Tonight the Chicago Blackhawks beat the Philidelphia Flyers 4-3 in overtime to win the stanley cup. The deciding goal was scored by Patrick Kane and was acknowledged about 30 seconds later, which made for one the most anticlimactic overtime Stanley Cup winning goals in NHL history. Honestly, this is about 3 degrees off the epitome of Timbit players ultimate dream scenario. In the ideal scenario the goal is scored on a penalty shot in OT of game 7 against your lifelong rival.
Seven months ago, who would have thought that The Chicago Blackhawks (pronounced Black-Hawks... you people have dirty minds) would have won the Stanley Cup, apart from Nostradamus that is? I have one work for you "Me". That's affirmative, last American Thanksgiving I happen to be visiting some family in the windy city and I made a bold statement: "This is the yaer for Chicago". A simple statement from a simple man, but you can't argue with razor sharp insight.
To celebrate the fulfillment of my epic prediction, I have decided to post some picture from that fateful trip.
Theatre lovers will recognize this shot. Actually anyone who watched Perfect Strangers probably recognizes it.
Note the last few seconds of the opening clip Perfect Strangers.
Here is a nice shot I took from beside the Wrigley Building.
My favorite quotes about Chicago. This first quote is from Vince Vaughn. Vince is a big Chicago fan and you can tell if you watch his movies. You could have spotted him during the payoffs at the home games. The quote is from the movie Swingers. In the movie, Trent (Vince Vaughn) uses Roenick and the Blackhawks against his buddy and Gretzky's Kings on "NHL 94" for the Sega Genesis. Trent is dominating his friend when he says:
"Y'know, it's not so much me as Roenick; he's good!".
Here is the clip:
The second quote that I love is a baseball quote, but involves but involves more sophisticated cultural references than Vince Vaughn. I think it was a tour guide who told me this. (For those who don't know, Chicago's north side is rich white collar crowd and the south is your mainstream blue collar crowd. Madison avenue is the separator of the two sides and The Art Institute of Chicago is roughly at that same latitude. The Cubs generally draw fans from the North and the Sox from the South) So the tour guide tells me: "If you live north of the Art Institute then you are a Cubs fan, if you have never been to the Art Institute, then you're a Sox fan".
To tribute that guide here is a pic from inside The Art Institute of Chicago. You may recognize it from a famous scene in the movie Ferris Buller's day off.
The scene in question:
Here is some abstract art at the Richard J. Daley Center, also known by its courtyard Daley Plaza. It is featured in at least one Blues Brothers movie but I could find any clips so make due with the pic.
Finally, here is a shot from my amazing accommodation at my first cousin once removed. He and his family live just outside of the downtown core in an amazing converted warehouse. The place is ridiculous but I will keep the shots of it to myself. This was my view from my bedroom: Standing 1,450 feet and 110 stories high, Willis Tower is the tallest building in the western hemisphere, but it will always be the Sears Tower to me.
Now before I start posting clips from Family Matters I'm going to end this blog post.
Also for those who haven't noticed, since my trip to Chicago the banner (wide picture at the top of my blog) is actually a shot from the trip. It is Millennium Park. I am in the reflection of the giant bean, if you use a little perspective and physics, you can figure out which one is me. A hint is that I took the shot.
Tracy Morgan is as hilarious as he is awesome. 30 Rock would be nothing without him, nothing; except maybe a pretty decent show. I don't know who rights his lines but here are some from one single episode:
I slept on an old dog bed stuffed with wigs!
I watched a prostitute stab a clown
Our basketball hoop was a rib cage. A rib cage!
Oh, Lord, some guy with dreads electrocuted my fish!
A crackhead breastfeeding a rat.
A homeless man licking a Hot Pocket off the third rail of the G train!
I've seen a blind guy bite a police horse!
A puppy committed suicide after he saw our bathroom!
I once bit into a burrito and there was a child's shoe in it!
I've seen a hooker eat a tire!
The sewer people stole my skateboard!
The projects I lived in were named after Zachary Taylor, generally considered to be one of the worst presidents of all time!
I once saw a baby give another baby a tattoo! They were very drunk!
A pack of wild dogs took over and successfully ran a Wendy's!
You remind me of the babe! What babe? The babe with the power! What power? The power of Voodoo! Who do? You do! Do What? Remind me of the babe!
I saw my baby crying hard as babes could cry... What could I do?...
Sunday night was a Jim Henson tribute night. Jim Henson had died 20 years earlier to the day and an underground theater in Toronto (186 Spadina Road) tributed the anniversary with a Jim Henson double header night. First they played The Muppets take Manhattan, then The Labyrinth with David Bowie.
Obviously it was amazing to see the Labyrinth on the big screen in an indy theater. It should also be obvious that all of the David Bowie crouch shots received an overly enthusiastic rise from crowd members of the female persuasion. Finally it goes without saying that Jennifer Connelly seems to have gotten a lot younger since the last time I saw this movie. But what was really cool (but less obvious), is that the show was introduced by one of Jim Henson's friends who helped him create Fraggle Rock. We got some inside stories about The Muppets, Fraggle Rock, The Labyrinth and other cool stuff that Jim did back in the day. Very cool! Here is a video of the Swedish Popcorn Chef... GOLD!
I also bootlegged the most memorable song of the movie for your viewing enjoyment.
