Will you watch the 2010 Olympics?

[Etoile]

They screwed up the torch lighting. There were supposed to be four pillars rising from the floor, but one of the doors wouldn't open. They tried to fix it for a couple of minutes, and then they gave up and went ahead with just the three. It was pretty awesome anyway, Shaun White clearly got a kick out of it.

 

[DVS]

My recorder ran out of time too, but I did see the whale effect. That was pretty cool. I can imagine how it looked to those there.

Yes, it was cheaper than China. About 270 Million dollars cheaper, to be exact. China was fantastic, but you gotta wonder how many people were mistreated or worse, until they got that right. It was so perfect, I thought it was all done by computers. Then I saw it was people and gasped in amazement.

Canada's torch lighting was bungled? When you only spend 30 Million on props, what do you want? Perfection?

It was sad to see Georgia walk in. God I hope nobody else is hurt, by accident or by something worse. An event this big, security has got to have holes.

Now if my shift was working, I'd be concerned for sure! Sorry...inside joke. Was that was a racist comment?

 

[Keroin]

Being very proud of being humble is funny. Translation: We're nicer than the rest of you! Suck it world! (mostly suck it America, but we have to say "the world" because we're nice.)

"Canadias are teh evil", make no mistake. Just ask Hommy. He knows.

 

[Recidiva]

What do you want? Perfection?

It was far from perfection.

Trees! We have trees! We like dancing randomly around trees!

Yes...I've seen trees. I think trees are majestic and wonderful and magnificent and I have several of my own. I've seen much better dancing, too.

That one looks like a second grader's diorama project.

I love Canada, I just thought they didn't represent how incredibly gorgeous the country is. And unfortunately it just came across...very UnCanadian. It lowballed itself. Tried to go for muted grace and ended up with cheap. The prairie thing also just looked like a screen saver.

I understand the concept, I just don't think there was good execution.

Someone must tell the artists involved that actual trees and actual mountains and actual prairies are infinitely more inspiring than projections of them onto various surfaces.

Yes, we have grass here too. Very nice.

Fortunately Canada goes on being awesome anyway. It's probably better to dispense with the shameless self promotion (although I did expect grace and art...) and stick with the awesome people, gorgeous location and all the Canada-ness that abounds there. Even if they couldn't film it.

 

[Recidiva]

"Canadias are teh evil", make no mistake. Just ask Hommy. He knows.

Canada's always the elder teenage sister stuck with her embarrassing little brother, America.

She's responsible and she's polite and she's usually only rolling her eyes a little while she tries to keep people from picking on him and helps him wipe his nose on a tissue and not his sleeve.

I'm American. I know my place in the world. Many Canadians have politely told me so

 

[WriterDom]

Canada would make a decent state. What we need to do is take over both Mexico and Canada. Send most of Canadians to Mexico to develop the country. And send 75 million Mexicans to Canada to help harvest the resources. It would be a win win for North America. Instead of a fence we could have free rail service to Canada for Mexicans.

 

[Netzach]

I see the poster as an example of that - the bald eagle is not the symbol of Canada, red white and blue are not the colors of Canada...if it said US ATHLETES IN VANCOUVER 2010 that would be one thing, but it feels like he's just being a dick.

Think of it as the world according to Sarah Palin. That's what's being depicted. For the lulz.

I remember people bitching about the hokeyness of the Calgary opening ceremonies too, how'd these rate?

So far I've been not-watching. Fatal luge accidents and all.

 

[Recidiva]

Think of it as the world according to Sarah Palin. That's what's being depicted. For the lulz.

I remember people bitching about the hokeyness of the Calgary opening ceremonies too, how'd these rate?

So far I've been not-watching. Fatal luge accidents and all.

Stephen Colbert is so good at the parody that he looks like the real thing. Unless you're watching "The Word" and then there's no mistaking it, what with virtual subtitles.

I don't remember Calgary being a problem for me. But this one had very hokey (for me) musical choices. They were lip synched in some cases, which I wouldn't have minded had it really been worth it, but the music was...meh. In other cases, the stadium was so big that performers were entirely out of synch with the music. Then when "I've looked at love from both sides now..." in a piece intended to express the majesty of the plains started playing, I think I said "Are you kidding?" I was embarrassed for the grass's dignity. Dancers really should have had ear pieces or something. It just looked and sounded disjointed from itself. Conceptual art that just took up too much time to play out and was visually uninspiring...except for the whales, which were very cool, no doubt.

I think they were right up there with Atlanta in being...just...awkward.

By the time the torch bearers were standing around in excruciating helpless anticipation...I was just glad it was over.

I liked watching the athletes enter much more and that was more emotionally engaging.

