Cyberspace, definitely a efficient place for people to gather information-- we can get what we want and when we want it and of course, where there's convience, there's a market for it. Yes, I'm here to Rant about Cyber-Giant Amazon.

I was just checking out some prices for this Old CD (The Prentenders) for my father. And of course, you do the normal check: Amazon.ca, CDnow.com, and HMV.com. To my realization, both CDnow, and HMV Canada, has teamed with the evil Amazon. Suddenly, 3 sources for Music has become 1. I just wonder, when is this "swallowing" of companies going to end? Like how Sears swallowed Eatons, like now Indigo swallowed Chapters, like how Amazon swallowed, HMV.com, CDnow.com, Borders.com, OfficeDepot.com, ToysRUs.com and the list goes on.

Perhaps I am a hypocrite, becuase I do, work for a quasi-monopolistic bookstore chain which has definitely impacted the independent bookstores, however, enough is enough. Sooner or later, consumer sovereignity will cease to exist, becuase the smaller companies simply cannot compete with the upper hand of the leading businesses. Our consumer choices will continue decline.

Perhaps others may see this "swallowing" as efficient, and a great way to grab the customers of the "swallowed" businesses and companies like Amazon has indeed expanded its product line, through this tactic. And perhaps, that's just the way it is with Market economies, however, we must stop this merger-madness. Sooner or later, I'm afraid we'll be invaded by Wal-Marts, Home Depots, and god forbid, make me, the Chapters bookseller, take online orders from Amazon.ca, ewww. If this keeps up, Chapters.ca's fate is inevitable. I'm sure.

This is Mattism and this is rant.

Comments (2)

Toronto, say hello to Hollister, the nation's first two retail locations of the ever-present collegiate and queer-boi parent clothing empire, Abercrombie and Fitch. I had the opportunity to head to the Eaton Centre to kill some time and check things out.

The Hollister experience can be summed up into one word: dark.

The collegiate pop-punk music was atrociously blaring to the point that it was impossible to grasp what the sales associate was saying.

The exterior facade resembles a beach paradise tavern, with the token traditional window shutters. Because of these unique shutters placed on the storefront, there are no prominent storefront merchandise displays that shoppers have become accustomed to.

Once inside, I started to question what kind of theme this store is trying to represent-- it definitely didn't look like a beach paradise. Inside, it was dark, really really dark. The only lighting in the store are the overhaning spotlight fixtures casted only at its table clothing displays, leaving the other areas near pitch dark. Maybe I found it a little weird because we have become so used to stores that are brightly lit with floor space that casts absolutely no shadows.

Many elements of store reminded me of the now defunct, Loose Change Louies (but with Good Charlotte playing or something), but perhaps even darker-- since at least Louies had ghetto black light. Hollister managed to turn the once spacious Bluenotes location into probably most crammed and stuffy shop in the mall.

For the record, the mall wasn't busy.

As I browse their selection of Humour Tees, I was soon amazed at the people that were brushing against me. Sure I'm irresistible, but the brushing was feeling quite uncomfortable. I would only expect that at a dirty bar.

Another reason why I thought I was at Louies. Perhaps that's was their intention.

When all's said and done, I hope this is "dark beach" theme is just temporary because I don't think I can get used to this.

Hollister is now located at the Eaton Centre and at Sherway Gardens, and Abercrombie will soon be open on the street level at the Eaton Centre close to Sephora. Abercrombie is already open at Sherway.

Anyone know if they have the topless "All-American" AF associates announcing promotions at Sherway like their American counterpart?

Just curious. Yep.

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If I only recommend one product ever in my life, this one would be it.

Allow me to demonstrate my see-lai-ness and urge you to try this incredibly good fruit 'n nut cookie. I was introduced to this cookie by a fellow co-worker at the TTC, and since we were bless to have a Loblaws directly across the street, I usually kept a stash of these in my rolling files.

This cookie is especially recommended to those that are not too fond of chocolate or to things that are particularly sweet. The treat is very chewy, and is as addictive as chips.

According to the President's Choice website, its name is "derived from the local dialect for the region's widely used sweetener, molasses ("lass") and small, low-rising cake ("mog")". The delicious treat apparently originates from Atlantic Canada.

Allelujah Atlantic Canada.

I have found these in all the Loblaws, Zehrs, and Superstore locations I've visited, but only in select No Frills locations.

Try it, and let me know what you think.