Thanks to a certain friend of mine who I will refer to as Kat M, for years I was under the impression that she personally knew Jennifer Connelly. She failed to mention that it was not the Jennifer Connelly from the Labyrinth. I have been living a lie until embarrassingly recent times.
In another shout-out to another hard-core Labyrinth fan; Marc L. Do you know what this picture at the bottom is all about? If you don't recognize what I am talking about, maybe this picture of The Revelstoke Train Museum will jog the memory.
This tribute goes out to the band OK GO. I have never really been a huge OK GO fan of their music. Its just kind of filler music really, no disrespect but I never think to download their songs after I hear them on the radio. This is not because of copyright protection, I just don't feel that their will ever be a moment where I'll think to myself "Hey, wouldn't it be great to hear that OK GO song right now?". Not that I hate all/any of their songs, I just don't see that moment happening.
Does this look familiar to you? Maybe you are thinking: "Hey isn't that the same choreography my 10-12 year old sister, niece, daughter or grandmother use when her friends come over for that sleepovers?". You'd probably be right! But isn't it so much more entertaining when it is preformed by grown men who should normally be doing something more productive like working on a construction site, playing hockey or gambling?
The next video of the song "This Too Shall Pass" is the one that really caught my eye and made me think, (in my inside Rodney Dangerfield voice of course) "Hey, you guys are all-right! Now who wants to party?".
After Rodney's confetti disapears as mysteriously as it appeared, you probably start to wonder "Why is that video so much better than the last? The answer is simple: I love my elaborate Rube Goldberg machines. (BTW there used to be a video of one on display at the National Art Gallery in Ottawa which you could see for free if you go on Thrusdays between 5-8PM.) The song was better too but this was all about he Goldberg. So when I saw this video I wanted to see what else these OK GO fools may have in store. So I clicked on the related videos and came up with the second video for that song which includes a marching band. And who doesn't like marching band? In the words of Toronto mayor and cheap furniture pusher Mel Lastman "Nobody". Here is your marching band:
The next reason this band caught my attention is that they preformed "This Too Shall Pass" on one of my favorite fake news shows The Colbert Report. The reason this is kind of a big deal is that Colbert's format doesn't regularly include a musical piece. In fact the only other artist that preformed on the show and comes to mind is Willie Nelson (and Tobi Keith after a google search). I can't put those videos they are protected and get pulled.
Finally, the nail in the coffin for me was when I realized hat the Marching Band from the "this too shall pass" video was the Marching Band from the University of Notre Dame. Anyone who knows me would understand that from the ages of 14-16 about half of my wardrobe had some Fiighting Irish of Notre Dame logo on it. I can't think of any other sports team whose hat I ever wore either. Except for a red corduroy Chicago Blackhawks hat I bought in grade 5 at a Atom hockey tournament in Levis near Quebec City. But by grade 6 I had replaced it with my first Notre Dame hat. Fittingly the brand of the hat was called Starter, which was actually the top sports apparel brand at the time.
Even while writing this blog I found another cool video from this band, introducing Including my favorite k9s: Dogs! Here they are promoting this new YouTube feature called Musicians Wanted. This feature allow musicians to get paid when their YouTube videos get played. Isn't that amazing mon osti? It's another Festivus Miracle by OK GO (I now follow them on Twitter).
Finally here is a video of BadBoy owner turned mayor of the biggest city in Canada Mel Lastman. Yes, Canadian's have skeletons in their closets too.
Dear captive audience, Bear Hug 3, Billy Madison Triscuit Cracker sceen, Guiness World Record, municipal food supply, Ottawa Bear Hug, Sens Foundation Today was the 3rd Ottawa Bear Hug. I refer to this event a few posts ago when Billy Elliott donated some money to the charity. I participated because my dad is one of the organizers which deterministically implies that I am one of the volunteers :P. I took some photos and a video, the latter being much louder and more obnoxious than the former. I YouTubed it so you can all see what I mean. BTW I was at the "NOT cool person" post. That is to say; NOT the where the media, the sponsors, the Sens Foundation (including rising star Jesse Winchester) and other VIPs were. They were all up at the pedestrian bridge with all the food. I'm not saying that they ate the delicious Tim Horton's donuts. But I am saying that there were a lot less food in the afternoon than in the morning. What I am saying however is that those who I previously mentioned were the ones who ate them. I also don't want to hear how sorry they are because "sorry" doesn't put the delicious desserts into my stomach does it?
Also before I forget, hundreds of thousands of dollars were raised for charity and a new Guiness World Record may have been set.
I would like to thank everyone who helped make this event possible (present company included). And a special thanks to all our VIP who really made this event possible (despite allegedly demolishing the municipal food supply).
Update as of Jan 10th 2011:
Its official, the record was broken on that fateful day. So the Ottawa Bear Hug is now the biggest bear hug ever:
“I can see that your attempt was approved as a new Guinness World Record on 4 January and certificate has been sent to you already.”
I did it. I did what some people thought was impossible but more sophisticated people knew was just plain... I don't want to say "dumb"... stupid! What I did is I watched the "entire" 5 & 3/4 seasons of ABC's hit series Lost in a mega marathon crunched into 30 days. During this time I caught up on 110 episodes of the show in defiance of all logic. With episodes lasting 42-43 minutes, that's about 75-80 hours of genuine commercial-free network drama. Now, I'm not one to gloat, but I really took this thing to town. Devoting almost all my TV viewing efforts to this monumental task (NHL Playoffs being the exception), I caught up on almost 6 years of story line. Plus anyone who knows anything about Lost is aware that that story line is not straight, but is indeed looped, twisted and frayed.
