O Canada, our home and native land...

Today is Canada Day up in the Great White North. I got no idea what it is, probably just a day for Canadians to go out and eat poutine and beaver tails and drink maple syrup while riding a moose or something. Those Canadians, so cute.

And speaking of cute Canadians, in honor of this day, I thought I'd list my Top Ten Favorite Canadians!

10. Alex Trebek

I love me some Jeopardy. And while some see Trebek as pompous, I'm simply entralled with how he can correctly pronounce all the Russian/Japanese/Korean/Bangladeshi/etc names. Amazing. And I like him MUCH better sans moustache.

9. Mark Tewksbury

He's an Olympic athelete and he's gay. And in addition, he's hot. Do I really NEED any other reasons to make him a favorite?

8. Lynn Johnston

She's the creator of "For Better For Worse". I know she's not doing any new comic strips, she's only reprinting the old ones, but those strips are still funny and interesting. And she did have one of the first out gay characters in comic strips: Lawrence, her son's friend.

7. John Byrne

He's a comic book artist and writer who helped, with Chris Claremont, make The X-Men into the phenomenon they currently are. He also, on his own, revamped The Fantastic Four. When he was given total control over Superman in the late 80's, he totally threw out 40 years of history and did things his own way...not something I'm generally pleased with. But overall, he is a giant in the comic book industry.

6. Joe Shuster

And speaking of Superman, Joe Shuster, along with Jerry Siegel, created the icon. Shuster was born in Toronto, this making him Canadian, despite spending the majority of his life in Cleveland.
5. Shawn Ashmore

I met him in Toronto once. He passed us as we walked down Jarvis Street. My friend persuaded me to go back and ask if it was him. I stopped him, asked if he was Iceman from the X-Men movie, and he broke out into a big smile. He extended his hand and said, "Yeah, I'm Shawn Ashmore." I shook his hand, we chatted a few minutes, and he let me take a photo of him. (I haven't scanned that photo into new computer yet, so I can't show you, but trust me I got it!) He was extremely pleasant and polite and tolerant of the crazy stalkerish American talking to him. Although he was NOT attired like he is in the photo above, unfortunately.

4. Enrique
I don't have a photo, but he's a guy I met in Toronto last year and spent a wonderful, too-short few hours with. You can read about it HERE.

3. The Kids In The Hall

Even now, 20 years after their show, and having seen every episode at least twice, they still crack me the fuck up. Every time. I still quote them on randon occasions. Canada gives us The Kids In The Hall, America gives up The Redneck Comedy Tour and Dane Cook. *SIGH*

2. Ed

Another friend of mine from Toronto. Our friendship started as a random hookup like 5 years ago or so. And we've kept in touch via email and everytime I've been up there since, we've spent some time together walking around, grabbing a meal, hanging out. He's a great guy, one that I have no doubt I could fall for...but for the 8 hour distance between us.

1. Tam

Like there could BE any other Canadian that's more of a favorite than her! She's made me laugh online, she drove to Toronto to hang out with me, she drove us to Casa Loma to enjoy that, she drove to my work and got a tour, and she's just spent two nights here being totally cool and fun. Plus she brought me a case of genuine Canadian beer. And she likes looking at twinkie boys as much as I do. And I can't wait to hang out with her again later in the mouth!

So three cheers for cool Canadians on this, their national holiday! YAY!!!

POLT