Tuesday, October 29, 2019

SWIPING THROUGH THE 2010S: 2017

On January 20, Donald Trump took the oath as the 45th President of the United States, signaling the seismic shift of geopolitical uncertainty. The following day, Women’s March took place around the world but it does not stop there.

In the rest of the world, riots in Catalonia over separatism. Canada turned 150 and Finland turned 100.

In February, two outspoken women senators were in the spotlight. Leila de Lima was detained in Camp Crame after hearing some detainees’ hearsays against her and U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren was silenced after raising objections over the confirmation of her fellow colleague, Jeff Sessions, to the Cabinet as the Attorney General. (Nevertheless, in the eyes of their supporters, they persisted.)

We hosted Miss Universe after 23 years. Just like in 1974, our own Miss Universe Pia Wurtzbach crowned her successor (in this case, Miss France Iris Mittenaire) at home.

It was also a gracious honor to host ASEAN, particularly on its Golden Jubilee. We even gave Trump a taste of our warm hospitality, even if protesters make the best protest gimmicks.

Resorts World Manila, Grenfell Tower and NCCC Mall in Davao were ablaze. In Manchester, an explosion rocked after an Ariana Grande concert.

Marawi City was flattened for five months. Martial Law in Mindanao was declared but it’s not yet lifted, as of now.

The greatest dud of the year is the Fyre Festival, which is supposed to take place in the Bahamas. Despite the promotion by social media influencers, the logistics problem arises and the luxury music festival was crushed. Billy McFarland (the organizer and founder of Fyre Media) was charged with fraud.

While Wildflower (ABS-CBN) was the most discussed teleserye for the year, GMA successfully expanded a teleserye duration to six days a week with Ika-6 na Utos. On the other hand, Trops remained a successful regular 5-day teleserye.

Honorable mention not mentioned in the attached video is Destined to Be Yours.

Light TV became the first TV network to shut down its analog transmission for good.

The Philippines Football League kicked off this year but its television coverage on PTV was cut short. After a long time, the coverage package of SEA Games in Kuala Lumpur package was also with there with their basketball games on 5.

In radio, Philippine Broadcasting Service has expanded and reformatted its existing radio frequencies. Radyo ng Bayan became Radyo Pilipinas while their FM assets became FM1 87.5 and FM2 104.3.

The year 2017 marked the boost of Cardi B, Bebe Rexha, Rita Ora and Marshmello. Inigo Pascual’s career began, thanks to the launch of Billboard’s local counterpart (which lasts until January).

While MMFF went back to its old commercialized ways, Pista ng Pelikulang Pilipino was inaugurated that year to save the quality of Filipino films.

While Spiderman: Homecoming and Star Wars: The Last Jedi were successful in the box office, the Emoji Movie got negative reviews.

In youth culture, dabbing and fidget spinners were associated in that year. Oh yeah, the Paul brothers (Jake and Logan) were the controversial and most-discussed YouTube celebrities.

Five ad interim Cabinet members (Perfecto Yasay of DFA, Gina Lopez of DENR, Judy Taguiwalo of DSWD, Rafael Mariano of DAR and Paulyn Ubial of DOH) were rejected by the Commission of Appointments, the most in history. Another member, Mike Sueno of DILG, was sacked for alleged corruption.

A simple mishandling of Dengvaxia that lead to 600 deaths after its administration has led to the rise of distrust of vaccinations through scaremongering and disinformation.

Continuing the streak of Big 4 beauty pageants, Karen Ibasco was crowned as Miss Earth.

Super Bowl LI became the first of the NFL’s overall championship to decide a win into overtime. Atlanta Falcons was about to win its first championship but its lead was erased by the New England Patriots. (This was the first and only time S+A covered this American football game championship.)

For the first time in almost a century, the continental United States was fascinated with the solar eclipse.

https://timowsturf.wordpress.com/2019/10/29/swiping-through-the-2010s-2017/

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