2007 has a lot going for it to keep it fresh in the mind's of pop culture fanatics ... for me, there wasn't really one overriding thing that stood out in my mind over any other (altho, all the celeb arrests and subsequent incarcerations kind of do stand out) most prolly because there was a whole lotta craziness that went down this past year. Most folks believe that Britney Spears is responsible for 90% of 2007's drama but, in fact, there were enough crazy celebs out there who provided their fair share of insanity this year. Even still, there were some very cool non-crazy things that went down ... and, of course, our fair share of deaths. Here is my look back at 2007 -- one helluva year:

Early in 2007, Steve Jobs announced that Apple would, at long last, be releasing the long-rumored iPhone by midyear ... almost immediately, iPhone mania swept the planet ... and the phone was still months away from release:


Isaiah Washington opened his stupid, homophobic mouth in a private argument with his Grey's Anatomy co-star Patrick Dempsey which, of course, meant that his remarks (he referred to co-star TR Knight as a "faggot" which eventually forced TR to come out of the closet) would make their way to the media and would result in his eventual firing from the show:


Madonna added the title of fashion designer to her resume when she teamed up with H&M to release her own line of clothing called M by Madonna:


Daniel Radcliffe threw off his wholesome image as Harry Potter and appeared in a London stage play called Equus where he had to appear, nightly, on stage in the nude:



Pete Doherty got caught shooting up drugs on video ... it was a typical Tuesday, I believe:


Michael Jackson's kids were allowed to see the light of day and we were allowed one of our first, rare glimpses of the children borne of Jacko's loins (which are, apparently, white):


Prince performed at the half time show for the Super Bowl in February:


Anna Nicole Smith's reckless life caught up with her as she Peaced the Spork Out due to a drug overdose ... mere months after her son died in the very same way:


Howard K. Stern, Anna Nicole's leechy lawyer, tried to convince the world that he was the father of her baby ... most probably so that he could enjoy all the money that baby was set to inhereit:


But Howard wasn't the only person who wanted control of Anna Nicole's baby ... Larry Birkhead (Anna's ex) and her mother Virgie Arthur all butted-heads in court for custody of the baby:


But in the end, Larry Birkhead was proved to be the baby's father and he was granted sole custody of little Danniellyn Hope ... and her immense fortune:



Tori Amos released a new album titled American Doll Posse:


Nine Inch Nails also released a new album this year ... the first 5 songs from the album, Year Zero, were leaked to fans via USB Flash Drives that were found in bathrooms at venues where the band played -- they were left there by Trent Reznor himself. The video from the first single Survivalism showed the world what Trent's vision of the future might be:



Matthew McConaughey spent most of the year sans shirt ... not that anyone minded:


Ricky Martin got mostly-nekkid too ... it was really his greatest accomplishment all year long:


Lane Garrison was sentenced to jailtime after he plead guilty to vehicular manslaughter after he was involved in a car accident that left one boy dead:


Comedian Richard Jeni Peaced the Spork Out:


Lindsay Lohan had her fair share of vehicular mishaps this year ... which eventually led to her arrest:


Tori Spelling gave birth to her first child:


Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt adopted a new child into their family, Pax Thien Jolie-Pitt:


Naomi Campbell's bad behavior caught up with her ... she was sentenced to a week's worth of community service -- which turned into a week-long fashion show for the paparazzi to photograph each day she showed up for "work":



Jesse Metcalfe submitted his hotness into a rehab program:


Mel B. aka Scary Spice gave birth to a baby that was fathered by Eddie Murphy, even tho he denied the child was his:


Old enemies Hilary Duff and Lindsay Lohan buried the hatchet this year as Linds showed up to support Hilary at her CD release party for her new album Dignity at The Abbey in West Hollywood, CA -- I was fortunate to be in attendance as well:


Lauren LC Conrad vehemently denied that she was involved in a sex tape with her ex-boyfriend Jason Whaler ... it would be this vicious rumor, allegedly spread by LC's nemisis Spencer Pratt and her ex-best friend Heidi Montag that would fuel the insanely addictive third season of the MTV "reality" show The Hills:



Radio talk show host Don Imus was fired from his job for uttering extremly racist and misogynistic remarks on the air about a female basketball team ... sadly, he would end the year by getting his job back:


Don Ho sadly Peaced the Spork Out:


Paris Hilton decided that she liked driving more than she liked obeying the law and a judge decided to make an example out of her by throwing her in jail ... only to have the LA Sheriff release her early ... only to have the angry judge order her back to jail to serve out her entire 20-some day sentence. Her eventual release after it was all said and done made world-wide headline news the entire day and most of the rest of the week:







