My year in review. 2017
Well, then, it’s time to once again make a chronicle over the year - which I have done since 2003, in different forums. Since 2008 here on the blog (and since a few years ago the only thing I use the blog to).
I’ll do as I have done in recent years: first my private 2017, and then news, entertainment, sports and other things from the big world.
Content:
- My 2017
- News year 2017
- Sports year 2017
- Entertainment year 2017
- Best movies 2017
- Best songs 2017
- Dead celebrities 2017
- How my guesses went about 2017
- My guesses about 2018
My 2017
Melodifestivalen, and travel, is how you can summarize my 2017.
For me, the spring, both work and private, was about Melodifestivalen (the Swedish Eurovision Song Contest). For the Hallandsposten and the Hallands Nyheter newspapers, I followed the artist Mariette (who's from a village outside Halmstad). Even before the competition started, I interviewed her and her cousin Jenny (who’s a songwriter). Then I followed along in the competition in Malmö, as well as at the finals in Stockholm.
I had so much fun during these weeks. I stayed by myself at a hotel in Malmö, but spent the days with rehearsals, interviews, press conferences, and then in the evenings there were nice dinners and parties.
Me with the different artists in Malmö. Top row Mariette.
Then with Roger Pontare, Benjamin Ingrosso and Allyawan.
Bottom line with Etzia, Dismissed and Lisa Ajax.
Around the finals in Stockholm, I stayed with my Melodifestivalen-mate Jenny and her (and now my) friend Johanna, whom I both got to know last year.
In addition, I interviewed two other Halmstad persons, the dancer Tilda, and the jewelry designer Amanda (who comes from Getinge).
It was almost surreal to hang out with all celebrities and other journalists, eat luxurious food, and at the same time work and write about what I think is the most fun. A heaven of fun was it.
Welcome dinner at Stockholm City Hall.
The starting lineup during the final at the Friends arena.
Then I was a guest of the podcast "Schlager-Micke and his friends", with Mikael Olofsson and Marcus Björkander.
You can here it here (in Swedish, of course).
But between the competition in Malmö and the final I did something completely different, totally melodifestivalen-unrelated. My best friend in the United States, Cecily, was hving her birthday, and had recently got engaged. Her fiancé contacted and wondered if I wanted to come over and surprise her, so I did. I went to San Jose in California and surprised her totally, and had a great week, where I also met Lauren and Paige. We had a lot of fun and it was very successful.
Paige, Cecily, me and Lauren
And of course we should get silly together, just like in the old days. Here with Cecily's colleague Kimia as well.
Later in spring it was time for the next trip, to Oslo. My childhood friend Jocke has lived there for many years and works as a chef, but now he saw the end of this and wanted to move home. That's why me and Andreas went up, along with Carro and her mother. Carro's brother would just become a father. It was a really awesome weekend, where we visited Jocke's restraurang at Aker Brygga, where we had to enjoy a powerhouse menu with eleven courses.
In June, mom and dad celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary. Mom has lived in Barcelona when she was young, and often talks about it. We have never been there together, but now to their day, me and dad decided to take mom there. We had a great Thursday-Sunday weekend where we went around and watched a lot of sights, and ate and drank a lot.
During the summer (when the weather was really, really bad) I did a couple of small trips to Gothenburg, but otherwise I was mostly at home. Had thought about hanging on the beach, but in the end, it was probably not even five such days in the summer. Really boring.
This year's major event in Halmstad was Tall Ships Races. Lots of great cool ships, food and singers who performed. However, the weather also caused problems. Linnea Henriksson, Mariette and Linnea Olsson had to cancel their concerts, and when we were watching Europe, it was raining all the time. But they rocked fine!
Me, Tessan and Andreas at Tall ships races.
I went to Öland tfor a few days, and me and mom also watched the artist show Diggiloo, which was in Halmstad.
Öland.
The Diggiloo gang, with among others newly winner of Melodifestivalen, Robin Bengtsson.
There were some trips to Liseberg. The new attraction, Loke, had replaced Spinrock, and I was sad because it was my favorite. But this new was a better version of Spinrock, so I was very pleased :)
Plus I won several star wins during the year.
