1. demonbaby Come on 2009! There's time for one more!! RT @BreakingNews: Rush Limbaugh rushed to hospital in Honolulu after suffering chest pains. 31 Dec 2009 from TweetDeck
2. BlackCanseco I wonder what Rush Limbaugh will think of healthcare reform come Monday. Hmmm... 31 Dec 2009 from web

While fans are still pouring into theaters to see James Cameron's multi-million grossing 3D film Avatar, DirecTV will announce an upcoming 3D channel for their customers, reports HDGuru.com. DirecTV will make their big announcement at the next Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas on January 7. 2010.

What's the nexus between The Diary of Anne Frank and Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking? Both were scooped out of the literary rejection piles by famed Knopf editor Judith Jones and made into worldwide classics. Today, the 85-year-old Jones is working alongside a culinary figure of already-epic proportions -- she's edited and mentored Italian cooking legend Lidia Bastianich throughout the publication of her new cookbook, Lidia Cooks From the Heart of Italy, a collection of unusual recipes from lesser-known regions of Italy.

Jen Mergel

Museum hot seats

Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts announced today that it has lured away the most senior curator at Boston’s Institute of Contemporary Art. It could signal a major curatorial rivalry brewing between the two institutions — which would only be good for Boston’s art audience.

I've been so busy I forgot to put this up on last week!

I just want express my heartfelt congrats and pride (pride because I still call that area "home" most of the time) and all its residents for a battle well fought and an outcome well deserved. The same-sex marriage bill passed last Thursday and was signed into legislation on Friday by Washington Mayor Adrian M.

Oh Year End List Makers:
This week (the second to last of the Footballz broadcast schedule) we reap the benefits of a sports media that is a slave to the whims of the Big Markets. Let me set up a hypothetical for you. Two teams have the sterling records of 7-6 and 4-9 going into a game, and even the 7-6 team has a very slim (almost no) chance of making the playoffs.

In what I’ve heard described as “the worst weather-related news since Hurricane Katrina,” much-beloved MyTV meteorologist Al Kaprielian — the “kult” of whom was explored in the pages of the Phoenix last winter — has been laid off after 26 years of exuberant, helium-voiced weather reports.

His last forecast will be on December 31.

I'll spare you the didactic spiel about why it's acceptable for intelligent folks to watch "Jersey Shore" for non-masturbatory purposes.

JUST HEAD TO THIS NICKNAME GENERATOR AND GET YOUR GUIDO HANDLE

Mine is "The Sausage Party." I was hoping for something better - maybe "Italian Ice" - but I'll take what I can get.

Your useless celebrity/presidential trivia bit of the day/week:

While they certainly don't look much alike, billionaire Warren Buffett and President Barack Obama are indeed related, reads Ancestry.com. According to the genealogical-tracing site, Buffett and Obama are seventh cousins, three times removed.

As we approach the end of the regular season, non-playoff people (that includes Footballz Talk, since MNF ends before the playoffs, and we would not want to pollute the great import of the Second Season with our blatherings) begin to reflect on what has transpired over these past 14 weeks.

Walking on Van Ness Street this morning I noticed workers moving in and out of Fenway Park. It turns out they're building the hockey rink for this year's NHL Winter Classic (you can watch them yourself by clicking here), in which the Bruins will face the Flyers somewhere between the infield and the outfield.

Meant to get this up yesterday, but I suppose it's an evergreen...

In case you didn't realize exactly how out of touch our representatives in Washington truly are, check out this quote that Senator Patrick Leahy gave reporters about having to work on health care reform this far into the holiday season:

The best thing to happen to the holidays in Boston since Boston Ballet got kicked out of the Wang? That'd be THE SLUTCRACKER, Babes in Boinkland's instant-classic burlesque retelling of the classic Christmas ballet. We went apeshit for it when it debuted last year, and so did everyone else -- the production sold out its opening weekend and had to add extra shows.

YONEHARA YASUMA -- or just Yone, to his international legions of fans -- is a singular figure in Japanese photography, fashion, and culture. His photographs of porn stars, pinups, and amateur models are genuinely erotic, even as they draw attention to the complexities and dark undercurrents of desire.