What These Games Mean

Awesome video from CTV:

Stephen Brunt: What these Games mean to Canada

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Stuck in my Head!!!

Damn you Coca-Cola, you make catchy songs!!!!!!!!

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US Olympic Figure Skating Team - Dance

DANCE:
Meryl Davis & Charlie White - 2010 US Gold Medalists (in 2009 -2010, they have been Gold Medalists in everything they've entered!! Grand Prix Final, Cup of Russia, NHK Trophy, Nebelhorn Trophy, Four Continents, 2009 US Nationals, Skate Canada International) WOW!!
Here's their Free Dance from the 2010 Nationals:



For dancers, the first two minutes of the program aren't very graceful, they seem rushed and like they are running through the program. It's hard to describe. Overall it was a good dance program. Virtue and Moir won the Candian Nationals in January with a total score of 221.95, Davis and White won the US Nationals with a total score of 222.29.
According to the TOTAL SCORES of all the events, this is the ONLY event the American's totalled higher than the Canadians in!! (and only by 0.34!!)

Tanith Belbin & Benjamin Agosto - 2010 US Silver Medalists, Withdrew in 2009, 2004-2008 US National Champions, 2001 - 2003 US Silver Medalists.

Unfortunately there is no video for Belbin and Agosto on the internet (at least that I have managed to come across) They did compete in the 2006 Olympics and were the Silver Medalists, but I can't even seem to find their Free Dance from that on the internet!! GRRR!! So we move on.

Emily Samuelson & Evan Bates - 2010 US Bronze Medalists, 2009 US Silver Medalists.

Again, there's no video. Looks like we will have to wait and see how good they are come February 19th!!

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US Olympic Figure Skating Team - Pairs

Let's see what the States are sending to the Olympics for Pairs Figure Skating.

Caydee Denney & Jeremy Barrett - 2010 US Gold Medalists, 2009 US Silver Medalists
Here is their Long Program from 2010 Nationals:



It's a little strange that they didn't do a lift until about 3 minutes into their program. Good skate, but judging by what the announcers are saying, they had a good skate but it's not a common thing. So that's good for the Canadian teams! Dube and Davison won the Canadian Nationals this year with a total score of 198.27. Denney and Barrett have won the US Nationals this year with a total score of 190.30.

Amanda Evora & Mark Ladwig - 2010 US Silver Medalists
Here is Amanda and Mark's Long Program from 2010 Nationals:



Okay, they are wearing my favourite colour. I love them. :) But now to watch the skating. Messy side by side combination jumps, she fell on a throw jump, they were totally out of unison on side by side spins... and again with the not doing a lift until after 3 minutes into the program. weird. AMAZING lift 4:10 into the program... WOW. It's actually fairly impressive that they finished 2nd with so many mistakes, it must be the colour of their outfits! :)

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US Olympic Figure Skating Team - Men

Jeremy Abbott- 2010 & 2009 US Gold Medalist
This is Jeremy's Long Program from the US Nationals last week:



Wow, HUGE quad-toe! Total score that won him the US Nationals - 263.66, and to compare, Patrick Chan's total score at the Canadian Nationals was 268.02.

Evan Lysacek -2010 US Silver Medalist, 2009 US Bronze Medalist, 2007 & 2008 US Gold Medalist
Check out Evan's National Long Program:



Fell on his opening quad. Doubled a triple loop. Nothing really outstanding.
He's 6'2!! Wow, not a typical figure skater height!

Johnny Weir - 2010 US Bronze Medalist, 2009 5th at Nationals, 2008 US Silver Medalist, 2007 US Bronze Medalist 2004-2006 US Gold Medalist
Here's Johnny's National Long Program:

I feel like the style of Johnny's skating puts men's figure skating back 20 years. First of all, he's wearing more make up and more fur and sparkles than most of the women figure skaters... he's really just perpetuating the "gay figure skater" stereotype, and I HATE that!! Okay, now I'm going to pay attention to his skating.

He singled a triple axle, stepped out of a triple lutz-toe combo. Again, nothing special.

Out of the 3, I really only think Jeremy Abbott has the potential to be a medal contender. We shall see!

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US Olympic Figure Skating Team - Women

Now that the USA Nationals have come to an end, I thought I'd "size up" their Olympic figure skating team to our Olympic figure skating team. Today I will start with the Women. (although I use the word "women" loosely, they are 17 and 16!)

