The incredible Pokemon juggernaut continues.This week web users searched for Pokemon more often than for the next three terms -- Christmas, Dragonball Z and Britney Spears -- combined. (See the full new Lycos 50 to your left.)
Meanwhile, actress Denise Richards debuts at an impressive #29 on the strength of her appearance as underdressed nuke doc Christmas Jones in the new James Bond flick The World Is Not Enough. Richards was more popular than James Bond himself (#30).
Other key points from this week's Lycos 50:
REGIS ROCKS: Speaking of juggernauts, the smash game show Who Wants To Be A Millionaire rises a whopping 36 places this week to #8.
WATCH THE SKIES: The Leonid meteor showers (#10) drew a downpour of interest online all week. NASA also got a boost to #40, probably due to the popularity of its "Leonids Live" site.
MORE BOND: Pierce Brosnan, the latest actor to play James Band, continues to get surprisingly few queries -- a mere 4% of Denise Richards's total this week. Does this mean that Brosnan is lame or just that lots of guys want to gawk at Ms. Richards? A little of both. Another comparison: Johnny Depp, the star of the new movie The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, outpolled Brosnan 3-1.
HOLIDAY MUSCLE: Christmas and Thanksgiving both make this week's top 5, the first time two holidays have shared that space. Two weeks ago we had three holidays in the top 10: Thanksgiving (#10), Christmas (#8) and Halloween (#4).
NEW THIS WEEK: Leonid meteor showers, Denise Richards, basketball, Texas A&M bonfire, the IRS.
DROPOUTS: Veterans Day, DeCSS, Jenny McCarthy, the NBA, the White House.
BIGGEST RISE: Who Wants to Be a Millionaire up 36 spots to #8; wrestling up 10 spots to #33.
BIGGEST DROP: Blair Witch Project down 19 spots to #39; Star Wars down 14 spots to #47. Star Wars is suddenly teetering on the edge of the Lycos 50 after nearly a year of terrific popularity; it was a year ago this month that the Phantom Menace trailers were released online.
WORLD'S MILDEST PANIC: Y2K finally has shown signs of life recently. One month ago it was stalled at #33, but this week it moves up once more to #15. Still: what kind of frightening global specter can't even beat the Backstreet Boys?
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