Tony's Column Twenty-Nine

Tony’s Column

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Jan 30, 2010

Patience

Hi Everyone, I’ve been thinking about patience the last couple of days and how so many people right now don’t seem to have any. I had thought that maybe because of the Christmas rush people would be a little edgy but it seems to have continued right up until now. I have been in a couple of line ups at different places (Bank, Post Office, Grocery store) and people seem to get right upset if they are not put through right away. I have seen it on the street were I have let someone cut in and further down the road that same car wouldn’t do the same for another car. At times it only takes a couple of seconds and if everyone lets one car merge in the traffic would flow better. I am on Dial up for my Debit machine here so it takes a little while longer to process. You should here the sighs or the what’s taking so long because it takes 30 seconds to process instead 10 seconds like some places. I also here the grumblings and sighs at the Grocery store when all the checkouts are going and people are looking for the shortest line and they keep moving from one line to the next because it looks like it moving faster. Sometimes it would have been best to stay put because I have seen where a person was behind me moved to what was perceived as a shorter faster moving line only to still be in line when I have paid and leaving. Remember a little patience goes a long way. Till Next Time. Tony

Jan 23, 2010

We Three Things

Hi Everyone, Every once in awhile there are things in this world that makes me shake my head in the past week there has been at least 3 things. I touched on one of the things last week with Marvel wanting retailers to send strip cover Blackest night to them to get a free Deadpool Variant. Well the fallout for Marvel hasn’t been good and DC is not going to take the bait and fire back. People have said “what is Marvel thinking”. They are thinking any publicity is good publicity. It keeps people talking about them, it also feels out the market (this comes from the Vince McMahon school of marketing). The other 2 things is the vicious elbow to the Head by Patrice Cormier on another Junior player in the QMJHL. If you have not seen the hit, it was pretty bad and premeditated. That’s right I came out and said that it was premeditated. Having played the game and having taken my fair of hits (regular and cheap shots), the way he came out of the players bench and instead of doing a regular check with the shoulder, he right off the bat stuck out the elbow and went at the players head. Not sure if there was anything during the game that went on between the 2 players that still doesn’t excuse a deliberate shot to the head. With sports and medicine taking a look at concussions and hits to the head, this was probably not the best time to pull such a bonehead move. This will more than likely cost him his career in Junior and may cost him his shot in the NHL. The Last thing and I don’t want to dwell on this but Pat Robertson is a great big Idiot. How can you call yourself a man of god when you say the people of Haiti are to blame for the disaster they are afflicted with because they practice Voodoo and made a pact with Devil to get rid of the French. If we go by that logic then the United States should be 100 feet under water and California should have fallen into the sea. Let him who is without sin Mr. Robertson, I’m sure you know the rest or maybe you will make up your own ending. Till Next Time. Tony

Jan 14, 2010

Has Marvel gone Crazy!!!

Hi Everyone, As a Retailer of comics there are things that happen that sometimes make me go WHAAATTTT!!!. One of these things is happening right now. Marvel is offering retailers and exclusive Deadpool Siege Variant if they send in 50 stripped covers of the Blackest Night issues that retailers have extras of that they had to order to get the special rings. The Estimated value of the variant will be around $200 and up US of this variant. This is interesting because Marvel is asking retailers to give up what may be dead stock to get an incentive cover. The question is will DC fire the next shot and say for any one who couldn’t make variant number on certain Siege books or the Deadpool Variants return their stripped covered issues for a Brightest day #1 Variant. Opps, Did I just give DC an idea or did we all think of this. The question I want to know is how many people REALLY care about variants. I know I get the occasional people in for them and granted most people want a variant if it is done by their favorite artist or it is a really (and I mean really) nice cover. But most of the variants just seem ordinary. Is Marvel really helping us out by telling us to destroy copies that are sitting on our shelves, in order to get a variant that people may (or probably may not) want to pay $200 plus U.S. for. I know of a few customers right now that are on a variant strike. I also know with both the ring fiasco (which is what I call it) and the variant fiasco most people haven’t been beating down the doors to get variants or willing to place the extra orders necessary to get the rings ( I still have copies of the issue that were solicited for the rings, however not enough extra to get the Deadpool Variant, I guess that’s what I get for ordering what I thought would sell). Hopefully this doesn’t cause a war like this. Hopefully people don’t get too caught up in this. Or maybe people win and I guess some of us retailers will be the losers in this, not anticipating that our customer would pay $200 U.S. for a Variant Cover. Welcome to the Wonderful World of Disney/Marvel. Till Next Time. Tony

Jan 8, 2010

People are Strange

Hey Everyone, Well I guess I was wrong and we are starting a new decade. Well it has been an up and down week in the news. Marvel/Disney merger is now complete, let the fallout begin. Gilbert Areneas was caught with a couple of unloaded guns in his locker at a professional basketball practice and was suspended. Eric Tillman is released after pleading guilty to sexual misconduct and will more than likely keep his job as Saskatchewan GM. Mike Kelly was in town to clean out his desk. Casey Johnson, one of the Heiress to the Johnson and Johnson fortune and Girlfriend/Fiancé of reality star Telia Tequila was found dead, and the women keep popping out of the Woodwork for poor old Tiger. Plus this week the American won 2 hockey tournaments on Canadian soil. I hope that this isn’t a foreshadowing of things to come. I know that when it’s Canada vs US on US soil we tend to win, but when it’s on our soil the Americans tend to come on top, so lets hope that the men and women final end up Canada vs. someone else. Well the Decade has gotten of to quite a start and it’s only a week old. Here’s hoping the Saints can go Marching in. Till Next time. Tony

Dec 30, 2009

End of the Year/End of the Decade?

