Olympics
“And now, the always enjoyable giant inflatable beaver”
The immortal Bob Costas makes the call.
The closing ceremonies in Vancouver were even more hilariously weird than the opening ceremonies. I’m officially in love with Canada.
Can you imagine the Soviets Russians doing something like that? Don’t get me wrong; I revere Russian culture. But the Sochi preview show was fucking terrifying. [...]
Olympics final weekend: open thread
I’m here, I’m at my computer, but I’m extremely busy. So no post; just this lousy open thread.
The figure skating has been absolutely glorious this year. Kim Yu-Na is God. Virtue and Moir are the King and Queen of the Universe. Johnny Weir is the Grand Duke of Cool. [...]
I can’t wait
Only a few more hours until the ice dancing! Tonight, in the original dance competition, reigning world champions Domnina and Shabalin will perform their Sensitive and Respectful Tribute to Brown People.
The figure skating has been truly delicious this year. I’m glad Evan Lysacek beat Lord Plushenko, though I would have preferred [...]
Day 4 of the Mop ‘n Glo preliminary rounds
Here’s my problem with curling (okay, one of my problems with curling): I don’t believe it. I don’t think it’s true. The people with the Swiffer mops, furiously scrubbing in front of the rock? Bullshit. I don’t think they’re accomplishing anything.
Think about it. Curling is basically bowling on ice. [...]
Why I love the Winter Olympics
They’re fast. Everything at the Winter Olympics is fast — except the curling, which proceeds at a normal, floor-waxing, houseworky kinda pace. But other than the curling, everything is fast. People ski, skate, and slide at superhuman speeds.
The Summer Olympics, on the other hand, is just sweaty people running. [...]
I hate NBC
Today, Lindsey Vonn won the women’s downhill. Gold medal for Vonn, with her teammate Julie Mancuso taking silver. It was thrilling, or at least I think it was. I wasn’t able to watch it. You know why? Because NBC didn’t want me to watch it. Not live, anyway. [...]
IOC bans black men from ski jumping
Not really. But imagine if they did. Imagine if the International Olympic Committee had ruled repeatedly against allowing black men to compete in ski jumping. Imagine that they excused this discrimination on the grounds that black male ski jumpers were few and far between and frankly not very good — despite there [...]
Correction: it’s the devil people of Newfoundland
The video of the devil people tap-dancing:
During the opening ceremony Friday night, the sequence above was immediately preceded by a Quebec legend involving a fiddler in a canoe who was dressed like a punk devil — just like these folks, in fact. So I thought this whole thing was about Quebec. It’s only [...]
k.d. lang singing “Hallelujah” at the Opening Ceremony
Found the video:
I still think it was a strange choice for the Olympics, but it is a gorgeous song, and lang’s performance was absolutely jaw-dropping. So I guess it fit simply as a representation of Canadian excellence or something.
In case you have trouble with the video above, here’s k.d. singing “Hallelujah” in [...]
And now, the devil people of Quebec
Who knew Quebec was populated by tattooed fiddle-playing biker gangs?
Weirdest damn Olympic ceremony shtick I’ve ever seen.
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UPDATE: Couple of things.
First: interesting choice for an Olympic song. I mean, yes, Leonard Cohen is a great songwriter. “Hallelujah” is a great song. And god knows, k.d. lang sang the shit out of [...]
