2016

We lost a lot of beloved cultural figures in 2016. It felt like every time our phones lit up, our hearts would sink, thinking about the elderly and not-so elderly heroes we could lose in an instant. Let’s hope next year is better.

But while we look to the future, an updated version of The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band album cover has been making the rounds on the internet. From Bowie to Prince, and Brexit to Toblerone, Sgt. Pepper’s Class of 2016 is stark reminder of the past year.

The piece was designed by artist Chris Barker, who first posted the image to Tumblr over Thanksgiving, but has since updated it to include the George Michael, among others. You can read more about Barker’s process and the experience of going viral over on his Tumblr. For now, sit and think about this absolutely bonkers and terribly sad year that passed.

This is too much now. #ripgeorgemicheal #LastChristmas #sgtpepper2016 #sgtpepper2016 massive thanks to @Carl_Price pic.twitter.com/Gj1bl1MTMM

— christhebarker (@christhebarker) December 26, 2016

via Ultimate Classic Rock

2016 was not great. And almost as some sort of sadistic joke, rather than just making a video pugs taking a bath and looking all relaxed, Google decided to remind us with another Year in Search video.

The Year in Search compiles clips from the most googled terms in one video, allowing us to relive the horror that was 2016, the year when we all realized that things were bad and could get much, much worse.

via Niner's Nation

Set to Grace VanderWaal’s song “Light the Sky,” Google tried it’s best to put a positive spin on this year by being nice enough to remind us of the deaths of David Bowie, Gene Wilder, Prince, and democracies all over the world. They also reminded us of deaths we might have forgotten, like Alan Rickman and Muhammad Ali (Yeesh, this year was awful). There’s only one clip of President-elect Donald Trump, that billionaire reality game show host who won the presidency last month, so no mentions of Making America Great Again. Oh, they also had some Olympic footage. Remember the Olympics? That was a fun distraction.

Anyway, if you have the stomach for it, check out Google’s Year In Search video. It has the Lin-Manuel Miranda Tony acceptance speech, which was really nice, Pokémon Go, and Beyonce. Try and let those things inspire you as we trudge into 2017 cautiously optimistic, which feels a too optimistic of a description.

via GIPHY

A medal like no other! These Paralympic winners are listening to their medals! For the first time ever, the Paralympic Games have placed a device inside the medals that use tiny steel balls to make a sound when they are shaken, allowing visually impaired athletes to identify which type they are. The bronze medals have 16 steel balls and make the lowest sound. The silver ones have 20 balls and the golds have 28, producing the loudest noise. All of the medals also have the words 'Rio 2016 Paralympic Games' written on them in Braille. Awesome! @rio2016 @paralympics

A photo posted by The Olympic Games (@olympics) on Sep 13, 2016 at 8:10am PDT

Two Dudes Rushed Lying Olympian Ryan Lochte on Dancing With the Stars Wearing Anti-Lochte Shirts

This crap is getting old! I love u @ryanlochte and respect you putting yourself out there, you are one of a kind!! ... #respect

A video posted by Ed Moses (@eddiemoses) on Sep 12, 2016 at 7:14pm PDT

The Debate Over Lochte Is in Full Swing

Where Many Had Excellent Points

Like this....



...and this:



And also this:

Some People Didn't Buy His Comeback AT ALL...

Wanting him to get more punishment...



Tying it into Black Lives Matter



...and reminding Lochte to genuinely apologize for LYING, which he still hasn't done yet:




Frankly, after all of this, I'm just left wondering where I can buy one of these t-shirts.... anyone?




#APOLOGIZERYAN

Wimbledon & Australian Open Champion Gordon Reid shared his view from center court as he got into the Quarter Finals playing Wheelchair Tennis Men's Doubles with Alfie Hewett at the 2016 Rio Paralympics:

Incredible atmosphere on centre court tonight! Good win with @alfiehewett6. Into the QF tomorrow. Thank you Rio 🇬🇧🇧🇷 pic.twitter.com/j2b0NBQL5U

— Gordon Reid (@GordonReid91) September 11, 2016

The pair won the Wimbledon Wheelchair Men's Doubles earlier this summer:



...so they are used to kicking ass and taking names.



Go get 'em boys!

Ryan Lochte finally got his punishment for pissing on the wall of a locked service station and pulling a framed poster from the wall in Rio during the Olympics and lying about it saying someone robbed him.



CNN reports that The Liar will serve a 10-month suspension and will be banned from the 2017 World Championships, in addition to monetary losses that are still being determined.

Ryan Lochte gets 10-month ban, misses 2017 worlds. Other 3 to get several months each. My @USATODAYsports column: https://t.co/0HfI9h1FDx

— Christine Brennan (@cbrennansports) September 8, 2016

The MTV Video Music Awards were yesterday and here's all the hottest stuff that went down you need to know about today:

1. Drake Didn't Propose

Drake presented his actual girlfriend Rihanna with the Michael Jackson Vanguard award, but everyone thought he was gonna propose too.



Watch the whole sweet thing here.

2. She's back, bitch

Britney, that is. And she came out in full effect.

Her first time performing at the @vmas since '07, @britneyspears returns to the biggest stage of them all w/ @G_Eazy pic.twitter.com/azJftox5HR

— MSG (@TheGarden) August 29, 2016

Everyone agreed that she killed it.

3. Kanye debuted a decent piece of music and HOT video in "Fade"

After an incoherent, motivational, rambling introduction, Kanye shocked the room with a HOT Flash Dance-themed video starring the uber-hot Teyana Taylor.

Check it for yourself here:

Teyana Taylor's VMAs video https://t.co/XH9yt8xbh6

— [J]ayJChillin (@JayJazzi) August 29, 2016

4. Beyonce.

She swept the awards, including Video of the Year for "Formation."

For those who missed it. @Beyonce #VMAs https://t.co/t1sVov2jnF

— Black Girl Culture (@blkgirlculture) August 29, 2016

5. All the Winners

For a full winners list go here, and for video clips of the most awesome moments of a better-than-average VMA's, check it here:

...we still miss Prince and Bowie though.

In a pretty-much universally offensive Photoshop FAIL, Vogue Brazil decided to superimpose disabilities on their own able-bodied models in a promotion for the Paralymics instead of using ACTUAL Paralympians.

The Paralympians were okay with it...



...but we're still not. We'd rather see more barrier-breaking pics of these AMAZING athletes:

Read more about it here.