2016 has been a horrible year, full of death and disaster. Even the Olympics were mired by the Zika virus. Look at Wikipedia's summary of the events of 2016 in Australia. A litany of deaths, destruction, accidents, and whatever the census was.
But all is not doom and gloom! Where there is shade, there is light! Every cloud has a silver lining! Turn that frown upside down! And other bumper stickers. So, in order to convince you that even the non-stop hellscape that this year has been contained a few moments of transcendent loveliness, I've committed to finding 16 terrific things that happened in 2016.
Can I get all the way to 16? Let's do this!
1. JK Rowling brought us back to the Potterverse – twice! There were heaps of great movies this year – Rogue One, La La Land, Arrival, Zootopia, Deadpool, Captain America: Civil War and Doctor Strange among them. But JK Rowling had an especially brilliant year. Not only did she bring her middle-age characters to the stage with Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, which I have avoided reading but received rave reviews, but Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them was not only an utter delight, but promises four more excellent instalments. I don't know how JK does it – her Cormoran Strike detective books are excellent too.
2. Beyoncé's Lemonade came out! It's one of the most brilliant, consistent, cohesive records of this millennium, and it arrived from out of nowhere, complete with an accompanying movie that really needs to be watched for the full experience. Admittedly, it's also emotionally harrowing, and sparked intense speculation about her relationship with Jay-Z and the identity of "Becky with the good hair", meaning that at times, it's a depressing listen – but hey, that just makes it oh-so 2016.
3. Bruce Munro's incredible Field of Light delighted visitors to Uluru! If you haven't seen this, it's seriously amazing. As the website says , "More than 50,000 slender stems crowned with frosted-glass spheres bloom as darkness falls over Australia's spiritual heartland." I wish I'd been to see it. The great news is, it's proven so popular that it's been extended until 2018.
4. Pokémon Go enthralled the world! It's hard to believe this was even a thing all these months later, but there was genuinely a period when the streets were full of Pokémon hunters. I was hooked myself, until I wasn't, and wandered the streets of the CBD late one night, seeing players everywhere I went. I recall seeing hordes of teenagers literally running around Circular Quay after a rare one appeared. Who said electronic games don't encourage kids to exercise? The craze has well-and-truly cooled now, but the location-based gameplay was genuinely innovative, and I'm sure some of its successors will have more enduring playability.
5. We came tenth at the Olympics! This was a great performance by our athletes, who came tenth in London as well. I got the sense that our greedy media and sporting community thought we should have done even better, but come on – tenth is an incredible performance by such a tiny country, and our entire sporting programme hasn't even been engulfed in a doping scandal like Russia's! There were so many outstanding results, but Mack Horton's finish in the 400m freestyle and our gold in the women's rugby sevens was my personal favourite. And more broadly...
6. Underdogs triumphed in the world of sport! The Cronulla Sharks and the Western Bulldogs won Australia's major football comps, but we also saw wins for, the Chicago Cubs in Major League Baseball, and strangest of all, Leicester City in the English Premier League – it was a great year for unexpected results. That also applies to Brexit and Trump, but at least dreams came true for many long-suffering sporting fans.
7. Crowded House reformed and we all got to watch! I was lucky enough to attend, and it was just an utter delight to sing along to some of my favourite songs of all time. It was simulcast on Double J and ABC TV, and the great thing is, it's still available on iView at the time of writing – go and listen, and be transported back to the 1990s, which among other great things, wasn't 2016!
8. The Zodiac Killer was unmasked at last! At long last, one of the world's most fascinating mysteries was solved. Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz was, by popular internet acclaim, revealed as the man responsible. He wasn't alive at the time of the murders, admittedly, but that didn't stop anybody from having fun with this. For me, it was probably the funniest meme of the year. Which leads me to...
9. Electionstravaganza! If you loved politics, this year was a non-stop votefest that delivered a host of shocks and surprises. Not only did Australia and the US elections coincide, but the Brexit poll also enthralled Australian politics buffs. At the end, the entire science of polling seemed in jeopardy. And usually after an election, things quieten down – but with Donald Trump in the White House, and the UK still genuinely unclear on what on earth it's to do, things are likely to remain fascinating for a long while to come. If you're interested in that kind of thing, at least. Also, in Australia, One Nation only got 4.3 per cent of the vote – a solid endorsement of a tolerant, inclusive Australia, at least compared to everywhere else.
10. We celebrated the International Year of Pulses! What, you didn't know that 2016 had been designated by the UN as a special 365-day celebration of lentils, chickpeas and all the other fine pulse foodstuffs beloved the world over? How could you have missed it? I'm just glad I told you before it was over, so you could join the pulsating party for the remaining few days. Try and pay more attention next year, when the UN celebrates the International Year Of Something Else Incredibly Minor.
11. We celebrated the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare's death! Now, admittedly, this was an anniversary of a death, and we had more than enough fresh ones to mourn this year - but still, the 400th anniversary of Bill's departure was a great chance to celebrate all things Stratfordian. We also had plenty of chances to remember how relevant the Bard's work remains to us all these years later. This year, the tragedies in particular.
12. The Panama Papers showed us how the world really works! The journalistic scoop of the year, the leak of documents from the law firm Mossack Fonseca exposed how offshore tax havens are used by the rich and powerful. These revelations confirmed everyone's suspicion that the world is run by the rich, for the rich, and there's nothing any of us can do about it. But at least we've seen conclusive proof of it now!
13. The Gotthard Base Tunnel opened! You might think I'm somewhat clutching at straws here, to which I say – come on, this is a seriously amazing feat of engineering. It runs for 57km underneath the Swiss Alps, will take a million trucks off the road each year, and because it's Swiss, the trains will run on time. It was a fabulous moment for pan-European ingenuity and co-operation.
14. Latvia became the 35th member of the OECD! Sure, this might not mean much to you, sitting here in Australia, which has been a member since way back in 1971, but in Latvia this was big news, and I never promised Daily Life that this list would be Australia-specific. I, for one, look forward to the forthcoming transformation of the Latvian economy, and a boost in demand for whatever its exports are.
15. We rediscovered lots of amazing songs! Admittedly, it was because the artists who recorded it had passed away in a series of sucker punches to our collective guts, but we listened to a lot of great stuff this year in tribute montages. And yes, I know it's genuinely outrageous to cite one of the worst things about this year on this list, but I committed to finding 16 items for this list, and come on – 2016 was an absolute shocker. So much so that...
16. We all came together as one world like never before! To universally decry 2016 as the most unrelentingly awful year we can remember! It's a great conversation-starter at any party, anywhere in the world. Pretty soon you'll have the room moaning in unison as you remember all the terrible things that happened this year. And isn't it lovely to have shared in this long progression of terrible moments – together? Which leads me to one more thing we can all share together: the hope that 2017 will be a better year.
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