|
Post by Northern Exploration on Nov 23, 2009 9:05:07 GMT -8
Some friends and I were chatting about that the other night over dinner. CTV is not only the official broadcaster but have used the Olympics to become integral with the majority of their branding and promotions. From the "I believe" campaign to the news coverage. There is some coverage of some of the negatives so they can't be branded as totally sidestepping their journalistic responsibilities, but it seems like footnotes. On the other hand too if CBC overdoes the controversy thing it looks like they are being spoiled sports and rather than providing balanced coverage, have moved too much to the business side of things and looking to position against a competitor. I don't think they have crossed the line...yet. The old adage of "don't bite the hand that feeds you" comes to mind. Beyond the public statements, there were a lot of statements that were made behind closed doors that had an impact as well. You can't divorce that from the scheme of things and decision making for locating facilities. Spreading the facilities around, is a good thing for the community and for politics in the long run, but can often be detrimental for the games. This similar lobbying is taking place now for the PanAm games with a few places pushing for facilities to be located in their communities. Already one area has their nose out of joint.
|
|
Neil
Voyager
Posts: 7,196
|
Post by Neil on Nov 23, 2009 23:04:42 GMT -8
Interesting article. CBC raising the issue of costs associated with the torch run. It cost Victoria Police over $140,000 alone for the day and a half it was there. That's not including the RCMP, etc. The BC Government says "it's not our problem" and I'm sure Coke and RBC aren't paying for it. Pshaw. Peanuts, I say. What's a measly $140,000 to a country that can spend one hundred and five million dollars on a sled course? $105 million. For sleds. People lying on their stomachs (or backs), going down a hill. I'm proud to live in a country as rich as that. On such a scale, who would begrudge $140,000 for a little par- tay? The City of Vancouver is closing the small, very busy community library my wife works at, for an expected annual saving of $160,000. Vancouver being a bit bigger than Victoria, maybe that will cover the security costs for our torch parade. Vancouver is known by some wags as 'No fun city', and hopefully, choosing to spend money on a fun, heartwarming event over a pile of mouldy old books will reflect well on all of us.
|
|
|
Post by stvfishy on Nov 24, 2009 13:42:13 GMT -8
Lost opportunity here. Too bad they didn't light the torch in the "Olympic Mountains/Peninsula" - to heck with Greece. In Victoria don't they say - "the mountains are in the States but we've got the view." Oh well...
|
|
|
Post by hullnumbers on Nov 29, 2009 22:37:08 GMT -8
Nov 30 2010 OT going across the St Larence than down to Ottawa. XD
|
|
|
Post by Northern Exploration on Dec 17, 2009 19:38:21 GMT -8
So tonight the Olympic flame arrived in Toronto. Or Centre of the Universe as Jordan prefers to call it . Of course a band of very boistrous yahoos chanting "No olympic games on stolen Indian land", ie. professional protestors who had nothing better to do, delayed the proceedings a bit. To foil the protestors from blocking the route they simply took the preplanned but unannounced second route. The best stop was at the world famous Sick Kids Hospital atrium. I don't mind protest and certainly believe in free speech. However the professional protestors who show up just for something to do get my goat. The list of things they were protesting sounded like soup to nuts to ensure they would get enough people out. My impressions of things as the Torch arrived at City Hall is as follows. A woman standing beside me had tears in her eyes as she was surrounded by neighbourhood kids from mid teens down to toddlers. She said to me when role models for her kids were in such short supply, seeing and meeting a woman astronaut Roberta Bondar, luminary dancer Karen Kain, and various Olympic athletes like Marnie McBean, film makers Deepa Meetah and Ivan and Jason Reitman was pretty amazing. Her kids were wired and very excited. I was most impressed by the 16 year old hockey strapping neighbour boy, who was old enough that going to this shouldn't have been cool, but he was right into it, and thrilled to see a member of the Woman's Gold Medal hockey teen. I was surprized at how large the crowd was. In a city with a hundreds of things going on tonight not to mention 7th last full shopping day (stores all open until 11pm), I was taken back by the crowd. Also the amount of current and past Olympic clothing - not to mention the tons of red mittons. A typical Toronto very multicultural crowd. Within the crowd were people very dressed up on the way to the Opera. Others coming from or going to Office Christmas parties. And most significantly to me, a very large number of international students from Asia and South America all decked out in the Olympic Canada attire of touques, scarves and mitts. Beyond that people from all ethnic and demographic stratas of the city. After the fireworks and the crowd began to thin, it was interesting to see so many of the Torch bearers make their way into the neighbouring Eaton Centre and pose for a very long period of time for throngs of people who were wanting to pose with them and the torch. This wasn't the official tents where you could line up but more spontaneous. The fireworks were impressive and the recognizable faces in the crowd was surprizing I guess I assumed a polite but smaller crowd would show up. I had thought the city would be somewhat jaded about it all considering all that is going on during this busy time etc. I watched the people more than I watched the event itself. The value of the torch relay now is very clear to me.
