Happy New Year!!!

Hey kids! Yep, I'm late. But since this has become standard operating procedure for me, really, I'm right on time. It's the rest of you that are annoyingly early. See how that works?! Anyhoo, this is your post o' fun involving CNN's New Year's hijinks. Once again, we watched the ball drop with Kathy Griffin and Anderson Cooper--torturer and torturee.

Opinions of Kathy can run the gamut from love to downright hostility, but I find myself somewhere in the middle. Sometimes she cracks me up; sometimes she really doesn't. My view is that if you went into the broadcast with the belief that she was going to be annoying, that's probably how things turned out for you. But I went in ready for fun, and fun was had.

Ms. Griffin informed us that due to her past behavior (ahem!), the network had promised to literally yank her off the show if she stepped out of line. Suuure, CNN. Cute. So yeah, obviously that wasn't going to happen, but it allowed for some fun with a "No Swearing" sign. Because if there's anything that makes Kathy mind her P's and Q's, it's signage.

Are you ready for the bullet points?! Though their overuse in 2010 has perhaps worn down the specialness of these posts, I assure you I tried very hard to make them extra shiny and awesome. Time to jump into 2011:

• What better way to kick things off than with our duo regaling us with their adventures in crashing Carson Daly's live show? Also a great reminder that Daly continues to exist!

• This is the obligatory bullet point where I state that I could watch Anderson Cooper giggle all day. Extremely dorky, but he works it!

• Ok, Kathy, I can (shamelessly) get behind the molesting and undressing of the Silver Fox, but the punching needs to go. No bruising of the anchor!

• In years past, the broadcast featured New Orleans. For 2010, Nashville got the love due to their struggles with flooding. Brooke Baldwin rocking out the cowboy hat was a sight, though not quite the sight as the weird guy behind her. Anderson and Kathy giggling about him like high schoolers was mean yet hilarious: "Don't turn around!"

• Is anyone else worried that the meshing of New Kids on the Block and the Backstreet Boys will result in some sort of apocalyptic event? ZOMG, is that why all those birds died?!

• Throughout the night, Kathy asked Anderson Twitter questions (no people, I didn't tweet one). One question was who won the World Cup, which he never answered. This makes one of my friends very sad inside (shout out, bb!).

• Was really excited to see Sushi back. I thought she was retiring. It's not New Year's unless a drag queen drops in a pump.

• We also had Gary Tuchman back doing the four mile Fun Run in Central Park with his daughter Samantha. It's impossible to not love Gary. "I'm talking to a banana right now...I've never met this banana before." Bwah! And, "It's a dance party," complete with semi-boogying. Adorable.

• I think I'm over being horrified about Anderson's glasses. They've grown on me, Silver Fox! Now please wear them.

• One of the funniest moments to me was Jack Gray's little cameo at the hands of our anchor. Anderson should always just randomly man-handle his staffers into the shot.

• Kathy: "You know, your staff, they really run rampant." Truth. (And I love it.)

• Gloria Vanderbilt phone in! I love how it said "Anderson's Mom" on screen.

• Another tweeter asked what was our anchor's favorite curse word. "I don't tolerate such talk," said the Silver Fox. Oh Anderson, you adorable liar you. Me thinks Mr. WASP has a secret potty mouth.

• Isha Sesay is a great addition, but is she unaware of our anchor's aesthetic appeal? A crowd-goer excitedly relayed her picture-taking with the Silver Fox, and Isha was all, "ohhkay." Ha!

• Well! I'd say our Jack Gray has really come out of his shell. It was only about two years ago when a friend and I demanded politely asked him to post a picture of himself on the 360 blog, and now...dude's gone a little slutty! Kidding. But I was definitely a bit shocked by that make out session with Kathy. I literally asked someone, "did that really just happen?" Oh, it did. Plus? This.

• Not enough camera time on our duo when the ball dropped. What did we miss???
  

• Twitter question: What does Anderson smell like? I reject Kathy's long answer. I have it on good authority that the Silver Fox smells like peppermint sticks and truth!

• I feel out of breath just watching Gary running and talking. I don't know how he does it. Samantha was by his side and as cute as ever. A teenager now! How did that happen? (Gary's probably wondering the same thing-heh.) I feel like I'm watching this child young lady grow up one mile at a time. Also? Her shark hat was awesome.

• Anderson: "How great is Gary Tuchman?" So great! Even Kathy couldn't bring herself to mock him: "By the way, you know, I can't bring myself to make fun of Gary Tuchman anymore. I used to love to make fun of him, but after I saw him with you in Haiti and the Gulf disaster, he gets a pass this year." And more gratuitous Gary love from Anderson: "Gary Tuchman is the greatest guy on the planet." As I said on Twitter, damn straight!

• Anyone else get nervous when they drop Sushi? She's a trooper.

• John Zarrella cracks me up. Every year, just chilling with the drag queens. And I think he loves it. Plus? Cher.
  

• Did the Silver Fox dance for a second?!

• This is what you look like when your famous mother becomes besties with the woman who molests you and you're disturbed by the whole situation:

• This was about the end of the road for Kathy and Anderson, lest they again get heckled by the few stragglers left in Times Square. While I would have preferred to do my countdown with this duo, at least CNN threw the central time zoners a little love by staying live with Brooke Baldwin through our midnight. My Seacrest reprieve!

• More Gary and Samantha! Post-race this time. No actual win for them (sad face), but according to Samantha, it was a moral victory. Those are the best kind!

• All together now: Awww!
  

• Gary was also kind enough to give the behind-the sceners a little love. There was Bob the cameraman (congrats on the marriage!), Deb the technician, and one of my favorite 360 kids, Joneil* the producer.

• Our correspondent explains that, no, the crew did not run with him--instead they had the luxury of sitting on a truck. Now, Gary is too nice to say it, but I think the implication of slackerdom was clearly there. Brooke, by the way, just flat out says they were "cheating."
  

• When it comes to the behind-the-sceners it wasn't all just truck-riding and making out with divas--some of the 360 kids brought a little class to the occasion.

• I think that's about it. Twas fun. Thanks to everyone who participated on the Twitter.
  

• Below is gratuitous hilarity. It was that kind of night.

*AC360 Review does not endorse that hat.