Happy New Year and welcome to 2012, you awful gals and guys! We hope you didn't celebrate too hard last night, but if you're feeling the sting of one champagne glass too many, hopefully another round of the 99 reasons we still love Hollywood will perk you up.
Because even though we're in the end of times (or so say the Mayans) there's still so many reasons to be thankful. Like the fact that we can still sing along with The Muppets or that bride-to-be Britney Spears is back and better than ever.
And as we near the end of the list, here are nine more reasons we especially adore Tinseltown:
18. Emma Stone. What do we love about Ms. Stone? Oh, just about everything. She's funny as heck (Proof: watch the first few minutes of Friends With Benefits), has quite the arsenal of acting chops (in The Help and Crazy Stupid Love), and along with her adorable BF Andrew Garfield is up there with Robsten as one of our fave relayshes.
17. Harry Potter Remains King of The Box Office. You know we love Twilight and all the craziness that's associated with Robsten and the gang, but we must say we thought it fair that Breaking Dawn Part 1's mucho-hyped release wasn't able to break HP and the Deathly Hallows record-breaking run. The better writing deserves the prize, we say.
16. Michelle Williams. We've loved Michelle since her days stirring up drama on Dawson's Creek, which is why it's been such an honor to watch her grow into such a talented—and Academy respected—actress. And her latest nomination may be her most worthy yet. While My Week with Marilyn may be on the duller side, Michelle's flawless embodiment of the late blonde bombshell was well worth the price of tickets these days.
15. Tom Cruise. There was a period of time where we thought Tom Cruise was over and done with…And we think you know when we're talking about: the Katie Holmes phase. What with the coach jumping and the Scientology and the tabloid stories galore, it was enough to get a movie star blacklisted from audience lovin' (and for the record we don't blame dear sweet Katie, who we've loved since her days on the boob tube). But he's back and seemingly better than ever in the latest Mission Impossible flick (which is getting pretty rave reviews) and his personal life is staying just that these days—personal.
14. American Horror Story. We can't think of the last time a show had us talkin' this much. From the divine Jessica Lange to Dylan McDermott's derrière, the FX fright fest left us with our jaws on the floor and our brains usually asking: WTF?! And as the show ventured from slightly scary to completely horrific, we found ourselves along for the ride…Whether we liked it or not.
13. Rooney Mara: Hollywood's New It Girl. Rooney Mara was hardly a household name before she went toe-to-toe with Jesse Eisenberg in The Social Network. And though she had less than 15 minutes of screen time, it was enough to wow viewers. And more importantly it left an impression on director David Fincher, who decided to put her at the lead of his next movie: The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. And we can hardly think of a better launch into the big leagues of Hollywood than that.
12. Jennifer Lawrence: Hollywood's Other It Girl. Like Rooney, JenLaw is also very deserving of the title. Of course there was Winter's Bone, which earned her an Oscar nom (and gave us the chance to see her in that va-va-voom red dress she donned on the red carpet), but she also gave stellar performances in smaller flicks this year like a used and abused rebound GF in Like Crazy and a high school good girl itching to be bad in The Beaver. And that's before we even mention Hunger Games!
11. Magic Mike's Man Candy. We've seen Demi Moore, Elizabeth Berkley, Jessica Biel and even Lindsay Lohan do the stripper thing. So it's about time we get some fair turn around and see dudes hit the stage in their itty, bitty thongs. And the fellas director Steven Soderbergh lined up are hotter than hot: with Channing Tatum, Joe Manganiello and Matt Boemer all takin' it off. Now we're just wonderin' if any of them will show it all.
10. Robsten Keeps You Guessing… Still. Ah, let us reminisce about the ups and downs of being a Robsten addict just in the past year! There was Kristen Stewart talking about her "English" boyfriend and Robert Pattinson joking the two were married already… and then there was Garrett Hedlund and Sarah Roemer and all sorts of nasty rumors. But whether the good times or bad, we still love that all these years later the Twilight duo still have you all on your toes!