A production company made a donation to the Friends of Tietze Park Foundation because it filmed some Nerf commercials in the park. The group’s president, Lisa Marshall, declined to say how much the park received, but she said it will help pay for planned projects, such as installing pet waste bags at the park entrance, shade structures for the playground and a new flag pole.

Here is one of the spots:

The future of the Tietze Park pool is something to keep on our radars over the next few months.

The park board is considering a new aquatics plan that would add pools on the outskirts of the city but close some existing pools in the inner city. That plan could be unlikely to pass all on its own, however, because it has a $44 million price tag.

In our January magazine, I lamented the demise of printed newspapers, proving that I’m obviously old-school in terms of my daily reading habits. A number of you, primarily middle-aged sorts from what I could gather, sent me your thoughts and general agreement that the ability to rummage through actual newspaper somehow makes stumbling across little and unexpected tidbits of information easier.

Well, today I’m here with the other side of the story: I happened to check my Facebook page this morning after reading an emailed post by a national sales guru about using Facebook in selling, and there on my “wall” was a brief note from my college roommate (one of CNN’s first 20 employees way back when) linking to a sad and humbling story written by another college classmate and fellow Daily Northwestern editor talking about the relatively quick and unexpected death of his wife and how that journey impacted their three sub-college-age sons.

I haven’t talked to this guy, now an editor with the New York Times, in a couple of years, and when we did get together at a college reunion, it was just before his wife became terminally ill.

But without the wonders of the internet, I wouldn’t have stumbled across this unexpected gem. Be forewarned, though: This story is a tear-jerker. And it’s one I apparently missed while doing my usual newspaper page-reading shuffle.

Search youtube for “Hot Pockets,” and of course, the first hit is this 5-minute bit from Jim Gaffagin. It is the thing for which he is most famous. He could win a Nobel Prize, and if I saw him in the street, I would still be like, “Hey, it’s the Hot Pockets guy.”

But if the word “Hot Pockets” pops into your head, the voice you imagine likely is that of neighborhood resident Camille Cortinas. She sings the Hot Pockets jingle that Gaffagin clowns in the bit. Turn up the speakers and hear it here.

Cortinas and her husband, Eric Neal, are the subjects of our Q&A in the January Advocate. Cortinas keeps the lights on lending her voice to commercial clients including the Texas Lottery, Dixie Cups and Methodist Health Systems.

But anyone who knows Cortinas or has seen her perform knows she is not just the Hot Pockets lady. Last year, she released a full-length solo album, “Taken Apart.” And she and Neal also perform in their Band of Puppets, whose aim is “making entertaining music videos for kids that parents can also enjoy.”

Here they are performing “Coffee,” one of the songs from “Taken Apart”:

Lakewood resident Bill Cochran is a creative director and writer at The Richards Group. Check out his Super Bowl commercial for Bridgestone, “Reply All.”

Time magazine last month listed that commercial at No. 3 on its list of the 10 best TV ads of 2011, behind the tearjerker Google Chrome ad and the Darth Vader kid.

Cochran also is a longtime cast member with Ad-Libs improvisational comedy troupe, which is performing two 25th anniversary shows next weekend at Mouth in Deep Ellum.

Bill Cochran

The “all-star reunion” cast performs at 8 and 10:30 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 14. Tickets are $18.

Also in that all-star cast is neighborhood resident Christopher Smith, also a creative director at the Richards Goup, who is lead singer for glam band Stan Halen.

On Friday, Jan. 13, Ad-Libs stages improv from The Greg Wilson, Kurt Basa and Joel Zeff.

Wilson, who has appeared on “Modern Family” and in that one Taco Bueno commercial, among many other credits, performs stand-up at 10:30 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 14. He is funny. Check it out:

Neighborhood resident Oliver Peck, an internationally known tattoo artist, is starring in “Ink Masters,”a reality show premiering Jan. 17 on the Spike network.

This isn’t another day-in-the-life of a tattoo shop like “Miami Ink.” It’s a competition, and Peck is one of three judges.

Think “Top Chef,” but for tattoo artists.

The other judges are Dave Navarro of Jane’s Addiction and Chris Nuñez, a tattoo artist who also appeared on “Miami Ink.” Peck himself appeared on that show with his former wife, tattoo artist and reality TV star Kat Von D.

Peck co-owns Elm Street Tattoo in Deep Ellum, which is known for its tradition of tattooing “13″  for free on Friday the 13th. Peck made the Guinness Book of World Records in 2008 when he tattooed “13″ on 415 people within 24 hours.

Social media can forge relationships, improve efficiency, boost business and promote safety within our neighborhood. But not everyone is on board.

For me a newspaper on newsprint still offers something more — the opportunity to stumble across something I didn’t know I needed to know. Like the story I read the other day about the death by brain damage of a 28-year-old Minnesota hockey player, or the story about why Army wound up beating Navy for the 1944 college football championship.

M Streets neighbor Brian Linder’s game allows kids to choose a character, and as they check chores off a list their parents make, they level up.

We admit: The audio on this thing is truly awful. And we introduced the podcast with a song. It’s supposed to be funny, but we have a weird sense of humor. We had fun with the podcasts in those days, because we were pretty sure that none of you listened.

From All in the Family to The Office, New York magazine put together this entertaining, “mushy” and funny two-minute video comprising 40 TV Christmas moments. From Advocate Media, merry Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Festivus … and general holiday season!