So I was sitting at the kitchen table, eating dinner, glancing up the odd time to look at the News Hour on Global TV, when I saw all of these quotes from newspapers and websites about Vancouver and the Olympics being broadcast.
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.
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.
Words can’t even begin to explain what happened in Vancouver today. It was one of those once in a lifetime things that you knew you would regret if you didn’t partake in the glorious festivities.
I started my day by pulling my Luongo Team Canada jersey over my head and heading out the door to go Downtown for the final time during the Vancouver 2010 Olympics. Even at the smaller SkyTrain station where I began the day, people were decked out in red, white, and giant Canada flags. I decided to hang around Starbucks in the Chapters by Robson Square for an hour or so before meeting up with my friends. Just looking out the window, I could tell everyone was stoked about the upcoming gold medal hockey match between Canada and USA. (I love the love-hate relationship we have with the States.)
Throughout the day, I’ve had random people come up to me to give me high-fives, saying they wanted to kidnap me because they saw me in my Luongo jersey, and all kinds of weird things. That wasn’t a rare occurrence today though. We wandered over to Robson Square and found an okay spot amongst the crowd to stare at a big screen to watch the game. Some other friends were inside Pacific Centre, but I preferred the atmosphere outside, even if I didn’t have as wonderful of a view. There were even people inside Chapters (right behind) on the 2nd and 3rd floors, sitting by the window to watch the game.
The sounds of all of the “GO CANADA GO!” “CA-NA-DA!” “LET’S GO, CANADA, LET’S GO!” “LUUUUUUUUUU!” are still ringing in my head as I type this. Canada flags waved all around throughout the game, and “O Canada” was even sung twice during the game. “BOOOOOO”‘s rang out when the Americans came out, when they scored… whenever they did anything that we didn’t like, we boo’ed. I also won’t forget how many times we had to yell at security, the press, anyone and everyone that got in our way of the screen (as we didn’t have a fabulous view).
I noticed that somewhere in the middle of the game, the sky got brighter. That’s when I realized the sun was starting to come out. The thought that ran across my mind, We’re gonna win! The sun’s out! Then USA scored. With what, 24 seconds left in the 3rd period?
Of course, there was the lone American, waving his little American flag, cheering, while everyone else stay silent, wondering how Luongo could’ve possibly let one in when the gold was so close to being ours.
Now, by that point in the game, I just turned sideways and didn’t watch. I couldn’t watch anymore; it was too intense. But the sun was still there, and I was assured that Canada was playing very well during OT, so I waited for the crowd to react. Waited, and waited, and waited. And then there it was.
Canada had done it. Crosby had done it. I was sure one of my friends was over at the mall crying his eyes out. And there was the sun, shining brightly…
… as Vancouver burst into cheers.
This is the national anthem being sung in Robson Square during the victory ceremony while people continued to zipline across the Square and media recorded the historic moment.
Going down Robson Street was not easy either. Everyone was there, everyone was cheering, everyone was high fiving, everyone was so patriotic. I took the following video on my iPhone (as my camera had long died by then) while making my way through Robson Street.
I originally didn’t intend on staying Downtown for the closing ceremony, but was later convinced that the continued cheering and patriotism was an opportunity not to be missed. I did go home first for a little bit before coming back, and this was my experience on the Granville Station escalator (one of the longest escalators ever, 45 degree angle basically). Do excuse the man in front of me with the ginormous Canada flag.
Of course, the cheering didn’t stop. The Canada flag waving didn’t stop. None of the hype stopped.
We watched the closing ceremony on the Sears building, where it was projected.
I was happy to see that the cauldron finally had its 4 arms, complete and to everyone’s satisfaction.
I didn’t find the closing ceremony all too interesting. It seemed like they were trying to put on something that was a bit in contrast to the opening ceremony; something more humourous. In any case, I nearly froze to death out there watching the ceremony, but it was nice to see everyone walking around, still sporting those Canada flags, cheering their minds out.
After the closing ceremony, we walked over to Canada Place to see the cauldron one last time. Of course, the flame was no longer lit, but the icicle-ness of the cauldron was still there.
I also managed to see the Olympic rings across the water, this time in gold, at nighttime.
And it didn’t stop there. We heard endless car honking, cow belling, cheering, flag waving, high fiving, all while walking towards the SkyTrain station to go home.
It looks like Canada has “Own[ed] the Podium”, maybe not with the most number of medals, but with the most number of medals that counted. Our national anthem was sung 14 times in this Olympics, more than any other Winter Olympics ever, and we’ve gotten the most medals to be awarded by the host country at a Winter Games. That’s 2 records right there.
And like I said on Twitter and Facebook,
Sorry, USA. It doesn’t matter that you won all the games leading up to the gold medal game because you didn’t win the one that counted.
It’s too bad everything’s come to an end, and that everyone has to make a sudden, abrupt 180 back into school and work mode this quickly.
In any case, the Vancouver 2010 Olympics has been one of the most amazing things that has ever happened to Vancouver, and to its citizens. Everyone who had the chance to experience these Olympics firsthand will have so much to pass on, to tell. Canada, and especially Vancouver (it seems), has never seen this much patriotism before. And I’m sure that even those who only had the chance to watch the Olympics through their TV screens can say that today, they are sure as hell proud to be Canadian.
