T minus 20

🇩🇪 Merkel makes history
Angela Merkel is sworn in as Germany’s first female chancellor and first from the former East. A grand coalition deal ends the election deadlock. Quiet power beats loud politics.

🎈 Candy meets physics
A giant M&M’s balloon whacks a light pole at the Macy’s Parade, injuring two spectators. NYC tightens wind rules and retires the balloon. Thanksgiving TV gets an unforgettable blooper.

🎮 Xbox 360 arrives
Launch day chaos as the 360 sells out in hours. HD gaming, Xbox Live 2.0, achievements — and soon the dreaded Red Ring of Death. Microsoft’s win… with a billion-dollar asterisk.

💿 Britney hits the club
Britney drops B In The Mix: The Remixes on 22 Nov. Toxic, Everytime and more get DJ makeovers. Modest charts then, cult favourite now.

🎤 Idol crowned
Bendigo’s Kate DeAraugo wins Australian Idol in the show’s first all-female finale. Maybe Tonight rockets to #1 and the Young Divas era beckons.

🛎️ Come on down, one last time
24 Nov: The Price Is Right (Australia) signs off its run. Mega Showcases become legend, Larry Emdur readies his next TV chapter.

📚 Book corner
Jimmy Carter’s Our Endangered Values fuels church-and-state debate. Less beach read, more ‘argue with your uncle at lunch’ energy.

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🧬 The man who (maybe) cured HIV
Before ‘manifesting’ was a TikTok buzzword, Andrew Stimpson from London apparently manifested the impossible — curing himself of HIV. After testing positive in 2002, he shocked doctors three years later with a clean bill of health. No miracle drug, no experimental treatment — just vitamins, good vibes, and confusion. The world collectively said, “Wait, what?” while scientists scrambled to make sense of it all. Spoiler: they never quite did.

💿 Sony’s spyware surprise
Remember when buying a CD came with actual malware? In 2005, Sony BMG decided music piracy was so bad they’d fight it by installing spyware on millions of computers. Their “copy protection” hid deep in Windows, opened backdoors for hackers, and made everyone’s IT guy cry. Once exposed, Sony’s PR team had to CTRL-ALT-DELETE the scandal — fast. Lawsuits, recalls, and a massive “our bad” followed.

🎤 New music on rotation
It was a wild week for the charts — Kanye was digging for gold, Chris Brown was “running it” (literally and metaphorically), and the Black Eyed Peas were getting humpy. Meanwhile, Madonna’s “Hung Up” was a glitter-ball time machine and Carrie Underwood made her Some Hearts debut — proving Idol winners could go country and conquer.

📚 50 Cent: The literary hustler
Not content with dominating music, Fiddy announced his next empire move — books. G-Unit Novels were coming to a street corner (or cellphone) near you, blending guns, cash, and redemption arcs. Basically, it was “In Da Club” meets English class.

🎬 Harry Potter grows up (Fast)
At the box office, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire had wizards, dragons, and a side of teen awkwardness. Cedric Diggory died, Voldemort rose again, and Harry officially entered his emo phase. The magic got darker — and so did our childhoods.

🔍 Kay Scarpetta gets weird
Patricia Cornwell dropped another forensic thriller, Predator — all autopsies, hackers, and sadomasochistic murderers. Basically, CSI on espresso. Reviewers were split between “brilliant” and “Marino angrily digs angrily.”

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Rewind to 6 November 2005 to 12 November 2005

🌠 Fireballs or flying saucers
Europe looks up, panics, phones the cops. Slow, glowing Taurids put on a show that screams UFO vibes then science says “comet crumbs, babes.”

✈️ Long-haul flex
Boeing’s 777-200LR Worldliner goes Hong Kong → London non-stop in 22h42m. Record set, jet lag sponsored by GE90 engines.

🩸 Outback nightmare fuel
Wolf Creek claws to #1 in Australia on a $1.4m budget. Backpackers rethinking road trips, esky sales unaffected.

