Just Kidding!

Now that I've already posted that "I'm not posting anything" disclaimer, I found the time and necessity to make a post for New Years. Happy New Years, by the way. I've been watching some of the talk show type things doing their "A look back at 2010" specials, and I noticed that nobody seemed to want to do anything about the fact that we're about to start a new decade! The 2000's are over people, we're about to step into the teens again (but the twenty-teens now, which are older and more mature than the nineteen-teens were), and I felt it was necessary to take a look back at the last 10 years. So let's get started, shall we?

Who can forget the tension of Y2K? I was still being an elementary schooler, not really caring whether or not the computers would be able to track my stocks properly when the year turned over (I felt I had kept them secure enough, after all), but I do recall the mounting panic. And thennnn, nothing happened. I don't think there has ever been a more anti-climactic January 1st.

Since the Academy Awards honor the movies from the previous year, but are held in the next year, it's entirely possibly I'll mix some stuff up and be off a year while talking about various movies, for which you shall forgive me (because I said so!). But anyway, this was the year that Gladiator won the academy award for best picture, Russell Crowe won best actor for the same movie (and now I realize why he seemed out of place in Robin Hood: he needed Romans!), Julia Roberts was best actress, and Traffic won Steven Soderbergh best director. But the academy aside, 2000 also gave us X-Men, Meet the Parents, The Contender, and of course Castaway

Don't look at me like that, Wilson!

Billboard has lists of the top 100 songs for each year, and I'm not going to list all of them because that would be ridiculous. But the number one song for 2000 was Breathe by Faith Hill, but it was also the year for 3 Doors Down, Destiny's Child, Santana, Brittany and Christina, N'Sync and those Backstreet Boys. 

2000 marked the beginning of the intense and seemingly never ending custody battle over a little boy between his American relatives, his Cuban father, and both of the respective governments, said to be the biggest dispute between the two countries since the Bay of Pigs (which seems a tad exaggerated to me, to be honest). Meanwhile, a concord plane exploded during takeoff for the first time ever, which soon ended the use of all concords (in France anyway, where the original exploded, not sure if everyone else agreed). It was a happy year, to be sure. Anything else? Oh yes, it was election year here in the US, the year of the recount, the hanging chad, and "good lord, Florida, just pick one already!" Finally, after all of the hooplah, George W Bush became president, and Al Gore decided he preferred global warming and inventing the internet anyway.

This was a heavy year in the US, the year that terrorists hijacked some planes and crashed them into the Pentagon and the World Trade Center towers. A fourth would have hit the White House, had it not been for the bravery of the passengers who decided it would be better to die overpowering the terrorists and preventing further tragedy than to allow the crash to continue as planned. This was the year that the major Bad Guy status officially went from the communists to the terrorists (and I use officially quite loosely here, but Russian-Cold-War style characters in the media certainly seemed to make way for a wave of middle eastern terrorist types). It was the start of the war on terror, and one of the rare times that the entire nation was truly united, however briefly it lasted.

In the meantime and on a lighter note, the number one song was Hanging By a Moment by Lifehouse, and this was the year that Peter Jackson gifted us nerd-types with the first installment of the Lord of the Rings film trilogy. The snooty academy snoots preferred A Beautiful Mind for all the awards, but at least LOTR was nominated, and put up there with Moulin Rouge, Shrek, and Bridget Jones' Diary. This may have been the first year that Animated Feature Film was taken seriously as a category, but don't quote me on that. It also marked the beginning of Daniel Radcliff  et. al's decade long childhood in the Harry Potter world.

You're a wizard, Harry...and will be for the next 10+ years!

2002 marked the first total solar eclipse in whatever time span is generally between solar eclipses, but you couldn't see it properly unless you happened to be in Africa at the time. Jimmy Carter won a Nobel Peace prize, Halle Berry became the first African American woman to win an Academy Award for best actress (for Monster Ball), and Michael Jackson said hi to some fans by waving a baby around off a balcony.

"Hey look! I has kid!"

(bad taste? Well, it was still dumb...)

