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2005 in Reflection

The first year of the new Gore adminsitration was marked yet with more of the same. Corporate chicanery that required the Gore administration to put a stop to, a stream of natural disasters that had brought the thoughts of climate change into the forefront and some steps toward progress. However, the scope was larger. Nestle may not have been crippled in the same way Exxon-Mobil was, but it was still a larger company and thus still very notable. Katrina was a frightening example of the raw power of nature. It would result in surprising spike in the "preppers" subculture. At the same time, this spike was also influenced by the cultural differences of the Gore Administration, namely in taking on a more environmentally friendly approach and perhaps a greater sense of tolerance than the "survivialists" subculture was formerly associated with along with a growing diversity. Though at the same time, there was a growth in a sense of community and assisting one another out. Katrina brought most of the world together momentarily in repairing a massive disaster and lead to several steps forward in relations, especially with formerly hostile nations. Indeed, while many expected Gore to maintain a hardline on Castro, the latter's assistance over in Katrina have led to future talks which led to some people having hope that the issue can finally be resolved in the future. Perhaps moreover was the surprise of Medicare for Kids. Some complaints or worries was on that of greater taxes being paid on the individual though surprises reveal that it was not much of a change and in fact a modest drop in overall pay loss. While little has been made of this, there are some that note this is likely because the middleman of insurance companies were cut out and some were keeping an eye out on what future possibilities held here.

Across the world, changes were happening over and showing a reflection of the times. Iran benefitted from the Reformers maintaining hold and fresh blood meant more livelihood and reforms on the way for the nation. This led to a gradual shift of preference from Saudi Arabia to Iran, espeically with the rumors circulating on Saudi involvement within 9/11. Iran has savored this changing of the tides though both they and the US remain cautiously optimistic on improving relations. At the same time, there was also a focus on Jordan, who was a large key player in negotiating tensions with Israel and Palestine. Palestine has, for the most part, been gradually recovering and improving though it is still a troublesome state of affairs and no one is wanting to talk about Jerusalem for a while. However, the Kadima-Labor alliance have been working toward some successes and the growing peace means that people have begun focusing on domestic issues over in Israel. One idea to be impelted in 2006 are special passes between Israel and Palestine to visit Jerusalem though it still remains a shaky ground. At the same time, the presence of more Palestinians in Jordan than Palestine itself has led to questioning whether Palestine should just be annexed by Jordan. Others have floated a bizarre rumor that beyond annexing Palestine, Jordan will give most of the West Bank to Israel in exchange for keeping part of Gaza and obtaining portions of Israel's southern district to have a Mediterranean port. Much of these rumors have been either dismissed or just ignored though some joke no governments comment on it because they may want to use the idea.

Pop culture also began shifting more and more. Disney, once having been in a slump, would recover thanks to The White Deer and now Many Moons, an adaptation of the Thurber novels of the same name. Both of them showed a true return to form for the animation giant and brought something uniquely fresh and wonderful while keeping true to the fairy tale format that made Disney successful. Disney attributed this to being to use Thurber's work and the expanded American public domain. Additionally, this was likely the result of several heads, including Eisner, being forced to retirement. Starting back in 2003 when Roy E Disney threatened to resign and the controversy ended up spreading over time, especially with the adoption of social media. It led to a chain of events to where Eisner ended up resigning and leaving Bob Iger in charge while also working to try and get back to work with animated classics. Classic handdrawn animation was given a revive thanks to the success of The White Deer and Many Moons, showing that the Disney way of doing things was not done yet and even Atlantis Lost Empire and Treasure Planet were given more attention upon rerelease and were compared favorably to some of the newer animated stuff from Dreamworks. This along with the differing climate on corportions have led to Disney potentially renegotiating deals over with Pixar on whether Disney should purchase the company or not. At the very least, plans were kept to expand their current contract to see what it could yield. Other large pop culture news was the big one from Marvel. According to urban legend, it all started with a heated debate regarding the X-Men compared to the rest of Marvel, likely coming from the successes of X-Men in the box office over the other films, even Spider-Man. While the speculations remain unconfirmed, it was believed that pre-existing tension, the new blood hired and the changing direction of pop culture contributed to Marvel's large decision: Removing the mutants from the Marvel Universe and putting them in their own universe. Whiel there was a large panic, Marvel assured fans that it was merely more that the X-Men would remain part of Marvel, but belonging to their own unique imprint. This decision was seen in 2005's infamous M-Day line where a possessed Scarlet Witch manipulated reality to have mutants be in charge and the rammifications which led to the disappearance of mutants, the X-Men and the Brotherhood of Mutants from the "prime Marvel" universe and into their own, a diverging timeline, to be released as Marvel X. THis in turn has led to what some called a "soft reboot" of the Marvel comics universe, namely to steamline the history without mutants and take the opportunity to clean up some loose ends. Even then, the choice was considered controversial, but was done since the increased tensions from story rejections and the complicated subject matter of trying to maintain continuity within the comics after several close calls and lowering morale. Despite this, they were making the best of it since now the X-Men could thrive more on their own without the restrictions of the main Marvel canon and vice versa. Only a few characters had to be discussed about their fates: Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver ultimately were chosen to go join the X-Men universe while Betsy Braddock and Deadpool remained in the more canonical Marvel world. However, other consequences included the end of Ultimate Marvel, since resources were being allocated though this was not as large an issue since outside of Spider-Man, many were not pleased with the characterizations of most of the heroes or villains there. Others also note that it meant the folks making the X-Men films were now freer for the most part to do what they wanted with the films, if within reason with the characters. Questions on the greater sense of the characters were debated though some were answered (such as the existence of Celestials being confirmed in the new X-Men universe). The rammifications of such a choice would lead to larger decisions down the line.