|
|
Neil
Voyager
Posts: 7,196
|
Post by Neil on Dec 18, 2009 9:59:25 GMT -8
Of course a band of very boistrous yahoos chanting "No olympic games on stolen Indian land", ie. professional protestors who had nothing better to do, delayed the proceedings a bit. To foil the protestors from blocking the route they simply took the preplanned but unannounced second route. The best stop was at the world famous Sick Kids Hospital atrium. I don't mind protest and certainly believe in free speech. However the professional protestors who show up just for something to do get my goat. The list of things they were protesting sounded like soup to nuts to ensure they would get enough people out. We don't have a lot of patience for protest in this country. No matter what the occasion, participants will inevitably be denounced by someone as professional protesters with nothing better to do, or welfare bum agitators (not NE's remark), or whatever. I don't really know why people get so agitated by it, when protest is actually fairly uncommon, and not a very lucrative field for anyone to be 'professional' at. The torch relay has, for the most part, been free to carry on its merry way with little real interruption. No question, it's generated a lot of positive energy, and people have felt honored and moved to be a part of it. How significant that is, and what it's really based on, I'm not sure. I doubt that any of the torch bearers really stopped to ask themselves some hard questions about the value of spending over a hundred million dollars to allow a handful of enthusiasts to go sledding, but there's no question that the parade has fostered at least a transitory feeling of togetherness and community along its route. And that's not a bad thing, per se. People can get together and enjoy a Santa Claus parade without getting all cynical about the fact that there is actually no Santa. We all need an escape now and then, and there's no doubt that events like the Olympics provide that. At a price, of course, but the sale of mittens should take care of that. I hope the games do well, and I hope all the participants have a good time, despite my being completely unable to buy into what feels like the manufactured spirituality of it all. The TV promos, with the doe-eyed kids chiming in unison, "Do you believe?", make me want to scream, "No I Don't". The parade, all the ceremonies, the appeal to national pride, the pretension of international harmony, all feels like a desperate attempt to create a market big enough to pay for the massive expense of it all and justify the whole exercise. Meanwhile, Sochi is busy arranging an even bigger party to outdo Vancouver, and no doubt the 2018 hosts will be trying to outdazzle Sochi, with brighter fireworks and more heartfelt parades. Once every four years, skating and skiing and sledding become, briefly, the most important thing in the world. If you believe, that is.
