Every year there are plenty of stories that catch our attention in the entertainment world. There are a million of them. But there are certainly some that stick out more than others for one reason or another. Hollywood and the entertainment world at large has always been an interesting one to observe. Their lives are for the most part totally unrelatabe but that does not stop us from following them. I have compiled a recap of the year in entertainment stories listing the biggest one of each month. Let’s take a walk down memory lane…
January: At the Golden Globe ceremony in Hollywood host Ricky Gervais used the platform he had been afforded to roast the biggest names in the industry. Johnny Depp, Angelina Jolie, Bruce Willis, Robert Downey Jr. were amongst his targets. Even the Hollywood Foreign Press itself was not spared. The man knew no boundaries. He mocked, teased and out and out made fun of. Some thought he crossed the line but the viewing audience ate it up with a spoon. After some debate and really to no one’s surprise Gervais was asked back to host the 2012 ceremony. Which he accepted and did though he was strangely subdued in comparison.
February: On February 9, Lindsay Lohan was charged with stealing a $2,500 necklace from a small jewelry store. She claimed it was a misunderstanding as that she believed the owner had given it to her. This was just the beginning of a year that was very rocky for la Lohan. Part of the year she was on trial for this and later for violating her parole, spent time under house arrest, sued Pitbull who turned around and countersued her, posed for Playboy, did some work in a morgue as part of her probation agreement, claimed to have had her passport stolen, and ended up only spending four hours in jail for the violation of her parole. A busy lady!
March: iPad 2 is the coolest thing going. On March 11th many technologically inclined folks of all ages lined up to buy it on its launch day. It had a faster processor than its predecessor and had features like video calling. It became the must-have electronic device of the year.
April: Heir to the British throne Prince William and commoner Kate Middleton were married. Their wedding drew an estimated 2 billion viewers worldwide. Due to the wedding we now have words like “fascinator” (fashionable British headpiece) in our vocabulary. As a bonus the wedding introduced us to the sister of the bride, the show-stealing Pippa Middleton.
May: Oprah leaves us. Wah! An amazing 16.4 million viewers watched the first lady of television say goodbye to her daytime show and audience. The Oprah Winfrey Show had been a cornerstone of daytime television for 25 years. It is something that probably will not be duplicated. Her influence over her viewers was incredible. Quite simply she was the most influential and richest woman in the United States.
June: The webslinger finally hit Broadway. A comic book hero and the theatre do not seem like the most obvious pairing but somehow it was made to work. That is not to say that there was not plenty of stumbling before it was a success. During the work up to the Spider-Man play there were injuries, numerous delays and an amazing 183 preview performances. All this plus the original director, Julie Taymor, was fired. The musical (music by Bono and the Edge) Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark finally opened to packed houses.
July: Harry Potter makes a lot of money at the box office. A mere six days into its theatrical run Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2 the film series became the highest-grossing in domestic (U.S.) box office history. The last film alone brought in $169.2 million its first weekend and $381 million total, which made it the highest grossing film of the year. All together the Harry Potter films raked in $2.4 billion in the U.S. and an astounding $7.7 billion worldwide.
August: Kim Kardashian and Kris Humphries were married. Briefly, anyways. The August 20th ceremony cost an estimated $10 million and lasted only 72 days before Kim filed for divorce. Divide $10 million by 72 and see what you get.
September: Dancing With the Stars weathers a storm when it announces that the transgendered Chaz Bono, the child of one name superstar Cher, would be one of the celebrity dancers and would be competing as a male. Conservative viewers were furious saying it was a travesty. Even the Parents Television Council hopped on board with their protests. Credit Dancing With the Stars for sticking to its guns and Chaz Bono for being courageous. He made his point when he made it 8th place on the show.
October: Actress Hilary Swank attends the worst birthday party ever. To be honest, I don’t know how the actual birthday party was but the fallout due to her attending it was huge. The controversy arose after Swank (and other celebrities like Jean-Claude Van Damme and Seal) attended the 35th birthday party of Chechen President and alleged human rights abuser, Ramzan Kadyrov. Since it was made clear to her that the guy is not squeaky clean she apologized and promised to donate her six figure appearance fee to charity. Needless to say soon afterwards Swank fired her manager and a couple of her agents. Just further proof that you should not say “yes” to every invite that comes your way.
November: Two and a half years after the death of the King of Pop, Michael Jackson, his doctor, Conrad Murray was found responsible for the overdose of Propofol that killed him. Murray was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter and was later sentenced to four years in prison. He plans to appeal the decision.
December: Alec Baldwin causes problems on an American Airlines flight. The 30 Rock star was kicked off the flight when he refused to shut off his electronic device while playing a game of Words with Friends. The actor later made fun of himself on the December 10th episode of Saturday Night Live.