This summer, I was permanently employed again - for the third time at the same newspaper! Must be some sort of record. Especially as I've been working there since the summer of 2011.
In the fall I changed my position at work. From my position as “SLM editor” I had since December, I was transfered to a group of five people who will switch between that position and evening copy editing. Not what I wanted, and now I have had to participate less in the floorball games, pub quiz and other training. A bit sad.
But the evening gang is nice as always, so it's not hard when you're there.
I had saved vacation weeks, in case that Cecily would marry, but she will not do that yet. Nor did it get away with friends for traveling. But I got away anyway! Dad had received a gift card on travel when he retired two years ago. That one was about to expire, so he had use them, and if so, go somewhere. But I thought I could hang on when I still had vacation weeks to spare. So I came along, and the two of us went for a week to Fuerteventura at the end of November / December. Very nice to get away and get some warmth, sun and bath when you did not get it during the summer.
During the year I have done a lot, and have been able to spend a lot of time with both friends and my family. It has been really nice.
News year 2017
Trump and #metoo.
There you have it, the title that summarizes the 2017 news year.
As for Trump, it's not a day without him being in the news. And maybe that's not that strange. He comes up with one idiotic statement after another, and there’s barely any group of people he has not offended. But not just annoyed. He makes a mess in foreign policy by saying (tweeting) things that he does not have support among allies or other Republicans.
Most of the time he has fought with North Korea, and there has been real nasty. Kim Jong-Un has intensified the development of nuclear weapons, and there has been a throw-in on total kindergarten levels between the leaders of North Korea and the United States. Example: Trump has constantly called Kim for "Little Rocket Man" and called him small and fat, and Trump said yesterday that "I have a bigger nuclear weapon button than you have." There you have the level of conversation...
The stubbornness began already when he took office and stubbornly claimed that he had a lot more audience than Obama had in his presidential inauguration, despite proof of photos that this was not the case.
Trump has also been against transsexuals in the army, even though the army is not. Much of what Trump said during the election year has not been implemented. He did not get through to remove the so-called Obamacare, and there is a long way to any wall at the Mexican border. He also has several times during the year been trying to get through the ban on entry for people from mostly Muslim countries.
During the first half of the year, there was also a lot of talk about Trump's breach of the constitution when he interfered various investigations. Several protest marches have been held during the year.
A crazy year where the United States has fallen in the eyes of virtually the whole world. And this is just the first of four (eight !?) years of the madman at the helm of the United States. Horrible.
But in the fall there was something else that has dominated the world's news, and it's Metoo. It began with Harvey Weinstein, when victims of sexual assault and rape for several years, accused him, one of Hollywood's most important decision makers. But that was just the beginning.
More and more people began to tell about their experiences. Actress Alyssa Milan called on all women who had been subjected to similar things to write #metoo on their statuses on social media, to show the magnitude of the problem this was and to make people who neglected it (men) realize how big it was. And all over the world women started doing just that.
It was no longer just about powerful men in Hollywood, but also "ordinary" people. In all industries, countries, social classes, positions, everywhere. Weinstein was fired from his own company, kicked out from the Academy. More actors and executives followed his track. Accusations against Kevin Spacey appeared, where he a few years ago (and repeatedly afterwards) had harassed young boys. He was fired from the main role of the Netflix series House of Cards. Other people who left their job were comedian Louis CK, and politician Roy Moore, in Alabama, who failed to be re-elected after his deeds came to the surface.
Those who took courage and began to tell about everything were collectively appointed the Time Magazine's Person of the year.
But, as I said, it was not just in the United States this thing shook up, but also in Sweden. Here things began to roll out when first the journalist Cissi Wallin told us that it was Aftonbladet's columnist Fredrik Virtanen who had raped her eleven years ago, but had not been sentenced for lack of evidence. After much back and forth in media how to do with name publishing, his name eventually came out in "regular" media after having been online for several weeks.
