1997

1997 (MCMXCVII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (dominical letter E) of the Gregorian calendar, the 1997th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 997th year of the 2nd millennium, the 97th year of the 20th century, and the 8th year of the 1990s decade.

Events

January

Desert Breath

The Desert Breath, located in the Egyptian desert near Hurghada on the Red Sea coast, is a double-spiral extra-large piece of art.

It was created by the D.A.ST. Arteam, a group made up of three Greek women artists - Danae Stratou, sculptor, Alexandra Stratou, industrial designer, and Stella Constantinides, architect. The work, completed on March 7, 1997, covers an area of about 10 hectares (25 acres). It consists of 89 protruding cones of gradually increasing size set in a spiral and another 89 depressed (incised) cones set in spirals. The sand dug out from the depressed cones was used to create the protruding cones, resulting in the displacement of 8000 cubic meters (10500 cubic yards) of sand. At the center of the art piece used to be a body of water 30 meters (98 feet) in diameter which has since evaporated. The artwork is subject to natural erosion and in due course the area will revert to original desert plain. It is viewable by satellite pictures via Google Earth.

Intention of the Project

Nine Inch Nails

Nine Inch Nails (abbreviated NIN; stylized as NIИ) is an American industrial rock band, founded in 1988 by Trent Reznor in Cleveland, Ohio. As its main producer, singer, songwriter, and instrumentalist, Reznor is the only official member of the group and remains solely responsible for its direction. Nine Inch Nails' music straddles a wide range of genres. After recording a new album, Reznor usually assembles a live band to perform with him. The touring band features a revolving lineup that often rearranges songs to fit a live setting. On stage, Nine Inch Nails often employs visual elements to accompany performances, which frequently include light shows.

Underground music audiences warmly received Nine Inch Nails in its early years. Reznor produced several highly influential records in the 1990s that achieved widespread popularity: many Nine Inch Nails songs became radio hits; and their entire catalog has reached record sales exceeding over 20 million albums worldwide, with 10 million sales certified in the United States alone. In 1997, Reznor appeared in Time magazine's list of the year's most influential people, and Spin magazine described him as "the most vital artist in music." In 2004, Rolling Stone placed Nine Inch Nails at 94 on its list of the 100 greatest artists of all time. Despite this acclaim, the band has had several feuds with the corporate side of the recording industry. In 2007, these corporate entanglements resulted in Reznor announcing that Nine Inch Nails would split from its label and release future material independently.

Hong Kong

Hong Kong (香港; "Fragrant Harbour"), officially Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China, is an autonomous territory on the southern coast of China at the Pearl River Estuary and the South China Sea. Hong Kong is known for its skyline and deep natural harbour. It has a land area of 1104 km² and shares its northern border with Guangdong Province of Mainland China. With around 7.2 million inhabitants of various nationalities, Hong Kong is one of the world's most densely populated metropolises.

After the First Opium War (1839–42), Hong Kong became a British colony with the perpetual cession of Hong Kong Island, followed by Kowloon Peninsula in 1860 and a 99-year lease of the New Territories from 1898. Hong Kong remained under British control for about a century until the Second World War, when Japan occupied the colony from December 1941 to August 1945. After the Surrender of Japan, the British resumed control. In the 1980s, negotiations between the United Kingdom and the China resulted in the 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration, which provided for the transfer of sovereignty of Hong Kong on 30 June 1997. The territory became a special administrative region of China with a high degree of autonomy on 1 July 1997 under the principle of one country, two systems. Disputes over the perceived misapplication of this principle have contributed to popular protests, including the 2014 Umbrella Revolution.

Smosh

Smosh is an American web-based sketch comedy duo consisting of Ian Andrew Hecox (born November 30, 1987) and Anthony Padilla (born September 16, 1987).

Padilla began posting flash animations on Newgrounds in 2003, under the name Smosh. He was later joined by his friend Ian Hecox. Soon afterward, they began to post videos on YouTube in the autumn of 2005 and became one of the most popular channels on that site. As of February 2016, the Smosh channel has more than 21 million subscribers and 5.2 billion video views. The Smosh team has expanded to include others to handle animated, other language, and video gaming content videos, and the sketches have included more actors.

The Smosh channel has experienced three different spans as the most subscribed YouTube channel. The first period spanned from May to June 2006, the second spanned from April 2007 to September 2008, and the third span lasted from January to August 2013.

History

Formation and Pokémon Theme Music Video: 2002–2006

The franchise began when Anthony Padilla built a website in 2002, smosh.com, and made several different Flash animations. He has stated that the name Smosh came from an incident where he mistook a friend explaining a mosh pit, as a "smosh pit". Later, his friend, Ian Hecox, joined the venture. Padilla and Hecox first met in their sixth grade science class. They became friends, and quickly discovered their knack for comedy. In 2005, they joined YouTube and made several videos together, lip syncing the theme songs to Mortal Kombat, Power Rangers, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. At first, these videos were not intended to be posted online, but after they sent them to their friends, they started a YouTube channel.