The internet seems obsessed with memes and statements about how 2016 has been a horrible year. And there is no doubt that a lot of bad things have happened in 2016, whether it is celebrity deaths, war and massacres, or disappointment in a presidential election. But there were also a lot of good things that happened in 2016 that shouldn't be forgotten either. And in reality, compared to history 2016 was not so bad as other years. It also could have been the best year for many people who graduated, got married, engaged, or had children this year. So here are a few highlights from the year...
1. Leonardo DiCaprio finally won his Oscar
After years of internet memes and Oscar snubs, the famous and talented actor finally won an Academy award for his role in The Revenant. 2016 will forever be known as the year he finally got his Oscar, which he probably should have gotten at least ten years ago. But hey, better late than never.
2. "Lemonade" and the Formation tour
Beyoncé's visual album and the music itself is one of the best albums to come out this year, and is one of her best yet. Not only did she release it all at once, she also went on tour this summer, and blew away the Superbowl halftime show even though she wasn't the headliner. The tour was one of the best concerts I have ever been to, and I could listen to "Lemonade" on repeat all day.
3. The Cleveland Cavaliers ended an 52 year drought
As a Clevelander, this was one of the most exciting events of the year. The entire city was in celebration for the majority of the summer, as everyone finally could call Cleveland the home to a championship major league sports team again after 52 years. The parade itself was insane, but will probably be one of my favorite memories of Cleveland and from the year 2016.
4. "Hamilton" took the world by storm
"Hamilton" was already popular at the beginning of the year, but 2016 was when it became a cultural phenomenon. It won 11 Tony awards and expanded into new cities, and Lin Manuel Miranda was everywhere. The mixtape also dropped within the last month with some awesome celebrity takes on the soundtrack 2017 looks to be an even more exciting year for the musical as it will begin its tour and expand its audiences even further.
5. Simone Biles and the 2016 Rio Olympics
The Olympics are always a fun event to watch, but Simone Biles shined this year, sweeping the gymnastics competition with five medals and also the honor of carrying the USA flag at the closing ceremonies. She is arguably one of the break out stars of the Rio competition.
6. The resurgence of Harry Potter
This was the year for harry potter fans, who got a double dose of new harry potter additions to the universe, including the play The Cursed Child and the movie Fantastic Beasts. In addition, it was announced that there would be 4 sequels to Fantastic Beasts, giving fans something to look forward to after 5 years of waiting between the last Harry Potter movie and this year of harry potter splurges.
8. Netflix finally added offline downloads
Finally we can download shows from Neftlix to watch when there is no internet, something I have been wanting for years. Now if you have a long car ride or plane trip where the internet is spotty or non-existent, you can still pass the time binge watching your favorite shows.
9. "Rouge One: A Star Wars Story"
A highly anticipated film and the first of Disney's planned spinoff Star Wars movies turned out to be an interesting and successful film that took a darker look at the universe. This highly anticipated movie was hyped as a heist film, and it delivered on that and even more, while at the same time keeping fans' interest in Star Wars high as they patiently wait for episode 8 to come up next holiday season.
10. General good events
Even though for some people this year might have been stressful and filled with worry, others had significant life events occur, like weddings, the birth of a child, graduations, and reunions that they will forever remember happening in 2016 and are special to them. The bad things that happened in this calendar year should not make these events any less special or make people feel worse about their big life events just because it occurred in the same year the Prince, David Bowie, and George Michael died.
So even though it seems like 2016 has been the worst year in recent history, there were plenty of good things that happened and that we should remember 2016 for rather than focusing on all the bad things. Here's to making 2017 an even better year that we can hopefully not look at so negatively as 2016 is viewed.