|
|
|
Post by Northern Exploration on Dec 18, 2009 14:04:38 GMT -8
Of course a band of very boistrous yahoos chanting "No olympic games on stolen Indian land", ie. professional protestors who had nothing better to do, delayed the proceedings a bit. To foil the protestors from blocking the route they simply took the preplanned but unannounced second route. The best stop was at the world famous Sick Kids Hospital atrium. I don't mind protest and certainly believe in free speech. However the professional protestors who show up just for something to do get my goat. The list of things they were protesting sounded like soup to nuts to ensure they would get enough people out. We don't have a lot of patience for protest in this country. No matter what the occasion, participants will inevitably be denounced by someone as professional protesters with nothing better to do, or welfare bum agitators (not NE's remark), or whatever. I don't really know why people get so agitated by it, when protest is actually fairly uncommon, and not a very lucrative field for anyone to be 'professional' at. I guess my perspective comes from an employee who worked for me. She regularly called in sick when there was a big protest. When she used up her allowable sick days and we asked her for doctors notes her attendance miraculously improved. Certainly these groups protest something at least once a week or more often when there is a "hot" issue, so I am not sure how frequent they have to be to be considered to be often. A few times some other employee would tell me they saw her on the local news broadcast in the crowd. I would call her a professional protestor. She often didn't really know much about the causes. And when she did it was often based on incorrect information. She told me once that she had a list of contacts and didn't really have to tell them what the protest was about but to just show up. She didn't agree with them, but a large chunk of that group wasn't truly happy unless they got as close as possible to violence. She was mad at life and felt better when she was attacking someone else, whether it was a truly a "just protest" or just making someone else miserable. She never did anything truly postive such as volunteering, donating or spending her time helping anyone else. If you are against the Olympics - run your own event that does something good. Carry placards. Send emails. Do whatever you want. Agitate for change from an educated position and advocate potential solutions. But when you are one of these group of individuals who just enjoy causing havoc for no good reason then I have no patience. If their energies were actually spent helping people a big difference would be the outcome.
|
|
Neil
Voyager
Posts: 7,196
|
Post by Neil on Dec 18, 2009 16:09:58 GMT -8
I guess my perspective comes from an employee who worked for me. She regularly called in sick when there was a big protest. When she used up her allowable sick days and we asked her for doctors notes her attendance miraculously improved. Certainly these groups protest something at least once a week or more often when there is a "hot" issue, so I am not sure how frequent they have to be to be considered to be often. A few times some other employee would tell me they saw her on the local news broadcast in the crowd. I would call her a professional protestor. She often didn't really know much about the causes. And when she did it was often based on incorrect information. She told me once that she had a list of contacts and didn't really have to tell them what the protest was about but to just show up. She didn't agree with them, but a large chunk of that group wasn't truly happy unless they got as close as possible to violence. She was mad at life and felt better when she was attacking someone else, whether it was a truly a "just protest" or just making someone else miserable. She never did anything truly postive such as volunteering, donating or spending her time helping anyone else. So, when you see a group protesting, your view is shaped by your experience with one rather odd individual? Seems to me that most protest groups have a variety of participants, some young, some old, some scruffy looking, some pretty 'respectable'. I don't pretend to know whether these people also volunteer or donate money to causes. I don't assume that they're out for a lark just to cause havoc. I don't know whether they attend more than one protest, although, there was a time when such a person would have been referred to as an activist, and it wasn't necessarily a pejorative term. These days, the prevailing political correctness has re-branded activists as 'professional protesters', a very bad thing indeed. I suppose the Raging Grannies are professional protesters, since they don't have the good sense to limit themselves to one cause, and being mostly retired, have way too much time on their hands. Here's the thing. VANOC and all the Olympic supporters have no end of means to spread their message. They've got their official newspapers, official TV networks, official radio stations, every level of government, corporate sponsors, pageants and parades, and cute little furry mascots. We're inundated with the Olympic message every way we turn. Why on earth would people be bothered by a few protesters, inconveniently preaching an alternative view? Why the need to cast aspersions on people who have the audacity to question whether the big gala do is a good thing, and who use the street to do it? Organized protest forms such a tiny part of our political life that I don't know why anyone would expend the energy to get annoyed by it.
