More than ever before, Ireland and the world watched the major events of 2008 on YouTube. From Sarah Palin's interviews to post-Lisbon Brian Cowen as a raging Hitler, Shane Hegartyselects clips that either made the news this year or gave us a different take on it
Obama's Speech
For those who stayed up late into the night to witness the election of Barack Obama as president of the US, his victory speech made it more than worthwhile. All together now: "Yes we can" Search:Barack Obama speech.
Palin to insignificance
It's hard to believe that, for about a week at least, Sarah Palin seemed to be the greatest weapon in the Republican Party's arsenal. It turned out to be a booby trap. In one-to-one interviews she proved disastrous, as was made obvious from her rabbit-in-the-headlights look, and rambling response to the simple question: "Do you agree with the Bush Doctrine?" Search:Sarah Palin, Bush Doctrine
Once is not enough
The Irish had a bit of Oscar glory at the start of 2008 thanks to Marketa Irglova and Glen Hansard winning the Best Song gong for Falling Slowly, which featured in the movie Once. When Irglova was cut off by the impatient orchestra, host Jon Stewart invited her back out for the most magical moment of the evening. Search:Once Oscar
Defeat in Europe
The Lisbon defeat rocked Europe, but it also resulted in a brilliant parody, Cowen's Downfall, in which the German film Downfallis given a new twist as the "Taoiseach" reacts to news that Dublin voted No: "All they delivered was trendy, do-gooder Irish Timesreaders who think their s**t smells better than anyone else's!" Search:Cowen's downfall
Olympic moments
The Olympics were memorable for many reasons: Ireland's boxing medals, China's intention to fake the entire thing and Usain Bolt winning the 100m final in record time while reading a book for the last 30m. But the great champion of the Games was swimmer Michael Phelps who won a record eight gold medals. Among them was his controversial win in the 100m Butterfly by a fingertip - at least that's what the touchpads said. Search:swimming mens 100m butterfly final beijing
Ireland gives Europe the bird
Having suffered Eurovision misery in recent years, we had so lost our bearings that we decided to throw Dustin the Turkey at the competition in the hope that his all-round craziness would win over Europe. It didn't. Dustin was booed and kicked out and it became so ludicrous that his puppeteer ended up answering straight questions with straight answers, but while crouched under a desk with his hand up a puppet's backside. It was a low point for all of us. Search:Dustin Eurovision semi-final
The Munster haka
It was another incredible year for the Munster rugby team, and, while it would be natural to focus on the province's second European victory, nothing quite made the hair stand on end more than the November night in Thomond Park when Munster's Kiwi's did the haka. The subsequent silence of the Munster crowd during the All Black's haka is remarkable. Search:Munster haka
Pat's water-cooler moment
The Late Late Show continues to be the crown jewel in RTÉ's schedule, even if on closer inspection the jewel is cubic zirconia. But the often maligned Pat Kenny knew just what to do when a prize winner told him that she'd take the €10,000 but didn't care so much for the Toy Show tickets. Search:Late Late tickets
Cowen sings
Brian Cowen's honeymoon period lasted all of the time it took to get to Clara and back. The new Taoiseach's homecoming was triumphant, when he burst into song after several false attempts. It was all downhill from here on in. Search:Cowen sings
A wash out
Any hope that a wet summer might be relieved by a sunny August was swept away by torrential rain that flooded several parts of the country. Carlow was hit particularly badly, with the town able to market itself as a Venice of the Midlands for a few days at least. Search:barrow carlow floods