Viral Videos
Miss South Carolina Teen USA: Lauren Caitlin Upton spends 45 glorious seconds explaining why many Americans—sorry, "U.S. Americans"—can't find the U.S. on a map. (Because they "don't have maps," duh.) Clip of the year? Maybe the century.
Doing the 'Aunt Jackie': A Harlem-filmed rap video goes viral on MySpace. Its 22-year-old creator, a Radio Shack clerk, gets signed by Jermaine Dupri.
Gravel Goes Hip-Hop: Long-shot presidential hopeful Mike Gravel discovers the power of the Web with a psychedelic mash-up video about giving peace a chance.
Ellen's Teary Meltdown: DeGeneres adopted a dog, but it fought with her pets, so she gave it to a co-worker. That was a no-no. The footage of her sniffling breakdown was a yes-yes.
I Got a Crush … on Obama: Sex and politics apparently do mix in this YouTube favorite, a musical tribute to the Democratic candidate. The video collected 4 million hits on YouTube.
Inmates Doing 'Thriller': Filipino prison inmates perform the 1984 Michael Jackson classic. A clip so strange and so well choreographed, even Jacko would be impressed.
Smackdown on 'The View': Rosie O'Donnell. Elisabeth Hasselbeck. Only one will survive. This delicious verbal slugfest essentially ended Rosie's run on the show. Fun while it lasted.
'The Landlady': In this short film, Will Ferrell and Adam McKay live in fear of their drunken, foulmouthed landlady, who happens to be a toddler. And McKay's daughter.
Hillary's 'Sopranos' Spoof: Clinton shows her sense of humor in this June video, a spoof of the abrupt finale of "The Sopranos." So … does she get whacked? Only by Republicans.
Podcasts
'Ricky Gervais Show': The "Office" cocreator wanted a show to "say what I want when I want." Result: this scorching podcast, featuring Karl Pilkington, possibly the world's dumbest man. The show established a Guinness record for the most downloads.
Breakout Blogs
TMZ: Hovering somewhere between gossip and celebrity news, TMZ.com was 2007's guiltiest new-media pleasure. Where would Anna Nicole Smith be without it? Oh, right.
The Fake Steve Jobs: An anonymous blogger uses a parody of Apple's CEO to skewer the tech industry, the media and, of course, the real Steve Jobs. It turns out that Fake Steve Jobs's real identity is Forbes editor Dan Lyons.
Advertisements
American Express, Tina Fey: This standout spot in a sharp campaign gets our vote over Ellen's animal universe because Fey's right: that flute is funnier.
HeadOn Headache Medicine: This grating ad for a dubious remedy made us want to apply a cinder block directly to our forehead. Now we have a migraine.
Nike Football, 'Leave Nothing': This cinematic, bone-crushing ad, directed by Michael Mann, features NFL stars Shawne Merriman and Steven Jackson relentlessly running, diving, deking and tackling through rain, sleet and snow. The point? Give everything you've got.
Dove, 'Onslaught': The ad contrasts a young girl's flawless face with images of Botox, plastic surgery and waify models. It'll give you goose bumps.
Anheuser-Busch's 'Swear Jar': Office employees start a swear jar for beer; 25 cents a word. What's so funny about that? Watch the f–––ing commercial!