Before he was the Dancing With the Stars champion, Helio Castroneves was the king of Indy … a two-time winner of the Indy 500.

To congratulate Helio on adding another trophy to his case, we’ve created the Driving With the Dancer channel for him. You can find his Indy wins, as well as his trip with Julianne Hough, his dancing partner, to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

If you're more accustomed to ballroom dancing, IndyCar racing might be something new for you. It's a combination of eardrum-bursting speed on the straight-aways with seemingly impossible feats of strength and precision at the pit stops.

Chances are that Helio will hang up his dancing shoes, trading turns around the dance floor for turns around the oval. In my mind, 200+ mph around a track is a little bit more exciting than the rumba, foxtrot and tango, but you can judge for yourself.

* For those of you not in the U.S., Dancing With the Stars is a celebrity ballroom dancing competition.

For the first time since the day after the Super Bowl in 1999, when I was living in Denver, and Denver happened to win the Super Bowl, I was home sick from work yesterday. This time, I was actually sick – last time, I might have brought it on myself.

I didn’t feel good enough to do any work, but I felt good enough to watch TV, so I turned on Joost (which worked surprisingly well with my stolen Wi-Fi connection), and turned on the classic home sick from school show – The Price is Right.

Let’s face it – the audience of that show is kids who are home “sick” from school and perhaps a couple of retirees. But I would bet the number of kids far outnumbers the number of retirees. TPiR games are classics – Plinko, Cliff Hangers (a.k.a. the yodeling game), the Dice Game, Three Strikes – and of course, the Showcase Showdown.

Fun as that was, I couldn’t spend the entire day watching people “come on down,” so I turned to that other staple of home sick from school viewing – classic TV shows. After a couple of hours of Benson, News Radio and Married...With Children, I was over that, so just started browsing around. And that’s when I found my little gem of the day – the VFS Drama & Documentary channel. Room for Rudeness, and I was hooked. I wish I could unleash my inner b*!@h like these waitresses and get paid for it.

It’s getting to be the end of the year, and that means lots of end of year lists, lots of looks back at the year, and so on. You’ll probably see some of these around Joost, too. But not today.

Today is International Human Rights Day. It might not be the kind of programming that we talk about all the time, maybe because it’s not always easy to watch. But it’s some of the most important and compelling programming that we have on Joost. Partners like WITNESS, Chat the Planet, CNN, National Geographic, Community Channel, IndieFlix, MTV and more are bringing important shows about human rights to Joost – whether it’s kids from around the world talking about Iraq or first-hand accounts from Eastern Burma.

While you go about your normal online life today, spend 15-20 minutes finding out more about some of the important issues of the year. Check out 10 videos that will change the way you think about human rights – we’ve even added an 11th as a bonus track.

Jim just let me know that we have reached a new milestone … our 400th channel.

Here’s a sampling of what people around the office said when I told them that.

Josh Berger: Wow.

Stacey Seltzer: I like it.

Mark McKee: Nice.

Salil Gandhi: Not bad. Not bad at all.

Lynne Burke: I saw! Pretty cool!

Nancy Tamayo: Wow! That’s great!

Tatiana de la O: Oh love it! How much stuff there already is to see!

Tamar Rudnick: No way, really? That’s great!

It might not be a surprise to learn that we often communicate internally via Skype. Some of us consider ourselves to be quite handy with the Skype emoticons, like (blush), which does pretty much exactly what it advertises.

Thanks, Lifehacker. Making your top 10 list of new and improved desktop and web apps makes our day.

It happens to the best of them – last week, Criss Angel Mindfreaked Oprah in front of a live studio audience.

He said it himself on the show – he’s the best at what he does. And although his taste in women might be questionable, his magic tricks are pretty cool.

If you don’t want to lose the magic, then don’t read any further. But if you’re looking for some party tricks to show off your skills at the holiday parties, check out Criss Angel* – his Mindfreaks and how-tos – grab some props and make some magic happen.

* If you don't want to scroll through the search results, you can find Criss Angel on A&E (outside of the U.S.) or on DMGI Edge.

