Crap products

• Dr Bronner's magic soap has "18 different uses-in-one!" from toothpaste to massage to nappy wash!

• Wearable luggage – Jaktogo is a very ugly coat made out of plasticky pockets so you can smuggle up to 10kg extra hand luggage on to your flight … It also comes in dress form!

• "Round the world pants" – cities instead of days of the week ... £70!

Pretentious and silly travel concepts ...

• Who knows what a concierge normally does, but this year they specialised. There was the "food truck concierge" at New York's Thompson Hotels; the "sleep concierge" at The Benjamin, also in NYC; the "art concierge" at the Hazelton Hotel in Toronto; and, best of all, the "horcierge", to attend to guests' horse-related needs, such as buying jodpurs, at the Stafford London Hotel.

• Giving a fancy name to something we do already and calling it a new trend is hugely popular in the travel industry ... think "wild swimming" (swimming outside), wild camping (camping not on a campsite) and this year's fave, "the inter-generational holiday" – going on holiday with your kids, your mum, and your nan.

• Glamping became "camp-bling" (see cargocollective.com/campbling) and in New York there was "urban glamping" on the roof of the AKA Central Park hotel.

• Have you got what it takes to survive? asked the new Bear Grylls Survival Academy. "What it takes" being £1,899 for a five-day course in the Highlands. Oh, and Bear himself won't be there. And you have to catch your own breakfast. And sleep outside.

• The 2012 award for most pretentious concept goes to BrewDog for their "craft beer cocktail speakeasy in Shoreditch". Sounds like the marketing team just googled "most-used hipster terms" and strung them together to form a new bar. It also has a "Japanese street food menu". Of course it does.
• A Hello Kitty spa for children opened in the summer in Dubai.

• Immersive experiences that let punters experience the sort of terror depicted in slasher movies were the breakthrough event of the year. From a Horror Camp Live weekend break to zombie shopping mall shootouts in Reading.

Dog-related holidays and products ...

• The fashion world may have moved on from dogs, declaring cats and a very well-dressed monkeys the animals of 2012, but in the world of travel dogs still dominated. Pampered pooches and adventurous canines were catered for with a variety of innovative services and products. Our favourite doggy development in 2012 was the dog blog phileasdogg.com, "the only UK travel site written by dogs ... for dogs". That's right, a two-year-old mongrel called Attlee Common heads a team of Rover reporters who sniff out dog-friendly holidays and places to stay. Even if you are not a dog owner we urge you to look at this site.

• Attlee would surely approve of Best Western's response to "a surge in enquiries over the past month from guests requesting something special for their dogs to eat on Christmas Day" – the £105 dog's dinner, a selection of matured Kobe beef, the finest filet mignon and porterhouse steak, all cooked to order and served by a dog butler (we're not sure if this is a dog dressed as a butler or a human being). It's more expensive than the priciest Christmas meal available to guests …

• And what should a pampered pooch wear to dine on such luxury fare? Why, a cashmere coat of course, a snip at £161, from petsinpyjamas.com, which as well as selling outrageously expensive dog-wear also has a travel section.

• More practical – and affordable – canine clothing comes from Equafleece. Its 2012 contribution to dog-wear is the "portable hug" for dogs scared of fireworks. The £13 T-shirt is designed to help dogs feel supported and "therefore more able to breathe and cope with fears".

Stupid stunts ... and stupid surveys

• At the start of this year, Jurys Inn hotels offered a free night to guests with a cheesy name, such as Mr Stilton or Mrs Cheddar to celebrate National Cheese Lovers' Day, while earlier this month The Cavendish in London was choosing one guest who would be allowed to pay for their room with chocolate coins.

• As royal fever swept the travel industry, all hotels felt obliged to provide a jubilee afternoon tea, a "right royal knees up" weekend package or, in the case of Marriott hotels, a free "corgi" cocktail to any guest called Elizabeth.

• A sea of PR swept along in the royal couple's wake as they travelled the world, and any country they visited, from the Seychelles to Canada, expected the "William and Kate effect". Then last month dozens of holiday companies started pushing their "royal babymoons".

• "Boris voted Britain's favourite beach buddy" said social travel network Gogobot, while "Going on holiday more stressful than giving birth" said some "research" by Continental Tyres.

Festival flops

• A terrible summer meant most festivals were a washout but some fared worse than others. London's first Bloc music festival was shut almost immediately due to dangerous levels of overcrowding, Creamfields was called off due to flooding, while the British Biscuit Festival failed to deliver a slam dunk.

• The poshing-up of festivals reached ridiculous levels, with an Anthropologie tent at Port Eliot, and banquets delivered by a Michelin-starred chef at Wilderness. Even Reading had glamping options that included "Podpads" and "Yurtels".

This article originally appeared on guardian.co.uk

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RJ Ellory, the bestselling British crime writer exposed for writing fake online reviews, has been banned from editing on Wikipedia after he was found to be deleting stories from his biography.

The Daily Telegraph can disclose that the 47 year-old was “permanently blocked” after attempting on more than a dozen occasions to remove negative stories on his posting on the internet using pseudonyms.

Volunteers from the online encyclopedia, which has more than 450 million users worldwide, became suspicious about his activity amid accusations it compromised the integrity of the profile.

Officials made the decision after finding he had tried to delete stories, including from The Daily Telegraph, from the profile and had breached its “self promotion” rules by being one of its main authors.

