True/Slant anniversary: Our 7 weirdest blog posts

Late on Friday I shared with you some of our best analysis and perspective on the news during the past year since True/Slant went live. Moving on from all that smart stuff, I’ll now share with you seven of the most bizarre things that you may or may not have first learned about on our network since we went live (not to say it isn’t smart).

Before I get into it, I have to expresses my gratitude to all of our millions of readers who have stopped through and helped us make such a great story to tell. Keep coming back, and be sure to tell us what you’d like to see more of in the future in the comments below.

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Scott Bowen – The hunt for the New York Bigfoot

Scott’s multi-part series could have been added under ‘news we broke on True/Slant,’ but I wanted to give it special recognition under the strange and weird. Because however serious the hunt for cryptids is, there’s still something eminently bizarre, and wonderful, about the hunt to find mysterious creatures. Scott approaches the Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization respectfully, and offers a serious, fair analysis of what the group is doing, and what he learned on the trip he took alongside them.

Start at part one, and read on.

Mary Cuddehe – Mexicans won’t leave H1N1 Patient Zero alone

It wasn’t too weird that the Mayor of Veracruz, Mexico commissioned a statue in honor of Edgar Hernandez, the little boy who was the first person in Mexico known to have come down with the symptoms of swine flu. What was really bizarre is that little Edgar survived H1N1, and now Mexicans follow him into the bathroom to steal his urine and make themselves swine flu-free. What the!?

Brian Donovan – Human vs. Cinnabon

Who knew that witnessing some oafish people dining on sugar-saturated cinnamon pastries could make for one of the best expository essays I’ve ever read? Read it, and then read it again. And then share it with someone. Spoiler: The human does not win. Come to think of it, I’d love to read Bigfoot vs. Cinnabon, too.

Lewis Grossberger – It’s a Wonderful Presidency

What happens when you cast a dead Walter Cronkite as Clarence the Angel, and a live President Barack Obama as George Bailey? A punchy Christmastime story that will prompt your children to riot if you attempt an annual recitation. Oh, and the punchline, of course, “That’s the way it is.”

Jeff Koyen – Latin American newscast confuses ‘Lost’ episode for Air France Flight 447 footage

Miles O’Brien provided us with an unparalleled, fact-filled analysis of the circumstances that may have contributed to the crash of an Air France flight over the Atlantic Ocean last year. And Jeff Koyen showed us why Miles’s truth-telling write-ups were needed. Still one of our most widely-read blog posts in True/Slant’s brief history, Jeff’s quick quips about a bad night for a Bolivian newscast exemplified how crazy people can get when tragedy happens.

Harmon Leon – Christian Side Hugs

News of the Christian side hug spread about the world of viral internet stuff without True/Slant’s help. But it took Harmon to break down for us what was really going on here: “What could be construed for a Saturday Night Live sketch is done here…….WITHOUT IRONY!” Apparently there really is nothing ironic about getting up on stage telling people that you’re a rough rider filled up Christ love.

Laura Nathan-Garner – A security blanket made from your bottom dollar

I wanted Laura’s blog post to be a bigger hit than it ever got to be, but you can’t argue with the Internet. Simply put, Toronto-based artist Brian Rushton Phillips emptied his bank account, and sewed up 208 US dollar bills into a literal blanket. And then he started living on credit. Simple, yet brilliant.

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Thanks again for taking this trip down short-term memory lane with me.