While it pains me to no end that David and I couldn’t be in NYC this weekend to celebrate Christian’s birthday with him, I do want to take this opportunity to send out all my love and birthday wishes to Christian today on his birthday!! I understand that everyone had a great time celebrating with Christian last night. Please join me in sending out all our Birthday Lurve to Christian today along with our wishes for many, many happy birthdays to come! xoxo

[Photo credit: Wireimage]

Sesame Street was always considered an experiment. When the very first episode aired on Nov. 10, 1969, the show seemed to pose one big unanswered question: Could children learn from television? Forty years later, that question has been answered. Millions of kids can thank the program for the 1-2-3s and A-B-Cs, but what have the show’s actors and producers learned from their grand experiment? Let’s count eight lessons of Sesame Street.

Sesame Street’s producers have come a long way from worrying about whether their Muppets should talk with their human characters. Now, Ernie and Bert are clay-mation and the fairy Abby Cadabby is computer generated. Executive producer Parente calls the new developments “content as assets.” In other words, it’s easier to move a computer generated figure into video games and cell-phone video. The expansion into merchandising might make purists squirm, but those lovable furry puppets aren’t going anywhere. And research says that for kids who watch, the characters are so real that they don’t care if Elmo is clay or fur, as long as the story is good.

I’ve been saying it all week long, it’s pretty incredible to think that Sesame Street is 40 years old! When you look at the picture above of the original 1969 cast of Sesame Street, you really get a better sense of how much time has passed … but the love and the learning has always been there … been here, for us. After the jump, check out a cute birthday video featuring Bert & Ernie — I think it’s a vid you might remember seeing on the show and is deffo one you need to see today …

………………..Cyber world….mcconaughey here, 40 years young today….thanks to all for the birthday wishes and to the people that share the same birthday, glad you were born too. The 30’s were good to me and I’m really looking forward to my 40’s, cause I’m late bloomer. Got everything I need for a perfect 40th…a happy and healthy lady, son, and another baby on the way….my family, closest friends and I celebrated last night with a surprise performance by one of my favorite artists Jamey Johnson….there were some epic stories told, lot of laughs and definitely some roasting. Somehow! No blood or glass broken, and that’s cus the gig was so organized by lady and we went ’til 4:30am…Going to spend some more time with my family and friends today, grillin steaks and sippin beers, celebratin more to live for….and again thanks for all the b-day wishes.

P.S. A lot of people asked what I wanted for my birthday….not much I need, but if still want to do something…friend www.myspace.com/jklivin – and if you have the means donate 5 bucks to help some kids in our j.k. livin foundation …if you can’t donate, spreading the word is good enough for me…jkl

Aww … what a great sentiment to share on one’s birthday. I have to say … Mr. McConaughey has really grown up in the past few years. It wasn’t that long ago that Matthew was often spotted in a messy/drunken state, usually undressed in some fashion, making a bit of a fool of himself. As soon as he met Camila Alves and became a father to his son Levi, he went from acting like a drunken 18 year old fratboy to a grown adult man. I think he is very right when he says he is a “late bloomer” … much of his 30’s were spent acting as if he was in his 20’s. I have no doubt that the best is yet to come for Matthew McConaughey. He’s got a great attitude and, more importantly, it sounds like he’s got a great circle of loved ones to share his life with. Happy Birthday, Matthew! Just keep livin’, indeed.

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Let me just say … Kathy Effin’ Griffin looks damn good for 49. As much as it kinda creeps me out to type out the words, she makes that sexy Santa suit look good. It makes sense that she would want to spend such a special evening with her gays in WeHo, I understand it was a fab event. Let’s send all our Birthday Lurve to Kathy today … cuz she might be lookin’ a hot tranny mess by the time she turns 50 next year ;)

[Photo credit: X17]

I understand that Vanilla Ice performed at the club’s Nightmare on 54th Street Halloween Celebration and sang a few of his classic hits … from Ice, Ice Baby to Ninja Rap (from the movie Teenage Mutant Ninja Turles II: The Secret of the Ooze) … before heading up to the VIP skybox to celebrate his birthday after midnight. I love that Ice took time out of his bizzy beer commercial shootin’ schedule to party with the folks in Sin City. Happy Birthday, RVW!!

[Photo credit: Scott Harrison/Retna]

The Eiffel Tower has celebrated its 120th anniversary with an impressive light show. Every night for the next three months the Trocadero facade will light up with thousands of state-of-the-art LED spotlights. The spectacular light show lasts 12 minutes, one minute for each decade it has stood in Paris. The Eiffel Tower was built in 1889 and is visited by nearly seven million people a year.

The Eiffel Tower is one of my favorite places on the planet. As a child, I was obsessed with visiting the monument when my 5th grade pen pal from France sent me a small plastic version of the tower. I vowed to myself at that moment that I would lay my hands on the Eiffel Tower at least once in my lifetime. I’ve been very fortunate to have, thus far, visited and touched the Eiffel Tower twice now. All my birthday lurve goes out to the beautiful structure today. After the jump, check out a short clip of this new 120th anniversary light show that will be on display nightly for the next 3 months …

It looks like Holly, Stephanie and newest Hills castmember Stacie Hall were having the time of their lives. Unfortch, it sounds like Stephanie had too much of a good time and thoughtlessly decided to get behind the wheel of a car and put other people’s lives in danger by allegedly drunk driving. In happier non-criminally negligent news, I understand that Holly and Stacie paid a visit to The Parlour on 3rd salon to get all glammed up for the party. At least they have good judgment when it comes to their styling needs. These pics look like the ladies were having fun … it’s a shame that all this fun seems to have led to some piss poor decision making :(

[Photo credit: Wireimage]

As this HAWT screencap from his movie Australia illustrates, there is a lot to celebrate today … Hugh Jackman is 41 years old and he looks damn good, don’t you think? I hope all y’all will join me in sending Happy Birthday wishes and lots of lurve to Hugh today. Here’s to many more birthdays and lots of shirtless yumminess in the years to come!!

