| The year 2005
is about to come to a close so I've decided to continue the annual
tradition of looking back and commenting. January:
Year of the Personal Blank
January is the start of the year so it's only fitting that I use this
month to describe what I think the year 2005 is: The Year of the
Personal Blank. You probably haven't realized this but everything
has become personal, followed by a noun or two. More than
ever before, we are constantly bombarded with personal products and
services.
There are personal CD players, personal DVD players,
personal audio devices, ad-aware personal, personal currency
assistant, personal care, Kerio personal firewall ( I wish I had my
own personal firewall to block certain people out), personal investing,
personal vehicle initiative, personal 4x4, personal VoIP, Garritan Personal Orchestra,
personal stimulation device, and you get the point.
And so I
declare 2005 the year of the Personal Blank. I'd even go so far as to
call this my personal commentary. Anyone buying? LOL!
February:
No Hockey
The NHL
canceled their entire season because the players association and
league could not agree on a salary cap. Greed was at the heart of the
lock-out and it pains me to even hear about hockey these days.
Disgusting.
March:
Who Spams the Spammers?
This month, Scott Richter,
the American e-mail spammer realized he was losing his battle with
Microsoft and that it was costing too much leading him to file for
bakruptcy. At
the height of his spamming, he sent 100 million junk emails per day
and chances are you got at least one. His email address is:
scottrichter422@yahoo.com You may want to send him an email or two.
April:
Superjumbo Jets of the Future
This month, the Airbus A380 Superjumbo jet made its first flight from
Toulouse, France. It can carry 800 passengers. As more and more of
these giant planes are developed, more people will get further faster
and in more comfort than ever before. Do I hear terrorists
calling?
The amazing
thing is that the 2000s have begun with a turbulent start and
pre-9-11, air
travel was expected to explode. Then it slowed so prices dropped. With rising jet fuel prices, it's
becoming more expensive to travel but all in all, buying
really cheap discount airline tickets online is the top choice for most air
travelers these days. The cost of flying is still much cheaper than it
use to be.
May: Star
Wars 3 Arrives
On May 19 of 2005, Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith was
finally released. It had an appearance from uber babe and Diva of the
Month Orli Shoshan.
This movie completed the second trilogy and the entire movie series
(although didn't someone mention 3 movies after Return of the Jedi
would be made?). In any case, the movie made a lot more sense than the
second one, and was more useful than the first. It brought the plot
together and tied into Episode IV nicely (although the Chewbacca
appearance was dumb).
June: Michael
Jackson
Ya gotta hand it to MJ. He's an incredibly talented wacko who now looks
like a walking skeleton. This month, he was found not guilty of child
molestation.
July:
Scotty Dies & Who Remembers Live 8?
Canadian actor and starship miracle worker James Doohan (aka Scotty on Star
Trek) died. This is a significant moment given how deeply verbage such
as "aw cawnt do eet captain! Aye need more tayme!" has been
ingrained in North American society.
Also in
July, some 3 billion people watched LIVE 8. In case you didn't realize
it, that's about half the planet. It was an attempt to "make
poverty history" which of course won't happen until at least the
24th century. Or at least that's what they tell us on Star Trek.
August:
Katrina
Devastation.
September:
Apple Releases the iPod Nano
In September, Apple continued its long upward technology battle and
released it's latest mp3 player. Unless you lived under a rock, you
could not escape their mega advertising campaign. Billboards,
magazine reviews, TV coverage, you name it, iPod Nano had it. The truth is the iPod Nano is actually a
superior piece of musical equipment.
The best part of the continuing
mp3 revolution is that I get to laugh really hard at people who
"collect" CDs. I know this one guy (who happens to be a
total jerk) who bought 2-3 of the latest CDs every single week just to
announce what he bought at our weekly poker
games. Anyway, he had a
built-in series of shelves in his condo that were completely full with
hundreds of CDs. He would brag about how he was collecting them and
listened to all of them. As if! Talk about a colossal waste of moolah!
When you buy that many CDs in such a short period of time, there is no
way you could possibly listen to and enjoy all of them. This brings me
to the idea of "collecting" DVDs, but I digress.
October:
No Doubt Anniversary
October 10, 2005 was the 10 year anniversary of the release of No
Doubt's Tragic Kingdom. It's hard to believe that 10 whole years have
already passed. Tragic Kingdom was one of the best CDs of the 1990s
and continues to be popular among different generations of music
lovers. From Spiderwebs to Don't Speak to Sunday Morning to Just a
Girl... wow, whatta CD!
November:
The Million Dollar Homepage Sells 500,000 Pixels
In August, 21 year-old college student and now small time celebrity
Alex Tew launched the million
dollar homepage website where he would sell one million pixels at
a $1 each in $100 blocks. The idea was so simple and original yet
caught on so fast that in November, he had sold over half a million
dollars worth of pixels. There are now thousands of imitators, mostly
garbage.
December:
Slowing Things Down
In last year's year 2004 review, I said that great things were in
store for this website. The homepage has had a note saying there will
be a re-design all year. In fact, the site was re-structured into
nifty sections like travel
and dating and others. A lot
of people really liked that and of course, it's all about the
visitors! I'm a super busy guy and have some people work on the site
with me but an entire re-design to my picky tastes has been tough. I
have many designs and hate most of them so I've been keeping them
under wraps for now. I do believe that 2006 WILL be the year of a new
design though.
Once again,
have a great holiday season and of course let 2006 be a healthy,
safe, and prosperous one.
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