Saturday, December 31, 2005


Last year, I was right on Pope John Paul II passing away, but half-right on another cursed team becoming the next to win the World Series; it would be the Chicago White Sox. Here's what I'm hoping will happen in 2006...which, by the way, has already started in Australia:

  • The Seattle Seahawks, who've been red-hot in the NFL as of late, will win Super Bowl XL giving Mike Holmgrem the lifelong chance to raise the Vince Lombardi Trophy in the air
  • Target will finally get its first store in Alaska -- and it will be here in Fairbanks at the old Fred Meyer
  • The Democrats will take back Capitol Hill from the troubled Republicans in the mid-term elections, while Stephen Harper will be elected Canada's next Prime Minister
  • XM and Sirius Satellite Radio will finally expand to all 50 states, now that Howard Stern will be heading to the latter at the beginning of the year
  • Billy Graham will be the next to go after John Paul II
  • Michelle Kwan will finally get Olympic gold at the Winter games in Italy after her previous silver and bronze finishes in Nagano and Salt Lake City respectively
  • And with the Chicago White Sox's World Series curse has been lifted, the Cubs will be next after 98 years
We'll see if any of those come true. And from me to you...
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!


Thursday, December 29, 2005


From October to December, thousands of you voted in my seventh annual polls for the Sexiest Man and Woman of 2005; the latter one was of course the most controversial ever! Here were the final results:

SEXIEST MAN:
Matthew McConaughey--23%
Josh Holloway--18%
Jesse Metcalfe--16%
George Clooney--11%
Ty Pennington--10%
Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson/Clive Owen--5%
Phil Keoghan/Usher--4%
Jamie Foxx--3%
TOTAL VOTES: 73 (17 for McConaughey)

SEXIEST WOMAN (FINAL ROUND):
Lauren Graham--28%
Jennifer Garner--20%
Jennifer Aniston--12%
Rachel Bilson--9%
Angelina Jolie--8%
Kelly Clarkson/Sarah Michelle Gellar--5%
Jessica Alba/Kristen Bell--4%
Mischa Barton--3%
Toni Braxton--1%
TOTAL VOTES: 2,281 (Round 1 preliminaries) +
5,972 (Round 2) + 6,076 (Round 3) + 2,147 (main poll; 607 for Graham) =
16,476

GRAND TOTAL FROM ALL POLLS:
16,549 VOTES!!!!!

Congratulations to Matthew McConaughey and Lauren Graham, the Sexiest Man and Woman of 2005! Will one or both of them repeat their victories? Find out next year; and thanks for your votes as always!

Tomorrow...my predictions for 2006 as we conclude our week-long "2005 Year in Reivew"!

Wednesday, December 28, 2005

Since 1991 (and 1998 online), I've been doing this list that covers who or what has been hot this year. Without any further ado, here for the 15th year are the...


20 (in her SEVENTH STRAIGHT APPEARANCE). Britney Spears and Kevin Federline (Nobody cared about their UPN show, but we did care about their new baby boy)

19. Carrie Underwood (aka Kelly Clarkson gone country)

18. The "Dukes of Hazzard" movie (Which became nothing but a masturbation fest for Jessica Simpson in her Daisy Dukes and bikini)

17. California voters "Terminating" all four of Governor Schwarzenegger's ballot propositions (Suddenly, Warren Beatty seemed very happy)

16. Steve Carell yelling out Kelly Clarkson's name in vain in "The 40-Year-Old Virgin" (It would've been more funnier if "Kelly Clarkson" was subsituted with "Clay Aiken")

15. "Dancing With the Stars" (Cha-Cha-Cha!)

14. "Mad Money with Jim Cramer" (Louis Rukeyser meets Jerry Lewis with sound effects, though he's much more humble on the radio show)

13. "Grey's Anatomy" ("ER" with sex appeal...only that they're on after "Desperate Housewives")

12. Jamie Foxx winning the Best Actor Oscar...and then releasing a music CD just recently (Somebody call Cher!!!)

11. Paris Hilton's too racy Carl's Jr. commercial (That's hot! And wet! And sudsy!)

10. Pat O'Brien's adventures of sex, drugs, and booze (That's so f-ing hot!)

9. Oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge rejected by the Senate (Ted Stevens says it was the saddest day in his life; I say it was the happiest day in the environmentalists' lives)

8. NBC still in fourth place despite "My Name is Earl" being a hit (I'll leave Jaime Pressly alone)

7. Lance Armstrong calling it a career after his seventh and last Tour de France victory (He wanted to retire just so he can bang Sheryl Crow round the clock)

6. My two-week vacation in the South (Okay, I had to put it in there)

5. Martha Stewart's full-fledged comeback with her new daytime show and her first -- and last -- version of "The Apprentice" (a very good thing, I should say)

4. The Chicago White Sox winning the World Series (And in Northside Chicago, the Cubs fans are chanting "Wait till next year!")