The same was said for video games as Nintendo was phasing out the Gameboy Advance for the Nintendo DS. After the massive success of Super Mario RPG DS, more and more notable games were being for the handdheld. Rumors held they were originally going to make a port for Super Mario 64 onto the DS, but was shelved as differing projects and allocated resources meant it could be best served for a newer console. While some have ntoed it disappointing, others have noted it was likely for the best given the lack of analog stick and that they still got a successful game. Some have noted that this could mean many of the SNES classics could get remasters on the Nintendo DS. Meanwhile, the twilight years for the GameCube, XBox and Playstation 2 have begun as by now, everyone is speculating over Nintendo's Projection Revolution, the XBox 360 and the Playstation 3. Microsoft is most notable given how they were planning much more with SEGA franchises along with other speculation. Sonic GEMS Collections was released, a compliation of "forgotten" gems of the Sonic series along with various other games of the old days such as Ristar, Vectorman, and Streets of Rage. However, SEGA would also give a new game in Sonic Rush. Named because of the new "Boost" mechanic introduced, the new game had Sonic meet up with the mysterious Blaze the Cat, the Princess of the far-off land of Soleanna. As Princess, she must guard the Flame of Solaris, a powerful mystic flame said to hold unlimited power of the sun. Sonic meets her when she follows Eggman who steals it to try and power up a monstrous new machine and she grows to accept his help along with that of his friends, notably Cream the Rabbit. The player went through two routes, getting assistance from the other characters. The game was warmyl recieved for the plot and Blaze the Cat for her own super-form, though the game was felt a little too short, though some noted it may be because they are planning something else. Meanwhile, Rare and Ubisoft continue to debate on potential partnerships though it has led to Ubisoft to making Rayman 4: Hoodlums' Revenge over for the Nintendo Gamecube while RARE has also released some new games for the Gamecube such as Kameo: Elements of Power, a remastering of Conker's Bad Fur Day and Perfect Dark Zero, the latter a prequel to Perfect Dark. Meanwhile, Playstation has been deciding to challenge Nintendo some more with the introduction of the Playstation Portable. Overall, there is a growing shift and some sense that Sony is either approach a high point or a low point. Meanwhile, World of Warcraft has taken the globe by storm and many see MMORPGs as larger new playground, as seen with more MMOs in development. Mainly was the rerelease of Phantasy Star Online for Microsoft computers.

Lastly, there was the growing news of a new business venture between three young companies: MySpace, YouTube and ArtistShare. With the rise of YouTube as a powerful new tool, various companies were having an eye on it. While some were looking to buy it, the differing corporate climate was leading to different ideas. Hence this new potential alliance of sorts. ArtistShare would provide some funding to MySpace and YouTube to avoid saturation of ads while MySpace would use their social medial sphere to help promote the artists socially and the music videos and work could be seen and promoted on YouTube. However, it would require MySpace to be buying Youtube, since the company has been faring well and refused to be bought by Murdoch. While the details remain nebulous, the possibility of widespread fan-funded projects and displayed without the constraints of TV or radio was an intoxicating idea that could forge a brand new future.