Vancouver 2010: Day 6 – Mailing it in

So my experience of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics boiled down to letting the wookie win, and this implies the cold that was just a tad annoying the day prior. I waived the white flag in the battle when my head felt like it was in a vicegrip, taking in the games by whatever the TV could bring me while I slipped in and out of consciousness on the couch.

I make it sound worse than it was, but sometimes you just need to rest it out.

Day 6 certainly had some action to it. I missed Lindsey Vonn’s gold medal ski run but caught most of the last handful of skiers who had a heck of a time in Whistler. Shani Davis rocked that 1000 meters in speed skating, and Shaun White pretty much blew my mind.

Combine all of that with Twitter and Flickr, I have all I really need to find out what’s going on between all over B.C. in terms of these games.

So what I thought I would do is poke through some of the photos submitted to the True North Media House photo group on Flickr to pull out some great stuff that’s been filtering through the social media news wires. A lot of people are doing cool stuff, and the photography that’s coming through really pushes that concept of cool to a different level of storytelling rather than just saying what happened.

I met Lee Lefever when sharing a table at lunch during Northern Voice 2007, so naturally I have been following him on Twitter for a while and knew of his plans to come to Vancouver for the games. While waiting in line for Atlantic Canada House the other day, around the corner came Lee. I yelled out his name and found out he had a crew here for the duration of the games.

As it turns out, he got ahold of tickets of the same men’s snowboard final that blew my mind. Oddly enough, getting up to Cypress for the event is not only made difficult by the mandatory bus you have to take, but the buses apparently have a slight issue making it up the road to get there.

Is that guy trying to call a cab?

Steven has a great shot of the Molson Canadian Hockey House entrance that we went to for opening ceremonies. These houses and tents are really nothing to scoff at. These places are swanky and world class in terms of setup and decor. Vancouver has done a lot to dress up and impress, not that it makes them cheap or a long time to get into.

Mike got a great snap of Stephen Colbert while taping near Science World, otherwise known as Sochi House during the games. He has probably raised more awareness of these winter games than NBC has in the same amount of time.

Ariane has exactly what I’m talking about when it comes to these games. I cannot get enough of the foreign media and how they are framing Vancouver when reporting back to their homeland viewers.

As the quote says on the photo on Flickr, “Russian luge athlete Albert Demtschenko giving a live broadcast for Russian television.”

Kim has a great shot of what all the hoopla was about with the cauldron being behind a chain link fence down at the new convention center. There is the whole issue with it looking like it’s stuck inside of a prison, but it’s the number of people who wanted to see it that was more confounding. How in the world could you underestimate that in city with a steam clock that probably is the most photographed landmark in the lower mainland?

JP has a good one of something I don’t tire seeing. I love seeing everyone decked out in gear that supports the country they are cheering for. I got onto the bus this morning with two guys with American flag top hats, coats, and pants after spending the morning on Grouse Mountain during the Today show broadcasts. They were on their way to find some scalper tickets and watch some hockey later on.

Dustin caught the Decentralized Dance Party while they took over Granville Street. This is only just one of the various flash mobs and impromptu gatherings that has been happening around the city. The coordinated dance flash mob seems to be pretty popular right now. I blame the reality TV shows.

Simone has what is at the heart of these games to many Canadians. This just helps show how much hockey, or theses games in general, and having a good time go hand in hand.

Kris Krug is a ninja. He has been shooting a lot all over the lower mainland, and I think it’s fair to say that his supply of photos to sort through, edit, upload, and share far outweighs his time to get that all done. Regardless, what’a starting to show up here and there is really good. He has great coverage of what’s going on all fronts with these games.

John Biehler has been shooting a ton of great stuff. He has access to many of the press conferences with a variety of Canadian athletes who have medeled. Also a big fan of his fish-eye lens stuff.

Robert Scales is certainly one to admire with all of his previous experiences at a variety of Olympics. He even went to the Montreal games at the age of four, starting his pin collection quite a while back. Between him, Krug, and Dave Olson, these guys have been my sources of what to expect for when the games got here, even though I’m still in awe and amazement. Check out his Olympics coverage at Vancouver Access 2010.

Speaking of DaveO, he has been on the ground and doing everything that was set out to be accomplished when he was brainstorming True North Media House some years back. A grassroots renegade practicing what he’s preaching.

This last image is mine, and I might get in trouble for posting in. If the IOC allows me to keep it, my only intention is to share the one thing that these games probably represent to me the most, and that’s Canadian pride. It’s overwhelming in terms of the abundance, but the fact that it has been embraced as much as it has is impressive. You see it in Tris, Keira, and even our good friend Duane can’t pass up a good party.

If you want to see more photos, check out the TNMH photo group on Flickr, or check out truenorthmediahouse.com to find out more about what this is all about.