3. Hollywood helping out after Hurricane Katrina (Maybe Chris Rock could take back his "George Bush hates midgets" remark)

2. The beginnings and/or ends of celebrity couples (Too many to name; see "Year in Entertainment")

And the #1 thing that had the whole world talking in 2005 that'll slop over into 2006...

#1. The Bush administration in trouble
(Harriet Miers, not responding quickly after Katrina, the CIA leak, and now admittance to wiretapping...Forget Watergate and Lewinsky, they churn out one scandal after another!)

Tomorrow as the "2005 Year In Review" continues...the final results of the Sexiest Man and Woman polls.


Tuesday, December 27, 2005


From "Everybody Loves Raymond" closing out on a huge note, to TomKat, Brangelina, and Bennifer II, to a very weak box office that had many moviegoers beefing up their DVD libraries, to a "Mad"-man helping us beat the street (Wall Street, that is), to Mariah Carey scoring a John Travolta-like comeback, 2005 entertainment-wise had us either on the edge of our seats or jumping out of them.

Chris Rock rocked the 77th Annual Academy Awards with his edgy self; but there had to be some recognition handed out in between them. Jamie Foxx's portrayal of Ray Charles sang his way to Best Actor, while Cate Blanchett's Supporting Actress helped "The Aviator" pick up the most bounty with five Oscars. But in the end, it was "Million Dollar Baby" that had the TKO with Actress (Hilary Swank), Supporting Actress (Morgan Freeman, who just recently lashed out about Black History Month on "60 Minutes"), Director (Clint Eastwood, who extended usual heavy favorite Martin Scorsese's losing streak to 0-6), and Best Picture of 2004.

Ten seasons were enough for "Everybody Loves Raymond", though the series finale was only a standard half-hour but still managed to get high numbers nonetheless -- as well as a Best Comedy Emmy beating out "Desperate Housewives"...which, by the way, earned Felicity Huffman the Best Comedy Actress prize. "The Daily Show" and "The Amazing Race" were 3-0 in their respective categories, while the Donald Trump/Megan Mullally collaboration of "Green Acres" brought the house down...with laughter!

CBS was of course still the dominant network, while NBC was at the same rut ABC was last year until "Housewives" and Best Drama "Lost" came along: DEAD SOLID FOURTH PLACE!!! But that could change in 2006 thanks to the Winter Olympics and now Sunday Night Football.

On the Fox side of things, they were red-hot thanks to new hit "House" and of course, "American Idol", in which Carrie Underwood was the latest winner. And the first couple of reality TV, "Boston Rob" Mariano and Amber Brkich, helped "Amazing Race" score huge ratings (well, in Canada); but in the end, it would be Uchenna and Joyce Agu at the finish line.

But one of the biggest TV hits of 2005 happened to be "Grey's Anatomy" on ABC. Premiered during mid-season following "Housewives", it quickly rose to the top of the Sunday night ratings and putting that other medical drama ("ER") on life support. "Ghost Whisperer" (CBS), "Commander in Chief" (ABC), "My Name is Earl" (NBC), and "Mad Money with Jim Cramer" (CNBC) on the cable side also had viewers tuning in in droves.

2005 would also be the comeback year for both Martha Stewart and Mariah Carey. Stewart with her new daytime show and her own installment of "The Apprentice" (the latter show flopped), and Carey with "The Emancipation of Mimi" after her last two efforts -- "Glitter" and "Charmbracelet" -- did modest to poor success.

At the box office...well, despite a lot of hits and misses like "Wedding Crashers", "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire", and Peter Jackson's "King Kong", many moviegoers would rather build up their DVD collections instead of spending a day or night at the movies.