📺 Satire with a side-eye
The Boondocks premieres on Adult Swim. Huey and Riley move to suburbia and roast America before the closing credits.

💃 First Lady of the mirrorball
Ada Nicodemou wins Dancing With The Stars with Aric Yegudkin. Perfect scores, perfect hair, Aussie TV gobbles it up.

🎸 Press green, feel famous
Guitar Hero lands on PS2. Five buttons, one plastic axe, instant living-room stadium tour if your wrist holds out.

📚 Not that kind of tearjerker
Nicholas Sparks’ At First Sight keeps book clubs busy and critics busy sighing. Bring tissues or snark — both work.

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🎧 Rewind to 30 October – 5 November 2005

🎃 The great pumpkin arms race
New England’s finest farmers flexed their green thumbs at the Topsfield Fair, where a 1,314-lb orange beast stole the show. People clapped. Kids squealed. Somewhere, a guy whispered “that’s a big-ass pumpkin.” Simpler times — when the heaviest thing online was a JPEG of your harvest.

🐎 Makybe Diva’s mic-drop moment
Flemington lost its mind as Makybe Diva thundered home to a third straight Melbourne Cup win. No horse had ever done it and none has since. She retired on the spot — champagne spraying, Glen Boss crying and Australia collectively declaring her the GOAT (Greatest Of All Thoroughbreds).

🐸 A Frog is born (and it feels good, man)
November 2005 saw the debut of Matt Furie’s comic Boy’s Club — and with it, the birth of Pepe the Frog. Back then, he was just a chill stoner amphibian with bad aim and good vibes. Twenty years later, he’s meme history — proof that even frogs can’t escape the internet’s chaos.

🐥 Chicken Little takes flight
Disney went fully digital for the first time without Pixar and served up Chicken Little, starring Zach Braff as the sky-is-falling featherball. It made $315 million, confused adults, delighted kids, and marked the moment Disney said “we can animate on our own!” (spoiler: not quite yet).

🎸 Ozzy goes classic rock
The Prince of Darkness released Under Cover, an entire album of ’60s and ’70s covers. Beatles, Cream, Stones — all filtered through that unmistakable Ozzy snarl. Critics called it weirdly wholesome, fans called it “dad rock for the undead.”

🎤 Wolfmother’s big, hairy debut
Australia’s retro-rock revival roared with Wolfmother’s self-titled album — part Zeppelin worship, part thunderous festival fuel. Woman and Joker & the Thief tore up Triple J, every ad and half the movie trailers for the next decade. Hair, riffs, chaos — peak 2005.

📺 MTV’s petty revenge era
Jackass alum Ryan Dunn debuted Homewrecker — a show where wronged roommates got to destroy and redecorate their enemies’ bedrooms. Think Pimp My Ride meets Mean Girls. It was cruel, hilarious and oh-so-MTV. Justice, but make it petty.

📖 The wheel keeps turning
Robert Jordan dropped Knife of Dreams, the 11th entry in his endless fantasy saga The Wheel of Time. Fans devoured the drama, complained about the endless bosom descriptions and still begged for more. Spoiler: there would indeed be more. Many more.

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Rewind to 23–30 October 2005 🎸

💀 The King still reigns
Elvis may have left the building, but he sure didn’t leave the bank. Forbes crowned him the top-earning dead celebrity — again — raking in a cool US$45 million thanks to Graceland tours, reissues and endless blue suede merch. Even in the afterlife, Elvis was out-grossing the living.

🚭 Britain stubs it out
Tony Blair’s government finally declared war on cigarette smoke, announcing plans to ban puffing indoors across England. Pub regulars cried “nanny state,” non-smokers rejoiced and by 2007, the beer gardens were full of shivering smokers pretending it was fine.

🏀 Sheryl Swoopes changes the game
WNBA legend Sheryl Swoopes became the first active pro basketball star to come out, telling ESPN she was done hiding who she was. The three-time MVP’s honesty cracked open the sports world and made her a trailblazer long before the rainbow-profile-pic era.

