I was going to start this blog by saying that the real Olympics is about to begin. That would be rude and probably not Canadian. But seriously, the real Olympics is about to begin. In my lifetime, I don't think there has been such a deep hockey tournament ever. Oh right and by the way, the curling tournies begin too. I guess those are important as well; perhaps. If you thought that the buzz in the city was alive and well, just you wait. Wait until the weather clears and the next 5-6 days of sunshine bring out the crowds to all venues both in and outdoors. Just you wait!

Luongo gets the start on Tuesday. He and Brodeur will vie for the "who's hot this week" title. In February Luongo's managed a 2-3 record with a shutout and 91.5% save percentage (GAA 2.7). He's been hot at home, so there's an edge there for him. Brodeur's had a tough February too with a GAA over 3 and 87% save percentage I can see how Babcock/Yzerman and co. have some tough decisions to make. Young Fleury hasn't faired much better either. I think given the big moments, Luongo can get the job done. Especially at the home rink.

I think the most exciting part of the Canadian team will be the Sharks line and the Ducks+Staal line. The other lines will be hot and cold, but the Sharks line has familiarity in their favour, whilst the Ducks+Staal line has youth and depth in their favour. I don't think other "3rd line" combinations can match this. There's no way. Russia's 5 NHL defensemen combine for a -16 rating so far in the NHL season. It will be a fun game if/when we play them. Perry will make them all look so bad!

This brings us to day 1 in the hockey tourney for the men. USA - SUI, CAN - NOR and RUS - LAT. I'm looking at some 2009 World Championships stats to try and find some hint of confidence in the favourites to cover. USA is favoured by 2.5 goals, Canada by 6 and Russia by 4.5. I like all three favourites here, all have numerous NHL players who are have not had to leave their homeland recently to play this tourney on foreign soil. Day 1 should be one for domination.

Predictions for Day 1 Hockey, sucks to be a dog...
USA 4 - SUI 0
CAN 8 - NOR 0 (Perry-Getzlaf-Staal line 10+ pts combined)
RUS 7 - LAT 1

10. You Gotta Be Here - Free Ice Skating at Robson Square - Ok, so this is no Rideau Canal, but for the urbanites skating downtown can always be fun. Resumes Sunday the 10th. Follow the torch relay as it makes it way to Vancouver.

9. Great venues around town - http://www.vancouver2010.com/venues - From Canada Hockey Place to the new Thunderbird Arena at UBC, down to Richmond's Skating Oval and then nearby Cypress Mountain, you can enjoy the city life alongside the event life here in the Lower Mainland. For mountain events, head up to Whistler and enjoy the cozier winter atmosphere and take in the Alpine, Nordic and Sliding events. Whistler 2010 Info.

8. Vancouver 2010 Cultural Olympiad. Something for everyone. As the Vancouver2010 website reads: From artistic collaborations that fuse contrasting perspectives to emerging talents re-inventing the voice of contemporary Canada, the Cultural Olympiad has something for everyone. Working in close partnership with the creative community, this amazing showcase of Canadian and international arts and popular culture will feature an unparalleled variety of music, dance, theatre, visual arts, film, outdoor spectaculars and digital media experiences, as remarkable and diverse as the planet itself.

7. Wednesday February 17th. Shaun White. Snowboard Half-pipe is up at Cypress Mountain. Not that far from the city, you can still find tickets on-line at the Vanoc site or craigslist of course. The biggest stage possible for the sport. With the help and sponsorship of Red Bull and Burton Shaun's been training at a secret half-pipe in what is called Project X on his website. He's frick'n RI-DON-KUL-OUS!!!



6. Live concerts and celebrations around the city. From Nelly Furtado, Barenaked Ladies, Hedley, Theory of a Deadman, Billy Talent, Great Big Sea, Sam Roberts Band, Blue Rodeo in Vancouver to All American Rejects, Feist, OLP, OneRepublic, The Fray, Jet and Usher up in Whistler. It's going to be awesome, night in, night out. How can you not want to be in the city!?

