A Decade in Review: 2007

January

NEWS

• President Bush announces plans for a “surge” (a short period of increased troops) to try and end the conflict in Iraq. He names Gen. David Petraeus the top commander in Iraq.
• Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York officially announces her intention to run for President.
• Bulgaria and Romania join the European Union.
• Russian oil supplies to Ukraine, Germany, Poland and Belarus are cut due to an escalating price dispute. As Russia is the main source for most of these countries, this causes widespread craziness. Supplies are restored three days later.

ARTS

• The Shins’ album Wincing the Night Away is a surprise hit, signaling the “indie rock” community reaching full-fledged mainstream acceptance.
• Somehow, Celebrity Big Brother manages to cause protests in both the U.K. and India after charges of racism are leveled.

SPORTS

• Soccer superstar David Beckham agrees to join Major League Soccer’s Los Angeles Galaxy.
• The Ohio State Buckeyes do not look like they belong on the same field against Florida in the NCAA football National Championship and get blown out.
• Kentucky Derby-winner Barbaro is finally put down after several months where it was thought he might recover. Much debate ensues regarding whether horse racing is too dangerous.

February

NEWS

• Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois announces his candidacy for President from the steps of the Illinois State House in Springfield.
• Also officially announcing his candidacy is Sen. John McCain of Arizona, who had finished second in the 2000 Republican race.
• Vice President Cheney visits Afghanistan, where a suicide bomber apparently attempts to kill him. The Vice President is not present when the bomb goes off.
  The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change issues a report stating that global warming is “very likely” to have a human cause.
• Chinese President Hu Jintao signs a series of economic deals with the government of Sudan, raising allegations that China is complicit in the Darfur situation.
• Meanwhile, world stock markets plummet after both China and Europe issue smaller-than-expected growth reports in what becomes known as the “Chinese Correction.”
• Astronaut Lisa Nowak causes a media sensation for her attack on a romantic rival. Wacky details continue to emerge for several days, including the fact that Nowak wore a diaper while driving cross-country so she wouldn’t have to stop to use the bathroom.

ARTS

• Martin Scorsese finally wins his Oscar for The Departed, which takes Best Picture and Best Director.
• Fall Out Boy, and pop-punk as a subgenre in general, reach the zenith of their popularity with the release of their album Infinity on High.
• The Dixie Chicks sweep Song, Record, and Album of the Year at the Grammys.
• The O.C. goes off the air, having successfully brought back the prime-time teen soap and then gone off the rails.
• Anna Nicole Smith dies, causing one of the decade’s least justifiable media circuses.

SPORTS

• Peyton Manning, perhaps the biggest star of his era, finally gets his Super Bowl championship when the Indianapolis Colts defeat the Chicago Bears in Super Bowl XLI.
• Tennessee CB PacMan Jones instigates one of the more entertaining sports scandals of the decade after his attempt to shower strippers in dollar bills ends in someone getting shot. He has since played again, but this pretty much signaled the end of Mr. Jones’ young career.

March

NEWS

• As talk of a “surge” continues, a series of suicide bombings kills hundreds in Iraq, including several attempts on the lives of international leaders, including U.N. Secretary General Ban-Ki Moon. Both houses of Congress vote to remove all troops from Iraq by March 2008, but President Bush vetoes the bill.
• Scooter Libby, former Chief of Staff to Vice President Cheney, is found guilty of perjury and obstruction of justice in the Valerie Plame case.
• Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina announces that he will run for President despite the recent revelation that his wife has cancer.
• In Zimbabwe, President Robert Mugabe’s arrest of several opposition leaders, including Morgan Tsangvirai, sparks mass protest and an international crisis.
• A similar situation ensues in Pakistan after President Pervez Musharraf has the nation’s Chief Justice arrested for “abuse of power”.
• Congress investigates the firing of eight U.S. District Attorneys by the Bush administration, believing them to have been politically motivated. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales acknowledges that “mistakes were made”.
• Turkey bans access to YouTube after clips insulting Ataturk are found on the site. This act is illegal in Turkey.
• President Bush goes on a tour of several South American nations, but is greeted everywhere he goes by mass protests.
• The U.S. Supreme Court strikes down Washington D.C.’s anti-hand guns law (essentially a ban), holding that it violates the Second Amendment.
• Congressman Pete Stark of California becomes the first member of the U.S. Congress to openly state that he does not believe in God.
• Switzerland accidentally invades Liechtenstein after a platoon of soldiers gets lost.

