It turns out that the international media is raving about basically everything Vancouver has to offer. This is a big plus for Tourism Vancouver, which has put together a collection of quotes–the ones that were broadcast–and made sure to ignore any negative things the media has said about the Olympics. Check them out.

“You’re gorgeous, baby, you’re sophisticated, you live well… Vancouver is Manhattan with mountains…” - The New York Times

“Vancouver is a city unlike any other. Wherever I look, I see water or mountains–or both. And everyone looks so healthy.” - The Daily Telegraph

“Vancouver looked gorgeous on TV… NBC’s shots of Vancouver’s downtown and waterfront, and aerial views of Whistler ski areas, provided a media boost no marketing campaign could have delivered.” - The Seattle Times

“Thank you, Canada. For being such good hosts. For your unfailing courtesy… For reminding some of us we used to be a more civilized society. Mostly, for welcoming the world with such ease and making lasting friends with all of us.” - Brian Williams, NBC News

“The Olympics went into overtime Sunday. It was perfect. No one wanted the Warmest Games to end. Warmest weather. Warmest hosts.” - The Miami Herald

“Make no mistake, Canada’s people were the stars of these Games…” - Chicago Sun Times

“Why can’t we be more like Canada? They host the Olympics like they mean it. They smile… But most of all what they have is a kick-ass national anthem…” - The Huffington Post

“This is the nicest city I’ve ever been in.” - The Los Angeles Times

“These were the best Winter Games ever.” - Salon.com

“You can’t stage a better Olympics… In the end, it’s the people that power the movement. The Canadian people pushed these games back from the brink of disaster and right off into history.” - Yahoo.com

“Seoul’s citizens were wonderfully fanatical in 1988 and Sydneysiders were pretty hyped up in 2000 but the Vancouverites… set the standard for Londoners for 2012.” - The Daily London Telegraph

Cool, no? Like reporter Ted Chernecki said, “It’s amazing how 14 gold medals, 2 in hockey, could change the mood of the city.”

I’ll end this post off with 2 things: a link to the most hilarious article ever about Air Canada and the gold medal hockey game, and a YouTube video.

Air Canada learns that hockey trumps flying – from Yahoo.ca

This is “CTV’s Final ‘I Believe’ Montage Preceded By Brian Williams’ Closing Comments From Vancouver”. It should bring back some of the greatest moments from the Games.

CONGRATULATIONS TO…
Mathieu Giroux, Lucas Makowsky, Denny Morrison: Men’s SpeedSkating Team Pursuit – GOLD
Jasey Jay Anderson: Men’s Snowboard – Parallel Giant Slalom – GOLD
Lascelles Brown, David Bissett, Chris le Bihan, Lyndon Rush: Four-Man Bobsleigh – BRONZE
Kevin Martin, John Morris, Marc Kennedy, Ben Herbert, Adam Enright: Men’s Curling – GOLD

Canada’s medal count now reads:
13 GOLD
7 SILVER
5 BRONZE

Now, what’s so special about the number 13 here?

1. Canada has won more gold medals here in Vancouver than in any Winter or Summer Olympics. We got 10 gold in the 1984 Summer Games, and 10 each in the 2002 and 2006 Winter Games. So we have broken our own record.
   
2. Canada is now tied for the record of most gold medals at a Winter Games, with the Soviet Union in 1976 and Norway in 2002.

What does this mean now?

1. We can beat the most-medals-at-a-Winter-Games record if Canada wins in the men’s gold medal hockey game tomorrow against USA.
2. No other country can now catch up to Canada in terms of gold medals.
3. Canada > USA no matter how many medals they may have gotten

I found this on the counter of the cash register at Sears yesterday. Thought it was pretty cute. I’ve found that Quatchi and Miga are always in photos together (on maps, the Vancouver 2010 bus banners, everything) and half the time, Sumi’s not there.

Perhaps it has to do with the fact that Sumi “represents” the Paralympics as opposed to the Olympics. Anywho, does anyone else think Quatchi and Miga seem to be depicted as a couple?

Current obsession:

I’m sure you all know what I’m talking about.

As this is the last day of summer (for students like myself), I’ve decided to dedicate this blog post to recapping what I did this summer. I have to say, this summer was one which will hold the most memories.

(06.26.09 – 07.04.09) My summer started off with a bang, jetting back to the iconic New York City that I hadn’t seen in 3 years. While there, I walked down 5th, saw West Side Story on Broadway, walking past the Pride Parade that one Sunday, and even going all the way to Greenwich Village to see the Friends apartment (I know they didn’t even film in New York).

