Welcome back for one final time to "End of the Year 2011," The mj15 Blog's look back into the past twelve months that were. The following is part four, in which I wrap up this year's installment with my list of the year's most memorable individuals. If you missed any of the first three installments and wish to read them as well, just click here, here, or here. Also, if you are interested in reading my picks for the year's top TV shows, you may do so by clicking here. Otherwise, I hope that you enjoy.
First of all, Happy New Year! I hope that the start of your 2012 was already better than your entire 2011 combined. Also, sorry about this post taking six days to create, but I've just been really busy as of late.. Besides, you're reading the works of somebody who can take up to ten days just to write "End of the Month," so it really shouldn't have come as a surprise.
Anyways, let's just get into why we're all here in the first place. As you know, with every year that passes comes an annual slate of individuals who stood out above most of the human population, whether it's through their current holding of power, their achievements in the specific field they're in, or just through the interesting news items and tidibts that made a lot of people talk about them. 2011 was no exception. So, without further ado, here is my list of this year's People of the Year. I will announce my third annual choice for Person of the Year in a moment. But first, the runner-ups (and for this year, there were plenty):
Barack Obama
In his third full year as the 44th President of the United States, 2011 could be best described as a year for Obama that was pretty rough on the home front yet a fantastic year foreign-policy wise. It was a year that saw him executing the order to take down Osama bin Laden in a raid of his Pakistani compound that proved remarkably successful, a year that saw him take away all remaining U.S. troops stationed in Iraq, and a year in which he helped in the demise of Muammar Gaddafi in Libya by taking part in NATO air strikes that resulted in absolutely no American lives lost. On the flip side, 2011 was the year of his lowest recorded approval ratings to date (as low as 42% according to Rasmussen), a year in which the economy seemed to stand still under his watch, and a year that saw him battling Congressional republicans over things like the government budget, the debt ceiling back in August, and more recently the payroll tax. Obama will be running for re-election in 2012. It should be interesting to see how these events of 2011 will have any effect on his bid.
John Boehner
Sworn in as the Speaker of the House in January as a result of Republicans taking back that branch of Congress for the first time since 2007, the Congressman from Ohio had just as big of an impact as any in those many intense bill negotiations in Congress. Together with the House's No. 2 Republican Eric Cantor and Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell, the three fought long and hard to achieve their goal of lowering taxes and cutting spending in this nation, annoying many congressional Democrats in the process, and usually coming out of it by having his party getting many breaks in those deals (with their disastrous leadership during the payroll tax negotiations in December coming as one big exception). Those negotiations he led, however, may have come at a cost. Not only has his Congress received the lowest approval rating in history (9%, lower than communism and herpes if you would believe it), but the deal that he helped negotiation during the debt ceiling battle was one of the main reasons that credit agency group Standard & Poor downgrade the United States to an AA+ rating.
Donald Glover
The past year has been nothing short of career year for the country's most talented black nerd, voted into Forbes' annual list of 30 under 30. Not only did he continue to be awesome as Troy Barnes on the beloved NBC sitcom "Community," he also starred in his first career one-hour stand-up special on Comedy Central this past November. He also continues to lead the newest generation of rappers under the pseudonym Childish Gambino. He released the music video for his first big single "Freaks and Geeks," in February with over 6 million viewers and counting, and in October he released newest full-length album "Camp," with its self-aware and funny lyrics, to mostly positive reviews (and an insanely negative one). At this point, the sky can only go up for the 28 year old, and as a fan, I couldn't be happier for him.
Rebecca Black
My father, who some of you might know from reading my NFL predictions column posts as mj50, just discovered Rebecca Black last week. As someone who had to spend the past spring with millions of others taking part in creating and witnessing her fifteen minutes of fame with the music video to her song "Friday," I envy him.
Justin Verlander
Having a pitching season that included 24 wins, a 2.40 ERA, 250 strikeouts and a 0.920 WHIP is one thing. Doing so while also throwing a no-hitter in May, leading the league in multiple categories, winning the AL Cy Young and then also becoming the first pitcher since 1986 to win the AL MVP is another thing. It was a season of the ages for this Detroit Tiger, and one that could've even been better had he also helped his team win the World Series.
