Location: Santa’s Workshop, North Pole…
December, 2009
The 2009 Crikey Arsehat Awards
From Vegemite’s iSnack 2.0 to Andrew Bolt to the overuse of the phrase “A great big tax”, Crikey readers vote on the biggest Arsehats of 2009.
Malcolm Turnbull: 2009′s Person of the Year
Egomaniac. Fuck up. Icon. Crikey readers have chosen Malcolm Turnbulll as their Person of the Year for 2009
Stephen Smith & Julia Gillard: 2009′s sexiest politicians
The winning team of our Foreign Affairs Minister and his substantial pelt have taken out the trophy two years in a row. And Prom Queen? Everyone’s favourite redhead wins the twin set of tiara and sash for 2009’s Sexiest Female Politican,
Plants have feelings, too
Don’t get too self-righteous, vegans, says Natalie Angier, plants don’t want to get eaten any more than pigs or cows do — and they’ve developed some pretty sophisticated ways to avoid ending up on your plate, too.
Obama’s to-do list for 2010
NPR looks at a few small, routine chores Obama will need to take care of next year, like managing the global economy, closing Guantanamo, and avoiding a war with Pakistan.
VIDEO: Star Wars: the stock market strikes back
The New York Stock Exchange is opened by Darth Vader and a team of Storm Troopers. Yes, great way to reform your image, Wall Street.
How Oceanic Viking sunk our relationship with Indonesia
Most of the Oceanic Viking refugees are now resettled in Australia, thanks to pressure applied by Kevin Rudd. But pity those 255 Tamils waiting in Merak, because Rudd has used up all Indonesia’s good will, writes Paul Maley.
What your taste in magazines says about you
Jezebel shamelessly (yet hilariously and accurately) stereotypes various magazines’ readerships. Vogue? “People who use the names of seasons as verbs”. Time? “People waiting to get a colonoscopy”.
revealed 
Read the FBI’s Michael Jackson files
The FBI has released 300-odd pages of its files on Michael Jackson. Read them all — or just get the highlights here.
graph pr0n 
The biggest news stories of the year
A great data visualisation of 2009’s biggest news stories, giving a nice overview of what we were reading (and listening and watching) about over the last 12 months. Money, mostly.
A blog war brewing between TMZ and Gawker
Celebrity gossip site TMZ is muscling in on the territory of Gawker’s sports gossip site Deadspin with the launch of TMZSports.com. Gawker’s response? To offer more cash for sports industry scuttlebutt. Game on.
It’s Festivus: air your 2009 TV grievances
Televised Revolution is upholding the fine tradition of Festivus by asking readers to list all the ways Aussie TV has disappointed them over the past year — and adding a few of its own.
Just who is a “journalist” in Australia?
Changes to Australia’s Freedom of Information legislation next year will make it easier for journalists to access government documents — but just who does the government consider a “journalist”? asks Peter Timmins. Do Australia’s bloggers also have a Right to Know?
2009: A psephological round-up
Commentators love turmoil, excitement and controversy, but the electoral story of 2009 is quite different: democracy working in its unobtrusive way, and voters mostly expressing confidence in the system, writes Charles Richardson.
I was there: China ruined Copenhagen
Journalist Mark Lynas was in the room when world leaders were negotiating at Copenhagen, says there’s no doubt about it: it’s all China’s fault. An incredible fly-on-the-wall account of how the big boys behave behind closed doors.
Journalists shined in Black Saturday’s blaze
Regardless of what the critics say, last year’s Black Saturday bushfires brought out the best in Australian journalism, says Media Watch’s Jonathan Holmes.
Australia: a nation of dibber dobbers
We Aussies like to think of ourselves as a bit anti-authoritarian, but the data says otherwise, writes Ben Packham: tens of thousands of us are secretly dobbing in our neighbors to the ATO, Centrelink, Crime Stoppers and the EPA.
How the climate change whining has got us nowhere
As soon as you combine a worthy goal with politicians, disaster strikes. What if we skipped them and started taking climate change action ourselves? Like getting a climate change fighting fund started, suggests John Humphreys.
Essential Report: The Christmas edition
There’s been a one point gain to the Coalition since the last Essential Report, but Tony Abbott is still to make any mark on the voter estimates for PM. Possum Comitatus crunches the numbers.
Gittins: Take a holiday, get a life
It seems that our average lazy beach holiday isn’t enough of an overt example of conspicuous consumption these days and people aren’t taking their annual leave, but instead cash it out. Stop being stupid, says Ross Gittins.
Albrechtsen: Our PM has no balls
The people love him, but as Kevin Rudd done anything of great substance as PM? Instead, he avoids making difficult decisions — from the ETS to the stimulus package — to help ensure his popularity, writes Janet Albrechtsen.
A self-indulgent whinge from Barnaby Joyce
Barnaby Joyce — presumably uncensored and definitely un-sub-edited — lets fly on the ABC about all the “nasty horrid people” painting him as a “xenophobic bigot”.