(07.07.09) Soon after arriving back in Vancouver, I was among the first group of people to see the VIP screening of the new 4D Theatre at the Vancouver Aquarium. I’ve seen the same thing 3 times already and quite frankly, I’m sick of it (until the next “movie” comes out). I do have to say, it is a very entertaining (and scary) 12 minutes.

(07.17.09) Before I knew it, I was gearing up to host my summer party for about 20 friends. We ate and talked and chilled until the sun set and we all had a ball.

(07.29.09 – 08.01.09) Now, what’s summer without going to the beach and waiting for hours on end for the spectacular fireworks? This summer was actually the first year I’d gone to the fireworks, and I must say, I am impressed with the outcome of my photos (most of them, at least).  It’s unfortunate I didn’t see South Africa’s, which I really liked after seeing it online.

(08.03.09)And it’s right back to the Aquarium for the sea turtle encounter. I was able to feed Schoona the green sea turtle and touch her shell.

(08.04.09) One of my friends told me about Teen Shakespeare’s Macbeth at Granville Island so a bunch of us went to see that.

(08.06.09) I decided to check out the track and field portion of the Police & Fire Games. It got pretty boring after a few hours so off to Granville Island I went for some fish and chips.

(08.07.09) Well that was a fun day, driving up to North Van to the Capilano Suspension Bridge, getting clogged in traffic on the Lions Gate Bridge, and going up to the Vancouver Lookout with a friend from the States.

(08.09.09) Seeing as I could get into Grouse Mountain for free, I took advantage of that and took the Skyride up to Grouse for a day of looking at grizzly bears and birds, and watching a (really lame) lumberjack show. It wasn’t the best day to go, but it wasn’t horrific either.

(08.11.09) Maplewood Farm was another place I could get into for free, not that it’s that expensive to get into anyway. Cute animals there.

(08.12.09) I’d never been down to Steveston (in Richmond) before, so I went to check it out on a nice, sunny August day. I also checked out the Buddhist temple close by.

(08.22.09) Of course, there was the PNE the first day it opened. Can’t forget about the annual two-week event, complete with Superdogs, concerts, and tons of people.

(08.23.09) With the Canada Line opened for about a week, I went to ride it for my first time to Aberdeen and the airport. Definitely new and modern, but full of delays that day.

And that about wraps up my summer. I mean, of course, there were other random outings in between, but that’s the gist of it.

Now, I’m about to start a whole new chapter in my life. Not sure if I’m excited or nervous about it. Indifferent at the moment, I suppose.

The biggest challenge is “deciphering” New York’s subway system. I know how it works and everything, but trying to figure out how to get from one place to another can be quite a pain. It’s a good thing there’s Google Maps. Google Maps has been a god.

In any case, I have not started packing yet. But I’ll get to it tomorrow morning. Before I go to school. For the final time.

Now, I discovered something pretty cool a few years ago. I took a gazillion shots of the Brooklyn Bridge the last time I was in New York and one was actually pretty neat that I developed and have hanging up in my room. I also have a 2007 New York calendar from the Empire State Building and one of the photos was surprisingly similar to the shot that I took. Check it out.

Taken July 15, 2006 @ 8:44am NY time. I just grayscaled the photo.

This is the April 2007 photo from the NY calendar that I have. Sky is obviously photoshopped?

I just found that pretty interesting. And I’ll be there again in no time!

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I have a big problem!

I want to watch English movies but which one should I watch?

So I decide to make an easy contest for all of you. I’ll give 10USD to any of you who suggest most interesting movies for me!

Read more for the details of this contest.

This contest entitled “10 English Movies That I Should Watch“.

Prize: 10USD (Through Paypal / Maybank2U)

How to join this contest?

1. Retweet this post. Copy and twit this:

——————————————————————————————

Contest: 10 English Movies That I Should Watch. Win 10USD now! http://tr.im/oZAj

——————————————————————————————

2. Make a simple post on your blog telling the others about this contest. You’re required to put the link to this contest in your post. I only accept post in English and Bahasa.

3. Choose 10 English movies which you think that I should watch and state them in the comment section below with the URL to your post and your Twitter ID.

Example in the comment section:

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1. Movie 1
2. Movie 2
3. Movie 3
4. Movie 4
5. Movie 5
6. Movie 6
7. Movie 7
8. Movie 8
9. Movie 9
10. Movie 10

Post URL – http://myblog.com/contest-from-monsterbuzz
Twitter ID – yourTwitterID

————————————————————————————

* You’re not required to state the movies in your post.
* I accept ANY English movies no matter it is new or old.
* I accept ANY English movies from any genres except pornographic materials.

————————————————————————————-

4. Done!

Rules:

1. You can suggest English movies ONLY. And you have to FOLLOW all the steps given.

2. Only one entry per person. 2nd entry will not be considered.

3. The participant who suggests most interesting movies for me will be the winner.

4. You might suggest the same movies with others but I can’t tolerate if your suggestion is too similar with the others.

5. Any comments other than contest submissions will be deleted. If you have any question, feel free to send your question to me through the Contact Form.