|
|
|
Post by Northern Exploration on Dec 18, 2009 20:02:58 GMT -8
Hardly one individual, but in the case of one network a number of years ago , over 1,000 individuals. I would imagine in the Text Message, Tweeting world, that number has grown significantly and can be summoned even quicker.They probably have their biggest numbers in Montreal, but also have large representations in Toronto and Vancouver. We aren't talking the urgent network that Amnesty International can summon when needed. We aren't talking Greenpeace who has a broad network of supporters from all walks of life (despite the image some of the more strident supporters may bring to ones mind.) We aren't talking homeless people. We are talking anarchists, hard core punks, meth users and a rag tag band of people who to call activists would be a big slap in the face of people who truly have passion for causes, who don't blink at breaking laws and court violence. These people don't care so much about causes but causing trouble. I spend a good part of my professional life helping worthy causes convince Canadians to make this country and world a better place. Like the organizations mentioned above, they spend their energies raising money and raising consciousness about a whole range of things. From heart disease to saving the rain forests of BC, the land the Woodland Caribou needs to survive to lowering the Diabetes rate among Aboriginal people. Those are activists. They use another bad word among some, marketing, to get their message across. And when appropriate protests are part of their methods. So please don't lump the houligans in with grannies, young people and other average Canadians who stand up for what they believe both in protests and through quieter but no less effective methods.
|
|
Neil
Voyager
Posts: 7,196
|
Post by Neil on Dec 19, 2009 0:15:58 GMT -8
NE, I don't know where all these crowds of meth addicted hooligans for hire are that you're seeing, but I get the impression that you and I could look at the same group of protesters and form completely different impressions as to who they are and what their motivation might be, so perhaps we'll just have to agree to disagree on that one. As to the anarchists, if you're talking about people who fit the modern popular notion of anarchy, I agree with you; but if we're talking about people who perhaps look to the example of pre-Franco Spain for their inspiration, I would argue they have valid beliefs that have a place in any truly free democracy, which we supposedly are.
Anyway, as Ellen de Generes says...
I've never been of the protesting persuasion, myself. I feel about as foolish marching around with a sign, chanting, as I do dancing, so I avoid both, to no one else's loss. I don't want to get into a contest of one-upmanship with you as to who's more civically minded, so suffice to say we both have our ways of doing what we're inclined to do.
Just as I've got a grudging respect for the Jehovah's Witnesses who risk the contempt of householders by wandering door to door exercising the courage of their convictions, I admire most of the people who take to the streets in an unfashionably old fashioned alternative to sitting in front of a computer foaming away at a blog that no one reads, or whatever other form of expression that's deemed more acceptable these days. If a few are nutbars or ne'r-do-wells, so what? I give most of them the benefit of the doubt, and either ignore them or listen to them, as I see fit.
|
|
|
Post by EGfleet on Jan 20, 2010 18:20:00 GMT -8
Lenders seize Olympic ski resort in Whistler
Lenders have seized the assets of Intrawest ULC, including the Whistler ski resort that will be home to the Olympic downhill races next month.
Canadian Press
Related
* Seattle Times' Olympics page
2008 Olympics Video Coverage at NBC Olympics.com! VANCOUVER, British Columbia —
Lenders have seized the assets of Intrawest ULC, including the Whistler ski resort that will be home to the Olympic downhill races next month.
Intrawest said it will be "business as usual," despite the possibility the high-end B.C. resort will be on the auction block even as Olympic athletes grace its slopes.
And Olympic organizers said they're confident that the Games will go on.
Dan Doyle, executive vice-president of construction for the organizing committee, known as VANOC, said the venues in Whistler are ready.
"It doesn't make very good business sense for people to put them out of business at the time of the year when they're making their most earnings," Doyle told reporters in Vancouver following the local organizing committee board's final meeting before the Games.
Doyle said bankruptcy doesn't happen overnight.
"It's a long process, it's a process that takes months. Given all of that, we're very confident that the Games will go on at those two venues in Whistler, and they'll go on with the co-operation of the people that are running the mountain," he said, noting that Games organizers have sought legal advice on the situation.
A public notice has been posted in newspapers by the company's lenders saying that an auction to sell the assets will be held on Feb. 19, right in the midst of the Olympics, which begin Feb. 12.
