This 2-for-1 “A2W4SR” special features two Canadian ski cuties who are fighting through injury to compete in the Games. They’re both recovering from recent ACL injuries but will likely be braced up like Forrest Gump and doing their best to give’r in their respective events.
Julia Murray is one of Canada’s top skier cross athletes. Her dad was legendary Crazy Canuck Dave Murray, who passed away from skin cancer in 1990. Her mom, Stephanie Sloan, was 3-time world champion in freestyle skiing. In other words, Julia is hardwired for speed and bumps.
Julia Murray
All cuteness aside, it’s impressive that these girls are even competing in these Games. If things don’t work out, they have a very valid excuse, and both are young enough to be in several more Olympics to come. You’ve been warned Sochi.
Sweet FUBAR air from Brigitte Acton and Anna Goodman
Biathlon isn’t the most celebrated winter sport in Canada. We’re not that fond of guns, we prefer ski-doos over or cross-country skiing, and most of us think biathlon is for people who aren’t motivated enough to be triathletes.
So it’s no surprise that the Canadian biathlon team doesn’t quite get the funding or the attention that they deserve. Rather than pout about their low profile, they adopted Halle Berry’s Oscar strategy: Skin to Win.
I don’t own this calendar, but I have had the misfortune of receiving (and regifting) the “Fire and Ice” calendar featuring nude curlers. My guess is that this calendar is much more tasteful and classy. Plus, there’s guns involved.
Bold, Beautiful Biathlon sells for $20, with proceeds going to the team expenses. An excerpt from their site:
We are the Canadian women’s biathlon team. We are a dynamic, positive and internationally competitive team of five women who share a common dream to excel at Canada’s Olympics in 2010 and beyond. Despite the upcoming home Games, our team is in dire need of funding. This is our initiative to take control,
effect positive change and continue the success of our team.
Our goal is to empower and inspire women and girls by expressing the beauty of a healthy, athletic body. The net proceeds will go directly towards funding our expenses leading up to the 2010 Olympic Winter Games.
While we’re on the topic, Canadian biathlete Zina Kocher took a cue from American Pie and gave us one of the more enjoyable Olympic athlete profile ads going into the Games.
The pressure is off Johnny Weir and his fox fur skating costume faux pas. It seems he’s been one-upped by a Russian Pairs couple and their politically incorrect tribute to Aboriginals, including either “brown face” or a bit of a Jersey Shore-esque spray tan malfunction.
Ivan Sekretarev/Associated Press
Paint the Town Red
Vancouver has been encouraged to show its Canadian Olympic support by “painting the town red.” So far, it’s been about as popular as a Hooter’s on Davie Street. With one exception–the always classy Granville shop Dare to Wear has embraced it wholeheartedly in their latest window display. Some would argue it’s for Valentine’s Day, but I know Canadian Olympic pride draped over double Ds when I see it.
Modest Granville clothier sets the bar for Canadian patriotism
The Start of World War III?
The Australians are pissed off at the IOC’s demand that they remove a boxing kangaroo flag from the Olympic village. The IOC trademark police are claiming that it’s not an approved trademark, forgetting to look into the fact that the trademark is owned by the Australian Olympic committee. If they Australians were smart enough to make the claim “We’re just trying to promote sales of those dumb red Canada mitts,” this would all go away. In a related story, if you want to meet members of the Australian team, they can be found at any Roots store, taking pictures and giggling.
As a Calgarian, I’m not allowed to let this story get by without comment:
In a floating hotel cash-grab scheme gone horribly wrong, a group of Edmonton investors are leaving a group of Olympic-bound terminally ill kids high and dry.
Thirteen terminally ill children and their families who were set to take in the spectacle of the Vancouver Olympics may see that last wish dashed after accommodation plans fell through less than two weeks before the Games.
The families are among approximately 800 people who were supposed to stay in a cruise ship that was to serve as a floating hotel during the Games. But the investment company behind the project cancelled the plan. Many people are left with nowhere to stay, including the children who had planned to attend the Games with the Make-A-Wish Foundation.
Edmonton’s Newwest Special Projects confirmed it pulled the plug on accommodations for the Norwegian Star cruise ship because sales were slow and expenses were too great. It’s a business decision that throws into turmoil the Olympic travel plans of people from around the world.
Why are land-locked Edmontonians trying to cash in on a transformed cruise ship? It’s not your area of expertise. Stick to the stuff you’re good at, like drilling for oil or reminiscing about how good your hockey team was 25 years ago.
I just hope these Make-A-Wish kids find a place to stay. I’d offer up my place, but I don’t think any kid’s wish is to sleep on a slow-leak inflatable floor mattress. Plus, I’ve got a two week supply of naive Korean tourists booked on that mattress at $500/night.
As mentioned in a previous post, I wasn’t too happy about Vancouver/VANOC painting over a tasteful graffiti mural. So it’s easy to sympathize with those artists who might be pissed off that their handiwork was erased in a number of hours by a coat of blue paint. But I’m also decidedly pro-Olympics, so the way they’ve drawn the rings here is down right amateurish.
As any grade school kid could tell you, the Olympic rings on the horizontal plane never touch each other. Only on the vertical plane. Get it right, as it calls into question your “arts” credentials.
Still, your slogan of “With glowing hearts, we kill the arts” is kind of clever. That internal rhyming didn’t go unnoticed.
The more important issue at play is the potential poker tell that VANOC may have shown us with the blue paint. My theory is that they plan to use the same approach with Vancouver’s homeless. Hose them all down with blue paint, so that tourists think they’re seeing a really elaborate blue man group performance.
Ashleigh’s post from a few weeks ago deserves an encore after her gold digging ways in today’s ski cross. Enjoy:
The girl you see before wearing the feet of an illegally poached Polar Bear is Ashleigh McIvor, Canada’s top qualifier in the renegade sport of skiercross. When she’s not pissing off Greenpeace with her footwear, she’s barreling down the mountain ripping around banked turns and flying off kickers while throwing elbows that would make Charles Barkley proud.
Ashleigh’s from Whistler, so based on what I’ve learned from Peak Season, her hobbies include binge drinking, punching guys and then making out with the guy she just punched. If you’re into official bios, you can probably find some better stuff here.
I’d like to commend you on your wise choice to freshen up the city’s art installations in recent days. I noticed the Orca mural that welcomed the incoming traffic on the Granville Bridge has been given a fresh coat of paint. It’s nice to see 70′s-style Air Brushed Van Art so lovingly restored, so that tourists can feel like they’re driving into the coastal equivalent of the 3 wolf moon shirt. It’s an excellent first impression of Canada’s arts community.
Since you’re off to a good start on being the curator of what makes good art in this city, I’d like to ask that a tarp be thrown over the entire Vancouver Art Gallery. I don’t want Olympic tourists thinking we offer anything to the world other than glass buildings, dog sweaters, and Lulu Lemon gym lingerie.
