First Annual Anniversary Indulgence: My Favorite People

Oh, how time flies when you're having deep regrets about humanity in general. As of this Thursday, Net Insanity will be a year old. We've had one full year of crazy conspiracy theories, religious fanaticism, desperate craigslisters and awful Youtube videos. There's been sickening pornography, angry teenagers and even a Japanese guy who makes musical instruments out of vegetables. To commemorate this year of analyzing the weirdest, most absurd Internet stuff I could find, I'm going to be taking this week to do a five-day retrospective of some of the best, worst and strangest stuff from among Net Insanity's 120+ articles. Today, I'd like to focus on the people who made all this content possible. These are Net Insanity's Five Favorite People.

1. heita3

In the earliest days of Net Insanity I wrote a Stars of the Internet feature, actually the first SotI ever, on an intrepid Youtuber calling himself heita3. Big H, as I would come to know him, thoroughly impressed me, as I'm sure he impressed everyone who watched his videos, with his unique ability to construct and play instruments made from fruits and vegetables. His carrot pahn-fluto-des was my personal favorite and though not all of Big H's inventions were as successful, his unshakable enthusiasm and idiosyncratic talent carried through. Like any proper Youtuber, heita3's videos have become more sophisticated with time, now including subtitles, costumes and backgrounds. My new favorite video of his is this gem involving a robotic bird and an apple ocarina. Thanks Junji, aka heita3, for using Youtube for something interesting.

2. The Folks Over At Beautiful Cervix

Back in March I had the good fortune to stumble upon a serious but not too self-important website in which a medical professional illuminated the facts of an oft-overlooked female anatomical structure. She did so with painstaking photography, a thoroughly scientific mindset and a respectable lack of undeserved shame. Beautiful Cervix was the first recipient of the AK Smile Seal of Approval, Net Insanity's one and only honor for those websites that ought to be recognized for the good they contribute to the Internet. To this day, I'm thankful that someone made and maintained a website that could have gone wrong in so many ways but didn't.

3. Bobby Convict

June and July 2009 were fertile days for Net Insanity and a big part of that boon goes to Bobby Convict. I found his wildly entertaining and incredibly improbable life story on his newly-minted blog and I just couldn't pass up the opportunity to give him his own Stars of the Internet feature. But Bobby couldn't be confined to just one article. He and his made-up supporters flooded Net Insanity's comments section with so much hilarious material that I revisited the cinematic fantasy land of Mr. Convict's world in a response to some of the more clueless readers who showed up on this mean-spirited comedy blog and forgot to have a sense of humor. Thanks, Bobby, for giving one humble jerk so much crackerjack content.

4. Chris Crocker

Youtube has its fair share of performance artists, but most pale in comparison to Chris Crocker, the delightfully, courageously, stupendously queer star of a long series of vlogs about every little thing under the big, yellow sun. I dubbed Miss Chris the Crown Princess of the Internet back in May and I don't regret that decision. She is one of those rare creatures who manages to be Of the Internet in the truest sense. As a matter of happy coincidence, today is Chris's birthday. So, Happy Birthday, Your Highness. Thanks for the great content and for being a unique presence on the Web.

5. El Scotto

I'm always happy to have regular readers and am delighted by commenters, especially those who contribute some kind of entertaining content to the mix. Far and away the best commenter in this maiden voyage of Net Insanity has been one El Scotto. He showed up on our board now and then to give some encouragement or add a little extra humor to the site which was always appreciated, but he really went above and beyond in September when he found an amazing craigslist post that otherwise would have flown under my radar. If you're still a regular, El Scotto, thanks not only for being one of the folks to get the joke, but also for making it that much funnier.

It's been a great year exploring the Internet with all of you and I look forward to another year of new adventures, crazy people and unusual images. Be sure to come back tomorrow for more gloriously self-indulgent retrospection.