During the first 3 seasons I was pretty intense. I analyzed things and came up with a bunch of theories and stuff as can be read in my piece entitled LOST - Season 1, 2 & 3 (Relationships, Characters and Plot) (which is just a run through of some of the ideas I had). From season 4 on, I really didn't try to come up with any new theories but just sat back and enjoyed the ride, occasionally eliminating a theory, but more often than not, confirming one. At this point my theory that they are in Hell was semi-confirmed by the character who is supposedly the devil. I don't consider anything confirmed until the show is over. Especially things that were stated by the one character you shouldn't trust.
Anyway, all theories will be confirmed or disproved over the next 3 weeks. As for me, tonight I will watch my first live episode! The episode is called "The Candidate" and according to ABC "Jack must decide whether or not to trust Locke after he is asked to follow through on a difficult task." I'm sorry, isn't that what happened in the first 110 episodes? At least they're consistent.
You know what? If it wasn't before, then this blog is now officially lame. I really need some new material or maybe some real writers...
Sleep tight, mates, in your quilted Chambray nightshirts.
Are you, or is anyone you know considering a Masters degree in one of the following engineering disciplines?:
Electrical Power Engineering
Engineering Systems and Management
Information Technology
Materials Science and Engineering
Mechanical Engineering
Microsystems
Water and Environmental Engineering
Are you also interested in sustainable communities? Are you really smart? Would you rather not spend any money on your Masters?
If you have ever answered "Yes!" to anything in your life, I may have the perfect thing for you. If you have ever answered "Yes!" to the questions I just asked, then I definitely have the perfect thing for you: Consider a degree at the Masdar Institute of Science and Technology.
Masdar is a planned city in the near Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates. The city will be:
Emission Free
Zero Waste
Fulled completely by Renewable Energy
The MASDAR Institute is located at the center of the city. As they build their reputation the University is offering more than free tuition, paying for practically everything you need including your flight there. They are doing this through the The MASDAR Institute Graduate Scholarship (for all nationalities to study at Masdar Institute in Abu Dhabi)
Full scholarship is available to qualified talented students who meet its high admission standards which include appropriate TOEFL score, GRE and an excellent CGPA from a recognized university. A minimum CGPA of 3.0 (on a 4 point scale) or 2:1 in the British system, minimum TOEFL score of 577 (91 on the IBT) or academic IELTS (min 6.5), and a minimum GRE quantitative score of 700 are the basic requirements without which an applicant will most likely not be considered.
Students accepted into the Masdar Institute will be offered a full scholarship which includes the following:
100% tuition fee scholarship
Textbooks
Laptop
Medical Insurance
Housing
International students will receive reimbursement of travel expenses (economy class air-ticket) into Abu Dhabi and back home after completion of studies. Travel expenses (return economy class air-ticket) back to the student's home country at the end of the 1st year of studies will also be reimbursed.
Reimbursement of TOEFL and GRE exam fees (upon registration at Masdar Institute and submission of original receipts)
A competitive stipend per month (cost of living allowance).
The scholarship and benefits are subject to the student maintaining a minimum CGPA as determined by Masdar Institute of Science and Technology and satisfactory progress on their research.
Here are two Ottawa Senators videos that I filmed a couple months ago. I was on the Ottawa Senators bench during the beginning of a game against Boston (i think). Brian Elliot had been named Molson Cup player of the month (December 2009) and awarded $1000 which he was to donate to a charity. He didn't have any charity in mind so Nick Foligno suggested that he donate it to the Sens Foundation Bear Hug.
Short aside: Nick is the captain of The Bear Hug. The Bear Hug is a fundraiser that the Sens Foundation has adopted a few years back. Generally money is raised by high school students. The students raise funds door to door, then they come together on the day of the "hug" and attempt to beat a Guinness world record for largest bear hug ever. It was an organization called "The Force" that originally came up with the idea. Later they approached a group of people (mainly at St. Matthews high school, my dad included. They raised over $100,000 that year and they beat the Guinness record 5 117. Some Romanians came and beat that record so the Ottawa group tried it again raising $318 000, but failing to beat the record.
Anyway, they wanted to show Brian donating the money to the Foundation in a pre-game ceremony in from of all the fans and so my dad was asked to ceremonially accept it. He was also given two tickets to the game so I went along too. These videos are of me behind the Sens bench during the pre-game warm up. The first video is the national anthem which I enjoyed along with the likes of Pascal Leclaire. The second video is of Brian Elliott receiving an over-sized check from Molson then handing to my dad who accepts it on behalf of the Bear Hug.
A couple weeks ago on April 1st 2010, I decided that it is about time to start watching the ABC TV series phenomena known as LOST. I had been warned years ago that it was amazing but addictive, so I decided not to start watching until I know that the series is almost over. The two-hour series finale is scheduled to air on May 23 so that gave me over 2 and a half months to catch up and watch in suspense with everyone else. So far I am way ahead of schedule and have watched seasons 1, 2 & 3.