The Middleton Sisters (Kate & Pippa)
Back in late April, the eyes of nearly three billion people were tuned into Westminster Abbey as British prince William exchange wedding vows with his bride, commoner Kate Middleton. But being married to her longtime boyfriend of six years wasn't the only Middleton to receive the national spotlight. The cameras also caught the eye of her younger sister and her maid of honor, Pippa, whose dress and appealing derriere received the attention of millions of people, turning her into a tabloid sensation just as much as her Duchess of Cambridge sister. Not since "Keeping Up With the Kardashians" premiered has there been a group of sisters suddenly shine into the spotlight together this quickly.
Harold Camping
He became a household name earlier in the year by proclaiming to an entire nation that the world was going to end on May 21st and that we should all start bracing for the Rapture, only to come back with absolutely no response from the Big Man himself. He became the laughingstock of a nation as a result, and suffered a seizure a month later to boot. So, let that be a lesson to you, kids: just because an 89 year old man that claiming that the world was ending using hist Christian radio group as his system of reaching the public doesn't make his prediction more important than if any other 89 year old man were to say it. Besides, who is he to say that his prediction is more correct than the Mayans?
Ryan Gosling
2011 was nothing short of a big year for the handsome and talented actor previously known for his roles in "The Notebook," "Half Nelson," and "Blue Valentine." He starred in three well-received movies: "Crazy, Stupid, Love" (July 29th), "Drive" (September 6th), and "The Ides of March" (October 7th), and showed his acting chops in each of them. He out-acted some great co-stars like Phillip Seymour Hoffman, George Clooney, Bryan Cranston, and Marisa Tomei, and earned a total of 15 award nominations combined for these three roles, including two Golden Globe nominations in both the drama and comedy categories. Plus, the guy broke up a fight.How can you not like this man?
Cam Newton
As far as 22 year old football player goes, very few in history have had as successful of a year as the Carolina Panthers starting quarterback had. In January, coming off his Heisman Trophy victory, he led his Auburn Tigers to a victory in the national championship game against Oregon, helping to execute a drive that resulted in a game winning field goal and his school's second national title ever. Then, in April, he was hand selected by Carolina as the first pick in the NFL draft. Finally, he starting his first year as a member of league by having one of the best rookie seasons ever, passing Peyton Manning's record for most passing yards in a season by a rookie and the NFL record for most rushing touchdowns by a quarterback in a single season. All throughout, he proved many of his doubters heading into his rookie season wrong and put up a resume that will probably earn him Rookie of the Year honors for sure in what should be the start to an even brighter future in the league ahead (if the Panthers actually developed other talent around him, that is).
Steve Jobs
The revolutionary co-founder of Apple passed away this past October, two months after he officially resigned his duties as the company's CEO, but not making a few more headlines to go along with his already large legacy. First, he introduced the iPad 2 this past spring, which turned into another smashing success sales-wise for Apple. Then, in June, he made his last presentation on behalf of the company after taking months off of medical leave to introduce the iCloud, the new synching service for Apple users. Either way, his death this past year was untimely, and his presence will be missed. Looks like the world didn't have enough space left in their storage drive for him.
Mother Nature
Alright, maybe this isn't an actual person, but the rather extreme weather was in the news a lot this past year, so hopefully you get my point. First the disastrous mud slides in Brazil, then the Japanese earthquake, then all those tornadoes and floods that hit the U.S. in April and May, then all those floods in Pakistan and Taiwan, then those massive droughts in Texans and Somalia, then Hurricane Irene and those two tropical storms that followed...that woman was just a straight up bitch.
Louis C.K.
Why is Louis C.K. on this list, you ask? Only because he's the greatest living human being, duh! Hyperbole aside, the past twelve months were just another reminder of why this man is still arguably the best working comedian in show business. His show on FX, "Louie," aired its second season over the summer and was even better than the first season and arguably the best show of the year (at least it was in the minds of TIME Magazine and A.V. Club, to name a few places). Then, last month, he released another terrific stand-up special "Live at the Beacon Theater" exclusively online at a more than reasonable rate of $5, ushering in over $1 million in funds and then deciding to just $280,000 of the proceeds to charities selected by users on Twitter (while also giving his customers a hilarious message whenever they forgot their passwords). Plus, the guy actually made Dane Cook likeable this year for the first time in years. Anyone who can do that deserves some acknowledgement.