But the author, whose real name is Roger Jon Ellory, argued the coverage of his actions was “a significant matter of misrepresentation” and that stories had “blown [it] out of all proportion”.

The row came after Ellory, based in Birmingham, West Mids, was exposed over the so-called “sock puppeting” practice, in which people write fake online reviews.

The bestselling novelist was exposed for using pseudonyms to pen fake glowing reviews about his “magnificent genius” while simultaneously criticising his rivals.

The author of A Quiet Belief in Angels and a Simple Act of Violence apologised for his "lapse of judgment" and vowed he would not “avoid responsibility”.

He admitted he had used fake identities to write about his own work on the Amazon book site, giving himself five star ratings.

The father-of-one also admitted writing at least a dozen posts on the internet using pseudonyms and repeatedly apologised to fans and rivals for his actions on websites.

A group of leading authors later warned the practice was rife on the internet and readers should be aware of the "fraudulent" practices of some writers.

In the weeks after the scandal erupted in September, Ellory took to this Wikipedia page to amend the wording of a “controversy paragraph” and the newspaper links which gave “completely the wrong bias on this issue”.

After he was challenged by his actions, he admitted he had written his biography and had posted information about his novels for “a number of years”.

He said he was confused about the policy and questioned why he was not able to delete “potentially libellous statements” about his work, which he labelled “grossly unfair, unjust and biased”.

“My intent was never to antagonise you or challenge your system,” he told the moderators.

“My intent was merely to see that the information on my page - which is, after all, a representation of me and my life to the wider world - was not biased, inappropriate, incorrect and false.

“As far as this dispute is concerned, there is a significant matter of misrepresentation in the press regarding the extent to which I had manufactured 'reviews' on amazon [sic].”

He added: “Simply put, this entire issue was blown out of all proportion, and I have been treated most unjustly.”

Wikipedia sources described the attempts to delete information, which occurred on at least 13 occasions, as akin to “vandalism” while the site did not take information that was “unsourced”.

“Plainly and simply, we are very tired of people using Wikipedia in order to promote their own personal and commercial interest,” said one source.

“It makes no sense for him to admit in front of the entire world to writing the… reviews and to apologise for them, while, at the same time, attempting to scrub the evidence from Wikipedia.”

Last night a spokesman for Wikipedia, whose editorial work is completed by a team of thousands of volunteers across the globe, confirmed the author had been banned from the site but declined to comment further.

Neither Ellory nor his agent responded to repeated requests for comment.

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Felix Baumgartner

Chris Christie

Hillary Clinton

R.A. Dickey

Gabrielle Douglas

Mario Draghi

Lena Dunham

Tony Hsieh

LeBron James

Joe Lhota

Mars Curiosity Rover

Marissa Mayer

Jim Messina

Elon Musk

Pussy Riot

John Roberts

Nate Silver

Taylor Swift

Kevin Systrom

Malala Yousufzai

 

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Everyone deserves a second chance.

And ex-criminals like Frank William Abagnale — the man who inspired 'Catch Me If You Can' — and rap mogul Jay-Z prove that anyone can turn their lives around if given the chance. 

We've compiled a list of 13 people — including a former Mafia member and a former target on FBI's Most Wanted list — with inspiring stories.

Former hacker Kevin Mitnick was on the FBI's Most Wanted list before launching his own security firm.

When Mitnick was 16, he hacked the computer system Digital Equipment Corporation and stole their software, reports Gerry Smith at The Huffington Post.

He was a fugitive for nearly three years before being arrested in 1995 and released in 2002. His new company, Mitnick Security, helps other companies discover security lapses in their systems. 

Georgia Durante was a getaway driver for the Mafia before starting a stunt-driving company.

At one time, she was known as the Kodak Summer Girl, but eventually the former model married into the Mafia and became a getaway driver. 

Since then, she's turned her life around by starting her own stunt driving company Performance Two that's created scenes for more than 100 movies. She's also published an autobiography, "The Company She Keeps."

Frank William Abagnale was a world-famous con man by age 21. Now he runs a fraud consulting company.

Between the ages of 16 and 21, Abagnale wrote $2.5 million in fraudulent checks and successfully posed as an airline pilot, doctor, lawyer and college professor. He was later apprehended by the French police and served five years in prison.

Abagnale was released early under the conditions that he'd work with the U.S. government. 

According to his firm's Web site, he works with consulting financial institutions, corporations, and law enforcement agencies on fraud and security. To date, he has serviced more than 14,000 companies. 

His story was made into the film "Catch Me If You Can," which was directed by Steven Spielberg and starred Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hanks.

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The Atlantic's film critic picks the year's 10 best titles—and doles out some less-conventional awards.

A few boilerplate caveats: I saw a great many films this year, but by no means all of them.

See the best films of 2012 >

In particular, I missed a few documentaries that might well have made their way onto this list. It was also a very good year for film—the best, perhaps, since 2007—so a number of movies that could have made the list in weaker years ("Argo," "The Dark Knight Rises," "Life of Pi," "Les Miserables," "Skyfall," etc.) have instead been consigned to honorary mentions.

Finally, lists such as this one are inevitably silly, idiosyncratic things, and mine is no exception. So have at it. And after (or before!) you've gone through the slideshow of the best (ranked from one to 10), don't neglect the still-more-idiosyncratic-categories that follow.