One thing that I was told about the show is that it has many layers to it. So apart from having complicated plots and twisted time-lines, the series is also packed with themes, literary and historical references as well as hidden plots and sub-plots. Knowing this when I began watching, I decided that I would dig into the details and try to identify themes, unravel plots and deduce the premises of the story. I would do this by attempting to identify references and allusions made throughout the show then research them to whatever depth I thought appropriate or interesting. The goal of all this is to be able to guess the plot and determine the premise on which the plot was imagined (I believe that the show was written with a premise in mind). The only rule I made for myself was to avoid reading any other material on Lost which could contain other peoples observations and theories. I wanted to be sure that everything I found I had done on my own.
Since the beginning, I have been successful at identifying references and predicting sub-plots. For example, the story seems to be loosely based on "Lord of the Flies". From people being stuck on an island, to wild boar, to a leader named Jack, to an unseen beast in the jungle; the parallels are numerous. So far however, the most meaningful references that I have found have come from Season 2 Episode 4 (Orientation). This is the episode during which Locke watches the orientation video left by DHARMA. This episode is important because it helped me validate one of my previous theories. The theory was not confirmed until about 40 episodes later towards the end of season 3. The most important clue from the Orientation episode is a book seen beside the Orientation video in the Swan hatch. This book is called "The Third Policeman". My theory is that this book is like an "Orientation" for TV viewing audience which foreshadows the entire series. It would be quite poetic wouldn't it? Anyway I researched the book and drew some interesting conclusions which served as the basis for my theories for the series. Here are some of the conclusions I came to:
1) There is a box on the island. This box contains anything you desire. 2) Characters must relive the suffering from their past. 3) Old laws do not apply (social law or scientific laws) 4) The Island is Hell (possibly Jack's personal Hell). 5) The main character is a healer and a killer. (probably Jack)
There are other clues in the book which predict: - the Russian dolls (box in a box) which contained the diamonds (not necessarily diamonds) - conflicts between Jack and Locke - the time warp - implosion of Swan Hatch
All of these seem to be coming true so I have begun to track certain things about the characters to figure out how it will all end. One of the most important things I feel should be kept track of is which of the characters killed someone before the flight. If they are actually in Hell this will probably matter. I made a chart to help store all this information.
If you click on this picture you can probably open it in a bigger window and be able to read it properly. I probably made some mistakes on this chart so feel free to leave comments. I also may have made some assumptions. One such assumption is that Jack was a killer in his former life. We know that he has often made choices that let some people live while others died. I believe that this is one of the most important traits about Jack; he makes life and death decisions (he will also always need to fix things). In my opinion the most critical moment in Jack's life is when he decides to try to save the lady with the crushed spine (his future wife). I believe that this moment is significant because there was another patient in the operating room who ended up dying. I think that other person is significant and that letting him/her die may be the reason that Jack is on the island (on in Hell, if there is a difference). But all that is just an unsubstantiated theory of mine based purely on intuition, which I am trying to fit into my other theories.
Also other literary references lead me to believe that the entire series may be a figment of Jack's imagination that takes place during the fraction of a second before he actually dies (possibly in the plane crash).
One last thing and this is a shout-out to Michael Johnson: In Season 2 Episode 21 (Two for the Road), Hurley tributes the scene from movie Say Anything where John Cusack hold ghetto blaster over his head playing Peter Gabriel music and the girl falls for him. Hurley wants to do the same thing with this awkward radio that Sayid build. Just thought that this was hilarious.
Two of the best things in the sports and entertainment world... ok, in the entire known world, are the NBC series 30 Rock and the Ottawa Senators (at Scotiabank place). I think this goes without saying. Now what if those two things were combined into one mega-best thing? Has this question been keeping you up at night and haunting your dreams? Have no fear! Your dreaming days have come to an end!
In this 30 Rock scene, Danny had made a "psych-up" song for the Ottawa Senators which had been nominated for a Juno in the same category as Sir Dave Coulier (who must be the same Dave Coulier who played Joey Gladstone in Full House).
The catchy lyrics were:
“The crowd’s getting loud at Scotiabank Place! Make a hockey lovin’ face at Scotiabank Place!”
The sad thing is that this is the caliber of "psych-up" music that they would actually play Scotiabank Place. 'Tis a sad day in Canadian sport "psych-up" song history when NBC writers can write "psych-up" songs at will, which are as good, if not better than the ones that Canadian our teams play.
One final thing: In the video of Danny while he is singing... look at his pants. Are they skin tight and beige? Or he simply not wearing pants? Why would you write that into the scene!?!?! This show is so ridiculous that even I can love it. Bless your tender heart 30 Rock, bless your rock-tender heart.
I think we should petition to get this song as our official psych-up song. If I could do that I would probably consider it my life's biggest - and shortest lived - accomplishment. A man can dream can't he?
Here is a reminder of why you should not believe something just because someone says it with confidence or authority. Not even NewsWeek can predict the future. Enjoy!
The Internet? Bah! Hype alert: Why cyberspace isn't, and will never be, nirvana By Clifford Stoll | NEWSWEEK From the magazine issue dated Feb 27, 1995
After two decades online, I'm perplexed. It's not that I haven't had a gas of a good time on the Internet. I've met great people and even caught a hacker or two. But today, I'm uneasy about this most trendy and oversold community. Visionaries see a future of telecommuting workers, interactive libraries and multimedia classrooms. They speak of electronic town meetings and virtual communities. Commerce and business will shift from offices and malls to networks and modems. And the freedom of digital networks will make government more democratic.
