Tick-tock, tick-tock! That's the clock winding down on Brad Pitt's glory years as he takes one step closer towards the big 5-0!

The hunky actor turns 49 today, and while we like to celebrate the great aura of his existence on the reg, today we're rounding up the top 15 things that make him so darn awesome -- and they don't all have to do with his looks! Happy Birthday, Brad, here's to you!

Ohhh, 2012.

Presumably, it’s not the end of the world as some Mayans once predicted, but at times, it sure felt pretty damn close. There are many pop culture bits we’ll treasure for years to come ― Magic Mike, Jennifer Lawrence becoming an A-list actress, the first half of the fifth season of Breaking Bad, the rise of Frank Ocean ― but some, we suspect, will not age so well.

Provided December doesn’t abruptly end in an apocalypse, we know that in a decade or two we’ll look back and cringe, cringe, cringe at a number of this year’s headlines. Unless ― we choose to forget. Collectively, we have the power to erase all the many many smudges on 2012 and pretend it was a happy golden year full of wonderful music, brilliant television, superb cinema, frolicking unicorns, and stars who always acted at their most gracious and composed.

So let’s do it! Let’s bid pop culture's bad bits goodbye! Here are the Top 30 things we (and the celebrities who wrought it all) will pretend never happened in 2012.

It seems Angelina Jolie and hubby Brad Pitt are in a race to see who will retire from acting first.

Brad has said his film career will likely stay behind the scenes as a director when he turns 50. (The dismal box office returns from Killing Them Softly last weekend probably didn't do much to convince him otherwise.)

Now Angelina is fanning the retirement flames once again, saying she will likely stop acting as her kids get older. "I think I'm going to have to give up the acting as the kids hit the teenage years, anyway, too much to manage at home," she said, according to E! Online. (But aren't the teenage years usually when moms decide to go back to work?)

What did Angelina have to say about her acting career? Find out after the jump!