There's a strange new star on this week's new Lycos 50. (See the full list to your left.)
Marylin Star is the nom de nude of Kathryn Gannon, the adult film actress accused of taking insider trading tips from James McDermott, a former investment banking CEO who really should be ashamed of himself. (Here's a list of stories on the topic.) Ms. Star debuts at #15; somehow, Mr. McDermott didn't make the list.
The week's other big newbie: Publishers Clearing House. The old-time sweepstakes company seems to be hitting the Internet in a big way this year. We're seeing a sudden rush in user queries, mostly for "PCH" -- which makes us think they've got some serious advertising going on for their URL, www.pch.com.
Other notes on this week's Lycos 50:
HOLIDAY HOTTIES: Christmas stands at #1 for the fourth (and presumably last) week. Santa Claus climbs all the way to #4, topping the WWF and Pamela Anderson, among others. (Many of last week's new Santa queries were for Norad's Santa tracker pages.) Toys (#14) and elf bowling (#20) round out the holiday list.
HOLIDAY FALLOUT: Three toys seemed to get a special boost from holiday shoppers. Game platforms Playstation (#8) and Dreamcast (#44) both made big strides as parents stocked up and kids surfed for details. And Barbie stays strong at #28.
ONE-WEEK WONDERS: Paintball fell sharply after a month-long runup and one week at #45 in the Lycos 50. (Why the runup, and why the drop? We're still not sure, but this may also have been a holiday thing.) Hot band Blink 182 also dropped off the charts after one short week at #50.
DREAMING OF A WHITE SOLSTICE: Queries for the winter solstice (#42) were way up after a rumor circulated that the solstice would coincide with a full moon at perigee, creating the brightest moon in 130 years. Turned out to be totally wrong (same combination happens every decade or so) but not before surfers stuffed our search box with solstice and full moon queries.
NOTORIOUS: Actress/singer Jennifer Lopez stands at #11 this week, her highest ranking ever. That may increase next week, given the news that she and rapper "Puffy" Combs were just detained by police after a nightclub shooting.
NEW THIS WEEK: Marylin Star, Publishers Clearing House, Winter solstice, Dreamcast, Jenny McCarthy.
DROPOUTS: James Bond, Tupac Shakur, basketball, Blink 182, paintball.
BIGGEST RISE: NASA, up 13 spots to #23 as people followed the latest space shuttle mission.
BIGGEST DROP: Marijuana, down 17 to #43. Possible reason: school's out.
AND FINALLY: James Bond disappears from the Lycos 50 after a 7-week run sparked by the hit flick The World Is Not Enough. (Longtime Bond movie star Desmond "Q" Llewelyn was killed in a car crash on December 19.) Bond co-star Denise Richards remains on our list, however, steady at #29.