ARTS

• Media giant Viacom, who owns broadcast network CBS and several cable channels as well as Paramount Pictures, decides to sue Google and its subsidiary, YouTube, for posting its products in violation of copyright law.
• Zack Snyder’s crazy sword-and-sandals graphic novel adaptation 300 is a box office hit, produces several iconic over-the-top lines, and sets new trends for action movies.
• David Fincher’s nearly three hour drama Zodiac, about the vain search for a serial killer in 1970s San Francisco, is released. It becomes one of my favorite films of the decade.
• R.E.M. and Van Halen are among those inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

SPORTS

• Former Major League pitcher Ugueth Urbina is sentenced to 14 years in prison in his native Venezuela after apparently trying to hack someone to death with a machete.
  

April

NEWS

• A student named Seung-Hui Cho goes on a violent rampage on the campus of Virginia Tech, killing 32 and wounding many others prior to committing suicide. It is soon revealed that Cho had sent an large package to NBC just prior to the shootings, in which he rants angrily about his fellow students. The state of Virginia tightens gun laws within the month.
• The U.S. and Australia issue public warnings telling their citizens not to travel to the Philippines, apparently due to some supposedly imminent terrorist threat.
• Former Secretary of Health and Human Services Tommy Thompson and Former Senator Fred Thompson enter the race for the Republican Presidential nomination.
• Gov. John Corzine of New Jersey suffers multiple injuries after a hit-and-run accident on the Garden State Parkway. Police reports show he was not wearing his seatbelt.
• The Mayor of Nagasaki, Japan is assassinated outside his re-election campaign headquarters, apparently by the Yakuza.
• Boris Yeltsin dies.
• The V.A. officially allows Wiccan symbols to appear on the headstones of deceased soldiers.

ARTS

• Author Kurt Vonnegut dies.
• Talk radio host Don Imus causes a circus-level scandal after he refers to the Rutgers women’s basketball team as “nappy-headed hos” on his program. CBS Radio ends up firing him, though he eventually returns to the airwaves.
• Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez’s weird experiment Grindhouse is released in theaters and pretty much fails at the box office.
• Avril Lavigne’s ridiculously catchy “Girlfriend” is a #1 hit.
• Nine Inch Nails release The Year Zero, their last studio album prior to going on “indefinite hiatus”. I play it so much this summer that my roommate has to ask me to stop.

SPORTS

• The Florida Gators defeat the Ohio State Buckeyes in the final of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament. Ironically, Florida becomes the first school ever to win the national basketball and football titles in the same year, and in both cases defeated Ohio State in the final.

May

NEWS

• The 2008 Republican Presidential candidates debate for the first time. The field includes John McCain, Mike Huckabee, Mitt Romney, Ron Paul, Fred Thompson, Duncan Hunter, Rudy Giuliani, Sam Brownback, Tom Tancredo, and Tommy Thompson.
• Gov. Bill Richardson of New Mexico, announces he is running for President.
• Footage showing a 17-year-old Kurdish girl being publicly stoned to death is posted on YouTube, causing widespread international outcry.
• Conservative candidate Nicolas Sarkozy is elected President of France. Many predict this will end an era of tense relations between the U.S. and France. This only sort of happens.
• A compromise measure continuing funding of the Iraq war makes it through Congress. It sets “achievement benchmarks” as a condition of the funding.
• Former Bush administration official Paul Wolfowitz resigns as head of the World Bank after alleged repeated ethics violations.
• Six muslim men are arrested on charges that they were plotting a terrorist attack against Fort Dix in New Jersey.
• Jerry Falwell dies.
• I graduate from college.

ARTS

• Spider-Man 3 is thought by most not to be close in quality to the first two films of the series but still sets yet another opening weekend box office record. Topher Grace and Thomas Haden Church play the villains Venom and Sandman.
• Also released this month is Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End, which concludes the improbably trilogy and goes on to become the year’s highest grossing film.
• The Palme d’Or at Cannes goes to the Romanian film 4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days. It becomes one of the most critically acclaimed films of the decade but never really gets a decent release in the U.S.
• Michael Chabon’s noirish alternate history The Yiddish Policeman’s Union is published. It eventually earns a Hugo, thought by some to signal hardcore sci-fi’s acceptance of mainstream popularity.
• A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini is published.
• Linkin Park’s Minutes to Midnight album is a megahit.

SPORTS

• The first F.A. Cup final is played at the new Wembley Stadium in London. Chelsea beats Manchester United 1-0 in overtime.
• Later this month, AC Milan defeats Liverpool for the Champions League title.
• Dogfighting allegations emerge against superstar Atlanta Falcons QB Michael Vick. He eventually loses his job with the Falcons and spends several months in prison, though he has since returned to the NFL.