Adele
Hmm, let's see: two songs that hit #1 on the charts for at least five weeks and appealing to listeners across all different spectrums and were breath of fresh airs in a music world dominated by terrible club hits, an album ("21") that hit platinum in 16 different countries, and all of this before she turned 24. Yep, I'd say that's the epitome of a great year for such a deserving artist like her.
Kim Kardashian
Outside of disproving the so-called sanctity of marriage with her divorce of husband Kris Humphries after only 72 days of being wed, I'd say that the year turned out pretty well for her, don't you think?
Gabriel Giffords
Although most Americans did not know much about this Arizona congressman before the year began, they certainly knew her by the time January 8th was over, when tragedy struck the city of Tucson as her and eighth other individuals were killed in a massacre. Six of those people were killed, yet despite having a bullet striking her health, Giffords survived. For the next several months, we saw her slowly recover step by step to the point where she is now, and returning to her duties a few times to vote on important legislations like the debt ceiling deal back in August. It was a recovery that inspired the nation, and we hope to see Giffords fully recovered by the time 2012 is over, running for re-election in her district once more.
Bryan Stow
Consider him to be the Gabriel Giffords of the sporting world. Back in late March, Stow, a San Francisco Giants fan, was brutally and senselessly beaten by a couple of LA Dodger fans in the Dodger Stadium parking lot, leaving him critically injured and in a coma. Like Giffords, despite the severe damaged he suffered, Stow was able to make a slow recovery, and is now back in his home living with his family. The only difference between his inspirational story and Giffords was that, unlike the Congresswoman, there has yet to be any charges against somebody suspected of injuring Stow, and that he currently remains in a wheelchair.
Antony Weiner. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Dominique Strauss-Khan
Three important figures, three different scandals involving sex, three different outcomes. In the case of Weiner, he got in trouble in late May when he accidentally sent pictures of his crotch intended as a private message to a female to all of his followers on Twitter. Weiner immediately took the photos down, and claimed that his account had been hacked, but by then the damage had already been done. Soon, a few other women came out with stories of how Weiner tried to seduce them through the Internet, and this year's most appropriately named politician resigned from his role as New York congressman in mid-June. In the case of Schwarzenegger, he got himself into some trouble of his own when he divorced from his longtime wife of many years, Maria Shriver, after he told her about a secret that he kept for years, that he father the pre-teen son of their family's longtime maid many years ago. Schwarzenegger wasn't forced to give up office, as his term as Governor of California had already ended earlier in the year, but there's no doubt that his reputation took a major blow, especially when in 2003 his now ex-wife defended him after allegations of sexual harassment.
Then there's the case of Dominique Strauss-Khan. On May 14, New York police arrested the then head of the International Monetary Fund just as he was about to take a flight back to his native France when a maid at a Sofitel hotel accused him of molesting her as he stayed over there for a night. Strauss-Khan was charged with rape and spent six weeks locked up in a Riker's Island prison before being put on house arrest, forced to also give up his role as one of world's top monetary officials. However, unlike the situations involving Weiner and Schwarzenegger, I guess you could say that things worked out to Strauss-Khan for the better. Not only did prosecutors drop the case, citing that the maid's accusations lacked credibility. Strauss-Khan was also allowed to return to France where he's expected to run as one of the favorites for the country's race for prime minister.
Lionel Messi
I don't believe that I'm being controversial when I say that Lionel Messi continues to remain the best soccer player alive, and that was more than proven once more in 2011. Not only did he earn his 200th career goal as a member of FC Barcelona, he also led Barca to five different club championship, including the UEFA Champions League title in a 3-1 final against Manchester United. He's also well on his way to his 3rd straight Ballon d'Or and continues to remain one of the faces of the world's most popular sport. Now if he could just get that World Cup...
