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Thanks for bearing with me today. I wasn't fully prepared when I agreed to take a stab at producing 12-odd items (I think "odd" turned into the operative word) but my stay here is a brief one. I swear I'll be using as many of the tips everyone has sent as possible, even if I have to space them out over several gigantic link-dump posts. Here are a few to hold you over.

Ben Leventhal takes She Loves NY out of crypto-retirement for his excellent year-end restaurant awards. [SLNY]
More funky chicken poop for the soul: Best of Bruni 2005, NY Times restaurant critic [The Bruni Digest]
Holy Grand Mother List of Lists: one-stop shopping for the search-impaired. [Fimoculous]
The world isn't big enough for two Charles R. Jacksons, or maybe it is but please keep their separate accomplishments straight. [Mediacrity]
Carson Daly live-blogs New Year's from Times Square in advance. [Defamer]
"It may be a slow news day, but thank goodness the cute never stops. Gothamist has decided to make this a puppy face-off..." No explanation needed. [Gothamist]

Also, the powers-that-be have given me 10 comment invitations to dole out. If you'd like to join the ranks of opinionated, sexy (or so we hope) people who go by such clever monikers as Paunch, Worker #3116, saabturbo, and "Graydon Carter" then please send an email to the Gawker tip line explaining why you deserve the honor in ten words or less.