Best of 2007

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September 2008
- At $50M, Oprah Stars on Celeb Giving List
  
  Parade | Sep 12, 08 10:50 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Parade 's annual list of the 30 most generous celebrities is out, and among the best philanthropists are: Oprah Winfrey: $50.2 million for education, women and children's advocacy. Herb Alpert: $13 million for music education. Barbra Streisand: $11 million for the environment, women's issues, AIDS research. Paul Newman: $10 million for scholarships to alma mater Kenyon College. More »
June 2008
- Top Ideas of Past Year
  
  Atlantic Monthly | Jun 11, 08 5:19 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Which ideas informed the national discourse (or lack thereof) in the past year? Well, the Atlantic Monthly knows, and there are 11 … er, 11½. From the troop surge in Iraq to post-partisan politics to the provocatively titled “mass-market atheism,” a look at some of the most captivating concepts of the past 12 months: More »
April 2008
- Top New Chefs: Read 'Em & Eat!
  
  Food & Wine | Apr 7, 08 1:58 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - 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 »
March 2008
- The World's Least Sexy Lads
  
  Boston Phoenix | Mar 31, 08 1:40 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - 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 »
January 2008
- Homemade Ad Tops Best List
  
  USA Today | Jan 1, 08 8:28 PM CST
  
  (Newser) - 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 »
- The Most Useless Words of 2007
  
  Associated Press | Jan 1, 08 6:00 PM CST
  
  (Newser) - 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 »
- Most-Traded Music, Movies and TV Shows of 2007
  
  Wired | Jan 1, 08 1:28 PM CST
  
  (Newser) - 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 »
December 2007
- 2007's Top 10 Scientific Findings
  
  LiveScience | Dec 30, 07 2:45 PM CST
  
  (Newser) - 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 »
- The Best Unsung Books of 2007
  
  NPR | Dec 30, 07 11:07 AM CST
  
  (Newser) - 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 »
- Best, Worst Celeb Do-Gooders
  
  Reuters | Dec 28, 07 10:45 AM CST
  
  (Newser) - 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 »
- 'US Americans' Love Videos
  
  ABC News | Dec 27, 07 2:54 PM CST
  
  (Newser) - 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 Picks 2007's Best
  
  Rolling Stone | Dec 23, 07 9:30 AM CST
  
  (Newser) - 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 »
- Quote of '07: Don't Tase Me, Bro!
  
  Reuters | Dec 19, 07 1:36 PM CST
  
  (Newser) - 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 »
- Putin Time's Person of the Year
  
  Time | Dec 19, 07 8:27 AM CST
  
  (Newser) - 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 »
- Vista Tops Tech Disappointment List
  
  PC World | Dec 17, 07 7:52 AM CST
  
  (Newser) - 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 's Best Books of the Year
  
  Salon | Dec 12, 07 5:30 PM CST
  
  (Newser) - 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 »
- Best New Buildings of 2007
  
  BusinessWeek | Dec 6, 07 1:10 PM CST
  
  (Newser) - 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 »
November 2007
- Witherspoon Rises to Top of Salary List
  
  Hollywood Reporter | Nov 30, 07 3:00 PM CST
  
  (Newser) - 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 »

News Sections

Newser Specials

Stories

At $50M, Oprah Stars on Celeb Giving List

Top Ideas of Past Year

Top New Chefs: Read 'Em & Eat!

The World's Least Sexy Lads

Homemade Ad Tops Best List

The Most Useless Words of 2007

Most-Traded Music, Movies and TV Shows of 2007

2007's Top 10 Scientific Findings

The Best Unsung Books of 2007

Best, Worst Celeb Do-Gooders

'US Americans' Love Videos

Rolling Stone Picks 2007's Best

Quote of '07: Don't Tase Me, Bro!

Putin Time's Person of the Year

Vista Tops Tech Disappointment List

Salon 's Best Books of the Year

Best New Buildings of 2007

Witherspoon Rises to Top of Salary List