Overnight Briefing & General Reality Check - Jan 27, 2017

Chinese New Year:

Happy Chinese New Year,and welcome to 4714 in the Chinese calendar --the Year of the Rooster-- which begins tomorrow. In Chinese: Gung Hay Fat Choy!
Quotable: "Hard to believe. Is it me, or did Monkey just fly by?"
--"Wow! I'm still writing Monkey on my checks!" (anon)

Food and the Chinese New Year:

On New Year's Eve, vast amounts of traditional foods are prepared for family and friends, as well as the ancestors. Probably more food is consumed during the New Year celebrations than any other time of the year.
All the food has other meanings; for instance, wonton and dumplings represent ancient Chinese money and eating them is supposed to help in amassing fortunes and wealth in the coming year. Chicken and fish are homonyms for lucky and having enough to spare. Eating fried food means you will have a hot and exciting life; sweet foods mean your life will be sweet and happy. Orange is for good luck.
Peanuts and peaches are eaten to promote longevity and rice cakes mean promotions are due in the coming year. As for the weather, plum and spring rolls mean spring will come early. Bon appetit... or as you'd say in Chinese: "chi hao he hao"!

Sucking up:

RONDA ROUSEY is one of those rare celebrities that's willing to sacrifice for her beliefs --even if it means freezing your tail off! LINDA BLACK ELK --who leads a group protesting the Dakota Access Pipeline --tells TMZ.com that the UFC fighter is "an incredible person" that brought out lots of fresh fruit to the campsite, had a bunch of firewood delivered and willing to return to "get pepper sprayed alongside everyone else." (Lee)

On, off and way-off-Broadway:

ELTON JOHN is writing the songs for a musical based on the 2006 MERYL STREEP movie, "The Devil Wears Prada." Deadline.com says American playwright PAUL RUDNICK will do the book. Elton said (quote), "I'm a huge fan of both the book and the feature film and a huge aficionado of the fashion world. I can't wait to sink my musical teeth into this hunk of pop culture." (Marino)