Shortly after both the Asian tsunamis and later Hurricane Katrina, the entertainment community once again took time to help those whose lives and/or belongings were lost to the tragedies with a series of telethons. I already brought up Kanye West's comments in the "Year in News", but Chris Rock parodied it on the multi-network "Shelter from the Storm" telethon with "George Bush hates midgets."

Other major stories of the year included: Michael Jackson's acquittal in the child molestation trial, Lindsay Lohan's car crash in front of a stream of paparazzi, Russell Crowe not knowing how to call Australia from the U.S. and throwing a hotel room telephone, Kate Moss' reputation shattered after a British tabloid ran pics of her snorting cocaine, Pat O'Brien's sex 'n drugs 'n booze scandal with X-rated phone messages in between them, and former "American Idol" contestant Corey Clark admitting that there was something really going on between him and Paula Abdul.

So...what was indeed the year's biggest entertainment story? It's all about the makeups and breakups, starting with Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston and their sudden split which later became a divorce. And then, Angelina Jolie was added to the fray. Whether or not Jolie and Pitt really do have something going on between them will remain a mystery...that is, until they surprisingly wed.

Then, there was Nick Lachey and Jessica Simpson. When the two got hitched years ago, it was when Nick was the bigger star. But Jessica thanks to the "Dukes of Hazzard" movie has taken much of the spotlight from him, and rumors began to flow about the couple's future. Well, in December, the speculation finally ended when the two split and later divorced.

Renee Zellweger married Kenny Chesney, but that didn't last long. After only four months, Zellweger had that annulled.

But perhaps the one couple that had the whole world abuzz throughout 2005 happened to be Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes. Cruise just came off from a brief fling with Sofia Vergara; Holmes was single again after she and Chris Klein called off their engagement. But when they first locked lips in Rome in late April and Cruise jumping for joy in front of Oprah Winfrey, they would never let go ever since.

And there were plenty of legit makeups as well: Christina Aguilera and Jordan Bratman, Donald Trump and Melania Knauss, Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner (their baby girl Violet would be born months later), Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher, Heidi Klum and Seal, the aforementioned Rob and Amber, Sandra Bullock and Jesse James, Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles; and in a "civil union" at that very same place of Charles and Camilla's nuptials, Elton John and David Furniss. Oh yeah, and Britney Spears and Kevin Federline introduced the world to baby boy Sean Preston.

Now, all sights are set on 2006; and with awards season already underway, it'll be quite an Oscar showdown as far as "Good Night and Good Luck" and "Brokeback Mountain" are concerned. Will Brad and Angelina finally end all the speculation that they are a couple, and who will be the first one to be no more? And, who will also score a major comeback after Martha and Mariah? Come the new year, there'll be 365 questions and 365 answers to find out.


Tomorrow, my "Year in Review" continues with the Top 20 Things That Had the Whole World Talking in 2005.

Monday, December 26, 2005

Looking back at 2005, it was when George W. Bush's next four years in office would be met with more casulties in Iraq and his government dropping the ball on Hurricane Katrina, while Iraqis would make a (finger) mark in history with their first free elections in over four decades...and not even Saddam can't stop it.

But we began the year with the aftermath of 2004's last big story, the tsunamis in Southeast Asia. While the death toll continued to mount, relief organizations from all over started to pitch in. Even the entertainment community, powered by Sandra Bullock's $1 million donation to the American Red Cross, helped.

At Super Bowl XXXIX, one year after everything blew up in proportions over the Janet/Justin debacle, the focus this time was on the game (and Paul McCartney at halftime) as the New England Patriots easily held off the Philadelphia Eagles 24-21, thanks to -- you guessed it -- another game-winning field goal by Adam Vinatieri. Deion Branch was the game's MVP. And on the college football side, Matt Leinart and his USC team were, to quote one of ABC's slogans from back in the day, "Still The One."

In Washington, Alberto Gonzales became the newest and first Hispanic Attorney General, while 64 people were killed in a series of floods and mudslides in Colombia and Venezuela. Meanwhile, the remainder of the NHL season was canceled, only to see the long lockout finally end later in the year and with the league undergoing an extreme makeover to win fans back.

As they continued to pick up the pieces, former Presidents Bush and Clinton toured the devastated areas in Asia after the tsunamis. And after spending over a decade of terrorizing Wichita, Kansas from the '70s to early '90s, Dennis Rader -- otherwise known as the "BTK Killer" -- was identified and apprehended; he would later be served 10 consecutive life sentences for his crimes.