⚾ The curse Is broken
After 88 long, cursed years, the Chicago White Sox finally won the World Series — sweeping the Astros and making Ozzie Guillén the first Latin American manager to take the crown. Cubs fans quietly sobbed into their hot dogs while the South Side partied for weeks.

🎤 Chris Brown runs it
A 16-year-old newcomer with dance moves smoother than his lip gloss dropped Run It! and instantly became R&B’s golden child. Every TRL viewer decided he was the next Usher… before 2009 reminded us fame and character don’t always move in sync.

🧠 NSYNC Says Bye Bye (for real)
Fans clung to hope, but the release of NSYNC Greatest Hits was the final nail in the boy-band coffin. Justin was already bringing sexy back solo and the rest of us were left clutching our frosted-tip memories like it was 2001 all over again.

🪚 Saw II carves up halloween
Jigsaw returned with blood, traps, and trauma — slicing his way to #1 at the box office. Critics gagged (in both ways), audiences screamed and the “torture-porn” era of horror was officially born.

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Rewind to 16 October 2005 to 22 October 2005

🕋 Million Man March 2.0
Louis Farrakhan’s Millions More rally hits D.C., calling for unity and self-reliance after Katrina. His fire-and-brimstone speech slams Bush but sparks fresh controversy. Big turnout, smaller legacy — more sequel than revolution.

⚖️ Saddam takes the stand
Iraq puts Saddam Hussein on trial for crimes against humanity. He mocks the court, yells, refuses to say his name — peak dictator drama. Justice or theatre? Depends which news channel you asked.

🎤 Ashlee vs Lindsay (and Fez)
Ashlee Simpson’s “Boyfriend” isn’t about Lindsay Lohan… sure. The I Am Me album drops and gossip blogs combust. Turns out, even pop songs came with plot twists in 2005.

🎸 The Veronicas go 4ever
Twin sass rockets onto Aussie airwaves as The Secret Life Of... drops. “4ever” becomes the teen anthem of the year — eyeliner thick, angst thicker. Pop-punk perfection, straight outta Brisbane.

🎮 Doomed on arrival
The Rock storms Mars in Doom — part shooter, part disaster. Critics hated it, gamers cringed, but that first-person scene? Iconic chaos. The movie flopped, the meme lived.

👠 Sisters doing it for themselves (eventually)
Cameron Diaz and Toni Collette fight, cry, and bond in In Her Shoes. Family drama, poetry, and Florida sunshine — every girl’s night in circa 2005.

📺 Truthiness is here
Stephen Colbert debuts The Colbert Report, roasting cable news with a grin and a flag pin. “Truthiness” enters the dictionary, and politics gets its funniest mirror yet.

💰 Millionaire coach scores gold
Sydney teacher Rob “Coach” Fulton becomes Australia’s first Millionaire winner. The question? Early PM trivia. The prize? Eddie McGuire losing his mind on live TV.

📚 Outlander gets extra saucy
A Breath of Snow and Ashes drops, and readers drown in time-travel, romance, and kilted chaos. Critics beg for fewer butts, more plot. Claire and Jamie? Still can’t keep their hands off each other.

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Rewind to 9 October 2005 to 15 October 2005

🚀 China goes full space cowboy
China’s Shenzhou 6 mission blasts off, sending two taikonauts into orbit for nearly five days — a major flex in the global space race. It’s their first two-man crew, the first time anyone’s used the orbital module as living space and a huge leap toward their future space station plans. 

🎭 Harold Pinter gets the Nobel nod
Britain’s master of awkward pauses and passive-aggressive menace finally gets his due. Harold Pinter wins the Nobel Prize in Literature “for uncovering the precipice under everyday prattle.” Translation: he made small talk terrifying. His acceptance video lecture goes nuclear on the Iraq War, proving you can drop a political bomb even while clutching a Nobel medal.

🏁 Bathurst: Holden hearts soar
On 9 October, Mark Skaife and Todd Kelly steer their Commodore to victory at Mount Panorama, bagging Holden’s sixth Bathurst 1000 win. It’s Skaife’s fifth, Kelly’s first and Ford fans’ collective heartbreak. The track’s hot, the tyres melt and the Holden-Ford rivalry burns brighter than ever. 