Several people also accused TV4's Martin Timell of both sexual assault and a horrible leadership style. It was also apparent that TV4's executives held his back. In the end, he lost his job, and his home improvement show was cancelled after more than 20 years.
Other people who received charges against them, and left work, were SVT's Lasse Kronér, Lotta Bromé from the radio, former Left-wing Party Leader Lars Ohly and TV4's Ingvar Oldsberg. The latter, however, not for sexual abuse, but his leadership style, which began to be examined at the same time as Timell.
And many, many more, both in the United States, Sweden and around the world.
Many consider that this has meant a major milestone in history, and that such behavior will be more noticeable, and hopefully reduce a little. You can always hope.
But much else has obviously also happened.
When so much has happened in the United States and with Metoo, it's easy to forget that some Swedish politics happened.
Anna Kinberg Batra's popularity as the Conservative party leader decreased and decreased during the spring and summer. In the end, it became too much, and she left without having led the party in an election. She was succeeded by Ulf Kristersson.
A major political scandal was noted during the summer. The National Transportation Board had issued secret tasks on contract in other countries, and data could have spread. The government and prime minister Stefan Löfven were criticized for not acting at all initially, and then did not suffice much. With the threat of distrust voters, several ministers resigned: Interior Minister Andreas Ygeman (S) and Infrastructure Minister Anna Johansson (S). At the same time, Minister of Health and Sport, Gabriel Wikström (S) also resigned, but for health reasons. Löfven and Defense Minister Peter Hultfors stayed.
In April, a terrorist attack occurred in Stockholm when a truck drove into people along the shopping street Drottninggatan and eventually crashed into th storehouse Åhléns. The driver survived, but five people were killed, and many were injured.
Another attack took place in Manchester during a concert with Ariana Grande, where 22 were killed and 500 were injured.
A major massacre killed over 50 in Las Vegas.
In Catalonia, it has been troubles during the year, since they voted to become independent from Spain, and also proclaimed their own republic. Spain said no and deprived them of their autonomy. It is far from over how it will go there.
Ban Ki-moon was replaced as UN leader of the Portuguese António Guterres.
Sweden's population reached 10 million.
Emmanuel Macron won the presidential election in France.
There has been great forest fires this year. More than 60 died in Portugal in June, and major areas of southern California were destroyed in the fall and winter.
Nazis has demonstrated several times in Sweden, and also in the United States where a strong extremist wind has blown since Trump was chosen.
In Sweden, all old money were taken out of circulation, and has been replaces with new coins and bank notes.
Several huge hurricanes destroyed parts of the Caribbean, including St Maarten, Antigua and Puerto Rico, and also caused major damage in Houston in the United States. By the end of the year, especially the Philippines suffered from devastating storms.
A lot of secret papers are revealed ("Paradise papers"), where there were information about wealthy people and companies that have tried to hide taxpayers.
In Zimbabwe, a military coup took place, and Robert Mugabe stepped down after 37 years as the country's leader.
Prince Carl Philip and Princess Sofia got a son, Prince Gabriel.
2017 in sports
The Swedish Women’s soccer team team were really bad at the European Championship.
On the other hand, the Swedish men's soccer team had an amazing year. They won against France in the summer, and made a total of such good games that they beat Holland and finished second in the qualification group. In the play-off qualifiers they were matched against all the toughest opponents - Italy. But it went all the way after two hugely exciting matches, and for the first time in 12 years Sweden will play the World Cup next year, in Russia.
Swimmer Sarah Sjöström continues to be the best at everything, and took several gold medalists.
Halmstad soccer team continues to be bad at everything, and were eliminated from the top league.
Malmö FF won gold in soccer, HV71 in hockey.
Östersund is unstoppable in the Europe League, and has moved on to the round of 16th, where they will face Arsenal.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic got injured at the beginning of the year and had the year destroyed.
During the World Cup in athletics, Mo Farah and Usain Bolt made their last race ever (as they said now). Bolt missed the gold medal for the first time.
Pittsburgh Penguins won the Stanley Cup for the second consecutive year, something that has not happened since 97-98.
