February 21-24 – With hordes of revelers eagerly baring their mammaries and other dangling body parts, we kind of expected to run into Janet Jackson in New Orleans for Mardi Gras. The nipple diva wasn’t there, but plenty of other celebs joined the drunken masses for the pre-Lent bacchanal. Even Hobbits manned the parades: Lord of the Rings’ Elijah Wood reigned as Bacchus, and almost toppled off the float when the tractor pulling it surged ahead unexpectedly. Ring-mate Dominic Monaghan rode in the Orpheus parade, which was presided over by New Orleans native Harry Connick, Jr. In fact, for the second year in a row, the skies opened up, and it rained on Connick’s parade. It rained so much that fashion designer Nicole Miller had a plastic bag over her dress, along with beads and a shiny red cape.

Country music star LeAnn Rimes, grand marshal of the Krewe of Endymion parade, good-naturedly tossed Mardi Gras beads to the crowd, and apologized to us after a strand smacked us in the face. Rimes must be health-minded - she passed on the corn dog, giving it to her husband, Dean Shremet to happily consume. (Note to foreign readers: Corn dogs are hot dogs dipped in corn batter, deep fried and served on a stick. Hot dogs are, er, well, never mind.) The other major Mardi Gras food group is beer.