The morning after a night of excessive, debauched revelry, brunch is less of a trendy breakfast/lunch straddling meal than a biological imperative. Come January 1, 2012 we're going to need Bloody Marys and we're going to need you to keep em' coming. That, plus something greasy and carb-based (plus cheese.

Welcome to "Meet the Mayor," a segment in which we interview local Foursquare Mayors in their natural habitats.

Haley House Bakery Café
James Harder

So why are you mayor here?
It's very close to where I work. They make Organic Love Buzz, which is the best coffee in the world; and it's a nonprofit, which is nice.

By now, we hope you've checked out all the parties, shows, and opportunities for some end-of-2011 debauchery in our New Year's Eve listings. But if you're more of a gourmand than a hard-partier, perhaps a classy dinner for two (or more...whatever you're into) is more up your alley. We rounded up just a few of the many, many restaurants around town offering special prix fixe New Year's menus.

Being a famous-ass movie star or a bigwig producer does not preclude one from being a douchebag. Often, it only raises the levels of douchebaggery exponentially. This year's crop of movie industry cretins included grown men who pissed all over airplanes, creeps who married children, and more than a few dudes whose mugs we're just plain sick of (and directors whose style is really starting to wear on us.

^{CURTAIN CALL Opera Boston is the latest in a long and distinguished line of failed opera companies in Boston. Despite productions like this past year's Cardillac, above, it closes next week after a final performance at First Night.}

Over the past century, Boston has occasionally been a world center for great opera.

Just be glad you've got us and won't be stuck watching the Ball in Times Square this year...horror show

Already checked out all the galas, boat parties, costume balls, and cover-free New Year's parties? Well, not to confuse you further or anything, but there are more! We've rounded up all the awesome live shows at which you can rock your way into 2012 [New Highway Hymnal + earthquake party!, J.

These people are having themselves a time!

If you haven't made your New Year's plans yet...what are you waiting for? This shit books up fast so -- if you don't want to end up waiting pitifully on the wrong side of a velvet rope outside of some packed out bar downtown, freezing your tail off with the rest of the under-dressed, overly-made up club girls who forgot to make their plans in time -- you'd better make a decision now.

Although she seems to suffer from a very specific brain injury that turns every mundane object into a throbbing orifice, the intrepid Courtney Stodden retains her love for the written word. Through her prolific Twitter feed, the 17-year-old wife of 51-year-old character actor Doug Hutchison shows a masterful grasp of alliteration.

Welcome to "Meet the Mayor," a segment in which we interview local Foursquare Mayors in their natural habitats.

There's talk of knocking down this VFW hall to build condos. Why don't they ever want to build condos over something lame? Like a crack house, for example.

We'd actually be hard-pressed to find many politicians who don't skeeve us just a little (honestly, some of the crap these guys--and gals--are putting out there these days make Clinton's indiscretion seem G-rated. Come to think of it, Clinton is still one of the sexiest politicians we've had in office since the Kennedy days.

Don't cry....we've got your holidays covered.

Phew, we're almost there. Just a few more work days and we can all dive headfirst into a man-sized vat of egg nog and marinate there until next year. What with all the shopping, stressing about the strain said shopping is having on your wallet, and forced merriment, your holiday spirits are probably already drooping.

At the noon start time there are hardly more than 100 folks milling around Duarte Square, an obscure triangular slice of real estate on the northwest corner of Canal Street and Sixth Avenue in Manhattan. It's a certifiable Occupy event, complete with street theater, balloon metaphors, and an impromptu curbside teach-in on the evolution of the American police state.

Bradley Manning appeared in court at Fort Meade in Maryland this morning for the start of a pretrial hearing, to determine whether he will face a court-martial. Manning, whose 24th birthday is tomorrow, faces up to a lifetime in military prison for allegedly releasing hundreds of thousands of secret US state documents and national security secrets to WikiLeaks.

Oh, Krusty: we heart you too, big guy.

In last week's episode of The Simpsons (full episode now watchable here), Krusty gets a show on a premium-cable network. The execs tell him: "Here you don't have to worry about budgets, and the critics are in our pocket." Krusty, horrified: "Even the Boston Phoenix?" Exec #1: "If we don't we'll burn it down."