Vancouver-based Intrawest, which is owned by private equity firm Fortress Investment Group LLC, reportedly missed payments last month that were due on a $1.4 billion (U.S.) loan.
The group of lenders, which includes Lehman Brothers and Davidson Kempner, hope for a speedy sale of Intrawest in one transaction.
"Each qualified bidder must be a financial institution or other entity that has the financial wherewithal to purchase the membership interests in immediately available funds on the closing date," the public auction notice said.
The sale includes more than a dozen resort properties including Mont Tremblant in Quebec, Steamboat and Winter Park in Colorado and Squaw Valley in California.
advertising
Calls to Intrawest were not returned but the company said in a statement that they are looking forward to the success of the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games next month.
"Fortress Investment Group continues to own and control Intrawest and all of its properties. Serious discussions with Intrawest's lenders are ongoing regarding refinancing and the company continues to operate 'business as usual' at all of its resort properties," the company said in a statement released Wednesday.
Members of the Vancouver Olympic organizing committee denied a report that they were going to withhold the money they owe Intrawest for use of the mountain.
Intrawest has been struggling with financial problems since it was bought by Fortress in 2006 for $2.8 billion in cash and debt.
The deal was a leveraged buyout with a $1.7 billion loan which came due in late 2008, around the time when the financial meltdown hit.
Around that time, travellers also began to tighten their budgets and cancel vacation plans, which squeezed the entire industry.
In reaction, many of Intrawest's resorts significantly slashed their prices to encourage more visitors.
Last summer, chief executive Bill Jensen told a ski industry conference that signs of a recovery wouldn't likely appear until the 2011-12 season.
Intrawest has sold several assets in order to meet the payments, including a resort at Copper Mountain, Colo., and two resorts in France.
In December, the company said it was in an "active dialogue" with its lenders after rumours began surfacing that the company was about to default.
|
|
Neil
Voyager
Posts: 7,196
|
Post by Neil on Jan 22, 2010 14:18:42 GMT -8
Well, you sure can't accuse the Olympics folks of not trying their hardest to maximize their revenue streams.
Yesterday's Global BC News carried a story about a little company called SportsFleet Ventures, which manufactures instant heating packs, among other things. The brand name on the packs is "Heaterz", and the logo has a flame coming off the 't' in the name. It resembles, if anything, the genie from Aladdin's lamp, and the company has sold the product, with that logo, since 2004.
The Canadian Olympic Committee has sent the company a letter threatening them with legal action for appropriating the Olympic Torch logo. They've offered to call off their dogs if SportsFleet pays them $5000, to cover the COC's 'legal expenses'. No matter that only lawyers with all sorts of time to go trolling for extra income could possibly see this logo as an infringement of the Olympic trademark. The company is not going to buckle in to pressure, and they intend to fight.
Now, there's a word that describes threatening an innocent party's wellbeing or livelihood unless they pay up, but I wouldn't dream of using that word, as you just never know where a lawyer might pop up, defending the sanctity of the Olympic ideal, and all that.
|
|
|
Post by hullnumbers on Jan 22, 2010 15:59:44 GMT -8
The torch has come back into BC yesterday.
|
|
|
Post by Curtis on Jan 22, 2010 16:35:51 GMT -8
This suit is probably one of the most ridiculous I've seen. Honestly, how can they get the Olympic torch out of that? They've done this before when the words "Olympic" were in a company or a restaurant's name, that is understandable, but this time they're going too far. I wish SportsFleet the best in this bully lawsuit.
