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For the first time in Buzz Multiplex history, searches are coming up in a near three-way tie. The critically pooh-poohed films are stocked with A-list stars, with Will Ferrell mugging in one vehicle and a double dose of Scarlett and Natalie heavy breathing in another. But really, who can resist the yin-yang of Christina and Reese?

1. “The Other Boleyn Girl” (PG-13). Royal intrigue, sisterly rivalries, and acres of cleavage give a different kind of history lesson to Henry VIII’s second wife. Rising to the top 5,000 searches this week, the film draws the searches primarily from female history buffs, who are also pushing searches for the Boleyn sisters. However, stars Natalie Portman (as the, er, headstrong Anne Boleyn) and Scarlett Johansson (as weak sister Mary) owe their online following to the men. Scarlett may not land Henry (Eric “can we see him shirtless” Bana), but she’s 40% more popular than the adored Natalie, and has tenfold the searches of the movie.

2. “Semi-Pro” (R). Box office observers are looking for a Will Ferrell sweep. The moves look familiar: another decade (70s), a sport (basketball), and a mix of mostly minor-league SNL players with only Will Arnett and Kristen Wiig inspiring online lookups. The R rating shuts out possible fans (32% of the film’s searches come from 17 and under), so expect the teen boys to sneak in when the lights are dimmed.

3. “Penelope” (PG). This dark horse of the three movies puts together the popular Christina Ricci and Reese Witherspoon in the same film, without imploding the universe as we know it. The mild-mannered fantasy follows Christina as a maiden with a porcine family curse, which might only be broken by marrying James McAvoy (a choice of which many searchers approve). Reese, the movie’s producer, has a cameo as a bike messenger. Expect this to be the mother-daughter bonding movie of the week.

If one more person were to ask you, “what would you do with an extra day in your life,” I wouldn’t blame you if you spent it in hiding.

On this Leap Day, reporters are staking out maternity wards, sly couples have been exchanging vows so no one can be blamed if an anniversary is forgotten three out of four years, and people are lining up for a free MacDonalds hand-out.

Not exactly free: You need to buy a drink, but still the notion of saving $2.49 drove people online to assess the “mcskillet burrito,” probe the “mcskillet burrito,” and actually made the concoction one of the top search terms on Buzz. Who can’t resist a deal? Males mostly, who make up 63% of the searches. States who love a McDeal? Montana, Arizona, and Utah lead a frugal nation.

While Pittsburgh Tribune-Review explains the origins of Leap Year, other reports focus on what’s important: what else you can get for free today. So before you go into hibernation, stock up. 

They say famous people die in threes. Sure enough, this past week, a trio of legendary figures past away. Though the departed men came from three very different fields, each man’s death had a similar effect on the Buzz.

Conservative icon William F. Buckley was perhaps the most prominant of the three. Lookups on “william f. buckley essays,” “who is william f. buckley,” and “national review,” the magazine Buckley founded, each made huge strides in Search.

Less political, though just as popular was Boyd Coddington. The car-building legend who hosted the reality show “American Hot Rod,” passed away at the age of 63. Fans raced over to the Search box, redlining queries on “boyd coddington bio,” “boyd coddington tv show,” and, of course, “boyd coddington cars.”

Finally, there’s Myron Cope. The beloved ex-announcer for the Pittsburgh Steelers died at the age of 79. Naturally, folks in the Steel City were most interested in his passing, but Mr. Cope had fans from all over. Cities from Los Angeles to Miami searched on the man, as well as his lasting contribution to American culture—the Terrible Towel.

In the ongoing battle of the sexes, this season’s “American Idol” may unite Venus and Mars, at least in terms of talent. Among U.S. searchers, males and females agree on who the top—and bottom—three contestants are.

After David Archuleta, Ramiele Malubay, and Carly Smithson, though, harmony breaks down. Jason Castro (and his “dreads“) and Danny Noriega are among females’ top 5 most searched Season 7 “Idol” wannabes. On the male Search spectrum, however, the double-blonde threat of Kristy Lee Cook and Kady Malloy secure the third and fourth spot.

And then there’s Michael Johns. The judges’ favorite is currently in the middle of the pack. Coasting might be a wise strategy, so that the panel’s extravagant praise doesn’t backfire on him. Still, the Aussie will be wanting to win some hearts and minds—and ears—in the coming weeks.

Over on the new Yahoo! Buzz, folks are discussing how Sarah Silverman’s music video (the one with Matt Damon) is spawning decreasingly hilarious spinoffs. The original had Sarah and Matt. The next one starred Sarah’s boyfriend Jimmy Kimmel and Ben Affleck. Now, there’s a new one with Elizabeth Banks and Seth Rogan.

This latest R-rated clip isn’t all that funny (who knew viral videos could jump the shark so quickly), but it has inspired a slew of searches on the lovely Ms. Banks. Lookups on the beautiful blond are up 68% and related searches on her upcoming comedy, “Zack and Miri Make a Porno,” costarring Mr. Rogan, are beginning to surge. Here’s hoping their movie (due out this year) is more original than the tune.

Will political pundits, pollsters and Simon Cowell never learn? Calling a contest this early in the “American Idol” race is never a good idea. Last year Cowell had extravagant praise for LaKisha Jones and Melinda Doolittle, and neither finished in the top two.