June

NEWS

• Apple releases the iPhone, leading to the mass adoption of the PDA.
• Gordon Brown, formerly Chancellor of the Exchequer, replaces Tony Blair as leader of the Labor Party and Prime Minister of Great Britain.
• Turkish forces cross (or maybe do not cross) the Iraqi border while pursuing Kurdish militants, adding an extra bit of international crisis to the already chaotic Iraq situation.
• The European Union issues a report revealing “secret prisons” by the United States in Poland and Romania in which terror suspects could be held and tortured without public record.
• A car on fire crashes into the main terminal building at Glasgow International Airport, but fails to explode in an apparently foiled terrorist attack. Security pulls two men from the wreckage and beats the crap out of them.
• Both houses of Congress pass a bill that would ease restrictions on funding for stem cell research, but President Bush vetoes it.
• Michael Bloomberg, the Mayor of New York City, leaves the Republican Party and registers as an Independent.
• Sen. Larry Craig of Idaho is arrested at the Minneapolis airport for supposedly soliciting a male undercover officer for sex in the men’s bathroom using coded signals. Sen. Craig confesses, but later retracts this, stating he didn’t fully realize what was going on.
• Japan officially changes the name of Iwo Jima to Iwo To, “to reflect the wishes of its original inhabitants.”
• The Bald Eagle is removed from the endangered species list.

ARTS

• The final episode of The Sopranos is aired. Its ending, a mid-scene cut to black, is heavily debated across America.
• Flight of the Conchords debuts on HBO.
• The comedy Knocked Up makes a star out of Seth Rogen and signals Judd Apatow’s takeover of Hollywood comedy.
• Rihanna’s album Good Girl Gone Bad is released. It spawns several hits, notably “Umbrella” and “Disturbia”.
• MSNBC anchor Mika Brzezinski protests on air when she is forced to lead with Paris Hilton being released from prison instead of the Iraq War, and at one point attempts to set her script on fire on air but is prevented by her co-anchor.

SPORTS

• The Cleveland Cavaliers and LeBron James make a very fun run to the NBA finals, highlighted by James’ single-handed domination of the Detroit Pistons in the Eastern Conference Finals. However, the team runs into a brick wall in the NBA Finals and is swept by the San Antonio Spurs.
• The Anaheim Ducks become another very random Stanley Cup winner in five games over the Ottawa Senators.

July

NEWS

• Democratic Party presidential candidates, including Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, John Edwards, Bill Richardson, Dennis Kucinich, Joe Biden, and Mike Gravel, answer questions submitted via YouTube in an interactive debate.
• President Bush pardons Scooter Libby for his role in the Plame Affair, because why not at this point, right?
• A list of names of alleged clients of a Washington D.C. escort service (the so-called “D.C. Madam Case”) are released. Most prominent is Sen. David Vitter of Lousiana, who admits to the allegations and apologizes but does not resign.
• The National Counterterrorism Center issues a reporting stating that “al-Qaeda has regrouped to an extent not seen since 2001.” President Bush responds that this is “simply not the case.”
• Conflict breaks out in the Pakistani province of Waziristan, on the Afghan border. At least 24 Pakistani soldiers are killed in a suicide attack. The conflict continues to this day.
• Portugal legalizes abortion.
• Rupert Murdoch buys Dow Jones (and hence the Wall Street Journal) for $5 billion.
• A heat wave kills several hundred in Eastern Europe.
• Two news helicopters collide while trying to cover a high-speed chase in Phoenix, killing all on board.
• The U.S. minimum wage increases for the first time in ten years, to $5.85 per hour.
• The Burj Dubai overtakes Taipei 101 as the world’s tallest building and is still a year or so away from completion.

ARTS

• The final book in J.K. Rowling’s mega-bestselling Harry Potter series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, is published to mostly good reviews. It sells a record 11 million copies in the first 24 hours.
• Meanwhile, the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (the first of the films directed by David Yates, who will gain critical praise as he finishes out the series) is another hit in theaters.
• AMC premieres its first original drama series, Mad Men, about 1960s ad executives. It becomes a surprise critical hit, and before long becomes the closest thing in a while to the consensus best show on TV.
• Michael Bay’s Transformers film officially makes superstars of Shia LaBoeuf and Megan Fox and is a box office hit of surprising proportions.
• Drew Carey replaces Bob Barker as host of The Price Is Right.
• Film Directors Ingmar Bergman and Michelangelo Antonioni die.