The first stirrings of the new Batman sequel The Dark Knight happened as Spring got into full swing ... the first Joker sightings began to happen as year neared the halfway point:



Jonathan Rhys-Meyers joined the rehab club this year:


As did David Hasselhoff ... but only after a video of his insane drunkenness, which was shot by his daughter, made it's way to the airwaves:


Lindsay Lohan continued to party as much as she could:



And then she had some more trouble with her car:


And then she had some more trouble staying conscious:


Lindsay fled to the relative safety of rehab to avoid going to jail:


She really tried to be a good girl:


And ended up spending a lot of time in Utah at the Cirque Lodge Rehab Center. She eventually cleaned up her act, served about 15 mins of her jail sentence and managed to keep her nose out of trubs for the rest of the year:



Buffy the Vampire Slayer rose from the dead ... in comic book form ... Season 8 of the hit show found new life as a new comic book series:


The Spice Girls announced that they would be reuniting and going on a world-wide tour, much to the delight of young girls and gay men everywhere:


The iPhone was finally released in June and it became the must-have gadget of 2007:


Prince released a new album, Planet Earth, that he gave away for free in the UK:


The Simpsons made the transition to the big screen in The Simpsons Movie ... but they also made the transition into real life as 7-Eleven stores turned into "fictional" Kwik-E-Marts and real people turned into Simpsons characters -- all to promote the movie, of course:



Tori Spelling, thrilled to be a mother, got herself ordained to marry gay people:


JK Rowling released the final chapter in the Harry Potter saga and broke world-wide book sales records in the process:


Then she stunned the wizarding world and the parents of her young readers by announcing that Hogwart's Headmaster, Albus Dumbledore, was a gay man:


Very sadly, Tammy Faye Baker Messner lost her battle with cancer and Peaced the Spork Out:


Xtina Aguilera started having a hard time hiding the fact that she was pregs with her first child ... it wouldn't be until much later in the year when she would formally announce her pregnancy by appearing almost nude on the cover of Marie Claire magazine proudly showing off her baby bump:



Drew Carrey replaced the irreplaceable Bob Barker as the host of The Price is Right -- much to my chagrin:


Nicole Richie paid the piper for her DUI arrest:



But not before she went on 20/20 to tell the world she learned her lesson ... and to show off her burgeoning baby bump with babydaddy Joel Madden of Good Charlotte:



Pregs Nicole turned herself in to start serving her time and ended up completing her jailhouse stint in about an hour and a half:


Milo Ventimiglia was hawt and sexy:


Lance Bass released a memoir:


Merv Griffin Peaced the Spork Out:


Adam Pascal and Anthony Rapp reprised their roles as Roger and Mark in the hit Broadway show Rent for a limited engagement which I was very fortunate to see in person:


Owen Wilson thankfully survived a suicide attempt:


Luciano Pavarotti Peaced the Spork Out:


Vanessa Hudgens, of Disney's High School Musical fame, showed the world that she wasn't that innocent a girl when nude photos of her hit the InterWeb. She managed to weather the storm and was resigned by Disney to appear in the next installment of the High School Musical movie franchise:


Heidi Montag tried to get her singing career off the ground ... thus far, nothing's really come if it:


Amy Winehouse was an utter, sometimes bloody mess. She managed to make it thru 2007 alive despite all the dangerous shenanigans she endured ... and despite the incarceration of the love of her life, her hubby Blake Civil-Fielder:


Nick Hogan tried to explain away his involvement in the near fatal car crash that severly injured his friend John Graziano who was a passenger in the car he was driving:


Production began on the long-awaited Sex and the City movie:


Project Runway kicked off its 4th season:


Jennifer Lopez finally got pregnant:


Trent Reznor completed the terms of his recording contract with his record label -- he ends 2007 as a free man:


Bobby Brown almost died:


But he ended up surviving his alleged heart attack and was back on his feet, and on the performance stage, in no time:


The Buffy the Vampire Slayer Musical screenings enjoyed a short, fairly successful life touring the US before Fox put a stake thru its heart and ended the screenings altogether:


Robert Goulet Peaced the Spork Out:


The Writer's Guild of America went on strike and crippled Hollywood ... the year ended with the strike still in full swing, threatening TV shows for 2008:



Tori Amos revived her rape survival song Me and a Gun in a pretty surprising way while on tour for her American Doll Posse Tour:


The Spice Girls returned to the stage 10 years after they left the music scene as their Reunion Tour kicked off in Vancouver, British Columbia:


And Ike Turner Peaced the Spork Out:



Obvs there isn't enough time to recap every single thing that happened this year but these are the events that came to mind for me as the year comes to a close. It's been a whacky year ... one can only imagine how things will turn out in 2008.

[Permalink]