January 2-8 - While the celebrity world was waking from its New Year slumber, we crossed the pop cultural Sahara to find the few notables doing stuff this week.

Jennifer Garner overcame the rumors of various infirmities, and toddled onto a Vegas red carpet to introduce her action/adventure movie, Elektra. Why Vegas? We don’t know, but it sure was an adventure getting there through the West Coast storms. Jennifer was not wearing an engagement ring at the premiere, nor was she sporting supposed fiancé Ben Affleck (although reports had him flying into Vegas with her). So no news on the relationship front, but she was holding her stomach - maybe the mystery ailment was morning sickness?

With a new disaster unfolding in Asia, Jennifer Connelly, Vanessa Williams and John Cameron Mitchell joined the beautiful Sophie Okonedo for a screening of Hotel Rwanda, her film about a past horror.

Yet another catastrophe was recalled at the kickoff to a fundraising campaign for a World Trade Center memorial. Robert De Niro and Barbara Walters showed up at the Ground Zero event, upstaging celebrity architect Daniel Libeskind, Time Warner’s Dick Parsons and Disney’s Michael Eisner.

We found a more cheerful scene at the opening night of the Off Broadway musical Under the Bridge, where Frank Gifford and his son talked Super Bowl, Rosie O’Donnell joked about weight and the new TV show Fat Actress, and Donald Trump and Melania Knauss gabbed about weddings. They were all there to support Kathie Lee Gifford, Frank’s wife, who wrote the book and lyrics.

Los Angeles, January 5 – While some folks might be partied out after the holiday season, others just can’t get enough. Chloe Sevigny, Adrien Brody, Jason Lewis and Rosario Dawson, Bijou Phillips and Danny Masterson, Carmen Electra and Sylvester Stallone all showed up at a party celebrating a car. Not just any car, but the 2005 model Volkswagen Jetta. Even Jackie Collins and Luke Perry were there. They weren’t handing out free cars, Oprah-style, but Alicia Keys sang a few songs for the guests.

The new Jetta is the first of nine new models VW will introduce in the next 18 months, so we’re counting on lots more parties. If they can attract this kind of wattage for the pedestrian Jetta, we can’t wait until VW fetes some of its premium brands like Bentley and Lamborghini.

December 31 – We at Open All Night spent all year covering celebrity doings, and sometimes we don’t get it, even when we’re there. So now that 2004 is a wrap, here are some mysteries we have yet to solve.

What does Tom Cruise have to do with the 2004 Summer Olympics? He ran around L.A.'s Dodger Stadium with the Olympic torch in June. Related: why does Tom run like a girl?

What did Ben Affleck have to do with the Democratic presidential campaign? We all thought the Kerry daughters were hot, but we didn’t travel around the country wearing flags and giving speeches in small towns. Related: what do celebrities in general have to do with this whole politics thing? Does anyone vote for a candidate because Leonardo DiCaprio or P. Diddy supports him or her? Readers: if you cast your votes based on celebrity endorsements, please e-mail us and explain. We really do want to understand.

Why did a Washington, D.C.-based African ambassadors’ spouses association honor Michael Jackson for his humanitarian work? Oh, wait, this was on April Fool’s day!

Why was pop singer Ricky Martin invited to the United Nations to speak to diplomats about the evils of child sexual tourism? “I want to see abolition of this slavery”, Martin said. Martin heads a foundation aimed at eliminating child exploitation. Related: why did James Brown, Drew Barrymore and Jermaine Jackson also address the U.N. this year?

Are latin pop singer Enrique Iglesias and sort-of tennis pro Anna Kournikova married or not? Related: why do we care? Also related: are Jessica Simpson and Nick Lachey/Jennifer Aniston and Brad Pitt/Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony splitting up/having a baby/still together?

A few things we saw this year but never thought we would: Jennifer Lopez discussed her career highlights with James Lipton on Inside the Actors Studio. Pamela Anderson became a novelist. Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen’s achievements were recognized with their very own star on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame. Then they went off to college.

New York, December 31 – Talk about an inconvenient location. Where was MTV’s “Iced Out” New Year’s Eve show, featuring Ashanti, Snoop Dogg, Christina Milian and others? At their headquarters building, smack in the middle of Times Square. On New Year’s Eve. Hello.

Anyway, we thought MTV had invited a bunch of short-order cooks, but it turned out that the theme was to wear white. Times Square was awash in Discover Card corporate sponsorship, and their logo was everywhere around the ball-drop. Lindsay Lohan performed outside in Times Square, amidst all the madness, but not until crews had taken down the Discover banner behind the stage. They replaced it after her set. Lindsay was relaxed and laughing and looked to us like she was actually singing.

Earlier in the day, Bill and Hillary Clinton were at a Buddhist temple in Queens, where religious leaders were organizing goods to be shipped to victims of the tsunami disaster in Asia. Hillary did most of the talking, but Bill got all the applause.