~Thursday~ In March of 2012, I will mark 10 years without a television in my home. Being a writer, one of my biggest concerns about not having a TV is the fear of potentially, eventually missing cultural references in conversation and news stories and articles I might read.
So, you can imagine my delight when I was actually familiar with a whopping 9 of 11 of The Week's list of 2011's biggest pop culture moments!
- Charlie Sheen's meltdown
Interestingly, I followed this saga on social media. I've been following Ashton Kutcher on Twitter since the days he used to woo Demi using it.
- The rise of Adele
Earlier this year, my friend Joe pointed me to the video of Rolling in the Deep, and I was instantly hooked. My biggest disappointment in 2011 was the cancellation of her concert in Durham, NC, in a most intimate venue, for which I had 11th row seats.
- The Oscar host fiasco
I only know about this, because even when I had a TV, I was never one to sit and watch 2 or 3 hours of TV to find out what I could find out in less than two minutes in the news the next day. To that end, I always check out the winners the next day. In doing that this year, I read about what a fiasco it was.
- The Royal Wedding
This event transcended TV, and since I wasn't living under a rock all year, I was aware of it.
- The success of Bridesmaids
I think I'm aware of this due to the "Entertainment" section of the wral.com website, from which I get my local news.
- Oprah's final episode
Ditto answer to item #4.
- Harry Potter ends
Ditto answer to item #6.
- Friday Night Lights says goodbye
I've never heard of this show.
- Beyonce's baby announcement
This was all over social media, too. What piqued my interest about this "moment" was the use of the term "baby bump." Being a lover of words, I found it interesting how the connotation of this term was debated.
- Ladies at the Emmys
I didn't realize this, since I didn't watch the Emmy Awards, and this is not one of those results I look at the next day, because since it's about TV, I usually don't know most of the players.
- Kim Kardashian's divorce
I am probably mostly aware of this due to the LGBT community making the mockery that her marriage was a case of "denigrating the institution of marriage" way more than any two gay people getting married ever could.