An oligopoly coming to a telecomms market near you

If you're Cdn and you haven't figured out what hte top news/business story of the day is yet... you must be living under a rock or in a cave or something. I couldn't believe all the e-mails I received via various news sources regarding the talks that are happening b/n Telus and BCE and the potential merger.

I'm sort of on the fence on how I feel about this. As one would argue, this makes the mktplace smaller and the less competitors there are, the worse it is.

However, the recent mergers or acquisitions of a Cdn company by an Amercian one has also bothered me. We're seeing more of a proliferation of this and it saddens me to see Cdn grown co's move south.

Another thing to consider is - doesn't it make sense for acompany w/ vast experience in the telecomms industry to acquire BCE rather than a pension board/grp?

& despite the number of Telus naysayers, I've gotta say that every experience I've had w/ Telus has left me WAY more satisfied than Bell. It took me three... count them, THREE weeks to get my phone connected when I was in Ontario. PLUS, Bell charged me for two weeks of DSL when I didn't even have a phone line and overcharged me on my long distance plan. *sigh* I may have had to wait more than an hour for the Telus dude to hook up my phone, but he came up to my unit and answered all my questions and I was given two months free of DSL when I should've only received one.

Uh oh...

I'm in trouble if ISPs start charging users for the "exact amount and kinds of content they use on the Internet."

I rarely use the Internet to "surf." Sure, I use it to read my favourite celebrity gossip blogs , stalk quasi-celebrities/B-listers/reality stars via their MySpaces and creep on Facebook on the weekends, but during the weekday evenings, all I do is "seek" out television shows that I need to catch up on or aren't available on Cdn networks.

I currently give $40 a month to my ISP and if they change up the system, I'm gonna be screwed.

LOVE it!

Do you like Amy Winehouse's song, Rehab? Well... you're going to to love the below even more. I just can't say it enough... LOVE IT!

tv filter asks...

Is Carson Daly Conan timeslot-worthy?

The easy answer to that is... NO!

I can't see how Carson is suitable replacement for the affable, Conan O'Brien. Not to mention, his Manorexia would scare any viewers who aren't used to staying up late to watch that "creature"...

I would've paid to see this...

I betcha no one thought that they would've gotten to see this live when they went to the T-Lake show @ Madison Square Garden yesterday!

ed: Looks like CollegeHumor had to take it down... so here it is on YouTube now...

Global warming is having it's affect

Just heard on CKNW that B.C. Hydro has reported that 200,000 customers are experiencing power outages. Yikes!

If I didn't have a back-up alarm called "Dad" - & yes, I know it's quite sad that I still live at home w/ the parental units - I would NOT have made it into work on time today. What a crazy morning... getting abruptly waken up by my father, getting dressed in the dark, waiting for the bus in the dark, my bus almost getting into a head on collison w/ on-coming traffic as it attempted to maneuver the fallen tree branches on the road, and the bumpiest train ride I've ever experienced.

This weather is absolutely crazy, but of course, it doens't even look like downtown Vancouver has been affected at all. Hell, it's sunny right now!

update: Oh gawd help me... look at what I just got from CKNW...

B.C. Hydro says 240 thousand Lower Mainland and Vancouver Island customers without power.

Lower Mainland customers may be without power until Monday.

Are you kidding me!?

Weird...

Rage and Fury

Rob Cohen is not done getting his Bruce Lee fix. The director of 1993's Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story will next work on Rage & Fury. The film will interpose a digital Lee into the story who will speak dialogue from old films. The script is written by Gustin Nash and Jesse Cale.

Loved Dragon - a lot - but can't say that I'm jumping up & down for this one... But from experience I'm sure I'll be eating my words after it actually goes into production and hits the theatre. ;)

I hate spoilers...

but I like taking a break from work & reading blogs on celebrity gossip and bloggers' thoughts on some of my favourite show. I'm still a lil behind on some of the shows that I'm a frequent watcher of, due to mine and my bro's return to the country part way into the television season. So, w/ that in mind and the fact that I *hate* spoilers, reading blogs is increasingly difficult as I don't know what's going to happen on an ep that I haven't seen yet - as was the case when I was perusing TV filter.

What I didn't mind finding out was that they are eliminating the mystery-arcs for Veronica Mars... BBBBBBBBBBOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!! That's my whole issue w/ this season - apart from the fact that VM seems a smidge bitchier than before. The lack of a season long mystery arc has totally decreased the mystique of VM. OK, probably not the best way to describe it, but to put it simply, me no likey.

What I didn't want to find out? That the next arc is "Who killed Dean O'Dell." GRRR!

Are you effing kidding me!?!

There's a reason why they say, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." This is going to be a disaster... of course, you may want to check in w/ me next yr - knowing me, I'll probably say I loved it. ;)

But seriously... the cowardly lion as a wolverine-like creature and the Wizard being renamed to "Mystic Man."

