HOLY CRAP IT'S FRIDAY

When I realized it's the weekend already, and only 11 days to Christmas, I felt a lot like the kid in this picture.

HAY SUP indeed.

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You know, it seems like as good a time as any to get back into posting Friday Random Ten selections. So, here's mine for today:

Peace In The Valley—Elvis Presley

Bonaparte's Retreat—Willie Nelson

Rockin' & Rollin'—Curley Langley & His Western Allstars

Saving All My Love For You—Tom Waits

On The Road—Tom Waits

This Year's Girl—Elvis Costello & The Attractions

Done You Wrong—Danny Mote

Sleeping In—The Postal Service

Crawdad Song—Hal Moore

Swamp Fire—Martin Denny

I love this. The first song, appropriately enough, is from Elvis, and it's one of my favorite gospel tunes of his. Johnny Cash and June Carter do an awesome version too, but I think I lean toward Elvis'. Nice to hear at this time of year.

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Finally, a question for all my Canadian readers.

Do all Canadian cops assume cool names when they join the police service? Are the names assigned to them by the department, or do you have to have a cool name to begin with before you even apply for the job?

I saw this quote from an article about the Royal Canadian Mounted Police arresting some middle school students for bullying (!?)

"In general, if there is an alternative solution to judicial action available we'll exercise that," said Sgt. Law Power. "But in this particular case arresting these males was in the best interest of the victim and the school."

I was just wondering, is all.

Sunday morning coffee

Well, here we are again. 8:00 am Sunday morning, just me and my youngest catching up on things during the most quiet and civilized time of the day. Youngest is sitting next to me updating her MySpace page. Just one more week of school...

Training for the Chicago Marathon kicks off next week, for those folks following Hal Higdon's 18-week program. I've been going to Lake Zurich and running with the Alpine Runners--in my opinion the best running club around. Yesterday was my longest run yet this year, 8 miles, and it felt good. Hopefully the body holds up over the next few months.

The last few days have been a blur of yard work, grilling and movie rentals. We managed to watch:

The Departed (What's the deal with this movie? It's like Scorcese suddenly realized he had 10 minutes left and needed to wrap things up in a hurry: there's a series of killings and a typical poignant Hollywood police funeral, and more killings. The end.

16 Blocks (Bruce Willis was good as the alcoholic detective trying to do the right thing, and Mos Def was brilliant as the talkative jailbird witness)

Jet Li's Fearless

Turistas (forget waking up in a tub full of ice with your kidney missing--head for sunny Brazil and lose ALL your organs!)

Night at the Museum (a pleasant little family film. Entertaining mostly, and only a little cloying. It's fun to watch Mickey Rooney as a hateful old security guard.)

Smokin' Aces (Ah, Hollywood...will you never tire of trying to replicate the successes of Quentin Tarantino and the bizarre caper films of Guy Ritchie? The highlight of the movie, for me, was the antics of a trio known as the Tremor Brothers. Then I realized that they reminded me of methed-up versions of the trappers from Cannibal The Musical.)

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While scanning the news this morning I found this item from Canada: another freak on a bicycle, only this time he's grabbing ass instead of asking to be kicked in the nuts. Is it possible the Ontario Nut Buster worked out whatever self-esteem issues he had and then frantically pedalled east to start grabbing ass? I need answers.

Canada is not Chicago

It may be cold, but Toronto is not Chicago.

I'm sitting here watching The Dresden Files with MizBubs for the first time, and I noticed that it's set in Chicago. But even before I saw all the pine trees in what was supposed to be "Jackson Park" I knew it was yet another "Chicago" feature shot in Toronto. How? Because the voice coming over the police radio sounded so f*cking Canadian, that's how. Trust me when I say it's a safe bet you'll never hear anyone connected with the Chicago Police Department saying "oot" or "aboot" instead of out or about.

Come on, Sci Fi channel. If you're going to shoot in Toronto, at least hire a few authentic Chicagoans to sprinkle the dialog with an occasional "over by", "bustout" or "jagoff."