Meet the Inukshuk.

The inspiration for the Vancouver 2010 Olympic logo is more than just a friendly figure.  It's an homage to an ancient symbol of the Inuit culture, the Inukshuk.  These stacked stones were traditionally used as landmarks and navigational aids.  They also represent northern hospitality and friendship.  Giant versions of these were created just for the olympics.  But others have been around for a long time.  And they seemed to show up everywhere.  I fell in love with their quirky charm.  So here are a few photographs in tribute to the smile-inducing Inukshuk.

This was created for Expo 86 and was moved to English Bay in Vancouver's West End in 1987.  

This is the creature that greets visitors as they enter Whistler village.

Here are some impromptu Inukshuk stacks we found near BC Stadium, location of the opening ceremonies.

I bought this mini Inukshuk in Whistler.  Sure it's a cheap tourist souvenir but every time I see it, it makes me smile.

And I found this stone stacking game at the Vancouver Art Gallery's gift shop.  I can hardly wait to have friends over for an Inukshuk game night.

Here's a bad idea.

There was a lot to love at the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics. But there were a few things that were a lot less likable.  Like who came up with the idea to put the olympic cauldron behind an unattractive chain link fence.  Yes, that's right, the Vancouver Olympic Cauldron was behind a blockade of concrete barriers and chain link.  Don't believe me?  Here are a few photos:

See what I mean.  That really makes for a nice photo op, eh? I saw a news story that said VANOC had worked all night to move the chain link fence closer to the flame because they'd gotten so many complaints.  But, IT'S STILL BEHIND A CHAIN LINK FENCE!  That's just a little too ghetto for my taste.


Of course, if you very carefully positioned your lens through the holes in the fence, you could get an unobstructed view of the cauldron.

I get that maybe you need to worry about people getting too close to the flames.  But when you're spending billions of dollars on the games, surely you can come up with a more elegant solution than concrete and chain link.  Combine this with the fact that the indoor cauldron at the opening ceremonies didn't work and I'm giving Vancouver a solid D- in Olympic Cauldrons.

Ladies and gentlemen, the world's cutest accordion player.

I hesitate to make this post because in doing so, I admit that I like accordion music.  Yes, I often watch the Lawrence Welk show on PBS.  The very first TV shows that my Tivo recommended for me were some totally obscure, public-access cable shows that featured nothing but local polka bands filled with accordions.  And is there anything better than an Argentinian Tango played on a melancholy accordion? So it was with some delight that I ran into this band (I wish I knew their name) while I was at Whistler.


Sure the front man thought he was the star.  But he couldn't hold a candle to the sparkling charm, the devastating smile, the chic style, the casual good looks, and the musical perfection of the accordion player. And that's why I can say with some confidence, that whoever he is, he's the world's cutest accordion player.


Here's a video that can't possibly do him justice.






Of course, just to remind me that accordion players have a long way to go to get to cool, this was the entertainment at the Portland airport on the way home.

Secret Code.

As part of the Cultural Olympiad, Vancouver offers it's Code series of art.  The series takes place in four locations, three in the real world and one in the cyber world.  I have several posts planned from this series starting with these three videos.  A lot of the Code works involve the viewer and that was certainly the case at Code 1. (By the way, you have to wait in line for everything at the Olympics, except for Code1.  This was held in a warehouse well outside the main olympic areas.  There was almost no one there which made for a great break from all the crowds. Or it just may be a sign that I like the stuff that's really boring.)  So here are a few video reviews of the Code 1 artists.

Video one: Condemned Bulbes by Artificiel.

This Canadian group of artists works in new mediums.  In Vancouver, they filled a black room with low hanging, large light bulbs that glowed and buzzed at random times.  Or at least it seemed random at first.  The sound for this show was amazing.  When I first entered the room I was sure the buzzing was a result of the light bulbs lighting.  But as the sounds slowly became more musical, I realized that this was some very careful planning on the part of the artists.






Video two: Akousmaflore by Scenocosme
This French artist group presented an indoor garden of living, sonic plants.  I loved this.  It was really fun and somehow made me feel more connected to the plant world. Maybe the Swiss are right a plants do have rights.  I don't know how they did this, but when you gently touched the leaves of hanging house plants, you heard various jungle-like sounds.  I want my house plants to do this.






Video three: Dune 4.0 by Daan Roosegaarde
This work was shown inside a pitch black, recycled shipping container.  You walked along a path and brushed against things that were like reeds with LEDs on the ends.  The more interaction with the reeds, the more light and sound that were generated.  It was so much fun I did it twice.  And I love this video.  If you listen closely, you can hear Felix run into the wall.

Only in Vancouver.

Sometimes, a city like Vancouver can feel a little too much like home.  There are the Home Depots and the Walmarts.  The Gaps and the McDonalds.  There just doesn't seem to be anything different.  And then you discover the Japadog.  What's a Japadog?  It's a Japanese style hot dog that you can only get in Vancouver.  And they are wildly popular with locals and celebrities alike, which means you have wait in a long line to get one.  (I've been told the lines are just as long even when the olympics aren't in town.  The hots dogs are sold from a street cart.  Oh, forget it, it's easier if I explain it with photographs.


You gotta wait if you want a Japadog because the lines are long:

Even after you wait in line to order, you still have to wait in another line to get your food.

And here's the food.  We ordered an Okonomi (a bratwurst with fried cabbage and bonito flakes), an edamame Oroshi (a hotdog filled with meat and Edamame garnished with with daikon), and an Ume (a bratwurst with onions and some sort of magic Japanese sauce). 

I love a great travel adventure, especially when it involves street food.