As John Stossel would say, "Give me a break!"

Is blogging too mainstream?

I remember two years ago, if one mentioned they had a "blog," the majority of ppl would have no idea what the hell you were talking about. Today, it's become so mainstream that some bloggers are "celebrities" in their own, i.e. Perez Hilton. Don't get me wrong, I'm an avid Perez reader, but does anyone else find it weird that major networks, such as CNN, quotes him?

It's kind of funny, even a mere year ago, I would always discuss how we could use the Internet and blogging as part of our public relations strategies, but no one seem to be on the bandwagon as much as I was. Now, there seems to be an article every two days in major dailies about how blogging has impacted the way advertisers and companies are planning ad campaigns, etc.

Is blogging getting too big for its own britches? My brother used to have a blog, years ago, way before blogging was "cool". He now refuses to keep one as it seems that everyone & their pets have a blog to discuss their personal lives, etc.

Then there's the phenomenom of MySpace. Not totally sure what the background is exactly, but Fox has some relationship w/ it and now... there's going to be a movie based on teens & their use of MySpace...

The dark comedy Normal Adolescent Behavior looks at sexual politics and the use of MySpace among privileged teens. Amber Tamblyn, Kelly Lynch, Kelli Garner and Daryl Sabara star in the film written and directed by Beth Schacter.

God help us

As I do have a number of fairly religious friends, I try not to use the Lord's name in vain & typically type out "gawd" in order not to offend anyone. Damn, I'm considerate. :) However, the latest news regarding Paris Hilton being in the running to play Mother Teresa in a feature film... GOD help us

Oh gross...

Seriously... this is just nastified... Who would want to eat this!?! Other than someone trying to find a really cruel way to die...

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2362369

Would you brush your teeth w/ black paste?

I know I wouldn't! Wonder how many ppl would actually purchase this? *shudder*

The ever so eloquent

Yeah yeah... I've been MIA for the past while. Mostly due to my obsession w/ the Winter Olympics and hte fact that work was CRAZY last week. Kinda sad that I won't have the Olympics to look fwd to every night, but I guess that also means that the shows I watch will be back w/ new eps.

Anywho, while I would never proclaim to be a word smith of any sort, I sure hope that I would be a better spokesperson than Ms. Anderson. It was announced that Pam is gonna be the host of the 2006 JUNOS... oh joy! </sarcasm> Here's what she said in a statement,

Canadian music rocks. No matter where I am in the world I can listen to Canadian music and feel like I'm at home. This is going to be one kick-ass awards show.

Gee... makes me wonder if she *really* wrote this letter... </sarcasm>

Wow... what a star studded film

</sarcasm> When Daniel Craig was announced to be succeeding Pierre Bronson, there was a huge uproar in Hollywood and the blogosphere, including me. Really... who is this Daniel Craig person & why doesn't he look like a James Bond? He's blonde for gawdsake! W/ the 21st Bond movie going into production soon, only time will tell whether Craig will be the next Lazenby.

Eva Green was announced to be the upcoming Bond Girl and Mads Mikkelsen is going to be the Bond nemisis. Yeah, that's right... WHO!?! Granted, maybe this movie will launch Green's career. You never know w/ these things. While incredibly talented, the biggest name attached to the movie, Jeffrey Wright isn't going to pull in that many fans.

It's looking more & more like this movie is going to be a bomb. Perhaps I should sell my stock before it bottoms out.

Why can't we just let sleeping dogs lay?

Seriously... the Bertuzzi-Moore incident is going to be one of those neverending stories. While the movie was about the adventures of Bastian and Atreyu in a fantastical world, this story is about how Todd, in one dumb ass move, sucker punched Steve into a world w/out hockey.

Let me start off saying that I, in no way, condone what Bert did, but at the same time, hockey is a "violent" sport and emotions some times run wild. Plus, there's the whole fact that an additional 3 or 4 ppl jumped onto Bert, who was on top of Moore - so who really knows what caused the injury...

I digress... I thought that this story would, by now, have died off. We had the case brought to Supreme Court and to civil court in Colorado. Both have been settled or thrown out. Now w/ the betting scandal surrounding Gretsky, the lime light has been taken off Bert. But not for long...

CBC is reporting that Steve Moore and his family has filed a $15 million civil suit against Bert in Ontario. If they can't get to him in other courts, why not try Ontario... where the incident didn't take place...

I guess you've gotta give them props for being persistent. On the other hand... talk about timing. Why now? Why when all eyes are on the Olympics? Are they just hungry for media attn or do they want to ensure that Bert is continued to be painted in a bad light so if the team does win gold, he won't be seen as a "hero?" Either way, I'm sick of this shite...