(525,600 minutes. That's how you measure it. Also, in love.)And so 2010 comes to a close. What a year it's been. Here's a quick look back.
Remember the 2010 Vancouver Olympics? Sure you do! That was THIS YEAR! I know, it doesn't seem like it, but it was. There were a lot of great stories that came out of the Olympics. Shawn White, Apollo Anton Ohno, Lindsey Vonn and Evan Lysacek I'm looking at you, but not only at you. So many great champions, and it was also really great to hear the Canadian National Anthem sung so many times in victory by the proud host country. OOOO CAAAANADAAAAA!!!!!
This year I saw a lot of movies. Scott Pilgrim vs. The World was my favorite movie of the year, but almost nobody saw it but me. Netflix it, y'all. You're missing out. Toy Story 3 made grown ups cry on its way to becoming the top grossing movie of the year. Everyone became very focused on spinning tops in Inception. 3-D movies were all the rage. Dragons were trained. Island's were shuttered. Titans clashed. Disney called Rapunzel "Tangled" so people would go see it, and it paid off. Sex and The City 2 was universally hated. And in the end, we learned the kids were indeed all right.
"The Bed Intruder Song" Youtube video took a news story about an almost rape, and made lemonade out of some really nasty lemons. Cee Lo Green gave the world one of the most amazing songs ever written which I spent many a day dancing in and out work listening to on my ipod. The Glee Cast dominated the charts by singing songs that were already dominating the charts. They also did a fun live concert tour. Lady Gaga wore meat dresses and made long-form music videos and went from someone I really wanted to punch in the face to someone who was kinda totally awesome. Bieber Fever exploded. Miley Cyrus imploded. LiLo went about as crazy as you can go without actually dying.
Roughly 37 million Hollywood icons actually died. Betty White lived it up like no one else. Simon Cowell left Am.Idol. Mia Michaels returned to an All-Star Season of SYTYCD. I broke up with Project Runway for good. Lil Russell lost back-to-back seasons of Survivor. The first All-Female team won at The Amazing Race. Lots of people (but not me) watched Jersey Shore and Teen Mom. Lost came to a mythologically frustrating, but emotionally satisfying conclusion. After months of drama Jennifer Grey finally vanquished Bristol Palin to the mirroball trophy on DWTS in an emotionally satisfying conclusion. True Blood focused on Vampires. Twilight: Eclipse focused on werewolves. The Walking Dead focused on zombies. Tiger Woods focused on apologizing for having 18,000 mistresses. The original Law & Order was inexplicably canceled right before it became the longest-running prime time drama in history. Jay Leno stole back The Tonight Show from Conan O'Brien when Jay's horrible new show tanked. Team Coco was born, Conan went on live tour and then got a new show on TBS. I'm with Coco.
It Gets Better became a national movement to help Gay Teens survive bullying and discrimination. Don't Ask Don't Tell was repealed. The 9/11 First Responders Bill finally passed Congress. Health Care reform finally passed on Congress. Prop 8 was overturned in California but is still extended indefinitely awaiting appeal. There are still roughly 83 wars going on across the world and none of them are going well. We continue to pray for our troops in harm's way and hope they can come home soon. Mid-term elections gave the House of Representatives to the Republicans but less than half the country is aware of it. Witchypoo Christine O'Donnell lost her Senate bid. So did Crazypants Sharron Angle. Michele Bachmann remained at large and was actually named to the House Intelligence Committee (!!!). Wikileaks had a field day declassifying all sorts of documents. There was a lot Tea Party anger, right wing fear-mongering, left wing hand wringing, a huge trumped up fight over building a cultural center a few blocks away from Ground Zero and a very nice rally to Restore Sanity And/Or Fear organized by Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert held in our Nation's Capital.
The world faced horrible natural disasters with the earthquakes in Haiti, the volcano eruptions in Iceland and the Gulf Oil spill that raged on and on. This is just to name a few. The Chilean miners were trapped ungerground and eventually, amazingly rescued. To close the year out, some big ol' storms dropped non-stop rain in California and dumped multiple feet of snow across the Eastern Coastline right at the end of the year creating quite a mess for everybody who was traveling for the holidays.
This year we also learned about vuvuzelas, met Paul the Octopus and cheered for Spain's World Cup win. At least I did. Also good for Sports in Spain? RAFAEL NADAL. Our Hero fought his way back to the No. 1 ranking, winning the French Open, Wimbledon and the US Open along the way to complete his career Grand Slam. I still can't believe I was at Roland Garros for the French Open Final. I went to Paris! Yay! Also the Saints won the Super Bowl, The SF Giants won the World Series, The Lakers won the NBA Finals, the Chicago Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup, and did I mention how well Rafa did this year??? I love him so much. But credit where credit is due, Roger Federer won the Aussie Open to begin the year and the Tour Finals to end it. Roger and Rafa also made this amazing video which still makes me smile whenever I watch it.
So that was the year at large. When I personally look back at 2010, I will remember it as being one of the most artistically satisfying years of my life so far. I started things out with a Die Vampire, Die! Workshop run by Susan Blackwell. It put me in a great creative mindset going forward. I sent my play into the Fringe Festival through Mind The Art Entertainment, got to do some singing on stage, took some improv classes where I met a great girl, had The Timing of A Day get accepted into Fringe and then we were off and running from like April to September. Putting up my first show in New York was a grueling, exciting, informative, scary and wonderful experience. I feel so lucky for the friendships that were made during the production and the existing ones that were strengthened through the process. The outpouring of support from people was so so soooo appreciated. To create something and have it put up on stage was a dream I always had for myself, but one I'd increasingly felt would not happen. But now has! And the show did really well for itself. And the experience brought into focus for me for what I want to continue to pursue in 2011. Since the end of Fringe, the production team has been working really hard to bring the show back and we look forward to making that a reality in 2011. I've also taken the last couple months to write three 10-minute plays and another full length one, on top of my blogging and, you know, work. So I'm keeping the creative inspiration going and continuing to write. Also I found time to see 30 performances by friends this year, plus 16 Broadway Shows and NYC Ballets. Looking back over the playbills and tickets stubs, everybody did a lot of great work this year. Super Inspiring!
There were plenty other personal highlights: another NYC marathon run, my delightful trip to Paris, my cameo in LMM's viral wedding video and lots more. For all the good things, there were a lot of painful times too, and the thought that keeps popping up in my head is that challenging times and painful experiences should not be allowed to prevent us from seeing the many blessings around us or experiencing the joy that can still be had. I take from 2010 a sense of accomplishment and an awareness that there is so much more work to be done.
Bring it, 2011!
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