Goodbye 2017
Across social media, 2016 was widely known as a 'bad' year - particularly due to a wave of celebrity deaths (more notably David Bowie and Carrie Fisher) although statistically the year was around the same or only slightly worse for notable deaths. Has 2017 been an improvement?
As far as personal opinion as well as the opinion of several professional critics goes, 2017 was a fantastic year for cinema.
-Logan brought a darker side to the X-men story - 8.1/10 iMDb.
-Get Out directed by Jordan Peele sparked a dialogue on racism - 7.7/10 iMDb.
-Blade Runner 2049 features Ryan Gosling and Harrison Ford in a return to the 1982 original - 8.3/10 iMDb.
-Dunkirk is directed by the legendary Christopher Nolan and features breathtaking cinematography - 8.1/10 iMDb.
Just to name a few.
2017 brought many influential albums, especially for hip-hop & rap.
-DAMN. is Kendrick Lamar's newest record featuring the hit Humble which has remained in charts for months and has amassed 400m views on YouTube alone.
-4:44 originally released exclusively on Tidal, much like Kanye West's 'Life of Pablo' and features the controversial single: The Story of OJ.
-Flower Boy has been described as Tyler the Creator's highest quality release, which attempts to stay away from his edgy past.
-The Saturation Trilogy brought frequent releases with consistent quality from Brockhampton, a collective or "boyband" led by Kevin Abstract.
-SpaceX launched a rocket in late December which lit up the California sky.
-Testla unveiled their electric semi truck.
-Apple released the iPhone X which took full advantage of face tracking technology.
-Bitcoin and cryptocurrency received a massive explosion in popularity with BTC peaking at $21k+
As expected, there must always be negatives.
Unfortunately in 2017 we lost actor John Hurt, Adam West, TV host Bruce Forsyth and notably Playboy founder Hugh Hefner among many others.
As of writing this post, ISIS is crushed and fleeing, however we still suffered several tragic terrorist incidents across the globe.
Protests rage on across parts of the Middle East and Europe.
Overall, 2017 has been a successful year for media and technology which was greatly accepted and needed for a depreciating society of endless bad news. A time to celebrate and have fun was welcome after tragedy. Trends pass as years change so let's hope 2018 will be great for business, recreational and self reflection. Here's to 2017, and a happy new year!