A floral print big enough for the olympics.

Every olympic city wants to put its best foot forward and that means showcasing more than sport.  So there are plenty of artistic endeavors going on here in Vancouver.  Many of them are part of the Cultural Olympiad.  Take Michael Lin's A Modest Vail which is anything but modest. Lin takes his inspiration from Taiwanese textiles, only he makes them larger than life in beautifully painted murals.  For Vancouver, he created three huge murals that cover one entire side of the Vancouver Art Gallery (which hosted other Cultural Olympiad events that I'll post about later).  I don't generally go for floral paintings.  But Lin proved that paintings of flowers can be something completely unexpected.  I'll stop talking about it and just show a couple of photos.

Speaking Canadian

Who knew? In the States, one drinks a bloody Mary. In Canada, one orders a classic Caesar.

Inside the OC.

I can now say two things about opening ceremonies; I've performed in one (as a tree in the 2002 games in Salt Lake City) and I've seen one live right here in Vancouver for the 2010 games.


Maybe the most interesting thing about experiencing the ceremonies live is all the stuff you don't see on the TV broadcasts.  That includes good and bad.  Some of the bad? The ordeal of just getting there--starting with figuring out how to get tickets and planning a trip to the host city.  But also getting there the day of the event.  We left our hotel more than three hours before the ceremonies started just to make sure we could manage all the crowds, get through security, and be in our seats for the audience rehearsal.


But that's where the good starts; the audience rehearsal.  That's when you start to realize that this is going to be one great big party.  I will say that the Vancouver audience didn't pay close enough attention and kind of screwed up several of the planned visual effects, particularly the candles during K. D. Lange's brilliant performance.  It's too bad because I think the planned effect would have been really cool.


I gotta give Vancouver props for being the first city to have to perform an opening ceremonies after Beijing.  And if you can't dazzle them with a cast of perfectly-synced millions (maybe not literally but it seemed like it), then dazzle them with your technology.  And I have to say the projection technologies used for this show were amazing.  I watched the rebroadcast later and the projections looked cool on TV, but nothing like they did in person.  The whales were amazing. And I loved the kid running on the wheat fields; it was like something from the mind of Salvador Dali or a Magritte painting.


I could go on but instead I'll share a few photos and very short videos from the event.


The entire audience wore these uncomfortable ponchos.  But the end result was cool since we served as another projection surface.  (Side note:  This really doesn't feel like a winter olympics.  The weather is so spring-like that I might call them the Vancouver Spring Games.  But inside a covered stadium and under these hot ponchos we could have been at a summer olympics.)

K.D. Lange was amazing live.  And since we seemed to be seated in the lesbian section of the opening ceremonies, there was some extra enthusiasm for the performer.  The way the candles were supposed to work? The projection on the floor was supposed to slowly creep out from K.D.'s stage and then turn into our lit candles when it hit the audience and then slowly spread up the sides of the entire stadium.  But people just couldn't wait to turn on their candles.  Too bad.

And now a couple of videos.  And you'll have to excuse my bad video quality but it was really hard to film when there is so much going on.  Maybe the best part of being at the OC live is how crazy it is in the crowd.  TV doesn't even come close to capturing how great the live sound is (it almost sounded fake on the rebroadcast) and the crowd sound is totally overwhelming.  Particularly when we were all beating our cardboard drums as directed by the audience leaders:

And give a crowd of some 60,000 people LED flashlights with different covered filters and the effects are absolutely mesmerizing.

Die snow mommy, die.

I just saw someone rip the guts out of a snowman.

I went to a Vancouver Cultural Olympiad performance called Nix. It was held in a snow theater by Lost Lake near Whistler. During the performance, the girl character thrusts her hand into the guts of a snow woman and literally rips out her frozen entrails. Later the girl pulls out the snowy creature's blue and frozen heart. All because the girl has issues with her mom.

There was also a tuba that belched flames as it was played. Oh, and a woman who was 10.5 months pregnant. And an arsonist who can't start fires anymore because in a post apocalyptic world it's just too cold.

And it was cold. But I guess it has to be when your entire set is built from ice and snow. At least there were sheepskin seat covers and white fleece blankets to help fight the chill.

Too bad they didn't allow photography. I guess we can't have such violent images of snow-person mutilation getting out in the world. Who knows what might happen?

On the road to Whistler.

Today I'm headed to Whistler to check out the sights. The drive is spectacular even with the rainy, misty weather. I do wish the Vancouver Olympic committee could catch a break with the weather. Because the rain and the warmer-than-normal temperatures aren't helping anyone.

Preshow

Here's a sneak peek of the audience kit that will feature in the opening ceremonies.

Just another prop

Here I am wearing my sexy olympic poncho. But that's what makes all those cool audience projections work.

Making friends in Vancouver

I decided to dust off some old SLC2002 olympic pins and wear them. They're already helping to break the ice. A charming Chinese woman at will call saw them and asked to trade. So in exchange for a saddle pin, I got a cool pin with the Chinese and Canadian flags and the Vancouver logo.

That was close.

I just tried to screw up my entire olympic trip by bringing my expired passport to the airport. I had to run home and get my current passport. But I'm on the plane to Portland. Let's hope I'm more aware the rest of the trip.

Vancouver here I come.

That's right. I'm on my way to Vancouver for the 2010 winter olympics. And I'm hoping to make blog posts on the go. So this is my test e-mail post from my phone. I thought it might also be good to test-post a photo. I chose a quick snapshot of a remnant from the 2002 winter olympics right here in Salt Lake City. Stay tuned for more from Vancouver.