Sir Rols Posted February 7, 2014 Report Share Posted February 7, 2014 Loving how the words "Sochi" and "gay" have become inextricably linked. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony E Loves Architecture Posted February 7, 2014 Report Share Posted February 7, 2014 Google has changed their doodle to the colours of the rainbow and which links to the Olympic charter. I know. I've seen it, it's brilliant what Google does on occasions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athensfan Posted February 8, 2014 Report Share Posted February 8, 2014 I know. I've seen it, it's brilliant what Google does on occasions. Really????!!! You saw it????!!!!! AMAZING! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nobase2010 Posted February 8, 2014 Report Share Posted February 8, 2014 Woman who lit 2014 olympic flame in sochi tweeted a racist photo of Barack Obama. http://sports.nationalpost.com/2014/02/07/woman-who-lit-2014-olympic-flame-in-sochi-tweeted-a-racist-photo-of-barack-obama/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sir Rols Posted February 8, 2014 Report Share Posted February 8, 2014 I wasn't sure whether to post it here, or whether Rob Ford deserves a thread of his own somewhere. But: Rob Ford asks for Pride flag — just raised at City Hall to support gay rights at Sochi — be taken down Police investigating threat against Rob Ford, mayor's office says Police responded to Rob Ford’s office to investigate a potential threat against Ford and his family Friday afternoon, not long after the mayor demanded a pride flag flying at City Hall be taken down. The rainbow-coloured flag was raised above City Hall in solidarity with the gay community in Russia during the Olympics. But within the hour of making the controversial comments, Ford seemed to be backing away from his demand amid allegations of homophobia. A spokesperson for Ford said the threat was unrelated to the flag controversy. “The police are here regarding a message we received about a potential threat to the Mayor and his family,” Ford spokesman Amin Massoudi said. Police spokesman Mark Pugash only offered there was a “call for service” from the mayor’s office. Two uniformed officers arrived at Ford’s office two hours after controversy erupted after the mayor said he wanted the flag taken down. “It’s not about someone’s sexual preference,” he told reporters at City Hall Friday. “No, I do not agree with putting up the rainbow flag. We should put up the Canadian flag.” Then he went outside to inspect the Canadian flag he hung up in the window of his office. “This is the Olympics. This is about being patriotic to your country. This is not about your sexual preference,” he added. When told the flag raising was meant to protest anti-gay laws in Russia, Ford replied: “Let Russia do what they want. We’re Canadians here.” Mayor Ford says he has asked city manager Joe Pennachetti to take down the rainbow flag. However, about a half an hour after Mayor Ford marched outside, Councillor Anthony Perruzza emerged from the mayor’s office to say he had agreed that both the Pride and the Canadian flag should fly at City Hall. “He told me he is okay with that so I’m hoping that is what we will do,” said Mr. Perruzza. There is already a Canadian flag flying in Nathan Phillips Square. The rainbow flag went up on a ceremonial pole on City Hall’s green roof. Ford’s press secretary confirmed Perruzza’s comment. “I can confirm what [Councillor] Perruzza said. The Mayor wants to see a Canadian flag flying at City Hall in support of our athletes,” Massoudi said in an email to thePost. Ford’s statement comes on the heels of allegations of homophobia after he said Wednesday he would never attend a Pride parade because he did not want to. “I’m not going to go to the Pride parade. I’ve never been to a Pride parade. I can’t change who I am,” he said at a debate at the Scarborough U of T campus. Previously, Ford had always blamed a family vacation for conflicting with the Pride parade in Toronto. Deputy Mayor Norm Kelly says he supports the flag going up. “I think it shows the city of Toronto respects and includes all communities,” he said. “There is nothing un-Canadian about that.” He wants the flag to stay up for the duration of the Olympic Games. Councillors reacted strongly to the mayor’s display on Friday. Councillor Minnan-Wong said the Olympics should be about sports and not politics. He believes that during the Olympics, there should be a Canadian Olympic flag flying at city hall. “For some reason, we’ve stepped in it again, and made ourselves look terribly bad,” said Mr. Minnan-Wong, who sought to lower the “temperature” over the issue. “I think the rights of gay people need to be protected, but I think the proposition to say