PC Lassy Mogs Soft Fruit & Nut Cookies - [www.presidentschoice.ca]

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After doing some purging of my closet, I decided to set away quite a few things to Goodwill. It mostly consists of overly worn t-shirts, shirts, and a wide selection of khakis and dress pants.

Remember I was wishing so badly to gain weight? Well, be careful what you wish for, because there are so many pairs of pants that I no longer fit into. I am now bustling a 32 inch waist, and that is quite phenomenal when I could fit into a 28 just three years ago without any abdominal sucking effort.

So many pants had to go, this includes my infamous pair of Ass Pants dress pants from Mexx. Shima, who coined the term Ass Pants, was introduced to them during in Planning Theory class. We had to dress up for our presentations, and because it was quite fitted around my rear, it accentuated my (hot) ass. Haha.

Even though there is no way I can fit into them now, I couldn't fathom myself giving them up. I just liked them so much. For that reason, I started a collection of unwearable legacy clothing-- clothing that brings back too many memories to be given to Goodwill.

Once I started this legacy collection, I found myself being less and less inclined to throw things out. Mainly, I couldn't help myself to give up my jeans. Weirdly, I don't have the same feeling for khakis and shorts.

When I merged both my Markham and Waterloo closets, I counted a total of 16 pairs of jeans, in all various shades of blue. Just blue. The oldest pair that I recall was back in either Grade 11 or 12 when I had my underwear-showing thuggy baggy jeans (Size 32).

Then I realized, jeans are probably the biggest marketing ploy of our modern time. I mean seriously, why do I need jeans in all shades of blue? And even with 16 pairs of jeans, I find myself wearing the same two or three pairs, while the rest sit and collect dust. Clever marketing, Gap. From boot cuts, to tapered in at the knees, to low rise, to 'broken in', I succumbed to the garment industry's many tactics. Ah no, I lied, the only thing I haven't succumbed to is the skinny jean—-mainly because it's so not me. I'm way not artsy-fartsy-urban enough to pull those off.

Even though I know this awful marketing scheme, I will continue to buy jeans. I don't know why, I have this weird relationship with jeans. I love them. While only a few fit me now, I will be adding all of the pairs to my legacy collection. Jeans have a way of defining a time. Baggy jeans represents high school. Low rise and tight jeans represents those frosh party days. And of course, the wider jeans will define my current "spare tire" stomach era.

Who am I kidding, I just want to remind myself that I had a 28 inch waist when I was 20. Do you guys have a set of legacy clothes?

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Do you know what I'm getting fed up with? Loyalty reward cards. Almost every store's got them, making our wallets the size of cute square-shaped bagels. I was thinking about all the different cards that I could potentially own, and I think it's quite frightening. Here's a list just on the top of my head:

• HBC Rewards - The Bay, Zellers, Home Outfitters, Designer Depot
• Shoppers Optimum - Shoppers Drug Mart
• Sears Club - Sears
• Air Miles - Rona, LCBO, Shell, Dominion, The Shoe Company
• PC Points Mastercard - Loblaw Co. Supermarkets
• iRewards - Chapters, Indigo, Coles
• Dividends Card - Staples Business Depot
• All-Access Pass - American Eagle
• Eddie Bauer Friends Card - Eddie Bauer
• Prestige Card - La Senza
• Love Your Body Club - The Body Shop
• Esprit Club - Esprit
• Signature Member - Bluenotes
• Scene Card - Cineplex Entertainment cinemas
• Moviewatcher - AMC Cinemas
• Pier 1 Imports Rewards - Pier 1
• Blockbuster Rewards - Blockbuster Video

Sure, I may have surrendered and opted for a few cards, but when will this marketing scheme blow over? Are you as tired as I am, when the cashier asks you if you have a [insert reward card name] card?

One card that has been ingrained into my head is the iRewards Card, the loyalty program for Chapters, Indigo, and Coles. When I worked there in high school, managers would continually push the sale of these cards. In fact, iRewards sales was one of three benchmark figures that determine store performance. Because I worked in the Multimedia section of the store, where the books were most expensive, there was a big push to sell these cards, since they were eligible to save 10% on their (big) purchase. The dialogue would often start like this:

[Matt finds a Oracle book for a customer, and places it in his hand]
Matt: Okay, here's the book sir.
Customer: Thanks for your help.
M: You're welcome. Oh by the way, have you heard of our iRewards program?
C: [In a hesitant tone] Um, no.
M: Well, if you become a member of iRewards, you can automatically save 10% on regularly priced books.
C: Oh really? That's pretty good.
M: Yes, you can use it at any Chapters, Indigo, Coles and on our website, and it is a yearly membership of just $20.
C: Oh it costs me? Oh forget it.

