We're very, very close to the end of 2010 and the beginning of 2011, so without further ado, I present to you for the 20th time...
The Top 20 Things That Were Trending in 2010

20. Brett Favre (imagine if those cell phone pics of "Lil' Brett" were sent to Erin Andrews instead)

19. Simon Cowell leaving "American Idol" (to quote Will Ferrell's Alex Trebek, the show has reached a new low)

18, and in her 12th consecutive appearance because we still love her so much. Britney Spears (let's move on)

17. Tiger Woods (as somebody tweeted earlier this year, the Masters promos would've been more enjoyable if Jim Nantz narrates those text messages)

16. Ke$ha (her hits this year: money in the bank!)

15. 3D televisions on the market (Bring on laserdisc! Oh, wait...)

14. Miley Cyrus and Selena Gomez (now that they're both 18, you can no longer feel guilty to pleasure yourself to them...that, or to the sight of Miley taking a hit)

13. Cheryl Cole (who may join Cat Deeley next year when she act to the States when our version of X Factor comes our way)

12. Lebron James's decision to join the Miami Heat (which should've been called "Cold In Cleveland")

11. More celebrities on Facebook (I'm trying to find out which ones are good at Farmville)

10. The Discovery Channel gunman standoff (apparently his demand is that Shark Week becomes Shark Month)

9. The iPad (imagine the Flintstones having loads of fun with that tablet)

8. Sandra Bullock, Christina Milian, and Christina Aguilera (all of them single MILFs and loving it!)

7. Lady Gaga (her "Little Monsters" have made her the queen of Twitter)

6. TIE: The BP oil spill and the Iceland volcano (one was tough to clean up, the other was tough to pronounce its name)

5. Betty White (still the object of male fantasies after so many decades...that is, if you're 80 to 100!)

4. Backstreet Boys and New Kids On The Block about to tour together (let's get ready to party like it's both 1989 and 1999!)

3. Wild weather across America (117 degrees in Los Angeles, an ice storm here in Alaska, and a post-Christmas blizzard on the East Coast...I feel like moving to Hawaii!)

2. TIE: Sarah Palin and Wikileaks (one was the darling of the Tea Party movement and had a daughter on a hit show, the other was not a darling of governments everywhere)

And the #1 thing that was trending in 2010 and will continue to be in 2011...

1. Justin Bieber (like him or not, you can be sure that even with his rumored romance with Selena Gomez, we'll be hearing much more from him next year than this year!)

With that, that's the AllenBlog's 2010 Year In Review. So long, stay strong, and HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

Entertainment and Celebrities

From the latest late night brouhaha that had Johnny Carson spinning in his grave to "Dancing With The Stars" spinning in the ratings, from 3D making a more-than-ever comeback, to more and more stars in the social networking galaxy, 2010 in the world of entertainment had us crooning "Baby, Baby, Baby" on our iPads.

James Cameron's "Avatar" may have shattered records to become the top-grossing movie of all-time both domestically and worldwide, but at the 82nd Academy Awards, it would be "The Hurt Locker" leaving him blue-faced taking six awards including Best Picture of 2009 and in an historic first...Best Director for ex-wife Kathryn Bigelow. Meanwhile, Jeff Bridges easily collected Best Actor for "Crazy Heart" while Sandra Bullock took Best Actress for "The Blind Side." But she would be blindsided herself as far as her marriage was concerned, which I'll get to later.

Only two of the four shows continued their winning streaks at the 52nd Primetime Emmy Awards ("Mad Men" and "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart"), but for "The Amazing Race", they're now 7-1 as "Top Chef" put that to an end. And not even "Glee" or even "30 Rock" could stop "Modern Family" taking Best Comedy, though "Glee" itself was the year's top breakout TV hit with episodes featuring the music of Lady Gaga, "The Rocky Horror Picture Show", Britney Spears, and others. Not even a little scandal (the provocative "GQ" photoshoot) couldn't hurt them!

In other 2010 TV highlights: Simon Cowell saying goodbye to the ailing "American Idol", Oprah Winfrey kicking off her 25th and final season by surprising her audience they're going to Australia with her (which they recently did), the end of "Lost" though Daniel Dae Kim would immediately find work with the new "Hawaii Five-O", Larry King signing off after 25 years of "Larry King Live", Katy Perry alongside Elmo too R-rated for G-rated "Sesame Street", and "Entertainment Tonight's" Mary Hart and Canadian news anchor Lloyd Robertson about to call it a career next year.

But it was "Dancing With The Stars" that outshined them all this year, thanks to headliners like Kate Gosselin, Pamela Anderson, Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin, David Hasselhoff, and one that either delighted or pissed off loyal viewers (one of them even had to go Elvis Presley on his TV)...Bristol Palin! In the end, the mirror ball trophies ended up in Nicole Scherzinger's and Jennifer Grey's living rooms.