10. 'Frankenweenie'

Not quite a kid's movie and not quite a grown-up one, Tim Burton's animated tale of a boy and his (reanimated) dog went largely unseen. Which is a shame, because it's his best film in nearly 20 years.

9. 'Amour'

In the past, I've taken strong exception to director Michael Haneke's cinema of extremity. But here he proceeds not from a horror-movie premise but from an all-too-common facet of modern senescence and mortality.

Be forewarned: You're unlikely to watch a more heartrending film this year, or any other.

8. 'The Cabin in the Woods'/'Seven Psychopaths'

I couldn’t quite bring myself to put either of these devilishly inventivegenre demolitions—by Drew Goddard and Martin McDonagh, respectively—on the list by itself. Together, though, I couldn’t bring myself not to.

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On TV, actor Patrick Dempsey plays Dr.McDreamy on "Grey's Anatomy," the ABC drama set at fictional Seattle Grace Hospital.

In real life, Dempsey is trying to give back to the Seattle community by saving Tully's Coffee -- a global coffee chain based there that employs over 500 people -- from bankruptcy.

SEE ALSO: Jeff Zucker is buying more Hollywood coverage for CNN >

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Fantasy series "Game of Thrones" was illegally downloaded more than any other TV show in 2012, TorrentFreak reports.

TorrentFreak compiled data for the most-downloaded TV shows using a number of sources, including public BitTorrent trackers.

Here are the top five shows and the number of times they were downloaded, according to TorrentFreak:

1) "Game of Thrones," a fantasy show adapted from George R. R. Martin's series of fantasy novels, was downloaded roughly 4.3 million times.

2) "Dexter," a show about a likeable serial killer, was downloaded roughly 3.9 million times.

3) "The Big Bang Theory," a show about two physicists who befriend their pretty neighbor, was downloaded roughly 3.2 million times.

4) "How I Met Your mother," a sitcom about a hapless architect's frustrating search for love, was downloaded roughly 2.9 million times.

5) "Breaking Bad," which chronicles a chemistry teacher-turned-meth-dealer, was downloaded roughly 2.6 million times.

Head over to TorrentFreak to see the other most-pirated shows of 2012 >

SEE ALSO: 10 Celebrities Who Got Arrested But Still Pulled Off Successful Careers >

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A meme is a video, image, or idea that spreads over the Internet.

For example, "Gangnam Style" is a meme with multiple layers as the song, music video, and dance went viral across the Internet.

Know Your Meme, a website dedicated to researching and documenting Internet memes and viral phenomena, declared "Gangnam Style" its best meme of 2012. 

"Gangnam Style became a global hit, despite its language barrier, mainly because of the music video, particularly the horse dance and the dress code that hardly need a lot of explanation," Know Your Meme editor Brad Kim tells us.

In a matter of months, "Gangnam Style" became YouTube's most watched video ever, and everyone with Internet access learned how to do the cheesy horse dance.

As 2012 winds down, let's take a look back at our favorite memes of the year.

12. Sinister Josh Romney

During the second presidential debate, Josh Romney -- Mitt's second oldest son -- was caught on camera giving Barack Obama the death stare.

11. Dangling Boris Johnson

London Mayor Boris Johnson tested out a zip line in preparation for the Summer Olympics.

Problem was, Johnson stalled on the zip line and was left dangling above a crowd of spectators and media.

Shortly after Johnson's zip line adventure, everyone on the Internet utilized their Photoshop skills to dangle Boris Johnson in ridiculous situations.

10. Sh!t People Say

It all started with "Sh!t Girls Say," a video poking fun at oft-used phrases said by girls. 

From "Sh!t Asian Girls Say" to "Sh!t Gay Guys Say," the meme grew as more and more people made their own versions of the parody video.

Watch the 10 best '"Sh!t People Say" Videos HERE >

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You gobble up celebrity blogs and magazines. You can recite all the names and ages of Angelina and Brad’s kids. You knew right away which ex Taylor Swift is so subtlety referencing in her latest revenge anthem.

See the best places for celeb spottings >

You’re a pop culture connoisseur.

A vacation is the perfect opportunity to catch a glimpse of your favorite stars in the flesh. While trekking to LA or New York City and setting up camp outside of Chateau Marmont or the Bowery Hotel is always one (very sketchy) option, here a 10 amazing vacation spots that will maximize your fun and offer a greater chance of running into an A-lister.

See the best places for celeb spottings >

More from Hopper Travel:

2013 Golden Globes: Awards Season Travel Tips

Kardashian 'Vakation' Hot Spots

Celebrities Who Spend Less Than You'd Expect On Vacation

Hawaii

Hawaii is a top celebrity vacation destination (and the home state of President Obama).

In 2012, the island teemed with stars. Katy Perry relaxed in Kauai, while Kanye West and Kim Kardashian showed off their love in Honolulu. Britney Spears, Charlize Theron, Will Smith and Cameron Diaz have all paid visits to the Aloha state recently.

But with 8 different islands spread out over 6,423 square miles, it’s not easy to guarantee that you’ll be sharing a beach with Beyonce.

We suggest aiming your stays at Kauai. At 533 square miles, Kauai is 33 miles long and 25 miles across at its widest point. Kauai is Hawaii’s 4th largest island and known for heavy celebrity foot traffic. You can maximize your celebrity spotting potential by booking a room (like Jennifer Garner, Ben Affleck and Alicia Keys did) at an impeccable 5 star resort like the St. Regis Princeville overlooking Hanalei Bay (rooms start at $360 a night).

