Our year-in-review special looks back at the wacky, weird, and wondrous stories of 2013.

SUNDANCE KIDDING

“In [all] that time, no one has asked me to be in their film. Maybe they see me as a mainstream guy, or they think I’m retired.”—Actor and Sundance Film Festival stalwart Robert Redford on his one regret after more than three decades of championing independent films

A-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA

“I’m very confident that you won’t be seeing Lindsay Lohan in any criminal courts any time in the future.”—Mark Heller, the partying-prone actor’s latest attorney, after Lohan accepted a plea deal in her latest case, a misdemeanour car crash in which she had been charged with reckless driving, lying to police, and obstruction. To avoid jail time yet again, Lohan, who has been on some form of probation since 2007, will have to spend 90 days in a locked-down rehab facility

BEARDING THE LION

During a March concert in a San Francisco nightclub, alt-folkie Michelle Shocked made some antigay comments that caused audience members to walk out and club managers to cut the sound and dim the lights, but the two-time Grammy nominee continued to sing. She later cancelled several other shows.

DIDN’T YOU USED TO BE…?

The only thing more unusual than Sting kicking off his North American tour in Kelowna, B.C., was the musician dropping in at a local yoga studio for some exercise a few hours before his concert. Moksha Yoga Studio owner Kylie Sutton said fellow practitioners were respectful of his space: “You could tell people knew who he was, but no one bombarded him.”

NEVER PISS OFF THE BAND

Singer Beyoncé admitted that she lip-synched the Star-Spangled Banner at President Barack Obama’s inauguration ceremony. “I am a perfectionist,” she announced at a New Orleans news conference. “I did not have time to rehearse with the orchestra.” It was a marine-band spokeswoman who originally hinted that the singer had faked her performance and that the musicians’ contribution was also taped.

LUST AT FIRST SIGHT

“Everybody I’ve dated I’ve been sexually attracted to immediately. Sparks don’t grow—your vagina doesn’t become more inclined to wanting someone just because you’re around them.”—Actor Amanda Seyfried explains to Elle magazine her favourite thing about being a B-list celebrity: being able to have sex with other celebs immediately upon meeting them

TRUTH HURTS

American celebrity chef and cookbook author Paula Deen lost her Food Network show after an uproar that resulted from her admission—while under oath during a courtroom deposition—to having used racial slurs in the past, and at least nine companies cancelled or suspended endorsement deals with the 66-year-old native of Georgia.

BIG APPLE POLISHER

British street artist Banksy conducted a monthlong “residency” in New York City, during which he created “spontaneous” works of art that were sold cheaply to unsuspecting or savvy passersby, hid others and provided “treasure hunt” clues to their locations, and donated some to charity.