Baloney. Do our computer pundits lack all common sense? The truth in no online database will replace your daily newspaper, no CD-ROM can take the place of a competent teacher and no computer network will change the way government works.
Consider today's online world. The Usenet, a worldwide bulletin board, allows anyone to post messages across the nation. Your word gets out, leapfrogging editors and publishers. Every voice can be heard cheaply and instantly. The result? Every voice is heard. The cacophany more closely resembles citizens band radio, complete with handles, harrasment, and anonymous threats. When most everyone shouts, few listen. How about electronic publishing? Try reading a book on disc. At best, it's an unpleasant chore: the myopic glow of a clunky computer replaces the friendly pages of a book. And you can't tote that laptop to the beach. Yet Nicholas Negroponte, director of the MIT Media Lab, predicts that we'll soon buy books and newspapers straight over the Intenet. Uh, sure.
What the Internet hucksters won't tell you is tht the Internet is one big ocean of unedited data, without any pretense of completeness. Lacking editors, reviewers or critics, the Internet has become a wasteland of unfiltered data. You don't know what to ignore and what's worth reading. Logged onto the World Wide Web, I hunt for the date of the Battle of Trafalgar. Hundreds of files show up, and it takes 15 minutes to unravel them—one's a biography written by an eighth grader, the second is a computer game that doesn't work and the third is an image of a London monument. None answers my question, and my search is periodically interrupted by messages like, "Too many connectios, try again later."
Won't the Internet be useful in governing? Internet addicts clamor for government reports. But when Andy Spano ran for county executive in Westchester County, N.Y., he put every press release and position paper onto a bulletin board. In that affluent county, with plenty of computer companies, how many voters logged in? Fewer than 30. Not a good omen. Point and click: Then there are those pushing computers into schools. We're told that multimedia will make schoolwork easy and fun. Students will happily learn from animated characters while taught by expertly tailored software.Who needs teachers when you've got computer-aided education? Bah. These expensive toys are difficult to use in classrooms and require extensive teacher training. Sure, kids love videogames—but think of your own experience: can you recall even one educational filmstrip of decades past? I'll bet you remember the two or three great teachers who made a difference in your life.
Then there's cyberbusiness. We're promised instant catalog shopping—just point and click for great deals. We'll order airline tickets over the network, make restaurant reservations and negotiate sales contracts. Stores will become obselete. So how come my local mall does more business in an afternoon than the entire Internet handles in a month? Even if there were a trustworthy way to send money over the Internet—which there isn't—the network is missing a most essential ingredient of capitalism: salespeople.
What's missing from this electronic wonderland? Human contact. Discount the fawning techno-burble about virtual communities. Computers and networks isolate us from one another. A network chat line is a limp substitute for meeting friends over coffee. No interactive multimedia display comes close to the excitement of a live concert. And who'd prefer cybersex to the real thing? While the Internet beckons brightly, seductively flashing an icon of knowledge-as-power, this nonplace lures us to surrender our time on earth. A poor substitute it is, this virtual reality where frustration is legion and where—in the holy names of Education and Progress—important aspects of human interactions are relentlessly devalued.
STOLL is the author of "Silicon Snake Oil--Second Thoughts on the Information Highway," to be published by Doubleday in April.
Thanks for that reality check Clifford Stall! Next thing you know, he'll be telling us that we CAN'T use LaserCats to travel through time to safe destroying the initial conditions which allowed LaserCats to even exist in the first place. You're not the boss of me NewsWeek writer Clifford Stall, you're not the boss of any of us!
This post is one that I commissioned myself to write in response to the many emails and messages that I have received from my amigos and amigas in Brasil, who were congratulating Canada in it's amazing Olympic victories, particularly the stand out win in hockey over the Americans.
I thought that I should reciprocate by summarizing how much these Olympics meant to Canadians and Canada as a nation. Although Canadians were reminded of the significance of the games to Canada every hour by the Canadian media, I am not sure how much of the positive propaganda proliferated beyond the boarders of Canadian media networks. So here is my review of what transpired over those 17 some days and why it these Olympics will be remembered as a true Canadian fairytale.
First, things got off to a bad start. Snow conditions were not great. Then tragedy struck and Greogian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili was killed in during a practice run. Backup plans for the snow were put into action and Nodar was honored during the opening ceremonies. But then the ceremonies (although very cool) had some problems of their own. The first nations leaders had not arrived at their seats when it was time to introduce them and the governor general had arrived just minutes earlier, so that whole scene was awkward and unrehearsed. Then, for the grand finale of the ceremony - the lighting of the torches - one of the torches didn't come out of the floor, leaving Catriona Le May Doan without anything to light. Also the flames that were being carried by Catriona and the others apparently went out seconds later off camera. Don't get me wrong, the ceremonies were great, but the errors happened at the worst possible times.
Despite the less than perfect start, Canadians were really excited. Visitors and foreign Olympians were interviewed and commented on the unexpected energy and patriotism shown by the Canadians in Vancouver. These traits didn't really fit our "conservative and reserved" idiom which is typically defined us.
Then the games begun. Although Canada had won Gold in winter Olympics in the past, we had never done it on home soil. This was our jinx and there was an underlying fear it would continue to haunt us. Almost two days into the games the jinx was still on. Some "dreams of gold" were shattered and others downgraded to silver and bronze. But then, along came Alexandre Bilodeau who drew inspiration from his cerebral palsy sticken brother Frederic, and won the Gold in men's mogle freestyle skiing. The jinx was broken and Canada has something to celebrate.
