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Top 15 Things to Look Forward to in 2018
Now that 2017 is over, it’s time to look forward to 2018! Whether you’re still in school or someone who is trying to break up the monotony that is the day to day life of an adult working full-time, it’s always important to find things to look forward to. So, we’ve compiled the top 15 things in 2018 that should have all (or at least most) of the world captivated in 2018 and have listed them below! So, take some time out from your day and get your calendar ready, it’s the top 15 events in 2018!
15. History!
2018 will be the anniversary of a couple major points in history. First, it’s the 100-year anniversary of the end of the first World War, which was responsible for shaping the 20th Century and remaking a lot of the different maps around the world. For example, it was the fall of the Ottoman Empire, which basically was comprised of most of the countries in Northern Africa and the Middle East and because of that the West essentially had to create all sorts of new countries. Because they really didn’t pay much attention to racial/religious divides they ended up creating a lot of the problems that still exist to this day by putting people from conflicting religions next to one another. 2018 is also the 50-year-anniversary of the Civil Rights movement, which is amazing as while there has been a lot of progress there is still a long way to go. Perhaps it is falling at the best time as the police brutality movements in the United States could definitely use the added press and perspective after sort of getting it’s messaged muddied after the NFL Protests were co-opted by talking heads to mean a protest against the Military when they were anything but that.
14. Diving to the Titanic
Later on this list, you’ll learn that in the near future people should be able to not only travel to the moon but also essentially live and work there, as well. While the same can’t be said for the Titanic (the pressure is just too high), it’s looking like 2018 will be the year that people will be able to dive down to the Titanic itself. Starting in May of this year, people will be able to travel to the location of the most famous shipwreck in the history of the world thanks to London-based travel company Blue Marble Private. For the reasonable price of $105, 129 per person, Blue Marble Private’s eight-day journey sets off from Newfoundland, Canada and will transport visitors in a “submersible” that is made from titanium and carbon fiber. The trips are also in collaboration with OceanGate Expeditions, which is the company that built the submersible that’s large enough to carry both the crew and guests. Despite the high price the first trip is already fully booked and while it seems really expensive it actually is about the price (with inflation) that people paid for first class tickets on the Titanic back in 1912 (at $4,350), let’s hope that things turn out better for these folks.
13. New Game of Thrones Book
Even fans of the television show Game of Thrones aren’t aware that the books by George R.R. Martin aren’t actually titled Game of Thrones. Rather, the overarching books are titled A Song of Ice and Fire, one of which is titled A Game of Thrones. Those books have become extremely popular thanks to the HBO series that has basically put them on the same level as The Lord of the Rings and put George R.R. Martin on the same level as J.R.R. Tolkein. His books have been translated into 47 languages and as of the beginning of 2015 have sold over 60 million copies. However, his publisher has to be pulling their hair out as he’s typically taken a really long time to complete his books, which doesn’t mean that he’s lazy it just means that his books are increasingly complex. His most recent book in the Ice and Fire series was A Dance with Dragons and was released in 2011 and while he’s released a few Novellas, reference books and collections since he hasn’t released the sixth (or seventh) book(s) yet. The sixth book will be titled The Winds of Winter, while the seventh will be the final in the series. His previous books have all been New York Times bestsellers but considering that none were released during the television show, expect The Winds of Winter to break all sorts of records. However, considering the fact that Martin is known for missing multiple release dates and as of the writing of this list that The Winds of Winter has no release date, perhaps this will be the topic for the “Things to Look Forward to in 2019/20/21” as well!
12. Elections
The election of 2016 seemed like it was just yesterday and for those in the United States that were shocked and depressed by the outcome of the Presidential election that year, they’ll be excited to know that the midterm elections are going to take place in November of this year. Typically those elections end up going towards Republicans as they have a higher turnout percentage historically (as it’s not a Presidential election and therefore isn’t as important to some people). But considering the palpable anger that exists towards President Trump and some of the special elections that have taken place since Trump filled his cabinet, it’s not looking too great for Republicans in the United States in 2018. It’ll be interesting to see what happens then, as Trump has had trouble getting his legislation passed even within his own party. So, perhaps he’ll try to work closely with Democrats in 2018, especially as he attempts to pass his infrastructure bill (something that Democrats have wanted for a long time). However, considering that they also just passed sweeping tax cuts, it’ll be hard to find a way to pay for the trillion dollar infrastructure plan that was part of his campaign. Either way, this could spell the end of President Trump as if Democrats get the majority in the House and Senate and Special Counsel Robert Mueller comes to the conclusion that most think he will, he’ll have no firewall between himself and impeachment. That begs the question… What will late-night television hosts talk about then?
