Tony’s Column

Tony’s Column

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                                                                                                                                                             Dec 27, 2008   

 

 

Goodbye ‘08

 

 

Hi Everyone, Well another year has come to an end and I would like to give my yeahs and neahs. A big Yeah to Iron Man, The Dark Knight, Wanted, Incredible Hulk for giving us some really entertaining comic movies. A big Neah to event driven comic books. Most of these titles went nowhere, like Countdown, Final Crisis, Secret Invasion. A big neah to the Economy and the Media. The Economy did take a downturn and the Media took a bad thing and made it worse. Every time someone came up with some good news the Media made sure that it was buried under a mountain of doom and gloom. A Big Yeah to an exciting Super bowl. The undefeated Patriots meeting the Surprising Giants and then the Catch of the Year keeping the Giant’s winning drive alive.  A Bid Neah to the New Orleans Saints Secondary and kicking game. They would have made the playoffs if these parts of the team did what they were supposed to do. Also A big Neah to the passing of Michael Turner and Steve Gerber. We all have to sometimes but sometimes like in Michael’s part you go too soon. A Great Big Yeah to Barack Obama, the first Elected African American President in history. This year showed that you can now accomplish anything in the USA. A Big Neah to the Coalition, if you lost the election you lost. It’s just like sports if you lose by 1 game or 1 point or 10 points you still have lost. You can’t combine with another team and have your points make you a winner. A Big Yeah to all of you who have supported us this year. Thanks. Till Next Time. Tony

 

 

                                                                                                                                                             Dec 20, 2008   

 

 

 

Merry Christmas!

 

Well I just want to take the time to wish everyone a Merry Christmas or what every you are celebrating or even if you choose not to celebrate. Let’s Keep the spirit all year round and let’s also keep safe.

Tony

 

                                                                                                                      Dec 13, 2008   

 

Wind chill Factor Minus Owww!

     

Hi Everyone, As of this writing the Temperature outside is a balmy –29 degrees Celsius. With the Wind chill it’s about –42 degrees.  Now some people are wondering what is wind chill. That is the what the temperature feels like with the wind blowing. There are some days at –30 where you get no wind at all so the temperature stays at –30. Should you throw a bit of a breeze the temperature starts to feel a lot colder than it is. Lately in our fair city, there has been a minor debate amongst people that the weather people should not give us what the wind chill is. These are people who have heated garages or don’t have to take a bus or walk anywhere. I want to know if there is a wind more than 10km on any morning that is colder than minus 20. I hate that surprise of going out with a lighter jacket to scrap my windows and find that a nice COLD wind has just sent sharp needles through my body. Of course we are supposed have 10 more days of this. It could be worse we could have also had the dumping of snow that they got just south of us in North Dakota. Till Next Time, Stay Warm. Tony

 

 

                                                                                                                                                             Dec 6, 2008      

 

Secret Invas-uggh!

 

Hi everyone well after the 9 months the eight issue monthly mini series known as Secret Invasion is over. This is what has happened: they beat the skrulls, some of the real heroes returned and Norman Osborn’s Thunderbolt Initiative is now the new heads of American Security. Ok Let now look at some of the things that they have changed: The Hank Pym that had beat Jan and went crazy was a Skrull, Jarvis that was taking care of Avengers Mansion was a Skrull, the Sue Richards that was with the FF was a Skrull, Mockingbird that divorced Hawkeye a Skrull, Captain America that died was a Skrull, and Tony Stark was responsible for all the damages that happened, the downfall of Shield and Stark Enterprises losing all the defence contracts. Did I miss anything. Yes I did, Jessica Drew was a skrull. The Question to be asked is when did all these people go missing. Hank Pym had his breakdown in the 80’s, Jessica Drew disappeared in the 90’s for a while, when did they replace the Cap with the Skrull-Cap. Once again I am left with more questions than answers. And once again I feel like I have been taken advantage of. Well hopefully Dark Reign will answer all the left over questions but somehow I doubt it. Till next time. Tony

 

 

 

                                                                                                                                                               Nov 29, 2008      

 

 

Self Proclaiming Prophecy, I hope not!