In early March, Martha Stewart ended her time at "Camp Cupcake" but would be placed under house arrest for five more months; see "Year in Entertainment" for her huge comeback. Also, almost 25 years after ash was spewed all over the Northwest, Mount St. Helens was back shooting a plume as far away as Portland. And the 2005 Iditarod was once again "The Robert Sorlie Show" where, despite losing his lead one time to Paul Gephardt, it was sleep deprivation that became the key to his second win.

Illinois' chances for a clean sweep in the NCAA Final Four were swept away by North Carolina, winning the men's title 75-70; Baylor took the women's crown over Michigan State. And the battle for Terri Schiavo's life did hang in the balance; in the end, her feeding tube would be cut off permanently and she would later die.

In what was one of the most memorable plays of the year in the 16th hole (I wonder how many of you checked your watches before the ball started to plop down), Tiger Woods dethroned David Toms at the Masters in sudden death. Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles tied the knot after the world said their final goodbyes to Pope John Paul II (which I'll get to later), while Joseph Ratzinger would be elected Pope Benedict XVI.

In Britain, Tony Blair was easily re-elected as their Prime Minister, but that celebration would be short lived as two bombs exploded outside the British Consulate in New York. In the Russian state of Georgia, a live hand grenade landed 100 feet of President Bush while speaking. It didn't detonate. And during the Memorial Day holiday, the decades-old mystery as to who "Deep Throat" was was finally solved: It was W. Mark Felt.

The Indianapolis 500 was more like the Danica Patrick 500 as she became the first woman to lead in the race. But her chances at becoming the first female winner came up short, as low fuel led to Dan Wheldon picking up the checkered flag. Also in June, the San Antonio Spurs claimed their third NBA title over defending champion Detroit Pistons. Maybe they won just to make Eva Longoria happy.

Here in Fairbanks, Eielson Air Force Base was one of several military installments threatened to close down forever; in the end after public support from all over fueled by a public hearing, the base was saved. At least I still have my "Save Eielson!" T-shirt and wear it on occasion.

24 hours after London was awarded the 2012 Olympics, a series of explosions occurred at public transportation areas in what was called Britain's 9/11; 56 people were killed. And my two-week summer vacation in the South didn't stop me from following other news like John G. Roberts' appointment to the Supreme Court, Hurricane Dennis wreaking a little havoc in Florida, another terrorist attack on London (only this time, the bombs failed to explode) with only a single injury, NASA's return to space after the Columbia disentragation, and of course, the Tour de France becoming the Tour de Lance (Armstrong) for the seventh and last time.

Everybody survived after an Air Canada flight crashed outside Toronto's Pearson Airport, while settlers would be forced out of the Gaza Strip and West Bank. Pat Robertson's televised remarks about Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez needing to be assassinated put him in the news again. In late September, after the passing of William Rehnquist, John Roberts would be given the Chief Justice job; and in early October 25, people were killed in a series of bombings in Bali. And at the World Series, one Chicago team managed to lift a decades-old curse to clinch the title: The Chicago White Sox.

Election Day 2005 was a good one for the Democrats when Jon Corzine took New Jersey's gubernatorial seat away from Doug Forrester, and Tim Kaine over Jerry Kilgore in Virginia; Michael Bloomberg earned another four years as New York's mayor. But it was an even worse night for Arnold Schwarzenegger, whose four ballot propositions all went down in defeat in California. That to go along with the victories in New Jersey and Virginia are expected to set the stage for the Democrats taking back Capitol Hill from the Republicans in next year's mid-terms and in 2008.

Meanwhile in Canada, Prime Minister Paul Martin's Liberal government was rocked by scandal, and one day after a no-confidence vote brought it down, a general election was set for January 23. And New York was hit with a transit strike with Christmas a few days away, causing commuters everywhere looking for alternatives to get around the Big Apple. After a scary three days, the subways and buses were back in service.

