Pirates!

Pirates of the Caribbean - Dead Man's Chest debuted this weekend, and we decided to see it on opening weekend. That's usually not a good idea - crowds being what they are - but we went to a matinee during the World Cup Soccer match. This city has a large population of French and Italian citizens, so I was betting that the theatres would be relatively empty. My gamble paid off, and we were able to get good seats for this movie.

I won't talk plot, as I have this thing about giving/receiving spoilers. I'll just say I enjoyed the movie, and look forward to the next installment.

On a loosely related note, it seems like a number of unscrupulous business owners have decided to keep the 1% GST rebate voted by the federal government. Some are blatantly saying they won't return it. Others are claiming that it reflects an increased price to cover increased costs!! Still others (usually restaurants) are simply adding this message to their receipts: "includes 1% mandatory gratuity". In the latter case, I pity the wait staff... since I have a policy of not adding a tip to any bill where I have been charged a mandatory minimum gratuity. I'm curious to know what other people think about this move by retailers. In fact, I'm so interested, I've registered a domain to collect opinions, create a blacklist of offending retailers across the country, and perhaps grant space for complying businesses to advertise their establishments. It's just parked at the moment, but be on the lookout for real content coming soon!