 

[YourCaptor]

Canada's always the elder teenage sister stuck with her embarrassing little brother, America.

She's responsible and she's polite and she's usually only rolling her eyes a little while she tries to keep people from picking on him and helps him wipe his nose on a tissue and not his sleeve.

I'm American. I know my place in the world. Many Canadians have politely told me so

Ok, that sounds just like the kind of girl I'd love to screw in all 3 parts, all night long.

 

[DarkBee]

Forget the opening

our little country just won its first gold medal! (which was totally expected, but nonetheless very welcome)

 

[JMohegan]

Canada...gotta hand it to you. You now have the worst opening ceremony since Atlanta. You surpassed my home country in awkwardness. I pass the torch to you and then I run away before someone hits me with something.

Did they humiliate a 7 year old girl on global television?

If not, then I'd say that whatever went on in Vancouver trumped the farce that went on in Beijing.

 

[JMohegan]

our little country just won its first gold medal! (which was totally expected, but nonetheless very welcome)

Which sport?

 

[DarkBee]

Which sport?

Speed skating, men, 5km, Sven Kramer.

 

[JMohegan]

Speed skating, men, 5km, Sven Kramer.

Ah. Thanks.

Do you skate?

 

[Etoile]

Think of it as the world according to Sarah Palin. That's what's being depicted. For the lulz.

Ah, gotcha.

 

[Keroin]

Stephen Colbert is so good at the parody that he looks like the real thing. Unless you're watching "The Word" and then there's no mistaking it, what with virtual subtitles.

I don't remember Calgary being a problem for me. But this one had very hokey (for me) musical choices. They were lip synched in some cases, which I wouldn't have minded had it really been worth it, but the music was...meh. In other cases, the stadium was so big that performers were entirely out of synch with the music. Then when "I've looked at love from both sides now..." in a piece intended to express the majesty of the plains started playing, I think I said "Are you kidding?" I was embarrassed for the grass's dignity. Dancers really should have had ear pieces or something. It just looked and sounded disjointed from itself. Conceptual art that just took up too much time to play out and was visually uninspiring...except for the whales, which were very cool, no doubt.

I think they were right up there with Atlanta in being...just...awkward.

By the time the torch bearers were standing around in excruciating helpless anticipation...I was just glad it was over.

I liked watching the athletes enter much more and that was more emotionally engaging.

Talked to my pro-Olympic friends tonight and they had good reviews about the opening. They said they loved the fiddlers and the slam poet - they thought both were very "Canadian".

They even chuckled at the torch mishap and thought it was hilarious. Didn't feel embarassed or awkward about it at all.

So, who knows, maybe we're a boring country?

But we're nice.

 

[Homburg]

Talked to my pro-Olympic friends tonight and they had good reviews about the opening. They said they loved the fiddlers and the slam poet - they thought both were very "Canadian".

They even chuckled at the torch mishap and thought it was hilarious. Didn't feel embarassed or awkward about it at all.

So, who knows, maybe we're a boring country?

But we're nice.

Most Canadian Moment - When the slam poet said (paraphrased) "Because we say Please and Thank You" and the crowd cheered wildly.

Canadia, being excited over politeness since the 17th century.

 

[Keroin]

Most Canadian Moment - When the slam poet said (paraphrased) "Because we say Please and Thank You" and the crowd cheered wildly.

Canadia, being excited over politeness since the 17th century.

Awwww, I love that.

Gives me the patriotic warm fuzzies.

 

[JMohegan]

What the heck is a slam poet?

 

[Keroin]

What the heck is a slam poet?

Slam poetry is kind of like a blend between rap and poetry. Because it is meant to be read aloud, competitively, there is as much emphasis on the performance as there is on the actual words. Done well, it's very exciting!

Here's the wiki description.

 

[Keroin]

I was thinking that it's interesting that two of the people in my life who are the biggest Canada-loving flag wavers are both American immigrants whose families moved here when they were kids.

As happens, one them, "Mompoet", is a talented slam poet. She won a CBC competition a few years ago and her poem about Canada was broadcast nationally. It's one of my very favourites, especially the last part and the reference to Bino's teapots.

I'll put it up here for a short while because she gave me permission to use it. (It's much, much better when she performs it but you can get the gist of it).


Hey Canada

1967.
I’m lying on a cot in the nurse’s office
At David Oppenheimer Elementary
in Vancouver
where my parents enrolled me in Grade 1
when we came to Canada.
I’m bleeding maple leaf patterns
into a mound of tissue, clutched to my nose.
Up on a wall, the Queen is watching me
otherwise I’m alone
missing another assembly.
It happens every time
we file into the gym, stand to sing the song
racing pulse, sweaty palms, and WOOOOOSHHH!
O CANADA!
I pinch my nose, raise my hand
and Mrs. Forbes takes me to the nurse’s office.
I don’t know how many NFB films and recitations of
“The Cremation of Sam McGee” I’ve missed this year,
but I never miss your song, Canada,
even if it is just the Queen and me
singing it to each other.

