IT'S NEW YEAR'S ROCKIN' EVE: Thanks to everyone for stopping by! In particular, thanks to Sylvia Hauser, for sharing her engagement with us and boosting the site's traffic considerably. No thanks to the Sanity Worm, which apparently tried to attack the site last week. Thanks to our site admin Lance, for keeping us secure (and for adding the new weather module to the right). However, the attacks probably inflated our traffic stats for this month. If the traffic drops next month, I may have to bug Sylvia to move up her wedding.

CHAMPAGNE: a guide to the real stuff and other sparkling wines.

BLOGGER RODNEY BALKO rounds up the good news of 2004.

HANK "SUGARFOOT" GARLAND, who played guitar on the Everly Borthers' "Bye Bye Love," Patsy Cline's "Crazy" and "I Fall To Pieces," Roy Orbison's "Pretty Woman" and "Only The Lonely," and Elvis Presley's "Little Sister" and "It's Now or Never," and many, many more, dies at 74.

FILMOCULOUS lists his Blogs of the Year. If you've ever wondered where I find this endless stream of trivia, the sites he lists this year are a pretty good answer.

TSUNAMI: The internet and cellphones aid the seach for the missing.

STINGY AMERICANS: Daniel Drezner -- an expert on the subject --returns from a sabbatical to provide a balanced look, with a little for each side of the argument.

RIDE THE SNAKE: Or at least follow it to safety in a tsunami.

THE DOORS take on a slumlord at a familiar locale.

DONALD TRUMP launches a line of hair care products. No, really. Anyone who can sell that should be his next Apprentice.

CLONED CATS: finding a market in Hollywood.

SPACE STATION ASTRONAUTS lose weight on a diet of candy, after the prior crew ate too much.

SHARON OSBOURNE wants to manage Liza Minelli. I thought it was Liza who was just hospitalized for the head injury.

JANE GALT asks: "Who knows what the word for a group of ferrets is?"

YOU CALL IT VIDEOGAMING, I call it pre-med.

EINSTEIN: We all know he was important; The Economist explains why, in language people other than Jon Pratt can understand.

JOHNNY DEPP tops the Internet Movie Database's STARMeter celebrity ranking for 2004. Lindsay Lohan, Orlando Bloom, Keira Knightley and Angelina Jolie round out the top five.

NYDN DAILY DISH: Vanessa Williams delusional; Patti Hansen speaks ill of the late Linda McCartney; Debbie Gibson upset with Lohan, Spears, Simpson, etc.

MOVE ON: About a half dozen supporters of John Kerry are holding vigil in front of his house, still hoping for a Kerry presidency.