So I find myself on the fence in regards to the Olympics. Following Twitter and friends on Facebook, you’d think Canada had found the cure for cancer during the opening ceremonies. Sentiments such as, “I’ve never been prouder to be Canadian” were fairly common. Though I did get a laugh out of the few people who pointed out the particularly phallic nature of the large ice sculptures.
Similar sentiments of national pride erupted when Alexandre Bilodeau won the first Canadian gold medal on native soil.
Don’t get me wrong, I understand feelings of national pride. I’ve even felt similar feelings as I’ve watched the Canadian Women’s Hockey Team destroy every team they’ve faced. But there needs to be some perspective here. Being proud of your countrymen and their accomplishments is admirable. Being proud that we are hosting these games and that in spite of Mother Nature’s lack of cooperation, the events are still taking place is a perfectly fine feeling. But to have these games and any of their results be a source of your greatest sense of pride in your country? That seems to ignore the numerous accomplishments this young nation has managed.
When I first saw the poem by Shane Koyczan performed at the Olympic opening ceremonies, I had what is probably the typical Canadian response, which was, “should we really be bragging?” But after the outpouring of national pride over medals, I gave this poem a closer listen. I realised, that this is in so many ways why we should be proud. And does the poem contain a single “proudest moment?” No. Which is as it should be. No nation, not one that seeks to grow, learn, explore, and be more than it was yesterday, should have any one proudest moment. It should have a string of events and accomplishments that weave a tapestry of pride and joy.
You know what makes me proud when I watch the Olympics? That the stands are filled with people wearing Canadian flags, who shout and cheer when our nation does well, and all of them are different colours, ethnicities and backgrounds. It is a testament to our nation’s ability to take the numerous and disparate and create a country united. We don’t always get things right, and there’s always going to be someone that has to ruin the party, but in general, we are making strides that the world as a whole is failing at. In most major Canadian cities, there are Mosques, Christian churches, Synagogues, Hindu temples and all other manner of religious houses, all within walking distance. Do we have jihads every day? No. So if Canada can make it work on a local scale, perhaps there is hope for an international model.
The Olympic Games are just that, games. Whether we win or lose, means nothing to the greatness of our nation, or the superiority or inferiority of any other nation. There is skill, but there is also luck involved. Be proud when the home town team is doing well, but when they lose, admit that we got beat fair and move on with life. Don’t forget that pride though, because there are so many other things to attach it to; accomplishments realised and in progress that deserve to ignite our patriotic flame. Canadians do patriotism so badly. We really need to work on that….
Apparently the CW has hired ex Dawson’s Creek scribe, Kevin Williamson, to write an adaptation of the book series The Vampire Diaries. The original series began publication 17 years ago, while a new series is set to launch, well, in a few days actually!
I’ve never read the books, but the brief bit I’ve gleamed from the net is that the series focuses on the love triangle between two brothers who are vampires and a single girl who finds she has feelings for them both. Sounds like an anime series to me. Commenters on Amazon seem to believe this could’ve been the inspiration for Twilight, though it sounds considerably different.
Ironically, the CW is the network that rose from the ashes of the WB, which at one time housed the brilliant vampire series Angel and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I guess they’re back in the mood for blood over there…
So after what seems like a long time of speculation, we finally have the official announcement. Actor Matt Smith has been named the new face of Doctor Who.
Now, Mr. Smith (OMG, that’s so funny, his real last name is Smith, just like the Doctor so often uses as an alias, LOL!) is a relatively unknown commodity on this side of the ocean, but certainly the press in Britain seems to think he is pretty good. And seeing him interviewed, I can sort of see where the Doctor could go in his hands, and I think I like it. What I really like is that they’ve gone with a younger actor. The names that had been bounced around previously seemed like they were going to take the role back to the days of Patrick Troughton and company. An older, more mature Doctor, as opposed to the young and vibrant Doctor that Tennant has given us. What I’ve loved about the current Doctor Who series is that mix of dark, been there seen that, character and the wide eyed explorer that gets giddy at the thought of even the slightest new discovery. I think Matt Smith might just be the man for this. Not to mention that I think with Stephen Moffat taking over, we need a Doctor who is young, cause lord knows there’s a lot of action and running in Moffat scripts!
All in all, I think I am now feeling a bit more secure in my anticipation of the full season five. In the meantime, I intend to enjoy the hell out of the remaining David Tennant specials!
Ok, where the hell have I been for the past month?! They announced on October 29th that David Tennant has decided that at the completion of 2009’s special episodes, he will leave the show. I feel like crying. I’ve loved Tennant is the Doctor. But, change is part of Doctor Who, and I can only hope that the next Doctor will be just as great. After all, I was struck when Christoper Eccleston left, but it all turned out all right with Tennant. Hopefully they score another great one with the next Doctor. I look forward to checking it out.
You can read a BBC article interviewing Tennant about the leave HERE.
She had never seen a diamond so large. Despite all the jewelry she had, none sparkled and held the light captive such as this. It represented all her most cherished dreams. A ring, a singular, unbroken circle representing eternity; commitment, stability, perhaps even a lifetime of love. It seemed so singularly odd yet natural that such a simple trinket could encompass so many things.
