In 1994, someone started blogging for the first time. It was probably either Justin Hall or David Winer, depending on whom you ask. Regardless, in the time since, the weblog medium has changed the news cycle — for better or for worse (we think better) — forever.
For this list, we combed the internets for the fifty buzziest blog posts since that time. Some of our selections will no doubt ring a bell — they're posts that achieved instant worldwide notoriety and bested the media at its own game. They brought down politicians, exposed celebrity shenanigans and caused widespread consternation and controversy. And then there are other posts that never became famous, but nonetheless sparked their own wildfires of feedback, both of the go-to-hell and amen! variety. We've included some of those here too, because you probably haven't seen them, and we think you should. What else are you going to do on your lunch break? Eat?
What did we miss that we should have included? What did we include that we should have ignored? As always, we expect you to get out the knives and carve us up in the feedback section, as any good blog reader would. — The Hooksexup Staff
There's no more sure-fire way to kill something's intrinsic comedic value than to try to examine what makes it funny. The minute you start thinking, you stop laughing. So why, then, have Hooksexup and IFC.com devoted an enormous amount of time, manpower, monetary resources, server space and posh catered lunches to the pursuit of ranking the boob tube's finest sketch comedy offerings?
In part, we're here because magical new technology (*coughYouTubecough*) allows us to do more than just pontificate for paragraphs on end — now we can pontificate for paragraphs on end and provide audiovisual evidence to back up those pontifications. We provide the context, share our thoughts and feelings, and let you commence with the guffawing and, naturally, the disagreeing. After all, the comedy sketch — short, sweet, completely silly or shot through with social commentary — worms its way into the public mind like nothing else, and has easily made the leap to the web when other forms have faltered.
Any list is bound by the limitations set on it — consciously and unconsciously — by its creators: we kept our 50 selections to stuff that's appeared on television by choice, and to what's appeared in English out of necessity. One must also bear in mind the availability of material; who knows what comedic treasures are lost to us because they simply don't exist anymore?
But of the sketch comedy that remains viewable, this is some of the best. Is the list definitive? That's for you, the audience to tell us. And we're sure you will, loudly and angrily. Before you do you, though, remember: it's comedy. Best not to overthink it.
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50. "Maggie Gyllenhaal and Ramona Sarsgaard out Friday evening, nurse in public" 5/5/07
The wonderful thing about blogs is that even such an outlet as celebrity-babies.com, in all its pink-and-white glory, can provide a forum for intelligent, impassioned debate. Should Maggie Gyllenhaal have been breastfeeding in public with the paparazzi swarming about? If so, should she have covered up more than she did? And most importantly, as one feedbacker asked (with hope springing eternal), "I wonder whether Maggie has read any of our comments?"
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49. "At JFK Airport, Denying Basic Rights is Just Another Day at the Office" 8/18/08
The debate over civil liberties has become so political that it's possible to forget it concerns real people in real situations. In this blog post, Emily Feder, a U.S. citizen, recounts what happened when she tried to return to New York after a short trip to Syria. It's an experience that will make you question whether visiting the Middle East is a good idea, not out of concern for your safety there, but for your safe passage home.
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48. "Rape Can Be Boring" 7/2/08
But can it be . . . funny? Ask question, add water: instant controversy.
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47. "Photo Story Monday — Running Into Problems" 1/21/08
There are blog posts that remain virtually undiscovered, even though they deserve a hundred times as many views as the post about Maggie Gyllenhaal breastfeeding. This is one of those posts. An incredibly close-up, frightening glimpse into the day in the life of an American soldier sent direct from Iraq, it offers the kind of intimacy and realism big media will never achieve.
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46. "authentic media, exhibit b" 8/15/06
Blogger's cell phone is stolen. Blogger starts automatically receiving photos of the thief's family via his cell-phone account. Blogger blogs the photos. It didn't lead to an apprehension as far as we can tell, but the absurdity of the scenario earns it a place on this list. The dog is looking at us like, "The fuck you starin' at?"
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45. "How The Gawker Stalker Map Works" 4/9/07
This is just fun. Jimmy Kimmel dresses up as Larry King and goes bonkers on Gawker editor Emily Gould over being included on the Gawker Stalker map. Who came out on top? We report, you decide.
