2010 Olympic Mascots = you are Fail

I caught the news yesterday where the new Olympic mascots for Vancouver 2010 were unveiled. I haven't been that underwhelmed in a long time. In fact this brought to mind the closing ceremonies of the 2006 Olympics. You remember, where our presentation to the world involved ice fishing, snowmobiles and hockey. It was honestly embarrassing. Then Avril Lavigne sang and I nearly died. I had to change the channel.

And I had such high hopes for these mascots. I was expecting at least a Spirit Bear, considering it's unique to BC and would raise awareness about the fact they're a threatened species.

But instead we got Quatchi, the shy Sasquatch. I don't know about you but when I think BC, sasquatch doesn't immediately jump to mind. And I link sasquatch with people who have conspiracy theories, aluminum hats and an overactive imagination. And is that a tattoo on Quatchi's arm?

There's also Miga, the Sea Bear. This character is supposed to be a killer whale that turns into a bear on land. It was only after I learned this that the dorsal fin on Miga's head started to make sense. *shakes head*

Then there's Sumi, the Thunderbird, that really just looks like another bear but one dressed up in clothes. Why would they have another bear? I don't understand. If Sumi is supposed to be a Thunderbird why not make the mascot an actual Thunderbird instead of bear dressed as one?

And why are there three mascots instead of one? It's very simple. Money. How will your child decide which one is their favourite. They'll have to get one of each and that means $90-135 out of your pocket.

What I did love was the fact that Native mythology had been incorporated into the mascots. To me that is represetative of BC but that's where it stopped. These guys looked like anime characters. Now I have nothing against anime but what does that have to with BC? One of the developers mentioned the large Asian community in BC and that's why the mascots have an anime style. But people from BC are Canadian and not everybody from BC has an Asian background. I know that the Asian community has been a big part of BC's history, but to me, anyone looking at those mascots will think they're associated with the Beijing games. The only indicated they don't have anything to do with Beijing 2008 are Miga's scarf and Quatchi's earmuffs. And those are general items. Now I have to say I'm glad they didn't pick a moose or a beaver or a polar bear because those are stereotypical animals associated with Canada so I will give them that.

But the track record for these games is poor at best. Our demonstration at the closing ceremonies in Turin sucked fudge, our symbol is an Inukshuk that I associate with the far Canadian north and I don't think has anything to do with BC. What did I expect from the mascots.

What do you think about the new mascots?

Desert Bus for Hope

I just wanted to let you guys know about a great charity for kids. Local Canadian comedy group Loading Ready Run.

Essentially four of these guys have volunteered to play "Desert Bus", the most boring video game ever in exchange for donations that will go the charity Child's Play. These donations go to make the time in hospital 'suck less' as Loading Ready Run would say.

I encourage you guys to donate and donate often. You can check out the live feed, the driver cam or the live chat. I'm off to go and donate right now.

Robert Dziekanski Incident

I had to take a few days to write this post because it was hard to put into words. If you're Canadian then you'll have heard about the tasering death of Polish immigrant, Robert Dziekanski that took place in Vancouver Intl. Airport last month. And even if you're not Canadian, you may have heard about it. This story has circled the globe.

So why has this story suddenly become front page news for the world a month after the incident? Because a bystander caught the entire incident on video.

To me, the taser is just a replacement for the gun. And you know that there are plenty of people walking around with undiagnosed heart problems. What happens if they happen to get tasered? Who knows.

My issue with the entire incident is that this man spent hours upon hours in the airport and not once did anyone approach him to offer assistance. On the video you could clearly hear bystanders saying to the police that he was speaking Russian, which was obviously incorrect. At an airport with an international clientele surely there would be someone on staff who would have recognized his distress and been able to help him.

I didn't think the news would air the footage. They did mention that all of the major news groups had met and decided to air the footage. I think they were doing it in the name of the public's right to information. You see, the police had confiscated the video and promised to return in within 48 hours. They didn't return the video when promised and it started to look like they were just trying to cover up the incident.