SPORTS

• The 2007 Tour de France is nearly destroyed by doping allegations, as multiple race leaders test positive during the course of the race and more than one entire team withdraws from the race. It is eventually won by Alberto Contador.
• The International Olympic Committee selects Sochi, Russia as host of the 2012 Winter Olympics.
• 21 Chilean soccer players are arrested after they scuffle with Toronto police following a game in the U-20 World Cup

August

NEWS

• The I-35W bridge over the Mississippi River in Minneapolis suddenly collapses during evening rush hour, killing 13 and injuring 135. The ensuing investigation reveals that much of the U.S. infrastructure is not properly maintained and decaying.
• The “Subprime Mortgage Crisis” hits the fan. Foreclosures begin in numbers not seen since the Depression. Stock markets worldwide take a nose dive.
• Attorney General Alberto Gonzales announces his resignation. Many connect it to the investigation into Justice Department firing of district attorneys. Also resigning this month is Karl Rove, Bush campaign guru and White House Deputy Chief of Staff.
• A court in Iowa rules that gay marriage must be allowed under the state constitution, making it the first “middle America” state to legalize the practice.
• An earthquake kills over 500 in Peru.
• The first-ever U.N. special session on climate change is extended an extra day because there are so many “worried nations” that want to describe their climate-related problems.
• Democratic Presidential participate in a forum focusing on gay and lesbian issues, a first for a major party.

ARTS

• The Disney Channel’s High School Musical 2 becomes the most-watched program in cable TV history.

SPORTS

• Barry Bonds, under a cloud of steroid suspicion, breaks the all-time career home run record while playing for the San Francisco Giants when he hits his 756^th against the Washington Nationals, passing Hank Aaron.
• The Texas Rangers break another record by scoring 30 runs in a single game against a hapless Baltimore Orioles squad.

September

NEWS

• The U.K. begins to pull out of its main Iraq base at Basra, handing control over to the local Iraqi government. President Bush orders “gradual” reductions in American troops but stands firm against “drastic” reductions.
• The Financial Times reports that China recently successfully hacked into the Pentagon’s main computer network.
• Massive flooding in Mozambique leaves hundreds of thousands homeless and at least 200 dead.
• Millionaire adventurer Steve Fossett is reported missing over the Nevada desert. He is never found.
  
• The high-speed Eurostar train line is opened between Paris and London.
• A video surfaces of Osama bin Laden, his first public appearance since 2004. There had been rumors that he was dead.
• Thousands march in Buddhist-led anti-government protests in Rangoon, the largest public uprising in Myanmar in 20 years. The government cuts off the internet and cracks down.
• The so-called “Jena Six”, a group of African-American youths jailed after a schoolyard brawl, are supported by tens of thousands of protestors who descend on the Louisiana town.
• President Bush nominates Michael Mukasey to be the new Attorney General.
• Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad travels to New York City to speak to the United Nations, but gets headlines for a speech at Columbia University in which he denies the Holocaust, says Americans should look at “who was truly involved” in the 9/11 attacks, and says that there is no such thing as gay Iranians.
• Gen. David Petraeus testifies against troop decreases in Iraq before a Congressional committee. MoveOn.org takes out a full page ad in the New York Times calling him “General Betray Us”.
• Andrew Meyer, a 21-year-old undergrad, interrupts a speech by Sen. John Kerry at the University of Florida and ends up getting tackled and tasered. The incident is of course immediately uploaded to YouTube, resulting in Meyer’s cry of “Don’t taze me, bro!” becoming a national catchphrase.
• The Canadian dollar reaches parity with the American dollar for the first time since 1976.

ARTS

• Halo 3 is released for the Xbox360. It breaks every sales record on the books for video games.
• Kanye West and 50 Cent release albums the same week. West’s Graduation debuts at number one.
• The networks somehow manage to produce a fall schedule without a single major new hit, prompting some to declare the era of network dominance over.
• Author Madeleine L’Engle and singer Luciano Pavarotti die.

SPORTS

• Jamaican sprinter Asafa Powell sets a new 100m World Record of 9.74 seconds while running in a meet in Rieti, Italy.
• FCS team Appalachian State beats national power Michigan, 35-32, in what some call the biggest upset in College Football history. Michigan has since entered a downward spiral.
• Former NFL star O.J. Simpson is charged with six felonies in regards to an attempted robbery at a sports memorabilia auction in Las Vegas. He claims he was just trying to get his stuff back.
• The New York Mets lead the Philadelphia Phillies in the NL East by seven games with seventeen left to play but completely collapse and fail to make the playoffs.