🎧 Apple’s “One More Thing” goes video
Steve Jobs slides another gadget flex into 2005 history with the iPod Video — the first iPod that lets you watch TV shows like Lost on a 2.5-inch screen. The crowd goes wild, even if they’ll later admit it was like watching Desperate Housewives through a peephole. It’s also the debut of iTunes 6, where buying a $1.99 music video feels like the future.

🔥 Aardman’s hot potato week
Just days after Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit tops the US box office, a fire destroys Aardman Animations’ Bristol warehouse — wiping out 20 years of clay sets, models and history. Nick Park calls it “cruel irony.” Fans call it devastating. Gromit, as usual, says nothing but looks deeply unimpressed.

🎸 Dolly covers the world
Dolly Parton drops Those Were the Days, turning 60s folk and protest anthems into mountain magic. She ropes in everyone from Norah Jones to Keith Urban and somehow makes “Crimson and Clover” sound like it was born in Tennessee. Critics swoon, purists squint — Dolly just keeps winning.

👻 The Fog rolls in — badly
Tom Welling and Selma Blair front the remake of The Fog, where ghosts seek revenge and audiences seek refunds. Critics torch it (4 percent on Rotten Tomatoes), but it still hauls in box office cash because 2005 was peak horror-remake season. Carpenter’s original remains king; this one just… drifts.

📺 Run’s House blesses MTV
Rev Run of Run-D.M.C. swaps turntables for family tables as Run’s House premieres on MTV. It’s part hip-hop legacy, part wholesome parenting sitcom and somehow ends each episode with bathtub wisdom via BlackBerry. It becomes one of MTV’s few reality shows your mum didn’t hate.

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🧑‍⚖️ Supreme Court Soap
Harriet Miers is tapped to replace Sandra Day O’Connor and America collectively Googles “Who?” A loyal Bush insider with zero judicial experience tries to sell a “practicing lawyer’s perspective.” Conservatives grumble she’s not conservative enough, liberals cry cronyism and the vibes are awkward. A case study in how not to roll out a lifetime gig.

🌍 Quake Lines Snap
A 7.6 earthquake slams Kashmir on Oct 8. Towns buckle, mountain roads vanish, helicopters thud nonstop. The week ends with rescue, grief and a bitter reminder that winter’s coming fast for millions now homeless.

🏉 Benji’s Flick Pass Lore
Oct 2, NRL Grand Final: Wests Tigers beat the Cowboys 30–16 and the highlight reel gets a new deity. Benji Marshall’s no-look flick to Pat Richards becomes instant pub mythology. First premiership for the joint-venture Tigers. Goosebumps on loop.

🎬 Veggie Monster, Big Box Office
Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit opens and claymation rules the weekend. British puns, humane pest control, a giant veggie-chomper, and Gromit’s side-eye carry the crown.

🎵 Nickel’s back
Nickelback drops All the Right Reasons and “Photograph” turns nostalgia into a meme before memes are memes.

📺 Crown Me, But Make It 2005
Australian Princess leans hard into etiquette bootcamp and tiara energy. It’s makeover TV before Instagram filters, where posture lessons and place settings equal “personal growth.”

📚 Ringside Uplift
Cinderella Man is still in cinemas reminding you that Depression-era boxing plus Russell Crowe equals premium dad-movie tears. Paul Giamatti steals scenes, again.

📖 Book Talk, Fang Talk
Twilight chatter is building in the background. Team “vampires sparkle” vs team “vampires do not.” Early signs of the internet’s future hobby: arguing about YA like it’s constitutional law.

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Rewind to 25 September to 1 October 2005 — when emo kids were discovering top hats, Fergie was making “lady lumps” a phrase and Bali gets hit by bombings again.

🪖 Abu Ghraib’s dark shadow
Lynndie England was found guilty in a military court for her role in the prisoner abuse scandal. The photos had already shocked the world, but her conviction cemented her as the face of the U.S. military’s biggest disgrace of the era.

