by Mike Krumboltz Air travel is rarely eventful. And that's a good thing â€" the less exciting the flight, the better. However, this past week, flyers were given a bit of a jolt after hearing tapes of a child speaking with pilots over the control-tower radio. Elsewhere, former vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin paid a visit to "The Tonight Show," where she did something unexpected: standup comedy. It was a weird, weird week in the Buzz,

by Claudine Zap Just when the Democrats were ducking for cover over a scandal-filled week )Gov. David Paterson and Rep. Charles Rangel , please stand up(, a Republican swoops in with his own problem. And, well, a woman isn't one of them. The California State Senator Roy Ashburn was arrested for a DUI violation. That's not all. The government official was in a state-owned car. That definitely doesn't look good.

by Vera H-C Chan A renewed military campaign overseas and a war film in Oscar contention have brought attention to one of the military's toughest tasks: defending against the low-tech makeshift bomb, AKA the IED . Laymen audiences learned from " The Hurt Locker ," set in 2004, how IEDs had been the weapon of choice in Iraq. Six years later, IEDs are responsible for two-thirds of coalition deaths in that country, and more than 70 percent in Afghanistan.

by Claudine Zap The man who allegedly fired at two guards at the entrance of the Pentagon subway stop, leading to their injury and the shooter's death, has sparked a surge of searches. People want to know more about the man and his motivations. The man John Patrick Bedell was, according to sources, 36 years old and from Hollister, California. Before his confrontation in front of the Pentagon, he left his mark on the Web, posting angry antigovernment accusations ,

by Mike Krumboltz Jerry Seinfeld is one of the few true comedy gods. But he may have bought himself a return ticket to mortality, thanks to the critical drubbing his newest venture, " The Marriage Ref ," is taking. "The Marriage Ref" is a reality/comedy show in which a panel of celebrity judges watches real couples present their sides of some longstanding, but relatively harmless argument. The judges then chat back and forth, crack a few jokes,

by Mike Krumboltz Kidnapping victim Jaycee Dugard lived in captivity for 18 years, before escaping from her captors in August 2009. Since then, she has lived in Northern California with her mother and her two daughters, who were "allegedly fathered by her abductor." Now that she's free and working toward establishing a normal life with her family, ABC announced that it would air home video of Ms. Dugard and her family that was filmed recently around their home.

by Michael Krumboltz "Alice in Wonderland" and "Brooklyn's Finest" hit theaters this weekend, and both feature all-star casts. "Alice" has Johnny Depp, Anne Hathaway , and Helena Bonham Carter . Richard Gere , Ethan Hawke , and Don Cheadle are the boys from "Brooklyn." Are critics impressed with these a-listers' efforts? Read on for the full scoop... Alice in Wonderland A bright, fantastical world. Bizarre, nonsensical characters. Johnny Depp .

by Claudine Zap Yes, it happened millions and millions of years ago. But dinosaurs â€" or more accurately, their mysterious end â€" still manages to make the news. Here's the latest from scientists trying to figure out whodunit. Turns out, massive volcanoes didn't doom the dinosaurs. Neither did climate change, or our favorite theory, junk food. Nope, it was a huge asteroid that crashed into earth and wiped them out. Do we hear soon-to-be-a-major-motion picture?

by Vera H-C Chan What a difference a day and an extra X chromosome make. A medical condition gave the ladies an extra day to practice, and by and large they restored hope to the " American Idol " live rounds. EW expressed relief " there's a little life in Idol yet ," and VH1 praised at least three ladies who came in to " rescue the show ." And the Buzz was strong indeed for the ladies, following a tepid boys' night out . Below, a close-up on performance night searches.

by Claudine Zap Get out your dancing shoes. The 10th season of " Dancing with the Stars " has named its cast . )And the professionals who they'll be partnered with.( The lineup of luminaries includes hotties like ESPN host Erin Andrews and " Baywatch " babe Pamela Anderson . But one of the buzziest names is our very own namesake, Buzz Aldrin . )Yes, that Buzz Aldrin(. Of course,

by Claudine Zap Our top picks from the day's hottest searches. Sarah Palin )Searches increased by +1,316%(. The former Alaska governor plans to pen a sequel to "Going Rogue." Title suggestions welcome. Funny Or Die )+627%(. The viral video gathers the "Saturday Night Live" parody presidents for a mock reunion . Crystal Bowersox )+440%(. The "American Idol" contestant performed after being hospitalized, and got healthy reviews . Los Angeles Police Department )+319%(.

