There have been lots of crazy happenings throughout the summer, and in the event you’ve been a little too caught up in your vacation, here’s a quick roundup of some of Summer 2008’s biggest events.
Television
Before all the big time fall programming comes back around for another go, the Olympics has dominated as the biggest television event. And appropriately so. Michael Phelps, in case you’ve been living under a rock, took home eight gold medals. But aside from Phelps, the United States dominated in beach volleyball, basketball, BMX, and so on. One of the biggest shockers: USA softball lost to Japan in the gold medal match.
Movies
Iron Man kicked off the Superhero Summer, and despite how good they were, all the films made the top spots. But it was Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight that rampaged through the summer, setting multiple records and resting at the top of the box office for a whopping four straight weeks. That feat had not been accomplished since
Comic-based movies are hard to avoid, as Comic Con International stormed San Diego, CA again. If you don’t know, Comic Con is a nerd’s Mecca. Thousands made the trip out to San Diego to check out previews of the highly anticipated Watchmen, The Spirit, and other such films.
Celebrity Gossip
Incredibly downplayed by the media, Lindsey Lohan unofficially showed to the world that she is either bisexual or lesbian after being photographed with girlfriend Samantha Ronson. But of course, there is another. Courtney Semel, an actress, came out and claimed she was Lohan’s lover before Ronson, but was dumped out of career suicide fear.
Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie finally welcomed their twins into the world…just before welcoming another $15 million to their fortunes. The couple reportedly received that amount for the first published baby pictures. Much could be said about that, and if you want to do it, why not go ahead?
Video Games
Nintendo’s Wii is still printing out cash for the Japanese-based company, and Wii Fit proved that the gimmick might be here to stay, at least for this year. The game sold out immediately at thousands of stores upon release. It has since been confirmed that the idea for the game came from Nintendo developer Shigeru Miyamoto when he was exercising. Now he has a gag order to stop competitors from thinking similarly.
The industry’s big event, E3 Media and Business Summit (E3 reads out Electronic Entertainment Expo), tried to return to its old, fun form, but failed miserably. Last year saw more of a business-type ordeal, which failed to excite. This year, many didn’t waste their time. For video gamers all around, the E3 of old is officially dead.