Nestled among verdant sea cliffs, the resort caters to the restful and the restless: boasting everything from an 11,000 square foot spa to a working cattle ranch where you can horseback ride, zip line through the trees, or hike to an 80 foot waterfall. With 19 dining options, there’s little reason to step foot outside of the resort’s grounds—making it the perfect protected celebrity hideaway.

Tokyo

Tokyo, Japan is a must-stop destination for celebrities promoting their films. But with a population of 8,731,000, spotting a celebrity in the city is like trying to find a needle in a haystack.

Our suggestion for celeb spotting in Japan? Head to the “Happiest Place on Earth.”

Katy Perry, Lady Gaga, and Jessica Alba (family in tow!) have all visited the Magic Kingdom also known as Tokyo Disneyland Park. At 115 acres, it’s bigger than Florida’s Disney World or Disneyland and offers unique cultural offerings like soy sauce flavored popcorn. Love “It’s a Small World After All”? You’ll love it more in Japanese!

To stay like a celebrity in Tokyo check in at the Park Hyatt or Ritz Carlton and get psyched for major pampering. Japanese hotels are known for their impeccable service, regardless of your rank on IMDB.  A few requests you might consider making: have them book you an English speaking tour guide (essential!), ask them to snag you a table at the hip Code Kurkku in Yoyogi Village (a tranquil urban retreat in the heart of Tokyo) or arrange for a total holistic body massage—2 hours of intensive treatment designed to reset your internal clock and rejuvenate the body.

If the Ritz’s price point is outside your budget, consider stopping by for a bite at one of their 8 restaurants like contemporary Japanese cuisine Hinokizaka, recipient of a 2010 Michelin star. If the food doesn’t tempt you, its prime celeb spotting location (next to the lobby) should be lure enough.

Bedford, New York

If you must pay a visit to NYC to indulge your celebrity sighting needs, consider a side trip on the Metro-North to Westchester, specifically Bedford.

Just 48 minutes from NYC, this tony (and tiny) town, is home to many an A list celeb. Most recently, Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds bought a home here and have been seen visiting their local gym. Glenn Close, Martha Stewart, Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta Jones have homes in town.  At 39.3 square miles, Bedford is 1/10th the size of New York (468.5 square miles) with only 17,335 people.

Center your visit around the picturesque town green in the heart of the historic district (listed in the National Register of Historic Places). Soak in the colonial glory of the clapboard homes, 17th century cemetery, and old one room schoolhouse. Richard Gere owns the quaint Bedford Post Inn, making it the ideal launching point for a Fall weekend of celeb spotting, leaf peeping, and apple picking in New York State.

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Beyoncé's baby was finally shown to the world, Tupac resurrected for a hologram performance, and George Clooney was arrested.  

We gathered together the most memorable celebrity moments of the year in pictures.

From Angelina's leg to Clint Eastwood's bizarre chair stare, these are the best photos of 2012.

February 10: Beyoncé and Jay-Z showed off photos of daughter Blue Ivy Carter on a Tumblr account.

February 12: Adele managed to handle holding all six of her awards at the 54th annual Grammys.

February 12: Nicki Minaj's strange levitation act during her Grammy's performance.

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Good morning, AdLand. Here's what you need to know today:

Spike Lee starred and directed a new NBA commercial called "The King of New York," about Knicks legend Bernard King's 60-point game against the Nets on Christmas in 1984. Public Enemy's "Get Up Stand Up" provides a soundtrack for this Goodby Silverstein & Partners spot.

Get ready for more targeted television commercial with Gracenote's ad replacement system. It will premiere at CES. 

George Foreman Grills is taking a new marketing approach. It has launched a $3 million campaign that uses a weight loss contest as a way to advertise the appliance.

Ad Age looks at what advertisers did wrong this year.

Here are five common Facebook marketing mistakes via All Facebook.

Previously on Business Insider Advertising:

• The 13 Weirdest Fast Food Menu Items Of 2012
• Now Starbucks Has A Lame Idea To Solve The Fiscal Cliff
• Showing Pictures Of 'Starving' People In Africa Has Stopped Working For Charities
• AD OF THE DAY: Hockey Fans Will Go To Insane Lengths To Keep Their Favorite Sport Around
• Here's Who Won The Women's Magazine Ad Sales War In 2012

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Project X, a movie about three high school seniors throwing a crazy party, was illegally downloaded 8.7 million times in 2012, more than any other movie, TorrentFreak reports.

TorrentFreak compiled the list of the most-downloaded movies using various sources, including public BitTorrent trackers.

Project X's number-one rank is surprising since it was the lowest-grossing of the films that were frequently downloaded, bringing in $100,931,865, according to TorrentFreak.

The 10th most-downloaded, on the other hand, The Twilight Saga Breaking Dawn Part 1, made $712,171, 856 at the box office.

So, why did Project X get the dubious distinction of being the most downloaded?

Yahoo UK Movie News pointed out the film was R-rated, so younger fans might have illegally downloaded it because they weren't old enough to watch it in theaters.

Head on over to TorrentFreak for the full list of most pirated movies of 2012 >

SEE ALSO: These 5 TV Shows Were Pirated The Most In 2012 >

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What did people want to learn about the most this year?

Wikipedia has gathered data on its most viewed articles of 2012. It has created different lists for each language, but the most popular articles by far are in English.

