In case you did not know, Monday was Lunar New Year.

Bai Ling wore an awesome dress to the Santa Barbara Film Festival:

It’s the year of the Ox, and more specifically, the year of the (How now) Brown Cow. Because the ox is characterized as a hard-working animal, Chinese fortune tellers say things may turn around economically:

“Pluto is entering Capricorn and financial markets around the world, already in a steady decline for several months, will continue to go down,” forecasts famous Taiwanese horoscope reader Jesse Tang.

But after the stock market hits bottom, it will start to rise, and it will soar again by the end of next year. That is when investors should return to the market, says Tang.

Chan Wei-chung, an expert in Chinese Zi Wei Dou Shu and master of Feng Shui or geomancy, also notes that “Wu Qu” or the “Star of War” will be strong in the year of the Ox. This means that the financial market should have good prospects, especially in July and August of 2009.

Also, I personally predict that little pixilated zodiac animals will run rampant through the Internet: