Although tamer than its predecessors, 2020 and 2021, 2022 was still a wild ride. Come and reminisce with the rest of Palo Verde as we take a trip through Memory Lane. 

During the 97th Academy Awards, Will Smith slapped Chris Rock on stage shouting, “keep my wife’s name out of your f*****g mouth,” as a response to the comedian’s joke about Jada Smith’s shaved head due to a hair loss condition. The media later deemed this incident, “The Slap Heard Around the World” and “Slapgate,” making jokes and parodies about this assault. In the aftermath, there were no charges or arrests made, and only a 10-year ban from the academy awaited Mr. Smith. Smith later apologized saying, “that’s not the man I want to be.”  

On April 11, two other well-known celebrities got into another incident that took the internet by storm. This was the defamation trial between Johnny Depp and Amber Heard as both sides accused each other of abuse. Although the trial itself was rather perplexing and ever-so-slightly unusual, the internet seemed to enjoy the bits of randomness and humorous moments throughout, creating parodies and memes of the event. In the end, Mr. Depp won the trial and took home $15 million in damages.  

Fast forward through the summer and into the beginning of a new school year, on September 8th, news that the queen of England, better known as Queen Elizabeth II, had died due to old age. The entirety of the world mourned, and poked fun, at the loss of the world’s most renowned and famous person. After the ceremony of her coming and passing, her son Prince Charles took the throne and became the next King of the United Kingdom. 

After that happened, the internet was stirred up again by the announcement of Elon Musk’s completed purchase of a famous social media platform, Twitter. Many had questioned why he did so, trying to seek out any sort of intention – good or bad – from him. He simply replied that it was part of his “grander vision” of making a super app for the West to use. This event is also connected with Andrew Tate’s unbanning from the platform causing discord among the users. 

After much delay, The World Cup finally kicked off to end the year in awe. Fans from all over the world were cheering for their representative teams as the display of ups, downs, smiles, frowns, victories, and losses intensified. The tournament was capped off with one of the greatest sporting events ever with Argentina beating France, 3-3 (4-2), and Lionel Messi lifting the trophy.

And there you have it, the Review of 2022. For some, it was a rather undesirable year, but for others, it was great. Hopefully, next year will be better and greater than the last.