The social networking universe, fueled by Twitter and Facebook, spread like wildfire this year like never before; there were more tweets than blogs, especially from yours truly. As far as Facebook was concerned, it was a pinnacle year with membership now topping 500 million, "The Social Network" starring Jesse Eisenberg and Justin Timberlake garnering critical and even Oscar buzz, and the icing on the cake: The man behind it all, Mark Zuckerberg, being named "Time" magazine's Person of the Year.

In gadgets, Apple's Steve Jobs was that person of the year with the iPhone 4 and the iPad, setting off a wave of similar smartphones and tablet computers hitting the market this year in a bid to out-do him. E-readers of various kinds including Barnes & Noble's Nook were out for the Amazon Kindle's blood...or make that a share of the booming sales. And remember WebTV from 15 or so years ago? That's now a dinosaur compared to the new ways we can access the Internet on our TVs, and upgraded Blu-ray players and Google TV made that happen when they went on the market this year.

3D got a 21st century enhancement to go along with vinyl records already making a return presence, especially on TV and at the box office. And speaking of which, there were hits that were more enjoyable in either 3D or 2D, like "Toy Story 3", "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1", "Inception", "The Twilight Saga" Eclipse", and "Shrek Forever After." And what did "MacGruber", "Jonah Hex", "Green Zone", and "Scott Pilgrim vs. The World" have in common? They were also crowd pleasers...in 1D!

The music world throughout this year had the wackiest cast of characters the side of Looney Tunes, with the latest from Ke$ha, Rihanna, Lady Gaga (whose dress at the MTV Video Music Awards had Rob Reiner calling her "Meathead!"), Taylor Swift, Black Eyed Peas, the aforementioned Katy Perry, and some guy named Justin Bieber.

Along with Brett Favre and Wikileaks, there were other scandals that topped the headlines in '10, with Mel Gibson and Lindsay Lohan being the biggest ones of them all.

First, Gibson with those series of expletive-laden voicemails attacking ex-girlfriend Oksana Grigorieva making the rounds. And to rub salt in the wound ever further, he was out of "The Hangover" sequel with Liam Neeson in. Here's hoping "The Beaver" next year (directed by his good friend Jodie Foster) will be his comeback.

And then there's Lohan, who has always had one share of drama after another year after year; this time, she was admitted to the Betty Ford Center.

Among the year's "I Do's": Katy Perry and Russell Brand, Carrie Underwood and Mike Fisher, Emily Blunt and John Krasinski, Harrison Ford and Calista Flockhart, Oscar winners Penelope Cruz and Javier Bardem, Chelsea Clinton and Marc Mezvinsky, Nicole Richie and Joel Madden, "True Blood" co-stars Anna Paquin and Stephen Moyer, Orlando Bloom and Miranda Kerr, and Jane Lynch and Lara Embry. And as of publish time, Natalie Portman and Reese Witherspoon were engaged.

And then there are those who said "I Don't": Christina Aguilera and Jordan Bratman, Eva Longoria and Tony Parker, Christina Milian and The-Dream, Al and Tipper Gore, Kate Winslet and Sam Mendes, Courteney Cox and David Arquette, Scarlett Johansson and Ryan Reynolds (as of publish time), and yes, Sandra Bullock and Jesse James.
So...what was the one entertainment story in 2010 that had everybody talking? It was the 2000's version of the late night shuffle involving Conan O'Brien, Jay Leno, and troubled NBC.

When O'Brien took over as "Tonight Show" host last year, it lost a substantial amount of ratings to David Letterman. Leno's 10:00 gamble, on the other hand, also lost to "The Mentalist", "Private Practice" (starring Sexiest Woman of 2010 winner Kate Walsh), and the local news on most Fox/CW/independent stations. Then earlier this year, NBC considered Leno returning to 11:35 with Conan to follow at 12:05. Conan didn't want any part of it, and the network offered him a deal to take the money and run. He accepted it, and after the Olympics, "The Jay Leno Show" became "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" once again in its regular time slot.

While Conan was taking his act across North America, he also shopped for a new TV home. In the end, TBS made him an offer he couldn't refuse, and he signed on the dotted line with him at 11:00 moving "Lopez Tonight" to midnight and his new competition being Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert, and Chelsea Handler (nobody cares about Mo'Nique). But it was ABC's "Nightline" that emerged as the quiet late night victor in the wake of all this.

"Time" may have their Person of the Year, but for the first time, I have my Entertainer of the Year: Betty White! With the Snickers commercial that led to hosting "Saturday Night Live" thanks to a successful Facebook campaign (and winning another Emmy for it) as well as "Hot In Cleveland" and "You Again", it's no wonder why at even in her late 80's, this living legend won't be pushing up daisies anytime soon.

