Institute - Uncle Johns Bathroom Reader Weird Canada

BATHROOM READERS INSTITUTE

San Diego, California

WEIRD CANADA

By the

Bathroom Readers

Institute

OUR REGULAR READERS RAVE!

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Uncle Johns Bathroom Reader keeps me on the edge of my seat!

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Ive been a fan of Uncle Johns Bathroom Readers for years. I now have a whole bookshelf in my bathroom.

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Everything I know I learned from Uncle John.

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Reading Uncle Johns Bathroom Reader sure beats reading the back of the hairspray can or counting the tiles on the floor!

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UNCLE JOHNS WEIRD CANADA
BATHROOM READER

Copyright 2013 Portable Press

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

Portable Press/The Bathroom Readers Institute

An imprint of Printers Row Publishing Group

10350 Barnes Canyon Road, Suite 100

San Diego, CA 92121

www.bathroomreader.com

e-mail: mail@portablepress.com

All correspondence concerning the content of this book should be addressed to Portable Press/The Bathroom Readers Institute, Editorial Department, at the above address.

Printers Row Publishing Group is a division of Readerlink Distribution Services, LLC.

The Portable Press, Bathroom Readers Institute, and Uncle Johns Bathroom Reader names and logos are trademarks of Readerlink Distribution Services, LLC.

Produced by Print Matters, Inc. (www.printmatters.com)
and the Bathroom Readers Institute.

Cover design by Andy Taray / Ohioboy.com

eISBN 13: 978-1-60710-923-5
e-book edition: September 2013

THANK YOU!

The Bathroom Readers Institute sincerely thanks the people whose advice and assistance made this book possible.

Gordon Javna

Brian Boone

Jay Newman

Don Rauf

Thom Little

Trina Janssen

Andy Taray

Christy Taray

Jack Feerick

Megan Todd

Jon Cummings

Will Harris

Brandon Hartley

Eleanor Pierce

Dave Lifton

Michael Conover

Kim Griswell

Michael Centore

Michael Troy

Ken Mondschein

Kelly Tomkies

Ann Morrill

Michael Cramer

Celia Seupel

Carol Ersepke

Devanand Madhukar

Jack Mingo

Melinda Allman

Aaron Guzman

Blake Mitchum

Baron von Rothschild

David Archie Andrews

Raincoast Books

Pete MacDougall

Sandy Cooper

Paddy Laidley

Jamie Broadhurst

Terry Fox

Robin Sparkles

Thomas Crapper

CONTENTS

Because the BRI understands your reading needs, weve divided the contents by subject.

LIFE IS STRANGE

SONG & DANCE

EAT UP!

BUSINE$$

MOUTHING OFF

SHOOTS AND SCORES

ACT NATURALLY

IN THE NEWS

STAGE & SCREEN

SPOOKY STUFF

LAW & ORDER

ITS JUST POLITICS

CREATURE FEATURES

PEOPLE ARE STRANGE

HISTORICALLY ODD

GE-ODD-GRAPHY

COME TO CANADA

CANADIANA

WATCH YOUR LANGUAGE

ITS A BLUNDERFUL LIFE

THATS DEATH!

FORGOTTEN HISTORY

POT-POURRI

CANUCK, CANUCK, WHOS THERE?

U ncle John loves Canada! We always make sure to include something about the Great White North in every single one of our books.

But our Canadian readers kept asking for morewe want an entire book, a full, gigantic, Nunavut-sized Uncle Johns Bathroom Reader all about Canada! they begged. Belive us, plenty of great stuff goes down up here. Our readers are a discerning bunch, conneisseurs of fun facts, terrific trivia, and unbelievable esoterica. We couldnt do just any book about Canada, and fill it with hockey statistics, Mountie jokes, and photos of Anne Murray. Uncle John just couldnt do that. And its because Uncle John knows a secret about Canada.

Canada is a really weird place.

Behold: Uncle Johns Bathroom Reader Weird Canada. A whopping 400 pages chockful of every odd, nutty, crazy, preposterous, sillyand even scaryperson, place, or thing, thats ever been associated with Canada. Ghosts in the Yukon? Its here. The refusal to adhere to the standards of time in Newfoundland? Its in Uncle Johns Weird Canada. And so are stories about

Creatures, real and possibly real, like Sasquatch, the Ogopogo monster, and the Grolar Bear

The worlds smallest library, and the worlds largest pierogi

The only-in-Canada fad of bed-pushing

The man with a window in his stomach

A ghost-hunting agency in Vancouver that finds the things you cant see, and a bookstore in Toronto full of the books that they dont want you to read

How the governments push for Canadian content led to the worst TV show in world history, and the funniest duo in sketch comedy history

Weird stuff you never knew about Canadian mainstays, such as Wayne Gretzky, Bryan Adams, Neil Young, Guy Lafleuer, Joni Mitchell, and the Barenaked Ladies

Funny thoughts on Canadaand what it means to be Canadianfrom singular Canadian minds like Stephen Leacock, Will Ferguson, and Douglas Coupland

More alien encounters, haunted hotels, and unexplained noises than you can shake a (hockey) stick at

And of course, youll find the usual dose of weird news, strange people, odd animals, goofy places, and refreshing tales of unlikely success and spectacular failure that youll always find in one of those regular old states-centric Bathroom Readers.

In short, theres something for everyone in Canada, from Canada, or who just plain loves Canada, whether youre a Slurpee-slurper in Winnipeg or stand-up Sasquatch from Saskatchewan. Welcome to Weird Canadabut we dont have to tell you thatyou probably already live there.

Enjoy readingand chimo!

(And a hearty hello from Chimothats him down there.)

Uncle John and the BRI staff