T minus 20

Rewind to 11–18 September 2005

⚡ Lights out in LA

Millions of Angelenos suddenly found themselves trapped in elevators, stuck at dead traffic lights, and clutching their Nokia flip phones as a worker’s “oopsie” cut the wrong line. Terrorism fears? Nah — just Culver City’s clumsiest electrician turning LA into the world’s largest candlelit dinner for two hours.

🎢 Disney goes dim sum

Hong Kong Disneyland opened its gates — four lands, one castle, and a Space Mountain that had locals queuing like it was the Canton Fair. Feng Shui design, lion dancers, and Mickey doing East-meets-West vibes… it was Disney magic with a side of rice noodles.

☎️ Skype me maybe (before Zoom ate your lunch)

eBay spent a jaw-dropping \$4.1 billion buying Skype so auction bidders could awkwardly *call strangers about Beanie Babies*. Shockingly, no one wanted that. By 2007 eBay admitted it had flopped harder than a dial-up tone. Microsoft later scooped Skype — and officially pulled the plug in 2025.

🎤 Gold Digger strikes gold

Kanye West’s cheeky collab with Jamie Foxx shot to #1, holding the top spot for 10 weeks. Built on a Ray Charles sample, it was the perfect storm of hook, swagger, and headlines — dropping just days after Kanye’s infamous Katrina telethon mic drop. He wasn’t just topping charts, he was rewriting celebrity controversy.

👶 Britney pops a pop prince

On September 14, Britney Spears became a mum to Sean Preston Federline — cue paparazzi madness. The tabloids went feral, turning every nappy change into breaking news. Looking back, the way the media treated her feels less “Oops!... I Did It Again” and more “Oops!... We Were Terrible Humans.”

😈 Exorcism wins the weekend

The Exorcism of Emily Rose had audiences squirming between jump scares and courtroom cross-exams. Half horror, half legal drama, all nightmare fuel. Jennifer Carpenter’s contortions alone had viewers reconsidering yoga classes.

📚 Point Blank disappointment

On the book charts, Catherine Coulter’s *Point Blank* tried to thrill with FBI agents, Confederate gold, and explosions. Readers mostly thought it was… meh. Turns out the real crime was charging hardcover prices for fanfic-level hugs and kisses.

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Rewind to 4 September 2005 to 10 September 2005

🌀 Katrina fallout 

The floodwaters were barely receding in New Orleans and already the finger-pointing had begun. FEMA was roasted for its snail-paced response, Bush’s leadership was under fire and TV screens were filled with images of stranded residents that turned a natural disaster into a national reckoning.

🎨 Art attack!

In Austria a woman pulled out a jackknife and slashed Roy Lichtenstein’s Nudes in Mirror because she thought it wasn’t real. Lady, it’s Pop Art, it’s meant to look fake. Four cuts later the painting was wounded but salvageable and she was promptly charged after also biting a cop. Mood.

🎧 Nano nano!

Steve Jobs blew minds by pulling the new iPod Nano out of his jeans’ tiny pocket. Thinner than a pencil eraser, held 1,000 songs and immediately became the must-have flex of 2005. 

🎤 Jacko’s ghost single

Michael Jackson announced a Katrina charity track with a dream lineup — Mariah, Jay-Z, Mary J, Missy, Snoop. What we got? Nada. The song ghosted harder than a MySpace friend request.

🚘 Transporter 2 defies physics

Jason Statham in Miami, flipping cars 360° to knock off bombs and proving gravity is optional. Critics rolled their eyes, audiences rolled into the box office — nearly $90 million worldwide and Statham locked in as the new millennium’s action guy.

🤠 Brokeback breakthrough

Ang Lee’s Brokeback Mountain won Venice’s Golden Lion. Two cowboys in love, one of cinema’s most heartbreaking lines and Hollywood finally gave queer love a serious stage. 

🏝️ Reality bites

OG Survivor winner Richard Hatch got indicted for tax evasion. Apparently “outwit, outplay, outlast” didn’t apply to the IRS. He ended up serving three years — proving naked strategy doesn’t beat federal accountants.

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Rewind to 27 August – 3 September 2005 ⏪

🌪️ Katrina’s wrath
Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast with catastrophic force, flooding 80% of New Orleans when levees failed. What followed was a disaster of human error as much as nature’s fury — FEMA fumbled, the Superdome became a nightmare and trust in the system was non existent. But there were glimmers of humanity too: the Cajun Navy, hospital staff who refused to abandon patients and strangers who took families into their homes.

