If we are what we Google, then Google Hot Trends —an hourly rundown of search terms “that experience sudden surges in popularity”— is the Web’s best cultural barometer. Here’s a sampling of today’s top searches. (Rankings on Hot Trends list current as of 9 a.m.)
No. 17: “Transformers 2 rotten tomatoes.” The giant robot blockbuster starring Megan Fox as a beautiful woman opens today and it is, according to rottentomatoes.com , rotten (24 percent on the Tomatometer). The Awl’s Choire Sicha has written a harrowing account of watching the film, which Slate ‘s own Dana Stevens calls “loud … long … incoherent … leering … racist … and rife with product tie-ins.” Still, lukewarm reviews didn’t stop Transformers from breaking the 2009 opening box-office record in the U.K. last weekend.
No. 49: ” The Hurt Locker.” The Hurt Locker is a different story. Opening June 26, media buzz has already crowned the film “The First Iraq War Movie That Doesn’t Suck.” Directed by Kathryn Bigelow (“Point Break,” “K-19: The Widow Maker), The Hurt Locker follows a sweltering, Kevlar-clad bomb disposal unit as they make their way through Baghdad, circa 2004. Bigelow told The Onion A.V. Club, “I think of the film, in a way, as non-partisan. … I think the script successfully looks at the humanity of these men and their courage, and shares with us what a day in the life of a bomb tech is.”
No. 67: ” Lisa Kudrow Web Therapy.” When it had its online premiere last year, Lisa Kudrow’s Web Therapy was hailed as a step forward in the genre Boingboing called “webcam narrative.” Lisa Kudrow stars as a weirdo online shrink who consults with her patients via Webcam. The Lexus-sponsored show launched a second season this week on Hulu, but can Kudrow compete in our post-Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog Internet-video world?
