The results have some other interesting outcomes: Nathan Fillion's Google usage was basically 0% until 2005, when Serenity fever started to kick in. 2006's Slither hype was about 50% of Serenity. Summer Glau has a similar pattern - no interested until Serenity, although it is dropping since then.

Basically, many of the actors Whedon and friends have employed appear on Google because of the work they've done in the shows/movies. The Firefly actors, in particular, owe significant online buzz to 'Serenity'.

gossi | May 11, 20:14 CET

This thing is awesome. My favorite is looking at the different cities that searched for "Serenity." Austin, Seattle, Vancouver, Portland... all the places with nerds in high concentrations. I feel connected :D

TychoCelchuuu | May 11, 20:31 CET

I find it interesting tthat he's "bigger" in Portugal, Brazil etc than the US.

war_machine | May 11, 20:32 CET

Hmmm, what is it with these "Australians" and their google-fu?

Every second city seems to be in Australia. They must use the internet more than you would think... That or the statistical model is not based on 100% of Google's results.

Or is it that the series' are still on the air regularly in Australia? Seems that the graphs drop off when the shows are not on any more...

MobileHQ | May 11, 20:36 CET

The city results, to me, look skewed. Here comes the science bit (yes, think of me as Jennifer Aniston as I type this); the city is based on the owner of the IP block the searcher uses. The IP block is usually registered to the head office of the ISP. So, basically, most of Australia will appear as one city or more major city, inflating the country position.

I am now not Jennifer Aniston. (And I never, I'm afraid, married Brad).

gossi | May 11, 20:40 CET

So Boston doesn't show up. This brings up something I've been fretting over for awhile now. And by awhile I mean "since September, when I started watching Joss-stuff, finishing in January, with pit stops for BSG and Twin Peaks (the latter may have been a mistake) and Sports Night." Seriously, where are all the New England Whedon-fans?!?! I've got my housemate who got me into all of this, and then an occasional meeting with someone who kind of knows his or her stuff, but that's it! Yeah yeah, nebrowncoats.com, but I was hoping for something more interpersonal. Why are there never big sci-fi conventions out here? I feel like I'm doomed to never get to meet Michelle Trachtenberg and say "so how does it feel to be Joss Whedon's one bad idea?" or stare at Amber Benson (although it seems like she's too busy writing ghost stories to attend sci-fi cons anymore) or sing the Wesleyan fight song with Joss Whedon (I went there too!). Does anyone know of anything upcoming?

ps. For those who missed it: I grew up in Brookline, MA. The Buffy sing-along was freaking awesome! Coolidge Corner Theatre is gorgeous, and I can't wait to see Serenity 6/23! Who's coming, I'd love to meet some of y'all in person?

BoltRider | May 11, 21:27 CET

gossi, how could you be Jennifer Aniston? I thought you were Chloe. ;-)

This link is extremely dangerous. I now have yet another way to waste hours and hours of valuable time. Yay time-wasting! ;-)

billz | May 12, 00:53 CET

I find another way to waste time - you can compare!

eg, try Buffy vs Serenity.

gossi | May 12, 00:59 CET

Curse you, gossi! Although those different-colored squiggly lines are...so...shiny... *falls into hypnotic trance* ;-)

ETA: Google Trends gooooood. Google Trends gooooood.

[ edited by billz on 2006-05-11 23:12 ]

billz | May 12, 01:10 CET

Interest in Joss is somewhat at a lull at the moment, judging by my non Google Trends skills. Should pick up in a couple of months time.

Simon | May 12, 01:24 CET

I'm proud to say Ireland is the second highest for Joss searching. :)

This is a really cool feature and I think it's a great idea, although as mentioned it may not be entirely accurate. But I think it's probably still a very good indicator and interesting to use.

Razor | May 12, 01:29 CET

Yeah, the stats might be a little suspect in places, but overall I think it's quite a useful way to gauge interest.

Alexa.com is another great site to judge website interest.

gossi | May 12, 01:40 CET

I love the way you can compare different terms. Like a more "scientific" version of googlefight.

Fence | May 12, 02:27 CET

Strangely those figures confirm my theory that Portland, Oregon is the secret capital of the world and more importantly there's a heck of a lot of fan interest in that part of the world.

Simon | May 12, 02:29 CET

Absolutely no cities by me. BUT, when you type in firefly, you get Chicago at #7 (which is by me). Interesting. Man, I could play for hours. Nothing by me for Buffy and Angel either. What does it mean? I can totally over analize this (for fun).

Harmalicious | May 12, 02:57 CET

Yay for Manchester being so high on the Buffy search front. I promise it's not all me, don't remember the last time I searched for Buffy (well other than a mislaid dvd)

Paul_Rocks | May 12, 03:19 CET

Hi there BR- Went to the 7:30 sing-a-long at the Coolidge- totally agree about the theatre and the sing! And the lack of a great con this neck of the woods- but I would happily skip Michelle any day of the week. More a Firefly fan I admit. Thusly, will be at the 23rd screening of Serenity! Also going to try and catch a few nebrowncoat shindigs...As Ever, Celas

Ceslas | May 12, 09:06 CET

Okay, now, this is interesting.

Serenity vs Superman Returns. Serenity still has more online buzz than Superman.

gossi | May 12, 15:29 CET

I didn't even know there was anything called Google Trends, lol. This was interesting. :)

Ameer | May 12, 20:36 CET

Interesting results for some of our favorite actors:

JM - Top five cities are Stockholm, Budapest, Manchester, Milan, and Birmingham, UK.

SMG - Top five cities are Birmingham, Montreal, Rome, Milan, Manchester.

DB - Top five cities are Istanbul, Budapest, Rome, Montreal, Lisbon.

AH - No top five, just London, that's it.

CC - Only US cities. Top five are Atlanta, LA, Chicago, Houston, and Denver

Not sure what to make of it but there it is...

jverse | May 12, 20:54 CET

Looks like our vamp boys are pretty much neck and neck.

DB vs JM

Cool.

deanna b | May 12, 23:19 CET

BoltRider said...



Not sure what you mean by "more interpersonal". We have a very active email list, monthly Shindigs and other get togethers in the area. If you're not already a member check our our email list here.

Take care,

Kevin

kbachelder | May 13, 00:43 CET