The data shows we care a lot about movies, teenage pop stars, and tech companies.

10. The Hunger Games

What it is: The first book of a trilogy by Suzanne Collins. It takes place in future America, where 24 children are chosen to fight to the death in a computer-controlled arena for a reality TV show. It was released as a movie this year starring Jennifer Lawrence.

Number of views: Its Wikipedia page was viewed 18,431,626 times this year.

Excerpt from the page:

The Hunger Games is a 2008 young adult novel by American writer Suzanne Collins. It is written in the voice of 16-year-old Katniss Everdeen, who lives in the post-apocalyptic nation of Panem, where the countries of North America once existed. The Capitol, a highly advanced metropolis, exercises political control over the rest of the nation. The Hunger Games are an annual event in which one boy and one girl aged 12–18 from each of the twelve districts surrounding the Capitol are selected by lottery to compete in a televised battle to the death.

The book received mostly positive feedback from major reviewers and authors, including author Stephen King. It was praised for its storyline and character development, though some reviewers have noted similarities between Collins' book and the Japanese novel Battle Royale (1999), as well as other works. In writing The Hunger Games, Collins drew upon Greek mythology and contemporary reality television for thematic content. The novel won many awards, including the California Young Reader Medal, and was named one of Publishers Weekly's "Best Books of the Year" in 2008.

9. Google

What it is: The giant search engine company created by Larry Page and Sergey Brin.

Number of views: Its Wikipedia page received 18,508,719 views this year

Excerpt from the page:

Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) is an American multinational corporation which provides Internet-related products and services, including internet search, cloud computing, software and advertising technologies.^[6] Advertising revenues from AdWords generate almost all of the company's profits.^[7][8]

The company was founded by Larry Page and Sergey Brin while both attended Stanford University. Together, Brin and Page own about 16 percent of the company's stake. Google was first incorporated as a privately held company on September 4, 1998, and its initial public offering followed on August 19, 2004. The company's mission statement from the outset was "to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful"^[9] and the company's unofficial slogan is "Don't be evil".^[10][11] In 2006, the company moved to its current headquarters in Mountain View, California.

8. The Dark Knight Rises

What it is: The third batman movie, starring Christian Bale, which was released this year.

Number of views: Its Wikipedia page received 18,882,885 views this year

Excerpt from the page:

The Dark Knight Rises is a 2012 superhero film directed by Christopher Nolan, who co-wrote the screenplay with his brother Jonathan Nolan and the story with David S. Goyer. Featuring the DC Comics character Batman, the film is the final installment in Nolan's Batman film trilogy, and it is the sequel to Batman Begins (2005) and The Dark Knight (2008). Christian Bale reprises the lead role of Bruce Wayne/Batman, with a returning cast of his allies: Michael Caine as Alfred Pennyworth, Gary Oldman as James Gordon, and Morgan Freeman as Lucius Fox. The film introduces the characters of Selina Kyle (Anne Hathaway), a cunning cat burglar in search of a way to escape her past, and Bane (Tom Hardy), a militant revolutionary out to destroy Gotham City. The film deals with a Batman who has retired, but is drawn back into action by new threats to the city.

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One of our favorite apps, The Fancy, retweeted a photo from earlier this year of Ashton Kutcher's home screen.

The retweet was of the Two and a Half Men star asking his over 13 million fans, "What am I missing?"

Kutcher's screen is full of quirky apps, particularly the $99.99 Cestron Mobile Pro home automation app. There was also some of our favorites like Brewster, Spotify, and of course, The Fancy.

Check out the star's full home screen here:

Don't Miss: 20 Tips And Tricks To Get The Most Out Of Your New iPhone >

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"Louie" is still TV's best comedy. The final season of "30 Rock" is filled with everything we love about the show. "Homeland" has some magnificent acting, and who are we to argue with all those Emmy wins?

But none of them made our list of the five best shows of 2012. Neither did very good shows like "Girls," "Modern Family," "Veep" or "Justified."

"Nashville" is our favorite new drama -- and maybe the best network drama overall -- but it didn't make the list either, despite an engaging mix of soapy stories, engaging stories and gorgeous songs.

Maybe next year.

The word "best" is subjective. But these are the five shows I never, ever miss. I didn't choose them for the list. They chose me. I can't miss them. I can't go to sleep without thinking about them. I can't believe the time is near that one of them will end.

Here they are.

5. "The Walking Dead"

We hear a lot about mindless hordes making hits of terrible shows. But maybe the masses aren't so mindless after all.

"The Walking Dead" began its best season this year even as millions of new viewers discovered the show, making it television's top-rated drama. (The AMC series also has a legitimate shot at becoming the top-rated scripted show.)The show has finally lived up to the compulsively readable comics that inspired it -- and it hasn't hurt that their writer, Robert Kirkman, is one of its executive producers. 

Everything about "The Walking Dead" came together in season 3: The acting is top-notch. The pacing is ferocious. And the zombies have never looked so revolting.  Of course, nothing good ever lasts forever. Showrunner Glen Mazzara, who has worked hard to achieve the show's fast pace, is leaving at the end of the season. Whoever takes over will have a very hard act to follow.

Also read: 4 Things Networks Can Learn From 'The Walking Dead'

4. "Mad Men"

We're grateful that the show's fifth season even happened.