I’m not sure how Mario felt about eating a cake that featured his hot, ripped, half-nekkid body on it but I know I wouldn’t have minded a slice. Altho Mario and his peeps got a jump start on celebrating his bday this year, he doesn’t actually turn 36 until October 10. Judging by the hotness of his birthday cake, I think it’s pretty evident that Mr. Lopez looks pretty damn good for almost 36 … don’tcha think?

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If you read the tabloids, you probably think Jessica Simpson is overweight and unable to stop crying and her sister, Ashlee Simpson-Wentz, is on the brink of divorce. Both sisters were at Wet Republic on Saturday and demonstrated that you really can’t believe everything you read in the tabloids: Jessica Simpson looked great and her little sister seemed to be very much in love. While supermarket rags claim the seniormost Simpson sister is distraught, insecure and overweight after losing both her boyfriend and her dog, the 29-year-old looked great and was all smiles at the MGM Grand yesterday. Still, supermarket tabloids suggest otherwise. Jessica Simpson was on the cover of Us Weekly last week. “Jessica falls to pieces,” the cover story announced, along with other details of her alleged “meltdown.” “Crying all the time, unable to lose weight and feeling alone, she tells friends she wants Tony back,” it claimed. A week earlier, In Touch ran what they claimed to me an “exclusive” cover story on Sept. 21 that called the singer “desperate.” “Jessica humiliates herself by reuniting with the man who betrayed her,” it charged. “Is she doing it because Nick is back with Vanessa and Tony’s flaunting a new blond girlfriend?” Furthering the attack, People.com ran a story on Sept. 21 declaring, “Friends Worry About Jessica Simpson’s ‘Tailspin’.” “After losing her beloved Maltipoo Daisy to a coyote attack, Jessica Simpson may be at the lowest point of her life,” the story began. The story quoted a source saying, “She won’t leave her parents’ house.” Yet Simpson was very much out of the house yesterday, and was dancing and singing along to the music as she made her way down the staircase to pose for the photographers who were waiting for her along Wet Republic’s blue carpet. Granted, dark sunglasses concealed her eyes and she declined to speak to reporters — but the blonde seemed to be in good spirits, despite it all. What’s more, contrary to stories that claim the singer has packed on the pounds since she and Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo went their separate ways, Simpson looked fit and fabulous in her high heels, a bikini and a stylish, sheer cover-up. Her sister, meanwhile, surprised pool partiers after posing alongside her sister, then retreating out of sight, only to return seconds later with husband Pete Wentz. Instead of having a girls’ weekend in Las Vegas, the Fall Out Boy rocker took a break from his tour to be with his wife on her birthday. So much for the couple wanting to take some time off. Yet Star Magazine suggested on Friday that the couple was definitely on the outs and hinted at a possible off-camera affair on the set of Simpson Wentz’s show. “Ashlee is giddy over Colin (Egglesfield),” Star said, and “her husband is jealous.” “The two have been fighting worse than ever,” the story claimed. The story cited a so-called “’Melrose’ set source” as saying, “On a few occasions, she broke down in sobs after angry phone calls.” Yet Egglesfield seemed to be the furthest thing from Simpson-Wentz’ mind yesterday; her real-life hubby was the only one she was being “overly flirty” with at MGM Grand. “I’m very happy in the moment I’m in,” she told the Sun. “My whole family’s here … the whole nine yards. It’s good to celebrate this with everyone.” In addition to her husband and big sister, her 10-month-old son, Bronx Mowgli; mother, Tina Simpson; and notorious father/manager, Joe Simpson, came to Las Vegas yesterday to mark her birthday. After what proved to be a whirlwind year, the petite brunette said she had a lot to celebrate. “I had such a great year … it was definitely the best year of my life, “ she said. “I had, you know, a child and got married.” She and Wentz tied the knot last May and welcomed their son in November. The young family traveled together and came to Las Vegas for the poolside birthday bash. “I came in today from tour, I’ve been on the road with my husband,” Simpson-Wentz said. The 25-year-old was only here for the day, but did her best “to relax and enjoy (her) friends and family” during the brief trip.

I have to say, I’m happy that Ashlee had herself a nice birthday and I’m also happy to see that reports of Jessica’s meltdown seem to have been greatly exaggerated. To be honest, it’s impossible for Jess to have suffered so much loss and not fall apart just a little bit … so it’s good to hear that she is getting out and moving on. I LOVE Ashlee on Melrose Place … she plays kooky/crazy Violet very well and I can’t wait to see what’s in store for that character. It sounds like Ashlee had herself a very nice birthday and that Jessica will live to see another day. Clearly it was a great weekend for the Simpson sisters!!

[Photo credit: Splash News; Source]