This was the year of sequels, with Hollywood sending us Star Wars II, Lord of the Rings II, Harry Potter II, and the Santa Clause II, all in 2002, which was clever on their part in retrospect. Chicago was awarded best picture, Spirited Away won best animated feature (hooray Miyazaki!), and How You Remind Me by Nickleback was declared the number one song (well I certainly don't remember that song, but billboard seemed to like it).

With the toppling of Saddam Hussein's statue in Baghdad, we all got excited at the thought that it was finally finished! Woo! We won! It's over! Except it wasn't. The space shuttle Columbia exploded upon re-entry to the earth's atmosphere, all due to a loose outer tile. Meanwhile, the Martha Stewart issues gained some real momentum as she got indicted for embezzlement, and the great SARS scare began on the other side of the world (no, I'm not suggesting that the two events were related....or am I? No, not really). But it was a happy year for us bio-nerds, as the Human Genome Project was officially finished, and the human genome was declared to be sequenced to 99.99% accuracy. Woo!

science jokes!

And finally, making it a year I shall never forget, the Florida Marlins won the World Series after soundly defeating the Yankees. Yeah Marlins! (they were subsequently traded away, and have barely won another game since. Sad times). In movies, Buddy the Elf taught us the true meaning of Christmas, the king returned in Lord of the Rings, we all met the infamous yet strangely lovable Captain Jack Sparrow, and then we found Nemo. Peter Jackson and Return of the King finally won best director and best picture, and 50 Cent claimed the number one song title with In Da Club.

In case you couldn't guess/recall, the 2004 Summer Olympics were held in Greece, a big deal since that's where they originated from and all. The internet planned to rejoice when Facebook was officially launched, but quickly learned of the website's procrastination powers. Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake performed the Superbowl Halftime show, which nobody would remember if not for Janet's infamous wardrobe malfunction. Lance Armstrong won his 6th consecutive Tour de France, and Florida (and surrounding areas) were beaten to a pulp by Hurricanes Charley, Ivan, Frances, and Jeanne (personally, I recall 2004 as the year of evacuation road trips, blue roofs, and generators, all of which seemed a lot more exciting as a kid when it mostly meant road trips). But as much as it sucked in Florida (and surrounding areas), Indonesia had a much rougher time when that giant earthquake caused that even gianter tsunami. Yeah...I'll stick with hurricanes, thanks. 

Girls across the nation watched the Notebook and then swooned. Or something. I was busy watching Harry Potter do magical things again, Jason Bourne make his supreme comeback (hehe, pun), and Nicholas Cage go on a good treasure hunt before he made another string of terrible movies. Also, The Incredibles. Best animated feature film. 'nuff said. Million Dollar Baby pretty much dominated the rest of the awards, while Usher's Yeah made top song of the year. 

The International Union of Pure and Applied Physics declared 2005 to be the World Year of Physics, which is just so nerdy it makes me smile. Hurricane Katrina was late to the previous year's Stomp On North America party, but tried to make up for it with an extended visit to New Orleans. Needless to say, that didn't end well. President Bush started his second term, and male citizens in Saudi Arabia were allowed to vote for the first time. 

The Academy awards were mostly given to socially controversial films released this year, such as Crash and Brokeback Mountain. As for other movies, Narnia showed us what happens when you mix a lion, a witch, and a wardrobe and let simmer for approximately 2 hours (you get a movie! who knew?), Batman began, and Harry Potter came back with his goblet of fire. The Star Wars saga ended, for better or worse, with Revenge of the Sith, and we all stepped back to take a long look at our prides and prejudices. Mariah Carey sat on top of the billboard chart with We Belong Together. 

The first bird with Avian Flu was found this year, and Al Gore came back from his internet workshop to inconvenience us with his truths. Pluto began it's swift decline out of planetary status, suddenly declared to be merely a dwarf planet. The Iraqi Special Tribunal officially sentenced Hussein to death, and North Korea decided to let us know all about their continued nuclear weapon hobbies. 