“From no golds ever won on Canadian soil to most golds ever won in Winter Olympic history – what an accomplishment.” – Dave McCaig
Today wasn’t so much of an “outing” per se, but more like a morning of shopping. I woke up @ 6am after about 4 hours of sleep to groggily head out into the cold to line up at The Bay Downtown/Olympic Superstore in search of more Olympic clothes (a girl can never have too much).
The lineup, on Seymour Street, had already curved around once into the formation of 2 lanes. And I arrived at the line a tad before 8am. (The store opens @ 9am and will now be open 24/7 until the Olympics ends, which makes me wonder exactly how they will ever clean up that mess in there and replenish the clothing). As I kept waiting, the line kept getting longer. And longer. And longer. Until it had curved around about 4 times and turned into 5 lanes.
It’s funny what people will do for clothes. It’s all in the mind I guess. Like I said on Twitter, the Olympic Superstore (I really hate that name) is like a gold mine; you strike gold when you find something that fits, no matter who it was meant for (men, women, boys, girls). As long as it fits, you grab it and never let go.
That was the case for me. I stocked up on a boys size 10/12 jacket and some girls size 14 pullovers. Now in the case of the lineup, well, that just looped around half the store, but it did go pretty fast considering there were about 10 cashiers on each side. My cashier was somewhat strange; he kept looking at me (he’s either a pedophile or he was just amused by the maple leaf on my face). Anywho, let’s just say a lot of money was spent today on Olympic clothing.
Somewhere amongst the clothes in the Olympic Superstore is the Coca-Cola Happiness Cafe and an official pin trading area. Around there also are a whack of Coca-Cola clothes and what have you. (I find it funny how the Canada-hoodie lady somehow managed to wind up in both of my photos, which were taken only minutes apart from each other.)
After finally exiting the building, I went around back to Seymour Street to see how long the lineup was (this was late morning). I tried taking some good photos but because of where the sun was, the lineup turned into something of a silhouette.
I usually see the other side of the building of The Bay with the models (or maybe athletes) sporting the Olympic clothes, so it was nice to see the other side today, with the nice shade of blue and athletes doing their thing (they might be Visa ads) on the side of the building. The Scotiabank Tower is in the background.
Because I couldn’t get any good shots of the lineup, I just took a 21 second video of the line.
Now I’m absolutely exhausted from 6 days of continuous outings. Today was a short day, which I’m thankful for. I’ll be well rested for another short outing back Downtown tomorrow morning and of course, the much-anticipated Canada vs USA men’s hockey game.
On Thursday, February 11, 2010, the Olympic Torch Relay continued on its 105th day, going through the Lower Mainland including Coquitlam and Burnaby. Now, being a student at BCIT, I was fortunate enough to be able to go outside and witness this Olympic hype. Until that day, I wasn’t even looking forward to the Olympic break.
Thankfully, my one and only break on Thursday was during the time the torch bearer, Joel Pineau (a BCIT student), would be set to pass BCIT. The crowds gathered and cheered, waving Canada and Coke flags alike, watching and waiting for Joel to come.
It looked as though the weather gods were on our side, because as the time came closer, the rain kept away. Umbrellas closed and views got better. Fast forward another 30 minutes, and the view of two torch bearers exchanging flames is visible from a distance (from my view on top of a small hill at least, and not pictured here unfortunately). 10 seconds later, Joel passes, waving at the crowd, who is cheering back at him.
I managed to get a somewhat shaky and not-so-great quality video from afar of the run.
Now that I’m free from the chains of school, I obviously have more time on my hands. And what have I done with my time so far? I watched the Opening Ceremony from the comfort of my own living room. I was stunned by everything during the ceremony. Until that will-be-infamous mechanical glitch with the last cauldron. Embarrassing much, Vancouver? I’ve seen all the Twitter posts about it, from how they handled it well to the fact that Canada invented insulin and not Viagra (@uranowski).
I was disappointed with that snafu. I will say though, that other than that, everything was well done. There were just a few minor things, like lip-syncing, canoe-guy and his shadow movements not matching up, tap dancing clicks not sounding at the correct time… but overall, I was very impressed. I can only hope now that the closing ceremony won’t have silly glitches like the ones in the opening ceremony.
I’ll hopefully be going around the city touring, checking out the sights and sounds, and snapping them photos. Needless to say, I’m now so glad I get a two-week break to recoup, watch the Olympics, and be proud to be a Vancouverite, and a Canadian. Despite our embarrassments.
So… my team at BCIT and I produced a commercial for BSYS (Business Info Systems) class. Lots of sweat and blood and endless amounts of editing have been put into this project. And since 3 Blog Nights has a contest going for basically what we did the commercial on (apparently 3BN stole the idea from whoever came up with the idea for BSYS), we decided to enter!
Now we’re trying to get as many votes in as we can. But first, watch the commercial. Trust me, you won’t be disappointed.
Sure hope you weren’t disappointed Now, please visit this link http://3bn.bcit.ca/entries/#8185 to vote for our commercial! A Macbook Pro is on the line here! Ask all of your friends to vote for it too.
And as for incentives… it’ll be lots of appreciation Thanks so much!
Yesterday, I went to Central Park to search for plants for my Biology project. I did manage to find some useful plants, but I also found squirrels! They were just too cute, so I took a short video of 2 of them.
Now, please visit this link