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by Mike Krumboltz

Two years after airing "Camp Rock," starring Demi Lovato, the Disney Channel went back to the well with "Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam." The TV-movie aired on Friday night and pulled in a staggering number of viewers. Over 8 million people tuned in, the highest ratings of any 2010 cable movie.

Now, that's a lot of eyeballs. Disney frames it another way in a press release. If the film were released in theaters, it would have made around $63 million on opening night (provided every one of those viewers paid the nationwide average of $7.95 per ticket).

Web searches were also darn impressive. Online lookups for "camp rock 2" jumped 514% on Friday, and related lookups on "camp rock 2 soundtrack" and "camp rock 2 disney" were also incredibly popular. Even lookups for "camp rock 2 dvd" increased more than 200% (the DVD hits stores this Tuesday). Nearly 60% of the lookups came from fans 17 and younger.

The singing-dancing extravaganza, a sequel to the 2008 hit, starred a host of multitalented young stars, including the omnipresent Jonas Brothers. We ran the numbers to figure out which heartthrob was the biggest star in Yahoo! Search.

Ms. Lovato is far and away the most popular, followed by two of the three Jonas Brothers. However a couple of lesser-known stars beat out the final third of the Jonas trifecta in Search. Sorry, Kevin J. Better luck in "Camp Rock 3."

1. Demi Lovato
2. Joe Jonas
3. Nick Jonas
4. Alyson Stoner
5. Chloe Bridges
6. Kevin Jonas
7. Anna Maria Perez de Taglé
8. Roshon Fegan
9. Jasmine Richards
10. Meaghan Martin
11. Matthew Finley
12. Daniel Fathers

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by Mike Krumboltz

Some people say there's nothing new under the sun, nothing left to see that hasn't already been seen. Well, phooey to that! This week, the weird and wild took over the Web. There were unusual cropmarks, an ogre-like fish, and a couple of goats who clearly took a wrong turn while out for a stroll. Check out those stories and more with the Buzz Week in Review.

Cropmarks surface
The crop markings turning up in England don't come from aliens, but their story is arguably just as interesting. A buzzy article from the BBC shed some light on the strange story. Thousands of years ago, there were settlements across the English countryside. In the many years since, crops have grown where the buildings once were. Here's where it gets cool. Aerial photos "show marks made when crops growing over buried features develop at a different rate from those nearby." It's a bit like looking at a blueprint from thousands of years ago, and it hasn't happened since 1976. Check out the photos here.

'Shrek fish' makes waves
Shrek, that green ogre of animated movie fame, may have a long-lost relative. This past week, some footage made its way on to the Web that shows an unfortunate-looking fish with a striking resemblance to the swamp-loving grouch. Featured on morning news programs as well as many other outlets across the Web, the footage helped to cause a serious surge in searches for "shrek fish," "asian sheepshead wrasse," and "fish that looks like shrek." Below, you can check it out for yourself. Footage courtesy of WYFF.

Goats on the rail
Our third and final entry for "Things You Don't See Every Day, but You Did This Week," is a pair of goats who, somehow, wandered onto the thin rail of a bridge. Stuck up there for two days, the pair was finally brought back down to the ground. The bizarre incident took place outside Billings, Montana, and authorities are currently trying to figure out where the goats came from. According to an article from the AP, people have already offered to adopt the pair, should the owner not come forward. May we humbly suggest someone with a fenced yard?

Also buzzing this week...
• Hankering for some cinematic ultra-violence? Get thee to a showing of "Machete."
• Jerry Lewis has little sympathy for Lindsay Lohan.
• Big Ben's NFL suspension was cut to four games.

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by Claudine Zap

Here's some advice for any rock star wannabes. Show up to your shows on time. Axl Rose and his Guns N' Roses band made the mistake of arriving an hour late at their latest gig in Ireland. They were greeted by flying water bottles and boos. And these are fans.

Rose told the crowd to shape up or they would take off. The crowd didn't, so the band did. But once the Dublin audience settled down — and after concert organizers turned up the lights and told attendees to go home — G N' R came back on stage and performed till 1 a.m. — to a mostly empty house.

The concert was such a disaster that Irish politicians got pulled in — demanding ticket refunds for confused audience members who left the building and missed the show.

The band leader has seemed a bit grouchy lately. The veteran performer — who has been tardy on many legs of this summer's European tour — was 35 minutes late for the Leeds Festival in Northern England last week and had the sound cut off before he could finish the set. That move resulted in Rose launching into an expletive-laced tirade at police and concert promoters. Paradise City, it was not.

Still, fans don't seem put off by the performance. Searches on Yahoo! for "axl rose" have soared over 3,000% in the last day. Lookups also included "axl rose pictures," "axl rose news," and "axl rose dublin."

The tour may have been doomed from the start. Axl Rose's Twitter account was hacked by a user who announced the concert schedule had been canceled. Not true. But for a rock star returning to the limelight after decades as a Malibu recluse — not helpful. Axl, welcome to the jungle.

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by Claudine Zap

Our top picks from the day's hottest searches.

