I'm now questioning the paternity here. No chocolate? Pure vanilla? How can she be my daughter?

The girl got what she wanted and I'm still shaking my head. It's just not right...

I love their "Plan a Trip" feature. Tell it where you are, where you have to go and when you're leaving, and instantly you're rewarded with awesome detail. I've been trying to break it but it's pretty smart.

If you ride the TTC, you've got to bookmark MyTTC.ca.

It's called "Ode To Joy".

I knew the host of this party was putting together a playlist of tunes to play throughout, but just in case his playlist bombed out, I spent some time yesterday afternoon putting together a party playlist of my own. It's a plug-and-play world where one iPod can be swapped out for another in seconds. The switcheroo would would be seamless and my song selection would spill out into the clear night sky.

I took into account the age range of attendees, removed the "scary" music, which means stripping out the NWA, Rage Against the Machine, System of a Down, Public Enemy, etc., and killed the tunes with too many prominent swears. If there were professional playlist creators, I'd be a good one. It's always come naturally to me.

Armed with my "4theMasses" playlist on my iPod Touch, I didn't want to offend the host with an early switch and I wanted to ensure the incumbent playlist was given a legitimate opportunity to succeed. There were some older, boring tunes, but for the most part it was pretty decent. I heard Radiohead, I heard Lowest of the Low and I heard Neil Young. I was impressed and let it play out all night long.

In Carrie Bradshaw Sex in the City fashion, I must ask the readers. What is the guest playlist etiquette in 2008? Do the guests have the right to engage in mutiny and change the tunes? The driver of the car should control the car radio, is it the same with owner of the house and the party playlist?

Fellow Tarantino fans will love this.

Ajax Mike wrote me a note after seeing "The Dark Knight". "Take the time. Make the effort. I seriously cannot articulate how good of a movie that was." Forget Ebert, that's one hell of an endorsement. It's so good, you can't even express how good it is. I'm sold!

So yes, I will see the new Batman movie in theatres just as soon as the stars align and I have an opportunity. On the other end of the spectrum, things aren't looking very good for another film I've been anticipating. "The X-Files: I Want to Believe" is getting weak reviews, so I'll likely be catching that one on TMN in about a years time.

It's a shame. I was really looking forward to it. Forget I Want To Believe, how about a little I Want This Movie To Be Good.

If you haven't yet heard, One Day as a Lion is Zach de la Rocha from Rage Against the Machine and Jon Theodore from The Mars Volta. It's a great sound, right up my alley.

This tune makes me wish new Rage Against The Machine was on its way. Last I checked, they were touring but not recording. Let's hope that changes.

Siskel and Ebert gave "Grosse Pointe Blank" two thumbs down and then gave "Romy and Michele's High School Reunion" two thumbs up. I couldn't believe it then and I still don't believe it, but I saw it with my own two eyes and know this to be fact. I was shocked by the fact they didn't like "Grosse Pointe Blank" but I was flabbergasted by the fact they actually liked "Romy and Michele's High School Reunion".

Eleven years have since passed, Gene Siskel has passed away and Roger Ebert has battled his own serious health issues, yet I'm still saddened to learn the show is going in a new direction. Love him or hate him, Ebert has a way with words and always appears to me to be an honest and insightful reviewer of films.

The silver lining here is that Ebert writes he will "continue the traditional format in a new venue". Otherwise, for now, the balcony is closed.

» Neil Young - Only Love Can Break Your Heart
» Hayden - Skates
During the long drive home from camping last week, I had my iPod on shuffle. At one point, Neil Young's "Only Love Can Break Your Heart" came on, immediately followed by Hayden's "Skates". The combination struck me as ideal.

Both songs are from great Canadian folk-rockers who aren't afraid of the harmonica and both songs are about heartbreak. "Skates", in particular, never fails to get me with that "I will skate as far as it takes, to bring her back home" line. If you've never heard "Skates" before, you're in for a treat.

It's 2-for-1 Thursday. Get 'em while they're hot.

Here are ten examples with a little explanation tagged on the end.

Don't Be Cruel - Cheap Trick
I thought I'd lead off with a rather embarrassing one. In 1988 I was still listening to top 40 radio on 680 CFTR. This Cheap Trick single was a hit and I had never heard Elvis Presley's version. I just assumed it was a Cheap Trick song. The fact is, I didn't hear any Elvis at home and my Elvis exposure at the time was pretty much limited to "Hound Dog".

