Ok, so I'll admit that I dropped the ball on "The Hattys" this year, but this is mainly due to me also forgetting about the oh-so-forgettable Oscars. That, and me not really watching any new movies this past year. However, I can recall going to the theater just once, to see Ratatouille, and it was enough for me to crown the champion right then and there, as a chef's toque serves as a critical element in the main plot point of the film. So, congratulations to Ratatouille, the first animated film to garner the prestigious honor of Most Hat-Centric Movie of the Year.

Now, you may notice that this years rundown is a bit shorter than normal, and that's due to me devoting my time to creating something that will benefit all of humanity. We're talking, of course, about the internet's only Hat Identification Chart. You may recall me complaining about the non-existence of this item last year, and a few weeks ago I finally decided to do something about it. I also put a handy-dandy link to it on the sidebar, just for easy access.

Enjoy.

After some thought, I've decided to pass on watching the super bowl this year. And believe it or not, it has almost nothing to do with the Packers' recent elimination - now I'll admit if the Pack was in it I'd be watching, but if they had finished their expected 6-10 this year I'm pretty sure I'd be passing in that case, too. I arrived at my choice after making the following considerations:

1. Fox is mixing political coverage into this year's pregame. I'm confident it will be fair and balanced.
2. Fox will also have a red carpet this year, which is nice because I always feel like football broadcasts don't spend enough time focusing on which celebrities are in attendance, and what, or should is say, "who", they are wearing.
3. Every moment listening to Joe Buck is a moment of agony.
4. Ditto for Terry Bradshaw.
5. 5 hours of Patriot (and Giant) butt kissing.
6. 6 hours of promos for horrific new shows that will be gone by April.
7. There are several decent male-focused viewing alternatives this year, like the Mythbusters marathon.
8. The Puppy Bowl is always gold, too.
9. It's unlikely that more than five commercials will actually be funny.
10. In the age of the internet, I can always view any good commercials the following day, in 1/20th of the time.
11. My disdain for the league itself has grown a great deal over the past few years, most notably for the NFL Network's cash-grabbing tactics at the expense of their fans, but also for their idiotic handling of tape-gate - why on earth would you destroy the tapes?
12. I just plain don't like the Patriots.

So, anyway, I guess I'll pick the Giants just for the hell of it. Have fun if you're going to watch, I won't begrudge you. That's the last you'll hear from me on the matter, thank you for your time.

Can somebody explain to me why The Weather Channel is publishing a video report from a meterologist entitled Proof that there is life on Mars?

(Apologies for the horrifically poor video player and embedding tool weather.com uses. I had no choice, I swear!)

I think right now is a wonderful time to think about where you get your weather information from. You may want to consider sites that tend to focus on actually providing weather information.

Unsurprisingly, I'm still riding a high from last week's remarkable Packers-Seahawks game. I'll be seeing replays from that game, on TV and mentally, until the day I die. In fact, I would go as far as saying the game deserves its own "bowl" name from here on out, for easy reference. "The Ryan Grant Bowl" is probably my leading candidate right now - narratives where you lose 2 fumbles in your first 3 plays leading to a 14 point deficit, yet end up with 200+ yards and 3 TD's in a visually stunning, snowy blowout just don't come along very often.

Combined with the quickly-becoming-an-annual-tradition Cowboys choke job, it was a near perfect weekend in the NFC. If I wanted to be bold, I'd say the dream matchup I talked about earlier this year, with the still-undefeated Patriots facing the Packers in the Super Bowl, appears close to inevitable at this point.

However I don't want to jinx anything, so I'm not going to say that thing I just said. NE and GB.

Ah yes, divisional week in the NFL playoffs, also known as the week where you'd have to be insane to pick any upsets. GB, NE, IND, DAL.