Charlie Sheen
What would 2011 be complete without mentioning Mr. Tiger Blood himself, Charlie Sheen? When CBS decided to suspend production of "Two and a Half Men" after the co-star decided to insult the show's creator and executive producer Chuck Lorre, Sheen went on a media binge unlike any other, becoming America's sideshow with his trainwreck media interviews and unforgettable Sheein-isms that eventually cost him his job on the show entirely, eventually being replaced by Ashton Kutcher. If that weren't enough, in that same timespan he also started a wildly popular Twitter account, sued CBS, Warner Bros. and Chuck Lorre for $50 million dollars as punishment for the firing, and starred in a one man "My Violent Torpedo of Truth" tour with venues across the United States. The rest of the year was pretty calm by Sheen's standards. He appeared on a Comedy Central roast with his as the honorary roastee this past September, and has since been preparing to star in a TV adaptation of the 2003 movie "Anger Management" set to make its debut this summer on FX, but for now we'll never forget those days earlier in the year in which he entertained us with his unique brand of drug-induced entertainment.
Aaron Rodgers
Charlie Sheen may have coined the term "winning" this past year, but maybe the same should also apply to Aaron Rodgers, the talented quarterback for the Green Bay Packers. In the winter, Rodgers lead his Packers to four playoff victories, including a 31-25 win over the AFC Champion Pittsburgh Steelers, to help his team to become only the second No. 6 ever to win an NFL title. Then, in the fall, Rodgers remained unstoppable once more, helping his team start the season out 13-0 and earning the NFC's #1 playoff seed before finally losing his first game in 364 days to the Kansas City Chiefs in week 15. On top of all of this, he put up some ridiculous statistics in the process: a 68.3 throwing percentage, 45 touchdowns, only 6 interceptions, and the NFL record in passer rating with an incredible 122.5. And the best part? All of this happened in around 500 passers, at least one hundred less than Drew Brees, Tom Brady, Matthew Stafford, and any other passer who put better yardage this season than him. The race for MVP should be close, with Rodgers battling record-breaker Drew Brees, but if you ask me, there's no question that the NFL voters should give it to the Packer whose done more than enough to place himself among some of the league's elite throwers.
Trey Parker and Matt Stone
For years, the creators of "South Park" has always been known as brilliant satirists. But this year, along with creating one of the show's most consistently great stretch of episodes in years, the duo added on another level to their comedic flexibility with the musical "The Book of Mormon," about two Mormon missionaries sent to Uganda and one of the hit Broadway shows of the year. The reviews for the show were pretty much all positive, the amount of money grossed from it was "The Lion King" level-good, and it picked up nine awards at this year's Tonys, including Best Musical. Defeating several Broadway veterans on the first try, and creating one the best season of an already legendary animated program in five years? Now that's talent!
Joe Paterno
On October 29th, the legendary head coach of Penn State University celebrated becoming the all-time winningest coach in college football history. On November 10th, he was unceremoniously fired from his job for failing to do anything about rape allegations he heard in 2002 regarding his former defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky in one of sport's all-time biggest scandals. And just like that, the once flawless reputation of one of the sports most respectable figures got tarnished in a millisecond.
Stephen Colbert
While I still love Jon Stewart and appreciate how he has consistently been able to take a humorous look on the day's top stories all while exposing all of the bullcrap in the political world and the news media, Colbert won this year with for being able to strike at his targets with sharp precision and wit in a way unmatched by most pundits, his interviewing skills, and his idiosyncratic take on the news. Plus, he had that Super PAC which he created earlier this year in response to the Supreme Court ruling on Citizens United last year, fighting a corrupt political system yet also rewarding the fans that donated to the cause by placing their names at the bottom of the screen during his show for months. At this point, there's very few that could be able to pull it off in a way that Colbert could.
The "Fukushima 50"
When the Fukushima power plant in Japan experienced some very serious problems following the Japanese earthquake back in March, it was thanks to the effort of these fifty original Tokyo Electric Power Co. employee (along with hundreds of firefghters, soldiers, and engineers) who stayed behind and risked the possibility of death that helped stop the place from melting down uncontrollably, saving millions of lives in the process. At a time when the country of Japan was at a great turmoil, it was the courageous and heroic efforts of these individuals that provided one of the most positive stories to have come from it.