5. The O ZONE - Richmond - From the O Zone website - The O Zone is also the biggest celebration of the 2010 Olympic Winter Games, amassed over 60 acres in the heart of Richmond City Centre, just minutes from the new Canada Line, from Richmond City Hall into Minoru Park. You’ve never seen Richmond like this: mammoth ice art, massive high-definition screen, outdoor skating on real ice, entertainment from around the region and around the world, art, athletes, exhibits, virtual reality (bob-sleigh ride anyone?), food and fireworks. Bands like Our Lady Peace, Hawksley Workman, Bedouin Soundclash, Tokyo Police Club and Wintersleep headline. Theme nights saluting Canada’s diverse cultures and regions from World Beat rhythms and South Asian dance and music to Pan Northern sounds from above the Arctic Circle. There’s something for everyone, and for all ages. Did we mention it’s free?

4. HOLLAND HEINEKEN HOUSE - Youtube preview of this massive hospitality suite. From their website:

Wherever the Olympic flame burns, you will find the Holland Heineken House, the official national house of the Dutch Olympic Committee. And we open our doors again! This time from February 11 until February 28 in Vancouver. In this ´home away from home´ for sports fans and athletes, everybody with an Orange hart is welcome. Here you can relax, enjoy good food, watch artists perform and be part of the medal celebrations of the successful Dutch athletes... hopefully even more than Torino 2006! Open daily from 9 a.m. until 2 a.m., the Holland Heineken House is an ideal place to catch up on the latest of the Olympics or simply relax with something to eat or drink.

Other hospitality houses - House of Switzerland @ Bridges Restaurant, Granville Island - Russia's Sochi (2014 Olympics) @ Science World - Irish House @ Doolin's Downtown - Atlantic Canada House @ Granville Island - German House @ SFU Harbor Center - I will list others as I come across them.

3. Do You Believe? - Own the Podium - The premise of all the tv commercial hype and marketing strategy of the Canadian Olympic Committee has been placed behind the BELIEVE theme. Our tax dollars are at work via the Own the Podium program. Why not come to Vancouver and see the results of our money and support our athletes!? We have all invested in some direct/indirect manner, be it subscribing to Bell Canada services, watching TSN/Sportsnet on TV or banking at Royal Bank of Canada.

The Torino Count was Germany 29, USA 25 and Canada 24. Men's hockey we did not medal. Aerials we did not medal. No downhill skiing medals. There is opportunity here. Do You Believe? Who will be this year's Chandra Crawford? How many sliding medals will we score? Be here to see it all!

2. Party Central for all hockey fans will be at the Molson Canadian Hockey House. Each day of the Games several Hockey Canada alumni, like Paul Coffey, Russ Courtnall, Cam Neely, and Luc Robitaille, will be in Molson Canadian Hockey House talking with fans and taking part in organized events on our stage such as chalk talk sessions, and game reviews. The virtual tour. Should be a blast. I'm volunteering there for a few sessions and am looking forward to this venue, the atmosphere and the number one reason why you need to be in Vancouver for the Olympics!



1. TEAM CANADA OLYMPIC ICE HOCKEY - Team Canada playing on "home ice." How can you not be in the city to watch this? Be it the Shark Club, Schank's or your neighbourhood pub, these games will bring any venue to life. I can't wait. As a fan of hockey, of winter sports, of Team Canada and as a CANADIAN. YOU HAVE TO BE HERE!

Pool / Preliminaries Schedule:
Feb 16 CAN vs. NOR
Feb 18 SUI vs. CAN
Feb 21 CAN vs. USA

Other Useful Travel Planning Links

• Tourism Vancouver Destination 2010 Travel Planner


• TravelSmart 2010 - Everything you need to know to travel during the 2010 Winter Games
  

http://djearworm.com/?p=101

Yup, including a Beyonce and Miley Cyrus duet. It's been a few days since I came across this DJ Earworm United State of Pop 2009: Blame it on the Pop track online. I'm continually amazed, impressed and mesmirized by how he compiled this track together. A four minute 25 track based mashup. I know there's a lot of technology tools behind this, but also the artistic endeavour in building the track is pretty incredible. There's just one slight glitch around 2:29/2:30, but this is otherwise an incredible masterpiece.

For those interested in CES gadgets and whizbangs, this week is certainly an interesting week. Google launches nexus one and then the rest of the world pushes forward into the next generation of consumer toys and gadgets. Also read Lady Gaga has joined Polaroid's team as their creative director. That's impressive. Good on her to leverage her brand and creativity.

I think we're going to start to see a lot of this pocket cams. Here's one from Kodak. The flip video devices are already being mass marketed. The other day at costco I saw them selling a big palate full of Flip Ultra's I believe it was.

Engadget and Gizmodo are great tech blogs to follow this week to look at new toys and gadgets.