11. New Tesla Trucks!
Elon Musk’s Tesla has revolutionized cars by making electric cars cool, something that seemed impossible a few years ago. Their electronic cars are essentially sports cars that look and perform better than most gasoline powered cars. While the need for electronic cars has diminished in recent years (because gas prices have dropped thanks to the increased domestic production that was created under President Obama), it’s still pretty nifty to have a car that you can plug in at home and never have to worry about getting gasoline for. The cars basically are the cutting edge of technology and it’s looking like Tesla is attempting to bring that technology to the self-driving aspect of cars as well. While some people are adamantly against the idea of a self-driving car, it would save thousands of lives a year in the United States alone. However, it’d also remove the need for hundreds of thousands of jobs a year and that’s something that it looks like Tesla is jumping into head first as they announced that they’re looking to bring driverless semi-tractor-trailer trucks to the market in 2018. Those trucks, while expensive, would end up costing less than an unionized truck driver would and would never need to sleep or ever get in an accident and risk a lawsuit as well. If the money could be shared by formed drivers it’d be amazing but it won’t be, so you’d like to at least think that some of the money would go back into retraining the drivers for new positions. With automation and artificial intelligence becoming a reality sooner rather than later, it’s a discussion that needs to happen soon.
10. A Royal Baby!
2018 will be one of the bigger years for the Royal Family of Britain in terms of the press that they’ll receive. The wedding of the younger brother, Harry, to American Actress Meghan Markle was one of the larger stories of 2017 and the wedding itself is set to happen in May of 2018. Beyond that, though, is the older brother William and his wife Princess Kate (Kate Middleton), who are expecting their third child sometime in 2018. Back in September of 2017, it was confirmed by Kensington Palace that the couple that is set to eventually rule over the people of the United Kingdom were expecting their third child, after Prince George of Cambridge and Princess Charlotte of Cambridge, of course. There have been all sorts of rumors surrounding their third child, from the sex to the name to even the amount. With Beyonce/Jay-Z and George and Amal Clooney having twins it was thought that perhaps Kate Middleton was pregnant with a set of twins as well, but that’s not the case. However, you were able to make a bet on that very fact and also on the names. According to the bookmakers, the top names should the child be a girl the top name according to bookies is Alice (followed by Elizabeth), should it be a boy the top name is James (followed by William, Junior (or would it be like the XVIXIIXIV?).
9. Advances in Healthcare
The most important entry on this list, advances in healthcare could end up saving more and more lives as time goes on. With Baby Boomers getting older and older, the world is living longer and longer, so with that comes a ton of different sicknesses that come with age and because of that, there’s a lot more money flooding the healthcare markets. Cancer is obviously still an incredibly large issue and while it’s extremely superficial one of the larger issues that come with that is hair loss (especially for women). Some people even forgo chemotherapy and choose to die with “dignity” if there’s a small percentage chance that they’ll either live or live longer and that could all change in 2018. There’s been a recent breakthrough that has shown that if the scalp is cooled before, during and after chemotherapy treatments that the likelihood of hair loss plummets. That’s just one example of the breakthroughs coming in the healthcare sector in 2018!
8. Augmented Reality is the Future!
According to Moore’s Law, technology basically doubles every 18 months in terms of advancements (or rather, the number of transistors per square inch, but for the sake of this entry let’s just assume that technology gets twice as fast or powerful every year and a half), so it’s safe to assume that 2018 will have some pretty amazing technology out there. So far, we do know that there’ll be some pretty standard stuff in terms of new smartphones, tablets and computers but beyond that there’ll be self-driving cars (and trucks, as we’ve seen on this list) and some really amazing augmented reality headsets coming out in 2018. While virtual reality didn’t really take off in 2017 the way that people thought it would, it’s still got enough money behind it to perhaps make a comeback. Beyond that, games like Pokemon Go have shown that people really like augmented reality, which combines the real world with video game graphics to create a new version of reality. There are some pretty slick augmented reality glasses that are set to release in 2018 and could take the world by storm, that is if they’re priced right and also have the right games behind them. All it takes is one Pokemon Go type game for the world to get enamored with it, so our guess is that 2018 will be the year of augmented reality.
7. Trips to the Moon!
While it’s main goal is still a ways out, Silicon Valley startup Moon Express is planning on landing a craft on the moon this year. Should that landing be successful, it’d be the first private company to land anything on the moon. The goal of which is to eventually bring the rich to the moon, not only for trips but to also essentially colonize and populate the moon. The goal would be to actually mine the moon for natural resources, which sounds basically the opposite of what rich people would want to do (mining?), and it also begs the question what resources are actually on the moon, although you’d have to think that there’s a decent market out there for moon rocks. According to the CEO of Moon Express, doing so would make their colony the “Fourth Superpower” in the world, which makes some sense as it’d be hard to attack the moon without messing with the tides, so you’d think that the United States or it’s allies would want to actually put a military installation of there before another country could beat them to it. Assuming that Moon Express isn’t actually a front for just that. I guess we’ll see after they land their craft later this year!