1. Axl Rose (Searches increased by 4,831%). The "Guns N' Roses" rocker was booed by fans in Ireland for being late. So he sent them home.
2. "Transformers 3" trailer (+3,340%). There's more teaser video.
3. Jessica Alba hot hot hot hot (+1,316%). Really, who are we to argue with that one? The actress is getting some notice for her new movie "Machete."
4. Amanda Knox (+489%). A retired FBI agent says the study-abroad student charged with murdering her roommate in Italy is innocent.
5. 2010 fall hairstyles (+153%). Here are some ideas to get you thinking for fall.

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by Mike Krumboltz

Online videos go viral all the time. But rare is the case that an unintentionally funny clip can lead to a paying gig. That's exactly what's happened to Paul "Bear" Vasquez, better known as "Double Rainbow Guy."

Anyone who spends more than five minutes online per day probably remembers Mr. Vasquez's video, in which he captured footage of the elusive double rainbow outside his home near Yosemite. While the video of the double rainbow is impressive, it's Mr. Vasquez's commentary — in which he laughs, weeps, and questions the cosmos — that made the clip a classic.

Somebody at Microsoft was apparently a fan, because the company hired the rainbow-worshiping maniac to star in a commercial. In the ad, Vasquez takes photos of a double rainbow (of course) and then edits them together using Windows Live photo editing software, while mumbling some of his best-known lines. 

An official blog from Windows explains how the Seattle company contacted Vasquez and explained their ideas for the ad. Not surprisingly, Vasquez was "ecstatic" at the idea of doing a "Double Rainbow Redux." So, he flew to Seattle, they shot the video, and celebrated with a feast of Vietnamese food (the star's favorite).

The commercial is a nice clip, but in our humble opinion, it can't match the original. It's just ... so intense!

The advertisement ...

And an interview that includes clips from the original ...

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by Claudine Zap

In the movie "Machete," Danny Trejo stars as a tough-guy gun for hire. In real life, the character actor started out as an actual criminal who did hard time in San Quentin.

The cartoonishly violent romp of a movie stars Trejo as a former cop from Mexico turned vengeful vigalante out for blood. He'll go after bad cops, bad politicans, and bad drug dealers. The movie features over-the-top mayhem that includes "beheadings, skewerings and kill shots to the head by the dozen." It also features some serious star power: Robert De Niro, Steven Seagal, Don Johnson, Michelle Rodriguez, and Jessica Alba.

If you've never heard of Danny Trejo, trust us, you've seen him. The L.A.-born actor has had a prolific career -- including a stint as the star of the fake trailer for "Machete" in the campy movie "Grindhouse" four years ago. But you can catch him in many action flicks, from "Con Air" to "Predators" to "Spy Kids."

The spoof "Machete" trailer led to the full-length movie with Trejo at the lead. This would not seem the obvious path for a drug-addicted kid in and out of jail for 11 years. Sent to San Quentin for drug offenses and armed robbery, Trejo turned to boxing and a 12-step program, which began his turnaround.

And here is where the story goes Hollywood: Once on the outside, Trejo spoke at a 12-step meeting, and a young man called him for support. Trejo met him on the set of "Runaway Train." A fellow ex-convict recognized him, and offered him a gig training one of the stars, Eric Roberts. When he did so well with that, the director offered him a feature role in the movie. And Trejo was on his way.

The tattooed Mexican-American landed a role in "Desperado," and has served as a muse for director Robert Rodriguez ever since, appearing in 8 of his movies and leading him to the starring role of "Machete."

Though Trejo's star is soaring, one of his fellow "Machete" actors -- who has also had real-life troubles -- should be happy to have a bit part: Lindsay Lohan.

See a video short of Trejo returning to his childhood neighborhood in East Los Angeles as a conquering hero.

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by Mike Krumboltz

Hurricane Earl has been brewing over the Atlantic Ocean for several days, and is now swirling toward America's East Coast. People who fear they may be in harm's way are going online for the latest on the storm's path and destructive power.

Over the past 24 hours, online lookups for "hurricane earl path" have more than doubled. Related queries on "hurricane earl tracker" and "hurricane earl pictures" have also soared.

The Category 3 hurricane, which is as large as the state of California, is projected to approach North Carolina's Outer Banks on Thursday night, according to the National Hurricane Center. Gov. Bev Purdue was quoted as saying, "We're very ready, as ready as anybody can be." By Friday night, experts predict it will hit parts of southeastern New England. 

In North Carolina, where Earl poses a particular danger, searches are especially high. Lookups on "hurricane earl 2010 track" are up 146% and "hurricane earl path" surged 64%, placing the term among the state's top 75 overall lookups. There is also massive Web interest in "hurricane earl wind speeds." According to CNN, the sustained wind is around 125 mph, with gusts up to 165 mph. 

While there is tremendous search interest in things like "hurricane kits" and "storm shutters," people are most interested in tracking the hurricane. A buzzy article from the AP explains that predicting a hurricane's path is getting easier to do, thanks to high-tech computers.

