This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2011, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
The Cricket said "Goodbye" to a lot of things in 2011 — including its old incarnation, the Culture Vulture — but it said "Hello" to a lot as well.
So, with the old of 2011 about to give way to the new of 2012, let's look at the hellos and goodbyes in Utah pop culture of the past year:
Hello • "The Book of Mormon," the profane and funny musical by "South Park" creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone and "Avenue Q" co-creator Robert Lopez, was the toast of Broadway. The hit play satirized Mormonism, earning critical praise and nine Tony Awards.
Goodbye • "We Are Utah" was a variety show produced by KSL to replace NBC's new series "The Playboy Club." When "The Playboy Club" was quickly canceled (because it was a bad show, not because right-wing groups threatened boycotts), "We Are Utah" went away as well.
Hello • Hollywood filmmakers are coming to Utah, thanks to the state raising its tax incentive for movie production to 25 percent.
Goodbye • Charlie Sheen's public meltdown included a Utah touch: The bottle of "tiger blood" he displayed in one incident was actually fruit juice produced by Utah's Xango.
Hello • Onetime beauty queen Joyce McKinney's life story of a love gone wrong — the so-called "Case of the Manacled Mormon" — became the basis for Errol Morris' documentary "Tabloid." McKinney visited Salt Lake City in July, when the movie opened locally, to refute Morris' version of the story. In November, she filed a lawsuit against Morris and the movie's producers.
Goodbye • Mike Starr, the bassist for Alice in Chains and a recurring figure on VH1's "Celebrity Rehab," died in March in a Salt Lake City home.
Hello • The Utah Jazz return to their home court at EnergySolutions Arena tonight after the protracted NBA lockout.
Goodbye • The Jazz's longtime coach, Jerry Sloan, retired in February — and his contentious star player, Deron Williams, was traded to New Jersey a few days later.
Hello • Bentley Williams, a Salt Lake City businessman, became America's favorite villain this side of Osama Bin Laden when he wooed and then dumped Ashley Hebert on ABC's "The Bachelorette." Enjoy your 15 minutes, dude.
Goodbye • Kody Brown and his four wives were featured on TLC's "Sister Wives." Fearing prosecution in Utah, the family moved to Las Vegas — while still fighting Utah's bigamy laws in court. (A mini-hello to the newest Brown, Solomon, who was born in October.)
Hello • The participants in Food Network's "The Great Food Truck Race" raked in more than $25,000 in one April weekend from hungry Salt Lakers.
Goodbye • Salt Lake City-reared Roseanne Barr's "Roseanne's Nuts" reality show on Lifetime — which chronicled her life raising macadamia nuts in Hawaii — lasted only one season.
Hello • The new 4th Congressional District could not have been more tailor-made for mustache-free Utah Rep. Carl Wimmer if the state Legislature had carved the initials "CW" through the subdivisions of southwest Salt Lake County.
Goodbye • The Occupy Salt Lake movement left its Pioneer Park encampment — though it survived long enough to show there are such things as caring activists — and, gasp, liberals — in Utah.
Hello • Utah librarian-turned-author Anna Neatrour is one of "The Bureau Chiefs" responsible for the Fake AP Stylebook (on Twitter) and a parody stylebook, Write More Good.
Goodbye • West Valley City Mayor Mike Winder had a short-lived journalism career until he was exposed for writing articles under the alias Richard Burwash for the Deseret News.
Hello • New movie theaters: The Cinemark locations in Draper and Farmington, and the Megaplex 14 in Centerville.
Goodbye • Free expression no longer reigns in movie theaters — or at least one in Salt Lake City that serves booze. The state's Department of Alcohol Beverage Control (emphasis on that last word) levied a $1,627 fine against Brewvies Cinema Pub, for the heinous crime of screening "The Hangover Part II" and its ladyboy parts.
Hello • The Jon2012Girls, the 20-something daughters of former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman, made a splash with a viral video spoofing an ad for Huntsman's fellow presidential aspirant Herman Cain.
Goodbye • Jon Huntsman himself can't seem to get any traction in the polls — in spite of being the coolest candidate in the race, with appearances on "The Colbert Report," "Saturday Night Live" and "The Late Show With David Letterman."
Hello • The Pac-12 welcomed the Utah Utes by sending teams that kicked the newcomers' butts from one end of the field to the other. The Utes eventually figured out how to beat teams in their new conference and got themselves a bid for the Sun Bowl on New Year's Eve.
Goodbye • BYU basketball star Jimmer Fredette was picked by the Sacramento Kings in the NBA draft.
Hello • Or, rather, hello again to Marie Osmond-Craig. The Utah-born singer remarried her first husband, Steven Craig, in Las Vegas in May.
Goodbye • California's anti-gay-marriage Prop. 8 was struck down by a federal judge as unconstitutional — in spite of support by religious groups (including a strong push by members and leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints).
Hello • Weller Book Works, the new incarnation of the venerable Salt Lake City bookseller, opens in January in Trolley Square.
Goodbye • Green Street Pub closed in May after 32 years in Trolley Square.
Hello • The Ogden Art Cinema 502, a 28-seat movie theater, shows foreign, documentary and offbeat indie films — Utah's first example of a national "microcinema" trend.
Goodbye • The Salt Lake City Film Center changed its name to the Utah Film Center, reflecting the community nonprofit's statewide mission.
Hello • "American Idol" alumna Megan Joy took advantage of "crowdfunding" — calling upon fans to donate small amounts of money to finance projects — to raise the cash to record an indie EP. (Also, she married The Used's Quinn Allman.)
Goodbye • "American Idol" alumnus David Archuleta announced during the encore of his Abravanel Hall Christmas concert that he would suspend his music career in 2012 to serve an LDS Church mission.
Sean P. Means writes The Cricket in daily blog form at http://www.sltrib.com/blogs/moviecricket. Contact him via email at movies@sltrib.com. Follow him on Twitter at @moviecricket or on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/themoviecricket.