Over the next few days our momentum kept building as we won medals here and there, but Canada's OTP - Own The Podium plan didn't seem to be working. But somehow, the nation didn't seem to care. We had our stage and we had our pride and medals - although great focus points - were only icing on the cake (which we also intended on eating).
Then on February 19th, Jon Montgomery wons gold in men's skeleton. Jon didn't really have a sad or particularly inspirational prelude to his performance. He was a just a hard working "Joe" who trained hard and won. But it was the prologue to his victory that captured Canadian's hearts: his patented victory stretch, his parade through the Olympic village with a pitcher of beer in his hand and his jump onto the top of the podium expressed what many Canadians wanted to see: A competitive, patriotic and emotional Canadian uninhibitedly celebrating his victory and his country. Canada had it's mascot.
Two days later Canada has another tragedy on its hands; Therese Rochette, mother of figure skater Joannie Rochette died only hours after arriving in Vancouver to see her daughter skate. Joannie decided to continue skating earning the utmost respect of Canadian, competitors and views around the world.
In the meantime and over the next few days the hockey and curling competitions moved along. (For those who don't know, these are the blockbuster events of the games and there is a huge pressure on Canada to win both in the men's and women's). Curling was going as planed as was women's hockey but Canada's men are having a tough time in the hockey department. We almost lost to Switzerland (Switzerland!?!?) and then we actually lose to the USA which meant that we didn't qualify us for an automatic ticket to the quarter finals.
As the games progressed we still picked up some inspirational victories and we were subject to some crushing defeats, but the "Own The Podium" strategy is definitely in question. The USA took the lead in medal standings and it didn't look like Canada would even do better than the last Olympic games where we won 24 medals. But again the country didn't seem to care that much. The general public seemed to be fueled by it's own inner momentum.
But then along came the "TSN Turning Point" (TSN is a Canadian TV channel that only shows sports. Towards the end of a match TNS will declare a "TSN Turning Point". This is the moment in a game when the momentum shifted towards the eventual winner). The turning point according to me was February 24th. We had won a bronze medal in speed skating but the men's hockey team was playing an elimination game against the the Russians. Not only does Canada have a deep rivalry with Soviets (see 1972 Summit Series which was one of the defining moments in Canada's hockey history) but Russia also had Alexandre Ovechkin, arguably the best player in the world and one of my favorites. This was "do or die" for team Canada and the whole country was watching with excitement and nervousness. With very little suspense, our Canadian boys came out very strong and seemed to surprise the Russians and even some fans with their explosiveness and grit. The game was a 7-3 blowout victory for Canada. Ovechkin compared the Canadian players as "gorillas coming out of a cage". On that same night Canada took 3 more medals: a silver in Women's Relay Skating and both the gold and silver in the women's woman bobsled, totaling 4 medals for the day.
The next day (Feb 25th) the USA continued to dominate in the medals standing but Canada's women hockey team beat team USA for the gold. Then our new hero Joannie Rochette puts on an tearful and emotional preformance winning bronze.
February 26th was a day of mixed emotions for me. Although it probably topped the 24th in terms of accomplishments: Canada Hockey team won the elimination game vs. Slovakia; Our men take gold and bronze in short track skating as well as a gold in the relay; The women take silver in Curling (We totaled 4 medals!); but I was really hoping for the gold. It had really started to enjoy curling for the first time in my life while watching the women's teams. I was certain that they would beat Sweden. Our ladies took the loss in stride and with dignity so I felt a bit better.
The next day, February 27th Canada does the unthinkable. Winning 2 gold medals within minutes of each other: The first medal was our 11th which set a new Olympic record for "most golds won by host nation" then the second broke that record in record time. Next we won a bronze medal as a break while we waited for the much anticipated Gold medal game in men's curling. The game was exciting but our team was too strong and defeated Norway 6-3. This 3rd Gold medal of the day was huge! Not only did it break the record for "most golds won by host nation" for the third time that day, but it also tied the record for most golds won by any nation in any winter Olympic games. 4 medals and 3 of them gold, one Olympic record broken several times and another one tied. The fairly tale seem also complete.
Finally on February 28th, it was time for the event that hockey fans anticipate for 4 years: the gold medal game for men's hockey. The game was the last event of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Canada was watching. Half of the Canadian population watched the entire game and 80% watched at least some of it. Compare that to last years Superbowl which was the most watched event in US TV history which drew the attention of a mere 35% of the US population.
As for the game itself, both teams came out strong but it was Canada who scored first. Then Canada scored again. The US came back with a goal but it seemed that Canada would be able to hold them to a single goal. In the last two minutes however, the US pulled their goalie and put on the extra skater. The move paid off and the US scored with only seconds left. It felt like a moose kicking you in the stomach but it stunk even worse. The game went into "instant death" 4-on-4 overtime during which I must have gone through about 3 pairs of Snuggies. Finally on a second effort Iginla and Crosby connect and "Sid the Kid" Crosby (or as I like to call him: "Sidney the Kidney" Crosby) scores the game winning goal.