October

NEWS

• Former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto returns to her home country after an eight year exile. Thousands greet her in Karachi. Two bombs go off nearby, killing over 100.
• Leaders of the European Union reach agreement on the Lisbon Treaty strengthening relations among member states.
• Meanwhile, the Euro reaches a record high against the dollar.
• Wildfires in Southern California force a million people to temporarily evacuate. Gov. Schwarzenegger announces that he will “personally hunt down” those responsible for starting the fires.
• President Bush asks Congress for another $189 billion to fund the war in Iraq.
• Apple releases the Leopard operating system.

ARTS

• Radiohead, without a record contract, releases its album In Rainbows online, allowing consumers to pay any price they want for it. This is apparently a great success. I pay 2 pounds.

SPORTS

• The Cleveland Indians have probably their best season of the decade behind stars like C.C. Sabathia, Grady Sizemore, and Victor Martinez. They upset the New York Yankees in the first round of the playoffs and are three games up on the Boston Red Sox in the ALCS before falling apart like a house of cards.
• The surprising Colorado Rockies win 14 of their last 15 to squeak into the playoffs and then sweep their way to an NL title.
• The Rockies then run into a brick wall against the Boston Red Sox and crash out of the World Series. The Red Sox win their second title in four years and Boston sports fans become increasingly hard to live with.
• Five-time Olympic medalist Marion Jones tearfully admits at a press conference to using performance-enhancing drugs throughout her athletic career. She is eventually stripped of all medals. Recently the IOC ruled that the 2004 Women’s 100m that Jones won never officially happened.
• South Africa defeats England in the finals of the 2007 Rugby World Cup.

November

NEWS

• Pervez Musharraf declares a National State of Emergency in Pakistan, resulting in widespread protests and arrests. He engages in power-sharing talks with Benazir Bhutto, which go nowhere.
• The Labor Party wins elections in Australia, with Kevin Rudd as the new Prime Minister.
• The Writers Guild of America goes on strike over a dispute with studios over residuals, particularly for internet video. Television shows shut down production, and many movies later released are obviously lacking badly-needed rewrites. The strike drags on for weeks before the union essentially caves.
• France is disrupted by massive transport and energy worker strikes in response to Nicolas Sarkozy’s proposed welfare and pension reforms.

ARTS

• The Coen Brothers’ Cormac McCarthy adaptation No Country for Old Men draws critical raves and sharply divides audiences (I remember the people behind me in the theater declaring it the worst movie they’d ever seen). Many consider it one of the decade’s definitive films.
• Former Bush Press Secretary Scott McClellan publishes a “tell-all” book, including allegations that President Bush himself was involved in the Plame affair.
• Norman Mailer dies.

SPORTS

• Baseball superstar Barry Bonds is indicted by a San Francisco Grand Jury for perjury, apparently for lying under oath about his use of steroids. Though he never officially retires, no team will hire him to play for them after this.
• Daredevil Evel Knievel dies.
• Sean Taylor, star Safety for the Washington Redskins and formerly for the University of Miami, is murdered in his home after he catches burglars in the act.

December

NEWS

• A suicide bomber assassinates Benazir Bhutto and 22 others at a rally in Rawalpindi, Pakistan.
• Kevin Rudd is sworn in as Prime Minister of Australia and immediately signs the Kyoto Protocol, leaving the U.S. as the only major hold-out.
• The U.S. Senate passes an energy bill that increases automobile fuel economy standards for the first time in three decades.
• Nepal abolishes its 240-year-old monarchy.
• Sen. Barack Obama receives the public presidential endorsement of Oprah Winfrey.

ARTS

• Oscar-bait films are in full swing. Paul Thomas Anderson’s unique oil epic There Will Be Blood is hailed as a major achievement, while screenwriter Diablo Cody bursts onto the scene for her quirky teen pregnancy drama Juno. It will earn a Best Picture nomination while Cody wins a Writing Oscar.
• Will Smith’s apocalyptic I Am Legend sets records for a December opening.
• Ike Turner dies.

SPORTS

• The Mitchell Report into steroids in Major League Baseball is released, and though it receives heavy criticism on a variety of fronts, it reveals wide-spread steroid use throughout the mid-90s. Several well-known players are mentioned by name, among them Yankees star pitchers Andy Pettitte, who immediately admits his wrongdoing and Roger Clemens, who does not.
• The New England Patriots become the first team since 1972 to finish an NFL regular season undefeated. They destroy every scoring record in the book, as Tom Brady breaks the single season Passing TD record with 50 and Randy Moss breaks the single season Receiving TD record with 23. The Patriots are roundly accused by running up the score on battered opposing defenses, continuing to pass well into the fourth quarter with huge leads. The final regular season game versus the New York Giants is broadcast on ESPN and becomes the highest rated cable program in history.