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An e-mail surfaced Thursday that suggested the man who claimed credit for creating the "1984" video attacking Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton did work related to Sen. Barack Obama's campaign -- despite claims to the contrary by the Illinois Democrat's aides.

THE Internet is giving Hollywood a nervous breakdown. Way, way back in prehistory -- let's say, 2004 -- if you made a TV pilot and the network didn't pick it up, the judge's decision was final. But now you have a savior, an ally, a friend with millions of other friends. You have YouTube. Alex Gregory and Peter Huyck are smart young TV writers with an impeccable resume, their credits including "King of the Hill," "Frasier" and "The Larry Sanders Show."

The video series "Ask a Ninja" and OK Go's treadmill-choreographed music video are among the winners in the first YouTube Video Awards. The video-sharing site announced the seven winners from its inaugural awards on Monday, a week after the nominees were put forth for voting. The power pop band OK Go, perhaps the most professional of the mostly amateur nominees, won most creative video for its "Here It Goes Again" music video.

A video purportedly showing the beheading of a drug cartel hit man appeared on video-sharing website YouTube, and its makers called on Mexicans to kill more members of the gang. The video, later removed by YouTube, appeared as the rival Gulf and Sinaloa gangs wage a bloody battle for trafficking routes. "Do something for your country, kill a Zeta!" read a message opening the five-minute video posted Friday. The Zetas are believed to be ex-army operatives serving as hit men for the Gulf cartel.

When a brush fire began raging in the shadow of the Hollywood sign on Friday, hundreds sprang into action with cellphone cameras, camcorders and digital cameras in hand. One man captured the scene from atop the U.S. Bank building downtown, the tallest tower on the West Coast. Video footage that appeared on YouTube.com was made by people aiming their cameras at the fire with one hand and holding their steering wheels with the other.

WILLIAM SLEDD isn't your average YouTube star. His posts are funny, but he's not an aspiring comedian. He's not a stripper, although he has put up video of himself dancing in American Apparel underwear. And he's not an editing nerd, re-cutting scary movies into slapstick comedies. He's a gay 23-year-old manager at the Gap in Paducah, Ky., and he is YouTube's resident fashion advisor. His video blog, "Ask a Gay Man: Fashion Edition," has become the fourth-most subscribed-to blog on YouTube.

P\o7EOPLE\f7 endlessly complain that Hollywood is full of dopey, superficial films bereft of anything new to say. And they're right. Anyone looking for art that is edgy or relevant -- and inspires comment -- is turning to Internet video, which has become the true engine driving our pop culture.

Activist groups dropped a federal lawsuit against Viacom Inc. on Monday after the parent of Comedy Central acknowledged it made a mistake in asking YouTube to yank a parody of the cable network's "The Colbert Report." Although the video in question contained clips taken from the television show, the groups argued that their use was protected under "fair use" provisions of copyright law, and thus Viacom shouldn't have asked YouTube to remove the item.

In one video, a U.S. soldier blasts insurgent gunmen with a heavy sniper rifle as the room fills with smoke. In another, members of an Iraqi family throw their arms around soldiers, weeping and rejoicing, after learning that their kidnapped relative has been freed. The U.S. military has opened a new front in the Iraq war: cyberspace.

Google Inc. fired back against Viacom Inc. on Monday, arguing that the media giant's $1-billion copyright infringement case threatened the way hundreds of millions of people legitimately exchange information, news and entertainment online.