Pop chart

Pamela Anderson? Britney Spears? Who tops the list of celebrity search terms on the new Lycos 50?

By Janelle Brown

Topics:Jenny McCarthy, Britney Spears

Who is the hot celebrity du jour, you may wonder? Look no further than the Lycos 50, where you’ll discover that buxom comedian Jenny McCarthy is currently beating Latin crooner Ricky Martin; Martin is falling fast but still beating out nymphette rocker Christina Aguilera; and all of the above are trailing TV starlets Alyssa Milano and Jennifer Love Hewitt. But the enduring Pamela Anderson has them all beat. Thank God for youth and breast implants (and removal).

“The Lycos 50 with Fritz Holznagel,” which launched last Wednesday, surveys the search engine’s lists of most-searched terms, compiling charts and commentary on the popularity of various items. The result is an amusing — and occasionally surprising — barometer of pop culture, trends, hot news and seasonal quirks. Or, as Holznagel himself explains, “We are interested in the rising and falling of the public consciousness.”

Take last week’s Top 50 list as an example: Maybe it makes sense that Pokemon and Britney Spears (popular trading card game and teen chanteuse, respectively) would dominate the top two positions, but who would have guessed that Russian tennis player Anna Kournikova would have rocketed up to No. 29? And why are more people searching for “frogs” than “the Bible”? (Could it have something to do with dissection season beginning in high school biology classes around the world?)

The Lycos 50 is sponsored by Lycos and compiled from daily numbers provided by Lycos’ internal data mining group. Holznagel and his team then scour the list for misspellings (“There must be at least eight ways to spell Britney Spears,” says Holznagel) and related concepts, and purge it of popular generic terms like weather, sex and mp3. Besides the weekly top 50, Holznagel provides daily commentary on news events (such as how the weekend’s championship boxing match drove Net traffic) and a section called Mystery Terms — “These terms are getting heavy traffic lately and we have no idea why” — which includes such mysterious hits as Somerset, Juliet and laundry. Readers are invited to posit reasons for the popularity of these terms (“The money laundering going on in Russia perhaps?”)

The list is an homage to the mainstream and lowbrow — hence the overwhelming presence of video games, boy bands and pneumatic-breasted starlets — but those who care will be heartened to know that poetry, while trailing the WWF, is still hanging strong at No. 18. Still, don’t expect Ludwig Wittgenstein to make a surprise appearance on the Lycos 50 anytime soon — unless there’s a made-for-TV movie about mad philosophers, since, as Holznagel points out, much of the traffic seems driven by television appearances and media hype.

Is this a bleak indication of the devolving interests and education of American society? Holznagel pauses. “I wouldn’t call it bleak; I think it’s an indication that the Net is still widely used as an entertainment medium,” he explains. “The Net is really a pop culture medium; the demographics are still people under 30. It’s partly a reflection of the audience and, more, a reflection of the age.”

: Janelle Brown is a contributing writer for Salon. More Janelle Brown

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After five years, the couple announce a private breakup in a public way

By Associated Press

FILE - In this Oct. 1, 2009 file photo, Jim Carrey, left, and Jenny McCarthy arrive at the UCLA Department of Neurosurgery 2009 Visionary Ball in Beverly Hills, Calif. (AP Photo/Matt Sayles, file) (Credit: AP)

Topics:Jenny McCarthy, Twitter

Jim Carrey and Jenny McCarthy have taken to Twitter to announce their breakup.

The two actors each tweeted Tuesday that they have ended their relationship after five years. Publicists for Carrey and McCarthy confirmed the split.

The 48-year-old Carrey says on the social networking Web site that he wishes her “the very best!”

The 37-year-old McCarthy tweeted that she “will always keep Jim as a leading man in my heart.”

Both say they were grateful for the time they spent together.

McCarthy also tweeted that she would remain involved in his adult daughter’s life.

: More Associated Press

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It's gotten to the point where the autism vigilante can't even keep her own views on vaccines straight

By Rahul K. Parikh, M.d.

Topics:Jenny McCarthy, Autism, Medicine

It can be hard to sort out your own opinions. Just ask Jenny McCarthy, who can’t quite seem to keep her rhetoric about autism and vaccines straight, often in the span of one interview.