by Mike Krumboltz Everyone has an idol, someone they look up to and long to be like. For Eri Yoshida , the 18-year-old baseball star from Japan, idols don't get much bigger than Tim Wakefield . That's because, as ESPN puts it, the two belong to a very exclusive fraternity: Phi Knucka Balla. Yoshida was the first female baseball star to be drafted by a Japanese professional team. Her success is due in large to her wicked knuckleball pitch,

by Vera H-C Chan One positive spin to " The Hurt Locker " lawsuitâ€"it could up the movie's street cred. For a while there, the film about Iraqi war bomb technicians had been the underdog. Despite American involvement in significant overseas conflicts, war movies haven't done well at the domestic box office )and truth be told, neither has "The Hurt Locker "(. Plus, this production is running against behemoth " Avatar ," directed by James Cameron )Mr.

by Mike Krumboltz Millions of cars have been recalled over the past several months. Toyota has bared the brunt of the bad publicity, but rivals Honda , GM , and Nissan have recalled many of their cars as well. This sudden surge has spurred an interesting trend in the Yahoo! Search box: Web lookups on " how does a recall work " are roaring. What's the biggest auto recall ever ? The fascination is easy to understand. Fortunately, for the curious,

by Vera H-C Chan So what do the boys need? A night at the sweat lodge? Buddhist chants? A marathon viewing of "The Hurt Locker" on a loop? While the painful jitters have eased up, the boys to men on " American Idol " aren't putting on the best reality show on earth. EW finds the week's improvement a case of going " from woeful to middling ." VH1 agreed that the men stepped up, but the night " was still pocked with pitchy renditions,

by Claudine Zap Our top picks from the day's hottest searches. "Sex and the City 2" )Searches increased by +4,407%(. Kim Cattrall talks the pain of riding a camel for the upcoming movie. What you do for art. Kim Yun-Jin )+4,402%(. The "Lost" star will be the first Korean actor on the cover of Entertainment Weekly . Jerry Brown )+1,169%(. The 72-year-old Attorney General wants to be California's governor. Again . Earthquake preparedness )+1,123%(.

by Mike Krumboltz The band OK Go is probably more famous for their videos than their songs. That's more a testament to the greatness of their videos than anything else. When these guys put out a video, you can be sure it'll make your jaw drop at least once or twice. "How did they do that," is a typical reaction. Their video for their breakthrough song " Here It Goes Again " featured the band dancing on treadmills in one continuous and mesmerizing take. Their newest video,

by Claudine Zap Babies. So cute. In their diapers with their bottles in a'bar? The hipster scene in Brooklyn seems to start at a very early age. According to CNN , babies in bars are a regular occurrence . Oh, and their parents come, too. See what else Brooklyn parents are up to . In dense New York neighborhoods packed with local watering holes and blessed with high birth rates,

by Mike Krumboltz Gender-bending frogs? 67-million-year-old snakes? Perfectly preserved wooly mammoths? These tale tales might sound like they come out of a comic book, but they're totally true. Frogs go from male to female When exposed to weed-killer chemicals, some male frogs develop female reproductive systems and the ability to lay eggs. Huh? The bizarre discovery was recently highlighted in a buzzy article from the Washington Post . In a study published on Monday,

by Claudine Zap Our top picks from the day's hottest searches. Large billed reed warbler )Searches increased by +2,335%(. Afghanistan moves to protect the newly discovered, least-known bird . Dancing With the Stars )+1,060%(. The new lineup includes mother of eight reality star Kate Gosselin . David Paterson )+717%(. The National Organization of Women have called for the New York governor to resign, due to his alleged involvement in an aide's domestic violence dispute.