(Street Life is a regular feature that focuses on what's playing in the stock market.)

* ACT I: The Twin Killing Inco (TSX:N) $72.28 Up 10.8 per cent (one-day pop on June 26 news).

Falconbridge (TSX:FAL) $58.83 Up 5.1 per cent (one-day pop on June 26 news).

In one of the biggest blockbuster deals in Canadian history, U.S. copper giant Phelps Dodge pitched to acquire Canada's two nickel giants - Inco and Falconbridge - in a deal valued at $40 billion US. While Inco and Falconbridge shareholders, who had already seen their shares soar on separate hostile bids for their companies, were cartwheeling over the deal, Phelps Dodge shareholders were shell-shocked, dumping their shares for a one-day hit of 8.1 per cent. If successful, the deal would create the world's largest nickel producer and the world's fifth-largest miner. Credit Suisse analyst David Gagliano politely characterized the deal as "expensive" in a report. Economics professor Lawrence White of New York University's Stern School of Business wasn't as polite, telling TheStreet.com that "the shareholders get screwed" in the deal.

* ACT II: The Home Run Wi-Lan Inc. (TSX:WIN) $1.29 Up 130.4 per cent (three-month gain).

Written off as a candidate for the dot-com graveyard early this year, Wi-Lan seems to have found a new lease on life - at least that's the statement the market seems to be making. Since hitting a 52-week low of 56 cents, Wi-Lan shares have been on a tear, even in a shoddy market for junior tech stocks. The Calgary company's shares have been in orbit since the company underwent a management shakeup and began a restructuring of operations. Under new CEO Jim Skippen, Wi-Lan is now focused entirely on licensing its wireless technology patents. A few years ago, over-zealous speculators thought Wi-Lan was poised to change the world of wireless and bid the stock up over $90.

* ACT III: The Bomb Grande Cache Coal (TSX:GCE) $1.19 Down 47.1 per cent (one-month decline).

Once a chart is broken, it's difficult to break a downtrend. Just ask the long suffering shareholders of Grande Cache, who have been subjected to an ugly downtrend. Grande Cache hasn't provided much encouragement to stop the bleeding. The Calgary company, which traded as high as $16 in December 2004 at the height of the brief coal bull market, lost $32.1 million in its 2006 fiscal year ending March 31. The stock is down an eye popping 87.8 per cent over the past 12 months as the company has been devastated by shipping woes for its metallurgical coal used for steel manufacturing.

* ACT IV: The Breakout Skye Resources (TSX:SKR) $9.24 Up 32.2 per cent (two-day breakout).

'The next Canico?' That was the catchline in a recent note on Skye Resources from Canaccord Capital, fuelling speculation that Skye was an attractive takeover target. Canico Resource Corp. was the Canadian nickel miner that was acquired by Brazilian company CVRD for $876 million last year. The recent breakout in Skye shares, on unusually high volume, came as investors awaited an updated resource estimate for the company's ferronickel project in Guatemala. Based on a feasibility study, the company expects the project to eventually boast annual production of 50 million pounds of nickel. Mining giant BHP Billiton is a major shareholder of the company.

* ACT V: The Takeover Western Lakota Energy (TSX:WLE) $14.70 (June 20 price) Up 5.2 per cent (one-day rise on news).

Western Lakota certainly managed all right on its own, with its shares gushing almost 500 per cent in the past two years. But a friendly takeover by Savanna Energy Services (TSX:SVY) was hailed by analysts as a powerful alliance. The merged entity will be worth $1.5 billion and become Canada's third-largest oil and gas driller. The deal was also applauded by Savanna shareholders, who bid their stock up slightly by 1.5 per cent (generally the acquirer's stock drops on such a deal). Western Lakota's growth story was largely built on its relationship with Aboriginal people in Alberta and Saskatchewan.

* ACT VI: The Trust Bust Entertainment One Income Fund (TSX:EOF.UN) $2 Down 79.4 per cent (past 12 months).

As usual, unitholders are shocked and dismayed when a trust cancels the monthly cash distributions. There's still a perception that trusts are generally safer bets than stocks. Yet, some of the biggest bombs on TSX have been trusts, so unitholders should have gotten their wake-up call by now. Financially strapped Entertainment One said it was cancelling its distribution payments so it can maintain compliance with bank covenants. The company is Canada's largest wholesaler of DVDs, CDs and video games to retail chains and also operates the CD Plus retail outlets.

* ACT VII: The Stuffed Bear Build-A-Bear Workshop (NYSE:BBW) $22.47 US Down 14.4 per cent (one-day swoon on news).

Build-A-Bear does not have a chief executive officer (CEO). It has a chief executive bear (CEB). And that's no bearish bedtime story. That's Maxine Clark's actual title. And the company doesn't just build stuffed bears in its stores. It also magically transforms investing bulls into bears. Those would be the ones that were growling over Build-A-Bear's revised guidance on earnings per share that resulted in the latest selloff. The St. Louis-based company said it expected its earnings per share for fiscal 2006 (ending Dec. 30) to come in at the low end of previously announced guidance in a range from $1.44 to $1.53 US per share. Build-A-Bear has 240 stores in the U.S., Canada and the U.K.

* ACT VIII: The Day Traders' Special Dexit Inc. (TSX:DXT) $0.95 (June 22 close) Up 82.7 per cent (one-day spike).

Thinly traded Dexit scored a quick double, surging to $1.08 in intraday trading on June 22, a 108-per-cent increase over its price from the previous day, before settling back to 95 cents at the close. All that action was accomplished on volume of 156,091 shares. That's a pretty impressive move for a company that only announced a new board member and a management shuffle, in which chairman John McBride took over as CEO on an interim basis. The provider of electronic payment facilitation services lost $1.87 million or 19 cents per share in the first quarter of this year. The stock has been in a downtrend for most of the past year since hitting the $3 mark a year ago.

(Stock prices are based on results through June 23 unless otherwise specified.)

(Gyle Konotopetz can be reached at gyle@businessedge.ca)