On the concept of vaccines:

“I think vaccines are one of the greatest things ever invented.”
From Cookie, 2009

“She has backed off of her most heated rhetoric saying she is now not against all vaccines …”
From Time, 2010

On the other hand:

“Time magazine’s article on the autism debate reports that the experts are certain ‘vaccines don’t cause autism; they don’t injure children; they are the pillar of modern public health.’ I say, ‘that’s a lie and we’re sick of it.’”
From Huffington Post, 2010 (after the 2010 Time piece)

Later in the same essay:

“Almost all kids get vaccines — injected toxins — very early in life.”

On whether she is “anti-vaccine”:

“People have the misconception that we want to eliminate vaccines. Please understand that we are not an antivaccine group.”
From Time, 2009

But then, in the same interview:

“I do believe sadly it’s going to take some diseases coming back to realize that we need to change and develop vaccines that are safe. If the vaccine companies are not listening to us, it’s their f___ing fault that the diseases are coming back. They’re making a product that’s s___.”

On the false choice between infections and autism:

“If you give us a safe vaccine, we’ll use it. It shouldn’t be polio versus autism.”
From Time, 2009

But measles is OK?

“If you ask a parent of an autistic child if they want the measles or the autism, we stand in line for the f___ing measles.”
(That quote, again, is from the same 2009 Time interview)

On the tone of her rhetoric:

“For all her bravado, Mccarthy prefers to cast herself as a voice of moderation. She claims her goal is to move the debate toward what she sees as the middle…”
From Time, 2010

On the other hand, see above! But also:

“We get that [vaccines are] saving lives, but the increase is ridiculous, you guys. Look, it’s plain and simple. It’s bull (EXPLETIVE DELETED).”
From “Larry King Live,” 2008

“During appearances on ‘Oprah,’ ’20/20,’ ‘Good Morning America,’ ‘Larry King Live’ and other televsion shows, she decried what she claimed was a vast and profitable conspiracy to vaccinate children, which she said was responsible for the great upsurge in autism diagnoses… she glibly and with irate dismissal of the scientific evidence accused pediatricians of poisoning children and then witholding treatments that could save them.”
From Time, 2010

Rahul K. Parikh is a physician and writer in the San Francisco Bay Area. He wrote the Vital Signs column on Salon in 2008-2009. His pop culture-medical column, PopRx, runs on alternate Mondays.

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The actress and mom defends childhood vaccinations from Jenny McCarthy.

By Katharine Mieszkowski

Topics:Broadsheet, Jenny McCarthy, Health, Love and Sex

Ever since Jenny McCarthy appeared on “Oprah” last September blaming her son’s autism on vaccines, I’ve wondered when another celebrity mom would speak up to defend immunizations. Enter actress Amanda Peet, who costars with David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson in “The X Files: I Want to Believe,” which debuts later this month. The mother of 18-month-old Frances, Peet is now a spokeswoman for Every Child by Two, a nonprofit dedicated to promoting vaccines founded by former First Lady Rosalynn Carter.

In an interview with Cookie magazine, Peet says that as a new mother, she was nervous about vaccinations, wondering: “Why are all these necessary? Why are some people staggering them?” But she eventually decided to vaccinate her daughter according to the normal schedule: “I buy 99 percent organic food for Frankie, and I don’t like to give her medicine or put sunscreen on her,” Peet tells Cookie. “But now that I’ve done my research, vaccines do not concern me.” This is a celebrity profile, so Peet doesn’t get into many details, but she does have some harsh words for parents who choose not to vaccinate their children, since their kids benefit from the “shield” from disease provided by children who are immunized: “Frankly, I feel that parents who don’t vaccinate their children are parasites.”

Yet, as more parents choose not to vaccinate their kids that shield is becoming less effective. In one recent outbreak of measles in San Diego, 12 kids were infected. What happened? An unvaccinated 7-year-old traveled to Switzerland with his family, contracted the disease there and brought it back home, infecting some of his unvaccinated classmates and several infants in his pediatrician’s office, babies who were too young to have received the immunization.

As of early July, there had been 127 cases of measles in the United States this year, with incidences of the disease reported in 15 states, according to Reuters. That’s the most cases in a single year since 1997. To put that number in perspective, in 2007, there were just 30 cases in the United States in the whole year. It bears remembering that around the world, where many don’t have access to vaccines, measles remains a leading cause of death among poor children, killing about 250,000 annually.

Now, Peet vs. McCarthy is the celebrity smackdown du jour. Sure, we’d all be better off taking our medical advice from doctors and nurses rather than celebrities. Yet, everyone from the American Academy of Pediatrics to Salon columnist Dr. Rahul Parikh has tried to reassure parents that vaccines don’t cause autism. Meanwhile, public health officials worry when public confidence in vaccinations continues to erode, in part because of high-profile celebrity advocacy, like McCarthy’s Green Our Vaccines march and rally held in Washington, D.C., in June.

