The biggest story of the year..
No, not the election of Donald Trump.. but instead the media being so wrong. Even on election night around 7pm, big media outlets that tell us to avoid fake news were broadcasting stories that there was a 99% chance Trump was going to lose.. Nate Silver had there being no chance of a Trump win. NBC NEWS was distraught.. CNN was shocked.. the entire media world called it a ‘come from behind.’
THE STORY OF THE YEAR involves not only the mainstream being wrong, but the ‘fake news’ rise having power. Everything changed in 16..
Regardless of your politics, 2016 was a transitional year.. when the middle of the country gave a giant MIDDLE finger to the establishments on both the Right and Left coasts.
Trump was just one piece of that. But the media conjuring up some of the worst election coverage in history? THAT was the story of the year.
Coolest picture the year:
This was taken by my niece Summer in a local mall .. it’s of a closed down store. It’s haunting for several reasons, let along being in a soon to be shuttered mall.
The biggest swerve of the year:
Newspapers are dying. The old world is leaving. But what is coming back? Record plays and records.. Polaroid cameras and disposables.. the idea that the new world of digital and virtual is upon us but yet a new generation that accepts that is also calling for something old school. Is .. cool.
I own a new record play. But I still have my old antique. They both world, with the exception of the newest being bluetooth tech-ready.
The old world with a new touch.
I’m all in favor.
Reasons not to get famous in 2017
Ken Bone. The prime example.
He did not ask for fame in 16 but got it by wearing a red sweater during a presidential debate. The media took to him.. pop culture accepted him.. and the entire landscape suddenly saw him as an innocent ‘undecided American.’
Until we found out he enjoyed feet a little too much.. and people searched his REDDIT account.”
Bone’s questionable Reddit posts include a number of comments about the bodies of women in NSFW photos, as well as a confession that he once committed felony insurance fraud, forging documents to make it appear that he had car insurance for his pizza delivery gig.
In addition, he wrote candid comments about the killing of Trayvon Martin, which he referred to as “justified.” He also called acquitted gunman George Zimmerman a “big ole shit bird.”
Remember..he didn’t ask for any of it. He just got it. He got T-Boned.
Don’t let yourself get in the same situation in 17.
CLOWNS OF THE YEAR!
They were everywhere! Porches.. under street lights.. on dark highways! So many clowns that there were law enforcement agencies warning people not to be scared and school districts telling kids they’d be sent home if they came dressed on Halloween as a clown.
We went too far in fear this year. In so many ways.
But the biggest example of the length we’d go as people to be ridiculous? The small town clown frowns across the nation.
FACE OF THE YEAR
Bill Clinton’s reaction during a presidential Debate when Trump named the names of women who accused the former President of rape.
It was a moment to remember. Or forget? …so much for those 1800s races where candidates were called horrible. Now, on LIVE TEE VEE, we can do it right in people’s faces.
Another example of the age of Trump beginning.
COUGH OF THE YEAR
There are a ton of people who believe THEY KNOW the real reason Hillary lost.. the Comey release of investigation information.. the supposed Wikileaks Russian connection..
But I think the real reason we started to see the ‘Empire’ become less invincible was when she had a 5 minuter coughing spat on Labor Day weekend .. as a ‘stronger’ sign on the podium ironically was visible. She vanished for days. No one knew her condition. It gave Trump his opening he needed.
Sure Wikileaks hurt. Sure all of that other stuff meant something.
But if you want to know when her death star was penetrated? When she couldn’t catch her breath 60 days before the election.
THE YEAR WE LOOKED AT SPACE
SUPERMOONS ABOUNDED.. Asteroid resounded.. the world suddenly looked a lot less huge this year when giant red moons were in the sky. We looked to space more in 2016 than years before. This was the year we were told by astronomers that a giant structure may be blocked light 1500 light years away.. We were given hints by NASA and others that life, just maybe, is out there.. we were told about missions to Mars that will one day be commonplace.
2016 is a transition year.
But the biggest transition isn’t yet known: When we will take our rightful place among the stars.
UGLIEST ART OF THE YEAR
A mural of Hillary Clinton in a bra.. A nude sculpture (completely nude) of Trump popping up around the nation.
Can we really get grosser than this?
THE BEST STRANGE OF THE YEAR
Stranger Things!
This was the far best thing to come in years! The best entertainment in the horror and sci-fi world in quite some time. I, and so many, were enthralled for a binge on NETFLIX of the program.
By the end of the year, another series came along with some more adult themes: The OA, just as good.
Good as strange.
Terrorism in 2016
There was a Bastille Day attack in Europe.
By the end of the year, there was an attack at a Christmas market in Germany.
The entire year of debate about whether immigrants from war-torn countries should be permitted to freely enter the European Union came under a microscope.
Angela Merkel was the TIME magazine PERSON OF THE YEAR only two years ago.
This year she is fighting for political survival in 2017..
MOST INTENSE MUSIC OF THE YEAR
I love this ‘possessed’ keyboard player! But don’t know if that is because of how amazingly entertaining she is, or because she looked like me when I was 17.
WORST ENTERTAINMENT IDEA OF 2016
Anything remade!
2016 was a year where old attempts to be funny failed..
GHOSTBUSTERS was a good example.
Sure, there is an attempt to make things new again.
But the real new that is cool is brand new. Cutting edge. New thoughts and inventions.
Out with the old in 2017!
HAPPIEST WOMAN OF THE YEAR
IF you didn’t see Candace Payne, a Dallas mother of two, laugh hysterically while wearing a Chewbacca mask, you should. It should almost be mandatory on a gloomy day.
She wasn’t anyone famous.. but literally minutes after posting herself in a car wearing a brand new Chewy mask, her Facebook exploded. It completely shattered the Facebook live video stats.
The views were in the millions.. Even KOHL’s sent toys for the entire family (Good marketing Kohls) ..
She captioned the video ‘the simple joys.’ And her video makes you just…happy!
GROSSEST MEME OF THE YEAR
No further words need be said.
WORST MOVIE OF THE YEAR
BATMAN VS SUPERMAN. So bad I don’t even want to go into detail.. it was just that bad.
BIGGEST MISINTERPRETED PHOTO OF THE YEAR
This one:
The internet has made the top of this bald dad’s head famous. Thanks to the fact that the photo looks a lot like a rear end dropping right down onto a young baby’s face.
And speaking of 2018, that will be here before you know it, too.
So take a breather and look back in the mirror. 2016 is going…going…soon gone.
Hold on to ’16 as long as you can, changes come around real soon and make us women and men.