What happened in 2005

In 2005, the world was a different place.

In 2005, the year of your birth, the top selling movie was Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. People buying the popcorn in the cinema lobby had glazing eyes when looking at the poster.

Do you know who won the Oscars that year? The academy award for the best movie went to Crash. The Oscar for best foreign movie that year went to Tsotsi. The top actor was Philip Seymour Hoffman for his role as Truman Capote in Capote. The top actress was Reese Witherspoon for her role as June Carter in Walk the Line. The best director? Ang Lee for Brokeback Mountain.

In the year 2005, the time when you arrived on this planet, books were still popularly read on paper, not on digital devices. Trees were felled to get the word out. The number one US bestseller of the time was The Broker by John Grisham. Oh, that's many years ago. Have you read that book? Have you heard of it? Look at the cover!

In 2005... Deep Impact is launched from Cape Canaveral by a Delta 2 rocket. The Kyoto Protocol goes into effect, without the support of the United States and Australia. Millionaire Steve Fossett breaks a world record by completing the first non-stop, non-refueled, solo flight around the world in the Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer. 800,000 people gather for an opposition rally in Beirut, a month after the death of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. It is the largest rally in Lebanon's history. The first 13th root calculation of a 200-digit number is computed by Frenchman Alexis Lemaire. North Korea agrees to stop building nuclear weapons in exchange for aid and cooperation. Pope John Paul II dies; over 4 million people travel to the Vatican to mourn him. The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is launched. The second Chinese spacecraft, Shenzhou 6, is launched, carrying Fei Junlong and Nie Haisheng for 5 days in orbit. The European Parliament rejects the Directive on the patentability of computer-implemented inventions in its second reading in the codecision procedure. The video game of the day was Guitar Hero.

That was the world you were born into. Since then, you and others have changed it.

The Nobel prize for Literature that year went to Harold Pinter. The Nobel Peace prize went to Mohamed ElBaradei and the International Atomic Energy Agency. The Nobel prize for physics went to Roy J. Glauber from the United States for his contribution to the quantum theory of optical coherence. The sensation this created was big. But it didn't stop the planets from spinning, on and on, year by year. Years in which you would grow bigger, older, smarter, and, if you were lucky, sometimes wiser. Years in which you also lost some things. Possessions got misplaced. Memories faded. Friends parted ways. The best friends, you tried to hold on. This is what counts in life, isn't it?

The 2000s were indeed a special decade. Globalization continues to influence the world. Islamist groups are on the rise. The European Union further integrates and expands in Europe. A global financial crisis occurs. The US leadership declares a "War on Terror". The Arab-Israeli conflict continues. The second Congo War takes place. Kosovo gains independence from Serbia. Google becomes the web's most visited site. Other sites on the rise include YouTube, Facebook and MySpace. VHS collections become replaced with DVD. Touchscreen mobile phones gain popularity. Microsoft releases operating system Windows XP. The Chinese launch their first manned space flight, Shenzhou 5. Climate change and global warming become household words, while the global temperature keeps growing. The best-selling album of the decade is the Beatles compilation album. Michael Jackson dies. The Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings films capture the imagination of audiences across the globe. Michael Schumacher wins five F1 World Championships before he retires. Taipei 101 becomes the tallest building in the world.

Do you know what was on the cover of Life that year?

6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1... it's 2005. There's TV noise coming from the second floor. Someone turned up the volume way too high. The sun is burning from above. These were different times. The show playing on TV is Blind Justice. The sun goes down. Someone switches channels. There's American Dad on now. That's the world you were born in.

Progress, year after year. Do you wonder where the world is heading towards?

You ring up my line
I'm expanding my mind
I see 2005
When we fell, who survived?
...

That's from the song I'm Expanding My Mind by Superdrag.

It's 2010.

The world is a different place.

What path have you taken?