Rachael Flatt (17 years old) - 2010 US Gold Medalist, 2009 & 2008 US Silver Medalist
Here is Rachael's Long Program from the US Nationals this past week:



For a 17 year old, she skates with maturiry and sophistication like a much older skater! That was a very impessive skate!! For the sake of comparison, her total score for the US National title was 200.11, Joannie Rochette's total score for the Canadian National title was 208.23. Interesting :)

Mirai Nagasu (16 years old) - 2010 Silver Medalist, 2009 5th place (due to a growth spurt) and 2008 - US Gold Medalist.
Here is Mirai's Long Program from the US Nationals:



VERY impressive! I'm actually a little shocked that she was first and Rachael was third heading into the long program and Rachael finished first and Mirai finished second after the long. Oh well, like I have said before, figure skating judging will never truly make sense.

So, after watching these, our ladies will have their work cut out for them in Vancouver!

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Olympic Commercials

So I was poking around Youtube, and came across the account of vancouverite1989, who as graciously uploaded a number of Olympic-related commercials. A few of my favorites:

CTV: Believe in Vancouver 2010: For Our Country and Our City

I love the overall enthusism in this video. Kinda reminds you that not all of Vancouverites are protesters and wet-blankets.

Toursim BC: You Gotta Be Here

Absolutley amazing views of Vancouver and BC. Not 100% sure that the celebs here aren't green-screened, but still...love it.

Coca-Cola: He Shoots, He Scores

This is actually a re-hash of a commercial Coca-Cola rolled out for the Salt Lake City 2002 games. The text at the end used to read, "If we all cheer at the same time, they might just hear us all the way in Salt Lake"...or some variation there-of.

CTV: Olympic Rings

I'm not sure if I'm going to get a chance to see the rings at YVR, but I hope so. The shots of them up in the bucket give you a good feel for the scale.

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Vancouver 2010 on PS3

So yesterday I finally got my hands on ‘Vancouver 2010’ for the PS3! I’m a big video game nut (aka nerd), and a big Olympic nut, so this is pretty much the perfect combo for me.

Now normally, Olympic Video Games are pretty crappy. I get it to some extent…it’s tough enough to do one sport properly, let alone trying to tackle a dozen or so at once. So, normally Olympic Video Games are just concerned with trying to make a quick buck, rather than actually make a good game. This leads to things like incessant button-mashing, buggy game play and a generally frustrating experience.

This time around, I’ve found ‘Vancouver 2010’ to be better than your normal Olympic Video Game, but still a long way from perfect.

CONs
First, my beefs. I’m a little surprised to see so few events covered. Although there are a few variants for each (IE Luge and Skeleton, or the 500m and 1500m) there are really only:

• Alpine Skiing
• ‘Cross’ Events (Ski, Snowboard)
• PGS Snowboard
• Short-Track Speed Skating
• Aerials
• Sliding Sports (Luge, Bobsled, Skeleton)
• Ski Jumping

No Hockey. No Curling. No Long-Track Speed Skating. No Moguls. No Halfpipe. No Cross-Country. No Biathlon. No Figure Skating.

So, really, this game only covers about 50% of the Games…..and even within the sports that are covered, they only touch on a few of the disciplines. This means the depth of the game really isn’t what it could be…I think I’ll get pretty sick of this game pretty quickly. There just isn’t enough options to keep me going.

Further, within each individual event, a fair number of them are unduly shortened. As an example, for Snowboard Cross, you already start out in the Finals…there is no qualification, no semi-finals etc. So when you only have one 4-Person race…and three of them are getting medals…there is no real sense of achievement. I don’t know why you couldn’t have added a few more ‘rounds’ and rival competitors.

The second thing I didn’t like was the lack of ‘atmosphere’. Its kind of hard to explain, but there is really no feel that the individual events are connected in any way….they all feel like standalone events. There is no Opening Ceremonies, No Closing Ceremonies…you only compete against 4 athletes in the ‘Olympic Games Mode’…you just don’t get the feel that you’re at the Games…

PROs
The events that were done, have been done very well. The graphics are amazing, especially the scenery, and I was actually a really big fan of the sound. The sound of the skis cutting into the snow, the wind rushing by really helped the overall experience. I also really thought the ‘speed blurring’ gave you a real sense of how fast your character was supposed to be going.

