SubscribeMarch 2nd, 2010
Olympic end
February 28th, 2010
Olympic bits — It is very noisy here…
because Canada’s men’s hockey team just won the gold medal.
People are yelling, cars are honking their horns and the young men upstairs are jumping up and down. I think I’ll stay inside, but I have to tell you, it’s kind of nice that everyone here is so happy.
I understand the transit people are going to run everything all through the night. That’s probably a really good idea since the parties around town are going to be going for a very long time. Downtown will be a zoo.
February 27th, 2010
Olympic bits
This thing is almost over. Wave bye-bye.
February 27th, 2010
Olympic bits
February 25th, 2010
Olympic bits
February 22nd, 2010
Olympic bits
To be honest it has been one long party since the opening ceremonies. I’m never downtown later than 11 so I don’t get the experience those who’ve been drinking so much that by midnight they turn into pickled pumpkins with fists but the Vancouver Police Department get to. So they tried to slow up the flow of the variously flavoured magic potions by closing liquor stores downtown at 7pm.
Here’s their second press release to announce a second night of early closures. Bottom line:
The 7:00 p.m. closing time on Saturday night aided police efforts to curb flagrant liquor consumption and public intoxication seen in the Granville Entertainment District Friday night.
News 1130 is a local source for this kind of information, for those who don’t want to keep up with the media releases on the VPD site. However, it seems as if their editorial staff is either a little busy or someone is having a poetry moment. Here’s how News 1130 reported the above line:
They say the 7 p.m. closure on Saturday helped curb ‘fragrant liquor consumption and public intoxication’ as seen in the Granville Entertainment District, Friday night.
Please attend. In the first block quote the word is “flagrant.” In the second it is “fragant.”
Curb fragrant liquor consumption.
See what I mean. Definitely something going on there with the editor. Maybe cutting back on the booze and having a hard time of it?
(Thanks ittel for spotting this delightful lexemic confusion.)
February 19th, 2010
Olympic bits
This is what our “winter” Olympic weather is like. Cherry blossoms. In February. Gads, the implications.
February 19th, 2010
Damn if this isn’t the face of the 2010 Olympics
February 18th, 2010
The cultural olympiad, 2
My daughter and I braved the Canadian Olympic Hockey victory celebrations to go see María Pagés. I was in a lot of pain (not from the hockey win or its subsequent crazy Canucks yelling all along Granville). And there was a sold out show at the Commodore next door (Steel Panther). What a crazy walk from the skytrain station to the Orpheum. I made it through the performance and home again before I crashed — it was worth it. What that woman can do with her arms has got to be some sort of art/genetic mutation.
This, below, is her in a Riverdance production. Cultural cross pollination. Cool.
And as much as her dancing (and her company’s), the musicians and two singers left me astounded.
That bit with the shawl was really reminiscent of some of the best fancy dancers I have seen, and the voices sounded so very tribal that I felt right at home despite never having seen flamenco performed at this level.
February 17th, 2010
Olympic bits
I’m listening to Southern Cree in the background so I thought I’d post some pictures of the not so nice side of our Olympic event. As with the 1986 Expo, many people lost their home territory to the rebuild that led up to these Olympic games. Many, many of them are Native people. Who says the Indian problem has gone? In fact who decided it was the Indians that were the problem?
A legal observer, trained to monitor the actions of both police and demonstrators during the games, looks on during demonstration for low income housing.
