Daily Cup O Google

Your day according to Google: Today's Google Trends is filled with the typical celebrity navel gazing, thanks in no small part to NBC's The Sing Off, which spawned searches for performers Boyz II Men, and judge Bobby McFerrin, names that are familiar to people of a certain age, but which require Googling for a younger generation. Brittany Murphy searches also topped the list, as the morbid and the idle hunted for pictures of her corpse and theories as to her death (one that gained enough steam to make the top 20 list of searches is that the 32-year-old actress died of complications from laryngitis).

Actual news included reports of a small earthquake in San Diego, the death of Kim Peek (known as the inspiration for Dustin Hoffman's character in The Rain Man) and the introduction of "crash-resistant" cars on California's metrolink. The New York Giants beat the Washington Redskins (the possible future home of former Bronco's head coach Mike Shanahan) on Monday Night Football even though rookie wide receiver Hakeem Nick suffered a hamstring injury. Two sheriff's deputies in Pierce County, Wash., were injured in a shootout; Facebook and Twitter braced for a virus called the galewher.com, which might be avoided by not going to galewher.com, whatever that may be; and reality TV finally hit rock bottom with the announcement that "Hardcore Pawn" will debut on TruTV. Yes, it's about the daily operation of American Jewel and Loan, a pawn shop in Detroit. All that remains to document in our culture are the lives of gas station attendants and night watchmen.

On a programming note, Google Trends recently cut its list of top searches in half, from 40 to 20. Although it might not sound like a big deal, the change significantly narrows the list of things Americans are buzzing about at any given moment. When there's a hot story afoot (a la Tiger Woods or Brittany Murphy), multiple searches within a single story can easily dominate 50 percent or more of all the listings, giving the impression that Americans are easily led by the nose by whichever piece of sparkling sordidness catches the eye of TMZ or Examiner.com.

And that can't be true.

Right?

To end on a Christmasy note, there were a slew of searches for "I Wish It Was Christmas Today," the classic SNL skit in which Jimmy Fallon can barely perform due to a case of the crackups. Enjoy:

--

About this dscriber.com column: Like a horoscope, but applicable to anyone with an Internet connection, Daily Cup O'Google reaches into the collective consciousness of frequently googled search terms each morning to predict, at a glance, what conversations will dominate your day and shape the 24-hour news cycle.

| More...