2013: A Year in GIFS (Part 1)

Oh 2013, you been so crazy. "It's gone by so fast" they say, but has it really? No. In a nutshell, the music industry hit new lows, the remakes and sequels came in abundance, 'Yeezus' & 'Yoncé ' were born and twerking (more appropriately, "twerking") killed us all. Anyway, here we are. Starting off with:

January

What even happened in January? Practically a lifetime ago, Justin Timberlake dropped this video, telling us that he's just about had enough of making mediocre movies for the time being and will go back to doing what he was born to do - making incredible music. It was only 10 days into the new year and the excitement for new music from our faves was at an all time high. 

This was me:

You:

And this was Britney:

More on her later.

The nominations for the 85th Academy Awards were announced by Emma Stone and this years host Seth McFarlane, with Life of Pi, Lincoln, Silver Linings Playbook and Les Misérables leading the pack with a whopping 39 nominations between the four of them alone. Twitter-wide outrage swept the film community as Leonardo DiCaprio found himself without a nom for his portrayal as the evil slave owner, Calvin J. Candie in Django Unchained. Mysteriously left out of the race after what many described as one of his best performances, I feel like he deserved the recognition alone for smashing a glass, bleeding everywhere and carrying on with the scene. 

Never forget:

(This is actually from 2012 but it's perfect, no?)

February

It was still cold and disgusting outside, but on the 3rd, THE SUPERBOWL happened. AKA the one day a year where England pretends to be interested in American football and just sits waiting for the Half Time Show. Within the 2013 edition, we were graced with a 15 minute play-off from part-time mother, full-time flaw-free superstar Beyoncé  Giselle Knowles. Beyoncé , (who'd also just struck a $50 million deal with Pepsi) performed Baby Boy, Halo, Crazy In Love and Love on Top in addition to Independent Woman, Bootylicious and Single Ladies with her former comrades: 

Heyyyyyyyyy.

From January to November many sat on the edge of their seats waiting for a new Beyoncé album to be released. Sure, one song leaked here, one song leaked there, and then another way over there, but Queen B subsequently spent almost the whole year doing this:

"Releasing a new single....PSYCH!!!!!"

"Releasing a new album...PSYCH!!!!!"

"Shooting a video for my new single....PSYYYYYCHHHHH!!!!!!!!" 

and so on. 

The 85th Academy Awards took place on the 24th, and saw Argo crowned Best Picture. Who knew that Daredevil and the star of Gigli could do it? I don't even think he did. Daniel Day Lewis was awarded Best Actor for is portrayal of President Lincoln, and Jennifer Lawrence won her first Oscar starring in Silver Linings Playbook opposite Bradley Cooper. She took a teeny tumble while going up for her gong:

Better luck next time. And there will be a next time. 




March

The weather started to get a little better over here, acting as a tiny precursor to blaring hot Summer that awaited us in July. It was glorious. Three of the most exciting and innovative films of 2013 were released this month; Stoker, Spring Breakers and The Place Beyond The Pines. Pines proved to us once again that Ryan Gosling could do no wrong while Stoker and Spring Breakers showed that films centring on young, fatal yet ultra-feminine women could actually be pretty good.

One album and one single released that month dominated the charts and airways like none other. Part 1 of JT's '20/20 Experience' hit/destroyed shelves, and moved almost 1.3 million copies in a week. In fact, it was the top selling album of the week worldwide, three weeks in row. Furthermore, Robin Thicke dropped 'Blurred Lines' which eventually became his most successful single worldwide to date. Aided by the controversial video which made Emily Ratajkowski tumblr-famous, the track climbed to #1 in 21 countries (it stayed at the top spot in the US for 12 weeks) but found itself swimming within oceans of criticism here, there, and over there. I probably should've used a gif actually featuring Robin Thicke up there but whatever. Featuring T.I and Pharrell Williams, 'Blurred Lines' became the first single featuring Williams to take over 2013 - which leads us to...

April

Daft Punk released 'Get Lucky', the first single of the duo's fourth album 'Random Access Memories'. Co-fronted once again by the NERD and Neptunes super-producer, the single so far has sold around 7.5 million copies, received two Grammy nominations and reached #1 in over 20 countries. Phew.

The TV series adaptation of Thomas Harris's  Hannibal founds its way to NBC & Sky1, with Mads Mikkelsen taking on the titular role of Dr. Hannibal Lecter.  Acting as a precursor to the various incarnations of the character, showrunner, Bryan Fuller (behind both Pushing Daises and Dead Like Me) created a "movieshow" hybrid powerful enough to join the ranks of The Walking Dead and Mad Men. 

Drink to that.

May
May saw the screen adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald's "great American novel" The Great Gatsby released across the world. Starring Leonardo DiCaprio as the party-loving millionaire, Jay Gatsby, the film was an over-the-top spectacle directed by Moulin Rouge's Baz Luhrmann. Plagued by two release date set backs in addition to its confusingly heightened reality, it failed to connect with audiences and critics the way many had hoped. 

But it wasn't all bad, as 'Gatsby' ended up grossing close to $350 million (about £212.2 million) worldwide. It's not an Oscar but I'm sure Leo will find a way to deal. 

June
The greatest post-Friends-friendly-based-sitcom Happy Endings was cancelled after failing to be shopped to other networks. This was 6 months ago and the wound is still open, bleeding like it was yesterday. I will never see Max, Brad, Jane, Alex, Dave and most importantly Penny on my television  laptop screen ever again and I have the ABC Network to thank for that. 

:'(

A part of me inside has been like this ever since:









While everyone else is pretty much this:



and THAT'S because they didn't even know the show existed neither do they even know what it is now. Urgh, everyone apart from me (and the five others I know who watched it) needs to get their acts together.

The underrated J. Cole dropped the incredible 'Born Sinner' with Kanye unveiling 'Yeezus', both on the 18th. 'Yeezus' saw Kanye take an uncomfortable stroll outside of his comfort zone and into the realms of the nightmarishly industrial.

I have three words for Yeezus. 

What. A. Mess. 

What the hell happened to Kanye this year? He seems to be more impatient, angry and juvenile than ever. Since his success in the mainstream from 2004, his career has been about one thing and one thing only. His mouth. From his great/embarrassing interview answers this year to his questionable music videos, it's clear he's lost his damn mind.

It's incredibly hard to take him seriously. 

As with Britney, more on this one later.

Anyway, six months down, six months to go. July to December will be coming in the next post.