It's no surprise that his latest batch of humorous essays topped the Times. And what else can I say about Stephenie Meyer? Three of the top five books, folks! Vampires are on the minds of thousands of young adults. Again: I don't know what you want to do with that—if anything at all—but be advised.
Top Five Albums
1. Indestructible, by Disturbed
2. NOW 28, Various Artists
3. Here I Stand, by Usher
4. Weezer, by Weezer
5. Revelation, by Journey
Notables: From the Wikipedia entry on Disturbed's Indestructible: "Indestructible is Disturbed's third consecutive #1 debut on the Billboard 200. More notably, only six other rock bands have accomplished this. These bands include Van Halen, U2, Metallica, Dave Matthews Band, Staind, and System of a Down." So, I suppose you could argue this is a significant album from a significant band. I really don't know much about them. I know this much about Indestructible: the album cover will give toddlers nightmares, and I am willing to bet that none of the songs resemble "It's a Small World" in tone or spirit. Other news: Weezer struck gold with their third Weezer-titled album, and Journey is our blast-from-the-past band of the week.
Top Five Digital Downloads
1. "Viva La Vida," by Coldplay
2. "I Kissed a Girl," by Katy Perry
3. "Lollipop," by Lil' Wayne (featuring Static Major)
4. "Take a Bow," by Rihanna
5. "Pocketful of Sunshine," by Natasha Bedingfield
Notables: Coldplay has once again taken the top spot. Their new album—"Viva La Vida"—drops tomorrow (June 17). I read in USA Today that it currently holds the record for most album presales in iTunes history. Roughly translated: this one is going to be huge. It's likely that anyone could be listening to it at any given time in the months ahead, ranging from your junior high kid to your grandmother. Seriously—their audience base skews far and wide. Here's an article from Time magazine about the band. Meanwhile, "I Kissed a Girl" has actually moved up in the charts. last week's pop culture roundup for more info on this one. Is it possible this is becoming a summer anthem? If so, what does that tell us? The other songs are ones we've seen before. All in all, a pretty ho-hum list.
Top Five Web Searches (according to Google Trends)
*Exercise caution when searching; some topics may be inappropriate.
1. tim russert
2. coronary embolism
3. tim russert heart attack
4. maureen orth
5. nbc news
Notables: Every one of these search items has to do with the sudden death of political journalist Tim Russert, 58, host of NBC's Meet the Press's. I'm not sure if you have media favorites or not, but Tim Russert was one of mine. When he was on, I watched. He always seemed to possess endlessly fascinating information about the world of politics. I'm not sure I'll ever forget the night of the whole Bush-Gore electoral debacle for many reasons—but mostly because of Russert's ability to use a silly little white board to explain the mess. Tim Russert was husband to Maureen Orth, father to Luke, and son of Big Russ.
| Share this: |  |  |  |  |  |  |
Posted by Brian Lowery at 4:03 PM on June 16, 2008