Nicolas Sarkozy and Angela Merkel
When Europe was experiencing a major crisis of the euro-zone this past fall, it was through the efforts of these two world leaders (the former being the the Prime Minister of France and the other being the German Chancellor) that helped saved the euro, negotiating Europeans bank capitalizations and bailouts of countries like Greece whose major debts helped spark the crisis in the first place. As a result, the European currency has remained stabilized, even doing better at times than when the crisis began. In addition to being one of the most influential leaders in the continent, both have also received success this year in other areas. Merkel, for instance, has seen the economy of her country grow into one of the most prosperous among first-world countries, while Sarkozy co-lead efforts to take down Muammar Gaddafi in Libya by helping out with NATO in addition to helping Palestine receive acceptance as a nation by UNESCO.
Nicki Minaj
In November 2010, the Young Money, Cash Money singer's released her much-anticipated debut album "Pink Friday." In 2011, she rode the wave of that album's popularity, becoming one of pop's newest superstars, earning much success for her catchy single "Super Bass" and being a major player in Britney Spear's "Femme Fatales" music tour. Now she's currently working on her newest album "Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded" which is set to hit the charts Valentines Day weekend. At this point, her future has almost nowhere to go but up.
Novak Djokovic
In 2011, this Russian tennis star had one of the greatest single seasons in tennis history, finishing the year with a 70-6 record despite suffering four different injuries. In addition, he also won ten tournaments came within a French Open victory short of completing the sport's first majors Grand Slam in years, received over $12 million in tournament earnings, and surpassed Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal for his first ever #1 ranking this past July, holding it ever since. Should be interesting to see how the 24 year old phenom does as a follow-up this year.
Rory McIlroy
After years of being heralded as golf's next big star and one of the games future phenoms, the 22 year old from Northern Ireland made quite the splash this past year with his first major championship victory at the U.S. Open, a victory in which he also set the 111 year tournament's 72-hole scoring record in the process. He also ended up leading this year's Masters halfway through the final round before blowing it with a terrible back half to finish with a score of 81. In a year that saw past superstars like Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson struggling, it was always good to know that there was still a talented group of young golfers like McIlroy to dominated the playing field.
Roger Goodell and DeMaurice Smith, David Stern and Billy Hunter
It's not rare to see stoppage in league due to labor dispute, but it is rare to see it happen to multiple professional sports in the same year. Thanks to each of these four leadership in the NFL and NBA respectively, both leagues went into lockouts that each lasted for nearly five months, threatening the cancellation of both of the league's 2011-12 seasons and creating a nationwide discussion among fans about whether they should take the sides of the millionaire players or the billionaire owners before finally reaching agreements to end the lockout with new CBAs in late July and late November respectively. Now, the NFL has just completed their sixteen game regular season without any changes to the schedule outside of the cancellation of this year's Hall of Fame game, heading into their annual postseason, while the NBA is just beginning their shortened 66-game regular season with deals that have kept the league safe from any future work stoppage for at least another decade. So, in essence, two of the biggest stories of the year in American sports ended before any real damaged could be seen. If there were any bright sides to all of this, this would have to be one of them.
Rupert Murdoch
You know you've had a pretty bad year as an executive when you're most humiliating moment wasn't having to stop production of one of your most famous newspapers due to a phone-hacking scandal, or having to testify to British parliament as a result of the hearing, but being hit in the face with a pie by some comedian named Johnnie Marbles. But then again, as long as the guy still remains one of the most influential men in newsmaking (for better or worse), I think that he should be fine. I mean, he's got a very loyal wife. What more could a guy want in life?
Anonymous and LulzSec
2011 was the year where hackers took a big role in the news, and few "hacktivist" groups were as prominent in the news and spread as much fear to companies and governmental officials alike as these two. Whether it was hacking the Tunisian government websites during the Arab Springs, launching subsequent attacks on the Malaysia government and Syrian Defense Ministry, unveiling passwords from website like the United States Senate and Fox.com, releasing e-mails said to have been from Bank of America to the public, hacking companies like Sony and Nintendo, these group of anarchists did everything they could to try to punish everything and everyone whose actions and beliefs they did not support. Over the past summer, several members of both groups were arrested in countries like Spain, the UK, the US and the Netherlands, a major blow to organizations who had previously remained untouchable. However, consider how these groups were involved in another hacking only a week ago, I have a good feeling that the presence of these hackers will continue for some time.
