Porn star Ron Jeremy is recovering from aneurysm surgery, the NRA gets a shot in the arm (membership wise), and the Blackberry stages a last ditch comeback. Welcome to your online trends report for Thursday, Jan. 31, 2013.
Ron Jeremy -- the shubbly porn star who crossed over into mainstream pop culture with appearances on countless reality and comedy shows -- is still in critical condition at a Los Angeles hospital after having major surgery to treat an aneurysm near his heart. Jeremy -- who also reportedly helped police catch a cannibal porn star last year (not making that up) -- has starred in more than 2,000 films.
Blackberry launched a new phone yesterday in hopes of competing with the likes of the Apple iPhone and the Samsung Galaxy. The beloved keyboard model still exists but a sexier touchscreen version features some pretty cool innovations. The camera can adjust facial expressions to capture the best family photos possible and the virtual keypad can predict the words you're about to type. Let's hope it's just as inadvertently hilarious as Apple's autocorrect feature.
A day after emotionally charged testimony about gun laws on Capitol Hill, the NRA says its has gained about 500,000 since the Newtown school shooting in December. That's about 20,000 new members for every innocent victim mowed down by bullets! Way to go NRA! This might be true, but like much of what the NRA does these days, it's tacky and in poor taste. The gun rights organization is making Bravo's Real Housewives look poised and classy by comparison.
The severe weather that ripped through the South and also affected Maryland with high winds and flooding last night is gaining notice on the web this morning. Meanwhile, the Super Bowl and its host city New Orleans are trending steadily this week as the big game approaches.
And finally, the sad case of Hadiya Pendleton remains a big story on the web. The 15-year-old girl from Chicago was killed only days after she performed at President Obama's inauguration.
An earlier version of this post gave the incorrect age for Hadiya Pendleton. She was 15.
|| ONLINE TRENDS FOR JAN. 31, 2013 ||