This contest will end on 1st July 2009. Winner will be announced and we will contact you for the prize transaction.

That’s all. Thank you.

Now suggest 10 English movies that I should watch and you might be the winner! =D

For 3 days, I was a tourist to my own city, going to 17 different attractions/hotels while earning stamps and lots of awesome photos along the way. The places I went to, you ask?

1. Stanley Park Horse-Drawn Tours
2. Science World
3. Big Bus
4. Vancouver Trolley
5. Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Chinese Garden
6. H.R. MacMillan Space Centre
7. False Creek Ferries
8. Vancouver Lookout
9. Tourism Info Centre
10. Vancouver Convention & Exhibition Centre
11. IMAX Theatre
12. Vancouver Aquarium
13. Living Shangri-La (Hotel)
14. Westin Bayshore (Hotel)
15. Pan Pacific Vancouver (Hotel)
16. The Fairmont Waterfront (Hotel)
17. Hyatt Regency (Hotel)

Now, I can’t say that after 3 days and 17 places that I’m some crazy expert on Vancouver, but I learned more about, well, a lot of things. The best part about the Tourism Challenge? The savings. All in all, I saved over $300 (for 2 people). Worth it much?

Since I spent 3 days doing the Tourism Challenge, I’ll spend 3 days blogging about the different places and posting up photos. Maybe I’ll try my hand at educating you (on the places I actually learned things about; hotels don’t exactly count). Just so you know, these 3 blogging days could be days or weeks or months apart from each other. Depends on the amount of free time I have. School’s quickly ending so there’s a lot going on, but here’s what I’ll be yammering about in Part 1 of my Tourism Challenge experience:

• Westin Bayshore
• Stanley Park Horse-Drawn Tours
• Science World
• Hyatt Regency
• Big Bus
• Living Shangri-La

Here’s a little photo preview:

Do you know what building that is?

Stay tuned!

NOTE: The post below is purely based on my opinion. I rarely ever (or maybe never) write opinionated blog posts but because the subject of this has been labelled “big” and there have been many debates and whatnot, I just feel the need to rant. You can choose to agree with everything or agree with absolutely nothing, but remember that this is just my personal opinion. And if you’re going to leave a comment, please no inappropriate language (or subtle inappropriate language) or it will be deleted.

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Whoever leaked it out that DT would turn into Forks High School for a week, what the hell were you thinking? But whatevs, right? It’s been leaked out onto the Vancouver Sun and just about every Twilight fan site there is. Watcha gonna do about it.

Since this is all out into the public now and the “Untitled Sports Movie” is now “New Moon”, I feel that there’s no point in keeping things a secret myself. After all, they already filmed the cafeteria scene(s) today which caused the shutdown of the entire cafeteria and turned that hallway into a dreaded traffic jam. And they just had to leave a wonderful crack in the doors for those 5 ginormous wires which in turn led to the halted traffic.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I find it cool that a big blockbuster film chose my school to be their high school. For once I’m actually proud of going to DT, but give me a break.

First of all, these dudes have got to learn to scheme better. If you’re gonna lie to the entire school and tell them that some untitled sports movie is gonna be here filming next week, why hand out a release form to the art students that says “New Moon” all over it? And what’s the point of telling them, “If anyone asks, tell them it’s an untitled sports movie.” Yeah well, this is most likely what happened:

A: “Hey, guess what? We got this release form thing from art for that movie they’re filming here next week. And the teacher said, ‘If anyone asks, tell them it’s an untitled sports movie.’”
B: “Oh, sweet! I just have to tell everyone else!”

Score! All of DT now knows. Don’t they know that teenagers love to gossip?

And did it ever occur to anyone that they said “Untitled Sports Movie” for a reason? Although I have to say, they probably knew that we would figure it out eventually, and the “Untitled Sports Movie” was probably just a way of prolonging the secret.

But what makes this situation worse? DT students telling students from other schools who then leak it out to total outside people. I had Googled a search last week to see if there were any leaks that filming would take place at DT and indeed there was one on Twilight Lexicon. Some girl from DT leaked it out, which sparked an insane “debate” if you will about how it’s great and how it’s stupid. Then, last night, I Googled the exact same thing and what do you know, some “insider” goes babbling to the Vancouver Sun about how DT is the new Forks High School. Of course, by morning, almost 20 results came up on Google with basically the same article the Sun had about “FILM CREWS AT DAVID THOMPSON SECONDARY”.