Creator Matthew Weiner threatened to walk in a contract dispute with AMC, leading to a 17-month break between seasons. But Weiner and his team seem to have used every spare second coming up with mesmerizing moments, from Jessica Pare's performance of "Zou Bisou Bisou" to the British-to-the-end tragedy of Lane Pryce (Jared Harris.) "Mad Men" was exquisite this season.

Even the rare missteps (we still don't believe Joan would sleep with a client like that) were welcome, because they helped us recognize the perfection of nearly every other scene.

Why is an almost-perfect show only at No. 4? Because we're spoiled by four past brilliant seasons of "Mad Men." The wow factor has worn off, and now "Mad Men" is only coasting on its excellence.

3. "Game of Thrones"

No show does better spectacles. Actually, no anything does better spectacles. This was the year "Game of Thrones" sank an armada with green fire. But the show has also created a new world that feels vivid, fantastical and authentic enough to be terrifying.

It's a great series if you like dragons and swordplay, but an even better one if you like cutting dialogue and politics. Every second Tyrion Lannister (Peter Dinklage) appears on screen feels like a gift. Novelist George R.R. Martin's thousands of pages gave showrunners D.B. Weiss and David Benioff plenty to work with, but also handed the show scads of information to convey. The writers have made a wonderful game of it, giving us backstory through sex scenes, sword fights -- anything but voice-overs.

Also read: 'Game of Thrones' Gets Expanded Episodes for Season 3

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LOS ANGELES (AP) — FBI files on Marilyn Monroe that could not be located earlier this year have been found and re-issued, revealing the names of some of the movie star's communist-leaning acquaintances who drew concern from government officials and her own entourage.

But the files, which previously had been heavily redacted, do not contain any new information about Monroe's death 50 years ago. Letters and news clippings included in the file show the bureau was aware of theories the actress had been killed, but they do not show that any effort was undertaken to investigate the claims. Los Angeles authorities concluded Monroe's death was a probable suicide.

Recently obtained by The Associated Press through the Freedom of Information Act, the updated FBI files do show the extent the agency was monitoring Monroe for ties to communism in the years before her death in August 1962.

The records reveal that some in Monroe's inner circle were concerned about her association with Frederick Vanderbilt Field, who was disinherited from his wealthy family over his leftist views.

A trip to Mexico earlier that year to shop for furniture brought Monroe in contact with Field, who was living in the country with his wife in self-imposed exile. Informants reported to the FBI that a "mutual infatuation" had developed between Field and Monroe, which caused concern among some in her inner circle, including her therapist, the files state.

"This situation caused considerable dismay among Miss Monroe's entourage and also among the (American Communist Group in Mexico)," the file states. It includes references to an interior decorator who worked with Monroe's analyst reporting her connection to Field to the doctor.

Field's autobiography devotes an entire chapter to Monroe's Mexico trip, "An Indian Summer Interlude." He mentions that he and his wife accompanied Monroe on shopping trips and meals and he only mentions politics once in a passage on their dinnertime conversations.

"She talked mostly about herself and some of the people who had been or still were important to her," Field wrote in "From Right to Left." ''She told us about her strong feelings for civil rights, for black equality, as well as her admiration for what was being done in China, her anger at red-baiting and McCarthyism and her hatred of (FBI director) J. Edgar Hoover."

Under Hoover's watch, the FBI kept tabs on the political and social lives of many celebrities, including Frank Sinatra, Charlie Chaplin and Monroe's ex-husband Arthur Miller. The bureau has also been involved in numerous investigations about crimes against celebrities, including threats against Elizabeth Taylor, an extortion case involving Clark Gable and more recently, trying to solve who killed rapper Notorious B.I.G.

The AP had sought the removal of redactions from Monroe's FBI files earlier this year as part of a series of stories on the 50th anniversary of Monroe's death. The FBI had reported that it had transferred the files to a National Archives facility in Maryland, but archivists said the documents had not been received. A few months after requesting details on the transfer, the FBI released an updated version of the files that eliminate dozens of redactions.

For years, the files have intrigued investigators, biographers and those who don't believe Monroe's death at her Los Angeles area home was a suicide.

A 1982 investigation by the Los Angeles District Attorney's Office found no evidence of foul play after reviewing all available investigative records, but noted that the FBI files were "heavily censored."

That characterization intrigued the man who performed Monroe's autopsy, Dr. Thomas Noguchi. While the DA investigation concluded he conducted a thorough autopsy, Noguchi has conceded that no one will likely ever know all the details of Monroe's death. The FBI files and confidential interviews conducted with the actress' friends that have never been made public might help, he wrote in his 1983 memoir "Coroner."

"On the basis of my own involvement in the case, beginning with the autopsy, I would call Monroe's suicide 'very probable,'" Noguchi wrote. "But I also believe that until the complete FBI files are made public and the notes and interviews of the suicide panel released, controversy will continue to swirl around her death."

Monroe's file begins in 1955 and mostly focuses on her travels and associations, searching for signs of leftist views and possible ties to communism. One entry, which previously had been almost completely redacted, concerned intelligence that Monroe and other entertainers sought visas to visit Russia that year.

The file continues up until the months before her death, and also includes several news stories and references to Norman Mailer's biography of the actress, which focused on questions about whether Monroe was killed by the government.

For all the focus on Monroe's closeness to suspected communists, the bureau never found any proof she was a member of the party.

"Subject's views are very positively and concisely leftist; however, if she is being actively used by the Communist Party, it is not general knowledge among those working with the movement in Los Angeles," a July 1962 entry in Monroe's file states.

