XXI Winter Olympics

[B E C K]

I like the skating and the dancing and from what I could tell about watching it: All of the skating and Ice dancing is nearly live as it comes out in the evening around 8:30 or so along with the snowboarding and the speed skating which gets constantly delayed.  I could've sworn the day the US beat Canada, dancing was on AFTER they reported the result for the hockey game which means the hockey was already over (or ending) and ice dancing and skating can hardly be blamed.  The jumping, slalom, all the shit with the skis, and the rest of the events and such took place earlier and possibly bumped the hockey.

LE EDIT: They're talking about the hockey game and they said it was shown on their sister station, thus not shown on regular TV.  At least not here.  They talked about how many people watched it and such and such so I'd imagine the game was purposely monopolized for cable broadcast.

[B E C K]

Anti (Merla's cat) is attentively watching the Russians ice dance.

EDIT: I tried to get some footage but the digital signal on our tv kept fuckering up so he lost interest and left.

EDIT: Russians got bronze and bumped one of our American pairs to 4th.  Another American pair got silver and Canadians get another home gold.

[B E C K]

Am I the only one who expects to hear Chewbacca making noises during the medal ceremonies?

[Rama]

Chewy should run in there and rip some arms off a Russian Ice Skater to get that medal he deserved.

[Fiero]

George Lucas is a speciest.

[Fiero]

Women's hockey Finals on Thursday. US vs Canada. I am hoping Russia beats Canada in the mens tournament, because it would be awesome to see US vs Russia in the finals.

[The D]

Your terrestrial Olympics can kiss my ass.

I'm watching something more awesome, more futuristic, more... spacey....

I'm talking about the motherfucking Space Olympics, fools....

[The D]

In all seriousness, the figure skating pairs who won gold and silver last night are locals. I shit you not. The Canadian pair who won gold, Scott Moir and Tessa Virtue (nice names) live just across the river from Detroit, and train in an ice-skating facility less than 10 miles from my house that has put out other Olympic ice skating champions.

The US pair who won silver train in the same facility and live in my old hometown.

[Fiero]

I was talking to someone that said a lot of people that work in Detroit live in Canada. Is this true?

[The D]

Detroit's a shithole. Who wants to live there? It's easier for them just to drive across the bridge with a proper passport every day.

[Fiero]

So ... was that a yes?

[Fiero]

Canada beat Germany (no surprise, really, but I had a hope). I think Russia will beat Canada. I also hope that Russia will beat Canada.

[B E C K]

Ha ha, that prick Bode Miller failed at Giant Slalom.  And the commentator was all "This isn't his best event but Bode Miller already has three Olympic medals."  And I was all, "wtf, how is that related?  Michael Phelps have several Olympic medals too but he ain't winning syncronized swimming.  Having medals doesn't mean you have a better chance of winning an event you aren't even good at."

Watched bobsledding, remained mostly indifferent.

And then there's the women's figure skating, which we all watch here.  Did not expect Kim Yu-Na to pull out the James Bond music.  Would have liked to see her in a tux like outfit since that would've gone better with the music.  Rachael Flatt's face reminds me of the Grinch.

[Fiero]

USA goes on to the Men's Hockey semifinals, but they did not play a great game today. They need to up it.

[B E C K]

Am I the only one getting annoyed with all these mom-oriented I-raised-an-Olympian commercials?  I mean, a lot of these atheletes have dads, too.  And then there's those with only dads: Apolo Ohno, Mr. Broken Face Guy, Aerial Ski Twisting Girl... I guess I'd be more credible with names.  But I know there's been several.  They should have a few daddy commercials.  Don't be hatin' menz.




EDIT: Twisty Girl is Emily Cook, she's on teevee nao.  Broken Face is Aksel Lund Svindal of Norway.

[Rama]

Yeah.

But I am curious why it seems like in the last two days all the Movie trailers have started to say "Go online to see restricted content!" I thought it was just for Cop Out at first, but then I heard it on a few others like "She's Out of Your League."

[B E C K]

Maybe because they don't want to show anything too questionable during the Olympics, considered a family event?

Also, forgot to comment on the 3000-meter women's relay.  For those who didn't see it, it was Korea, China, Canada and the US.  The US team was left in the dust, with Korea winning and then China and Canada.  However, one of the Korean ladies apparently made illegal contact with the Chinese girl, getting Korea DQ'ed and giving the US a bronze.  Schmoo, Merla, and I were debating on whether the call was right or not, but apparently we concentrated on the position of the skates and not the position of the arms.  Someone's comment on a related news article:

Steve, I must disagree. The call was not based on skate contact, but based on her hand and arm pushing on the Chinese skater.
From www.speedskating.ca:
"A few basic rules govern passing. The lead skater has the right-of-way and the passing skater assumes responsibility for avoiding body contact. The most frequent passing infraction, called charging the block, occurs when a skater passes on the inside of the congested area near the top of the corner. An experienced skater won’t let anyone sneak by the inside and can, by holding his or her track, force overtaking skaters to back off or go around the outside."
The Korean did not back down and forced her way on the line. She was the passing skater and should have avoided body contact, which she did not.
From wikipedia:
"There are several actions that will result in skaters being disqualified (DQ) from a race, and having their time rendered invalid.
Impeding (DQI): Pushing, blocking, or otherwise causing an impediment for another skater"
With the Korean push, she impeded, resulting in team disqualification.