Now that former “Star Search” winner David Archuleta is in Simon’s sights, will Cowell’s love eventually cost the crooner? Maybe not. Archuleta is already a teen idol in Search: Not only does David inspire more lookups than the rest of the contestants, he has a three-fold lead when it comes to pre-teen and teen searchers.

Another teen idol waiting in the wings is the dreadlocked Jason Castro. Although he was criticized for using his guitar as a security blanket, Castro has since become the fastest rising contestant (+216%) among the youth searches. Nearly tied for third place: the petite Ramiele Malubay with the giant vocals, and the sassy Danny Noriega.

Yes, Carly and Michael are among the favorites, but David’s leagues ahead. Given “Idol” history however, the strategy for those two would be either to lower Simon’s expectations, get a shocker ousting like alum favorite Chris Daughtry, or score Ellen Degeneres’ sympathy.

Coffee lovers, the end is nigh! In a move that’s sure to make caffeine junkies stoop to new levels of desperation and depravity, Starbucks will close every one of their stores for three hours this afternoon for “training purposes.”

Queries on the company surged 26% and related searches on “starbucks closings” and “starbucks hours” posted venti sized gains. Clearly, the groggy and addicted are wondering where they’ll score their afternoon fix. A look at the geographical breakdown indicates that folks on the East Coast are particularly worried: Philadelphia, New York, and Baltimore are among the most concerned cities.

Fortunately, it’s not all gloom and doom for those cursed with the coffee vice. The good sports at Dunkin Donuts have announced a special 99 cent promotion while their rival closes its doors from 5:30 to 8:30 (local time). Expect searches on “where the hell is my nearest dunkin donuts” to soar at around 5:31.

The Oscars inspire glitz, glamour, and countless articles on how the Oscars inspire glitz and glamour. God help us, our humble piece is going to be different. This one is going to focus on the surprising searches that came out of Sunday’s telecast.

A two-year-old could have predicted that folks would search on whatever film won Best Picture (indeed, “No Country for Old Men” jumped 181%). But not even a rocket scientist with extrasensory perception could have predicted Gary Busey’s bizarre display on the red carpet and the 943% surge it inspired. For those who missed it, Mr. Busey harassed metrosexual icon Ryan Seacrest, and gave Jennifer Garner a vigorous hug on camera. Even viewers were scared.

Equally unexpected was the 216% spike on Cash Warren, better known as the lucky son of a gun who is engaged to Jessica Alba. We imagine people saw the gorgeous starlet walking down the red carpet and said to themselves, “Who the heck is that nerd on her arm? I’m gonna search and find out!” Lookups on terms like “jessica alba boyfriend” and “jessica alba oscars date” support our theory.

Finally, there’s the strange case of the milk shake. In “There Will be Blood,” Daniel Day Lewis‘ character screams, “I drink your milk shake!” to an appropriately terrified adversary. Like “You the man now dog,” from “Finding Forrester,” the milkshake phrase has become a Web phenomenon. Still, we were a bit dismayed to see the quote surge 152% following Day-Lewis’ Best Actor win. The guy pours his heart and soul into a role, and all people remember is the stolen milkshake?

In the steps to spiffying up your computer, picking out a new wallpaper probably ranks behind cleaning up your bookmarks and decluttering the documents on your desktop. But isn’t trolling the results of a search like “jennifer lopez hot wallpaper” so much more fun?

People who agree nearly doubled the week’s buzz for wallpaper images of Jenny from the block. No disrespect to the diva, but seasonally oriented looks soared even higher. Both “st. patrick’s day wallpaper” (+1,292%) and “easter wallpaper” (+1,032%) landed in our top 500 movers for the past 7 days.

Judging by the other top spiking searches, “Spider-Man 3” is the movie of choice, anime continues to exert an incredible pull, and desktop decorators like their wallpapers best without a price tag. Here’s the week’s top 20 wallpapers. Enjoy…

Maybe the “Saturday Night Live” writers should go on strike more often. After weeks of being off the air, the show resumed its 33rd season in fine fettle, skewering everything from political media coverage to drug commercials.

The SNL return registered a high TV rating surge and prompted an 824% spike in searches for “saturday night live skits,” as well as a walk down memory lane for its best classics.

Among the latest skits, it was host Tina Fey’s return to her old Weekend Update anchor desk that set the buzz afire. She took up the cause of Hillary Clinton and unleashed an inappropriate-for-family-media slogan, in effect “(Being a Formidable Woman) is the New Black.” Her in-your-face defense catapulted Fey into the top 3,000 searches, got her video embedded in blogs across the nation, and garnered the “30 Rock” star more searches than the current SNL cast combined.

Amy Poehler, who portrayed the presidential candidate, did impress enough to make her the top-searched SNL player. Contrast that with Fred Armisen, the Barack Obama stand-in whose color-blind casting has failed to excite either critical opinion or Web attention. Instead, it prompted some searchers to seek out the real thing’s Halloween appearance.

So, has Fey and Poehler’s messaging helped the Clinton cause? Maybe, at least in addressing the reported gender gap between the Democratic contender and male voters: Men conducted 75% of those “tina fey” searchers. Bump for Clinton herself? Not so much.

Mike Huckabee’s live appearance is another story. The burr in John McCain’s backside registered a palpable 30% rise in lookups, plus another slew of queries like “huckabee snl.” Looks like Clinton may want some new plans for Saturday night. If she does do a cameo, at least she’ll know to wear black for the occasion.