It was a fairly widespread year for movies, with releases including everything from Cars and The Santa Clause 3 to The Prestige and V For Vendetta (Remember, remember, the 5th of November!). The Departed won best featured film, and Daniel Powter sang about his Bad Day enough to put him at the top. 

This was a magical year, the one that marked my highschool graduation. Ok, other stuff happened too. The final Harry Potter book was released and sold out faster than you can say Avada Kadavra, with the book in general causing one of the largest nerd uprisings since the last one. The writer's guild went on strike, resulting in one of the weirdest seasons of television in a while as everybody else in the studio scrambled to find reruns and acceptable excuses for shows to keep the public entertained. Yet it gave rise to the fantastically wonderful Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog, which should be a part of everyone's life. 

Otherwise, Bourne issued his famous ultimatum, Harry Potter joined the Order of the Phoenix, and Juno had a baby. The Academy declared their love for No Country for Old Men and There Will Be Blood, and Beyonce declared that you're not Irreplaceable (sorry, I'm just the messenger). 

Gas prices went extra nuts this year, Fidel Castro finally resigned, and there was a total eclipse of the heart....I mean moon. A star exploded somewhere, and if you happened to be stargazing it was officially the farthest object to be seen with the naked eye. Medvedev replaced Putin as Crazy Dude In Charge of Russia, and we waited to see if he would be a better kind of crazy. Meanwhile, Bill Gates decided to end his 30 year position  as chairman of Microsoft, and somewhere you could here Steve Jobs rub his hands and chuckle maliciously. Michael Phelps set a new record, winning eight gold medals at the Beijing Olympics, and the world didn't end after the Large Hadron Collider was turned on for the first time. Financial crisis ensued when certain banks decided to give out loans willy nilly and whatnot, and Barack Obama became the first African American president after the election. 

Heath Ledger gave us one last brilliant performance as a truly demented Joker in the Dark Knight, and then died for several alleged reasons that I don't think anybody ever actually agreed about. Slumdog Millionaire stole the show at the Academy awards, and Twilight...well, was Twilight, much to the thinking populace's disdain. Prince Caspian ruled Narnia, and Tony Stark built that immortal iron battle suit, all to the tune of Flo Rida's catchy tune, Low. 

Remember the Swine Flu? H1N1? You bet you do! This also marked the year that Michael Jackson died suddenly, taking everybody by surprise. I'm starting to suspect a celebrity serial killer is on the loose, or some kind of conspiracy. Or perhaps both. President Obama won a Nobel Peace prize for....being president? Still working on that one. The Large Hadron Collider was turned on a second time after needing some repairs and adjustments. And again, the world did not end.

In Hollywood, Avatar made a mark with it's amazing visual effects annnnd....was there a plot? But let's not forget about Sherlock Holmes, Star Trek (which unlike a lot of purists out there, I rather enjoyed, thanks very much), and Up. The Hurt Locker won the Oscar for best film, and I still haven't seen it. Meanwhile, Beyonce and her single ladies topped the music charts for the year.

And finally, we get to 2010, the last year in this wacky decade. It was kicked off with a devastating earthquake in Haiti, shortly followed by an even bigger one in Chile. Not the best way to start off a new year. An oil platform exploded in the Gulf, causing all kinds of environmental, financial, and general humiliating issues. And about a week ago, we saw the first total lunar eclipse during a solstice since 1638. Also, I moved to grad school; a major headline in the world to be sure ;)

In the movies, we learned how to train dragons, watched the end of the Toy Story saga, and saw the first half of the final movie in the Harry Potter lineup. There was also Inception, Scott Pilgrim, another Narnia movie...pretty much a great year for movies all around. The Oscars haven't happened yet, but here's hoping Pixar's animated film winning streak will be stopped by the wonder of dragon training. But then, I may be biased. Just a little. The Billboard list hasn't been made yet either, so here's hoping Bieber isn't on top. Or near the top. But watching the Twilight phenomenon...he probably will be.


Anyway, this has been more post than any one blog post needs to have, but it is here and complete. Here's to a new year, a new decade, and all kinds of new opportunities for some average nerdiness. Happy New Year!