I've got to get this out of the way fast before 2012 ends and 2013 begins, so in its 23rd year...

The Top 20 Things That Were Trending in 2012

20. Facebook going public (and millions of investors clicking "unlike")

19. The nut who tried to steal Webb Simpson's spotlight after just winning the U.S. Open (if this happens at Augusta, Jim Nantz will beat him senseless)

18. Tim Tebow traded to the New York Jets while Peyton Manning goes to the Denver Broncos (therefore exorcising the Mile High City from Tebowism)

17. Clint Eastwood and his invisible chair at the Republican National Convention (to be later joined by an invisible audience laughing at his invisible jokes)

16. "Ted" (somewhere, Teddy Ruxpin and Snuggle Bear were launching a vendetta against Seth MacFarlane)

15. Steve Harvey (the movie version of "Think Like A Man" was a hit, his talk show is becoming the anti-Dr. Phil, and "Family Feud" has been climbing in the ratings...Ryan who???)

14. Lance Armstrong being stripped of all his Tour de France titles (and who says he doesn't have the balls to defend himself?)

13. The iPhone 5 and the Samsung Galaxy S III (one had long lines stretching for miles, the other has you sharing videos you regret taking)

12. Nicki Minaj and Mariah Carey joining "American Idol" (stick a fork in that show...it's already been well done)

11 (and making her 14th consecutive appearance). Britney Spears (proving that she always had the "X Factor (sorry, Khloe Kardashian!))

10. "Call Me Maybe" (last year it was "Friday", and now, this?! God, no wonder why I'm getting old!)

9. Mitt Romney vs. Big Bird (a day after the first debate, Big Bird left a little "present" on Romney's campaign bus)

8. TIE: Lindsay Lohan and Amanda Bynes (no comment)/NFL replacement referees (more inept at their jobs than a small-market local news anchor)

7. The Olympics (or as we called it, "The Michael Phelps and Usain Bolt Show II featuring Ryan Lochte, Queen Elizabeth II on a parachute, and the Fierce Five!")

6. Adele cleaning up the Grammys (yeah, that'll teach those young punks a lesson! And speaking of which...)

5. One Direction (this decade's Beatles/New Kids/'NSync/Hanson/Jonas Brothers...so far)

4. TIE: Honey Boo Boo (another reason why our society is going down the crapper. But at least she outrated that comedy showcase which was the Republican National Convention!)/The General David Petraeus scandal (Dirty little secret? Yeah, right!)

3. TIE: Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes divorcing (the "Free Katie!" t-shirts finally paid off)/Pope Benedict XVI and Betty White on Twitter (now we're waiting on which one will fire off a sexy Instagram)

2. "Gangnam Style" (it was infectious, just like the Macarena)

And not even a little photo scandal or a nurse the victim of a prank call from Australian DJs couldn't hurt the #1 thing that was trending in 2012...

1. Duchess Kate's pregnancy (and already, baby naming games have begun)

And that's the AllenBlog's 2012 Year In Review. So long, stay strong, and HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

The Year in Pop Culture

What didn't kill us throughout 2012 in the world of pop culture made us stronger alright: A YouTube sensation causing more flash mobs than the Macarena, the box office avenged by superheroes and vampires, more exposure of William and Kate than we expected, a tween group and a very pre-pre-pre-pre-tween ruling the universe, two new rival singing competition shows duking it out for supremacy while another has pooped out, and a certain celebrity still keeping the tabloids' presses rolling...it was hard to put down "Fifty Shades of Grey" while jamming to the soothing beats of "Call Me Maybe".

The silent film "The Artist" spoke more than volumes at the 84th Annual Academy Awards; although it and "Hugo" each claimed five awards (including one for former Fairbanksan Ben Grossmann), "The Artist" came out as the big winner with Best Actor (Jean Dujardin), Director, and Best Picture of 2011. Meryl Streep's Margaret Thatcher in "The Iron Lady" won her Best Actress, which almost nobody saw coming after almost three decades. But host Billy Crystal was still a little rusty after the 2004 awards, and Seth McFarlane is hoping to shake that off next year.