If You Don't Know Me By Now - Simply Red
One year later, in 1989, "If You Don't Know Me By Now" was a hit for Simply Red and I just assumed it was a Simply Red song. It wasn't until fairly recently that I learnt it was originally recorded by Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes back in 1972.

Once Bitten Twice Shy - Great White
That same year, in 1989, I was enjoying this guilty pleasure by Great White. It wasn't until about six years later when I found Ian Hunter's Greatest Hits in my future wife's collection that I realized it was a cover.

I Saw Him Standing There - Tiffany
Early in 1988 I was actually skiing, something I haven't done in over 15 years, and I heard this Tiffany single over the loud speaker. I had no idea a little band from the UK had recorded "I Saw Her Standing There" back in 1963.

Red Red Wine - UB40
I loved this song back in 1983 when I was a wee lad of 9. Who didn't enjoy UB40's "Red Red Wine"? It wasn't for another six years that I discovered "Red Red Wine" belonged to Neil Diamond.

Respect - Aretha Franklin
I suspect a lot of people think the Queen of Soul first recorded this song. It's a classic and I know I was in my 20s before I heard Otis Redding's version. Otis deserves a little respect.

Hey Joe - Jimi Hendrix
Of all the songs on this list, I think I was most disappointed to learn that "Hey Joe" was a cover. I loved the version from Are You Experienced? and spun that CD like crazy. I just assumed it was a Hendrix song, but it was actually first a hit for The Leaves. Awesome song, but still not Jimi's best cover. That would be "All Along The Watchtower".

Blinded by the Light - Manfred Mann's Earth Band
This is the song that inspired this entry, because I just found out earlier today that "Blinded By The Light" is a Bruce Springsteen song. I swear, it's true. Listen to this.

Love Hurts - Nazareth
Honestly, how many of you know that "Love Hurts" was a cover by Nazareth? It was a hit for The Everly Brothers in July 1960 and I first picked up that little slice of trivia in the early 90s, many years after first hearing the Nazareth version.

Higher Ground - Red Hot Chili Peppers
I'm closing with this song because I really should have known better. At the time, I had graduated from CFTR to Q107 and "Higher Ground" by the Red Hot Chili Peppers was getting plenty of airplay. That prompted me to pick up Mother's Milk, an album I still listen to regularly. I remember my buddy telling me it was a Stevie Wonder song and me saying "That 'I Just Called To Say I Love You' blind guy? No way." I was only 15 but I should have known better.

Here we are in simpler times. He's the fashionable dude in the middle. Man, the 80s were cool.

This is the first single from Beck's new album Modern Guilt, produced by Beck and Danger Mouse. I've been a big Beck fan since Mellow Gold and at least three or four cuts from that album still make it on my road trip playlist. Believe it or not, Beck is now 38, but he still looks 21.

And no, this isn't an official video, but it should be.

According to Environment Canada, 2008 has been one of the wettest summers ever in the Greater Toronto Area and it's only July. The agency said about 240 millimetres of rain has fallen since the beginning of last month.

Another 30 millimetres would break the decades-old record of 270 millimetres of rain for the the June July period. The old record was 271.5 millimetres set in 1980.

At the height of last summer, only about 88 millimetres had been recorded by Environment Canada.

We're coming off the snowiest winter of my lifetime. That's a lot of precipitation. I gauge the raininess of a summer by the number of slo-pitch rain-outs. In total, I've had 27 ball games scheduled and only one cancelled due to rain. When my wife told me the other day it's been rainier than usual, I threw this stat at her as proof it's not that rainy.

Honey, I was wrong.

Kic is also on my dodgeball team. Last night, about half way through our tense match-up with Where's Linda?, Kic crossed the line. Already eliminated, he picked up the ball and drilled it at the guy who just knocked him out. It was then that Where's Linda? left the court and we were disqualified. We're awaiting judgment from the TCSSC as to our fate, but Kic has already launched a preemptive strike. He's quit.

Hey Team,

Sorry about my stupid behaviour at tonight's game, that was ******* of me to do. I completely ruined the game for everyone and I apologize for my actions. I think it's best that I leave the competitive game of dodgeball so that this doesn't happen in future games for you guys.

Good luck the rest of the season, I know you guys will have more fun without my antics.

I hear you giggling at the "competitive game of dodgeball" line, but when you're out on that court, it's war. The beast within you is unleashed and you enter full combat mode. We trained Kic to be a killing machine and then we chastised him for ignoring the boundaries.

Speaking of Kic, he recently appeared in a Future Shop ad. Here he is going bananas about NBA07 on the PSP.