I was also really really pleasantly surprised by the control schemes that were used. Olympic Video Games are notorious for requiring non-stop button mashing. Although it does show up in a few spots, its normally to build up speed, or go for a big finish….rather than required for the whole event. Instead, most events rely either on timing your steps (ie Short-Track) or timing meters (Aerials).

Speaking of which, I think my favourite event so far has to be the Women’s Aerials competition. If there was one event that I was surprised to see included, this would probably be it…as its not really something that’s easy to design a control for. I think that they did an excellent job coming up with how you control your athlete for this one: starting out with an ‘aim’ meter, then a ‘launch meter’, before progressing into a rotating ‘style’ bar that is really quite ingenious. You then land via a single button push when you think it’s the right time.

Conclusions
Overall, I think that this is a pretty decent attempt at an Olympic Video Games…the controls are good, the graphics are good, the sound is good….but the depth sucks. It needs more events pretty badly, and each of those events needs to be its ‘proper’ length.

I really don’t know why things were paired down as much as they were….considering a fair amount of the leg-work for more events had already been done. Short-Track Speed Skating could of course been ported into Long-Track, and the Aerials controls could have been translated into Moguls. You already had a couple of snowboarding events, so why is halfpipe missing? Cross-Country/Biathalon are basically the same event, so you have a cross-over there as well.

It’s a shame, because what was done is really good. It just seems like they ran out of time, and published what events they had done.

Official Website: http://www.olympicvideogames.com/vancouver2010/

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Olympic Ecstasy - Not Official Merchandise

In December, Vancouver police seized 107,000 ecstasy pills stamped with the Olympic rings. (Apparently worth over $1 Million on the street!!)


What I find interesting is on this site (http://www.straight.com/article-274830/vancouver/vancouver-police-seize-ecstasy-pills-stamped-olympic-rings) they have to write "These ecstasy pills aren't official Olympic merchandise." No... really!??!

The arrested men face drug possession charges. They could also be sued for trademark violation under a temporary federal law that prohibits the unauthorized commercial use of Olympic emblems, including the five rings.



It's hard to believe that people do stuff like this. It really boggles the mind.

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Team Canada - The Announcements

So I found the majority of today's announcement on YouTube. Recorded for posterity and your enjoyment, check it out.

Goaltenders

Defence

Forwards

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The Olympic Torch: Last Couple Days

So tomorrow, the Olympic Torch arrives in Toronto. In preparation for that, I thought I'd take a quick look back at the Torch as it went through two of my favorite Canadian Cities: Ottawa and Quebec City.

Quebec City

Ottawa

As things turn out, the torch will pass by Yonge and Bloor at almost the exact moment that Beth gets out of work tomorrow. So she'll stick around for that, and then we will jet off for Hamilton.

Friday morning I'll be getting up early to see the torch as it passes by our Condo...before we return once again to Hamilton, to see the Community Celebration on Saturday.

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Musical Entertainment

Something that is really neat for the 2010 Games is that there will be a band performing at medal ceremonies throughout the games. We have tickets to the medal ceremony the night that Trooper and Loverboy are there... Scott's not overly happy but my dad thinks it's awesome! haha! So, here's a list of the performers:

BC Place - Nelly Furtado, Barenaked Ladies, Paul Brandt, Hedley, Theory of a Deadman, Stereophonics, Trooper and Loverboy, Billy Talent, INXS, Burton Cummings, Great Big Sea

Whistler - All American Rejects, Estelle, Pierre Lapointe, Feist, Our Lady Peace, Deadmau5, Hedley, Stars, OneRepublic, The Fray, Jet, The Roots.

Richmond - Our Lady Peace, Hawksley Workman, Marianas Trench, Bedouin Soundclash, Wintersleep and Tokyo Police Club.

Of these bands, I would have really enjoyed seeing: Hedly, All American Rejects, Feist, Our Lady Peace, Stars, OneRepublic, The Fray (who we might get to see, we are in Whistler the night they perform) and Tokyo Police Club.

I was curious about previous games and if they had as much musical entertainment as 2010 will have, and really, didn't come up with much.

2006 - Avril Lavigne, Elisa (Italian singer) & Ricky Martin

2002- Kiss, Yo Yo Ma, R. Kelly, Christina Aguilera, Sting, Dianne Reeves, Harry Connick Jr., Dave Matthews Band, 'N Sync, Earth, Wind & Fire, The Dixie Chicks, Josh Groban, Charlotte Church.

Weird mixture of genres in 2002. I think if I HAD to see one of those acts, I'd pick Sting in a heartbeat.

