Some highlights from 2006
1. The ubiquitous YouTube, MySpace, etc. Time magazine made the world wide web its Person of the Year.
2. Major deaths: James Brown, Ahmet Ertegun, Robert Altman. All incredibly influential, all deserving of more due. The world is a lesser place with their losses.
3. Mel Gibson. His drunken, racist tirade made him the center of attention in July. “Apocalypto” put him on top of the box office in December.
4. Race and rants. Gibson’s outburst (and others, notably Michael Richards’) started talk about race, ethnicity and prejudice, but whether the discussion was enlightening or simply a frenzy of yelling is an open question.
5. Lost love. The breakups were particularly high-profile this year: Paul McCartney split from Heather Mills, Hilary Swank called it quits with Chad Lowe, Reese Witherspoon said goodbye to Ryan Phillippe, Jennifer Aniston and Vince Vaughn apparently ended a relationship they never admitted to … and then there was Britney and K-Fed, too.
6. James Frey. First he admitted to embellishing his life story, then to changing it, finally to … well, who knows? Oprah was taken in, his book was an Oprah Book Club selection. Well when she found out he was lying, oh boy!
7. Steve Irwin. The “Crocodile Hunter’s” death in September shocked the world.
8. Borat. Sacha Baron Cohen’s clever Kazakh character topped the box office and started discussions on the value of satire. High-five!
9. Celebrities and Africa. Some attracted cameras (George Clooney in Darfur, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie in Namibia), some appeared to invite them (Madonna). Regardless of the reasons, perhaps the exposure will do some good.
Top 20 shows
- CSI
- Survivor
- Desperate Housewives
- Dancing with the Stars
- CSI: Miami
- Without a Trace
- Monday Night Football
- Grey’s Anatomy
- House, M.D.
- 24
- Unan1mous
- NCIS
- Lost
- Two and a Half Men
- Deal or No Deal
- CSI: NY
- Cold Case
- Extreme Makeover: Home Edition
- 60 Minutes
| Rank | Title | Distributor | Worldwide gross |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest | Disney | $1,066,179,725 |
| 2. | The Da Vinci Code | Columbia | $758,239,851 |
| 3. | Ice Age: The Meltdown | 20th Century Fox | $660,940,780 |
| 4. | Casino Royale | MGM / Columbia | $599,045,960 |
| 5. | Night at the Museum | 20th Century Fox | $574,480,841 |
| 6. | Cars | Disney | $462,216,280 |
| 7. | X-Men: The Last Stand | 20th Century Fox | $459,359,555 |
| 8. | Mission: Impossible III | Paramount | $397,850,012 |
| 9. | Superman Returns | Warner Bros. | $391,081,192 |
| 10. | Happy Feet | $384,335,608 |
Most popular books published in 2006
1 Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
2 Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
3 New Moon (Twilight, #2) by Stephenie Meyer
4 The Girl Who Played with Fire (Millennium, #2) by Stieg Larsson
5 The Road by Cormac McCarthy
6 The Sea of Monsters (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, #2) by Rick Riordan
7 Dear John by Nicholas Sparks
8 An Abundance of Katherines by John Green
9 Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn
10 World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War by Max Brooks)
11 The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne
Sports
NFL MVP – Ladainian Tomlinson, San Diego Chargers
NBA MVP – Steve Nash, Phoenix Suns
NHL MVP – Sidney Crosby, Pittsburgh Penguins
MLB American League MVP – Justin Morneau, Minnesota Twins
MLB National League MVP – Ryan Howard, Philadelphia Phillies
US Open Men’s Champion – Roger Federer
US Open Women’s Champion – Maria Sharapova