🏉 All Blacks untouchable
The Tri Nations wrapped with New Zealand strutting like it was their personal training session. Dan Carter booted, Joe Rokocoko dazzled and the Bledisloe Cup stayed firmly tucked under their arm. South Africa fought hard, Australia… well, let’s just say those Wallaby scrums were softer than a marshmallow in hot Milo.

🎶 Oasis sings about doing nothing
The Importance of Being Idle gave Noel Gallagher his turn on vocals and Britain its newest #1. A Kinks-flavoured anthem about slacking off and not giving a toss — proof that Oasis could still crank out bangers even when they couldn’t be bothered.

🌴 Enter: Rihanna
At just 17, Rihanna dropped her debut album Music of the Sun. It wasn’t world domination yet, but Pon de Replay turned every club into a sweaty Caribbean night. Jay-Z had literally locked her in a Def Jam office until she signed.

🔓 Prison Break kicks off
Michael Scofield got himself jailed, ripped his shirt off to reveal a full prison blueprint tattoo and made everyone rethink their life choices — like, why didn’t you get inked with an elaborate escape plan? Add in T-Bag’s creepy vibes, mob boss toe-snipping and toilets doubling as tunnels — it was instant appointment TV.

😂 We Can Be Heroes bows out
Chris Lilley’s Aussie mockumentary wrapped its season with Ja’mie raising money “for Sudan, but also me,” Pat Mullins rolling across the outback and the Dapto twins keeping it bogan. Hailed as genius at the time, it’s now the kind of show that makes you laugh, then wince, then say “yikes, that aged like milk.”

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Rewind to 21–27 August 2005 🎙️

💊 (not so) model behaviour. Michelle Leslie went from catwalks to courtrooms when Bali police “found” two little pills in her Gucci bag. What followed? A media circus of headscarves, bribe rumours and a prison stint that ended almost as quickly as her career. From Schapelle to the Bali Nine, it was peak Aussie-drama-abroad season.

🎹 The piano man unmasked. Remember the mysterious mute who wowed (or maybe just plonked) on the piano in Kent? Turns out he wasn’t a ghostly virtuoso at all, but Andreas Grassl — a German twenty-something with a psychotic break and a wet suit. The tabloids lost their collective minds, only to find out he was basically Bavarian and bummed.

🏏 Ashes to ashes, urn to England. After 19 years of Aussie dominance, Freddie Flintoff & co. pulled off the impossible. From McGrath’s stray ball to Pietersen’s breakout ton, England finally snatched back the Ashes. Cue victory parades, national pints and every Brit suddenly knowing what “reverse swing” meant.

📻 Pandora’s (music) box. Pandora launched and suddenly your “personal DJ” wasn’t your mate burning dodgy Limewire CDs but an algorithm dissecting your taste in emo ballads. It was the start of streaming as we know it, long before Spotify swallowed your soul.

🔫 Suge Knight shot (again)! At Kanye’s VMA pre-party no less. Suge got clipped in the leg, lost a $135k earring and immediately lawyered up. Kanye walked away lawsuit-free but hip-hop’s drama quota was well and truly met.

😂 The 40-Year-Old Virgin gets lucky. Steve Carell’s chest hair met hot wax, we all met Judd Apatow and suddenly awkward rom-coms had a new king.

⚰️ Six Feet Under goes six feet under. One of TV’s most iconic finales hit like a funeral for your feelings. Sia’s “Breathe Me” played while we literally watched every main character die. No tidy bows, just pure HBO heartbreak — and somehow, comfort.

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Rewind to 14–20 August 2005 — the week where rockstars went back to school, storms turned Toronto into Waterworld and Kansas decided BTK’s future was forever in prison.

🪓 BTK gets the book thrown at him.  Dennis Rader, the church-going, cub scout–leading *serial killer next door*, is sentenced to 175 years without parole. His floppy disk blunder remains the ultimate self-own in true crime history.

🌪 Toronto goes full disaster movie.  A monster supercell drops F2 tornadoes and over 100 mm of rain in an hour, turning roads into rivers and leaving the Don Valley Parkway looking like the set of The Day After Tomorrow.

💻 iBook? More like iBrawl.  In Richmond, Virginia, thousands descend on a $50 used laptop sale — with pushing, shoving and at least one chair-as-weapon incident. Someone even wet themselves to keep their spot. Peak 2005 chaos.

