A couple of things struck me tonight, whilst going through memories on YouTube. The first is that He-Man and Janice Battersby look an awful lot alike.

The second: is it just me, or did Fefe Dobson sing the theme to Owl TV before she was even born (it was actually Cree Summer)?

A Fefe video.

It's pretty friggin' cold out, eh? Negative 20 degrees plus the wind chill, down to -26 (and feeling like -38) tonight. The thermo's set higher than normal inside, at +20, but it's barely above 18 in here. Anyway, aside from the lesson in integers, I have a piece of water cooler chat for you that I don't think I told you before.

Ever hear the phrase, "Cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey"? It's perhaps a true saying, but it doesn't actually mean a simian-like statue. My favourite explanation is that a triangular pyramid of cannon balls was called a monkey, and when it would get cold, the metal would contract, thereby making the balls fall off the brass (or other metal) monkey. After a bit of research, I found this to be not necessarily true.

While I'm a little disappointed that I shattered my own cool little belief, at least I know better now. Feel free to arm yourself with this knowledge!

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Now playing: Bruce Cockburn - The Coldest Night Of The Year
via FoxyTunes

Want to feel all warm and fuzzy in these frigid frozen days? How about getting to hear the first track from Neko Case's upcoming album, Middle Cyclone? What's your feeling on helping out animals in need? Would you believe you could do it all at once? If you have a blog, and you repost this track, Neko's label will donate $5 to the Best Friends Animal Society. At the BFAS, they're so good, I saw one of Michael Vick's dogs licking someone. Without the intent of total ingestion. Yep, they're that good. So. Check out Neko's new tune, and maybe post it yourself for a good cause. Here's the info if you want to find out on how to do it. Posting/adding it on iLike also donates $1.

Neko Case - People Got A Lotta Nerve

PS - I can't wait for Neko's new album (insert drool here).

Obama's Playlist

When I was young, I listened to (and watched) a lot of CBC. After all, what choice did I have? I had two TV channels. When I finally had the ability to watch MuchMusic regularly, I was a junkie in its heyday. You know, back when Much made a difference, played videos every day, and had good artists on regularly (as I write this, God, I miss it). Now, MM is absolute shit. I don't know if there's anything truly worth watching on there any more. The music is gone for sure. One thing that definitely didn't help was the departure of station captain Denise Donlon. She left Much and worked for Sony Canada for a few years. This past September, she was hired on as executive director of CBC Radio's English-language services.
Is it a coincidence the music coming out of CBC as well as the shows are awesome these days? I think not. Although a friend of mine made a great graph of CBC and Much vs time on his site a while ago, I think, aside from age (and other factors), the true tale is the Donlon factor. I love listening to CBC Radio3 online and being interactive. How often can you write about what's going on on the radio and have the host give you a shout-out on the air? It's dang cool. Even more than that, I love the music (and personalities) on CBC Radio2 during my listening hours. I listen to Tom Allen in the morning, and Rich Terfry (AKA Buck 65) in the afternoon. The music is varied, but it's all excellent, intelligent, and worthwhile. Loves it.

An interesting feature that started today (like the Canada East vs West debate of December) is the challenge of making a 49-song mixtape for Barack Obama, to help him better understand the fantastic country above him. My wheels have been turning on this for a while now, to make some choice suggestions. Some online & on air have been great thus far, but I added one that was missing (as far as I could tell). Tonight, I added RUSH's "The Trees".

What would you put on a playlist as songs that best represent our country? Gimme your top five (or so). Whatever else I come up with (that hopefully hadn't been mentioned on CBC yet), I'll let you know. Suggest away!