I will now leave you with a classic from Trooper and Loverboy :)

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The Beauty of Vancouver

I seem to be on an NBC kick or something when it comes to videos. Anyways, check out this great vid highlighting some of the scenery in and around Vancouver and Whistler.

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"We're Gonna Need A Montage"

Ahh...Team America: World Police...

Anyways, if there's one thing I'm a sucker for, its a solid montage. CBC has been the official Olympic Broadcaster for the past few games, and don't get me wrong, they can do a great montage. Many a time, I've teared up over a solid opening to Hockey Night in Canada.

But when it comes to the Olympics, NBC has to get the gold medal. I suppose they're not TECHNICALLY montages, but ok, its close enough...

2008 - Beijing

Beijing was almost a lock to win the 2008 Olympics, with the allure of having never hosted a games before to tempting for the IOC to ignore. II think NBC does a good job of capturing 'the moment' here, the idea that the Games would 'open up' China to the world a little...

2006 - Torino

Don't know why this one strikes me so hard, but I think it has something to do with just the importance that this montage portrays. It makes it seem like what is about to take place is so monumental.

2004 - Athens

So I wasn't able to find the full intro, but here is a promo spot from NBC for the 2004 Athens games....it gives you an idea of what they did I'm sure.

2002 - Salt Lake City

Not the best quality, but you get the idea. Its important to keep in mind that the '02 Salt Lake games came only about 5 months after 9/11, so it was something fresh in the minds of most Americans. Its certainly an interesting view into a mindset that is maybe a little forgotten now.

There is a better quality version at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pyt0MI8OSdQ, although it has the first 20 seconds or so cut off.

2000 - Sydney

Unfortunately the embedding is disabled on this one, which is to bad, because I think its the absolute best of the bunch. James Earl Jones was pretty much born just to narrate:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f9JMyjTQxsg

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✯Beth's Favourite Olympic Figure Skating Moments✯

✯FOUR✯
Elizabeth Manley -SILVER - 1988 CALGARY



So besides the fact that she looks "so 80's" (and pink) and the music sounds like she's in the circus, she skates a phenomenal long program. The girl skates like the wind, she guns it the whole program... the double axle at 1:03 is 6 feet in the air, she makes it look so effortless!

Unfortunately I don't actually remember watching the program on TV like I remember my #3, #2 and #1 moments, (I was only 5 at the time) but I remember when I watched it for the first time when I was about 11 and wanting to be able to skate just like her.

✯THREE✯

Shae-Lynn Bourne and Victor Kraatz - FORTH - 1998 NAGANO

Ok, HOW is that a forth place program!?!? The footwork is so intricate, difficult, and non-stop, it's mesmerizing to watch. One of my favourite moments is at 1:53 in the program. I always remember that little move they do everytime I watch it and it makes me smile. I can remember back in the day the judges used to give them guff about doing the hydroblading because they didn't think it really was Ice "Dancing". So, for this program they cut the amount of it way back and really only have it at 3:32 and you can hear the crowd responding; it was always a crowd pleaser.

I saw them perform this program at the 1998 Canadian Championships (of course they won) and from 4:05 in the program on, the crowd was losing their minds screaming and clapping. For some reason, when they perform internationally, they aren't received and appreciated in the same way. I think that what they did for Ice Dancing, is something that was so different from what everyone else was doing, the judges didn't know what to do. They had fun, the always got the crowd into it and they were the only ones to do that. It's too bad they skated before the Jamie Sale and David Pelletier debacle, it makes you wonder if there was some corruption in the judging of the Ice Dance.

✯TWO✯

Elvis Stojko - SILVER - 1994 LILLEHAMMER

This program gives me shingles (shivers and tingles). God, watching this almost brings tears to my eyes... the music takes me right back to watching Elvis skate this program many times that year. During 1994 I was devoted to my figure skating VHS library and would record any skating I came across on TV. For the most part, it was watching Elvis over and over and over. I did get to meet him in 1998, I probably mumbled something that made absolutely no sense. Anyways, back to the video. While Elvis had the jumps, the judges always busted him for not being as artistic and graceful as some of the other men (Alexei Urmanov) and unfortunately, this was proof of that.

Amazing that he can pop a jump and then just casually throw it in later on to make it up, rarely does that happen. 4:16 to the end of the program actually gives me goosebumps... the music really just reminds me of back in the day... funny for music can take you right back to another time. sigh...