🐎 Madonna’s paparazzi throwdown.  A chill countryside ride ends with Madge breaking ribs, a collarbone and her hand after her horse is spooked by lurking photographers. Guy Ritchie allegedly raged harder than a *Snatch* character.

💊 Eminem checks into rehab.  The Rap God hits pause on touring to battle a growing Ambien addiction. Fans get “When I’m Gone” and, eventually, Recovery, but the 2005 moment was pure tabloid fuel.

📺 Tommy Lee goes to college.  Mötley Crüe’s drummer swaps arenas for Nebraska lecture halls in a semi-scripted reality trip that’s equal parts frat party, fish-out-of-water and midlife crisis tourism.

📺 Big Brother’s Logan twist.  Two brothers, one identity a million-dollar prize… and a rulebook so strict it fined one housemate $60k. Also, Hotdogs happened and Australia’s TV landscape was never the same.

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Rewind to 7 to 13 August 2005.It’s the week the UN got scandalous, Shane Warne made history and a Playboy Mansion reality show somehow counted as TV. Plus: Jessica Simpson washes a car… aggressively. Let’s ride.

🛢️ UN scandal gets greasy. The third Volcker Report into the Oil-for-Food Program dropped and it was messier than a deep-fried mars bar. Top UN official Benon Sevan was accused of pocketing bribes, Saddam’s regime raked in billions and the whole thing made the UN look about as secure as your Hotmail password.

🚀 Space tourism’s wild pitch. Space Adventures announced plans to send rich people around the Moon for $100 million. Bold. But despite all the big talk and Soyuz flights, the dream of a billionaire doing a moonwalk in a space suit fizzled.

🏏 Warnie hits 600. Shane Warne became the first bowler to take 600 Test wickets, knocking over Marcus Trescothick in a wild Ashes draw at Old Trafford. Then he casually smashed 90 runs with the bat. Icon behaviour.

🎥 Daisy Dukes take over. The Dukes of Hazzard reboot hit #1 at the US box office, mostly thanks to Jessica Simpson’s car wash scene and a lot of Dodge Chargers being violently sacrificed for your viewing pleasure.

🐰 Playboy Mansion gets reality TV. The Girls Next Door premiered, serving bunny ears, low-rise everything and the illusion that Hef was just a quirky grandpa. The later memoirs? Not so fluffy.

📚 James Patterson’s 'Lifeguard' bombs. This week’s NYT bestseller featured less lifeguarding, more nonsense. Reviewers called it “clunky,” “gratuitous,” and “a reason to never trust your husband’s book recs again.”

🎶 Bow Wow & Omarion lose control. The US #1? Let Me Hold You. Bow Wow and Omarion gave us a house party drama that launched Future’s music video cameo career. Yes, really.

💥 Singer survives headshot. Marc Cohn was shot in the head during a carjacking attempt… and walked it off. Literally. He’s fine, but our jaws are still on the floor.

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Rewind to 31 July to 6 August 2005

🛑 No smoking on the grid. The EU bans tobacco advertising across borders, sending Formula 1 teams scrambling for cash and leaving Marlboro-branded Ferraris gasping for air.

💀 Skulls just dropped. Scientists in Georgia unearth a 1.8 million-year-old human skull that throws the whole “big brain = better human” theory into chaos. 

👟 Three stripes, one flop. Adidas buys Reebok for $3.8 billion in a move to challenge Nike and instead gets a 16-year brand headache. Thanks for the memories, G-Unit sneakers.

💃 Ciara bends physics. Missy Elliott’s “Lose Control” is everywhere, Ciara’s joints appear unhinged and even the music video looks like it was filmed in a neon rave on the moon.

🧬 No island for you. The Island reveals a future where clones are raised for spare parts. Ewan McGregor and Scarlett Johansson bust out, blow stuff up, and question everything.

📺 D-list, A-list energy. Kathy Griffin’s My Life on the D-List debuts — giving us biting Hollywood commentary, gay bar gigs, and the wine-loving legend that is Maggie Griffin.

📚 Cold cases and colder prose. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo lands in Sweden posthumously and kicks off a new wave of grim crime fiction. Cue hackers, murder and way too much Swedish business jargon.

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Rewind to 24 July 2005 to 30 July 2005
This week in 2005, Rihanna made her Diwali riddim-fuelled debut, Hulk Hogan became the ultimate helicopter dad and Birmingham took a surprise spin on the tornado ride. We also hit Splendour just as it pivoted to electro and watched Canadian scientists crush Bigfoot dreams with one tuft of bison hair.

