Joyeaux Jour du Canada!

The First of July and that means it's Canada Day, Eh! Time to show off my Mountie, who bobbles upon his trusty steed whenever an earthquake occurs.

I didn't do much celebrating though I did educate my students on how old Canada is. I waved a flag and wrote 2020-1867=? on the board and then had my Grade 3, 5 and 6 students answer it. I also needed to show America's age so they also subtracted 2020-1776=? as well. All of them needed to show their work to accomplish the subtraction except for two kids in one Grade 3 class who did the calculation in their heads! I then mimed Canada's age as an infant, America as a gibbering toddler and Japan as an old man. Most of the kids got it but once or twice the teacher had to help out. One kid asked how old China is and I said she's a great-great-grandmother.

I shared this video on my Canadians in Japan Facebook page and it garnered a few likes. It's a classic that we'd see as a short before movies decades ago.



I'd also like to express my sorrow and admiration for those who are struggling to remain distanced yet connected in Canada these days. An old pal from the University of Guelph composed and sang this song to combat the woe.



Lovely!

Since it is July 1st, time for a Calendar round up. Let's hope that Hulk can smash puny virus!

And that Darth likes his tie.

Finally, I'd like to express my sorrow for the passing of 98-year old Carl Reiner on June 29th.

Carl Reineroceros and his pal, Melephant Brooks both had cameos in Toy Story 4 last year.



Neither of them show up in that clip though they do put Jerry Seinfeld to shame when they guested on Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee.

I suppose my first memory of Carl would be as Alan Brady on his creation, The Dick Van Dyke Show. Later I caught as many reruns as I could of Your Show of Shows when he played the straight man to Sid Caesar's yukster. The only movie of his that I own is one he directed, The Man with Two Brains. I won't have time to watch it tonight, so I'll view it tomorrow.

I dug through his filmography and noticed that he played Shazam's Wizard on a show called Justice League Action.

I caught his episode and notice this shoddy editing error.

Oh well, it isn't Carl's fault that they can't spell.

Rest in Peace, Mr. Reiner.

And Happy Canada Day!

Ca-Na-Da!

The sesquicentennial celebration of Canada is well underway in Canada but here in Sendai, there was nary a peep. Sitting here at home all alone, I now present for you my not so rousing version of CANADA. (Not so rousing, because it's past midnight and I don't want to disturb my neighbours.)



My voice is pretty harsh and I flubbed a few of the words, yet not so bad for a song I haven't heard in fifty years! After I recorded my version, I then listened to this...



Wow, is that ever cheesy! I guess it's okay when you're unsophisticated and only 8 years old.

Happy Canada Day and here's to the next 150 years!

Happy Anniversaries.

A tip of the hat to Canada's southern neighbours and a belated nod to our birthday last Sunday.