Recent measurements of the cosmic microwave background anisotropies by the WMAP experiment provide a unique window to the processes in the early universe. While the measurements are generally in good agreement with the currently favored cosmological model, there are hints that the CMB violates gaussianity and/or isotropy at large angular scales. Furthermore, there are several peculiar signatures in the maps that are unexpected in a standard cosmological model. I will discuss these findings and their relation to other widely-discussed results inferred from the CMB. A part of the analysis is performed using the "multipole vectors", a new basis to represent the CMB anisotropy, which I will also discuss.