The confetti is gone and the tinsel has been tossed. But as I survey the scene through my red-white-and-blue 2009shaped novelty glasses, I can’t help but think things still unusually sparkly.The second week of the New Year is a good one: Big names are doing cool things; small names are doing big things.The old and the new combine, and the party never seems to end. Sugar Salon Jan. 8, Baryshnikov Arts Center, 450 W. 37th St. (betw. Dyer & 10th Aves.), 646-731- 3200; 8:30, $20 There didn’t seem much more for Mikhail Baryshnikov to do after completing 11 pirouettes in White Knights but, always an innovator, he found something. He opened the Baryshnikov Arts Center to foster new work by promising dance folk. One such program, “Sugar Salon,” features the work of women choreographers.Tonight downtown dance journeywoman Heather Olson, Israeli choreographer Deganit Shemy and Brooklynite Anna Sperber perform new works alongside their mentor, the legendary Jane Comfort Bottom Line: Built by ladies but not lost in the political dance-swamp of feminism (where art goes to die), these dances showcase movement, not The Movement. Read more Read it in print

Sigh, heave, nap. Christmas is over, and your goose has been cooked.This week nibble on the popcorn strings that once girded your Christmas fir and contemplate what 2009 will be like. It can´t be worse than 2008and it seems to be starting off on the right foot. Read more Read it in print

Nobody wants to watch the ball drop, and nobody wants to drop the ball; if you’re looking for New Year’s Eve plans that won’t leave you with a resolution to find new friends, check these options out. Dining Yerba Buena 23 Ave. A (at E. 2nd St.), 212-529-2919; 10, $150 Dropping this much money isn’t an easy decision, but when you take into consideration that New Year’s Eve at Yerba Buena—chef Julian Medina’s Alphabet City Latin bistro—includes an open bar, champagne toast and dinner, it all begins to make sense. Besides, with a menu that includes a lobster and avocado salad, filet mignon and cheesecake made with goat, blue and cream cheeses, it’s a decadent way to say, “Get lost, 2008!” Read more Read it in print

The most-hyped, least-enjoyed night of the year is almost here, but don’t let layoffs and money woes curb your need to get a little crazy. It’s been a stressful few months, so we figure you deserve all the booze, sex and dance-floor transcendence you can get. And house parties are going to be the big winner this year. Eating is the necessary foreplay for alcohol appreciation, and this year you may even be able to enjoy a few dishes that you hadn’t previously considered. Restaurateur and chef Charlie Statelman (of Williamsburg’s Wombat and Cobble Hill classic Café on Clinton) says that a nice pork shoulder or roasted ham is your best bet for tastiness, affordability and general versatility. “Roast pork—that’s always nice,” he says. “You’d probably get one for about $35-$40, and you could feed 20 people with it. And it makes the apartment smell really nice if you roast it with garlic and spice.” Read more Read it in print

There’s something happening here. What it is ain’t exactly clear. There’s tinsel and elves with beer, telling me they’re not really here. I think it's time we stop children and twist them round. Everybody's drunk in Chrishmashtown. It seems like half the people we know are out of town and the other are out of their minds; but that's no excuse to get tanked on eggnog and suck on candy canes by your lonesome. No, there's still plenty to do, and the elves can always keep you company. Read more

This penultimate week of 2008 is one of gods and monsters, a perfect flourish to close out a year of living dangerously. Advice went unheeded; warnings unheard and barreling merrily we went to our own doom, caroling verily to the Sea of Galilee, “Ho! Ho! Ho!” until we were no more. Now Christmas is upon us, a day not so much for reckoning (that happened long ago) but for the delving into presents, forsaking past and foreswearing the future. This is a week for fireplaces and brimstone, old standards and debased new ones where every valley shall be exalted and every night full of manic cheer. Amen. Read more

This holiday season, Kevin Barry will be sitting inside the Brooklyn Historical Society, surrounded by fellow artists from New York Creates and his eclectic collection of deconstructed, handmade cloth Read more

Perhaps singing carols with family around the Christmas tree never got you in the mood. Or maybe wassailing arm in arm through the neighborhood gives you flashbacks of bad Disney movies. Lucky for you Read more

It's that time of the year again. Yes, the time of cheer, coerced giving and seeing your family for way longer than should be allowed by law. There are crying kids and tourists with eyes aglow in the twinkle of Rockfeller Center holiday lights. And then there's you. Sure, you'll watch Frosty on TV one night if there's nothing better on. And you're known to enjoy a (strong) glass of Eggnog now and again. But, the pressure of incessant happiness and altruism just isn't your thing. So, naturally, you won't be line to see the Radio City Christmas Show or some rendition of A Charlie Brown Christmas. That's not to say you couldn't enjoy a little holiday-themed fun, though, if given the option. We've picked a few of the best shows for the season. Just don't bring any tots, lest images of drag queens dance in their heads. Read more

Let´s call a spade a spade: This year has been a big tangle of dick with one bright, sparkly Obama diamond thrown in right at the end. But now it´s almost over and you can hear the “Chariots Of Fire” theme in the background as we approach the end. It´s a time to look ahead but also to reflect back.Well, it´s a time to dart your eyes back and forth uneasily between tits and cocks, past and future, denial and hope, truth and beauty until you stumble half-wittingly across the finish line and begin all over again. Read more Read it in print