6. Television Shows
It’s said that we’re living in the Golden Age of television, and really have been for the past couple years (with shows like The Wire or Breaking Bad). 2018 will seemingly continue that trend as multiple amazing shows are set to continue while other shows that have yet to premiere seem to have a lot of buzz surrounding them. Victoria Season 2, Jessica Jones Season 2, Handmaid’s Tale Season 2, Westworld Season 2, Outlander Season 4 and the final season of Game of Thrones all show that television is still in that Golden Age and new shows like The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story prove that that Golden Age isn’t going to end anytime soon. With the proliferation and competition that comes with streaming services (and reports that those services are spending upwards of $100 billion dollars on content), there’s just too large of a need for the quantity and quality to end anytime soon, so it’s a great time to be a couch potato, if nothing else!
5. The World Cup
The World Cup is by far the most popular sporting event in the world and while the United States doesn’t really get it, that doesn’t mean that the rest of the world doesn’t either. Sure, part of that is the fact that we’re not invited and that means we’re a bit salty, but beyond that Soccer just isn’t a sport that’s very popular in the United States and Canada. Beginning in June and running through July, the World Cup basically takes over the world for two months and leads to more joy and heartbreak than any other sporting event. This year’s world cup will be the 21st iteration of the FIFA World Cup, which is an event that happens every four years and is comprised of the men’s teams from different countries around the world. This year’s will take place in Russia after the country was awarded the hosting rights way back in December of 2010. It’ll be the first World Cup hosted in Europe since 2006, as well. It’s ironic that it’s taking place in Russia as Russia isn’t allowed to participate in the Olympics this year because of how many times they’ve been busted doping. The final tournament will involve 32 teams, 31 of which that ended up in the tournament because of qualifying competitions.
4. Frozen Musical
2017 may be the year that Frozen Fatigue finally set in. Before Pixar’s film, Coco, was released there was a 25 minute Frozen short that was based on Olaf, who is arguably better off in small doses (as opposed to a nearly half an hour long “short”). People that weren’t expecting the short started Tweeting their opposition to sitting through multiple songs and a film that they didn’t sign up for and eventually that blowback reached Disney and they pulled it from their release schedule. While that may be a bad sign for the upcoming Frozen musical, it’s probably more that people weren’t expecting to sit in a theater for over three hours more than the fact that they’re sick of Frozen (just look at the merchandise sales for Frozen). If there’s one thing that was annoying about Frozen before Olaf’s Big Adventure, it was the fact that the songs from the film were so good and catchy that they’d end up in your head for days. That should translate well onto Broadway, the location of the new Frozen musical that’s set to debut in 2018. It should break all sort of ticket sales records so if you do end up with some tickets make sure to let it go, let it go.
3. Great Marvel Movies
2018 is going to be a huge year for movies. In the Marvel Studio camp alone we have Black Panther and Ant-Man and the Wasp to look forward to as well as the first of two Avengers films that will focus on the Infinity Gauntlet storyline from the comic books that the first three phases of the Marvel Cinematic Universe have been building towards. The first trailer for Avenger: Infinity War was the most viewed trailer of all-time (before being unseated by Star Wars: The Last Jedi) and promises to be the beginning of the end of everything we’ve gotten used to in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The follow-up will come in 2019 and has yet to be titled as it is said that the title is a gigantic spoiler, so for now we’ll just have to settle with/for an Avengers movie that has Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, The Winter Soldier, The Hulk, Spider-Man, Doctor Strange, Black Panther, Black Widow, Hawkeye, Ant-Man, The Wasp and more!
2. A Royal Wedding
About half of the world’s hearts broke when it was announced that Prince Harry of the United Kingdom was engaged to wed Meghan Markle, the actress from the United States. The most eligible bachelor in the world, Prince Harry was basically every girl’s dream and had blossomed into quite the looker after living in his brother’s shadow for most of his life. They announced their engagement in early December and are set to marry in May of this year already, which is easy to do when you have a staff of over 100 basically assisting with the wedding plans as well as a huge budget to work with. Meghan Markle will become the first biracial princess in Royal Family history as well and one of the few that have been divorced, which should make this a huge international affair and super important for girls of color around the world, as well!
1. Winter Olympics
The Olympics are a time when the world comes together and this year’s Winter Olympics are going to be held in Pyeongchang, South Korea. Considering the perpetual drama that is occurring to the north of the border in North Korea, things could get a little dicey when the world’s countries send their delegations to South Korea later on this year. However, North Korea’s Kim Jong Un actually offered an olive branch this week to South Korea, saying that the two countries should meet to plan for the Olympics (while also stating that he had a button his desk to launch nukes at the continental United States, like some sort of comic book villain). That’s a sign that the Olympics really are great at bringing people together as it was the least aggressive statement to ever come from Kim Jong Un. So, if you’re into winter sports like skiing, snowboarding, figure skating, hockey and more then get ready to root for your country come February 9th, the opening day of the Olympics. They will run through the 25th and considering that Russia has been banned from the games because of their continued doping, it’s looking like the United States and Canada will dominate!