___

Anthony McCartney can be reached at http://twitter.com/mccartneyAP

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Before Mike Heller created Talent Resources — a global strategic marketing firm based in New York— he was an entertainment lawyer who also briefly acted as Lindsay Lohan's manager.

With Lohan, Heller used his law degree and connections from past event planning to help the then-20-year-old actress plan a Malibu birthday bash and later score deals to be the face of brands such as Jil Stuart and Louis Vuitton. 

That was 2006.

Fast forward to today and Heller is no longer tied to the actress (although his attorney father did bail her out of her most recent stint in jail) and Heller is running Talent Resources, a company that is pairing celebrities with brands and brands with events.

Heller and his team work with brands such as Dove, Sean John, Playboy, Vibe magazine, Kia and Chapstick.

But Heller tells Business Insider "It's not just about pairing brands with a celebrity anymore, it's pairing them with what lifestyle they're looking for, what demographic they are trying to hit."

For example, when Kia wanted to promote their summer car, Talent Resources rented out a house on the beach in Malibu and threw a party that celebrities such as Lauren Conrad showed up to, and then organically tweeted pictures from the event.

Tour the office space frequented by celebs >

As for how Talent Resources profits from the event, Heller explains, "On the Kia deal, it's not to get a percentage, we're there paying to buy a title sponsorship. And that could be in the six figures."

"But it wasn't about pairing with a specific celebrity," Heller says of promoting the brands he works with. "It was about pairing it with a specific integration and activation that we were working on. For Sundance, we do a big gifting suite every year and so Dove is doing a wet station, so women are going to be able to come and use the Dove product and be able to experience it. Sean John is coming back. They have the best snow jackets."

In addition to the Sundance Film Festival, Talent Resources also coordinates big events at the Super Bowl, Fashion Week, the Kentucky Derby, among others.

"For Superbowl, we took over the biggest space in the French quarter on the Mississippi River called Jack's Brewery. And then what I'm doing there is now I'm a producer like I am at Sundance," explains Heller. "I'm putting the money up front before I have any content whatsoever. And then putting a deck together and going out to different sponsors that are in my wheelhouse, in my network, saying this is an opportunity you can buy into."

One brand that bought in is Playboy.

"So Playboy comes in and they say 'I want to do a Playboy party Friday night' and we'll put that whole thing together in our space that I own for the three nights. They now can choose to use our company or not use our company to find them celebrities, to find them a performance, to do the PR, to do the social media, to do the digital."

Digital can be an aspect all its own, as Talent Resources was in charge of just the digital for this year's big Lacoste party during Coachella.

"We usually augment other things that are going on, or you can buy into our overall program," explains Heller. "So the mentality no more is looked at us an agency that's brokering a deal between a celebrity and a brand. That's the small part and that's the catalyst, but they're coming to us for expertise in consulting of what direction the brand should go in, what their budget should be allocated towards (PR, lifestyle, marketing, and celebrity), should they just attach themselves to one celebrity or should they attach themselves to a bunch of events that make sense."

"Basically we take the risk that a brand has doing its own activations and say 'listen, you don't have to take a risk anymore. We'll do everything for you.' It's a turn-key situation," explains Heller. "We have the space, we have the event PR, celebrities, celebrity hosts."

And other than small offices in Los Angeles and Brazil, the 21-person Talent Resources team does all of their wheeling and dealing from a four-story townhouse in Manhattan.

Rumor has it that celebrities like Avril Lavigne, Rachel Hunter, Lindsay Lohan, Kris Humphries and Stephen Dorff have all visited or stayed at Heller's home-turned-office space.

Talent Resources, a lifestyle marketing company matching brands and events with celebrities, was started by Mike Heller and he currently runs the company alongside his friend David Spencer.

The two are childhood friends from New York and have the photographic evidence to prove it.

The Talent Resources office is located at 36th Street and Park Avenue. The townhouse was originally Heller's home before he turned it into his office.

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Atlantic contributors and staffers pick their favorite moments on Mad Men, Louie, New Girl, and more from the past year in TV.

Check out the best of TV in 2012 >

Girls: "All Adventurous Women Do"

There was so much groaning over the line from Girls’s pilot episode, in which Lena Dunham’s Hannah says, “I think I may be the voice of my generation. Or at least a voice of a generation.”

Some thought the warts-and-all approach Dunham used to portray the often ugly lives of four broke post-grads living in New York was refreshing, modern, and, yes, generation-defining. Others thought her to be crass, delusional, and unoriginal. Yet in “All Adventurous Women Do,” Girls comes closest to fulfilling that pilot-episode prophecy. Or, at least, it comes closest to being that Next Great Comedy Series that the month of hype leading up to its premiere promised it would be.

When Hannah discovers she has HPV, it serves as the impetus for all of the show’s women to examine their relationship with sex. Hannah cringe-inducingly Googles “stuff that gets around the sides of condoms,” coming to terms with her own embarrassing ignorance that—despite being a modern, sexual woman in the age of information—she’s still not certain how STDs are transmitted.

Marnie faces her inability to be frank about sex when, instead of being repulsed by a sexually forward colleague, she’s turned on by it. Upon learning that Hannah has HPV, Shoshana is unabashedly jealous because, as a virgin, she’s not exciting enough to have such drama in her life.

Finally, Jessa shrugs at the whole hullabaloo over having a STD: “All adventurous women do.”

