1 Leaks
Kanye West leaks his songs and videos, in high quality, as he finishes them. No pay what you can, no giant lawsuits. Seems like the way to go in 2K9, no? But if you must avoid the leak, Lil Wayne’s video for A Milli is how it’s done. The flying heel click around the 3:35 mark is awe-inspiring. Even more so, the video completely subverted the Internet: he shot the entire video and aired it on BET before it ever made it to YouTube. A rare and impressive feat.
2 Red Rocket
2008 belonged to the iPhone. As wonderful as that little gadget is on its own, it’s only as smart as the applications on it. And one of the best apps to come out this year happens to be locally made Red Rocket. The mobile guide to efficient TTC travel is absolutely essential.
3 RickRolling
If you’ve clicked on a link for the new Pussycat Dolls video and found yourself watching Rick Astley’s 80s blue-eyed soul smash Never Gonna Give You Up, you got RickRolled. It happened more than 10 million times this year.
4 Best of YouTube
The list of must-see YouTube videos is getting shorter each year, but there were a few gems in 2008: Toronto band Tomboyfriend’s End Of Poverty compiling the best dance-offs in the world, Bill O’Reilly flipping his wig over a broken teleprompter (“We’ll do it live!”) and 16-year-old Aussie Corey Worthington refusing to take off his neon sunglasses to apologize for a 500-person party at his parents’ house (because the shades are famous).
5 Internet music-making technology
Auto-Tune, GarageBand, Ableton. The future of music will be downloaded!
joshuae@nowtoronto.com
