The SBP Archives - Your less than frequent dose of SBP!

A Canada Day a few years ago, a bunch of my friends went to a pub in Little Italy to take in the festivities. We must have been at the pub for 4 hours or so, enjoying some beers, good conversation, and plenty of laughs. I would guess our crowd swelled to about 20 people at our peak. But not all were impressed.

This snippet from a Mexican press conference to promote his latest movie The Last Airbender is fascinating. First, I'm not sure who the journalist who asked the question is, but she basically called him out on his latest projects being huge disappointments (Lady in the Water, The Village, The Happening) after impressing with Sixth Sense and Signs. This is a refreshing change, as many reporters toss softball questions and get boring, routine answers. Despite my feelings on his movies (a.k.a. I think this journalist is right on the money) and knowing that films are subjective to taste and everyone has their own opinions about them, I don't know anyone who's enjoyed what Shyamalan has churned out lately, audiences and critics alike. The Last Airbender has grossed over $100 million in theaters, sure, but word of mouth was horrible and it received some of the worst reviews of his career. You'd think he'd fess up and admit he hasn't been at his creative best lately. But this guy thinks all of his movies are the cat's meow. In fact, he says in the above video he would "literally kill himself" if he thought along the same lines as the journalist. And with a straight face, discusses how movies like The Village and Lady in the Water (the two biggest pieces of sh*t he's made) are loved all over Europe.

The above device, which Lucas and Company wasted no time in filing a copyright claim as it pretty much looks like a lightsaber prop straight out of the Star Wars movies, looks pretty cool as it shoots out a blue laser from the top of what a company named Wicked Lasers calls the Spyder III. Made from a dismantled Casio projector, it would appear that, after the novelty wears off, you're just paying $200 for a glorified laser pointer which would seem like a huge waste.

However...this laser can BURN your eyes and cause permanent blindness and set fire to almost anything instantly!

Um, that kind of sounds like a WEAPON, don't you think?

Aside from the Lucas gang having their feelings known about this product, I'm thinking this is an item that needs to be pulled from the shelves. Oh sure, safety glasses are included, but somehow I think nothing good can came out the Spyder III.

And that includes the laser. What will they think of next?

The NHL owners are their own worst enemies.

During the 2004-05 lockout, didn't we hear repeatedly how salaries are getting out of control, small Canadian market teams are threatened and a hard salary cap was needed to stop the madness?

And now the NJ Devils hand out a 17 year, $102 million contract for free agent Ilya Kovalchuk. 17 years!!!!

Salary cap rules state the cap hit is the average amount of the contract per year, not what it is actually paid in salary for the year in question. So this front-loaded Ilya contract, which pays $6.5 million a year for a couple of seasons, will increase to $11.5 million for a few years before eventually decling to the final $550,000 salary for the last four years.

And why do I think he'll have retired by the time he reaches 40 and not play until he's 44 years old, the year his contract is actually finished?

It's a loophole GMs have found as a way to get players under their team salary cap and still pay top dollar for the star free agents.

Why are the owners insisting on shooting themselves in the foot with these contracts? And the Devils aren't exactly a hotbed of hockey, even though they have won three cups in the last 15 years. There are tons of empty seats even though they have a winning team. So how can they afford it?

I imagine when the next CBA expires, the NHL will have clause stating the amount paid to the athlete during the year is what will count towards the team's salary cap. This might be the only way to enforce the cap the way it was meant to without putting restrictions on contract lengths, as the NHLPA would likely have an issue with that.

In any case, tell me again why we had that lockout a few years ago? I just don't get it.

Believe me when I say this, every company and business trying to earn a buck want to charge you the maximum amount possible for their services. They have no interest in making sure you have enough money at the end of the day to pay the rent or buy the groceries. They want their cut, and then good riddance if you have to mortgage your house for the sixth time to get by.

But having said that, sometimes you DO have some power. Sometimes you can save a few bucks and still get the product or service you want. So I'd like to share with you how myself, SBP, saved some big $$$ with Rogers.

First, research what Bell or another provider will charge you for their cable, internet and telephone services or whatever service you have with Rogers that you want to save some money. As a first time customer, to draw you in, they're cutting their rates. Have this info handy when you give them a call.

So give Rogers a shout, and tell them you want to cancel your services. When they ask why, tell them your switching to whatever provider you found that offered a decent rate, a better rate than Rogers. Of course, if you're like me you don't really want to change. It's a PAIN in the A** to organize the installer to come in and set everything up (but maybe this is where I should put a disclaimer this may not work so buyer beware!).