SIDE NOTE: For those who don't know. Sidney Crosby is a young Canadian who was the most anticipated player in hockey history since Wayne Gretzky. He was basically the new "Messiah" meant to renew interest in hockey in North America back in 2005 when the National Hockey League (NHL) was recovering from a player strike and was re-branding itself.
Anyway, the idea is that to some extent, Sidney Crosby represents the future of Canadian hockey (Alex Ovechkin is his Russian equivalent). That said, you can appreciate how symbolic it was that Sid scored one of the most important goals in Canadian hockey history. Naturally the country went crazy and the streets filled with people. That gold medal was not only revenge against the team that beat us in the preliminary round, but it also meant that Canada would now hold the record for most gold medals won by any country in any winter Olympics!
Finally it was time to end the games. The theme of the closing ceremonies was to make fun of ourselves. Whoever was in charge of the show certainly took advantage of the early mistakes in the opening ceremonies. The first thing they did was make fun of the torch that didn't work. The rest of the show may remind my fellow collegues at Instituto Stela of my "Stereotype Busters" presentation which can been seem below. My presentation was obviously less amazing and instead of displaying pictures of great canadian comedians (like Michael J. Fox), the ceremonies showcased the real ones. (For all you Michael J. Fox fans out there, you may want to check out my Tribe to Alex P. Keaton.) Neil Young sang "Long May You Run" which as by far the most touching performance of the closing ceremonies, possibly outdoing K.D. Lang's haunting rendition of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah". Joannie Rochette was chosen to carry the flag and lead Canadian athletes in the ceremonies which was touching and she was later given the Vancouver 2010 Terry Fox Award along with Slovenian cross-country skier Petra Majdic who competed despite terrible injury and also won. The Terry Fox was intended to go to atheletes who embody the spirit of Terry Fox. (For non-Canadians, Terry Fox was a young Canadian who lost a leg to cancer and began a historic run across Canada in an effort to raise money and awareness for cancer. Terry died during his run but is considered one of the greatest Canadians of all time. Over half a billion dollars of cancer research funds has been raised in his name.)
The fairytale was now complete: We had confronted our past demons and defeated them with Alexandre Bilodeau's gold medal. We had found our spirit in Jon Montgomery. We had shown courage against adversity through Joannie Rochette. We had won the final battle against our closest rivals defeating the US. Finally to top it all off we concluded with some good old fashion self deprecating Canadian humor and celebrated by being serenaded by some of out great artists. Most importantly however, Canada was able to show it's pride and patriotism not only to the outside world, but to itself. Canada somehow found it's collective voice and as it turns out we have a beautiful one.
So I hope this helps non-Canadian readers understand how important these games where to Canada. Particularly, I hope this will help my amigos and amigas in Brasil, understand Canadian patriotism. It may also help explain my occasional over exuberance when it comes to my country. It is also something to consider for 2016 when the Summer games will come to Rio de Janeiro. This will be a chance for Brasil to define itself, come together as a nation and give the world a chance to fall in love with "The Brasilian Way".
Before I end this post and show you all the clips I was talking about, I would like to apologize to my regular readers for the change of pace from my normal meaningless yet hopefully entertaining ramblings.
"Stereotype Busters" was a presentation I put on in Brazil where I try to make fun of Canadians and how people see us. You can see most of the presentation below, minus my narrative (which was the best part in my not-so-humble opinion).
This is Neil Young singing "Long May You Run" in the closing ceremonies.
This is K.D. Lang singing "Hallelujah" in the opening ceremonies.
Made popular by Dan Brown's novel Angels and Demons, ambigrams are back in vogue after a few slumping centuries of being outside the spot (candle) light. As part 9 in my 397 part series "Tributing Stuff", I am tipping my hat to this freak of nature. Ambigrams are the "double joint" of the literary anatomy. The are mysterious and probably the result of black magic and or witchcraft which I may or may not be against depending on its current "tweetability". I have a TradeMark on that word so you can forget about using it George Stromboulompolobo..po... You know who you are!
Now I'm not saying that Ambigrams don't have a place in this world. Traveling circuses offer a great business model for this product of the underworld, right between the Siamese wolfmen and the Brearded women. I myself have a couple of these little cancers! But before I expose them to lethal doses of chemotherapy and radiation I thought I should share them with you children so that you have something worthwhile to point at while you eat your candy apple and cotton candy.
Be not frightened but do not approach the cage.
This ones Says "McNulty" written frontwards or backwards.
This one says Michael in one direction but turn it 180 degrees and it says McNulty, Behold: Does this mean that I am a wizard? Of course not! Does it mean that I posses special powers? Probably. My point is that if you believe in something strong enough - no matter how impossible is many seem, you can easily end up in a straight-jacket within 3-4 months. Tops!
"Sleep tight mates, in your quilted Chambray nightshirts"
PS: If you want to make your own ambigrams simply solve THIS simple puzzle.
So I just finished reading Dan Brown's latest book "The Lost Symbol". I read it because of how much I like Dan's previous books - Deception Point, Angels and Demons & The Da Vinci Code. The other reason I read it is because it was based on the Freemasons and based in the mysterious city of Washington D.C., the link between which I have been fascinated by for the past few years.
The book really is good, there is no two ways about it. Naturally, Dan just applied his usual formula. If you want to write your own bestselling Dan Brown style book just these simple steps and you've got a sure bet:
Always start the story with a real live fact or quote. Something to get the readers feeling that this story is based in truth.