Cable (with a side of network) ruled the 54th Primetime Emmys, as Showtime's "Homeland" scored a Drama trifecta: Series, Actor (Damian Lewis), and Actress (Claire Danes, who recently gave birth to a baby boy). "Modern Family" was still Best Comedy, "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" continued their streak, and Tracy Morgan is still alive after falling for Jimmy Kimmel's "drop dead" stunt. For the first time ever, not one single network show was up for Best Drama, though the networks still reap the comedy honors.

While we're sticking with television, "The X Factor" (now with Britney Spears and Demi Lovato joining Simon Cowell and L.A. Reid) and "The Voice" (still with Christina Aguilera, but not next season) duked it out to become the new king of singing competitions with "American Idol" no longer the #1 show (NBC's "Sunday Night Football" ended their eight-year reign of terror), Aaron Sorkin -- fresh off his Oscar win for "The Social Network" -- returned to television with HBO's "The Newsroom"; the new generation of "Dallas" which also had Patrick Duffy, Linda Gray, and the late Larry Hagman from the old generation, "Gossip Girl's" revelation that it's actually Gossip Guy, Connie Britton and Hayden Panettiere proved they're a little bit country alright in "Nashville", and the year's most popular TV catchphrase: "Here comes Honey Boo Boo child!", as the pint-sized, plus-sized tot suddenly became a breakout star; she even outrated the Republican National Convention! Unfortunately, "Partners", "666 Park Avenue", and "Made In Jersey" were deleted from DVR drives' season passes. Not even "Two And a Half Men's" Angus T. Jones imploring us to stop watching his "filthy" show (he would later apologize for his remarks) couldn't stop it from scoring its highest ratings so far this season.

Action heroes ruled the box office with more than an iron fist, as "The Avengers" and "The Dark Knight Rises" each scored opening weekend records (one all-time, the other for a non-3D film) while "Twilight" closed out their run with "Breaking Dawn: Part 2". "The Hunger Games", "The Amazing Spider-Man", "Magic Mike" with "Sexiest Man Alive" Channing Tatum, the latest James Bond masterpiece "Skyfall" and potential Oscar contenders "Lincoln", "Les Miserables", and "Argo" have also kept us in our seats, while "Cloud Atlas", "John Carter", "Dredd", "Rock of Ages", and "Battleship" (proving that Rihanna should stick to music) had us bolting out of them. Even Tim Burton had a disappointing year himself with "Frankenweenie" and the feature film version of "Dark Shadows."

Rihanna, Bruno Mars, Carrie Underwood, Justin Bieber, Kelly Clarkson, and Taylor Swift churned out some new hits this year, but there were even newer sensations: fun., Carly Rae Jepsen with this summer's theme song "Call Me Maybe", and some quintet of young boys from England called One Direction. But perhaps the biggest story of them all was South Korean singer Psy, who's "Gangnam Style" became YouTube's most-viewed video ever (1 billion and counting) and the dance craze sweeping the entire planet.

Two other entertainment highlights also included: Disney buying the Lucasfilm studio for $4.05 billion, and the book "Fifty Shades of Grey" so hot, it was like Lifetime meeting Cinemax. And in September, Apple released the iPhone 5 and the new line of iPods including the iPod Touch now with Siri.

No year would be complete without our fair share of scandals, and boy, there were plenty! The biggie was Kate Middleton, as while she and Prince William were touring Southeast Asia, the French magazine "Closer" ran grainy photos of the royal couple sunbathing topless in France from a few months ago. A lawsuit couldn't stop an Italian publication from publishing the pics either, but in early December, we've found out that there will be a future King of England on the way. An Australian radio station cashed in on the news by prank calling the duchess's hospital in hopes of getting in touch with Kate, but the nurse who received the call would pay the ultimate price by committing suicide shortly thereafter. As a result, the two DJs were fired. Meanwhile, brother Prince Harry took the "Whatever happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas" motto a little too far as he was caught frolicking naked at a Las Vegas hotel.

