In a scene symbolic of the season so far, a TTC Subway crossed the frozen Humber River in Toronto, Ontario while the land was free of snow on 8-February-2010
TORONTO, ONTARIO - It's been a somewhat strange winter season in Toronto. While Washington, DC and other unlikely environs have been pummeled with snow, Torontonians have spent much of 2010 with either no snow on the ground or just a modest dusting. With the exception of one quite warm week, though, temperatures have been seasonal, below 0. Will it last? We're very cognizant that winter is far from over.
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Equally strange from the perspective of previous years is the quality perception being faced by Toyota as a result of accelerator and braking issues widely covered in the media. I'm surprised that only comedian and Renaissance man Harry Shearer seems to have beaten me to pointing out that Toyota's slogan from the 1980's seems to have taken on a new meaning--"Oh, What a Feeling!"
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Comedian Conan O'Brien performed his last show for NBC recently as Jay Leno will return to the Tonight Show after the Olympics, as widely covered in the mainstream media. One suggestion I've heard--that the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation should try to recruit O'Brien--seems to have merit. Sure, O'Brien is not Canadian (he was born in Massachusetts, where I'm not sure they even know that Canada exists), but his comedy tends to appeal to the kind of thinking-world audience that watches the CBC. A 10-to-midnight lineup of "The National," a shortened "The Hour" (sure, they'd have to rename it) and then a stand-up comedy show hosted by O'Brien would be quite cohesive and worth watching, in my opinion.
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On the radio side, the CBC had a big decision to make locally after Andy Barrie announced last Monday that he would be stepping down as host of "Metro Morning" after fifteen years. Before I even had a chance to lobby for him here, Matt Galloway was announced as the new host earlier today. Now, the question is who takes over Galloway's post on "Here and Now"--my preference of course is Karen Horsman, who probably doesn't even want it. Perhaps Robin Brown, who has been available since the cancellation of "The Inside Track"? I suppose as long as they don't hire a psycho, it'll be fine.
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The movie "Psycho" was the subject of a segment on a recent episode of To The Best of Our Knowledge. David Thomson pointed out something I had never realized before--in the famous shower scene, we never actually see a knife penetrate skin. Think about that artistry of director Alfred Hitchcock--would any modern moviemaker do that?
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