ONCE YOU'RE WITH THE WIZARD, NO ONE THINKS YOU'RE STRANGE:  I have a hunch you'll love The Baseball Bunch oral history which SI just published.

YOU GOT A WEIRD THING FOR CANADIAN MELODRAMA:  On this Dominion Day Canada Day we contemplate one of life's burning questions: what makes a film a Canadian film?  Is it the setting? The director and cast? Must it be filmed in Canada? (Can a movie be filmed in Canada and not be "Canadian"?) Must it be Canadian in tone and pacing, whatever that means? Is eligibility for the Genie Canadian Screen Awards sufficient? (Do you consider Room, Brooklyn, or Meatballs to be Canadian films?)

FWIW, my favorite film from The True North remains Atom Egoyan's Exotica, though I think the best is Dead Ringers -- I just can't bear to watch it again, no matter how good Jeremy Irons was in it.

EVERYONE'S GRADES WILL BE A'IGHT A'IGHT A'IGHT:  Matthew McConaughey will teach a film class at UT-Austin this fall (primarily via video).

YOU HAVE DIED OF DYSENTERY:  As part of its inexplicable relaunch of Crystal Pepsi, you will soon be able to travel down the Crystal Pepsi Trail.

DISCUSS AMONGST YOURSELVES: For a movie that was so good about celebrating a character with a cognitive disability, Finding Dory really bungled the Gerald stuff, didn't it?

DISCUSS AMONGST YOURSELVES:  If Back to the Future were remade today (sacrilege, I know), what would be the equivalent of Marty McFly teaching Marvin Berry how to rock-and-roll for the mid/late 1980s?

(HT: Adam C.)

JONI MITCHELL WAITS PATIENTLY, PENSIVELY: Having recognized Carole King last year, the Kennedy Center Honors will stay in Laurel Canyon for one more year to hang a rainbow ribbon and medal on James Taylor this December, along with Al Pacino, Mavis Staples, pianist Martha Argerich, and The Eagles, whose intended 2015 award was delayed by Glenn Frey's illness, ultimately resulting in his death.

In 2008, Benner noted that Pacino was certainly on the "how has he not won yet?" list, along with Lou Reed, David Bowie, and Prince. (The latter two may have been invited.) Also on the never-awarded list: James L. Brooks (come on!), Jerry Lewis, Martin Scorsese, Neil Young, Norman Lear, Dick Van Dyke, Mary Tyler Moore, Glenn Close, and Gene Hackman.