Get the reader engaged very quickly by packing the first few chapters with action and drama.
The story should start in the evening, but watch out; time is running out!
As one of your leading men you should include at least one mild mannered Harvard professor named Robert Langdon. He should be claustrophobic to the point of fearing elevators. Put Robert into an elevator if you have the chance.
The female lead (who ends up sparking some sort of romantic connection with Robert) should be a close relative to a main character who was either put in great danger or killed in the first few pages.
Other characters should be ridiculously important people of power and influence, but nobody you ever heard of. Robert should be well acquainted with them by the end if they survive.
Robert should get pulled into some crazy chase (usually international) involving one or more of the most highly secretive of authorities (never the normal police).
Your readers should have a hard time figuring out who is on whose side (except for Robert and his female lead; they are on the same side which fuels romantic tension).
The heart of the story should include one or more of the following (usually 2 of them): a) Recent scientific breakthrough b) Occult societies c) Religious secrets
The world (as we know it) is usually at stake.
There should be a bunch of puzzles & enigmas riddled with symbols and ancient history that only a highly educated symbologist (my spell check doesn't like that word) like Robert Langdon could possible solve. Sometimes his female lead has super unreal skills that are also essential to the plot.
People have to die.
Robert and your female lead should be constantly under pressure. You can't let your readers put down the book. This is key!
Lead your readers to believe that your story will be going in one direction and then go in the other. Repeat.
The reader should constantly be questioning why Robert isn't pocketing some of the cool stuff he runs into along the way.
At least once Robert's life should be put in great peril in a nightmarish claustrophobic scenario.
The story should come to a breathtaking culmination at which point the reader should realize who is good and who is bad.
The mastermind villain should turns out to be a fanatic idealist. He or she dies or is arrested.
Whatever the villain was trying to achieve (or find) ends up being something completely different than they thought. Usually simpler and less potent.
Usually only Langdon and a few others actually know the entire truth after all is said and done.
The reader should learn a valuable life lesson and gains a whole new outlook on life, religion, science or some occult society.
You can throw in some of your own ideas too it you want.
Originally I was going to write a review about the book, how it relates to popular conspiracy theories and I'll put up some links to related videos and fun stuff. Instead, I've been sidetracked by the Vancouver Olympic Women's Hockey then the Ice Skating (both won by Canada BTW). I promise I'll do a good job on the review at a later date and stir up my own conspiracy theory, but only if I have time, which I won't.
Here is a flag that I invented for the Vancouver Olympics. I'm quite confident that I didn't violate any copyrights or anything so I'm feeling pretty good about myself right now.
In times like these one must ask oneself: "Who deserves a tribute?" The answer has evaded many of our great leaders and senior officials. However, after months of introspective contemplation and the process of elimination, I have identified the one essential element of the universe left un-tributed - the self tribute having been done months ago (see Tribute to Beautiful but not till you finish reading this) - and that essential element is walking birds.
Although previously thought to be no more than ancient myth, recent publications have produced hard hitting facts proving beyond a reasonable doubt that the evidence of the ability of birds to walk is stronger than say, the misfitting of an arthritic man's glove. Classic examples of these publications include best selling author Herbert George Wells' little known gem "The War of the Worlds" as well as the animated adventure series "Duck Tails". Both publications were popularized when translated to video in which main characters were generally played by quacks.
Scientists, different kinds of scientists and Scientologists alike agree that recent publications hold compelling evidence of our delicious 2 legged friends' ability to strut. This high resolution video was recently uncovered may hold the truth about these flying felines(some detail may be lost by those not using HD monitors with cat-like response times):
For more exciting updates regarding the "development" of this hot story please click here after you are done reading my post. K, this blog entry is getting longer than I originally planned so lets get right to the point. I found some bird footprints. Some of you may have already guessed that they are the eerily large ones in the picture at teh top of this post. You people would be wrong... if I was lying which i am not; so that makes you correct and a winner in your own hearts and minds. So I now have this evidence of birds walking on the snow of my mom's driveway. There were two of them and they were pretty big. They came from the back and walked up the driveway. They turned left to the neighbor's and went up to the front door. There they probably realized that they couldn't break through the door impenetrable handle technology without trained human hands, then turned back towards the driveway and out onto the streets. Whether they were responsible for the Johnson's sudden foreclosure or it was his crippling gambling addiction will remain a mystery for now. But one thing has become devastatingly clear: and this is that the theme song for Duck Tales animated adventure is a national treasure and should be guarded at all cost to human kind.
In all fairness I don't know what left those tracks in the snow on that fateful day, but I do know that I won't be going into the backyard EVER without my trusty Amazonian machete and at LEAST 3 cans of spinach.
Some might say that I am a highly intelligent, modest, generous, irresistably good looking, powerful, confident, wise, ruthless and yet a gentle, heroic and thriving young man. Now I would have quite the uphill battle arguing against them, but they would be outright mistaken to leave out my caring and forgiving nature, which is the keystone of the Mike that loved and cherished by us all... not to mention a pillar of modern society, a gentalman and a scholar. I think that I've talked enough about myself for now. What do you have to say about me?
Basically I do things, then I write about them. Other times, I don't do things, then I write about them. I also don't care to make the distinction at the time of writing. Read at own peril.
"If it ain't broke, your not putting enough bicep into it." - Mike McNulty