 

Hi Everyone, I would like to say that I have seen a lot of things in the 21 years I have been opened for business. The one thing I will have to say is that I have never seen such waves of highs and lows in business. Most of this I attribute to the media and the doom and gloom that it is putting on the public. I have found in watching television lately that the news for the most part focuses heavily on the negative and very little on the positive. Do you know that they have a segment everyone once in a while devoted to uplifting stories. This should be on every news cast at least 3 times a day. Did you know in September that consumer spending and confidence was up in September. Of course you didn’t because all the news focused on the doom and gloom of the economy. Did you know some companies did have a deficit, they only had a last quarter profit of 1.1 billion. If you have a deficit of 1.1 billion then your in trouble but if your profit is 1.1 billion you shouldn’t be allowed to make a news report. Most of us small business are struggling right now because every time people turn on their TV’s it’s doom and gloom. If we started getting some positive news making people feel good and confident in themselves we might get the economy restarted. Instead we are creating a self fulfilling prophecy of doom and gloom from the doom and gloom reporting. Till Next Time. Tony.

 

 

                                                                                                                                                               Nov 22, 2008      

 

 

Le Coupe Grey

 

Hi Everyone, well the Grey Cup is over and I have to admit for as close a game as it was the ending wasn’t very thrilling. The Montreal Alouettes didn’t use the clock very effectively on the last 2 plays they had. This is the second time in 2 years that poor management of the clock has cost a team there shot at glory. Last year when the Winnipeg Blue Bombers were playing the Saskatchewan Roughriders not understanding the rules of the Canadian game cost a team a chance to win. In the CFL the clock stops then starts after the ball has been placed for the snap. In the NFL time keeps running until and incompletion or time-out. Last year had Winnipeg’s rookie QB know this all he would have had to do was get the first down, then the clock would stop for the spotting of the Ball and the moving of the chains. Or on second down it would stop for the spotting of the ball so you could still get a play off and not have to force the issue. Yesterday the Montreal QB should have released the ball at around the 5 or 6 seconds left then when the receiver caught it and was tackled right away they would have had at least 1-2 seconds for a last second hail Mary. Unfortunately by the time the receiver got the ball and was tackled was right as the clock went to 0:00. Poor Clock Management by the Veteran QB but really it shouldn’t have come to that. Especially when you only get 1 point in the whole 2nd Half. Till Next Time. Tony

 

 

                                                                                                                                                               Nov 15, 2008      

 

 

 

Music, Not So Pure and Easy

 

Hi Everyone, there is a debate that is going on about copyright and how it going to be done in the future. Not many of you may know that with some of the music that you buy from sites like Puretracks and others you are only allowed to record that track then it locks you out. Most of the downloaded tracks are now telling you when you download them that they will only work with Windows Media Player 11. I was wondering why that was until this week when I was recording a Bruce Springsteen song I download to another disc for my car when after I finished the disc a little icon came up saying if I wish to further record this song that I must pay for the license. The only thing is I only remember recording it 3 times but I did have to reinstall it once onto my computer so I guess that counted as a time. There are probably programs that could unlock it but I don’t have the time and I am not really that concerned. I can always just listen to the tune on my computer but the fact of the thing is you have to be very careful about how you use any of the songs you pay for and download it. Remember you don’t own that song, just the right to record (7 times according to Microsoft but really only 4 or 5 times) to you device for a few times. Of Course then they wonder why so many people are going to the free sites. I like most people have no problem paying for the music but with this locking out whenever possible is opening up a real bad can of worms. Not just for Joe Q. Public but for the record industry. If you don’t believe me, just look at record sales in the years since they shut down Napster (the original not the new). That’s the tale of the tape, or in this case the Download. Till Next Time. Tony.

 

 

                                                                                                                     Nov 8, 2008      

 

 

 

Hail to the New Chief

 

Hey Everyone , Barack Obama is President of the United States of America. What does that mean to a person like me. It means a lot, it means hope, and maybe it will lead to change. It has already help lead to a change of consciousness but it is going to take time and I hope people realize this. I think for any President to truly be effective is that they have to show that they are capable of doing things and getting things going in the right direction. If they can do that and then win their second term then that’s when change will start to happen. I now hope that he can make it to the January 20^th inauguration, when he will be officially sworn in. It has now made it a reality that anyone can be grow up to be President of the US. It also give the rest of us hope that maybe other countries will follow the lead of the Americans and we could see other people of colour reach the highest office in there country. Till next Time. Tony.