Hi Everyone, Well it the end of another year and there is something I need to get off my chest. Why is everyone doing a top 10 of the decade. As far as I can remember the decade always went from year 1 to year 10. Did the Millennium really mess people up. Everytime I turn around there is a top 10 of the decade. Well you won’t get my top 10 because there is still 1 MORE YEAR LEFT!!! Maybe some one will figure it out and we will get a who new list of top ten of the decade or may for the new millennium the decade will be from 0 to 9. Till next Time. Tony

Dec 18, 2009

Football Craze(ee)

Hi Everyone, Did you know that there are a lot Top 10 of the Decade list coming out. I thought that at the end of 2010 was the end of the decade. I guess all that stuff in 1999 threw everyone off. Well I’m not going to do a top ten list, at least not until next year that is. Well just when you though things couldn’t get any crazier, Bomber Head Coach Mike Kelly gets arrested in Philadelphia for Minor aggravated assault. The Same Day that Bomber General Manger Lyle Bauer retires. The same day Cincinnati Bengals Wide Receiver Chris Henry dies. The Indianapolis Colts become the 3 team in NFL history to go 14-0 (and hopefully the Saints will be the 4th team on Saturday). The Bomber Board of Directors decided to fire Mike Kelly. This has been one crazy 48 hours in the Football Community. Till Next Time. Tony

Dec 15, 2009

Brisk and Invigorating

HI Everyone, Well the Weather has taken a sharp dip in the last little while to a nice –22 C high and –35 C low, the question has been asked: “Is it our perceived nature of what the weather is that makes us dislike it”. If we say that outside is brisk or invigorating instead of it being Cold or blustery that maybe we would be more accepting of the weather. Positive attitudes are one thing but when you are standing outside for about an hour in a 30km wind and you can barely feel your fingers even though you have warm gloves on, well terms like brisk and invigorating go right out the window. At this point is is COLD, pure and simple. Had the temperature gone down to this level gradually (like most winters) then I don’t think people would be complaining as much and words like brisk and invigorating would probably have a better effect on our attitude. However the weather went from –3 to Minus 20 almost over night and stayed there. We are supposed to get some relief in the next couple of days and I am looking for a break from this invigorating and brisk weather. Let me tell you it’s darn cold, but not as cold as Edmonton. Till Next time. Tony

Dec 3, 2009

Tigers and Riders and Perfection, Oh My!!

Hi Everyone, This week I’m going to talk about a few things. First off, Eldon “Tiger” Woods what were you thinking. I know that you can’t just judge by what we see from the outside but You have just made a Billion Dollars, you have a Hot Wife, 2 great kids and you are fooling around with a Waitress. Dude, you have it all (at least that’s what you tell us by keeping your private life very private) but look at all the endorsements you had. In this day and age you can’t expect people to use discretion when your having indiscretions. In old Hollywood, people had affairs for years and it was kept secret but now in our 24 news hour cycle and everyone wanting more than their 15 minutes of fame, everyone is looking to make a quick buck and if your famous you’re the one they are looking at you to pay their bills. Extortion has now become a job for many a person. Makes you wonder if they put that much time and effort into work, they might not need to leech of the rich. Then again if the rich were smart they might be happy with what they got and not look for a momentary fling. Did any of you catch the Grey Cup or Le Coupe Grey. It came down to a last second field goal and an big mistake on the Defense to end the game. Saskatchewan had thought they won the game on the missed field goal with no time left but there was flags all over the field. It seems someone on the special teams can’t count to 12 because they had 13 men on the field. This resulted in a 10 yard penalty and a re-kick. The kick this time was good and Montreal ended up winning the game and the Cup. Two things: The game should never have got to that point as Saskatchewan was out scored 19-3 in the second half and that the special teams coach should have made sure everyone was on the same page for the final play. The Saints and the Colts are still undefeated 11 games into this season. With Vikings being 10-1, this give the Saints something to play for (Home Field advantage), the Colts could have everything wrapped up in the next 2 weeks and that will put them in the situation of do we continue to play everyone and try for the record if we haven’t lost or do we rest players for the playoffs. When teams have done that, they have tended to have not so great first playoff games. That is why I am thankful that the Viking and Saints are still so close because it will give both teams a chance to play well not only for the rest of the season but into the playoffs. Till Next Time. Tony

Dec 1, 2009

The End

Hi Everyone, Today is kind of a sad day for me. It was 22 years ago today that I opened the Bookshelf, it was also 20 years ago I had moved into the location that everyone knew: 3050 Portage Avenue. I am sad because everyone know that everything comes to an end but I never thought that it would be that store that would go first. The Bookshelf still lives on through this internet site and as the official name of the company. Tonight I will sit, watch the Hockey game and reminisce about the good times I had there. For as of tonight I am putting this behind me. Goodnight Frances Pischker, where ever you are. Till Next Time. Tony

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