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44. "Norfolk & Western Not Loving Northwest D.C." 12/4/06
Following a disastrous show in DC, Portland band Norfolk & Western blogged about how disappointed they were in the city, especially with the U Street neighborhood, which they called "dangerous." Sommer Mathis responded in kind. "The band inadvertently touched on some of D.C.'s hot button issues — crime, gentrification and the like — and I defensively took them to task for stereotyping an entire neighborhood. Many of our readers agreed with me, many of them did not, and the band members themselves ended up piping up in the comments."
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43. "Fuck Grapefruit"
If you remain unconvinced that the internet is a forum for crazy people to vent, check out the 500+ comments generated by this innocuous little undated cartoon.
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42. "Is Racism Still an Issue? Are We Color Blind or Just Blinder?" 6/19/08
"Let's stop looking at the outside, and start hating people for what they are inside…" is one representative comment on this airy "political" post on the Sugar blogs. A feedback feeding frenzy ensued when the very first commenter's post asserted that racism is a non-issue in America today because blacks have BET.
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41. "I abhor racism, and apologize — for speaking to NME" 12/4/07
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Morrissey wrote some of the best lines of the '80s and '90s ("There's more to life than books, you know. But not much more.") His best line of the new century may be the title of this Guardian blog post that the ghostly singer-songwriter published in response to an attack on him by the British music magazine New Musical Express: "I abhor racism, and apologize — for speaking to NME." Zing!
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Commentarium (56 Comments)
Hi! For me, one of the best blogs of all time is Belle de Jour's discussion of all things sex. The UK blog led to two books and the HBO series, "Secret Diary of a Call Girl." It has won a ton of awards, including the UK's best written blog. The author, who has remained anonymous, nonetheless writes with truth, wit, humor and pathos about her life in the sex biz. But more than that, it is a cautionary tale about life and relationships that we can all relate to. I never miss a post and I'm a modest 52-year-old woman!
Regarding #16 on this list: There is absolutely no evidence that the Agency Spy blog posts were in fact the reason for Paul Tilley's suicide. To publish as much makes you just as pathetic as Agency Spy. To assume that a man would take his own life because of that snarky blog is ridiculous. I knew him. He didn't make decisions based on rumors. Especially the rumors spread by ignorant DDB employees who betray the agency (and violate agreements signed upon hiring) to send internal communications to outside parties.
I hope you've enjoyed all the page views you've gotten for the misinformation you posted, Hooksexup. You ask your contributors to interact respectively, but you don't do as much in your own content. Yeah, you are about as pathetic as Agency Spy. If you don't stand for something, you fall for anything.
Way to overreact to, and oversimplify, anonymous blogger's "What to Expect When You're Aborting" blog. In calling it "horrifying," you are bolstering her entire point for starting the blog: nowhere are there reassuring resources for women who exercise their right to an abortion and DON'T beat themselves up for it endlessly later. You also missed the deadpan sarcastic humor that makes this woman's reading entertaining, choosing instead to interpret her humor as literal "glee." I have no difficulty at all believing that she has received a large number of supportive emails in response to her situation -- one of them was from me -- and say to you in response: this was one blog post you should have considered with more care.
One of the things I love the most about Hooksexup is the way you usually show things in a fairly tolerant, non-judgemental tone, especially when it has to do with women's rights. What happened to that? I'm another reader who sent this blogger encouraging words (and candy!), because her position is one that any of us could find ourselves in (even with judicious use of contraception). That's the thing about being pro-choice. You shut the hell up and let people make the decision that's best for them.
What is horrifying about a woman sharing how she feels in advance of exercising a right she's never exercised before? Are stories of first-time voting horrifying? It is shallow and judgmental to render a funny, witty, open blog about a deeply personal experience "horrifying," just because there are those who would be offended by the subject matter. Misinformation is rampant. There are precious few voices that speak honestly about the abortion process, and the myriad small choices women face in exercising their right to choose an abortion. Please don't silence or minimize this voice with your judgment.
Wow. I'm really surprised by #29. These are very un-Hooksexup-like comments. I'm disappointed in you guys. WTF?
On #29, if you're actually horrified by someone exercising her reproductive rights without cloaking the experience in guilt, then you're really not as pro-choice as you think you are. The more people speak up about their abortion experiences, maybe the less judgmental you'll become. I'm disappointed in Hooksexup.
Your description for no. 3 is really fucking stupid. What are you, 12? You think it was some kind of conspiracy? M. Mapes has been a freakish hippy for forever AND a day...and she's supposed to be a member of some "right-wing conspiracy to change the subject"? Are yall really moronic enough to believe that?
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