Webby Awards: Most Influential Online Videos of All Time

To celebrate 2007 as the year that online video broke (broke?), our friends at the Webby Awards put together their short list of the "12 Most Influential Online Videos of All Time." Two Girls One Cup did not make the cut.
Link (Thanks, DMD!)

UPDATE: For those who may not be familiar with Two Girls One Cup, do NOT attempt to watch it. You have been warned.

David Pescovitz is Boing Boing's co-editor/managing partner. He's also a research director at Institute for the Future. On Instagram, he's @pesco.

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erissian

#1: “the little piece of my soul that gets squicked died”

That was the weak part. You’re stronger now :)
gregger

What no Viking Kittens?
http://users.wolfcrews.com/toys/vikings/

I’m glad AYB made it though. That’s a true classic.

TTFN
Kizzy

I haven’t seen Two Girls One Cup, and, having checked up on urban dictionary, I probably won’t endeavour to, but having just read this, is it just possible that the two ladies in question were engaged in a life-saving, therapeutic procedure?
Teapunk

I want a proper unicorn chaser. Cats are not strong enough to get this out of my mind, and I’ve only read about it.
thecat17

Know what? I pray to every deity in existence that Two Girls One Cup doesn’t become influential. For that would probably cross some sort of line, and humanity will be beyond redemption at that point.

I’ve had a friend puke about 10 seconds into the video, and had another friend puke from my brother and I describing it. Both friends had been drinking, mind, but I have to admit that’s pretty damn impressive on a fascinatingly disgusting level.
schmod

CHASER — NOW!!!
Graham

I’m getting scared reading about all the people who just read about 2G1C and got scared!
Nina Katarina

No dancing baby? No viking kittens?

N00bz.
Spatch

I completely agree that the dancing baby should’ve been included however obnoxious it was. I worked tech support for a dialup ISP at the time when the original .avi went flying around, and fielded many calls from 28.8 and 33.6 users who didn’t know why their email downloads were suddenly taking forever. We’d check their inbox from the shell and, sure enough, it’d turn out that too many friends had sent them the high-larious dancing baby movie.

I’d call that more influential than the “Macaca” incident.

Also, no Steve Ballmer’s DANCE, MONKEY BOY, DANCE? Alas. Props though for making mention of Jennicam, which was a true pioneer.
nex

Paralipsis is OK in the context of such a frivolous topic. Actually I’m grateful that David brought this gem of internet video culture do my attention; how could my life be complete without it. However, IMHO those who have not seen it (or at least claim so) should stop making a fuss and shut up about it.

I think the selection the Webby Awards folks made is quite good, but dancing baby and Ballmer do seem like serious omissions. Oh, and: OMG, Jennicam was so long ago, Late Night was still hosted by Letterman! Wow.
kirkjerk

THIS NEEDS A WARNING.

I didn’t get burned, because I had recently found out about it, plus I’ve read through like all of the old archives of the Stile Project and the little piece of my soul that gets squicked died, or at least got severely damaged, but Two Girls One Cup is at least as bad as goatse.cx, and someone googling for it is likely to be in for a terrible surprise. That’s not cool.

WARN ABOUT THAT.
David Pescovitz

Kirkjerk, probably a wise idea. I updated my post. Thanks.
robotplague

I have never heard of 2 girls 1 cup until this post. I have since sent it to everyone I know.
Benjamin

I think it’s hilarious you even mentioned it. XD
Chinese Jet Pilot

The exploding whale was another early viral video. The Quicktime file just barely fit on a Zip disk.
explodingwhale

I, for one, am incredibly disappointed.

- Exploding Whale
http://www.perp.com/whale
braschlosan

Why is it that top x lists always fail?
NE2d

I’m a bit puzzled why a post that does not even mention a certain video (even at the link) needs a warning against said video.
B-Trom

I’m posting not to comment on 2G1C (like some of the others, I managed to learn about it a little while ago without watching it, thankfully) or even to note the omissions from the Webbies’ list, but to quibble with one of their inclusions:

Why choose ‘Here We Go Again’ (sic – the song’s actual title is ‘Here It Goes Again’) instead of ‘A Million Ways’? The latter (featuring the band doing a choreographed dance, in one constant shot, in a back yard) was the initial video that was circulated virally and that made them a success. ‘Here It Goes Again’ was also quite popular, but I don’t get its inclusion here – it’s like putting one of the remixes of ‘All Your Base’, not the original, on the list.

