Kenadian

I never understood his role anyway. He's not Chinese and he's not Ric Birch. Unless ET is going to light the cauldron, just felt it was a PR stunt.

Snow, icefields and mountains, of course! The natural environment for Winter Olympic sport. At Imagine 2010 - where the logo was unveiled - organizers presented the country in 5 parts, or the "Realms of Canada" (with some of their imagery): North - ice, snow, icebergs, polar bears, snowy owls & igloos Atlantic - rustic coves, puffins, lobster, schooners, fishermen & lighthouses Great Lakes/Saint Lawrence - waterways, maple trees, moose & big cities Prairies - wheat fields, bison, cowboys, oil derricks & silos Mountains/Pacific - tree and snow covered mountains, glaciers, misty ocean coasts, orcas & totem poles

Sadly, I think that might be what we should expect.

The characteristics and guiding principles I would follow and emphasize are: - Good flow of events that fit together - Simplicity with a focus on beauty, not razzle dazzle - Stories that tell themselves and do not require a lot of babble - An emphasis on Canadian nature, sport and art - No attempt to be overly sensitive and politically correct by including every race of human being that ever lived in Canada - No cheesy cliches or big name pop stars - Above all, a timeless quality that speaks of Canada.

Friend? Someone better warn Joey and Chandler. Work of nature? I hope that isn't a slogan. Its crap!

Anyone else find the ads for these coins kinda creepy with those people made out of quarters and then falling apart?

The action is getting underway at the velodrome. Meanwhile, the first medals are about to be awarded at the pool, just as soon as they drain the water and fill it with milk! But first the athletes stop for nap time.

First drug scandal and sponsorship deal wrapped up in one...

Ralph Wiggum in assless leather chaps?

That could make for a very scary opening ceremony!

If anyone is wondering how the torch relay is progressing, you should know that VANOC just recently started recruitment for the relay manager. That obviously means that nothing is in place yet, but the ideas will begin formulating in a few months.

What is ridiculous is the idea of the Youth Olympics. Maybe a Youth Olympic Festival or something that gets kids together to talk about and participate in sport, and give the IOC and sport leaders a chance to both promote activity and study what kids are interested in. But the new laziness of kids - in the Western world at least - comes from our wacked out commercial society that markets video games, fast food, SUV's and is so overly protective of kids that do any activity that they bubble wrap them in padding and helmets just to go for a stroll in the park (which makes it no fun). The real focus should be on the parents and getting them to get more active so they will in turn have active kids. It is such a backwards idea. The IOC is worried about kids not participating in sport and being unhealthy, yet they gladly take big buckets of money from Coca-Cola and McDonalds? I smell a flop.

What defines "youth"? I don't remember any geriatrics shushing down the slopes of Torino or clinging to walkers around the track in Athens. Or maybe I'm senile? But if you look at some sports like gymnastics, diving, swimming, snowboarding, figure skating and the like, there are a lot of under 20 year olds there. Also, kinda think it would be rather disturbing to watch children boxing (or maybe it would be funny). I just think it is a strange thing and kind of dilutes the Olympic brand.

Looks like page 139 of the IKEA catalogue. ; )

Vancouver does run the risk of rain, clouds and darkness at that time of year, but the worst of that is in November through to January. The Olympic and Paralympic period is brighter. The events in Vancouver are all indoor anyway or up high in the mountain. Whistler has the outdoor events and it almost always has a fun, festive and winter feel about it. VANOC is managing the Games rather well, although they did goof a few optic and cultural things. It is only 2007...there is huge interest in the community and lots of time to build up more. Actually, they should tone it down a bit so we don't get fatigue. But overall, they have done an excellent job with almost no scandal and no screw ups (the APC being their biggest thorn, but they suck anyway).

"Voters Regret" - are you a member of the IOC?

Interesting...I thought Karacters would have had that one in the bag as part of the overall branding contract.

Possibly as an Aussie, you don't care for winter sport as much? I always thought Nagano had one of the best logos ever. SLC's was good too, even if it was "just another snowflake".

Paralympic logos always stink. I think only Barcelona, Vancouver and Athens had good ones.

The poster series was because VANOC has an aboriginal inclusion policy as part of its structure. They are encouraging aboriginals to get involved in the games and are even hiring (or have a hired) a human resources person especially for recruiting first nations folk for the VANOC team.

While I liked Calgary's logo back in the day, I think people looked for too much symbolism in it. It was essentially a snow flake meant to resemble a maple leaf. But everyone saw something in it from parts of the 5 Olympic rings to little cowboy boots at the tips. And it was everywhere in 1988. Barcelona's logo will always ring true to me as the greatest ever. Even though I didn't know at first glance that it was a figure jumping for joy, I felt a warmth in it. It looked like a smile and was in bright primary colours. It just screamed SPAIN!

Didn’t like it at first, but I have come to accept and respect it. The concept behind it is nice – building something together as a nation; from natural elements, without damaging nature; a mark to look forward to, and a guide for those to come. The concept is friendly, warm and inviting. The execution was my beef. It was kind of strange looking and out of place for Vancouver, plus when you see it from behind on a flag or banner, it looks like it is tilting. I’m OK with the Paralympic logo – would have just made two changes. Would have called it “Man Overcomes Mountain” to represent the Paralympian overcoming his or her challenge and probably would have made the moon or sun head thing a little more expressive than just a dot. The rest of the branding is excellent, although I didn’t like the recent posters – found the facial expressions and the lighting to be dull. But the banners they had up around the city, the brochures, business cards, wallpapers and the clock all got me jazzed about 2010. I think Karacters has done a top notch job. They managed to make the logo application work better than I thought it would – I feared a bunch of rocks being used but the flowing and sweeping lines remind me of the local landscape – forests, mountains, sea, sky, humans and animals. And now more than ever, I'm just happy it isn’t Lisa Simpson doing AJ Slater.

VANOC issued an RFP looking for companies to produce plush toys of the mascot. It must be getting close.

The Anti-Poverty Committee has no credibility.

Ah crap...there goes my dream of having David Cunningham light the Olympic flame on behalf of the homeless.