First off, let’s watch this exchange from one of last night’s 30 Rock episodes. Sorry, Sam, but this is pretty funny.

While we’re on the subject of former alma maters, it turns out that – even though I’m just discovering this now – Bill Murray was not only at a Cornell football game last fall, but he was there the EXACT SAME WEEKEND that we were there! How did I not know this? How is this possible? Why couldn’t we have bumped into him at Collegetown Bagels or Wegmans or something? That would have been the single greatest thing ever! I will regret this near-miss for years to come, but at least I have this video of Mr. Murray conducting the Big Red Band to cheer me up.

To cap things off, we have this video that’s been making the interweb rounds – it’s a re-imagined opening sequence for AMC’s zombie show The Walking Dead, mashed up with the theme from Growing Pains. It’s brilliant.

But for their 50th anniversary, the Boys are Back!

Surviving members Brian Wilson, Mike Love, Al Jardine, Bruce Johnston, and David Marks will kick off a 50-show reunion this spring, playing around the country and presumably the globe. No tour locations/dates have been set yet beyond the kickoff at the New Orleans Jazz Festival, but it seems like a safe bet they’ll end up somewhere in the greater New York metro area. (Hopefully.)

And that’s not all! Not only are they going on tour, they’re also reuniting for a new album! They’ve re-recorded (appropriately enough) “Do It Again,” and judging from the below video, they all still sound great, half a century after first recording “Surfin’ Safari.”

Long live The Beach Boys!

If you happen to have even more free procrastinating time on your hands, watch these painful videos of inept people screwing up at Wheel of Fortune. I mean, seriously, what the hell is a “Food-Burning Stove”??? And why would you guess that twice?

Happy Wednesday!

It’s my mom’s 60th birthday!

Happy Birthday, Mom!

To mark the occasion, Chuck, Sam, Courtney and myself threw a surprise party for the (now officially) old lady (just kidding!) this past Saturday. Keeping the affair a secret was a big enough challenge, but things were made even more tricky with two very special out-of-town guests, Aunt Georgia and Cousin Ellen, who were secretly staying with us before the big bash.

That wouldn’t have been an issue, except that my mother will usually come by one night after work to hang out with Eli. Which is all well and good, except last week she asked if she could come by on Thursday, instead of her usual Wednesday. Only problem: Aunt Georgia and Ellen were going to be at our house on Thursday night.

Whoops.

My mom asked about coming over on Thursday over the phone, and I knew I had to make up a lie quick. Fun fact about me: I’m a terrible liar. I was floundering, trying to come up with a lame excuse. Courtney began pantomiming brushing her teeth. I had no idea what she was doing at first, but then I got it in a flash.

“You can’t come over on Thursday, Mom. That’s when we’re bringing Eli to the dentist.”

OK, maybe it wasn’t the greatest lie in the history of the world, but it worked…

At least at first.

See, on Friday, I had to call my mother again, this time to tell her that we’d be taking her out for lunch the next day. (We let her think it was going to be a simple lunch with just the immediate family – that way we could get her to the party location at the perfect time without arousing suspicion, while also maintaining the surprise that what was actually waiting for her was a big bash with the whole family and a bunch of friends.) Anyway, the call had gone perfectly, and everything was all set for the next day…

Until, just before saying our goodbyes, my sneaky mom (reference!) asked an out of the blue question:

“Oh, by the way, I wanted to ask how Eli did at the dentist. How many teeth does he have?”

How many teeth does he have? Who asks that? And how the hell should I know???

I’m floundering again. I have no clue how many teeth Eli’s got. What’s a good guess? Six? Ten? Eighty-Three? I look at Courtney, but this time, she is NOT being helpful. Instead of holding up a particular number of fingers, or a piece of paper with a good answer on it, she’s just covering up her mouth, doing all she can to not burst into hysterical laughter. Thanks, Babe!

I wasn’t thinking – I just blurted out a number. “Twelve!”

Being a terrible liar, my mom quickly sensed something was up. “Why are you so surprised that I asked that?”

“Uh, no reason,” I replied. “He really did well at the dentist…” Then I went into an overly long and detailed story about how they had cartoons on in the waiting room, and then they put on an Elmo DVD during the exam, which put Eli at ease. I figured I had totally blown it.

But my mom, ever trusting in her children’s nonsensical ramblings, was convinced.

See, that’s the great thing about my mom – she’s always going to ask a thoughtful and caring question about her family… and you can count on her to not get overly suspicious when the answer is dubious at best.

(As an aside, no, I never took advantage of my mother’s faith in her kids as a teenager. A certain sibling who’s name rhymes with Bamantha is another story, but that’s neither here nor there…)

Anyway, the party went off without a hitch, and Carole Abramson was able to ring in her seventh decade (!) on Earth in style! There was good wine, tasty food, a pair of good-natured roasts, and, because I was involved, a cheesy photo slideshow. Behold:

Have a great birthday, Mom!

After contract negotiations between Fox and the show’s actors and producers hit a wall and threatened to end the show, an agreement has been reached,and the show has been renewed for not just one, but TWO more seasons after this one! In other words, The Simpsons will live to see their 25th season! Hooray!

And while 25 seasons is an unprecedented run, I love how showrunner Al Jean refuses to say that the show should end there, instead aiming to make it an even 30.

I’m quite convinced that anyone who says the show has gotten stale over the past few years simply isn’t watching. The show has had some fantastic episodes recently, and I’m a firm believer in the show going on for as long as humanly possible.

And so are the people who make the show – after the news hit about the renewal, this promo started making the rounds, which features an update on the song “They’ll Never Stop The Simpsons.”

You know what’s crazy? The original song appeared in a clip show in the show’s 13th season. And now they’re able to update it ten years later! If you’re curious to hear the first version of the song (and frankly, why wouldn’t you be?), give it a listen:

(Probably.)

But what if you don’t have time to sift through the cutest viral videos out there on the net?  Well, that’s where Puppies vs. Babies comes in.

It’s a new show, premiering this Saturday night at 10pm on Animal Planet.

Unlike most of my “tune-in alerts,” I did not work on this show. Then why am I telling you to watch? Well, I have it on good authority that if you watch carefully, you may just see a familiar face on this week’s episode. Then, on the October 29th episode, you may just see another, different familiar face.

Now, a disclaimer – I was told that these appearances were happening, but since the videos in these episodes are not being featured as the “main videos,” there is a chance they won’t be in the final episodes. In other words, I can’t really *guarantee* that you will see who I am implying you’ll see.

But you should still watch anyway – it’s only a three episode series (for now, anyway), and it’s just chock-full of cuteness, with or without any very special Noah cameos. See for yourself:

Totally unrelated, but I also wanted to share this (non-embeddable) video – starring Eli’s two favorite characters!

And finally, if you want to start 5772 off on a positive note, do yourself a favor and buy this book. (And, while you’re at it, Like the Facebook page.) It’s called My Sweet Saga, and it was written by a friend of mine, Brett Sills. (He also blogs – check out his page while you’re in a link-clicking mood.) I haven’t read this book yet, but I have had the pleasure of reading some of Brett’s other writing, and it has always been amazing. I just purchased my copy, and I can’t wait to read it!

Happy New Year, everyone!

It premiers tonight at 10pm on Sundance Channel, and will then be repeated several times over the next few days. Enjoy!