Washington was rocked by two: the Secret Service appearing to be working behind President Obama's back as they were involved with prostitutes in Colombia, and general David Petraeus's extramarital affiair that cost him his job as CIA Director. Over in Britain, it was revealed that the late BBC personality Jimmy Savile had sexually abused pre-teens over 40 years ago, with 300 victims coming forward giving the world's #1 public broadcaster a black eye.

And there were more: Pics of Kristen Stewart and Rupert Sanders getting hot and heavy with each other behind Robert Pattinson's back left Twihards in a depression before things returned to normal, a new sex tape starring...wrestling legend Hulk Hogan (?????); and Kevin Clash, the man behind Elmo, quitting "Sesame Street" over a barrage of sexual allegations by him from underage boys

Plus of course you have the annual queen of scandals: Lindsay Lohan. Her return to acting as Elizabeth Taylor in the TV movie "Liz & Dick" may have bombed, but that was okay. It was all the same old, same old and now a judge has revoked her probation, meaning another trip to jail which could last 3-4 months (translation: 3-4 weeks).

In celebrity couples: Justin Timberlake and Jessica Biel, Anne Hathaway and Adam Shulman, Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds, Kate Winslet and Ned Rocknroll (as of publish time) and Matthew McConaughey and Camilla Alves among others had us singing "We Belong Together", while (back to Taylor Swift) "We Are Never, Ever Getting Back Together" were played for Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes, Heidi Klum and Seal, Bethenny Frankel and Jason Hoppy (as of publish time); and to no one's surprise, Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez...or so we thought? Oh yeah, and George Clooney and Stacy Keibler are still together.

The nurseries were quite busy as usual, as Reese Witherspoon, Drew Barrymore, Anna Paquin, and Sarah Michelle Gellar expanded their families, while room is being made for Kristen Bell and Channing and Jenna Dewan-Tatum, as well as (as of publish time) Jessica Simpson once again.

Adele may have been voted Entertainer of the Year by the Associated Press, but who was my selection this year? Well, not a person, but a thing: The tablet!

Okay, so we had a false start in 2011 with the very short-lived HP TouchPad, but during 2012, the iPad knew they weren't the only game in town anymore. Amazon unveiled their new line of Kindles including the Kindle Fire HD, rival Barnes & Noble had the Nook HD, Microsoft launched the Surface (with an actual attachable keyboard!), and Samsung and Google rolled out the Galaxy 2 and Nexus 7 respectively. In between all those, there were other, yet inexpensive tablets. To keep up, Apple unleashed the iPad Mini, and tablet usage this year, whether for business or pleasure, was on an immense rise that even the most popular apps like Instagram and Angry Birds had to be created for more than just Apple's iOS.

Two honoralble mentions go out to Eva Longoria and Maria Menounos, winner and runner-up of Sexiest Woman of 2012 respectively. Both of them had one hell of a year; Eva's was headlined by the end of "Desperate Housewives" and her successful campaigning for Prestident Obama as national co-chair. Maria's year was chock full, with "Dancing With The Stars", an brief match at Wrestlemania 28, and of course, "Extra." Oh yeah, she braved the cold -- and herself -- by doing her show in a bikini in Times Square as a consequence for her New England Patriots' Super Bowl XLVI loss to the N.Y. Giants.

But when it comes to what was the biggest entertainment story of 2012, you have to go back to Grammy weekend and the sudden death of Whitney Houston. She had been plagued with drugs and alcohol problems thanks to her ex-husband Bobby Brown, but her drowning from a hotel bathtub came as a shock to us all. Coroners later discovered that heart disease and cocaine contributed to her death, but aside from all that, her legacy will remain; "Sparkle" was an example.

