Two out of three ain't bad. We boarded the holiday party circuit last night and made it to two of three shindigs on the calendar.

For the first time, the Pulitzer board will this year accept entries in breaking news and photography that only appeared online, as opposed to in print.

Last night, AOL and Warner Music Group shot the final episode of "The Biz," their jointly-produced episodic Web-based reality series, and revealed the winner of the competition for "the best job in the music business."

After months of swirling rumors about AOL, the latest talk is that Time Warner has changed its mind about selling the company. Instead, Time Warner reportedly is negotiating with both Microsoft and Google about advertising deals.

'Tis the season for buying stuff for other people. But selling stuff online knows no season. The online marketplace is always open. In fact, according to a study by the Pew Internet & American Life Project, some 17 percent of online adults, or about 25 million Americans, have used the Web to sell things.

With all the online holiday shopping analyses and year-end ad forecasts and projections competing for our attention, not to mention the grueling process of choosing Media and OMMA's agencies of the year weighing heavily on the Minute, we needed to shake things up.

In a report issued this morning, Merrill Lynch remains bullish on Internet advertising, even while cutting the overall U.S. advertising forecast.