 

 

                                                                                                                       Nov 1, 2008      

 

 

Did you hear the one about…..

 

Hi Everyone, well my favorite guys have done it again. Marvel has announced that the last part of Secret Invasion will now ship 2 weeks later than originally scheduled. Well for 7 issues they did have the comic coming out on time. Of Course for 7 issues they have done a whole bunch of nothing in my opinion. I guess they need the time to come up with a plausible ending. I hope so because what they have come up with until this point is not great. As I have said before, everything they want to change in the last 30 years they have done. If they want to change a character, make them a Skrull. Don’t like how a character developed or was written. Make them a Skrull. If a character doesn’t like there life and want to make a deal with a Demon, make them a , Hold it. Let’s quit the cop outs. IF you want to make a change, make the change. The one thing I have to give Marvel is they are not trying to milk it like Final Crisis. Now on to Dark Reign: the next Crossover which comes from Secret InvasD’oh. Till Next Week. Tony

 

                                                                                                                         Oct 25, 2008      

 

 

 

Goodbye Amazing!!

 

HI Everyone, well it’s the end of an era for me. For the first time in 30 years I did not buy and Issue of the Amazing Spider-man. I have to tell you I don’t feel any different. Considering at one point I was 6 issues away from having the entire run this is miraculous. I have felt since the ending of one more day that the comic just doesn’t do it for me. If I wanted a updated non married Spider-man I had Ultimate Spider-man or even Marvel Adventures: Spider-man to choose from. I just read Uncanny X-men and Hulk in the last few days and found them both to be outstanding especially all the storylines from the last two years. Sorry Spidey I gave you 3 months longer than I originally said but you just could keep me excited. Which is sad because I really did love this comic at one time. Until next time. Tony

 

                                                                                                                                                                Oct 18, 2008      

 

 

Attitudes

 

Hi Everyone, I need to talk about attitudes. There are certain people who really think that the world owes you something because you’re here. It also thinks it gives them the right to treat people in retail as if they are third rate citizen’s. I have seen this today on both sides of the counter as a customer first thing this morning were a person was just rude to the sales people. I have experienced that today by not only a rude person but by his friend who in a condescending tone mention that she was in retail also and the customer comes first. The customer does come first but not when they are being a rude jerk to not only the people who are working but to people who are around. Well maybe he took the hint and won’t come back but somehow in his own ego typical world he probably took what I said as a compliment and will come back. Sigh I really hope not. Until next Time. Tony

 

                                                                                                                                                               Oct 11, 2008      

 

 

 

It’s so Infuriating!

 

Hi everyone, you know I really love this time of year. Baseball is in the playoffs, Football is in full swing and Hockey and Basketball are just starting. The only thing that is frustrating is watching your teams do stupid things. Like the New Orleans Saints. They have a 2 in 3 record when they should be at least 4-1 (or 5-0 if it wasn’t for that 14 point lead they blew in the last 5 minutes against Washington). Why are they 2-3 because there Kicker can’t do his job. Our hometown football team has the same problem also. The Kicker can’t make a field goal to save his life and it could come back to haunt the team. The solution is not to bring back the much maligned Troy Westwood because he can be just as bad but it’s to find a confident kicker. In the past Gramatica has won a Superbowl and Serana had really good years in college. The Saints can probably find a different kicker now that there’s  is injured but there is a lot of pressure on the person but they are paid well for the pressure so it comes down to confidence. At least I hope it does. Till Next Time. Tony

 

 

                                                                                                                                                               Oct 4, 2008      

 

 

Dynamic Duos

 

Hi Everyone, when you hear the names Lee/Kirby, Lennon/McCartney, Martin and Lewis you think of great team-ups. These and other dynamic personalities worked well together but also had times when they couldn’t stand each other. It is almost the perfect love/hate dynamic when you get talented people working together. The result is projects that profoundly touch all of us. I for one am glad that they were able to find the love at the beginning but it was also bad in the end. The same thing works with heroes and villains. A Hero is only as good as the Villain he fights. There is also a love/hate dynamic which neither the antagonist or protagonist can see at the time but each relishes after the battle is over. At least when we read about this in the funny pages we get an enjoyment. Something that usually doesn’t come when it happens in the real world. Until Next Time. Tony

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