You may have heard about my purple hat this morning. First let me start by saying I generally don’t wear hats or toques, but it was awfully frosty Friday morning when I ventured into work at 4:30am. As a matter of fact, it was -35 with the wind-chill…brrrrr! Anyway, if you’ve ever put on a hat while your hair is still damp you know what happens? You get one serious case of hat head! So instead of making a bad situation worse, I opt to embrace the purple hat…and the cold weather for that matter and say bring on the snow! Let winter finally begin already, so that we can all enjoy some outdoor hockey, skiing, snowmobiling, ice fishing, etc. So wear your toques proudly this weekend! We are Canadian eh?

Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock lately, chances are you’ve heard about General Larry Pratt performing his song “Pants On the Ground” for the American Idol judges a few weeks ago.  The song is beginning to turn up everywhere.  Jimmy Fallon has spoofed it on his talk show, Brett Favre got the Vikings singing it in the locker room after the team’s win over Arizona a few weeks ago, and now New Brunswick politician T.J. Burke has become a YouTube sensation with his version.  The Liberal MPP quoted the song when criticizing a fellow politician in the New Brunswick Legislature last Friday.  Click here to see it.

I just popped Rob Zombie’s “Halloween II” into the DVD player this afternoon, and after watching several bodies get mutilated and hacked up I shut it off just fifteen minutes in.  It’s such a cop out to just lay out all the blood and gore.  What happened to the art of suspense?  I can handle a little blood and gore if you give me something more.  Did I give it a chance?  Some might say no, but I was sickened by what I felt was a hack movie(pardon the pun).  It’s still sitting on the coffee table.  Will I give it another chance and watch the rest?  I’m still on the fence.  Will Vicki feel the same way about “Halloween II”?  Find out Friday morning at 8:40 on the Fox Movie Faceoff.

I have been hearing about an increasing number of vehicles being hit in parking lots…and the person that caused the problem, not hanging around to be held accountable.  I would be extremely irate if I went shopping and came out to find my vehicle damaged and nobody around to claim responsibility. 

Most people would not be involved in an accident on the highway and flee the scene, so why would someone knowingly damage a vehicle in a parking lot and not take responsibility?  Of course in most cases I do realize it is completely accidental, these things happen…but we need to be responsible for our actions, and I don’t think it’s fair to make someone else pay for your mistake.

What do you think?

How do you explain watching so many people come together to help Haiti tonight? It was a truly moving few hours of television tonight as so many performers from around the world gave their time to help make a difference for those affected by the earthquake.  This week Vicki and I have heard from so many people in North Bay and area who are coming together to raise funds for the Haitian relief effort.  In a world where it is so easy to get caught up in our own daily drama it is refreshing to know that we can reach out to help others who have it so much worse than we do.

www.hopeforhaitinow.org

Tonight will be Conan O’Brien’s last appearance as host of the Tonight Show and what a way to go, he has Will Ferrell and Tom Hanks lined up as guests.  Jay Leno is set to take over the Tonight show on March 1^st.  NBC plans to air reruns of Conan hosting until February 11^th until the Olympic coverage begins. 

We aired a very funny parody song about the Leno/O’Brien situation.  Check it out, and enjoy the show tonight!

With the recent controversy on late night television, funny material from Late Night with Conan O’Brien has been flowing on a daily basis.  Jay Leno had his own hilarious moment when he welcomed Jimmy Kimmel as a guest to the Jay Leno Show on Thursday last week…not too sure if Leno saw this coming… It gets really funny about 3 minutes in…enjoy!

The Quebec Major Junior Hockey League has suspended Rouyn-Noranda centre Patrice Cormier indefinitely for his elbow hit to the head that sent Mikael Tam to hospital. Tam — a Quebec Remparts defenceman — is in stable condition with brain trauma and several damaged teeth. Cormier captained Canada at the recent world junior hockey championship.

Have a look at the video of the incident here.  This guy has a history of laying elbows to the head and I think what he did is shameful.  I say ban the guy from the QMJHL for good. 

Should Cormier be suspended from the QMJHL for life?  Should criminal charges be laid? Let me know what you think.

Neither the Leafs nor the Habs are playing great hockey right now, but the rivalry is alive and well as evidenced by this picture sent to me by John Cangiano.  When these two teams play each other the stakes are high no matter how either team is doing in the standings.  For the record, the Canadiens have the edge so far this season, with a record of 3-and-1 against the Maple Leafs.  There are two Habs/Leafs games left on the schedule – Saturday, March 2oth & Saturday, April 10th.  If you have any photos that illustrate the great rivalry between two of the NHL’s greatest franchises, send them my way and I will post them in a future blog.

The folks from Hasbro are creating an all Canadian version of the Monopoly game and you can vote right now to get North Bay included on the game board.  As of this morning North Bay sits in 45th place in the voting.  Only the top 20 cities will get in and here’s some incentive for you to vote – Sudbury is ahead of us in 42nd place.  Let’s all show our North Bay pride and rock the vote.  Voting ends on February 7th and you can vote every day.  Get the word out to all your friends to sign up at the site and place a vote for North Bay!  Click here to link to the site.