Apparently the Monopoly game has an updated version,  aptly (if a bit obviously) titled, "Monopoly, Here and Now".  I've never played the game,  and to be honest,  I probably never will...apart from Chess and Nine Men's Morris, I'm not much of a game guy.  Well,  they have a "world" edition,  and in a stunning bit of  tiny pewter magnificence,  they have a shiny-yet-stalwart Canadian Mountie!

Iconic.  I hate the damned term,  but it actually suits our fave red coated law enforcers!  I got this beauty from Ebay (thank God for Ebay),  and it would take a bit for me to be more thrilled.


I am tempted to buy a small Squadron of these silvery troopers!

Here we have three badly photographed lovelies from my collection of lobby cards.  For them that don't know,  lobby cards are small posters that are displayed at the front of a theatre to advertise current or upcoming films.  They usually come in sets,  and the number of different cards in a set could be anywhere from six to twelve;  for example,  my set of Mestizo cards came as a set of twelve.  Now, for these films:

• The first in this set is from the 1943 picture, Riders of the Northwest Mounted.  It starred Russell Hayden,  who became well known as one of Hopalong Cassidy's peppy sidekicks (and my favourite).  The big draw of this picture is the feller on the far right;  Bob Wills, bandleader of the Texas Playboys,  who guest starred,  offering a few songs in true singing cowboy fashion.

• Second is a tantalising tidbit from the 1961 Robert Ryan/John Dehner feature The Canadians,  that I've mentioned on this page as one of the Mountie movies that I'm dying to see (HERE).  Until I actually see it,  this beauty will mock me from its place on my wall.
  

I have a pretty good collection of Mountie-related lobby cards,  and I must say,  it's cool to have these artifacts of the times and places that these films were actually screened!

The stereoscope is a type of 3d image viewer,  invented in the early 1800s by Victorian inventor, Sir Charles Wheatstone.  Over the years there have been many permutations of the divive,  in particular the hand-held version,  leading up the the familiar modern form that we all know as the Viewmaster.

This is a beautiful set of viewmaster reels that I scored on Ebay! The images are all wonderfully shot,  depicting our scarlet-coated stalwart in a variety of lovely Canadian settings.  As you see, he's being guided by an aboriginal Canadian in traditional clothing,  showing the ideal image of the Mountie as the ambassador of Canada's government to it's people.  Whether that's as true in life as it is in these great photos is a topic for others to discuss,  but I love this little bit of swag!

An R.C.M.P. Hockey puck?  Of course!  Why?  Because it's awesome,  that's why!  Ice Hockey is basically THE sport of Canada;  so Iconic,  known worldwide,  just like the Mounties themselves!

I got this on a whim,  looking for an odd item to flesh out my collection.  Nothing worse than a dull collection of anything,  wot? 

It's rolling quite nicely!