· A brave Carson Daly will be the first late-night talk show host to cross the picket line and attempt to return to work without a writing staff; upon his arrival at the studio, Daly will be awkwardly reminded by a security guard that his show was canceled two years ago. [THR]
· I'm Not There, expected to duke it out in every Oscar category you got with similarly ambitious music biopic Walk Hard, leads the Independent Spirit Award nominations with four. Angelina Jolie flop A Mighty Heart and Ang Lee's artsy, NC-17 fuckfest Lust, Caution received three nods each. [Variety]

Yesterday when we mentioned that Marquee founder Jason Strauss looks more and more like Carson Daly every excruciating second, it was because that picture was miscaptioned and actually was of Carson Daly. Jason Strauss is someone else entirely and less immediately crazy-looking. THANK YOU, GOD.

• Brad and Angelina spent Christmas helping Colombian refugees in Costa Rica, but failed to return to the U.S. with any additional orphans for their family. [Hot Momma]
  

• Mayor's car jacked, aide beaten. Bloomy wishes Arnie were still in town, regrets sending employee to Jersey. [WCBS]
  

When YouTube first launched we were like, "This is cool and everything, but how do we know what's worthwhile? We sure wish someone like Carson Daly would come along and just show us the best web videos available."

I am as tired of Rocketboom split-up news as you are.

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.

For those of you who care not to get crunk with Erik Paladino on the Paramount lot, nor does the thought sound appealing of watching Dick Clark pretend he didn't have a stroke as Ryan Seacrest, his frosted-haired, dwarf replacement, stands at his side, eager to snatch the Rockin' Eve baton from his now perma-clenched hands, there is a third New Year's Eve option. NBC's New Year's Eve with Carson Daly, Presented by Chevrolet, promises to be the best of all possible New Year's worlds: you get the arguably talent-free host, minus the awkward All About Eve political infighting, without ever having to leave the comfort of your home! And to sweeten the deal, we are including some exclusive script excerpts so you can read along at home with Carson. We don't think we're giving anything away when we tell you a big ball is dropped and everyone screams, but there still are some cliffhangers that even the script doesn't answer. For example: Will Megan and Peter fill in the required missing statistics in time? We'll just have to wait and see!

Sure, the year's Dow gains were wiped out yesterday, but things could have been much worse for investors: Adam Corolla could have gaveled the market closed.

Sadly, 'world's ugliest dog' Sam, who won our hearts while ruining our appetites, has passed. The story of how he went from ASPCA euthanasia-row to the toast of late night television is as uplifting a Hollywood success story as you are likely to come by:

· Irish bad boy Colin Farrell on casual sex: "I'm into [it] . . . I come into town and fuck whoever I can - but I'm not mean and egotistical about it. Whoever I bang is bangin' me back!" [Page Six]
· Howard Stern and Carson Daly were having a contest at Rehab to see who could get the most women to come to their respective tables. Stern won. [Page Six]
· Ken Park co-director and Far From Heaven cinematographer Ed Lachman appears on the front page of the Rotterdam Film Festival's daily newspaper buck naked. [Page Six]
· Cindy Adams filmed Hitler's secretary long before Sony did their "first-and-only exclusive" for their film, Blind Spot. [Cindy Adams]
· Hillary Clinton remarks that Matilda Cuomo understands the challenges of being a governor's wife, but "we won't go into that now"; Jude Law's wife Sadie Frost is being treated for severe depression in a London clinic; and more words of wisdom from Colin Farell: "I love porn movies. They're great, great fun. I've been buying porn movies since I was 14." [NY Daily News]