All throughout 2005, we said our final goodbyes to Peter Jennings, Eugene McCarthy, Richard Pryor, Nipsey Russell, TV producer and personality Ralph Edwards, former British soccer star George Best, pro wrestler Eddie Guerrero, Canadian newscaster Earl Cameron (whose Eugene Levy's Earl Camembert on "SCTV" was based on), John Spencer, Arthur Miller, Charles Rocket (best known for dropping the F-bomb during "Saturday Night Live's" disastrous 1980-81 season), Don Adams, Bob Denver, Chris Schenkel, Simon Wiesenthal, Barbara Bel Geddes, Rosa Parks, James "Scotty" Doohan, Shirley Chisolm (the first ever black U.S. Congresswoman), Sandra Dee, Hunter S. Thompson, Pat Morita, Eddie Albert, Luther Vandross, Johnny Carson, Anne Bancroft, explorer Norman Vaughan, and in April, Pope John Paul II...who made a couple of brief visits to Alaska in the '80s.

But of course, the biggest story of 2005 has to be Hurricane Katrina, which completely left much of New Orleans and the Mississippi coast in ruins. And knowing that I lived in Mississippi in the late '80s/early '90s as well as vacationing there four times including just this past summer, it has hit me personally. Thankfully, the storm missed many spots -- including my aunt's house in Gulfport, which remained intact. Katrina would of course be followed by Rita and later Wilma weeks later, making 2005 a record year for hurricanes.

However, the biggest question as far as the aftermath was concerned was: Where was the help? Fingers throughout were pointed at FEMA dropping the ball, and the lateness of federal aid led to humanitarian organizations from around the world piping in almost immediately. Even New Orleans mayor Ray Nagin and rapper Kanye West with his "George Bush doesn't care about black people" remark set off fireworks on whether or not the race issue was to blame.

Many people will still pick up from the mess left over by Katrina as 2006 starts; also, with the Bush administration continuing to be in trouble, will it be a big break for the Democrats come the mid-terms and will Hillary Clinton be in or out as far as 2008 is concerned? Now that one Chicago baseball team (White Sox) won the World Series, will that other one -- the Cubs -- finally be next after close to a century? And now that John Paul II is gone, will Billy Graham be next, saying that he's looking forward to dying "with great anticipation?" Come 2006, these questions and more will be answered.


Tomorrow as my "2005 Year in Review" continues...The year in entertainment, headlined by TomKat, Brangelina, a poor box office, the returns of Mariah and Martha, and television's hits and misses.

Sunday, December 18, 2005

MERRY...HOLIDAYS??

Hello, everybody. Well, we're now one week away till Christmas 2005, but as you've heard in recent weeks there's been lots and lots of battles about whether or not we greet everyone a "Merry Christmas" or "Happy Holidays."


Remember this from the old Allen Report site? Yes, I used it from 2000 to 2003 and I wished everyone a Happy Holidays. I've always celebrated Christmas from day one, though I did try my hand at Kwanzaa once in 2003; that was a disaster.

Anyway, with just seven days to go, malls and stores everywhere are already going to colossal overdrive to serve the last-minute shoppers -- especially as far as trying to get that elusive XBox 360 is concerned. If you thought the latest iPod with video (which I'm hoping to get this year) is the must-have item this Christmas, that's nothing compared to Microsoft's latest non-Windows creation.

The price may be $400, but in classified ad among classified ad in the papers, many are going for higher than that...maybe $500, $800, even $1,200 higher!! That reminds me of all those Tickle Me Elmo ads from 1996, when people had to pay hundreds of dollars for that and I would remember counting the ads they appeared in the paper every day; this was when newspapers were starting to be online.

On the iPod side of things...well, there haven't been any ads for that because of the steep prices for the XBox 360, simply because some of you have already paid your $300 for them and also, new shipments to the stores may be coming after Christmas!

If I do happen to get the iPod this year, it will go along with the other big-ticket gifts from previous Christmases like the computers (1986, '89, and '96 with the current one), Super Mario Bros. 3 (1990), the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (1991), and last year's triple threat with the Ronco Showtime rotisserie/accessory kit, "The Simpsons" Season 4 DVDs, and "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" Season 7 DVD. We'll see what happens next Sunday, especially if it's the last minute.

Right now, I'm hard at work on my series of pre-prepared blogs looking back at 2005 which you'll be seeing here after Christmas. And as you longtimers know from the old website, it's my own take on the year's big stories (especially Hurricane Katrina) as well as my "Top 20 Things that were Hot" list and the final results of the Sexiest of 2005 polls. That's my "2005 Year in Review", all next week.

See you then, and, uh...Merry Holidays!