|
|
Neil
Voyager
Posts: 7,196
|
Post by Neil on Jan 22, 2010 23:14:03 GMT -8
This suit is probably one of the most ridiculous I've seen. Honestly, how can they get the Olympic torch out of that? They've done this before when the words "Olympic" were in a company or a restaurant's name, that is understandable, but this time they're going too far. I wish SportsFleet the best in this bully lawsuit. Ridiculous? They're not finished yet. Not content to harrass small business, now the Canadian Olympic Committee is going after charitable organizations. From their website: The Canadian Congenital Heart Alliance (CCHA) is a registered charitable organization made up of patients with a congenital heart defect, their friends, families, and the medical community. With your support, we aim to improve the quality of care for these patients, many of whom require lifelong expert care.They adopted a logo six years ago, which they are now attempting to officially register. The COC is opposing this, saying- you guessed it- it's too close to the sacred Olympic Torch (reverential tones, please). Here it is: The COC is particularly concerned with the heart group using this logo in conjunction with golf tournaments and walkathons which they stage to raise funds. Unlike COC execs who raise funds so that people can go down hills on little sleds, John McEachern, the president of the heart group, "had life saving surgery as a child, and spends his time raising awareness and funds for congenital heart disease." (Globe & Mail, today.) The COC has gracously offered to 'negotiate' the issue, but the CCHA has termed their conditions "ludicrous". What's ludicrous is the very notion that the COC has anything to fear from this small charitable group and their logo. It's clear that anyone who has any flame-like representation associated with their company or non-profit organization, no matter how long they've had it, should be concerned. Ah, but, we must believe, mustn't we?
|
|
Mill Bay
Voyager
Long Suffering Bosun
Posts: 2,886
|
Post by Mill Bay on Jan 23, 2010 10:05:55 GMT -8
This is absolutely galling. Makes one sick to read about it. Guess they won't be playing ' Keep on Rocking in the Free World' at the Olympics either, because this sure doesn't look like a free world anymore, so we'll have no mention of it. Also, I can't help but wonder how long before the COC goes into the libraries and starts selecting books to burn? And Olympia, Greece is not too far out of reach either... better send a delegation over to Greece to start a law suit to change the city name. How many streets did they shut down in that city, for the first Olympics? Oh, but I go too far... I'm don't want to go down the road of political cynicism again, because that generates too much ill will, and leaves me feeling like a bully. What I can say is that, if I were a social advocate or political commentator with enough readership, sway and respect, and I knew my comments would be fully trustworthy and beyond repute, I would take this moment to completely discredit both the COC for their contemptible treatment of a charitable organization, and the IOC for inspiring the onus to tramp around in such a manner.
|
|
|
Post by hullnumbers on Feb 1, 2010 20:09:28 GMT -8
Well, it's been awhile but the northern Expeditions going to carry the Olympic Torch back to the island tomorrow.
|
|
|
Post by Scott (Former Account) on Feb 1, 2010 20:29:25 GMT -8
Well, it's been awhile but the northern Expeditions going to carry the Olympic Torch back to the island tomorrow. It will actually be carried by the Northern Adventure. The Expedition still remains at Deas.
|
|
|
Post by Curtis on Feb 2, 2010 21:48:52 GMT -8
|
|
|
Post by kevins on Feb 2, 2010 22:26:05 GMT -8
"the Torch Relay goes aboard the C. Renaissance for a special sail to Horseshoe Bay." word is the ship will sail into Vancouver Harbour for a flag wave as part of the Torch Relay. I don't have a time.....
|
|
|
Post by stingray on Feb 3, 2010 18:58:10 GMT -8
I was just watching the Torch Relay from Powell River and I could see the NIP in the background.
|
|
|
Post by Nickfro on Feb 4, 2010 14:40:49 GMT -8
Major gathering outside Langdale Terminal for the torch relay right now, as seen on the terminal webcam. The Coastal Renaissance is also arriving at Langdale, right after the Queen of Surrey's 230pm departure.
|
|
Kam
Voyager
Posts: 926
|
Post by Kam on Feb 4, 2010 15:08:44 GMT -8
sure was nice of someone to run the banner rope across the front of the webcam...
|
|
|
Post by Alberni on Feb 4, 2010 16:51:52 GMT -8
Looks like they're taking Rennie for a cruise into Vancouver Harbour.
|
|
|
Post by Scott (Former Account) on Feb 4, 2010 22:58:03 GMT -8
|
|