As we're about to change calendars, what will 2013 bring to the table? We could be seeing Ben Affleck vs. Steven Spielberg at the Oscars, as "Argo" and "Lincoln" may be clashing for the top honors. With the "Twilight" franchise done, it'll be up to "The Hunger Games: Catching Fire", "Iron Man 3", and "Scary Movie 5" among others picking up the slack. A "Carrie" remake with Chloe Moretz is in the can, while Christina Aguilera will be taking a break from "The Voice" to tour the world. And oh yeah...there's also the late night return of Arsenio Hall. All other sorts of stuff will happen within the next 365 days, so we'll wait and see.

Next time...we cap it all off with the Top 20 Things That Were Trending in 2012!

It was the year when mass shootings large and small in places large and small have traumatized America like never before.

The year when our president won another term for the middle class, health care, and Big Bird.

The year when women everywhere had to indulge a hot, steamy book that was more piping than a latte.

The year when "The Hunger Games", "The Avengers", and the last of the "Twilight" films left us on our seats, while "Cloud Atlas" and "John Carter" got us out of our seats.

The year when we said goodbye to the world's oldest teenager while saying hello to the world's obnoxious pre-pre-pre-pre-pre-pre-teenager.

The year when there was still evidence of life on Mars...not just the planet, but also a singer.

The year when one man made one huge memorial leap into the desert for the person who did so for all mankind.

And yes, it was the year when everybody -- including naked royals and disappointed Mayans -- kicked it Gangnam Style!

That year was 2012.

Join the AllenBlog for a look back at another twisty and turny year.

From continuing unrest in the Middle East, to Superstorm Sandy almost turning the Big Apple into a core, from the Olympics in London while still no end to the debt crisis on the other side of Europe, to deadly shootings in Colorado and Connecticut, to President Obama denying Mitt Romney unlimited access to the White House...the Mayans had it all wrong about the world ending in 2012.

The continuation of the Arab Spring and the unrest in Syria kicked off the year, in which a change of power in Yemen as Ali Abdullah Saleh passed the torch to Abd Rabbuah Mansur Al-Hadi. But perhaps the true turning point came in September, when one little trailer for "The Innocence of Muslims" on YouTube sparked a wave of terrorist attacks at U.S. embassies worldwide; in Libya, ambassador Christopher Stephens was among the martyrs.

The New York Giants routed the New England Patriots 21-17 in Super Bowl XLIV; 111.3 million viewers made it the most-watched television broadcast ever. But the Patriots' loss proved to be one superfan's gain, which I'll save for next time.

The year's other big sports story was the Summer Olympics in London, where Michael Phelps and Usain Bolt weren't anything but rusty after Beijing. Phelps became the most-decorated Olympian ever, though he and fellow teammate Ryan Lochte fended off a challenge. Bolt, meanwhile, was still king of the track, with double amputee Oscar Pistorius of South Africa being the games's inspiration story even if he didn't medal. 

In other words, those games should've been called the Women's Olympics, as gymnastics' Fierce Five (Gabby Douglas and company), Missy Franklin, and Serena Williams (to add women's tennis gold in between her Wimbledon and U.S. Open trophies) led that charge like never before. After the cauldron was snuffed out, the United States took home the most haul: 104 with 46 of them gold; host country Great Britain did extremely well too with 65 (29 golds), with Tour de France champion Bradley Wiggins, Wimbledon champion Andy Murray, and Mo Farah among the contributors.

Other 2012 sports highlights include: The Los Angeles Kings' first ever Stanley Cup hoisting (though the NHL season is still in jeopardy with yet another lockout), the San Francisco Giants striking out Detroit for another World Series title, Bubba Watson Master-ful at Augusta, Dario Franchitti taking his third Indianapolis 500 checkered flag, a bounty scandal crippling the New Orleans Saints, Ernie Els kissing the British Open clarinet jug, Tim Tebow traded to the New York Jets with Peyton Manning headed to Denver, Lance Armstrong being stripped of all his seven Tour de France titles due to doping, Dallas Seavey making Iditarod history as its youngest winner ever at age 25, LeBron James and his Miami Heat bringing the NBA title back to South Beach, Kentucky and Baylor the kings and queens of college basketball, and Matt Kenseth dominating the twice-delayed Daytona 500. Also, the Penn State child sex abuse scandal reached its crescendo as after Joe Paterno's death in February, his statue would later be removed plus all 112 wins from his last 13 years were vacated. Jerry Sandusky, on the other hand, would face the ultimate consequence: 30 to 60 years behind bars.