Uh huh, it's always fun selling these cards. When the customer goes to the cashier, you can be assured that he's going to hear about iRewards again. Argh!

Anyways, I wonder if there is any research about the effectiveness of these loyalty programs, given that we are now flooded with them. Do I prefer to go to Chapters because of the iRewards Card? Probably not, given that it's hard to buy books from any other book retailer in the suburbs. Perhaps proponents can make the argument that it may encourage customers to buy more.

Another concern I have with these loyalty cards is the customer information that they generate. While most retailers have privacy policies that state that customer information is never sold to other organizations, membership information is definitely used internally to investigate customer spending patterns. Should we be worried about this kind of practice? Perhaps not, I'm not too sure.

Anyway, what loyalty cards do you own?

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My Paypal account was hacked a few weeks ago. I didn't want to actually talk about it until the issues have been resolved.

A few weeks ago, I was doing my work, my Outlook notified me that Paypal received payment from me to a Germany-based VOIP Company.

Of course, I freaked out and checked my Paypal to see if anything was tampered with. And of course, it was not just some phishing thing-- someone actually withdrew money from my bank account and used the money to pay for their VOIP service.

Anyways, I called my bank to see if I can block the transaction, and they said that they could, as long as the transcation hasn't already gone through. Since my Online Banking numbers are not updated in real time, it's hard to say it actually went through.

Then I frankically changed my passwords. This process was so damn annoying because even when you have a password in mind, different sites have different pasword rules, which means you end up having so many different variations of the password.

An hour after, Paypal's bots recognized some suspicious activity with my account and froze it. While I guess this is impressive, they did not make retroactive my account to what it was before the unauthorized transactation. I was still required that I go through the 'Resolution Centre' process.

It turns out that my bank was able to block the transaction, so actually I don't really give Paypal any credit. I know this because Paypal notified me that my bank declined the fund transfer, and that my Paypal account will be charged as a result.

Luckily, a few days later, the whole dispute was resolved, and by account was back to the expected amount.

Wow. Online security concerns are quite serious. Maybe I'll return to making transactions the old-fashioned way. Geez.

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Doesn't this guy remind you Michael McDonald on MADtv?

I'm sure every Canadian has now well acquainted with Koodo Mobile. If you aren't, you probably live in a hole somewhere.

Koodo has delivered perhaps the most agressive advertising campaign since those darn McGuinty public school ads during the 2007 Ontario general election.

Koodo has been exposed to death on TV, radio, internet, newspaper, billboards, malls, and transit vehicles and stations-- the whole media schbangle. Their motto is that it's Canada's fat-free mobility provider. Their use of Helvetica font plays on the "Nutrition Facts" labels you find on all Canadian food products. I suppose the 80's fitness fashion is just trying to be corny and playful.

Koodo is the result of Telus Mobility's product differentiation strategy, and it's intended to be the youthful and discount branch of the larger cellular service provider. This is Telus' second attempt at marketing to the youth demographic, after a failed attempt with Amp'd Moble. Anyway, Telus is just playing catchup, as all the other major cell phone networks already have established youth-oriented brands: Rogers has Fido, and Bell has Solo and Virgin.

With its aggressive advertising, it seems difficult for me to not listen. From its website, Koodo emphasizes fat-free mantra, with its no-frill, no access fee, no activation fee, no contracts, per-second billing approach.

Looking at their plans, though, I have to say that I'm pretty disappointed. There is absolutely no cost savings compared with my existing Telus plan. Koodo is just a repackaged version of the same crappy and expensive plans-- which is to be expected, since why would they lower prices at the demise of its parent Telus brand?

The only thing slightly different is the "Koodo Tab," which is essentially the 'catch' of having no contracts. Essentially, users can put up to $150 of the cost of a new phone on a tab. Then Koodo will apply 10% of a user's monthly bill toward paying off the cost of the phone. It's really not much different from getting the $150 credit for signing 3 year contracts.

Sadly, Koodo might as well be dumped like TV fitness machines it's attempting to mock.

Enjoy the commercials:
Mobile Diet Infomercial - [youtube.com]
Mobile leg lifts - [youtube.com]

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