She sighed heavily and handed it back to the clerk. Today was not the day, no matter the intensity of her desire. She walked out of the store, her mind lost in a revelry of dreams, and found herself knocked flat on the floor when she met what seemed an immovable object.
The “object” reached down a hand, that she followed to the most amazing eyes that sparkled almost as lustrously as the diamond, and a smile that filled with warmth and kindness.
“I’m so sorry, I didn’t see you there!” He exclaimed. “Are you hurt?”
No ring on his finger, nor girl on his arm. Maybe not today, but there would be other days for a ring to be purchased.
So tomorrow marks a difficult decision for Canadians. Should we watch our own debate among those vying for Prim Minister, or should we watch what promises to be an entertaining debate among the American Vice-President candidates? I suppose many a PVR will be working tomorrow to answer that question, but I wonder which people will choose to watch first.
It’s a funny thing about Canadians. For all our belly-aching about everyone comparing us to the US, we ourselves our almost perversly obsessed with their goings-on. Some will say that it is because we are so closely linked economically; that the current economic crisis in the states is so important to Canada that we need to see how their current and future government will handle it. But I sometimes wonder if it isn’t a little bit of envy. I mean, the US is kind of like the brother that is loud and brash and confident. Who believes in himself despite any and all obstacles. Canada is more like the quiet nerdy brother, burning with a sense of confidence that he is too shy to show to the world.
Myself, I’ll be watching the Prime Minister debate. I’m very interested to see what will happen. I saw the Green Party’s candidate on tv the other day, and she was very well-spoken, had a platform that at least on the surface sounded doable, and she has a mean hate on for Stephen Harper. I’m hoping that the debate will allow for more presentation of platforms rather than everyone just dumping on Harper. Not that I have great love for the guy, but I want to see how each candidate deals with their questions and answers based on their platforms, not just who got the best barbs in.
Besides, Youtube will have the best highlights of the VP debate I’m sure
So the other day I was searching for Wordpress themes to change the look of the Lousy Poet (what do you think BTW?). While flitting from one blog to the next, I came across a great article that I would like to share. You can read the article for your self by following THIS LINK.
In a nutshell, the author demonstrates how having effective, and at least 10 comprehensive articles on a single topic will set your site ahead of others like it. His example is simply that setting up an e-store can be done by anyone nowadays, so the only true thing that sets sites apart is their content. By providing consistent articles that start with the initial 10, you can gain some love from the search engines, and have an audience that consistently comes back to check on your site.
It made me realize how the manic and inconsistent quality here at the Poet is probably doing no favours to my visitor counts. However, it also made me start to question just what topic I knew enough about, and loved enough, to write at least 10 quality articles about. There was a time when I could think of some, but life and living on a budget has taken me some distance from pretty much all of them. It’s something I’m going to be giving some considerable thought over the next few days. Meanwhile, I’ll continue with the site re-vamp.
Lord knows this is hardly a political blog… Honestly it’s not much of an anything blog, but I found this interesting and funny all at the same time.
So I was up at the cottage on Saturday and we stopped into a Mac’s to get some things. While there, I glanced at the front page of the Globe and Mail (I think…) and it said that if Canadians went to the polls today, we would still have a minority government. However, it indicated that the poll also concluded that if the Conservatives could demonstrate that Stephen Harper was an effective leader who could make tough decisions and could be trusted that the Conservatives could potentially pull out a majority government.
So we went back to the cottage. No less than an hour later, is there not an ad on tv with a whole bunch of “average” canadians talking about how effective a leader Stephen Harper is and how they are more proud today to call themselves Canadian than they have before. Holy shit, the Conservative media engine works fast!!
Now if they could just erase the image I have in my head of a slimy used car salesman everytime I look at the guy, maybe they could earn my vote too
This has most of the stuff from the other trailer, but it has a pretty cool shot of what looks to be some mass throw down happening in a major city. Okay, I’ll admit it, I’m starting to have a little glimmer of geeky hope that this season will kick some ass. We’ll see in a month.
Is it just me, or after season 2 does anyone else feel kind of, meh, about this? I loved season 1 of Heroes. I thought the whole thing was handled masterfully (except the finale, which I felt kind of lacked the titanic confrontation element we had been building to all season…). But season 2 just felt like more of the same. It’s like, these people come together for this big purpose, and then they just all fuck off to their seperate corners of the country and move along. I just had foreseen some more teamwork, collaboration. And I thought the whole plot of “saving the world” again just felt stale. In many ways, season 2 felt like a rehash of season 1. While some characters had some growth (I particularily found Matt’s progression interesting) it started to feel like a one trick pony to me.
But seeing how this season’s focus looks to be on villains and tracking them down, I think this might be better. This looks more like what I had envisioned would be season 2. And I suppose if not for the writer’s strike, maybe it would’ve been, partially. But we still would’ve been left with the whole mexican cluncker story. And really people, Sylar was cool and all, but it was kind of cliche to have him get his powers back within a season. Let the monsters we know lie, and bring them back later.
Anyhow, I might check out the premiere and see how it feels. I’m hoping that with the extra time they’ve had, it’s allowed them to look at the successes and failures of the past two seasons and that this time we get a tight and expertly weaved story that feels like Heroes, but isn’t a rehash of already tread ground. We’ll see on September 22….
