2004 History, Fun Facts and Trivia

Quick Facts from 2004:

• World Changing Event: Facebook was founded
• The Top Song was Yeah! by Usher with Lil Jon & Ludacris
• Influential Songs include: Welcome To My Life by Simple Plan, Roses by Outkast, Invisible by Clay Aiken, 1985 by Bowling For Soup, and Dirt Off Your Shoulder by Jay-Z
• The Movies to Watch include The Incredibles, Shaun of the Dead, Napoleon Dynamite, Ray, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Mean Girls, and Million Dollar Baby
• People Magazine’s Sexiest Man Alive: Jude Law
• Notable books include: America (The Book): A Citizen’s Guide to Democracy Inaction by John Stewart and The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom
• Price of Movie DVD in 2004: $19.99
  Oscar Mayer Bacon, 1 pound: $5.39
  Oreo cookies, 1 pound: $2.99
• The Funny Late Night Host: Jay Leno
• The Conversation: Should we invest in Google? (The Google initial public offering raised $1.67 billion)

“The Quotes:”
“You’re Fired”
– Donald Trump

“That’s Hot”
– Paris Hilton

“Heeaauughh!
– Howard Dean

“I Am A Gay American”
– NJ ex-governor Jim McGreevey

The Scandals:
Janet Jackson’s right breast was semi-exposed by Justin Timberlake during 2004’s Super Bowl halftime show while they sang his “Rock Your Body.”

Well, most of it was exposed. The American phrase “Wardrobe Malfunction” came into the language. The scene, that was broadcast on worldwide television, showed Janet’s right breast, covered by a pasty of some sort, was so horrifyingly graphic and sexual in nature that PCM received a warning from Google about displaying a censored picture of the event, even though it was blurred out. If you are truly daring you may see it here. You can see similarly (and often less blurry) versions of the picture from CNN, E-online, VH1, and others via a google search.

“I am a gay American” – James McGreevey, Democrat Governor of New Jersey, revealed that he was gay and admitted an extramarital affair with aide Golan Cipel. The arguably criminal aspect of hiring a non-qualified lover to be in charge of NJ’s homeland security was overshadowed by the sex scandal.

During the 2004 US Presidential Campaign, CBS and Dan Rather used what were probably forged documents during a 60 Minutes Wednesday report on George W. Bush’s Vietnam-era service record. The ‘evidence’ report was written with a modern computer, not the IBM Selectric that would have been used in 1972.

Britney Spears married high school friend Jason Alexander (not the Seinfeld star!) for nearly an entire weekend. (55 hours)

Pop Culture History:
Ashlee Simpson was caught lip-syncing on Saturday Night Live on October 24.

In 2004 Eminem dissed Michael Jackson on Just Lose it, in 2007 MJ responded by buying all of Eminem’s Publishing

Polaroid released a warning to the public to not “shake it like a polaroid picture.” as copying the Outkast song Hey Ya! might damage the photo. Shaking polaroids has been unnecessary since 1972 when the SX-70 did away with the need for peel-apart film. Few cameras still use the technology.

During the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami on December 26, 2004, fishermen said they saw with their own eyes “the reality of generations of legends . . . the remains of ancient temples and hundreds of refrigerator-sized blocks, all briefly exposed before the sea swallowed them up again.”

The cover art for Prince’s 2013 single Breakfast Can Wait was Dave Chappelle dressed as “Purple Rain” era Prince holding a plate of pancakes from 2004.

Dick Van Dyke dropped out of high school during his senior year in 1944 to join the military. He went on to earn his diploma in 2004 at the age of 78.

Survivor: Vanuatu Winner: Chris Daugherty

Ken Jennings won 74 games and 2.5 Million dollars on Jeopardy!

If you try to steal the hood ornament from a Rolls Royce made after 2004, it will instantly retreat into the chassis of the car until the owner rights it. These hood ornaments, called “The Spirit of Ecstasy”, cost roughly US $4000 to replace.

Morgan Spurlock gained 25 pounds in 30 days eating only McDonalds food. It took him 14 months to lose the weight.

GIF files were originally not widely used online since they required royalties to be paid until the patent expired in 2003 (2004 worldwide).

Tim Berners Lee, the creator of the world wide web, was knighted in 2004 and should actually be addressed as Sir Tim Berners Lee.

More and more, American highways are being signed with a font called Clearview, which was approved for interim use in 2004 and is claimed to be more legible than the traditional Highway Gothic font.

Mehran Karimi Nasseri was a man who lived at Terminal 1 at the Charles de Gaulle International Airport, France for 18 years. His story was the inspiration for the film 2004 film, The Terminal.

Deadpool described himself as “Ryan Reynolds crossed with a shar-pei” in his 2004 comic book series, leading Reynolds to believe he was destined for the role.

After sweeping the 2004 Oscars, Peter Jackson & Elijah Wood skipped all official celebrations and went to a LOTR fan party.

The house in the suburbs that Monica & Chandler bought in the final season of Friends (2004) filmed at a soundstage, but the view outside was a stock photo taken from the front step of the McAllister house during the filming of the movie Home Alone. So… Monica and Chandler bought Kevin McAllister’s house.

At $2 million per 30-second slot, the 2004 finale episode of Friends had the most expensive ad slots for a non-sports program up to that time.

William Hung lost on American Idol but won America’s collective heart with his happy nature. He sang Ricky Martin’s She Bangs.

Despite its name, Jimmy Kimmel Live! hasn’t actually aired live since 2004, when censors were unable to properly bleep a swearing rant from actor Thomas Jane.

Samantha Mumba wore a Scott Henshall designed dress (filled with diamonds) worth somewhere between 10 and 13 million dollars at the Spider-Man 2 premiere, possibly the most risque expensive dress ever.

Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy in 1877 once again became a best-seller thanks to Oprah’s Book Club in 2004.

Blind athletes competing in the 2004 Paralympics made the same spontaneous facial expressions as sighted athletes competing in the 2004 Olympics, proving that certain facial expressions are innate to humans and not visually learned.

‘Curse of the Bambino’ – The Red Sox last won a world series in 1918, their streak as a ‘quality team’ ended when they sold Babe Ruth’s contract to the New York Yankees.

Cost of a Superbowl ad in 2004: $2,300,000

The Habit:
Facebook, just for college students.

Low Carb Diets like ‘Atkins’ and ‘South Beach’

Wearing Lance Armstrong Cancer Awareness ‘Livestrong Bracelets’

Madonna, Paris Hilton, Demi Moore, and Britney Spears wore ‘Kabbalah Strings’

2004 Billboard Number One Songs:
December 13, 2003 – February 13, 2004:
Hey Ya! – OutKast

February 14 – February 20:
The Way You Move – OutKast Featuring Sleepy Brown

February 21 – February 27:
Slow Jamz – Twista featuring Kanye West and Jamie Foxx

February 28 – May 21:
Yeah! – Usher featuring Lil’ Jon and Ludacris

May 22 – July 16:
Burn – Usher

July 17 July 23:
I Believe – Fantasia Barrino

July 24 – August 6:
Confessions Part II – Usher

August 7 – August 20:
Slow Motion – Juvenile Featuring Soulja Slim

August 21 – September 10:
Lean Back – The Terror Squad featuring Fat Joe and Remy Martin

September 11 – October 29:
Goodies – Ciara Featuring Petey Pablo

October 30 – December 11:
My Boo – Usher and Alicia Keys

December 11 – December 31:
Drop It Like It’s Hot – Snoop Dogg featuring Pharrell