I've mentioned some best of lists in the last week. And we will have some official best of lists coming out for the end of the year. But we recently added The Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show on Joost, and it’s the holiday season, and so I’d like to present a special top 10 list just for the guys.

Top 10 Channels with the Hottest Women on Joost in 2007*

1. Ministry of Sound – An early front-runner and favorite among the men, (whose theme song is Call on Me), this one was an easy pick the #1 spot.

2. Ripe.tv – Everything from the mouth-watering Sports 4 Dudes shows – yoga never looked so good – to the FHM Girls and the contestants for Miss Ripe.

3. Victoria’s Secret – No surprise here. Heidi Klum and friends work the runway.

4. Heavy’s Girls – A hands-down winner for the year’s best option for online dating.

5. MavTV – Bikini All Stars and The Dan Show are among the highlights.

6. Ford Models – This channel has made a late-breaking run toward the top. It used to be more about fashion tips. Now it’s more about hot women.

7. Pop Arts TV – The best of both worlds – women you might actually be able to get alongside movie stars.

8. AXN: Sheena – Gena Lee Nolin walks around in Tarzan gear. No one complains.

9. No Cry Zone – Daisy Duke and La Femme Nikita. Good, wholesome eye candy.

10. Elo Cinema Latino – Shockingly, South American movies feature hot women.

* From an informal poll conducted around the office.

The last of our office holiday celebrations was last night. It was the only one that I attended. And that’s why, today, we have the top six channels to watch on Joost when you’re hungover. I’m also including the top six channels NOT to watch on Joost when you’re hungover. These are based, of course, on my hours of careful research today.

Top 6 Channels to Watch on Joost When You’re Hungover

1. Channel Frederator

The cure for a lack of an attention span is to watch shorts.

2. WOW TV

A bit of schadenfreude. Feel better about your own life by watching people who have a lot more money make jack*#%es of themselves. If you're in the U.S., Canada or Mexico, check out ITN Planet Goss!

 3. Troma

It doesn’t make any sense when you’re sober, so you might was well watch it when it you’re not going to try to understand it.

4. Onion News Network

Fact one: you probably missed all the news that happened while you were out partying. Fact two: the real news would probably be depressing. Plus, laughter is the best medicine. 

5. Pop Stars Jukebox

Next time you’re out with your colleagues at the after party’s after party, remind yourself that as much as you’d like to call it “kerry-oke,” it’s karaoke, which means "empty orchestra" in Japanese, and it’s probably better if it stays that way.

6. Hollyoaks

You might as well indulge yourself with a guilty, mindless pleasure.

Top 6 Channels NOT to Watch on Joost When You’re Hungover 

1. Roadrunner Records

There’s something wrong about headbanging when there are a hundred hammers banging inside your skull. 

2. MOJO

The last thing you want to be reminded of is what put you in your current situation of pain and suffering.

3. Exercise TV

You already feel guilty enough.

4. Zone Horror

Blood and guts are not a recipe that is going to make you feel any better.

5. Travelistic

Not for the channel itself, but for the show Dumpster Diving with Freegans. If you didn’t feel sick already, you will after watching this.

6. Boats on TV

At first, I thought there was something oddly soothing about watching sailing … but then I started to get seasick.

Ah, the holidays – time off work, time with the family. Maybe that’s a welcome vacation, or maybe your family puts the “fun” in dysfunctional. Whatever the situation, the holidays are all about family, so today we present…

Top 7 Shows about Families on Joost

I just don’t get it. Why do “celebrity” families think that going on TV is going to make their lives better? Time after time, bad things happen.

Really, what fun would the holidays be if all families were this wholesome?

Proof that a TV family can be just as crazy as a celebrity family.

Not your conventional family – but once you’re in, you can’t get out.

5. Momma’s Boy

My holiday wish to you is that your family dinners are more pleasant than this one.

Even immortals have dysfunctional families.

7. Fetch

An example of the generational divide: son wants to listen to rap, dad things rap is a disease.