Campbellnomics - December 29.

From time to time I think it's fun to take a look at the Campbellnomics list to see how some of the star players in the league are performing. It's a measure of "clutchness" in scoring of situation goals. Ties, go-aheads, first goals and etc... I looked today because I was curious to see how Henrik was doing and if he made it on the list. I was not expecting him to be, but I figure it would be worth checking out. As it turns out, he is not and if anything, Campbell makes note of Henrik's absence. In fact, no Canuck is on the list. With over half of the teams represented by at least once player in this Top 21 list, I wonder if this missing statistic may come back to haunt us.

Who can carry the team in our time of need. Perhaps it's Luongo, who doesn't do any scoring at all. A theme that may still set us apart from the upper echelon of the league. Now, having Sidney and Malkin hasn't stopped the Penguins from going on a five game losing streak either, but this list seems to indicate that if push came to shove, Crosby can get it done for you. That's a good characteristic to have on any team.

Before the season started I blogged about my Olympic 23. Now that we've played some hockey there definitely can be some room for changes and adjustments.

In -> Marleau, Smyth, Perry/Richards
Out -> Savard, Richards, Carter

I think Brad Richards is being considered. Possibly in for Smyth or Perry. Marleau's played his way in, I think. Vinny's saved his spot. Doan's doan, but can he deliver some upside? Hard to say. I like my defense picks still. In net, Ward's out and Fleury's in. It may be a little unfair to Ward, as his team really sucks at the moment and he's just coming back from IR, but his GAA has ballooned and it's not his time. MAF can be our stand-by guy.

There's a debate about to Staal or not to Staal. And then there's the Fisher hype. I love Fisher, but I think in the talent pool we have and the roles required, his number is not up yet. Anyways, I guess TSN will keep showing him, however, so that we can get a glimpse of Carrie here and there, from time to time ;-)

Interesting holiday reading for those who are curious about where the mobile internet might be headed. Three versions of the report spanning over 1000+ pages in 170MB in charts and diagrams from Morgan Stanley. I guess I'll take a run at the big report first and if I get stuck go to the other versions. http://www.morganstanley.com/institutional/techresearch/mobile_internet_report122009.html An excerpt from the website: Our global technology and telecom analysts set out to do a deep dive into the rapidly changing mobile Internet market. We wanted to create a data-rich, theme-based framework for thinking about how the market may develop. We intend to expand and edit the framework as the market evolves. A lot has changed since we published “The Internet Report” in 1995 on the web. We decided to create The Mobile Internet Report largely in PowerPoint and publish it on the web, expecting that bits and pieces of it will be cut / pasted / redistributed and debated / dismissed / lauded. Our goal is to get our thoughts and data into the conversation about what may be the biggest technology trend ever, one that may help make us all more informed in ways that are unique to the web circa 2009, and beyond.

Baroque is definitely not for everyone.

Perhaps it's been a long day for me, perhaps even a long week, but clearly, baroque music is not for everyone. My family has a pretty solid musical background and I believe I can classify myself as a discernable music appreciationist (if there is such a class of persons), and so, I left the Orpheum tonight disatisfied; possibly even disenchanted. The evening started quite well with the Vivaldi, but soon by the end of the evening a few themes had unraveled which were quite disappointing. Perhaps the music is old... or possibly the performers are old.. *oops*... did I just say that?

I have never been to a Vancouver Chamber Choir concert prior to tonight but I left with a lot of questions. The three aria's performed by the bass and tenors in CPE's Magnificat were pretty lacking. They barely made it over the orchestra. Seriously. One of the female arias had some volume but her voice was unsatisfactorily (is that a word?) flat and lacked depth and richness. Maybe I should just keep my opinions to myself. But that would defeat the purpose of blogging ;-).

I told my mother that the choral portions were pretty nice to listen to, they had good range, volume and it looked quite difficult to sing. I knew going in Baroque would be a difficult 2 hours to swallow, but that's ok. There is hope yet for my return to their audience. I would very much like to hear a concert arranged and conducted by John William Trotter. Hopefully he can provide again some pre-concert insight and background, that was very important for me, the casual, but interested listener. He's made me curious to say the least. I would pass if it was anywhere near Baroque though ;-).

I probably shouldn't tag this post... hahaha... don't want to get too much trackback action.

Lesson of the day. Avoid Baroque's, but always support your family ;-)