[Fiero]

Movies have had "red band trailers" only available online for some time now, but I do not think they had said as such on many TV ads for those movies.

[Rama]

Movies have had "red band trailers" only available online for some time now, but I do not think they had said as such on many TV ads for those movies.

Yes I know that. Usually they are theater only trailers that then get released online as part of the marketing blitz. Just never heard them say it during the TV spots before. It wouldn't have caught me as so strange if just one movie was doing it, but a lot of movie's TV spots now have them.

Maybe because they don't want to show anything too questionable during the Olympics, considered a family event?

I'd thought that too, but then I've seen them on other channels like that. Must be some new marketing thing. Movies all might be from the same studio and it's just something they started doing.

[B E C K]

Bel-Air is TOTAL WIN.

[B E C K]

I'd thought that too, but then I've seen them on other channels like that. Must be some new marketing thing. Movies all might be from the same studio and it's just something they started doing.

Ha ha, good luck with that.  Most official movie sites fail me in various ways.  I tend not to touch them 95% of the time.

[Sam]

Maybe because they don't want to show anything too questionable during the Olympics, considered a family event?

Also, forgot to comment on the 3000-meter women's relay.  For those who didn't see it, it was Korea, China, Canada and the US.  The US team was left in the dust, with Korea winning and then China and Canada.  However, one of the Korean ladies apparently made illegal contact with the Chinese girl, getting Korea DQ'ed and giving the US a bronze.  Schmoo, Merla, and I were debating on whether the call was right or not, but apparently we concentrated on the position of the skates and not the position of the arms.  Someone's comment on a related news article:

Steve, I must disagree. The call was not based on skate contact, but based on her hand and arm pushing on the Chinese skater.
From www.speedskating.ca:
"A few basic rules govern passing. The lead skater has the right-of-way and the passing skater assumes responsibility for avoiding body contact. The most frequent passing infraction, called charging the block, occurs when a skater passes on the inside of the congested area near the top of the corner. An experienced skater won’t let anyone sneak by the inside and can, by holding his or her track, force overtaking skaters to back off or go around the outside."
The Korean did not back down and forced her way on the line. She was the passing skater and should have avoided body contact, which she did not.
From wikipedia:
"There are several actions that will result in skaters being disqualified (DQ) from a race, and having their time rendered invalid.
Impeding (DQI): Pushing, blocking, or otherwise causing an impediment for another skater"
With the Korean push, she impeded, resulting in team disqualification.

Push nothing, that Korean girl is feeling up the Chinese girl.  Hot!

[Fiero]

So the US Men's hockey team is going to the finals. Come on Slovakia, beat Canada!

[B E C K]

Poo' Apolo!  DQ'd!  NOOO!  QQ  In that care, one of those Canadians should've DQ'd too for impeding the Korean.

At least Reutter got a silver in her event.  And the men's squeak by in their relay.

Jimmy Fallon scores another win:  "Thank you Apolo Ohno for being to frozen water what Michael Phelps is to regular water. Oh no, he didnt? More like OHNO he did."

[B E C K]

Justyna Kowalcyzk of wins the first gold for Poland in women's cross-country skiing.  She won by about a foot or so from her skis in a sprint to the finish against multi-gold medalist Marit Bjoergen.



Women's team pursuit was also very exciting: US vs Germany in a match to advance to the gold medal round.  (FYI, Team Pursuit is a speed skating event where they do laps in the huge oval, one country on each end in a group of three skating together.  The final time is determined by the third person's skate crossing the finish line.  Germany took the lead from the Americans but, in the final lap, one of their skaters--Anna Anni Friesinger-Postma--ran out of gas, lags behind her teammates and goes splat.  She then frantically swims, flailing across the finish line.  She practically cries in disappointment and disbelief that she messed up the race for her country, not realizing until several seconds later that she beat the third American by .23 seconds.  German women will face Japan for gold while America will skate against Poland for Bronze.

[B E C K]

There's a nice people-piece airing now about 9/11 and the town of Gander in Newfoundland.

[Fiero]

How are those things related?

[B E C K]

What, 9/11 and Gander?  Apparently when US airspace was shut down, a shit load of international flights that couldn't turn back were diverted to Newfoundland and the surrounding area.  Gander airtraffic control had to coordinate the flights and then the small town of Gander had to proceed to take care of thousands of extra people.  it was actually interesting despite my initial thoughts that a story like that would've belonged better as a Dateline feature.

[B E C K]

Man, Nelly Furtado has a heck of a badonkadonk in that blue dress.  I can't find a picture.  Boo-hoo.

YESSS!   Thank you, Skinny vs. Curvy.com!

[Rama]

Wow. She does got it going on back there. Even this white boy has to shout. BABY GOT BACK!