Like I said in the news recap, the April wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton will be one major entertainment story we'll be watching in 2011. But what else could be on tap? Anne Hathaway and James Franco will be hosting the Academy Awards; will one or both of them be nominated for "Love And Other Drugs" and "127 Hours" respectively? Britney Spears has been in the recording studio recently, and as she's about to approach the age of 30 you know her upcoming album (when it comes out) will show those young "whippersnappers" like Gaga, Perry, and Bieber how it's done. No matter who the cast will be next season, will "Dancing With The Stars" finally unseat "American Idol" as the year's #1 show? What will be the next old school technology to make a new school revival? And after her stint in rehab, could Lindsay Lohan follow Robert Downey Jr.'s lead the pull off the biggest comeback ever? These questions and many more will be answered within the next 52 weeks.

Next time...we wrap up the Year In Review with the Top 20 Things That Were Trending in 2010!

It was the year when we drank more tea than Kool-Aid as far as politics were concerned.

The year when the name of a massive volcano erupting in Iceland was too tough for any spelling bee.

The year when an oil spill in the Gulf required more than just Shamwows to clean up.

The year when thanks to some instrument, soccer's world championship were abuzz.

The year when we experienced joy over the rescues of miners in Chile, while the U.S. government experienced a leak.

The year when there were (i)Pads, Nooks, and Kindles of all shapes and sizes.

The year when "Toy Story 3", "Inception", and "Harry Potter" were epic successes, while "MacGruber" and "Jonah Hex" were epic fails.

The year when one prince brought us a royal engagement that would make his mother proud.

The year when one TV show "Dance"-d their way to the ratings...and sometimes into a little conspiracy.

The year when the time was "White" for one octogenarian to prove a point she's still got game, while one person decided to take his game to someplace sunny.

The year when football provided a whole lot of body language.

And, it was the year when the late night community had us asking, "Whose side are you on?"

That year was 2010.
Join the AllenBlog as we look back at another unpredictable year.

Looking back at 2010, we experienced thrills, spills, and chills of every proportion in every corner of the globe.

And we began that year with, of course, the massive 7.0 earthquake that rocked the nation of Haiti. With the death toll over 230,000, it was also the deadliest on record, prompting all of us to help out in more ways than one. That would be followed by another earthquake in Chile, which led nearly 500 lives perished in a Pacific tsunami. But there was one other story in that country that made major headlines this year, which I'll get to later.

In Super Bowl XLIV, the New Orleans Saints routed the Indianapolis Colts 31-17; for New Orleans, MVP Drew Brees's hoisting of the Vince Lombardi Trophy signaled the completion of five years of recovery from Hurricane Katrina that nearly destroyed the city and the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Over 106 million viewers tuned in for all this, which was enough to eclipse the "M*A*S*H" series finale as the most-watched television broadcast of all-time.

Vancouver played host to the 21st Olympic Winter Games in February, kicking off with hockey legend Wayne Gretzky lighting the torch. Throughout those two weeks, highlights included Shaun White and Evan Lysacek grabbing golds in snowboarding and men's figure skating respectively, while host country Canada got some hockey redemption beating the U.S. for the hockey gold.

South Africa was the site for the FIFA World Cup this year, and even though they're in a Southern Hemisphere country where it's winter there, the action was a mixture of hot and cold: hot because the high kicks and low scoring that make soccer famous...and cold because thanks to those annoying vuvuzelas, the venues have become artificial beehives! Anyway, we saw the United States keeping their hopes alive thanks to a last-minute goal against Angola...that is, until Ghana knocked us out before they were knocked out themselves. In the end, it was Spain that outscored them all.

Besides the Olympics and the World Cup, other 2010 sports highlights included: Duke and Connecticut taking the men's and women's Final Four titles, Alabama becoming the national champions of football, the NBA championship still in possession of the Los Angeles Lakers, the Chicago Blackhawks's first Stanley Cup since the Kennedy administration, Phil Mickelson the "Master" of his domain while Tiger Woods roared in his comeback to the green (though he faltered big time at the British Open), the San Francisco Giants winning the World Series pennant, and Fairbanks' own Lance Mackey making it four Iditarods in a row. Oh yeah, there was also LeBron James trading in the coldness of his hometown Cleveland for the Miami Heat, pissing off loyal Cavaliers fans.

The NFL had their share of drama both on and off the field, with Mexican TV sports reporter Ines Sainz being the center of more than just attention in the wake of a sex harassment scandal involving the New York Jets, and Brett Favre allegedly sending cell phone pictures of his genitals to another female sports reporter.