Dude, if you’re gonna leak it out, why not leak it out after it’s over? That way you can brag about how everyone else missed the big trucks and tents and trailers parked outside and how you got to see the foyer and cafeteria all dressed up. But of course, everyone wants to be the first to know and to let it be known that you were the first to know to everyone, right?

Then, there are the other inconveniences and problems that occurred at school. (Don’t think that just because some big shot movie’s being filmed at DT means that the students have it so good.) Our cafeteria got closed down today because of filming. They covered up our beautiful murals in the foyer which supposedly will wreck the murals after the wallpaper’s torn off. And they apparently took power from a class with guest speakers the other day. Oh I’m sure the guest speakers were so pleased with us.

Now, don’t go thinking that I hate the fact that Spunk Ransom and Kristen Stewart and all the rest of them are at my school. I don’t. This is probably a great opportunity for DT to perhaps get more students enrolled and maybe open up future filming possibilities. The thing I hate the most is the fact that some people are that insanely obsessed that they’ll go to a filming location and stand there for so bloody long for what, catching a glimpse of someone?

And if you think I’d rather not have outside people know anything so DT people can have the stars to themselves or whatever, think again. We have classes to go to. I mean, I was “fortunate” that today was the day that I have like 2 spares, so I walked around checking out the filming area, but really, there’s nothing to see after 5 minutes. Okay, so New Moon decided to film at DT. That’s great, but if they were filming in some other school I would not skip class and trek there for some famous people I probably wouldn’t get to meet.

I like the Twilight series to a certain extent, but what happens when people discover new filming locations? They flock there like mad shoppers on Boxing Day. I did not want crazy fan girls at my school trying to get a glimpse of Spunk Ransom or Taylor Lautner, but what do you know. There they are, walking around INSIDE my school acting like they belong. If we’re not even allowed to go into other schools when we have Pro D Days and whatnot, what makes them think that they can just waltz into this school just because they’re filming a movie here? There could be a real intruder for all we know and no one would call out the bloody Code Red. Of course, there are the moms with their teenage daughters and friends and the 30-somethings who stand outside of the cafeteria on the lawn for hours upon hours hoping to see someone famous.

Do they have nothing better to do than to stand outside where they’re filming for hours on end hoping to see cast members who if they are even remotely visible will have crew hold out umbrellas to avoid being seen by exactly THEM? That’s exactly what seemed to happen after school as I was passing by the outside of the cafeteria. A cast member (perhaps Spunk Ransom or other) tried to make his way into the cafeteria with an umbrella held out to the side so he wouldn’t be seen. I mean, give it a rest.

Alright, so whatever happened to privacy around here? Actors may be famous, but they’re still people. Just like you’d probably like some privacy every once in a while, so would they. What’s the real point of meeting them? They’ll “know” you for 2 seconds, write down your name for the autograph as if you are the nobody that you are, give you a hug, take a photo, and move on to the next person. Let’s face it. Celebrities only like you, the fans, because you’re the ones that give them their paycheque. They jumble you up as a group; they don’t look at you as an individual. They don’t give a rat’s arse about you otherwise. Then, when you become the crazy diehard stalker fan, you’re just another person who can’t give them their privacy and has to stalk them everywhere they go which is why they avoid you too.

There’s a reason why famous people and us nobodies don’t live in the same world.

Well, everything’s got its pros and cons, right? In any case, for those Twihards out there who just won’t give it up and who don’t live anywhere near Vancouver but long to see something, anything New Moon related, I snapped a whole whack of pictures from last week to today. If you wish to use them for your own blog or what have you, please ask, don’t steal. Remember, everything’s copyrighted.

Oh, and I did happen to see Stephenie Meyer today at lunch.

Enjoy your virtual “tour”.

Hm… Untitled Sports Movie, right?

The crew wallpapering the foyer mural… parts of that mural now is just wrecked from the wallpaper.

Here comes the salad bar…

The trees outside the cafeteria… the day before filming.

Now everything’s blocked.

That’s the outside of the staff lounge, which they’re using as a classroom.

One of the displays in the foyer. Forks Spartans.

Another display in the foyer.

I’m gonna guess that those are extras having fun in our tennis courts.

That’s actually a parking lot.

This is artwork from DT students themselves (thus the release form).

Continuous wallpapering in the foyer. It’s the big chunk where the guy in the white is standing which has to be re-done. Elsewhere has damage as well.

And there you go. Good-bye DT, hello Forks High School…

I’ve been wanting to blog about something, anything for the last month or two, but I really don’t have anything to say.

My life is dull. I’m in a rut. I wake up, eat, go to school, come home, eat some more, do homework, eat again, and sleep. Then the next day comes and everything repeats. I guess that’s what happens when you go to school. Nothing’s new. Everything’s soooooo borrrrr-ring.