You can follow Earl via The Weather Channel's easy-to-read map. The National Weather Service, a government-run site, includes a "5-day forecast cone" and coastal watches.

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by Claudine Zap

Our top picks from the day's hottest searches.

1. Bethenny Frankel (Searches increased by 7,583%). The star of "Bethenny Getting Married?" will not return to "Real Housewives of New York," calling the last season "painful."
2. Tasmanian Devil (+771%). The famed devil Cederic, thought to have been immune to the creatures' contagious face cancer, died from the disease after all. We hardly knew ye.
3. Apple TV (+748%). Apple CEO Steve Jobs introduced a new way to stream shows from your computer to your TV.
4. Ocracoke Island (+574%). The summer resort area in North Carolina has been evacuated due to hurricane fears.
5. Call of Duty Black Ops beta (+421%). Activision calls rumors of such a multiplayer beta game "completely fake."

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by Vera H-C Chan

Is it Ansel Adams or Uncle Earl?

Back in July, a man named Rick Norsigian claimed the photographic find of the decade at a Fresno, Calif., garage sale, where he paid only $45 for long-lost glass negatives from renowned photographer Ansel Adams. The story made international headlines, but naysayers, including Adams' own kin, immediately accused Norsigian of being an Adams groupie on a decade-long "obsessive quest" to have the negatives declared the real thing.

Now experts are trickling in to dampen the claim for good, including a reversal from an art consultant that Norsigian originally hired to authenticate the work.

• The Ansel Adams Publishing Rights Trust filed a lawsuit on August 23 over trademark rights violations.
• This week, the Center for Creative Photography at the University of Arizona put out a statement saying "We have no reason to believe that these negatives are, in fact, the work of Ansel Adams."
• Robert C. Moeller III, a former curator at Boston's Museum of Fine Arts says he made a mistake, and opting for the Uncle Earl Theory, named after Earl Brooks, the man who may have shot the Adams' lookalikes.

The Ansel Adams Uncle Earl theory
Who is Earl Brooks, and how did his name surface? After Norsigian's press conference in July, an 87-year-old woman named Marian Walton stepped forward and declared to CNN that the image belonged to her Uncle Earl, who had lived in Fresno in the 1920s. Why was she so gosh-darn sure? Walton said one picture matched exactly the one hanging in her bathroom. And it was looking at Walton's collection that made Moeller backtrack on his authentication.

Uncle Earl, according to The Canadian Press, was born 1897 in Visalia, Calif. He attended Stanford University, drove an ambulance in France during the Great War, then moved east in 1926 and opened a Delaware photography studio. There, he took portraits for moneyed folks who could afford this newfangled luxury during the Depression, and one of his clients included the Du Ponts.

He never did profit from his nature photos (National Geographic sent him a rejection letter), although his 90-year-old stepdaughter's sure the comparison to Adams would be flattering. Uncle Earl later moved back to California, and lived in Fresno.

Sticking to the Adams claim
Meanwhile, "Team Norsigian" has been hard at work disputing the doubters. Norsigian's attorney, Arnold Peter, points out the University Arizona center has never seen the negatives. As for the reversal, a press release on Norsigian's site says the shift reflects Moeller's "opinion."

As for the Uncle Earl Theory, a peculiar August press release claimed proof lay with the garage sale dude himself: Norsigian tracked down 81-year-old Irving Schwartz, who said he bought the negatives in Huntington Beach. The press release also went on to say that Schwartz wouldn't say another word without "being 'compensated for information.'" (Maybe he was still smarting over selling the negatives for $45, instead of the $75 he was asking.)

Then again, Norsigian hasn't been hedging his bets, either: His website ($1,500 or $7,500 for a precious print) has a sold as-is disclaimer if the pics weren't shot by Adams.

Adams vs. Brooks on exhibit
A side-by-side comparison seems the best solution. Attorney Peter told the Los Angeles Times that he has been trying to get permission to bring independent experts to the Center for Creative Photography. In the same article, the center associate librarian said anyone can make a research appointment.

People who fancy themselves as Adams experts can judge for themselves in a California roadtrip. Norsigian's photos will be on display at a Beverly Hills gallery called David W. Streets on Sept. 25, while Walton's prints will be appearing at the Scott Nichols Gallery in San Francisco.

And if these are indeed negatives from Brooks, how much could they sell for? Estimates Moeller, about $25. With 65 glass negatives, that's still a tidy profit from a $45 garage-sale buy. 

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by Mike Krumboltz

And you thought Shrek liked hanging out only in his swamp. Turns out there's a fish that greatly resembles the green ogre swimming off the coast of Japan.

A buzzy video shot by a scuba diver made its way to WYFF in Greenville, South Carolina. The station explains that this particular fish is an Asian Sheepshead Wrasse, and it is relatively common. What's less common is that this particular fish, estimated to be about 30 years old, bears a startling resemblance to the grouchy ogre. The head, the chin, the beady eyes — it's all there.  Alas, no sign of Donkey or Fiona.

The fish are well known for having odd protrusions on their heads, but ol' Shrek is something else entirely. You can check out the fish in the video below, courtesy of WYFF.

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