SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:55 P.M. ET:

FLOP TIME – FROM AFP:  Los Angeles (AFP) - As Hollywood prepares to celebrate its achievements at the Golden Globes on Sunday, new figures show all might not be well in the film industry, with attendances at a quarter-century low.  The last 12 months have seen huge successes, with "Star Wars: The Last Jedi" and "Beauty and the Beast" raking in more than half a billion dollars each at home.  "Wonder Woman" and several Marvel superhero movies including "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2" and Thor: Ragnarok" also have more than pulled their weight.  But the handful of hits has masked a decline of almost six percent on the year to 1.2 billion tickets sold, the lowest total since 1992, according to Box Office Mojo.  The feature-film industry has worked hard to drive audiences away, and succeeded.  Television is the hottest medium right now, and is likely to remain so.

UFO'S OVER MANHATTAN – READ ALL ABOUT IT! – FROM THE NEW YORK POST:  Manhattan has gone from Studio 54 to Area 51, leading the five boroughs in sightings of unidentified flying objects over the last two years, data from the National UFO Reporting Center reveals.  Otherworldly tourists have included travelers in a “round orange orb,” a crew in a “cigar-shaped” craft and even “an unknown creature” that rudely “teleported” into one New Yorker’s back yard, according to reports made to the Washington-based group.  One Manhattan true believer claimed a close encounter — just by looking outside the gym window.  “It was rotating like a drill as it was also moving off axis and in a line towards the east,” the person explained. “As it rotated, you would be able to see four lights that would only be on one side and seen after it fully rotated. It has to be hundreds of feet long. Then after it appeared, four other smaller craft appeared that were to me saucer or spherical that blipped in and out.”   The UFO's apparently all left when they learned about New York State taxes.

AH, THE MODERN WORLD – FROM BLOOMBERG:  Saudi authorities made a fresh round of arrests of royal-family members as a group of princes staged a palace protest in the capital over the non-payment of their electricity and water bills.  Security services on Thursday arrested the 11 princes after they refused to leave Qasr Al-Hokm in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia’s Attorney General, Sheikh Saud Al Mojeb, said in an emailed statement. The princes, who objected to a decree that ordered the state to stop paying their utility bills, will be held at al-Ha’er prison pending their trial, Al Mojeb said.  “No one is above the law in Saudi Arabia, everyone is equal and is treated the same as others,” Al Mojeb said. “Any person, regardless of their status or position, will be held accountable should they decide not to follow the rules and regulations of the state.”  Yes, we've noticed all the equality in Saudi Arabia.  No women need apply.

January 6, 2018