In business and the economy, the debt crisis in Greece was still far from over, as in February, Eurozone finance ministers reached an agreement on another 130 billion Euro bailout. Over in China, the Foxconn factory where iPods, iPhones, and iPads are made were in the spotlight. And back here in the States, the auto industry once again saw sales pick up, while a bakers' strike shut down Hostess Brands. That sudden news led to supermarket shelves immediately running dry of Twinkies, Ding Dongs, Ho-Hos, and Wonder Bread, though there's word now that several companies including Wal-Mart and Kroger may give them another life after all.

In outer space, NASA's Curosity rover brought us fresh images from Mars, while Austrian daredevil Felix Baumgartner descended from space back to Earth in a daring jump that would make Evel Knievel proud. 

Rising floodwaters in New South Wales and Queensland, Australia forced tens of thousands out of their homes in February. But that pales in comparison to the year's biggest weather story: Superstorm (or Hurricane, whichever you prefer) Sandy, which killed 209 people in its path and racked up billions of dollars in damage, especially in the hardest-hit areas of New York and New Jersey. Before that, though, Hurricane Isaac threatened the Caribbean and almost the Florida coast, while the midwest U.S. would experience the second worst drought next to the 1930's Dust Bowl.

President Obama won an additional four years at the White House, defeating former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney in what was a very tense battle for power. There were two major pre-election victories, though: The Supreme Court ruling of the Affordable Health Care Act being constitutional, and Obama standing up for same-sex marriage.

In the end, it was a series of mass murders that landed on more front pages throughout 2012. The Denver area -- and especially the country -- would be traumatized by another tragedy 13 years after Columbine when James Holmes opened fire at a packed movie theater showing "The Dark Knight Rises" in nearby Aurora, but not before he set deadly booby traps at his apartment for the police, which would be diffused. In August, a White Supremacist turned a Sikh Temple in Wisconsin into a killing field; seven were slain including a police officer before committing suicide. And in early December at the height of the holiday shopping season, two people were shot dead at a mall outside Portland, Oregon before the gunman pulled the trigger on himself.

But a couple days later, the sleepy town of Newtown, Connecticut woke up to the sound of horror as Adam Lanza killed 27 people -- 20 of them children -- and then himself at Sandy Hook Elementary School in what was the second deadliest school shooting in U.S. history behind Virginia Tech. And although it got little news at the same time, 23 were injured at a knife attack in a Chinese school; no deaths were reported.

There may have been new faces in the crowd this year, but of course, we had to bid a fond farewell to most of the old faces: Mike Wallace, jazz musician Dave Brubeck, Richard Dawson, Don Cornelius, Whitney Houston, Larry Hagman, Etta James, Maurice Sendak, Phyllis Diller, film director Tony Scott, Ernest Borgnine, Alex Karras, Donna Summer, astronauts Neil Armstrong and Sally Ride, Andy Williams, Arlen Specter, Helen Gurley Brown, Andy Griffith, game show producer Bob Stewart, George McGovern, Ray Bradbury, Davy Jones, boxer Hector "Macho" Camacho, Robin Gibb, Rodney King, Gore Vidal, Sherman Hemsley, Vidal Sassoon, Nora Ephron, Sylvia Kristel, Charles Durning, Gary Collins, Ravi Shankar, Jack Klugman, and the World's Oldest Teenager himself...Dick Clark.

What could we expect in 2013? The beginning of President Obama's next four years in office won't be the one and only highlight as right now, we're heading into a fiscal cliff. There may or may not be an NHL season after all, and Prince William and Kate will celebrate their second anniversary with a little bundle of joy. But who knows what else is going to happen in this crazy world of ours; the only way to find out is when the clock strikes midnight on January 1.

Next time when the "Year In Review" continues...2012 in pop culture.