Sunday, January 02, 2011

2010! - The Year In Review

We say goodbye to 2010. A year that gave us Jedward, vuvuzelas, Wikileaks and the iPad.

A year in which George Lee ran from the Dáil with his tail between his legs and Neil Prendeville masturbated on a plane; a year of considerable debt crisis in Europe and political crisis in Thailand.

The BP oil spill, flooding in Pakistan, earthquakes in China and Haiti and the eruption of Eyjafjallajokull.

We saw an end to combat missions Iraq, a sequel to Iron Man, Spain taking the World Cup and Chilean miners being rescued.

Stan McCrystal takes early retirement and Conan is ousted from NBC but opens triumphantly on TBS. Duke Nukem is declared "alive"!

And Whopper's Bunker celebrates it's 5th Anniversary.

Finally, as always, we remember those lost in 2010:
Barbara Billingsley, 94, American actress [Airplane! -"I speak Jive!"]
Tom Bosley, 83, American actor [Happy Days, Father Dowling Mysteries]
Geoffrey Burgon, 69, British composer [Robin Hood, Monty Python’s Life Of Brian]
Stephen J. Cannell, 69, American TV producer and writer [The A-Team]
Christopher Cazenove, 64, British actor [Dynasty]
Chao-Li Chi, 83, Chinese-born American actor [Falcon Crest]
Gary Coleman, 42, American actor [Diff'rent Strokes]
Robert Culp, 79, American actor [The Greatest American Hero]
Tony Curtis, 85, American actor [Some Like It Hot, Spartacus]
Dino De Laurentiis, 91, Italian film producer [Dune, Conan The Barbarian]
Michael Dwyer, 58, Irish journalist and film critic
Blake Edwards, 88, American film director, producer and screenwriter [The Pink Panther series, The Party]
John Forsythe, 92, American actor [Charlie's Angels, Dynasty]
Frank Frazetta, 82, American fantasy and science fiction artist
Ron Gans, 79, American voice actor [Transformers]
Greg Giraldo, 44, American comedian [Comedy Central Roast]
Peter Graves, 83, American actor [Mission: Impossible, Airplane!]
Bob Guccione, 79, American publisher, founder of Penthouse
Corey Haim, 38, Canadian actor [The Lost Boys]
Alex "Hurricane" Higgins, 61, Northern Irish snooker player
Phyllis Hodges Boyce, 73, American actress [Star Trek]
Dennis Hopper, 74, American actor and film director [Easy Rider, Speed]
Alan Hume, 85, British cinematographer [Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi]
Irvin Kershner, 87, American film director [Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back]
Andrew Koenig, 41, American actor, [Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Batman: Dead End, G.I.Joe: A Real American Hero]
Eugene Lambert, 82, Irish puppeteer and ventriloquist [Wanderley Wagon, Bosco]
Mick Lally, 64, Irish actor [Glenroe]
Simon MacCorkindale, 58, British actor [Falcon Crest, Manimal, Casualty]
Tom Mankiewicz, 68, American screenwriter [James Bond, Superman]
Bernard Matthews CVO, CBE, 80, British businessman [Bernard Matthews Farms]
Kevin McCarthy, 96, American actor [Invasion of the Body Snatchers]
Rue McClanahan, 76, American actress [The Golden Girls, Starship Troopers]
Grant McCune, 67, American Academy Award-winning visual effects artist [Star Wars]
Leslie Nielsen, 84, Canadian-born American actor [Airplane!, The Naked Gun]
Zelda Rubinstein, 76, American actress [Poltergeist]
J. D. Salinger, 91, American author [The Catcher In The Rye]
Jean Simmons, 80, British-born American actress [Great Expectations, Star Trek: The Next Generation]
Gareth Wigan, 78, British film studio executive [Star Wars, Chariots of Fire]
Edward Uhl, 92, American, co-inventor of the bazooka
Sir Norman Wisdom, 95, British comedian and actor
PC Zone, 17, British PC gaming magazine
We thank them for the entertainment they provided.

We also acknowledge the service of these military servicemen, astronauts and politicians who served with distinction:
General Lew Allen, 84, former NSA Director , former USAF Chief of Staff
First Sergeant Nick Bacon, 64, U.S. Army Medal of Honor recipient
First Lieutenant Vernon Baker, 90, U.S. Army Medal of Honor recipient
Corporal Melvin E. Biddle, 87, U.S. Army Medal of Honor recipient
David C. Dolby, 64, U.S. Army Medal of Honor recipient
Lieutenant General Dermot Earley, 62, former Chief of Staff of the Irish Defence Forces
Major General John Fugh, 75, first Chinese American O-7 in the U.S. Army, former Judge Advocate General of the U.S. Army
General Alexander Haig, 85, former U.S. Secretary of State, former Supreme Allied Commander Europe
Richard Holbrooke, 69, American diplomat, United States Special Envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan, former Ambassador to Germany, former Ambassador to the United Nations
Major General Jeanne M. Holm, 88, first female O-7 of the USAF and the first female O-8 in any U.S. service branch
Lieutenant Morris R. Jeppson, 87, USAAC officer, assistant weaponeer on the Enola Gay
Sergeant Allen Dale June, USMC, 91, American original Navajo code talker
Vice Admiral Sir Louis Le Bailly KBE, CB, 95, former Director-General of Intelligence, British Ministry of Defence
William B. Lenoir, 71, American NASA astronaut [STS-5]
First Sergeant David H. McNerney, 79, U.S. Army Medal of Honor recipient
John Murtha, 77, American politician, U.S. Representative from Pennsylvania, former USMC Colonel
General Frederick C. Weyand, U.S. Army, 93, last commander of US military operations in the Vietnam War
Polish Leaders and former leaders, Ryszard Kaczorowski, Lech Kaczyński and 94 others killed in The Polish Air Force Tu-154 crash.
May they all rest in peace.

As always there is balance to the force and there have been deaths that are most welcome, make the world a better place and should remain unmourned:
Vivian Blake, 53, Jamaican drug lord, Co-creator of crack
Ignacio Coronel Villarreal, 56, Mexican drug lord [Sinaloa Cartel]
Abu Daoud, 73, Palestinian military commander, planned 1972 Olympics massacre in Munich,
Tomás Mac Giolla, 86, Irish politician, former IRA terrorist, former President of Sinn Fein, former president of the Workers Party, former Lord Mayor of Dublin
Leroy Nash, 94, American murderer, oldest death row inmate
Gerry Ryan, 53, disgraced Irish DJ and drug abuser
Michael Seifert, 86, Soviet-born Nazi war criminal
Paul Schäfer, 88, German religious sect founder and former Nazi,
Erich Steidtmann, 95, German Nazi SS officer and alleged war criminal
James von Brunn, 89, American white supremacist
May they rot in hell.

And now folks
HAVE A GREAT 2011!

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