It was a hacker's dream this week, as two computer viruses competed for attention from Lycos users.
Although the Code Red virus (#2) did not result in the total Internet destruction that some news outlets seemed to expect, the attendant hype did put the worm closer to #1 Dragonball than any other Lycos 50 topic since May.
Meanwhile, the immensely annoying Sircam virus (#11) continued to bedevil Lycos users with random files from random people. In response, the Lycos 50 will change its slogan from "The things you're searching for" to "I send you this file in order to have your advice."
DOWN TO ONE: For weeks we've been looking for a way to determine how much interest in Big Brother (#13) is based on interest in the international versions of the show. Now we can get some sort of idea, as the show drops 11 places on this week's list. With the U.K. and Australia versions of the show completed, searches tumble by more than 42 percent.
Speaking of reality television, Survivor's Jerri Manthey (#34) becomes the first reality TV contestant to make it onto the Lycos 50 thanks to her cover appearance for Playboy magazine.
MOVIE MONEY: This has been a summer for box office records, and many of those record-setting movies have made the Lycos 50 as well. In its second week the blockbuster Planet of the Apes (#12) nearly makes the top ten with starlet Estella Warren (#48) cracking the Lycos 50 as well.
So what does it mean that Rush Hour 2, which toppled Planet from the top of the box office rankings last week with a ridiculous $66.8 million, received less than half the searches needed to make the Lycos 50? All that money, yet the film got less searches than beanie babies.
And what lies ahead for American Pie 2, which nearly makes the Lycos 50 (#56) this week before it even opens? Some media outlets have suggested the teen sex comedy genre isn't very hot right now, but search results seem to point to a colossal opening week.
POUND THAT PIGSKIN: Football is back, with the NFL (#38) making its season debut on the Lycos 50. Searches are also very high for fantasy football, which finishes #55 this week and may make the Lycos 50 next week.
On the other hand, the tragic heatstroke death of Vikings offensive lineman Korey Stringer gets surprisingly little attention from Lycos users. Stringer ranks only fifth on this week's top athletes list, behind Anna Kournikova (overall #29), Lance Armstrong, Allen Iverson, and Martina Hingis. There were fewer searches for Stringer this week than there were for kiddie boy band Dreamstreet.
MAX POWER: Max Payne (#49) is the latest violent computer game to grace the Lycos 50. The lead character is an undercover New York cop, shooting everything in sight while searching for the evildoers who brutally murdered his wife and baby daughter.
SHORT SUBJECTS: The trend of depressed, suicidal music megastars continues this week, as does the trend of Lycos user interest in such stars, as Mariah Carey (#21) returns to the Lycos 50? Morpheus (#8) makes the top ten for the first time? We're not sure whether a rerun of the season finale or the cable rerun debut is responsible for the return of Buffy the Vampire Slayer (#35)? Pokemon (#6) is inching back up thanks to a new Game Boy cartridge, Pokemon Crystal.
NEW THIS WEEK: Code Red Virus, Mariah Carey, Jerri Manthey, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Star Trek, Estella Warren, Max Payne.
DROPOUTS: Tour de France, Italian volcano Mount Etna, Tomb Raider, George Harrison, Jurassic Park 3, Dave Matthews Band, video game Gran Turismo 3.
BIGGEST RISE: Planet of the Apes, up nine places to #12.
BIGGEST DROP: Howard Stern, down 29 places, to #44.
ONE YEAR AGO: Britney Spears finally hit #1 for the first time. She's currently at #4 and has a new album coming out this fall that could send her back to the top spot.
TOMORROW: Don't call it a comeback.
