Los Angeles, Jan. 9, 2006 – As we mentioned back on…oh, let’s see…uh, yesterday, awards season is here. And the whole gang we met on Sunday in New York was in Santa Monica on Monday, bright and cheery at the Critics' Choice Awards. And no one was cheerier than the critics' choice for best actress, Reese Witherspoon, who famously avoids the media, except when she’s suing a paparazzo. “It’s nice to see you out…in the daylight. It’s very brave of you, for us to all see your faces”, she ominously chirped to the critics, while smiling. Reese closed her speech with a quote from Al Capone.

Despite living practically next door in Venice, Julia Roberts couldn’t make it to the red carpet, but she got there in time to present George Clooney with the “Freedom Award”. Best actress nominee Felicity Huffman just slipped into the Santa Monica Civic Center in time for her category, and then had to rush off.

Newcomer Q’Orianka Kilcher, the teenaged actress who had to play sex scenes with Colin Farrell in The New World, marched to her own fashion drummer, wearing some kind of legging wrapped around her ankle, underneath her silky evening gown.

New York, Jan. 8, 2006 – Awards season has started, folks, and the New York Film Critics Circle Awards dinner was among the first of the many backrubs to come. Brokeback Mountain’s cranky Heath Ledger, apparently already tired of Oscar stomping, didn’t pick up his best actor award. Brokeback director Ang Lee told us it’s particularly nice to be recognized by the New York critics. “They’re tough”. Lee operates out of New York now, but Hong Kong-based director Wong Kar Wai made a rare stateside appearance for his best foreign language film, 2046. Steely Reese Witherspoon accepted her best actress accolade, but husband Ryan Phillippe was nowhere in sight. Ethan Hawke slipped into the dinner unnoticed. With Oscar buzz for Capote, the normally taciturn Philip Seymour Hoffman was affable, chattering away with reporters.

Los Angeles, Jan. 5, 2006 – After spending the holidays at home or in far-flung places, show biz types are hungry for the spotlight again, and so a big crowd turned out for the premiere of Josh Lucas’ Glory Road at the Pantages Theater in Hollywood. New Yorker Alicia Keys made a rare West Coast appearance. Sophia Bush came solo, and the wedding band is gone from her hand. Showing off her new ring was TV actress Christy Carlson Romano, who was with fiancé Cal Thomas. And even more impressive, ZZ Top front beard Billy F. Gibbons showed off his new wife, Gilligan Stillwater. The pair reportedly were married quietly in December.

Los Angeles, Jan. 4, 2006 – What better way to recover from holiday overindulgence than with a cheesy vampire flick? Our first Hollywood red carpet of the new year was a B-list fiesta, the premiere for a film called BloodRayne. Terminator 3’s Kristanna Loken stars along with Michael Madsen, Meat Loaf and Billy Zane. Lost’s Michelle Rodriguez also stars in BloodRayne, but couldn’t make the premiere because of her recent DUI-related legal troubles. Oscar-winning actor Ben Kingsley appears in the film, but skipped the premiere for some reason. Anyway, despite our raging New Year’s hangovers, Virginia Madsen’s presence reminded us of last year’s wine-soaked Oscar winner, Sideways.

New York, Jan. 5, 2006 – We got excited for a minute when we heard that Sundance would be showing films at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. No more schlepping up mountains and pretending to want to try snowboarding! We could just take in the festival remotely. But it seems that to be on film’s cutting edge, Brooklynites will have to leave their $3 million brownstones for Park City, Utah, or wait until May to see the Sundance offerings. That’s when they’ll land at BAM, said the Sundance Kid himself, Robert Redford, yesterday at a press conference at the Brooklyn institution. Local officials also took the podium; at one point during a speech, a cell phone rang and a sheepish Redford pulled his out and turned it off. Also at the presentation was TV renovation king Bob Vila, and actor Steve Buscemi, who The Reeler blogger Stu VanAirsdale chatted with over the free lunch.

New York, Jan. 4, 2006 – If you were walking by 53rd & Broadway in Manhattan on Wednesday, you probably assumed it was one of the talk show pranks when a deliveryman walked up to a 1970s vintage Town Car parked under David Letterman’s marquee, and handed a sack of what looked like burgers and fries through the car window. But actually, that was where Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony decided to park for an in-car meal while shooting scenes for their film, El Cantante. Yes, they actually had it delivered to the car.

Late at night, the pair was just around the corner, shooting scenes at famed nightclub Studio 54. During the afternoon, we had a deja vu when J. Lo, Marc and a boy played by Bernard Hernandez strolled in Central Park, just like Lopez did in Maid in Manhattan with Ralph Fiennes.

Miami, Dec. 31 '05 – Jan. 1, '06 – We rang in the New Year with Lindsay Lohan at Prive in balmy Miami – barely, as she arrived just a few minutes before midnight. The 19-year-old movie star brought along her mom, Dina, to the party, and stayed about two hours. Nicole Richie stopped by to greet Lindsay.

What a week this has been for Lohan. Maybe she ran into her former flame, Wilmer Vaderrama, the next day in South Beach, as we did, and that triggered her severe asthma attack and subsequent hospitalization. In a Vanity Fair interview on newsstands this week, Lohan discusses her Valderrama-related emotional trauma, and also admits to having eating disorders and using drugs.

Also at the party was quasi-Paris Hilton pal Joe Francis, who inadvertently made his own sex tape. Predictably, the Girls Gone Wild creator had his eye on America’s Next Top Model winner Nicole Linkletter.

New York, Jan. 1, 2006 – While most of us were at home on New Year’s day, nursing hangovers, billionaire Mike Bloomberg forced girlfriend Diana Taylor to confront the New York City subway system first thing, riding to the reelected mayor’s inauguration ceremony. At City Hall, the couple sat outside in the cold wind, while Liza Minnelli serenaded a shivering crowd that included Barbara Walters and John Lithgow. Attendees may have been wishing that the swearing in happened indoors, but at least they got to take home those souvenir gray blankets and silver gift cups from which they sipped hot cider.

Back in 2002, Mayor Mike settled into his first term to the tunes of flamboyant Bette Midler. Bloomberg has reached his mayoral term limit, but no doubt we'll see Cher at his gubernatorial inauguration.