At school and at home, I learn to be Canadian:
to celebrate Thanksgiving in October,
to call my french fries “chips”
and to eat them with gravy.
my “sneakers” are “runners”
my “mom” is “mum”.
I learn that zed is a letter and gorp is a food.
I dump Captain Kangaroo for Mr. Dressup
and learn the words of Dennis Lee,
“Alligator pie, alligator pie. If I don’t get some
I think I’m gonna die…”

I grow up proud to be a member of this
hockey-loving, CBC listening
Toyota-driving, draft-dodger-harbouring
wilderness haven of Hinterland Who’s Who.
We’ve got Emily Carr, The Group of Seven
Margaret Atwood,
the NDP, MSP,
Participaction and the Canada Council for the Arts,
Miles for Millions, the Marathon of Hope
both Expos
and those awkward aluminum teapots
at Bino’s restaurant that spill tea on your plate
so nobody will ever steal them.

By the time I finish school, I know you
in more complicated ways, Canada.
Most of the time you’re red and white and green all over
but you’re also shades of grey.

I wonder, Canada, how I’ll explain to my children
that it’s taken a dozen forevers and still
we can’t outgrow
scraped naked landscapes of clear-cut logging
highways that grow wider
as ice floes slip into the sea
how we never managed to truly
open our hearts and share the richness of this land
with each other and the rest of the world.
And I’m hoping I love you enough
that I can help us change our ways
even if I’m not sure how to do that, most days.

But some things are simple and always true
like the way we eat our cake and watermelon on July first
your birthday, Canada.
This year, I’m giving you
a pony, a hockey stick, a Canada flag
a model of the CN tower
a puppy, a medal, socks
a recipe for carbon reduction
a toque, a new Prime Minister, a CD of the Vinyl Café
and a giant croquet set
so everyone in the country can play.

After the croquet game, I’ll take you on a date
just you and me, Canada.
We’ll write a poem in the Bay of Fundy, then
watch the tide sweep it away forever.
We’ll dump a whole bottle of bubble bath
into Niagra Falls
just to see what happens.
We’ll kayak up the coast and marvel
At the mystic beauty that is Haida Gwai.
We’ll walk down to Starbucks
pay 5 bucks for a coffee
and complain about the Americans.

After that we’ll go far from the city, where darkness is
all around. Cradled in your arms, I will breathe in the
grey, green and brown of your mineral soil, and breathe
out blue, purple and gold into a crackling Northern
sky. This I will do for you, Canada, to say thank you for
making me want to learn more about you, for making
me want to stay.

As we gaze at colours and stars all around
you will whisper in my ear,
You are Canadian. You will always be a part of me, and I
will always take care of you, even when you are very old.

O CANADA!

 

[JMohegan]

Slam poetry is kind of like a blend between rap and poetry. Because it is meant to be read aloud, competitively, there is as much emphasis on the performance as there is on the actual words. Done well, it's very exciting!

Here's the wiki description.

I see. Wow.

What does that have to do with Canada? Have you adopted the slam poetry thing as a new form of national cultural expression?

For that matter, what do fiddlers have to do with Canada? Is fiddling a popular Canadian musical genre?

Pardon my cultural ignorance.

 

[Keroin]

I see. Wow.

What does that have to do with Canada? Have you adopted the slam poetry thing as a new form of national cultural expression?

For that matter, what do fiddlers have to do with Canada? Is fiddling a popular Canadian musical genre?

Pardon my cultural ignorance.

No worries.

Canada is very artsy and we're very big on slam poetry, (and writing and literature in general).

The maritime provinces have a long history and tradition of fiddling. In that part of the country, fiddling is very, very popular and Ashley MacIsaak (who performed that evening), is among the best and most well known of the bunch.

ETA: Lots of Scottish and Irish settlers in the Maritimes, back in the day, hence the fiddling.

 

[Homburg]

ETA: Lots of Scottish and Irish settlers in the Maritimes, back in the day, hence the fiddling.

This is why the fiddle is so popular in the southern Appalachians. As they say, there are more people of Scottish descent in North Carolina than there are in Scotland. And if you listen to it, you can hear Celtic Trad behind Bluegrass.

 

[Keroin]

This is why the fiddle is so popular in the southern Appalachians. As they say, there are more people of Scottish descent in North Carolina than there are in Scotland. And if you listen to it, you can hear Celtic Trad behind Bluegrass.

I grew up watching The Irish Rovers on TV. Were they big in your part of the world?