Casey Anthony
It was the trial that millions paid attention to, and she was the star of it. Over the summer, hours of testimonies were heard regarding whether Anthony was indeed responsible for the murder of her young daughter Caylee back in 2008. She was eventually found not innocent of the first-degree murder charge, but the damage had been done. As a result of the trial, Anthony became one of the most hated women in America and went in immediate hiding once she was released from her short prison sentence after being found guilty in the same trial of lying to prosecutors. In other words, the actual court found her innocent, but not the court of public opinion, and for the rest of her life she is going to pay big time for that. Speaking of people named Casey...
Casey Heynes
In a world where bullying is still one of the top problems facing younger children, it was the 16 year old Heynes who became a hero and an instant icon by many for this video that surfaced back in March in which he stood up for himself against a younger 12 year old antagonist by snapping and even throwing the bully to the ground.
Mahmoud Abbas
This past fall, the leader of the Palestine Liberation Organization and President of the Palestinian National Authority made big headlines in his efforts to make a case for Palestine's statehood from organizations like the U.N. and UNESCO. His big with the U.N. ultimately didn't work, and Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu has shows no sign of stopping homes for the nation being built on their turf. However, the moment proved to be a moral victory (at least to his own people), and he at least received a big boost with Palestine being acceptance as a new member from UNESCO, even if the agency had funds cut off from the U.S. as a result.
Oprah Winfrey
In a jam packed United Center this past May, millions of Winfrey fans including celebrities like Will Smith and Tom Hanks gathered to bow down before their daytime talk show god one more time and honor her in a live taping of her final episode of the 25 year old daytime talk show that turned her into one of the world's msot powerful individuals. But the final episode of "The Oprah Winfrey Show" wasn't the only reason why I decided to place the woman on this list. On New Year's Day 2011, OWN, the Oprah Winfrey TV network officially launched on the airwaves in replace of the now defunct Discovery Health.The channel hasn't done that well in the ratings, and Winfrey herself had to place herself as the network's Chief Creative Officer as a result, but her impact and presence in the country elsewhere is still widely seen even in the months after her show went off the air for good.
Justin Vernon
Head of the widely-acclaimed folk band Bon Iver, the native Wisconsinite was the creative force behind their newest album released this past June. Titled "Bon Iver, Bon Iver," the album became one of the year's most critically acclaimed and earned him and the band several Grammy nominations, including Best Album, of which they are one of the favorites to win. Not bad for someone who was once known for previously creating an entire album alone in a wood cabin.
Dirk Nowitzki
It would be strange to not include a single NBA player off the list, especially when I've already included a few football players, a soccer player, a golfer, a tennis player, and even a pitcher, and who better to receive the honors than the 7 foot small forward of the Dallas Mavericks? This past spring, the man had himself an incredible postseason, leading his Dallas team to the franchise's first ever NBA title thanks in large part to a victory over the heavily favored Miami Heat (led by the highly-profiled threesome of Lebron James, Dwyane Wade, and Chris Bosh) in six games. So far into the new, lockout shortened season, the Mavericks haven't done so good, losing four our of their first six games and feeling the impact of guys like Tyson Chandler leaving the team during the offseason. But as long as the team has this German with the body of a center and the shooting skills of a two-guard, I'm sure that their fans aren't worried at all by this point.
Scott Walker and Paul Ryan
Both of these Wisconsin politicians made some pretty big political headlines this past year. Over the winter, Walker, the newly elected governor of that state as a result of last year's Tea Party wave, made headlines when he tried to create a new labor deal for the state that would limit the collective bargaining rights for the state's unions, sparking massive protests in the state capitals that lasted for days. In the end, however, the battle would eventually fall in Walker's favor, as the protestors moved out of Madison and a vote was passed to go through with his proposed plan. On the House side of things, congressman Paul Ryan and fellow Wisconsinite played one of the most important roles in Washington D.C. this past year as head of the House Budget Committee chairman, helping in the drafting and promotion of the Republican's budgetary plan for the nation. In April, he introduced the famous "Path to Prosperity" plan, a counter-proposal to the budget plan of the Democrats and President Obama and one that included ending Medicare in 2022 for all Americans born before 1956, the conversion of Medicaid payments into block grants, a repealing of the 2010 health care law, and other spending cuts. The plan was wildly approved by Republicans, and was passed by majority decision in the House only to die in the Senate to no surprise.
