Ridiculous in the City

*Kara Walker’s epic “Sugar Baby” at the old Domino Sugar factory in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.*

If you are anything like me, 2014 was a very ridiculous year. To say nothing of your sorted personal life, global ridiculousness reached epic proportions as governmental secrets were revealed, the Sochi Olympics apparantly took place, we all figured out what Alibaba was to the tune of about $25 billion and, in the midst of volatile protests in Ferguson, Missouri, Berlin celebrated an anniversary of freedom and the restoration of the most basic of civil rights, a dichotomy rooted in the very essence of harsh ridiculousness.

In the US, another election cycle brought the ugly combativeness that has become commonplace in the never ending battle of my beliefs versus yours and gravely misdirected voters voting against their own best interests. The worst drought in twelve hundred years ravaged California while the East Coast was annihilated by snow. People with functioning brains became obsessed with cat memes and Twitter exploded with demands for an NSYNC reunion—as if they could get across the street without JT.

It was one ridiculous year, but before we tack up our 2015 “Haunted Lighthouses of New England” calendar and feverishly look to see what day our birthdays are on (“Tuesday, shit.”), let’s take a moment to reflect on some of the more ridiculous aspects of 2014; the good, the bad, and the absurd, as only Ridiculous in the City can do.

Oh, 2014:

Jon Stewart: Utters the phrase, “Why are you being such Moby Dicks about this?”
Idea that Feminism is “back:” Meets with a ridiculous reception from actual women
Edward Snowden: Getting a lot of chicks in Russia. Yuck
Sony: Hacks us
US legal system: Jacks us
Rosetta satellite lands on a comet: I repeat, satellite lands on a comet!
Bill de Blasio: What de Blasio is going on, man? Seriously? And this is only year one
Sons of Anarchy: We weep for the end of this ridiculously epic show. Kurt Sutter, you are a bad mofo
Taxi of Tomorrow: What began as a mild fascination with NYC’s new cabs has become a full-blown addiction. I must have you cab of the future!
Lauren Bacall dies: Ridiculously fabulous has left the building
Scientists prove climate change is real, again: What to deny next? Oooh, how about Babies?! Yes, reproduction is a myth!
Cosmos: The Spacetime Odyssey rocks the world. Neil, I love you
Jack Ma: Says “cash money” will be name of his next grandchild*
Beyonce: #Badbitchwalking
Silicon Valley on HBO: If you don’t know, now you know. Erlich Bachmann in 2016
Joan Rivers: Goodbye to a woman who was truly ridiculous in the city
Save Domino: The fight to save Brooklyn’s storied sugar factory took on new, ridiculous meaning when Kara Walker’s amazing “Sugar Baby” showed us her front, and her back. Incidentally, it was the best crowd watching of the year
Kale: No one had a bigger 2014 than kale. Literally

Yes, people, 2014 was full of ridiculousness. Many ridiculous things came to an end while new ridiculousness began, the life cycle of the ridiculous. But that’s what makes the world great, always something more ridiculous around the bend. And doesn’t that feel good?

Global ridiculousness, it warms the heart. Auf Wiedersehen, 2014.

*Some of the facts revealed here may not be entirely true.