Sure, we all want world peace. But since that's a state of affairs we're not likely to see in 2010, here's to some more realistic wishes for the new year:
n News organizations and book publishers will stop giving time and space to a certain ex-Alaska governor.
n Carl Hiaasen and Sue Grafton will collaborate on a book.
n Greener-than-thou folks will spend less time talking about their work and more time doing it.
n Cinnabon will open a Traverse City store.
n The Traverse City Film Festival will screen "Soi Dogs," a documentary about the Soi Dog Foundation, the best hope for Phuket, Thailand's street animals.
n We'll learn the truth about Amanda Knox.
n Designers will give up the stretch fabric trend in favor of fashions that look good on the rest of us.
n Bluegrass coffee roaster CaffeMarco will open a Traverse City store.
n Andrew Keen's "The Cult of the Amateur: How Today's Internet is Killing Our Culture" will get another printing.
n Jay Leno will get his desk back.
n Cherry Capital Airport will get a restaurant -- and a heart (anyone else still smarting from the 2003 deer vs. new terminal "solution"?)
n Gibby's Fries will open a Traverse City store.
n The New Year's Eve "cherry ball" -- a transparent vinyl sphere dressed up like a cherry and lowered from a construction crane -- will have a "pit" inside for added visual interest.
n Internet sites will eliminate their silly polls.
n 2009's hot Christmas "toy," live aquatic frogs in "eco-aquariums" the size of note cubes will go the way of the Pet Rock.
n The Clara's restaurant chain -- Oh, that pizza! -- will open a Traverse City store.
n Angelina, Jen, Britney and the rest will get a break from the paparazzi -- and us from them.
n Screenplays adapted from books will faithfully follow the originals.
n Il Divo, Three Priests and Celtic Women will blend their voices on a new CD, with soloists Josh Groban, Nathan Gunn and Mirusia Louwerse.
n The Pasta Company will reopen a Traverse City store -- or at least offer its Fettuccini Alfredo recipe on eBay.
n The Traverse City Comedy Arts Festival will score Ellen DeGeneres.
n The City Opera House and new managing partner the Wharton Center for Performing Arts will score Il Divo, Three Priests and Celtic Women, with soloists Josh Groban, Nathan Gunn and Mirusia Louwerse.
n Traverse City will get a dog park.
n World peace.
Reach staff writer Marta Hepler Drahos at mdrahos@record-eagle.com.