Ai Weiwei
This past year, the Chinese artist most famous with collaborating to create the Bird Nest Stadium for the 2008 Beijing Olympics was arrested and was held captive by government officials in the nation's capital for 81 days in what he believes to be a politically motivated action (Ai had becoming increasingly critical of the Chinese government's recent actions and the government was fearing that the revolutions that happened in the Middle East would start in China, too). During those 81 days when family and friends fought hard to release him, Weiwei was reported to have been interrogated 50 times, and in the days since then, was also hit by the government with a $2.4 million back tax ($1.3 million of which were paid by supporters). It was a year of unwanted punishments for Weiwei, but one that also earned him a ton of support of people who did everything from creating graffiti on him in his honor to posting pictures of themselves naked on Twitter. I'm pretty sure he was proud of that.
Hosni Mubarak, Ben Ali, and Ali Abdullah Saleh
By far three of the world leaders to have received a major blow in their power as a result of last winter's Arab Springs. Ben Ali was the first one to go, losing his role as the country's President along with Prime Minister Ghannouchi. Mubarak lost control of Egypt, with the country now having being under the control of a military dictatorship led by the country's general, Mohammed Hussein Tantawi. And Saleh? Well, the good news is that he hasn't lost his power...yet. After a year that saw him losing the grip of the nation of Yemen, and a rocket attack in June that damaged his palace and sent him fleeing to Saudi Arabia, the 69 year old announced in November that he would officially resign from his duties by February 2012. But either way, 2011 was not a good year for these once powerful dictators, with their only regret being that they weren't the ruler of Bahrain this whole time.
Muammar Gaddafi
I guess I'm putting Gaddafi in a separate mention above all of these other Middle Eastern rulers because he was the one to have been the most resilient in fighting against his nation's rebels, even sparking a Civil freakin' War when he couldn't simply use the Libyan military to put an end to the protests, and the only one to have NATO air strikes in his country just so he can resign. Plus, even though he, too, officially lost the grip of his nation when those same rebels occupied the Libyan capital of Tripoli in August, he was the only one of these Middle Eastern rulers to come out of it all killed and having his dead body dragged for miles in humiliating fashion. Now that's some French Revolution era send-off!
Kate Upton and Alison Brie
Just file these two selections under the "Internet's Favorite Girlfriends" category, and let's move on.
Tim Tebow
His skills as a passer are not so great. The amount of talent he has doesn't equate to the same level of media attention he regularly receives. Yet, despite all of this, the Broncos quarterback with a passion towards God (even if that passion can get a bit obnoxious) still found a way to make a big splash in his second season as Denver's starter, earning a 7-4 record since replacing Kyle Orton in October, record that propelled his team to their first AFC West title since 2005. In addition, Tebow was notorious this season for playing in games in which he played the first three quarters terribly as the defense and runnning game played well enough to keep the games close, and then suddenly kick into high gear late in the 4th quarter, leading Denver into multiple late game winning drives. Perhaps the two most famous examples of this came in week 11 against the Jets when he helped his team win 17-13 on a 95 yard drive late in the 4th, and in week 14 against the Bears, when Chicago choked just well enough to help Denver come from a ten point deficit to win 13-10 in overtime.
As each and every win occurred, Tebow's status as one of the most higly polarizing player in the league grew, along with the attention of the populist pandering sports media (looking at you, ESPN!). You either loved him, and his unique and imperfect playing style or you hated his guts and wished for him to lose just so the undeserved media attention on him could go away. Since that week 14 win over the Bears, the Broncos ended the season by losing three games in a row (including a 7-3 loss to the Chiefs led by Orton, who Denver dropped as a result of his success as starter), yet it's because the rest of the division was so bad that this year that they barely escaped out of it with a playoff berth as an 8-8. He's now set to take on the Pittsburgh Steelers in his first ever career playoff game this Sunday in which he and his team will play as underdogs. Will the Broncos surprise everyone yet again, or is their magic of the 2011 season simply gone since defenses like the Patriots and the Bills finally discovered a blueprint to stopping him? We shall see.
NAVY Seal Team Six
Thanks to the efforts of these six United States soldiers (and one dog), the plan to execute Al Qaeda leader and 9/11 attacks organizer Osama Bin Laden, as secretly ordered by President Obama and the White House staff, was an official success on the night of May 1st, as the team was able to raid inside Bin Laden's Pakistani compound, find the man in his room, and shoot him to death with a bullet to the forehead and eyes. As of today, the identities of these NAVY Seals have yet to be released to the public, but whoever they are, these people still remain American heroes just as much today as they were seven months ago.
