OnlyInYourState

According to OnlyInYourState, if you can accurately pronounce these Illinois town names--you've lived in Illinois too long. Let's find out.

At this writing, Halloween is exactly one week away. In case you haven't lined up your horror-movie viewing list yet (assuming you screen scary movies to celebrate the season), how about a few that were filmed right here in Illinois?

Thanks to a pretty lame movie of the same name, the "Bucket List" is something we often hear about, and maybe even have one of our own. For those who've been too busy living their lives to pay attention to trendy phrases, a bucket list is simply a number of things that one wishes to do or experience before they die--or, "kick the bucket."

As a guy who spends an inordinate amount of time searching for cool and interesting things about our state (so I can post them here to share with you), I was delighted to get an email that highlights a few things that you can only come across here in the Land of Lincoln.

When we get into late December and early January of any given year, many news outlets publish lists of new laws and regulations that go into effect at the beginning of the new year. What you don't often see are lists of the odd, archaic, or just plain weird old laws that are still around on the books throughout the state. Let's fix that.

As has been pointed out in the past, Rockford finds itself on too many lists of non-positive things, and on too few of the positive lists. However, when it comes to celebrating Christmas, we here in the Forest City can hold our heads high.