In hindsight I think I should have changed the channel or turned off the tv. I can't tell you how chilling it was to hear Dziezanski screaming and then grow quiet. The idea of seeing a man literally die on public television is repulsive and nauseating. And the police, those officers, how can they justify what they've done? How can they live with themselves?

The Pharyngula mutating genre meme

I was tagged by teflonjedi some time ago to do this so here I go.

There are a set of questions below that are all of the form, "The best [subgenre] [medium] in [genre] is...". Copy the questions, and before answering them, you may modify them in a limited way, carrying out no more than two of these operations:

* You can leave them exactly as is.

* You can delete any one question.

* You can mutate either the genre, medium, or subgenre of any one question. For instance, you could change "The best time travel novel in SF/Fantasy is..." to "The best time travel novel in Westerns is...", or "The best time travel movie in SF/Fantasy is...", or "The best romance novel in SF/Fantasy is...".

* You can add a completely new question of your choice to the end of the list, as long as it is still in the form "The best [subgenre] [medium] in [genre] is...".

* You must have at least one question in your set, or you've gone extinct, and you must be able to answer it yourself, or you're not viable.

Then answer your possibly mutant set of questions. Please do include a link back to the blog you got them from, to simplify tracing the ancestry, and include these instructions.

Finally, pass it along to any number of your fellow bloggers. Remember, though, your success as a Darwinian replicator is going to be measured by the propagation of your variants, which is going to be a function of both the interest your well-honed questions generate and the number of successful attempts at reproducing them.

1. The best medieval novel in SF/Fantasy is...

"Storm of Swords" George R R Martin (who incidentally also writes the best SF/Fantasy series as well in my opinion)

2. The best romantic movie in historical fiction is...

"Outlander" Diana Gabaldon

3. The best rock song for a road trip is...

"Highway to Hell" AC/DC

Feel free to copy and join in.

My TBR Pile

This is currently my half-read book pile. It keeps growing because I work downtown and have to walk by Munro's and their bargain book tables. Evil bargain book tables!

Money, Money, Money, Money!

So I don't know if you heard but the other day the Canadian dollar jumped two cents. In one day!

I did a couple of silent fist pumps when I heard this on the radio. There was also a report on the news about how no one, not even "the predictors" (financial analysts) know where it's going to go next.

But while I'm amazed at the soaring loonie and happy to forgot the days of a 61 cent dollar, I can't help but worry. I've already seen news where Canadians, going shopping in the US for better deals have been denied. For example, various car companies have been told not to sell to Canadians because Canadian companies would lose money. Oooh, oh no! What is the big deal? The company would still be making money. Yes it might be thousands of dollars less but you can't blame consumers for wanting a better deal.

I've been having the same problem with books. Bookstores go on and on about how the books were printed months ago when the dollar was lower and blah de blah de blah. Personally, I can say I'm steering away from books until prices are more reasonable and stores stop putting their own stickers over prices to cover up the truth.

Speaking of the truth, Starbucks is now a complete write off in my book. They used to show both US and Canadians prices for coffee and now in some stores, have completely removed American prices so consumers won't see how much they're getting ripped off. Yes, the dollar has skyrocketed blah de blah but hiding the price difference is sneaky and evil in my mind. So goodbye large monopoly corporation; by the way, your mocha latte sucks.

In the beginning I was so happy our dollar was on par with the US greenback. And then I was so happy that the dollar was worth more than the US dollar. And the other day, the dollar reached the highest price it has ever been. All I hear from the news is how bad this is and what it's going to do to the economy.

Good grief people. Something good happens and you go all Charlie Brown on me. Yes chances are the dollar won't stay at this level but enjoy it while it's here. Go on a shopping spree, if the Americans will let you and if you can get through the border. Then you can spend the rest of your days reminding people when the loonie was $1.07. You can talk about the good old days. And then go on about how you had to fight off Vikings when you walked to school everyday because chances are no one's going to believe you.