that anybody who wants to support the athletes and fly the Olympic flag, or fly the Canadian Olympic flag.. is in some way casting aspersions or doesn’t want to support the gay community, connecting those dots is wrong,” he said. Councillor John Parker said flying the rainbow flag at this time, “when the world is outraged at the comments and behaviour of Vladimir Putin”, suits him just fine at this time. “I’m sorry that Rob Ford has decided to align himself with Vladimir Putin on the matter,” he said. Councillor Sarah Doucette was clearly upset by the row. “We have Canadian flags flying. It’s not as if we don’t. Because we do, the rainbow flag is where it should be,” she said. “It should remain flying throughout the whole of the Olympics. City spokeswoman Jackie DeSouza confirmed that the 519 Community Centre requested that the rainbow flag be flown for two weeks. It was approved by the Chief of Protocol, as is the council approved procedure. “Council as a whole would need to change what was previously decided and replace it with what they would like to do,” Ms. DeSouza wrote in an email. In Russia, police arrested at least 14 gay right protesters in St. Petersburg and Moscow on the opening day of the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics. Earlier, Councillor Kristyn Wong-Tam stood in Nathan Phillips Square to watch the raising of the rainbow flag. She was joined by a representative for the 519 community centre, which submitted a request to the city for the flag to go up during the Olympic Games. “What we want to do is send a message of solidarity, support to LGBT athletes, not just in Canada but around the world, who are descending in Russia,” said Ms. Wong-Tam, Toronto’s only openly gay councillor. “And also send a message to the Russian community that we stand in solidarity, we support them, that there is global attention on Russia now. It’s just a great opportunity to keep that focus there.” National Post Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
intoronto Posted February 8, 2014 Report Share Posted February 8, 2014 I kind of agree with Rob Ford. Why fly the Gay flag, when they don't fly the Canadian flag? That just seems off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
intoronto Posted February 8, 2014 Report Share Posted February 8, 2014 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul Posted February 8, 2014 Report Share Posted February 8, 2014 i believe Russia is delivering Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athensfan Posted February 8, 2014 Report Share Posted February 8, 2014 i believe Russia is delivering It's a mixed bag. The obvious stuff that's in the spotlight looks good. The #Sochifail twitter feed is still alive and well -- for good reason. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SkiFreak Posted February 10, 2014 Report Share Posted February 10, 2014 CTV News: Long lines, security checks and high costs blamed for empty stands in Sochi Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
runningrings Posted February 10, 2014 Report Share Posted February 10, 2014 Every Olympic Games I can remember has had the "empty seats" news reports. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
micheal_warren Posted February 10, 2014 Report Share Posted February 10, 2014 That's true. All games seem to have articles on the empty seats during the games. #mediastockstory! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Victor Mata Posted February 10, 2014 Report Share Posted February 10, 2014 Russians think we're engaging in Olympic Schadenfreude. They're right. As Western journalists have flooded into Sochi for the 2014 Winter Olympics, they have taken to Twitter to howl about the state of disarray in their hotel rooms. The curtains are broken, the elevators are breaking, the pillows are deficit goods, the water is yellow and cold, and it's all an unmitigated clusterfuck. And the Russians have had enough. Noting that the lead-up to the Olympics was full of negative cover stories on Russia—like the Economist's and, well, ours—Vladimir Yakunin, the head of the Russian rail monopoly, slammed Western journalists for "feeding hysteria about Russia." And he's not just bothered by the images of Putin on the covers that upset him, or the stories of mind-boggling corruption, or the warnings of "black widows" and "creating fears that the Games in Sochi will not have adequate security." It's the vocal, ungrateful complaining about Sochi's readiness, "which takes the form of mockery worthy of tabloids and not serious journalists." "They are sending their readers signals that are far from sportsmanlike, and the tone they take with the country hosting the Olympics is far from friendly," Yakunin writes. "Really, this has