That basic concept, and then their mistake with the name (alright, AND the exclusion of Numa Numa, I’ll admit) ruined this list’s credibility for me.
EH

I’ve been reading up on encyclopedia dramatica over the past week, so most of these are lame. Zidane and Macaca? FAIL.
Kyle Goetz

I take issue with at least one on the list: Lonelygirl15. I literally know ZERO people who have ever seen this. I’ve never heard anyone talk about it in real life, and in my net life, excluding Boing Boing, I’ve never heard more than a passing reference (e.g., on TWiT).

Dancing Baby is easily more important, and I suspect Lonelygirl15 is only on the list because it/she/they won a Webby.

How Diggnation or any of the other frontrunner video podcasts (weren’t there frontrunners years ago (vlogging, anyone?)) didn’t make the list, but Lonelygirl15 did is beyond me? Ridonkulous.
David Pescovitz

@NE2D (#7), My post does mention the video that I warn against in the update.
5000!

I hadn’t heard of “Two Girls One Cup,” so I just looked it up on Urban Dictionary and it sounds so awful I’m regretting having even read about it!
Jamshid666

No Numa-Numa? No TROOPS? What lamer decided on this list? Oh, and I found out out 2 girls 1 cup BEFORE you updated and posted the warning. Thanks. Please excuse me now while I get a knife and pry my eyes out. You owe us a Unicorn.
A New Challenger

@B-Trom:

Yeah, I agree about the OK Go video, although the treadmill one was the inescapable breakthrough.

And as for Jib-Jab, what about the Al Gore/George W. Bush “Election Day” rap battle from 2000?

On a related note, “A Million Ways” and “Election Day” were both featured on MadTV. OK Go performed live– they did the dance while lip-synching the song. That was awesome.
NE2d

My post does mention the video that I warn against in the update.

D’oh.
Dave Rattigan

For those who may not be familiar with Two Girls One Cup, do NOT attempt to watch it. You have been warned.

And while you’re all at it, don’t think of an elephant.
ZippySpincycle

Forget Numa Numa and Troops–Where’s teh Dramatic Prairie Dog?
Teresa Nielsen Hayden / Moderator

Chaser.
License Farm

The best way to learn about the effects of 2G1C without needing to see it is to watch the 1st episode of “Mongoloids on the Interwebs” on SuperDeluxe.com. The central segment is a brave fellow subjecting himself to it. (Be warned, there are a couple split second views of the screen when the cameraman wanders too far left.)
Tian

What about all those spoof movie trailers made with Brokeback Mountain soundtracks?
chetspartan

FYI…. BME Pain Olympics > Two Girls One Cup

Just in case anyone wants to show you either….you have been warned……again I guess.
a random John

Looking back at All Your Base it strikes me that it is an early example of Web 2.0 style collaboration. The various slides in the video were photoshopped by various gamers and then assembled for the video.
monkz

This top ten is extremely disappointing. I used to collect these retarded videos and showed them to my friends during lunchtime. Here’s what I think should have been added:
- Numa Numa (as stated above)
- TROOPS (as stated above)
- Animutations
- GIJoe dubs
- Celebrity Jeopardy
- SBE: Trogdor
- Honda Rube Goldberg video
- Badger Badger
- Wassup Budweiser Commercial (and parodies)
and many others that I can’t think of while at work.
clea

How about the Dormitory Boys?
SpiritedSix

I have to disagree with JIBJAB “this land” and I would vote for best Bush parody as the Bush and Tony Blair love song as number 1.

Bush and Tony Blair Love Song
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHIY5-5emiQ
EtanSivad

For those of you unfamiliar with Two Girls One Cup, or any shock video for that matter, start with urban dictionary:

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=two+girls+one+cup

Urban dictionary is a great way to check whether or not you want to see something.
Like:

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=tub+girl

Or

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=pain+olympics

Referring to this site first will save your sanity. I have never seen 2 girls 1 cup, and for that I am thankful.