Well,
here we are. The final chapter in our
look back at 2014 in pop culture. To
end this feature off right, we're taking a look back at the events that changed
the face of our planet and mourning the losses of some famous folks.
This
is 2014 IN POP CULTURE - NEWS EVENTS.
And
following the conclusion of this blog, I will have a very important
announcement to make regarding the immediate future of A
POP CULTURE ADDICT'S GUIDE TO LIFE. So,
definitely stay tuned for that one.
For
now, here's a flashback of the year gone by.
We will start with news events.
I will go month by month and list two or three major happenings that
took place during that month. Some are
good moments, some are bad moments, and some are - pardon my abbreviated French
- WTF moments. How many do you
remember?
JANUARY
1 - Recreational marijuana shops open in Colorado
following the legalization of marijuana in that state
29 - Singer Justin Bieber surrenders to Toronto
authorities on charges of assault
FEBRUARY
7 - The 2014 Winter Olympic Games hosts its opening
ceremonies in Sochi, Russia. The event
concludes on the 23rd
22 - The Parliament of Ukraine votes to oust President
Viktor Yanukovich from office after days of civil unrest
26 - Pro-Russian unrest in Ukraine leads to the annexation
of Crimea by the Russian Federation
MARCH
8 - Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
disappears over the Gulf of Thailand with 239 people aboard
24 - Russia is temporarily suspended from
the G8 following the annexation of Crimea
25 - The World Health Organization reports on the
Ebola outbreak which originated in Western Africa in December 2013
APRIL
10 - The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of
Europe passes a resolution of strip Russia of its voting rights on a temporary
basis following the Crimean crisis of 2014
14 - In Nigeria, an estimated 276 women are abducted
from a school and held hostage
16 - A Korean ferry boat capsizes and sinks, killing
304 people - most of the victims being high school students
MAY
5 - Boko Haram militants kill three hundred people in
a night attack on Gamboru Ngala
18 - AT&T agrees to purchase DirecTV in a $48.5
million deal
JUNE
5 - ISIS begins its offensive through Northern Iraq
in an effort to capture the city of Baghdad
8 - "All The Way" is named Best Play at the
68th Annual Tony Awards
JULY
8 - Israel launches "Operation Protective
Edge" on the Palestinian Gaza Strip
13 - Germany wins the 2014 FIFA World Cup
17 - Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 is shot down by a
missile over eastern Ukraine, killing all 298 passengers on board
24 - Air Algerie Flight 5017 crashes in Mali, killing
all 116 passengers
AUGUST
8 - The United States military begins air campaign in
an attempt to slow down ISIS
SEPTEMBER
27 - Japan's Mount Ontake erupts, leaving 250 people
stranded and airplanes being forced to change their flight routes
OCTOBER
20 - In Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Quebec, Warrant
officer Patrice Vincent is killed when he and another soldier are struck in a
hit and run caused by an ISIS/ISIL sympathizer
22 - A gunman storms Parliament Hill in Ottawa,
killing Corporal Nathan Cirillo before being taken down by Commons Sergeant
Kevin Vickers
NOVEMBER
12 - The Rosetta spacecraft's Philae probe lands
successfully on Comet 67P - the first time in history that such a feat has ever
happened
24 - Riots take place in Ferguson, Missouri following
the grand jury's decision to not indict police officer Darren Wilson in the
August death of Michael Brown
DECEMBER
15 - A man takes several people hostage inside of a
cafe in Sydney, Australia - the ordeal ends hours later with the deaths of the
gunman and two hostages
28 - Indonesia AirAsia Flight 8501 disappears with 162
people aboard; the wreckage is later found in the Java Sea
So,
those were the major events that took place in 2014. Now, let us take a moment to pause and reflect on some of the
people we lost in 2014.
January 11 - ARIEL SHARON, 85, former Israeli
Prime Minister
February 2 - PHILIP SEYMOUR HOFFMAN, 46, actor
February 10 - SHIRLEY TEMPLE BLACK, 85,
actress
February 12 - SID CAESAR, 91, actor
February 24 - HAROLD RAMIS, 69, actor/director
March 21 - JAMES REBHORN, 65, actor
April 6 - MICKEY ROONEY, 93, actor
April 29 - BOB HOSKINS, 71, actor
May 2 - EFREM ZIMBALIST JR., 95, actor
May 6 - FARLEY MOWAT, 92, author
May 28 - MAYA ANGELOU, 86, author/poet
June 9 - RIK MAYALL, 56, actor/comedian
June 11 - RUBY DEE, 91, actress
June 15 - CASEY KASEM, 82, radio host/voice
actor
June 27 - BOBBY WOMACK, 70, singer/songwriter
June 30 - PAUL MAZURSKY, 84, director/producer
July 11 - TOMMY RAMONE, 65, musician/record
producer
July 16 - JOHNNY WINTER, 70, singer/guitarist
July 17 - ELAINE STRITCH, 89, actress/singer
July 19 - JAMES GARNER, 86, actor
August 11 - ROBIN WILLIAMS, 63, actor/comedian
August 12 - LAUREN BACALL, 89, actress
August 24 - RICHARD ATTENBOROUGH, 90,
actor/director
September 4 - JOAN RIVERS, 81,
comedienne/actress
September 10 - RICHARD KIEL, 74, actor
September 12 - JOE SAMPLE, 75, pianist
September 20 - POLLY BERGEN, 84, actress
October 9 - JAN HOOKS, 57, actress/comedienne
October 14 - ELIZABETH PENA, 55, actress
October 20 - OSCAR DE LA RENTA, 82, fashion
designer
November 1 - WAYNE STATIC, 48, musician
November 19 - MIKE NICHOLS, 83, director
December 22 - CHRISTINE CAVANAUGH, 51, voice
actress
December 22 - JOE COCKER, 70, singer
December 31 - EDWARD HERRMANN, 71, actor
They
will be forever missed.
And
now comes my announcement.
Over
the last three and a half years, I've kept you all entertained with this
blog. I have kept a largely structured
blog where every day was a theme day, and where I did a lot of research to try
and bring the pop culture to you at every opportunity.
What
I ended up doing was taking myself out of the equation. And well, you can't have much of a blog if
you don't put a little of yourself into it.
Otherwise it just reads like a bad Wikipedia entry.
So,
I'm doing away with almost all of the theme days and implementing a free speech
theme for this whole year. I am going
to make this mostly a year of WHO AM I entries...because over the last couple
of years, I have really lost focus of who I am. And, frankly, I want to get that back.
I'm
off to a great start with cutting out toxic people, and focusing on those who
do care about me the most. Why surround
yourself with negativity? I'm also plotting
a couple of things out that will allow me to build a more positive
foundation. But most of all, I want to
recapture my love of writing. I spent
so much time doing pop culture research that I sort of put everything else on
the backburner.
If
I happen to be thinking pop culture along the way, so be it. And the Tuesday Timelines will be sticking
around for the foreseeable future, as I always have fun writing those. But everything else...well, I guess we'll
just leave it up to fate. And
sometimes, I may not have anything to write in the blog other than a meaningful
quote. But, sometimes, less is
more. I guess that is something that I
have to go by as I begin this year off with a lot of uncertainty about myself
and my future.
I'm
ready for the challenge, and I hope all of you will be along for the ride as I
make this radical change.
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