ABOVE: Cross that off your list.

BELOW: Great vaccine news, a billionaire Mormon is now just a billionaire, RIP Truly Scrumptious and more ...

Omicron to NYC: Drop dead. (Image via NYDN)

DEFENSE ONE: Yes! Good news — scientists at Walter Reed have been working on a vax for two years that would fight all known and future variants of COVID-19, and they're reportedly weeks from announcing it's effective.

WAPO: First U.S. death attributed to Omicron may be a Texas man who had health issues and had recovered from COVID-19 in the past — but had refused vaccination. (Remember — we are fully capable of getting COVID-19 even if vaxxed, even if boosted, and even if we have had it before. Ask Andy Cohen.)

He's gen. (Image via The Trade Desk)

NYT: Jeff T. Green, Utah's richest man (yes, a billionaire), has left the Mormon Church (and is taking a pal and 11 family members with him) over its awful stance on social issues, stating in a letter of self-excommunication:

I believe the Mormon Church has hindered global progress in women’s rights, civil rights and racial equality, and L.G.B.T.Q.+ rights.

He's the anti-Elon Musk in more ways than one, handing $600K to Utah's Equality Group (LGBTQ+ rights) and pledging to give away at least 90% of his wealth by the time he dies.

Party of testosterone (Image via MGM)

OMG.BLOG! (WORK UNFRIENDLY): You'll want to see this dude Daniel Stisen naked, even if the movie is a — GULP — virus thriller.

This costume and scene were — to use an overused word correctly — iconic. (GIF via GIPHY)

GR8ERDAYS: RIP Sally Ann Howes aka Truly Scrumptious in 1968's Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. That movie is so wonderfully wicked. It's a sweet family flick with a vein of cruelty that holds you — forever.

BOSTON GLOBE: A $30 drawing from an estate sale is looking to be worth $50 ... million.

KENNETH IN THE (212): Random shout-out to Rex Smith. He knows why.

NYDN: A sordid story — a 40-year-old New Yorker was brutally slashed to death in the lobby of a luxury building by a male lover jealous of yet another lover, and we get quotes from the victim's 80-year-old other lover (who ickily self-IDs as a surrogate dad, too) and read about his girlfriend and three kids. The Daily News seems to delight in reporting the older man's likening of the scene to a movie by “Albert” Hitchcock. I can't imagine thinking any one person is worth murdering in such a way that your own life is now over, let alone so many people fighting over one guy.

By the way, the self-confessed murderer's defense attorney said of him:

He’s a very decent human being who was apparently involved in an incident that took seconds. It’s not like he’s a violent person or an aggressive person in any way, shape, or form.

I know he has to defend the guy, but ... I think it is less important how many seconds go by than what happens in them?!

ABC NEWS: Confederate time capsule discovered in Virginia dating to 1887. A picture of Lincoln in his grave is reportedly inside — but probably not a photograph.

INDIEWIRE: Oscar shortlists are here!

WORLD OF WONDER: Madonna's son Rocco Ritchie has been outed as artist Rhed — and because he needs the cash, his paintings are going for thousands out of the gate.

Brothers from Another! (Image via Breaking Glass)

DO512: The cast of Another Gay Movie reunited on the occasion of its 15th (!) anniversary.