It’s that time of year again – The Chicago Auto Show rolls into McCormick Place, filling the convention center with the latest and greatest rolling examples of style and engineering the automotive industry has to offer.

This year seems to be a particularly strong year for the auto manufacturers. It’s no secret that the industry is still recovering from a tough few years. A reeling economy and a couple bankruptcies later, there is a new lease on life on the show floor. The atmosphere was universally optimistic – domestic manufacturers are rolling out new products set to compete on a global scale while up-and-comers like Hyundai is going full steam ahead with the expansion of their increasingly popular line of cars and crossovers (I’m personally smitten with the new Elantra GT that was unveiled last Wednesday).

It’s easy to get caught up in the spectacle that is the Chicago Auto Show. After all, almost 1,000 vehicles cover 1.2 million square feet of McCormick Place during the ten day event. There are numerous new product reveals, all the technology demos you could wish for, and plenty of drool-inducing concept cars. But as the auto industry moves forward, and the playing field continues to level out, the differences between brands become ever slimmer. The details that designers and engineers alike implement into each vehicle become increasingly important.

As a lover of all things with headlights and four wheels, I always enjoy the annual auto show, but this year I tried to take a slightly different approach to the experience.

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As 2010 is drawing to an end it’s our tradition to look back (see 2009, 2008, 2007) on the year and compile the loved (or dreaded!) “list”….so here it is:

1. Haiti Earthquake on January 12
2. South Africa hosted the World Cup and we were all introduced to the Vuvuzela
3. Eminem released his first clean & sober album Recovery and we think its his best
4. Jay Leno takes The Tonight Show back from Conan #lame
5. The year of great animated movies- Toy Story 3, How to Train Your Dragon & Shrek Forever After
6. Mark Zuckerberg gives $100 million to New Jersey schools and named ”Person of the Year” by Time Magazine, not to mention the popular Facebook movie told the story of his success
7. We lost some famous or infamous people including Alexander McQueen, Barbara Billingsley, Corey Haim, Dennis Hopper & George Steinbrenner
8. Mariah Carey releases her 2nd Christmas album coincidentally with the death of the last fish in our tank, Mariah Carey.
9. Life In Abundance helped 238 street kids graduate from the street children program in Africa, never to return to live in the slums again
10. Rule29 films its second documentary focusing on poverty in Nairobi, Kenya
11. iPad is released!
12. New Gap logo, major fail Read the rest of the entry >

It’s that time of year once again…when we take a moment to reflect upon the most newsworthy events of the past 12 months. If you really want to go back down memory lane you can take a peek at our lists for 2007 and 2008 as well. So, in no particular order, here our top 29 of 2009:

1. Michael Jackson dies at 51. We’ll miss you, King of Pop

2. Tiger Woods wins another Major, coming within four of Jack. Later in the year, he loses sponsors and goes on hiatus when affairs are made public.

3. Facebook and Twitter continue their rise in popularity.

4. Notable people including Farah Fawcett, Billy Mays, Ed Kennedy, Danny Gans, Patrick Swaze, Walter Cronkite and Brittany Murphy pass away… just to name a few.

5. H1N1 (originally known as Swine Flu) breaks out worldwide

6. Balloon boy fools the nation

7. Somali Pirates terrorize the seas

8. Rule29 is published in four books including: The Graphic Eye and Caffeine for the Creative Team

9. Barack Obama is inaugurated as the 44th President of the United States

10. The International Olympic Committee awards the 2016 Summer Olympics to Rio de Janeiro

11. Rule29 believes that Books Matter

12. Bernie Madoff orchestrates the biggest Ponzi Scheme in history

13. Kanye West upstages Taylor Swift

14. Sarah Palin announced resignation as governor of Alaska

15. Oprah announced resignation from her syndicated talk show

16. Miracle on the Hudson

17. Steelers win the Superbowl and Yankees win the World Series (again)

18. Jon and Kate Gosselin file for divorce

19. Rampage at Fort Hood.

20. Salmonella outbreak from peanut butter

21. Octomom delivers eight babies in California

22. General Motors and Chrysler filed for bankruptcy

23. According to Jim, Deal or No Deal, King of the Hill, Prison Break and ER series finales

24. Conan O’Brien takes over for Leno on The Tonight Show

25. Healthcare overhaul introduced and debated, and debated…

26. Chief Justice Sonia Sotomayor is sworn in as the first Hispanic Chief Justice

27. Twilight New Moon fever sweeps the nation

28. Lady Gaga is weird

29. Rule29, MacDonald Productions and LIA debut their first documentary, This is My Home

What were your top moments of 2009?