Best of 2007

Food & Wine has posted its Best New Chef awards for 2008. Look for their profiles in the July issue, but take a peek at the winners here: Jim Burke: owner of James , a modern Italian restaurant in Philadelphia's Bella Vista neighborhood. Gerard Craft: owner and chef at Niche in St. Louis, where bacon and eggs sandwich and braised pork belly top the menu. More »

It takes more than comb-overs and beer bellies to make the world's 100 unsexiest men list. The Boston Phoenix factors behavior into its list of oh-so-fugly gents. A peek at who snagged the top (dis)honors: Roger Clemens: baseball (and steroid?) star. Spencer Pratt: Heidi's smarmy boyfriend on The Hills. Larry Craig: backpeddaling, bathroom-busted congressman. Tom Cruise: movie star turned Scientologist wingnut. More »

The best ad of 2007 cost 12 bucks to make. The winner of the Doritos Super Bowl commercial contest took best ad honors in USA Today 's poll of ad pros and couch potatoes. And that wasn't even the most authentic or irreverent item on the list. The winners are: Best Ad: Doritos Best Viral Video: Dove's Evolution More »

Do you roll your eyes every time a newscaster calls a coincidence a "perfect storm"? Cringe the thousandth time a teenager invokes "random"? The faculty at Lake Superior State University shares your vexation. Here are some selections from the school's list of words and phrases to be "banished" for "Mis-Use, Over-Use and General Uselessness" in 2007: "Perfect Storm" "Webinar" (web seminar) "Waterboarding" "Organic" "Wordsmith"/"Wordsmithing" More »

Forget box office numbers and Billboard charts: Wired reveals what people were really into last year by probing the action on peer-to-peer file-sharing networks. The year's most-traded files: Songs: Shop Boyz, "Party Like A Rock Star" Akon, "I Wanna Luv U" Sean Kingston, "Beautiful Girls" Movies: Resident Evil: Extinction Pirates of The Caribbean: At World's End I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry More »

What were the most important scientific findings of 2007? LiveScience gives you the top 10: Climate change: The IPCC issued its strongest warning yet that humans are causing global warming. Arctic melting: Two studies found retreating arctic ice. Extreme weather: Global warming is contributing—specifically hurricanes and heat waves. Alternative energy: Biofuels’ futures are uncertain as researchers uncovered pros and cons for gasoline’s successors. More »

Looking for a read off the beaten path? NPR asks two literary bloggers—Laura Miller of Salon and Mark Sarvas of The Elegant Variation—for the best works, fictional or factual, that were overlooked by mainstream book-review sections in 2007. The Farther Shore, by Matthew Eck: "A new kind of military novel" Autonauts of the Cosmoroute: A Timeless Voyage from Paris to Marseille , by Julio Cortazar and Carol Dunlop: The last work of the legendary Argentine experimental novelist More »

From Angelina Jolie (nominated as a UN Goodwill Ambassador) to Madonna (the Malawian adoption controversy), these stars topped a Reuters poll that asked: Who gave the best—and worst—name to “celebrity humanitarianism” in 2007? The best: Angelina Jolie Bono Desmond Tutu Bill Gates Bill Clinton More »

With small-screen stars ranging from ditzy beauty queens to potty-mouthed pint-sized landlords, Americans increasingly gathered around the YouTube watercooler in 2007. They racked up 100 billion views on various video sites, ABC News reports. Cultural commentators liken the phenomenon to cavemen swapping tall tales around campfires, but 78% of us do it at work. More »

Rolling Stone has picked its top 100 songs of 2007, and they span the genres from country to disco. The top 10: "Roc Boys"—Jay Z "A Few Words in Defense of Our Country"—Randy Newman "Umbrella"—Rihanna "D.A.N.C.E"—Justice "Four Winds"—Bright Eyes More »

As he was being arrested at a John Kerry rally, a college student yelled, “Don’t Tase me bro!” He was Tasered anyway, and that yell is the top quote of 2007, according to the Yale Book of Quotations. Here’s the rest: Miss Teen South Carolina’s “US Americans” answer “In Iran, we don’t have homosexuals like in your country” —Mahmoud Ahmadinejad More »

Don't be fooled by the 5' 6" frame of the man George W. Bush termed "Pooty-Poot": Russian President Vladmir Putin is Time's Person of the Year for having "brought Russia back to the table of world power." The quiet man behind the steely stare snuck up to best 2007 heavyweights Al Gore and JK Rowling at perhaps their peak. More »

When PC World decided to whip up a list of 2007's most disappointing tech, was there really any doubt what would headline the list? Vista wasn't awful, but neither was it, you know, good . Here's how the list broke down: Vista The Hi-Def Format War Facebook Beacon Yahoo Apple's iPhone More »

Salon chooses its favorite books of the year, looking to those it "propped up next to our bowls of breakfast cereal." The first five are fiction; the others non-fiction: "The Brief, Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao" by Junot Diaz "Sacred Games" by Vikram Chandra "Then We Came to the End" by Joshua Ferris "Tree of Smoke" by Denis Johnson More »

Looks weren't all that mattered to BusinessWeek and Architectural Record in choosing their 2007 architectural awards. "Contribution to business" was important, too. Their top picks: InterActive Corp. Headquarters, New York—Gehry Partners Young Center for the Performing Arts, Toronto—Kuwabara Payne McKenna Blumberg Architects US Census Bureau Headquarters, Suitland, Md.—Skidmore, Owings & Merrill More »

Rendition was a dud, but Reese Witherspoon's peachy $15 million to $20 million fee per movie puts her atop this year’s highest-paid actress list. But she and other leading ladies—such as runner-up Angeline Jolie—often accept lower payoffs to keep their schedules packed, the Hollywood Reporter observes. More »

Popular Science 's "Best of What's New" awards go to the leading innovations of the year. Check out what the future looks like: Automotive: 2008 Audi R8 Aviation & Space: CNES Corot Satellite Gadgets: Apple iPhone More »

Talk show diva Oprah Winfrey continues her reign as the Queen of  Media, topping Forbes' list of 2007's 20 highest earning TV stars with a whopping $260 million. Jerry Seinfeld came in a distant second with $60 million—mostly from residuals. They were followed by Simon Cowell ($45 million), David Letterman ($40 million), Donald Trump ($32 million) and Jay Leno ($32 million). More »

On a best-dressed list, one might expect a few actors—but world leaders, a presidential hopeful, and couple of journalists, all trailing a guy who often works in sweatpants? Esquire , you've officially blown our minds. The top 10: Tom Brady Jay-Z Daniel Craig Barack Obama André Balazs More »

Whether you want something small and hip or capacious and safe, you can find it in CNNMoney's guide to the best cars of 2007 as determined by Consumer Reports. Budget car, subcompact:  Honda Fit Sedan, less then $20,000:  Honda Civic Sedan, $20,000 to $30,000: Honda Accord Sedan, $30,000 to $40,000: Infiniti G35 Luxury Sedan: Infiniti M35 More »