The entire Gulf Coast -- not just New Orleans and Mississippi -- would face another disaster that would last longer than Katrina: The BP oil spill with practically no end in sight; it started when the Deepwater Horizon oil platform exploded off the coast of Louisiana, killing 11. Millions of gallons floated into the waters non stop, threatening the tourism and seafood industries. After numerous attempts including the "Top Kill" method, cement was finally pumped into the well to put the summer-long nightmare (longer than the Exxon Valdez in 1989) to an end.

30 years after Mount St. Helens, volcanic ash from a series of eruptions in Iceland had air traffic disrupted throughout most of western Europe, including Britain. The only other thing newsworthy about it? We can't even pronounce the volcano's name!

You know the song "Dirty Little Secret"? Well, Wikileaks disclosed tons of them this year, including over 90,000 reports about the U.S.-led involvement in the Afghan war, and perhaps the biggie that put Julian Assange in the spotlight: 250,000 diplomatic cables.

The U.S. automotive industry made a huge comeback this year (probably thanks to slews of recalls by Toyota), with General Motors no longer in government control while unveiling the all-electric Chevrolet Volt as well as saying goodbye to the Pontiac brand. Meanwhile, Ford is bidding Mercury adieu after 70 years, and Chrysler? Along with Ford, they kept quiet while raking in huge profits.

Back to Chile: In August, 39 miners were trapped at the San Jose mine near Copiapo, Chile. At first it was thought they would be all be rescued around Christmas, but 69 days later, one by one they all met the surface once again. Just like Baby Jessica 23 years prior, the entire world were overjoyed by this miraculous turn of events.

While we continued to embrace newer faces lighting up the scene in 2010, there were some old faces we had to say goodbye to, including: Leslie Nielsen, Gary Coleman, J.D. Salinger, former U.S. envoy Richard Holbrooke, James MacArthur (Danno on the original "Hawaii Five-O"), former International Olympic Committee president Juan Antonio Samanranch, Olympic cinematographer Bud Greenspan, singer Teena Marie, Dennis Hopper, Peter Graves, Lynn Redgrave, Rue McClanahan, John Forsythe, fashion designer Alexander McQueen, basketball star Manute Bol, "Gumby" creator Art Clokey, Robert Byrd, Corey Haim, Tony Curtis, Stephen J. Cannell, Teddy Pendergrass, George Steinbrenner, Elizabeth Edwards, Pernell Roberts, Lena Horne, broadcast journalists Daniel Schorr and Edwin Newman, Art Linkletter, Eddie Fisher, Jill Clayburgh, Robert Culp, television announcer Charlie O'Donnell, film director Blake Edwards, Tom Bosley, Barbara Billingsley, Gloria Stuart, "Dandy" Don Meredith, and one that really hit home here in Alaska...former senator Ted Stevens.

The year's biggest story had something to do with tea, and not the sipping or iced kind.

When President Obama signed the health care bill into law in March after passing both houses of Congress, we knew we would be one step closer to universal healthcare in this country...or so it seemed. With the economy still in shambles and nationwide unemployment rates at their highest ever, many of us realized the fact that change came a little too prematurely.

Enter the Tea Party Movement, with former Alaska governor Sarah Palin leading the charge and endorsing some unknowns like Sharron Angle, Christine O'Donnell, and Joe Miller with one goal in mind: put some of the longtime incumbents out of a job in Washington. The Democrats, meanwhile, went all out in an attempt to save their hides. In the end, the Republicans took back control of the House with Nancy Pelosi out and John Boehner in as their speaker, though the Democrats barely held on to the Senate.

O'Donnell, Angle, Carly Fiorina, and former World Wrestling Entertainment CEO Linda McMahon all conceded defeat, but not Joe Miller...yet. After making the biggest mistake in our lives by voting for him in the August primaries, we gave Lisa Murkowski a second chance after launching an unprecedented write-in campaign. It definitely worked with Scott McAdams already throwing in the towel, but Miller still hasn't budged, taking his case to the courts. By the time the new Congress is sworn in in January, the results would finally be certified and Murkowski will have secured her seat.

In December, the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" act was repealed after 18 years, allowing gays to finally be in the military; at the same time, tax rate cuts that were orginially carried over from the Bush administration were approved.

But we were not the only country that had political firestorms this year. Britain went to the polls in May with a hung parliament as the end result and Gordon Brown handing over the keys to 10 Downing Street to David Cameron, while Australia saw its first ever female Prime Minister in Julia Gillard.

So...what can we expect in 2011? President Obama's administration will be put to the ultimate test as the Republicans will be in charge of the House, while a host city for the 2018 Winter Olympics will be chosen. A U.S. city may step up to the plate for their bid, will it be Anchorage in its third attempt? And of course, there will be some royal wedding over in England; I'll have more on that in the Year In Entertainment.

But as always, you may never know what else will transpire in the new year; we'll have to wait till the clock strikes midnight on January 1 to find out.

Tomorrow, entertainment and celebrities as the 2010 Year In Review continues.