Paging Oprah’s producers! In the interest of equal time, having put McCarthy’s story out there, why not do a show focusing on the measles outbreak in San Diego? If you need to put a celebrity face on the issue, I’d wager Amanda Peet is available.

As they say on “The X Files”: The truth is out there.

: Katharine Mieszkowski is a senior writer for Salon. More Katharine Mieszkowski

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Britney hates her nails, feet and sniffer; Sarah Jessica Parker slums it in the perfume aisle; Marley's sons stir it up with Florida police; and more!

By Amy Reiter

Topics:Celebrity, Jenny McCarthy, Britney Spears

So much for Britney Spears’ promise to keep her personal life out of the news. She does have a movie to promote, you know.

Turns out Spears’ top isn’t the only thing she insists she’d as soon keep under wraps if left to her own devices. She’s got a whole roster of her own body parts she’s not too fond of.

Such as?

“I don’t like my fingernails, I don’t like my feet, I don’t like my nose … and I don’t like to go on!” she tells the London Mirror.

But there is one thing she doesn’t mind.

“I DO like my lips,” she says. “I like my lips because my boyfriend says he likes my lips.”

The admiration, it seems, is mutual.

“We’re just like magnets when we get together in a room,” the pop princess says of beau Justin Timberlake. “He’s a good kisser, too.”

Sounds like they’re right ‘N Sync …

- – - – - – - – - – - -

And they’re excited about the kid, too

“We are thrilled to bring a bundle of love into our family.”

– Jenny McCarthy, announcing that she and husband John Asher expect their first baby in June.

- – - – - – - – - – - -

Sex and the shitty perfume?

Hope Matthew Broderick didn’t take it upon himself to ply wife Sarah Jessica Parker with fancy bottles of expensive perfume for Valentine’s Day.

The “Sex and the City” star’s a bit of a cheap date when it comes to her taste in toilet water.

“One of my favorites is Bonne Bell Skin Musk — it’s around $10,” Parker said when InStyle.com asked her to name her favorite scent. “I get it at Target, and I buy several bottles at a time.”

Eau for Pete’s sake! Throw in a few Bonne Bell Lip Smackers and you’ve got yourself a 13-year-old girl’s cosmetic dream.

- – - – - – - – - – - -

No envelope, please

“The nomination bit is the exciting bit; it’s horrible when someone has to go and win it all.”

– Judi Dench, speaking from experience about her fourth Oscar nomination in five years — for “Iris.”

The bald truth

And speaking of unusual predilections, Cate Blanchett has decided that bald is beautiful. Particularly when there’s a breeze.

Blanchett, who shaved her head for the German film “Heaven,” which was just shown at the Berlin Film Festival, says she’s really into being hairless.

“My agent advised me to wear a cap, but I don’t care,” the actress recently told Germany’s Stern magazine. “It feels great when the wind blows over your bald head.”

I’m gonna have to take her word on that.

- – - – - – - – - – - -

Like father, like sons?

Two of Bob Marley’s sons are in trouble with the Tallahassee heat after Florida police stopped them for speeding and got a big whiff of ganja.

“I walked up to the driver’s door and smelled a strong odor of marijuana,” Florida Highway Patrol Sgt. Hugh Cutchen told Reuters. “In searching the vehicle we found eight big joints of marijuana.” Not to mention rolling papers and other drug paraphernalia.

Julian Marley, 26, and Stephen Marley, 29, both reggae musicians like their late father, were hauled in on possession charges and later released on bail.

Hope they didn’t run into the sheriff at the station.

- – - – - – - – - – - -

Miss something? Read yesterday’s Nothing Personal.

: More Amy Reiter

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Salon's TV picks for Monday, May 8, 2000.

By Joyce Millman

Topics:Jenny McCarthy, Television

Series

On Ally McBeal (9 p.m., Fox), Ally’s Internet swain is not the man she thought he was. Ray thinks Debra’s in a bad mood because of PMS on Everybody Loves Raymond (9 p.m., CBS). Unless PMS means “pesky Marie syndrome,” he’s way off. The American Experience (check local listings, PBS) profiles the Yankee Clipper in “Joe DiMaggio: The Hero’s Life.” Isabel, Michael and Tess race to rescue Max, who has been captured by government agents, on Roswell (9 p.m., WB). John Ritter plays a priest accused of committing murder during an exorcism on Family Law (10 p.m., CBS).