Early Christmas Present

Since everybody believes in something, I figured I'd give everybody an early Christmas present this year...

If you're a little kid, take a look at Santa flying to Earth to deliver his presents.

If you're a conspiracy theorist, as is video narrator Scott Waring apparently, take a look at aliens flying away from the sun.

If you're just a normal everyday person, take a look at the cool imagery that we can capture these days using NASA's "Solar and Heliospheric Observatory" satellite.

If you're a science-based person, take a look at what is most likely a coronal mass ejection, or a chunk of the sun's surface blowing off.

Either way, I respect you all equally. Keep doing your respective things, so that we can keep this big old world going round and round.

Merry Christmas, everybody!!!

The Curious Case of the Same Name Dame

What would you do if you bought non-refundable around-the-world tickets with your girlfriend, but you two called it quits before the day came to use those? Would you go looking for another random lady with the same name -- in other words, a complete stranger -- to go on that trip with? That'd be a weird, awkward way of dealing with that situation, right? Apparently, not for a Toronto man named Jordan Axani.

Oh, and there's just one more minor detail: the girl he chose is "in a serious relationship" with another dude!

First and foremost, this trip-offering dude's a homewrecking sleezeball. There's no two ways around that one! And, this lady -- I guess she expects her boyfriend to just be okay with her going off and celebrating the entire holiday season and then some (Dec. 21 through Jan. 12) travelling the world with a total stranger and staying in the same hotel as this mystery man? If the roles were reversed, I'm sure the 23-year-old would never stand for her man doing her that way. Am I right? Remember, people, you should always do unto others, as you'd want them to do unto you. Then again, the decisions we make at 23 are not always the best ones. This girl still has a lot to learn in life.

The only person who looks good in this story is the serious boyfriend back home, as he's offered her way more than the normal levels of relationship trust. Clearly, he deserves somebody better than this good-timing gal. I hope he figures that out as he stands all alone under the mistletoe this Christmas, and that he runs for the hills!!

Rock & Roll Hall of Fame

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 30th class of inductees was announced today, and I am elated to see a lot of my go-to musicians make the cut...

Joan Jett: With her jet black hair, spiked collar, leather jacket and all that eyeliner, she has a certain bad-ass look to her, but she can also power chord the crap out of a guitar. One of the first chicks to really push the limits in music, if not for her no-nonsense attitude, there'd probably be no Madonna, Shirley Manson, P!nk, Sleater-Kinney, Courtney Love or Ani DiFranco to speak of today. From her early days with The Runaways to her later days with The Blackhearts to her solo career, there ain't a musical platform she hasn't conquered. This is one chick who truly does love rock and roll, and that's why I'm glad she will be getting inducted into the Hall this April.

Bill Withers: He's essentially the complete opposite of Joan Jett, and yet he's also among my all-time favorites. Whereas she was a fast-paced liberal white girl who was rocking out and becoming famous super early in life, he was a slow-tempoed conservative African-American male who didn't score his first hit until the age of 33 when he released "Ain't No Sunshine." Stick that song between his other mega-hits, such as "Use Me" and "Lean On Me," and you'll have the perfect recipe for a soulful introspection.

Lou Reed: One of two musicians on this list being inducted for the second time -- the other, of course, being Ringo with The Beatles -- Lou and his artsy glam-rock friends led a cultural revolution during his days with the Velvet Underground, before he branched out into a very successful solo career. Not to steal a line from one of his songs, but the day he gets put in there again will be... "such a perfect day." I just wish he were still alive to see it. May you forever rock in peace, "godfather of punk and grunge!"

Stevie Ray Vaughan: Whenever people talk "greatest guitarist of all-time," Stevie Ray's name always comes up alongside the likes of Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Eddie Van Halen, Carlos Santana, Jimmy Page, B.B. King, Jeff Beck, Slash, Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, Ritchie Blackmore, etc. Though that's of course a subjective argument, one other thing's not -- his band, Double Trouble, blazed straight out of Texas in the '70s and into the annals of electrified blues-rock. Simply put, his music's as real and heartfelt as anyone's!

Ringo Starr: Although he's arguably most music fans' least favorite Beatle, people don't realize that the drummer was the first of the group to have significant solo hits after the band's break-up in 1970 with songs like "It Don't Come Easy" and "Photograph." He's also worked behind the scenes discovering talent, producing for other musicians, doing soundtracks for movies and still touring on occasion with his All-Starr Band. This man never stops working, and that's why he's now a two-time Rock and Roll Hall of Famer. If anybody deserves it, it's you, Richard Starkey!

Green Day: When I was a kid, three slacker kids with three different neon-colored haircuts (blue, red and green, if I remember correctly) blew up the airwaves with an album called Dookie, which featured such hits as "Basket Case," "Longview" and "Welcome to Paradise." They became such an entertainingly fun mainstream act that this blog writer even stitched the band's patch onto his high school bookbag. Fast forward a full 10 years, and American Idiot was introducing a whole new generation of punky misfits to the now black-clad rock trio sporting red ties, but still not taking themselves too seriously.

For those keeping track, this year's inductees brings the number of acts in the Hall of Fame to 312 in total. Congrats to the newest inductees!