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Ah summertime!  Imagine going to the beach, relaxing in the sun, digging your toes into the hot sand...only to find when they emerge, there are sunflower seed shells stuck between each toe.  Blah!  Major pet peeve of mine.  Don't get me wrong....I love sunflower seeds as much as the next guy...but don't spit them into the sand.  Use a cup, a bag, a hat, I don't care...I just don't want to step in something that's been in someones mouth.  This seems like common sense, right?  Yet inevitably, every time I go to the beach someone is gobbing hunks of spitz into the sand. 

Am I being overy anal?  Is it OK to let the saliva soaked sunflower seed shells litre the beaches or should everyone be required to put them in the trash?  Perhaps a spitz ban should be enforced.  Other things I don't liketo see on the beach...cigarette butts, syringes and CC in a speedo.

I guess destroying the art of dance on "Dancing With The Stars" wasn't enough for Kate, now she wants to trash your holiday favourites.  Hold on to your chestnuts, Kate Gosselin is looking to add "holiday crooner" to her resume!  Octo-Kate is itching to deliver a Christmas album chocked full of her fave religious-y tunes. I think it's safe to say Jon will not be her backup singer, but you can count on the octo-kids being front and center. I hope her singing is better than her dancing.   You may be relieved to learn that no major record label has offered her a deal yet. Thank God.

The new Twilight movie debuts tonight.  The reviews are in and they says it's better than the previous films, but not by much.  It really doesn't matter if these Twilight movies are any good or not...the vampire chick flicks have grossed over a billion dollars so far and no doubt millions of Twi-hards will flock to the theatres to check out the sensitive, vegetarian vampire Edward emote over Bella and the werewolf with the 6-pack played by Taylor Lautner. 

Sorry guys, but date night at the movies this week is going to "suck" this weekend (pun intended).  I'm not a fan of these films (because I'm an adult male with more than an ounce of self respect) but I'll let my wife drag me to this movie.  Why?  Not because I enjoy chick flicks, but I enjoy the potential of what may happen AFTER the romance-enhancer.  Wink wink.

Have a great Canada Day and Go Riders!

Sorry Angelina, but Oprah is back at #1 on the Forbes Celebrity Power List. 

The list is based on earnings and exposure in print, TV, online, social media and (most importantly) on radio.  Oprah bumped Angelina Jolie out of the #1 spot (Angie falls to #18) and earned a staggering $315 million over the past 12 months.

At #2 was Beyonce with a successful tour, CD and endorsement deals.  She made a cool $87 million.   At #3 Canadian James Cameron showed up on the list for the first time since 1999...Avatar earned him $210 million.  Lady Gaga popped in at #4...she madE $62 million and, obviously, gets a lot of press.  And proving that no publicity is bad publicity...Tiger Woods came in at #5 earning $105 million.  Oh, wait a minute...he only earned $52.5 million.  He soon-to-be ex-wife Elin will be getting half of that.

 Did you see the G20 riot in downtown Toronto over the weekend?  A mob of people dressed in black hoods challenged the police on Saturday.  The city looked like it was all comming apart at the seams as the thugs were breaking windows in stores and lighting police cars on fire. 

No serious injuries and the security fence around the summit headquarters was not breached.  I think the police did an outstanding job, arresting over 500 of these cowardly hooligans.  I don't understand what these idiots were trying to do.  It's not like the leaders of the world were threatened by their actions.  The leaders didn't have to face the mob in downtown Toronto...I doubt most of them even knew it was happening.  I don't even know what the protesters were protesting. 

The protest started out as some kind of labour protest and was taken over by this group of black-hooded morons who literaly travel around the world trying to stir up trouble at events like the G20.  In my opinion violent protesters =  idiots. 

A new survey suggests almost half of Canadians near retirement feel they are not financially prepared to live comfortably after they leave the workforce.  A poll of people over age 45 done for the Canadian Institute of Actuaries found that 42 per cent of respondents indicated they were unprepared for retirement.  I'm ready for retirement right now...provided I plan on living in a cardboard box under the Albert Street Bridge.

My current retirement plan consists of buying Lotto Max tickets.  50 million, baby!

Have a great weekend!

Friday will mark the one year anniversary of the death of Michael Jackson.  Man does time fly.  Jackson died broke, owing over 70 million dollars but since his death, MJ's estate has bounced back.  Last year, thanks to record sales and the movie "This Is It", the Jackson estate made almost a billion dollars!  Hard to imagine but a dead man makes more money in one year than you or I will ever see in our lifetimes.  I guess if you want to make a lot of money....die.  Brilliant career move, Michael!

World Cup action is awesome.  If you can hear it.  The droning sound of thousands of vuvuzelas is making it imposible to hear much in the stadium.  You can't hear the fans cheering or singing, the players can't communicate with one another, sometimes they can't hear the referees whistle.  The noise level of a stadium of vuvuzelas is about 130 decibles which is the same as a jet taking off from 100 meters away. I think a lot of Soccer fans will be suffering permanent hearing loss after the games are over.  Want to make a fortune?  Invest in a South African hearing-aid company.

I wonder how long before the vuvuzela starts showing up at Rider games?

BP chief executive Tony Hayward (the guy who said he wanted his "life back") is getting raked over the coal again.  Instead of spending the weekend overseeing operations to clean up the oil mess in the Gulf of Mexico, he was on his yaht attending a glitzy yaht race.  Another day, another public relations disaster for BP.  I guess even the most hated man in America needs a day off now and then.

A recent survey listed the most hated men of all time:

#1 - Hitler

#2 - Osama Bin Ladin

#3 - Darth Vader

#4 - Tony Hayward from BP

Obviously that list is tongue-in-cheek.  Regardless, there are some people in the world I'm glad I'm not...and Tony Hayword tops the list.  Do you think he deserves the hatred or is he just the BP scapegoat?

Kate Gosselin's new TV show, 'Kate Plus Eight,' is another huge hit for TLC, and mama Kate and the kids are cashing in...they stand to earn over $700,000.

I know what you're thinking...what a bout poor Jon?  Don't worry about him.  Though Jon is no longer part of the show, he is still under contract with TLC, earning just over $70,000 to disappear.  Jon is basically getting paid to keep his mouth shut and go away.  How can I get a job like that?   Although it must sting him a bit to know his kids are earning more money than he is.  How much more, you ask? Of the $700K that Kate and the tots bring home, $200,000 of that is pay given directly to the kids, while octo-Kate brings in $500,000 for the 'Kate Plus Eight' tapings.

So if you do the math and add that to the half a million she got for 'Dancing With the Stars, plus money from her book and public speaking appearences, it looks like 2010 is turning out to be quite lucrative for the Kate.   Something tells me she's gonna need as much money as she can get...eight sets of college tuition is expensive!

Speaking of Kate...there's talk that she could be the next Bachelorette!!!  It seems natural....she exploits, I mean, spends time with her kids on tv, she went through a divorce on tv...why not find "true love" on tv too.  I mean she can't do any worse than Jon, right?