The primary election is Tuesday, so don’t forget to vote. Check out The Daily Journal Voter Guide for details on the races and candidates in your area.

Click here to see the official ballots for Bourbonnais & Bradley.

Click here to see the official ballots for Kankakee & Aroma Park.

Winners in the primary election advance to the general election, which will be held April 7.

If you need information about voting in Kankakee County, including polling place locations, visit the County Clerk’s Web site.

I received this recently via email from the Kankakee Regional Chamber of Commerce:

The Village of Bradley President Gael K. Kent and the Board of Trustees would like to extend an exciting opportunity to the residents of Bradley. The Village is looking for community members to serve on several of its six boards and commissions. Appointments are typically reserved for Bradley residents and are made by the Village President and Board of Trustees based on experience and interest.

Interested residents can submit an application for consideration to: Gael K. Kent, Village President, Village of Bradley, 147 South Michigan Avenue, Bradley, IL 60915. To learn more about the Village’s different boards and commissions, please contact the Office of the Village President at 815-932-2125.

If you don’t like what your local government is doing, here’s a chance to actually make a difference.

Taylor Genson, of Bradley, has been cast in the Chicago production of “Tony ‘n Tina’s Wedding.”

Here’s more from the email I received last week:

Taylor auditioned for his first Chicago Broadway show about a month ago, and after three callbacks and muct anxiety we found out yesterday that he was cast in the show!! The show is the funny “Tina and Tony’s Wedding” (the show has been running for 15 years in Chicago, there are also other “Tina and Tony” shows in Las Vegas, NYC, Philly, etc.) which mostly involves a lot of improv acting and funny audience interaction. You can read more about it here: www.tonylovestina.com

Since it doesn’t require rehearsals, since it is mostly improv, Taylor actually starts tomorrow! He will start off with smaller roles, and work his way up in the next month to the bigger roles. All the actors play a different role each night, which will definitely keep things interesting.

Congrats, Taylor, and good luck!

You can purchase tickets for the Chicago production and see show times here.

The Bishop McNamara vs. St. Laurence football game on Friday (Oct. 3) is one of three Chicagoland match-ups vying to be chosen as the Walgreen’s High School Game of the Week. FOX Chicago will send out a news team to cover the game that gets the most votes, and that game will be featured during the 10 p.m. news that evening.

It you would like to vote, go online (http://media.myfoxchicago.com/foxjox/voting.html) or text your vote to 23857. Bishop MacNamara is choice #2.

The deadline to vote is Thursday at 5 p.m.

Congrats to Tyler Newman of Sheldon, who won Week 5 of Friday Night Lights.

Both Newman and Chebanse resident Paul Swanson correctly predicted 10 games, but Newman’s guess of the final score between Herscher and Manteno was closer.

In third place was Momence’s Ryan Natschke. Orland Park’s Vince Lensing placed fourth and Jerome White of Staten Island, N.Y., was fifth.

Remember to get your picks in for Week 6. Also, it’s not too late to start playing.

The URL to remember for all contests on the site is www.myKankakeeCounty.com/win.

I’m heading to San Francisco tomorrow on vacation, so myKankakeeCounty.com may be a little quiet for the next few days. My apologies. I think I’ve figured out how to schedule blog posts, though, so I wrote a couple in advance and have them set to publish over the next week.

I’ll be back in the office on Monday, Oct. 6.

You should still be able to comment on blog posts, though, and submit photos and photo comments. A colleague in Rochester, Minn., will be alerted via email if anything is submitted.

Have a great week!

Congrats to Lyell Stark, of Bourbonnais, who won Week 4 of the Friday Night Lights contest. Here’s more from The Daily Journal:

Stark was one of several people to correctly select 11 of this week’s 13 high school football games, winning after a tiebreaker in which Stark predicted a 28-14 victory by Reed-Custer over Peotone. Reed-Custer won the game 49-14.

Lynnette Simmons of Kankakee finished second and overall leader John Cherry of Bourbonnais took third. Cherry has correctly predicted the winner in 42 of the 53 games this year, putting him alone atop the season standings.

Remember to get your picks in for Week 5. Also, it’s not too late to start playing.

The URL to remember for all contests on the site is www.myKankakeeCounty.com/win.

Brendan and I are big Netflix fans, and I’m particularly fond of all the independent, small-release and foreign films that are available. Sometimes, my penchant for artsy films leads to disappointment and apologies to Brendan when the movie is over, but other times the risk leads to a reward greater than you usually get from standard Hollywood fare.

The latter was definitely true the other night when we finished watching Lars and the Real Girl. The film was released last fall and was nominated for several awards, including an Oscar for the screenwriter and a Golden Globe for Ryan Gosling, who plays Lars.

Here’s the plot summary from IMDB.com:

In this comedy, Lars Lindstrom is an awkwardly shy young man in a small northern town who finally brings home the girl of his dreams to his brother and sister-in-law’s home. The only problem is that she’s not real – she’s a sex doll Lars ordered off the Internet. But sex is not what Lars has in mind, but rather a deep, meaningful relationship. His sister-in-law is worried for him, his brother thinks he’s nuts, but eventually the entire town goes along with his delusion in support of this sweet natured boy that they’ve always loved.

It’s a sweet, gentle, charming movie, with excellent acting and some laugh-out-loud moments. It reminded me of Little Miss Sunshine, which I also very much enjoyed. If you’re looking for a good flick, I highly recommend it.

From a story in today’s edition of The Daily Journal:

Congratulations to Curtis Crossley, of Kankakee, who won Week 3 of Friday Night Lights. … Crossley picked 11 of the 13 games correctly and nearly guessed the correct score for the Wilmington/Reed-Custer tiebreaker game. Crossley guessed 21-7, and Wilmington won 21-0.

Kendra Curtis, of Kankakee, and Paul Swanson, of Chebanse, also picked 11 games correctly but weren’t as close as Crossley on the tiebreaker. …

Week 2’s winner, Mitch Hoffman, of Bonfield, leads the overall field by one game.

Make sure to get your picks in soon for Week 4. If you aren’t registered to play yet, you still can. Go to www.myKankakeeCounty.com/win.

Mitch Hoffman of Bonfield has won Week 2 of Friday Night Lights. He correctly predicted the winner in all 14 football games.

Coming in second was Watseka’s Peter G., who missed just one game. Rounding out the top five were Mike Love, of Kankakee, Brian Peters, of Bradley, and Patricia Cavendar, of Momence.

More information about Week 2 results is on The Daily Journal Web site.

Get your picks in for Week 3! Go to www.myKankakeeCounty.com/win.