🌪️ Birmingham gets twistered. A rare urban tornado tears through England’s second city, tossing trees, ripping roofs and causing £40 million in damage. The miracle? Zero deaths. The mess? Immense.

👣 Bigfoot? more like big buffa. Canadian scientists crush cryptid hearts after testing some mysterious Sasquatch hair… and finding it belonged to a common bison. Cue sighs across the Yukon.

🎶 Pon de riddim. Rihanna begs the DJ to replay her debut banger and the world listens. Dancehall meets flip phone and suddenly everyone's winding to Diwali riddim.

🎸 Splendour goes synthetic. Byron’s beloved mudfest leans into synths as Moby headlines Splendour, with Bloc Party, QOTSA and Sarah Blasko rounding out one of its most eclectic years.

📺 Hulk knows best, allegedly. Wrestling legend Hulk Hogan becomes reality TV’s most overprotective dad. Tracking Brooke’s dating life and Nick’s drifting dreams? Just another day in the ring-shaped household.

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Rewind to 17 to 23 July 2005, where tattoo regrets were permanent, burlesque entered the mainstream and Crazy Frog somehow got a record deal.

💣 Bombs fail, panic doesn’t. Two weeks after 7/7, four bombs fail to fully detonate on London transport. No deaths, but the fear is real. Cue evacuations, manhunts and media chaos.

🚨 Shot by mistake. Jean Charles de Menezes is tragically killed by police, mistaken for a bombing suspect. Operation Kratos, racial profiling and public trust all under the microscope.

💉 Bird flu fears spread. Vietnam reports two new bird flu deaths, reigniting global panic. The WHO goes full pandemic-prep mode while the rest of us panic-buy Tamiflu.

🚴‍♂️ Armstrong’s 7th Tour. Lance Armstrong wins his final Tour de France (lol). He’s a clean-cut legend, Livestrong wristbands are everywhere — but the doping whispers haven’t stopped.

🖥️ Windows Vista gets a name. Microsoft ditches the Longhorn codename and introduces… Vista. Big promises, bigger flops. It wouldn’t launch for 18 more months and boy would it disappoint.

🎤 Don’t cha wish your debut was this iconic. The Pussycat Dolls drop “Don’t Cha” and instantly own 2005. Nicole does 95% of the vocals, the rest bring the vibes. Burlesque-core is in.

💉 Tattoos go mainstream. Miami Ink debuts, and suddenly everyone wants Kanji symbols, tribal armbands and tramp stamps. Your cousin’s regrettable butterfly tattoo? Blame this week.

🐸 Frog chaos continues. Crazy Frog releases a full album. It’s unhinged, unholy and somehow wildly successful. If your ringtone made you want to throw your Nokia, this is why.

📖 Ranger + spreadsheets = thirst. Eleven on Top by Janet Evanovich has Stephanie Plum quitting bounty hunting. Sort of. Ranger’s still hot, Morelli’s still broody and Goodreads is still unhinged.

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Rewind to 10 July 2005 to 16 July 2005: the week NASA stalled, Potter fans sobbed, Johnny Depp traumatised children and WorldCom made Enron look like amateurs.

🚀 To infinity… or not quite. NASA’s big “return to space” mission hits pause thanks to a dodgy fuel sensor. Ground control to boomers: your tech’s showing its age.

🍫 Wonky Wonka energy.  Charlie and the Chocolate Factory tops the box office, but Depp’s creepy bowl cut and dentist flashbacks leave us craving Gene Wilder. And therapy.

📚 Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince drops.  Midnight queues, spoiler meltdowns and one death that broke the fandom (you know the one).

💼 Fraud cowboy goes down. WorldCom CEO Bernard Ebbers gets 25 years for fudging $11B in numbers. From milkman to mogul to inmate—big Enron vibes.

🎥 Jessica Alba goes invisible, literally. Fantastic Four lands in Aussie cinemas, complete with early CGI, cheesy one-liners and Chris Evans before he was Captain America.

📱 Tiny card, huge impact! The MicroSD card is born, and suddenly your flip phone can store music, blurry party pics and 1.5 minutes of video glory.

💣 Bombers named, nation shaken. UK authorities ID the London bombing suspects—all British-born. A dark, chilling moment that sparked urgent talks on radicalisation and security.

🧑‍🎤 Bow Wow grows up. No more “Lil” — Bow Wow drops Wanted and scores hits with Ciara and Omarion. Smooth, slick and peak 2000s R&B-pop crossover energy.

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