nothing to do with freedom of speech. Rather, it is a desire to befoul everything about the massive effort to prepare for the Winter Games, and to create a negative atmosphere for the athletes and Olympic guests." Now, Yakunin is a massively corrupt official whose company oversaw a massively corrupt Olympic railway project, and I'd never thought I'd say this, but I agree with him. On one hand, yes, things are objectively dysfunctional and not ready despite the fantastic sums spent, and there is objective photographic evidence of this. On the other, as I prepare for my Moscow-Sochi flight tomorrow, a lot of this complaining does smack of some pretty fantastic schadenfreude. From where I sit—and, granted, I have yet to get to Sochi and encounter the shock of cold water in the shower, and, granted, I'm a fine practicioner of mocking Russian ridiculousness—it does seem like the Western press is on the hunt for evidence of how inept and hilarious the Russians are. There does seem to be something mean-spirited in all of this, as if the Western press came hoping to encounter pillow shortages and rusty water. Again, the evidence of failure is incontrovertible and embarrasing, but it is also, in the scheme of things, minor. So far, nothing major has happened. Ski jumps have yet to collapse, trains have yet to derail, there's just some cold water and an upside down toilet lid. It's inconvenient and, yes, it's funny, but here's where I agree with Yakunin: it's the tone. There's a fine line between fair criticism and schadenfreude, and the Western press has been largely well on the side of the latter. I'd also argue that there's something chauvinistic, even Russophobic in it. The Europeans may not be ready for their Olympics, but, okay, we'll give them the benefit of the doubt and hope for the best. The Chinese prepare for theirs ruthlessly, but we don't understand them so whatever. We railed on Romney for daring to criticize the preparedness of our British friends, and we wrote in muted tones about Athens not being ready in time for their Olympics, but with the Russians, we gloat: Look at these stupid savages, they can't do anything right. Within hours of arriving in Moscow yesterday, Russian friends, even the Westernized ones, those who are openly, viciously critical of the Kremlin, have expressed their hurt at the Western blooper coverage of Sochi. A whole lot of their tax money has been spent on something they may not have wanted and in ways they find criminally wasteful, and, yes, their government has not done much to endear itself to the West of late, but they're puzzled by why the Americans and the British are so very happy that the details are a little screwy, the way they generally are in Russia. The word they use is zloradstvo, literally: evil-reveling. Source: http://www.newrepublic.com/article/116507/russians-hit-back-west-cool-it-olympic-schadenfreude Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul Posted February 10, 2014 Report Share Posted February 10, 2014 agree with that however if i were there and had only cold water to shower :angry: :angry: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StefanMUC Posted February 10, 2014 Report Share Posted February 10, 2014 Of course those petty criticisms of missing shower curtain etc are stupid, and a story like the bobsleigh pilot crashing the bathroom door completely silly and could have happened anywhere. But on the other hand, with figures of 50bn USD floating around, you could at least expect clean tap water and international standard toilet equipment. Much of the criticism is triggered by the Russian's bombastic approach, IMO. If they had been more modest themselves, some of the stuff appearing now wouldn't have been mentioned. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul Posted February 10, 2014 Report Share Posted February 10, 2014 not getting a friendly vibe from sochi at all mostly arrogance, big games, small town, overbearing government involvement, inconvenient to most, ioc indifference except to cash and their bi-annual hobby holiday gorgeous look though (except the white sheet curtain at russki gorki to hide the dirt hill....terrible planning there.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baron-pierreIV Posted February 10, 2014 Report Share Posted February 10, 2014 Much of the criticism is triggered by the Russian's bombastic approach, IMO. If they had been more modest themselves, some of the stuff appearing now wouldn't have been mentioned. But Russia does everything on an epic scale. I mean, c'mon, they don't have a Liechtenstein or Monaco mindset. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Victor Mata Posted February 10, 2014 Report Share Posted February 10, 2014 The unclean tap water pic also came up before the Kazan Universiade last year. IMO, much of the criticism is because of a sense of untrust from the US and EU on the re-emergence of Russia as significant regional power after being crippled some 25 years ago. US and the European Union don't know how much of today's Russia is new and which parts of it are restored Soviet practices. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athensfan Posted February 10, 2014 Report Share Posted February 10, 2014 Of course those petty criticisms of missing shower curtain etc are stupid, and a story like the bobsleigh pilot crashing the bathroom door completely silly and could have happened anywhere. But on the other hand, with figures of 50bn USD floating around, you could at least expect clean tap water and international standard toilet equipment. Much of the criticism is triggered by the Russian's bombastic approach, IMO. If they had been more modest themselves, some of the stuff appearing now wouldn't have been mentioned. Exactly. In many ways they set themselves up for this in a way that no other recent host has. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StefanMUC Posted February 10, 2014 Report Share Posted February 10, 2014 The unclean tap water pic also came up before the Kazan Universiade last year. IMO, much of the criticism is because of a sense of untrust from the US and EU on the re-emergence of Russia as significant regional power after being crippled some 25 years ago. US and the European Union don't know how much of today's Russia is new and which parts of it are restored Soviet practices. I'd say the mistrust is mutual and neither side really makes an effort to understand the other. That goes also for China, I guess. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SkiFreak Posted February 11, 2014 Report Share Posted February 11, 2014 Looks like Team Canada got an honorary member today after he received a pair of red mittens http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/vladimir-putin-poses-with-iqaluit-s-dave-romanyk-at-sochi-games-1.2530694 First time I've seen him smiling! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
runningrings Posted February 11, 2014 Report Share Posted February 11, 2014 His eyes are so empty and blank. He is somewhat unsettling. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SkiFreak Posted February 11, 2014 Report Share Posted February 11, 2014 His eyes are so empty and blank. He is somewhat unsettling. Just like Toronto Mayor Rob Ford, maybe he is in a drunken' stupor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gotosy Posted February 12, 2014 Report Share Posted February 12, 2014 There's an old cemetery in the middle of Sochi's Olympic Park The New York Times wrote a lengthy profile on its existence last year, but many people still don't know about the cemetery that lies smack dab in the middle of Sochi's Olympic Park. Even those who are walking by it daily. But, yes, there really is a small graveyard that lies within the shadows of the main Olympic stadium and the massive Olympic cauldron. While the Russian government was able to relocate all of the living citizens who got in the way of Olympic construction, Russian law forbade them from moving the dead. And so there the remains of an old Russian sect named the Old Believers, well, remain. Fans have to know what they're looking if they want to visit it because the graveyard lies behind a "tinted glass fence" which is "lined with almost identical and impenetrable fir trees." [ Photos: Abandoned venues of Olympics past ] The Associated Press has more: "Before construction for the Sochi Games began in the Imeritinskaya Valley, the area that is now Olympic Park was home to a community of Old Believers, with a cemetery next to it. The Old Believers have been relocated to a village nearby, but they insisted on leaving the graves of their forebears intact." The cemetery has been open for a century, the Sochi organizing committee's chief, Dmitry Cheryshenko, said last year. It's an odd feature for an Olympic park, to be sure. And before you ask, the answer is no. The guy who messed up the fifth ring in the Opening Ceremony is not buried there. (Fourth-Medal illustration) http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/olympics-fourth-place-medal/there-s-an-old-cemetery-in-the-middle-of-sochi-s-olympic-park--163747968.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alphacarter Posted February 12, 2014 Report Share Posted February 12, 2014 Ahhh, I was wondering what that was. I suspected it was where Ten's studio was, but if their studio isn't there, which building is it in? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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