Mitt Romney, Ron Paul, Herman Cain, Michelle Bachmann, and Everyone Involved in the Republican Race for President
This year, the campaigning for the Republican nomination in the 2012 election, officially went under way, and boy was did it have it's moments! From those 172 different debates to anti-Romney/anti-Paul conservatives constantly flip-flopping on their candidate of choice (first it was Mike Huckabee, then Donald Trump, then Michelle Bachmann, then Rick Perry, then Herman Cain, then Newt Gingrich, to their current flavor of the month in Rick Santorum) to all those gaffes and everything in between, this primary has lived up to the hype and then some. But that was in 2011. We're in 2012 now. Currently, only seven candidates remain, and the elections have already just begun with last night's Iowa caucus. Time to finally wind down the candidates until we finally see which man (and I say man because Bachmann peaked too early and no longer has a shot) is chosen by the GOP as the candidate to take down Obama. Consider all that has happened in the past six months or so, it should be very interesting to see how the rest of the election plays out.
Once again, congrats to each of the runner-ups on their memorable years. But for now, it's time for the big reveal you've all been waiting for. The mj15's Blog's selection for 2011's Person of the Year are...
PROTESTORS!
TIME Magazine basically had the right idea this time when selecting their own choice for Person of the Year last month (unlike last year when they selected Mark Zuckerberg over Julian Assange). Because for anyone who has followed the news throughout 2011 knew, this past year has been dominated by protesters, and not just the ones who protested in the Middle East (like Wael Ghonim during the Egypt protests, or Mohamed Bouzazi, whose live demonstration in early January of setting himself on fire was the action that sparked the Tunisian uprising in the first place). Look no further than in the United States as an example, where the Occupy Wall Street (and their hundreds of spin-off protests it helped create) took center stage this past fall, and is even still going, albeit in a much more minor fashion. In Europe, there were the London riots, the protests that occurred during the European debt crisis, and the protests in Russia late in December when citizens believed that their election was rigged due to supporters of Vladimir Putin and his United Russia party stuffing ballot boxes. And then there was eastern Asia, which were in the news this year for protests across the nation in places like Japan and the Phillipines with rallies started under the same intentions as Occupy Wall Street," and for Tibetan monks protesting against their continued oppression by China, to name a few.
2011 wasn't the first time that protests were in the news in a big way, and it certainly won't be the long. As long as there are a group of people pissed off with the way they're being treated by their nation's leader, there will be rallies and demonstrators, some of which resulting in major changes as the ones we saw take place in parts of Africa and the Middle East earlier that year. But this year in protests were notable in two ways: a) for creating the biggest change in Middle Eastern politics in nearly thirty years, and b) for being one of the first examples of major protests of these magnitudes being launched through social media, specifically websites Facebook and Twitter. It's how many of the rallies began during the Arab Spring, it's how Occupy Wall Street was organized, it's how the majority of all of these protests mentioned began and it's just another sign of how important these devices had become to the way that our species has grown more important of these devices.Kind of makes you wonder just how other memorable protests in the past (the Russian revolution and the French revolutions, for example) would have been handled had they been able to use 140 characters or less to give orders on how to act.
And with that, "End of the Year 2011" has officially come to an end. Thank you so much, as always, for spending a good chunk of time reading something that probably made you wanna go "tl;dr" halfway through. The mj15 Blog is still currently running on its special winter schedule, with my NFL wild card picks being the only remaining thing on my blog to-do list for this week. The usual regular schedule of "Random Thoughts," NFL picks and "End of the Week" should start up again for beginning next week. So, after all the crazy stuff that we saw happening in 2011, was news stories and interesting items of pop culture will await for us in 2012 (besides the planned stuff, of course, like the Summer Olympics and the U.S. Presidential election)? Only time will tell.
Sincerely,
Your pal: mj15
If you have any opinions on today's post, or if you just have any suggestions or tips for my next blog entry, e-mail me at: mj1599@aol.com. Your e-mails are greatly appreciated.
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