2009 PLAYS OF THE YEAR
TOP GROSSING MOVIES 2009 (Found HERE)
1. Transformers (402,076,689)
On August 24, 2009, the world was shocked to learn Jaycee Lee Dugard's story. Police said Dugard, kidnapped at age 11, spent 18 years as a captive in a sex offender's yard. Officials say Phillip Garrido and his wife Nancy abducted and raped Dugard and kept her imprisoned in the backyard compound, shielded from the world by trees, tarps, tents and tool sheds
Five days before her wedding, Yale graduate student Annie Le vanished. On Sept. 13, 2009, the 24-year-old's mangled body was found behind the wall of the Yale laboratory where she worked. It was her wedding day. Raymond Clark III, a 24-year-old lab technician who worked in the same building, was charged with her murder. Police still have no motive.
3. asmine Fiore
The body of swimsuit model Jasmine Fiore was found stuffed in a suitcase in a California trash bin on Aug. 15, 2009. The tips of her fingers and teeth were removed. The 28-year-old's remains were identified by the serial numbers on her breast implants. Her husband, reality TV contestant Ryan Jenkins, was charged with her murder but went on the run and later committed suicide in a Canadian motel.
4. Anthony Sowell
On Oct. 29, 2009, police entered convicted sex offender Anthony Sowell's Cleveland home to arrest him for an alleged rape. They were hit with a horrid stench that had permeated the neighborhood for years. What they found was worse - 11 women's rotting bodies, one was only a skull. Some of the victims had been missing more than a year. He pleaded not guilty to charges of murder, rape and corpse abuse.
5. Shaniya Davis
Shaniya Davis, 5, was reported missing by her mother, Antoinette Davis, Nov. 10, 2009. A horrifying surveillance video showed a man carrying the girl in a North Carolina hotel. Searchers soon found her body amongst deer carcasses and trash. Police say Antoinette Davis sold her daughter for sex. They charged her with human trafficking. Mario Andrette McNeill, the man in the video, was charged with her rape and murder.
6. Alyssa Bustamante
In an online profile, Missouri teen Alyssa Bustamante listed "killing people" as a hobby. Police say on Oct. 21, 2009, the 15-year-old strangled, stabbed and cut the throat of her 9-year-old next-door neighbor Elizabeth Olten because she wanted to know what it felt like. Disturbing Facebook photos showed the previously suicidal teen appearing deranged. Bustamante was charged as an adult with first-degree murder.
7. Philip Markoff
By all accounts, Philip Markoff was a promising 23-year-old medical student at Boston University who was about to be married. But police say he had a dark alter ego, who used Craigslist to lure women to hotel rooms and rob them by gunpoint. Aspiring model Julissa Brisman, 25, never made it out of the Boston Marriot hotel where police say the "Craigslist Killer" shot and killed her on April 14, 2009.
8. David Letterman
On Oct 1, 2009, David Letterman shocked his audience when he admitted past sexual affairs with women who had worked on the "Late Show," and that he was being extorted by a man threatening to out him. CBS News producer Robert Halderman was charged with blackmailing the comedian for $2 million. Halderman — who discovered his girlfriend's affair with Letterman — said he was simply shopping him a screenplay.
George Sodini walked into a Pennsylvania health club on Aug. 4, 2009, shut off the lights, pulled out two guns, calmly fired into a crowd of women, and then killed himself, according to police. Three women died and nine others were injured during his rampage. Sodini left behind a twisted website and two YouTube videos that show he was embittered by his decades-long inability to attract the opposite sex.
10. Byrd and Melanie Billings
Byrd and Melanie Billings, a Florida couple who raised 16 children, 12 of them adopted with special needs, were murdered in their bedroom on July 9, 2009. Police say seven men raided the house in a military-style attack, dressed in ninja garb. The alleged motive was robbery, but they missed a safe with $164,000. None of the children were hurt, but authorities believe at least one of them had to witness the murders.
TIME MAGAZINE TOP LIST OF EVERYTHING FOUND HERE
TOP 10 ENTERTAINMENT STORIES:
NEW YORK: Here are 2009's top entertainment stories as voted by U.S. newspaper and broadcast editors surveyed by The Associated Press.
1. MICHAEL JACKSON DIES: On June 25, Jackson was pronounced dead at the age of 50.
One of the most momentous and shocking deaths in pop culture history, the event reverberated in many ways.
There was the ongoing investigation: Jackson's death was ruled a homicide, and his personal physician, Dr. Conrad Murray, who says he's innocent of wrongdoing, is being investigated for manslaughter.
There was the gigantic Los Angeles funeral.
There was the documentary, "This Is It," of Jackson's preparations for a comeback concert series.
But, perhaps most of all, there was the celebration of his music, on stages and sidewalks the world over.
2. SUSAN BOYLE BECOMES OVERNIGHT SENSATION:
Two 21st-century powers - reality TV and the Web - combined to turn the humble, unknown Boyle into an international star.
After Boyle sang "I Dreamed a Dream" on "Britain's Got Talent" on April 11, the clip spread like wildfire online, totaling more than 120 million views on YouTube.
Her album, released in November, had the best opening week sales of a female debut in decades.
3. LATE-NIGHT SWAP:
On NBC, Conan O'Brien took over the "Tonight" show, and Jay Leno moved to 10 p.m. All the fanfare may have been overdone, though: At year's end, neither was receiving good ratings.
4. WALTER CRONKITE DIES:
The passing on July 17 of Cronkite, a paragon of journalism and a father figure to a nation, was not only the sad loss of a universally acknowledged great man but was a reminder of a bygone era in broadcasting.
5. DAVID LETTERMAN AFFAIR:
Letterman's Oct. 1 announcement on his "Late Show" carried two bombshells: He alleged that he had been the victim of an extortion attempt, and he confessed to having affairs with women on his staff.
Letterman, who hasn't shied from the subject on air, saw some of his best ratings in years.
The man accused of trying to blackmail Letterman, Robert J. "Joe" Halderman, says he was just shopping a screenplay.
6. CHRIS BROWN ASSAULTS RIHANNA:
The big story on Grammy night in 2009 didn't take place on stage but outside the ceremony.
Chris Brown assaulted then-girlfriend Rihanna, an altercation that led to Brown pleading guilty to felony assault in June.
Both R&B stars were in comeback mode before the year was out, releasing new albums just weeks apart.
7. KANYE WEST ROBS TAYLOR SWIFT:
Bad behavior, not awards, also ruled the story line at the MTV Video Music Awards. When a stage-crashing West interrupted Swift's acceptance speech for best female video, the rapper clearly underestimated the negative reaction he would inspire.
8. LIVE VIDEO EXPLODES ON THE WEB:
One of the biggest trends in online video was the emergence of demand - and supply - for live video.
Live online video particularly suited daytime news events (when people are at work in front of computers).
Millions online watched the inauguration of President Barack Obama and the funeral of Michael Jackson.
9. KATE AND JON GOSSELIN BROADCAST SPLIT:
One of reality TV's latest sensations fell apart just as it was reaching fruition.
TLC's "Jon & Kate Plus 8" was winning its best ratings in its fifth season when the Gosselins - parents of eight children - announced their separation.
With more than 10 million viewers, that episode earned the show its best ratings.
Arguments in the divorce, which became final in December, have thus far prevented the show from continuing.
TLC hopes to debut a show for Kate Gosselin in the spring.
10. HEATH LEDGER WINS POSTHUMOUS OSCAR:
Ledger, whose death topped the poll of 2008's top entertainment stories, remained a presence in 2009, when he won an Oscar for best-supporting actor for his performance as the Joker in "The Dark Knight. - AP
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