Interesting ... The growth and future success of online news and blogging (thanks to BTC News for the link).

Overdone but still fun ... Cold Mountain. I have not read the book (I tried, but couldn't get into it), which some say is a darker work, but this Oscar bait of a movie is good holiday entertainment. The final movie of the Lord of the Rings trilogy probably should get the most honors, probably won't, and this is better than the rather disappointing Master and Commander movie. It just is hard to take it too seriously with Nicole Kidman as the struggling heroine, Renee Zellweger as the tomboy hillbilly (her pappy is a fiddler), and Jude Law (a bit too lifeless and stoic ... the comic relief he meets is more interesting, and we mostly care about the homefront) as the beautiful tragic hero. It is not quite the Gone With The Wind for the 21st century, but it's no dramatic masterpiece or anything either. It's good entertainment though. For those interested, I supply a helpful summary here.

Let ... the New Year be a good one for you and yours. Heck, and me too, while I'm at it!