The New York Rangers did a bad play off, and went out in the second round. But Henrik Lundqvist was in the mood for more, and joined Swedish national team Tre Kronor and won the World Championship gold.
NHL also got a new team, Vegas Golden Knights, and now has 31.
Tove Alexandersson took three World Cup gold in orientering.
Entertainment year
Much of the news reporting about entertainment has been about metoo.
Otherwise, this winter's biggest buzz was the Academy awards, where the wrong winner of the best picture was announced. They mistakenly said that La La Land had won. The film team and actors went up to stage and held speeches, and the gala would soon be over, but as it turned out, instead Moonlight had won.
In Sweden there were many good songs in the final of the Melodifestival, which eventually was won by Robin Bengtsson's "I can’t go on". It then ended fifht in Eurovision, which was won by Portugal for the first time. Unfortunately it was with Salvador Sobral's sad song Amor Pelos Dois. But what's good about that is that I have already decided to go to Portugal in 2018.
The big thing in Eurovision, however, happened earlier in the spring. Russia decided not to participate. They selected an artist who had performed in the Crimean peninsula, and according to Ukrainian law, you can not enter Ukraine in three years after that. Russia wanted to play victims, and had also chosen a woman in a wheelchair that people would feel sorry for, and it seemed successful. However, Russia never intended to participate in the first place, but since they became "victims" and Ukraine became "the evil", it went as Putin wanted.
Two of Sweden's biggest comedians ever, whom I, thanks to my parents, have grown up with, died: Hasse Alfredson and Gösta Ekman.
Two songs have been played all year long over and over, and you could not escape them anytime in 2017. One was Ed Sheeran's Shape of you, and the other, who also broke Psys YouTube record from 2012 was Despacito, with Luiz Fonsi, Daddy Yankee and Justin Bieber.
Best movies
My favorite movies of 2017, of those I have seen during the year.
It, Star Wars XIII: The Last Jedi, Jumanji, Wonder Woman, Lego Batman Movie, Get Out, Baywatch, Passengers, Logan, Raw
Best songs of the year
My favorite songs this year:
- Bebe Rexha & Louis Tomlinson - Back to you
- Dua Lipa - Be the one
- Julia Michaels - Issus
- Tiesto & Bright Sparks - On my way
- Darin - Tvillingen
- Axwell ^ Ingrosso - More than you know
- Kamferdrops – Jag trodde änglarna fanns
- Justin Bieber & David Guetta - 2U
- Koit Toome & Laura - Verona (Estonia in ESC)
- Kygo & Selena Gomez - It's not me
Dead celebrities
Emma Moreno (The oldest person in the world, and the last person born in the 19th century), Hans Alfredson, Gösta Ekman, Siewert Öholm, Lennart Nilsson, Lars Erik Berenett, Stig Grybe, Björn Granath, Hans Rosling, Bill Paxton, Lars "Dille" Didricson, Chuck Bery, Sven-Erik Magnusson, Roger Moore, Adam West, Michael Nyqvist, Jerry Lewis, Janne "Loffe" Carlsson, Hugh Heffner, Magdalena Ribbing, Tom Petty, Bo Holmström, Fats Domino, Rikard Wolff, Ian Wachtmeister , Charles Manson, Helmut Kohl
How my guesses went for 2017
- I'm doing a couple of bigger trips
It happened! USA, Barcelona, Fuerteventura, and several small ones.
- HBK actually has a good season.
Oh, no, no, no.
- Something happens that affects Eurovision in Kiev.
Russia left, and in any case it was quite big in the ESC world.
- Sweden reaches the World Cup 2018.
Yeeeees!
- Now then. Rangers wins Stanley Cup!
Nah.
- Overall, I'm guessing a good 2017.
It was, at least personal. Many trips, lots of time with friends and family. However, the news year was a lot to complain about.
Okay, so and so for my new guesswork.
My guesses for 2018
- Sweden is surprisingly good and does well in the World Cup.
- A major disaster will occur due to Trump.
- Trump is no longer president at the end of 2018.
- I'm going to have a really amazing 2018. Please?
- Halmstad returns to Allsvenskan.