✯ONE✯

Jamie Sale and David Pelletier - GOLD - 2002 SALT LAKE CITY

Like you didn't see this one coming :) You've all seen this, you all love this, but here it is anyways. Of course, it is a piece of friggin' art. It's perfection. I love the hand hold move at 3:45 in, it's so beautiful, as well as 4:41 with the arm reach before the death spiral... although I love at 4:10 the most when the crowd goes crazy! If this isn't a 6.0 performance... I don't know what is. What else did they have to do??! Oh right, bribe the judges. I love how shocked Jamie is at the end... I love when David kisses the ice... I love... them :)

It's so weird to think that if they had made even one mistake, the whole judging scandal may have never been discovered. I wonder what would have happened in the future... huh.


Okay that's it, I'm done. Night night.

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Joannie Rochette Wins Skate Canada

After an astounding short program and an even better long, Joannie Rochette has won gold at the 2009 Skate Canada International today.

Upon completion of her short program yesterday, she received the best marks of her career, 70 points. Her previous best was 67.90, when she won the silver medal at the world figure skating championships last season in Los Angeles. (Kim Yu-Na of South Korea has the world-record short-program score of 76.28, set last week at Skate America.)

Here is Joannie's fantastic short program:



Patrick Chan has finished in a disappointing 6th place after falling 3 times during his long program.

Jessica Dube and Bryce Davison won bronze after Dube singled a side by side triple salchow.

Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir are currently sitting in first place with the Free Dance still tomorrow. I'm actually kind of shocked that they are in first because Tessa does slip and fall at 1:18 AND 1:29!!

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Figure Skating - Ice Dance

I am fairly biased here, but I really am not a fan of Ice Dancing. Now that you know that, here's a little bit about some ice dancing I enjoy watching. Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir... ready for the facts?

She is 20 he is 22 and they are both from London, ON. They are the 2 time Canadian Champions (they were 2nd in 2006, they were 1st at Trophee Eric Bompard 2009, 2nd at 4 Continents Championships in 2008 and 3rd in the World in 2008. What I enjoy about them, is they have fun on the ice and they have tricks, most ice dancers don't have tricks and they keep it safe.

Here's a video of them performing at Festa On Ice show in South Korea:



Those South Koreans sure seem to love them, and you should too!!

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Whistler Mountain - Aava Hotel

I know I literally JUST posted about Whistler, but Scott and I were watching a video on the CTV website about the Olympics coming to Whistler and guess what... the hotel we are staying at is featured in the video! What's super neat is that this video is from today and the manager actually says "we only have 4 rooms left during the Olympics". Well now he can make that 3 since we booked there TODAY! So strange!!

Here's that video, it does have some hotel room shots in it!!:

CTV Whistler Mountain Video

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Coal Harbour Olympic Rings

Just a quick follow up on the 100 Days post....a video of the Rings lighting....

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Figure Skating - Canadian Men

Patrick Chan!! That's right, you know him from the McDonald's commercial (or the CTV Believe commercial... or the Cheerio's commercial). First off, this dude is WAYYYY too hyped up. I mean, he's good and all, but not THIS good.

Patrick is the 2 time National Men's champion and he's only 17! This is way too much pressure for a 17 year old! I think he'll crack. He's currently ranked 2nd in the world which is all good and great, I just think he's too young for this to be his Olympics. I think he'll be much better and more prepared for the 2014 Olympics. Then again, I only claim to be an expert :)

So here's his facts:
Patrick skates out of Toronto at the Granite Club, he won his first Canadian Championship in 2008 at the age of 17, Chan had become the youngest Canadian men's champion in history. in the 2008 - 2009 season, he has finished first at the Canadian Championships, the Four Continents Championships, Trophee Eric Bompard and Skate Canada International. He finished second at the World Championships and 5th at the Grand Prix Final.

If you're curious about the "hype", here are some links to commercials:

CTV:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PhsEkiqypxM

McDonald’s:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ER3r2D06ork&NR=1

Cheerio’s:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sw-xpEO3ArQ&NR=1

And here's his short program from the 2009 Canadian Championships:



So not to be a total downer, but in other videos I have posted on this blog of Davison & Dube and Joannie Rochette, they have not fallen in competition. (Okay, except for that skate to Dube's face thing). I'm just saying, I really don't think Chan will do as well at the Olympics as everyone seems to think he will. I'm sorry Canada, please don't be mad at me.

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