There are brilliantly blunt cultural observations here, some exceptional one-liners throughout the episode, and perhaps the clearest window yet into Dunham’s “generation” and how they think. As Hannah stews for minutes, editing and rewriting a tweet, the camera zooms in to reveal her number of Twitter followers: a mere 24.

Where to watch it: HBO Go

—Kevin Fallon, contributor

Mad Men: "Far Away Places"

Mad Men’s fifth season was probably the series' most polarizing, but I’m in the camp that thinks it was the show's all-time best.

That’s due in no small part to rich, satisfying episodes like “Far Away Places.” It divides its time evenly between Peggy, Roger, and Don, as each character spends an eventful day away from the Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce office. (Series creator Matt Weiner said that the episode was inspired by “anthologized French films” that tell several disconnected stories.)

Peggy fights with her boyfriend and endures a terrible pitch meeting before bonding with strange new coworker Ginsberg; Roger takes LSD for the first time, which leads him to reevaluate his marriage to Jane; and Don takes Megan on an ill-fated trip to a Howard Johnson’s motel, where a fight over sherbet brings the simmering tensions of their marriage to a boil.

The formal audacity “Far Away Places,” is impressive on its own, and ample credit also belongs to director Scott Hornbacher, who brings an assured touch to potentially tricky scenes like Roger’s LSD trip. But the bulk of the praise belongs to writers Semi Chellas and Matt Weiner, who managed to write three stories that pack enormous emotional punch individually—and become even more powerful when taken together.

Where you can watch: Amazon

—Scott Meslow, contributor

Homeland: "Q&A"

To endure its half-baked plot twists and crimes against plausibility, some viewers have come to watch Homeland as a soap opera: self-consciously overblown, and all about impossible romance.

That works well enough. By midway through the second season, the audience has come to consider the greatest sin committed by Nicholas Brody, a soldier of questionable loyalties and certainly no regard for the law, to be his gas-lighting of CIA agent Carrie Mathison. His deception landed her in electroshock therapy. But she still loves him. Previously, on As the World Turns…

But you can also think of the show as a high-minded, reality-be-damned test of abstract principles taken to their extreme. Trauma transforms people; terrorism is personal; lies require more lies; war is really about innocence—these are the big arguments Homeland wants to make. Even when a character is dispatched on an improbable mission (involving, say, the remote control for a national leader's pacemaker), the shows' guiding ideas stay in the frame long after sanity leaves it.

"Q&A" is a tour de force as seen through both these prisms. Its centerpiece is Mathison's interrogation of Brody, during which Claire Danes and Damien Lewis get a chance to prove their worthiness for best-acting Emmys. We'd seen Danes's mercurial, electrifying vulnerability before, but we'd never seen Lewis melt convincingly from defiant deceiver to abject confessor like this.

More impressive, though, is that the argument Mathison makes in the interrogation room works—not just on Brody, but on us. She says things no one has said to him before: That his personal vendetta won't be solved by violence. That he knows the difference between war and terrorism. That Abu Nazir has screwed up his mind. And that, most of all, it would be nice to just stop lying.

Go ahead and roll your eyes at the other big moments of the episode: Peter Quinn's impulsive black-room move and the two teenagers' hapless nighttime drive. But think about what those events have to do with Mathison's questions to Brody about guilt and innocence, and they become, at least, a little more interesting.

Where to watch it: On Demand or on Showtime Anytime

–Spencer Kornhaber, associate editor

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Kanye West's rep announced earlier this year that the rapper won't be returning to Paris Fashion Week. 

Click here to see the worst things the critics had to say about him >

Fashion is a brutal world, and while West still makes headlines every time he makes a fashion statement — like this kilt he wore earlier this month— that doesn't mean you get a pass to become a successful designer.

Critics from The New York Times to Women's Wear Daily ripped West's fashions at his debut show in 2011. When he followed up with a second collection a few months later, the best reviews were lukewarm. 

Other reviews were equally scathing. 

"Kanye West's fashion debut was like being subjected to an hour long MRI scan — but not as much fun." — Telegraph

"Kanye West's collection was so Givenchy-esque that it’s embarrassing that Givenchy designer Riccardo Tisci was an expected guest.” — WSJ

"I'd guess the average woman with disposable income for high-end designer clothes is about as interested in showing that much skin as they are in being Snooki." — New York Magazine

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A Pakistani fishmonger working in London is the world's latest viral-video sensation, with a Warner Music record deal, a hit song on iTunes, and 16 million views on YouTube.

Muhammad Shahid Nazir is so influential now in his home country that Pakistan has lifted a block on YouTube so citizens can celebrate their musical hero, the New York Timesreports.

Nazir made up a song, "One Pound Fish," which he sang to bait customers for the Upton Park market stall where he sold fish. Colin Miller, a British Web designer, filmed him nine months ago. But the video didn't start going crazy until early December.

Now there's an "o-fish-al" music video and Nazir's returned to Pakistan, where he's being celebrated for his global Internet pop-culture victory.

He's far from touching the record set in 2012 by Korean pop artist Psy, whose "Gangnam Style" beat out longtime champion Justin Bieber for the most-watched video on YouTube with 1 billion views.

But it's more confirmation of the transformative power of YouTube to disseminate mass culture globally in the blink of an eye.

Also, it's completely bonkers.

Here's the original performance and the music video, which combined have more than 16 million views.

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