A new year is upon us, but much of the news is familiar to those who kept track of it in 2011: the Republicans are on the campaign trail, it is not snowing a whole lot, the NFL playoffs are starting, and the economy still seems to be malfunctioning.

However, life is full of surprises, and only fifteen days into the year there have been a number of eccentric and quirky events in the news. Here is a sampling of them:
-A man by the name of Beezow Doo-Doo Zopittybop-bop-bop was arrested on Thursday, January fifth, in Madison, for the possession of marijuana and related paraphernalia. His name had been changed from Jeffrey Wilschke in November, and the aforementioned name is his legal appellation. Though relatively routine in nature, Mr. Zopittybop-bop-bop’s arrest made national news and circulated social networks for a while afterward. It seems a safe guess to say that this was because of the name.

-From the Wisconsin State Journal’s national news: a Massachusetts resident gave ninety-four hamsters to a local animal shelter recently, having run out of room for them in his apartment. Evidently the animals were in perfect health and well-cared-for, and will be able to be adopted by future patrons of the shelter. The hamster donor’s name was not given.

-60 Minutes/Vanity Fair’s January 2012 poll asked its readers what Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s real first name is. Around forty percent of people admitted that they didn’t know, twenty percent surmised that Mitt is his full first name, and a solid two percent apparently believed it to be Mittens. In actuality, the candidate’s full name is Willard Mitt Romney—an option only six percent of the poll’s responders selected. “Given Rick Santorum’s recent sweater-vest obsession, if Romney embraces Mittens, 2012 could be the coziest presidential campaign yet,” noted Time Magazine in their January 16 issue.

Between presidential campaigns, Mayan prophecies, and the likely-to-continue misadventures of Beezow Doo-Doo Zoppitybop-bop-bop, 2012 seems likely to produce many strange news stories. When they occur, the Offbeat Beat will be there to chronicle them.