Anyway, once you tell them you want out, they'll transfer you over to their cancellation department. This is where the people with the power to give you deals work. Now you MUST stick to your guns here. They'll ask you a few questions, maybe ask about the deal you have lined up. I have to be honest, I thought about hanging up here because the questions they asked made it look like they were, in fact, going through cancelling my services. The key is though, tell them you're cancelling, and even when it looks like they're going to cancel your account, stay on the phone until you hear those magic words, "What if we're able to match their offer?"

And be honest. Say yeah, I'd rather not switch! So by threatening to switch providers, my HD box is free for a year, and I got 30% off my cable, internet and telephone bills! And that's a fair amount of coin. Of course, a part of me is outraged. Why didn't this just give us this price to begin with? Ah, the joys of capitalism! In any case, if you're with Rogers, call them like I suggest and save some money. It's hard to come by these days.

No question, this Nike ad.

I tuned into yesterday's final and while it did have some exciting moments, there were very few scoring chances created, and it took 116 minutes of playing time before Spain finally put this one to bed and took it 1-0. Pretty much sums up soccer in general doesn't it? I was actually hoping the Netherlands would win after placing a $20 bet for my pal Steve while in Vegas for the Orangemen to take it all, but alas it was not to be.

The hype for this event is always something I buy into so in 2014 I imagine I'll be watching again, and maybe Nike will produce another fun commercial.

In July of 2009, 12 Mexican federal drug agents were tortured and killed by a Mexican drug cartel in retaliation for arresting on of the higher-ups in their organization. It was a rare occurrence to see this: drug lords directly going after federal enforcement in the name of putting fear in the government and its people as they try to continue to profit from shipping their #1 product, cocaine. Mexico is fighting a bloody war against them, and it's started to pour into U.S. border states (by the way, I think U.S. troops would be better served helping Mexico fight drug cartels, but that's another topic). The cartels best customers are in the United States, and you bet they wouldn't be going through all this trouble if there wasn't a huge demand for it.

Now when I think about everything that has taken place for the coke snorter to enjoy their fix, I can't help but be angry and outraged that an enabler, a customer of cocaine, is being a part of the problem and indirectly responsible for the many deaths in this drug war, like those 12 drug agents mentioned. So if a coke snorter gets arrested, should I feel sorry for him or her?

So this is where the title of this blog entry comes in to play.

Lindsay Lohan snorts coke. She also drinks and drives intoxicated, further putting in danger innocent bystanders. Should I feel sorry she has to serve 90 days in jail plus rehab for her actions?

I don't think so. Maybe people like Lohan should spend some time in Mexico just to see how the drug cartels treat local law enforcement and how her money is used to buy weapons and hire thugs to kill the law-abiding.

Maybe that would get the message across. Right now, there's a part of me that would like to feel sorry for the drug addicted as they try to kick their habit and get their life on track, but on the other hand, when does personal responsibilty kick in?

As the temperatures in the nation's capital hover around the 40C mark (with the humidex factored in, of course), yesterday I was part of history. My own history. It was 44C and I think that has got to rate as the hottest day in my lifetime.

And it then dawned on me that, as much as people complain, we spend a heck of a lot of time indoors.

Air-conditioned home, air-conditioned car, air-conditioned office, air-conditioned Quizno's (well, today it conked out on them). That's how I spent 95% of my day. I spent about 30 minutes walking to get to my parking space for work, and a few minutes putting the trash out for garbage day. There was also a 5 minute commute on foot to and from my car to the grocery store.

But that's about as tough as it got for me. I wasn't slaving away in the fields harvesting crops of corn, hoping to turn a profit to feed my starving family. The worst part of my day was the minute or so it takes the a/c to kick in on my Honda Civic, as the interior of my car is probably closer to 50C being outside in the sun all day.

What's my point? Guess that a lot of us have it pretty easy.

I can't quite explain it, but lately I've been getting a craving. A craving for a fizzy drink, flavoured like orange.

Orange Crush immediately comes to mind, but I don't discriminate. C-Plus, Fanta Tangerine, diet or regular, it's all good. President's Choice just came out with a drink with real orange and tangerine juice in it, and has the equivalent of two fruit servings: I've chugged that, too.

The last time I had an Orange Crush before all this was probably when I was a teenager. And even then it wasn't a favourite or anything, usually something I'd take if there was no Coke. But here I am, in my thirties, with a slight addition to fizzy orange drinks.

Hope you enjoy your day off...and I guess while I'm at work Friday, I'll wish you another happy day off until you're back to the grind Monday