Thursday, February 24, 2005
Is Jon Heder Dead?
The site meter I have here on my blog allows me to see when people Google or Yahoo! search for something and come to my site because it pops up on the result list. The most frequent searches that refer people to my blog generally have something to do with "Napoleon Dynamite," because I've blogged a couple of times about it and about my connection to Jon Heder, the star of the show (we were roommates at BYU for a semester, and no he's not "like that").
But lately, I've been getting a lot of hits from people who were searching for information about Jon's death in a car crash.
First of all, the rumors of Jon's demise are greatly exaggerated. It seems the original site that spread the rumors is down now (ninjapirate.com), but here's a discussion on the IMDB chat room. Snopes has a nice analysis of the situation and here's a piece that's part movie review, part myth-debunker (I guess you know you've made it when you become a bona fide Urban Legend--congrats, Jon!), assuring us that Jon is very much alive and well. I wish I could confirm that Jon is alive because we've kept in touch since we lived together, but we haven't. Still, I don't doubt that the rumors are nothing more than rumors. Especially when the searches are now looking for information on a plane crash--not a car crash, as was originally alleged--and suicide.
What puzzles me is why I'm coming up in these searches. This is the first time I've written about this specific topic--why should my previous posts be considered relevant? Well, a Yahoo! search for [napoleon dynamite kills himself] yields me as the fourth result, because I said my roommate was "Napoleon Dynamite himself," and, in a completely different post, that the introduction to Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer "kills" me. A search for [napoleon dynamite, jon heder, plane crash] puts me third because, among other things, I once mentioned the Sony Playstation game Crash Bandicoot. I'm only eleventh if you search for [napoleon dynamite star killed in crash] because I also once talked about Jango Fett being "killed" (those rumors are true). And [did jon heder really die?] puts me at #13 because at some point in the last year I have used all five of those words in my blog.
Just goes to show you that if you want relevant search results, you're going to have to put in better search terms, like using quotation marks or something. But if it increases traffic to my blog, all the better. In fact, now people searching for info on Jon's death will surely come here because I've written about it!
(Of course, Jon is a twin. All those recent public appearances could have been Daniel!)
But lately, I've been getting a lot of hits from people who were searching for information about Jon's death in a car crash.
First of all, the rumors of Jon's demise are greatly exaggerated. It seems the original site that spread the rumors is down now (ninjapirate.com), but here's a discussion on the IMDB chat room. Snopes has a nice analysis of the situation and here's a piece that's part movie review, part myth-debunker (I guess you know you've made it when you become a bona fide Urban Legend--congrats, Jon!), assuring us that Jon is very much alive and well. I wish I could confirm that Jon is alive because we've kept in touch since we lived together, but we haven't. Still, I don't doubt that the rumors are nothing more than rumors. Especially when the searches are now looking for information on a plane crash--not a car crash, as was originally alleged--and suicide.
What puzzles me is why I'm coming up in these searches. This is the first time I've written about this specific topic--why should my previous posts be considered relevant? Well, a Yahoo! search for [napoleon dynamite kills himself] yields me as the fourth result, because I said my roommate was "Napoleon Dynamite himself," and, in a completely different post, that the introduction to Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer "kills" me. A search for [napoleon dynamite, jon heder, plane crash] puts me third because, among other things, I once mentioned the Sony Playstation game Crash Bandicoot. I'm only eleventh if you search for [napoleon dynamite star killed in crash] because I also once talked about Jango Fett being "killed" (those rumors are true). And [did jon heder really die?] puts me at #13 because at some point in the last year I have used all five of those words in my blog.
Just goes to show you that if you want relevant search results, you're going to have to put in better search terms, like using quotation marks or something. But if it increases traffic to my blog, all the better. In fact, now people searching for info on Jon's death will surely come here because I've written about it!
(Of course, Jon is a twin. All those recent public appearances could have been Daniel!)
Comments:
of course, now that you've directly posted all those search terms, you'll move up in the rankings for each.
Wow--my ulterior motive has paid off! Since writing this post two days ago, I've had 20 hits from people searching some variation on the Jon Heder death rumors. That's enough to make a noticeable spike in my hit counter. Sweet.
Guys, he's not dead. You can't believe everything you hear.
Guys, he's not dead. You can't believe everything you hear.
Well, here's proof (as much as can be found). Jon was alive enough to go to an Oscar party (scroll down to the bottom).
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