💣 Bali bombings again
Three suicide bombers struck tourist hubs in Jimbaran and Kuta, killing 20 and injuring over 100. Just three years after the 2002 bombings, it was another gut-punch for Indonesia’s holiday island and for Australian tourists in particular.

🏎️ Alonso makes history
24-year-old Fernando Alonso finished 3rd in Brazil but still clinched the Formula 1 World Championship — ending Schumacher’s five-year reign. Cue a new era of young guns in F1.

🍑 My lovely lady lumps
Love it or loathe it, the Peas’ “My Humps” dropped this week. Critics said dumb, clubs said pump it and suddenly the world had to live with Fergie saying “lumps” on repeat.

🎩 Panic! storms in
Las Vegas misfits Panic! at the Disco released their debut A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out. Half synthy chaos, half cabaret melodrama, it made eyeliner, top hats and long song titles peak mid-2000s fashion.

✈️ Jodie Foster loses a kid mid-flight
Thriller Flightplan had everyone glued to their armrests. Was Jodie losing it, or was there really a conspiracy? Audiences lapped it up, critics less so.

📺 50 years, 50 shows
Australia celebrated half a century of television with a primetime countdown. Neighbours topped the list, proving Ramsay Street still reigned supreme.

📚 Clive Cussler goes off the rails
Polar Shift hit shelves, promising earth-shattering thrills. Reviews ranged from “fun ride” to “physics says nope” to “LOL funniest audiobook ever” — so, peak Cussler.

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Rewind to 18–24 September 2005

🌪️ Rita raises hell
Just three weeks after Katrina, Hurricane Rita stormed in as a Category 5 beast before slamming Texas and Louisiana as a Category 3. The real nightmare? The evacuation. Millions jammed Houston’s highways for up to 24 hours, gas ran out, buses caught fire, and tragically more than 100 people died — most not from the storm itself, but from the chaos of trying to escape it.

🦢 Blood, sweat and Swans
After 72 long years, the Sydney Swans finally snapped their premiership drought, edging West Coast by four points in a nail-biter at the MCG. Leo Barry’s match-saving mark became instant folklore — “That’s Leo Barry, you star!” echoing through AFL history. Sydney wasn’t just a rugby town anymore — the Swans were legends.

💍 Dutch love triangle goes legal
Victor de Bruijn and not one, but two women marched into a notary’s office in the Netherlands and signed a cohabitation contract. Legally, it wasn’t marriage, but visually it was rings, vows and “happily ever after x3.” Long before TikTok throuples and polycule memes, this was the first headline-grabbing poly contract in Europe.

📺 Mega Mondays
2005 gave us one of TV’s greatest premiere weeks ever: How I Met Your Mother kicked off a nine-year shaggy-dog story, My Name Is Earl served karma with a mullet, Criminal Minds began profiling your nightmares, and Ghost Whispererproved the dead — and Jennifer Love Hewitt’s necklines — could both stop traffic. Appointment viewing was real, and missing an episode meant cafeteria spoilers by lunchtime.

🎤 Rock Star INXS crowns JD
On CBS, Canadian crooner JD Fortune beat out rivals to front INXS, belting “Pretty Vegas” and convincing the band he had Hutchence’s swagger. The fairytale didn’t last — drugs, drama and a supposed “dumping at a Hong Kong airport” followed — but for one glittery 2005 moment, INXS were back in the headlines.

💿 Bow Wow + Ciara = Young Love
“Like You” cracked the Top 10 with Bow Wow rapping about love and Ciara crooning the hook like she already knew she was the future of R&B. Real-life couple, balcony flirting in the video, heavy lip gloss — it was mid-2000s romance goals.

💘 Reese goes ghosty
In rom-com land, Just Like Heaven paired Reese Witherspoon with Mark Ruffalo in a supernatural love story that was part Ghost, part Sleepless in Seattle. With Jon Heder as comic relief, it was pure mid-2000s comfort movie fluff — and honestly, we ate it up.

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