Something like an Obamanon

Well, the last great hope for America, Barack Obama, gave the First Big Speech of the election tonight. I was impressed - he kept up his “time for change” message while also sticking it to the Republicans and McCain. One of the keys to his campaign looks like tying McCain and Bush together, and that a vote for McCain is a vote for another four years of Bush’s America. Hopefully he doesn’t spend too much time doing this. I think he needs to stick to specifics on how he’s going to turn things around (whether he actually can is up for debate). I’m interested to see what McCain says whenever he makes his First Big Speech, although regardless of what he has to say, he’s not going to come close to Obama’s oratory skills. That man commands attention without sounding like a phony … something John Kerry was seriously lacking. And I’m still sadly predicting old man McCain wins, once the Republicans fire up the ol’ bible belt bullshit machine and scare people into voting for the status quo.

Incidentally, it sounds like we’re on the verge of an election in our own country. I’m not looking forward to that. It’s actually quite worrisome that Canada’s electorate is becoming so fractured: Alberta, Saskatchewan, and interior BC will vote Conservative; BC’s big cities will vote Liberal or NDP; Ontario will vote mostly Liberal; Quebec votes Bloc; and the Maritimes, well, they’ll probably vote for everything, but the three and a half MPs they send to the Hill won’t really matter. Our next election, whether it’s this year or next, will likely end up with another minority and we’ll all go to bed on election night upset that the people we voted for didn’t win.

Finally, as for next year’s provincial election, I’ve decided to vote Green. I hate the Liberals and the NDP are clueless, so neither deserve my vote.

Who Mourns for Ralph Nader?

Recently the ladyfriend and I watched the documentary An Unreasonable Man, which detailed Ralph Nader’s crusades to protect American consumers and his run at forming a 3rd political party in the USA. Not being a part of his generation, I’m astonished at how much in our daily life has come about directly from Nader’s legal battles with government and corporations: seat belts, air bags, warning labels on prescriptions, just to name a few.

The second hour of the film concentrates on his biggest challenge to the American way of life: the two-party system. He realizes, leading up to the 2000 election, that the Democrats and Republicans are essentially the same, and Americans have no legitimate choice for a party that will represent the basic rights of people. It documents how he succeeds in exposing the cracks in the US “democratic” system, and also shows how logic, reason, and basic respect is thrown out when those in power realize he’s rocking the boat too much. It’s really a tragic tale of how Nader goes from being a hero for the general public to a punch line to a joke or even to contempt, even though anyone with half an education could see that everything he did was right. It makes me sad that a man who ought to be seen as one of the most patriotic and decent Americans in the last 30 years has become a scapegoat for “why the Democrats lost two elections”. The film only underlines how completely screwed up the US political system is. I suggest giving it a rent.

Company Summer Party

Having worked for three wealthy companies, I’ve seen a few company parties. Friday was my first Propaganda summer party, and while I’m still disappointed that spouses weren’t able to take part, it was probably the most fun I’ve had at such an event.

We were bussed up to Whistler, where we had a choice of three activities: ATV tours, paintball, or zip-line. I was not interested in ATVing, because it’s not active and I’ve been terrified of ATVs since getting my leg caught under one when I was 13. Paintball is not at all my cup of tea, so that left zip-lining. Being a pussweed, choosing something that involves a 1600m cable ride, with a 400m drop, zipping along at 100km’h, you’d think I’d have pooped my pants. Well, I wasn’t quite that rattled, but I will say that I was a little nervous looking down a zip-line so long you can’t even see the end. However nervous I was, I’m glad I did it. It was loads of fun, and I’ll have photos as soon as I find some (I didn’t take any). Here’s a photo from the website - just imagine one of those people is me, for the time being.

Apparently there are two zip-line companies at Whistler; one is more eco-adventure-ish, with slower lines and forest interpretations, probably suitable for tourists that have never seen a fir tree or a rock before. The ones we went on, Skyline Whistler, were purely adrenaline (hence the 100km/h speed).

After the zip-line was the requisite barbecue and beer, and we were bussed back to the city at 6pm. Whistler itself was a nice enough place - it reminded me of Banff, only newer and cleaner (that’s not a knock against Banff, but Whistler is extremely well-manicured, perhaps too much). The highway to Whistler, being rebuilt for the Olympics, is a mess of construction. I suppose they still have two years to get it done, but it’s really a two hour drive of weaving through pylons.

Two nights, different memories

Saturday night was my cousin’s stag, which saw us enjoy a dinner at The Keg, followed by a trip to Brandi’s. The latter is well known here as the businessman’s strip club, with prices to match the reputation. Some of my cousin’s friends ordered doubles of their favourite drinks, which cost them $11.50; as I had to drive home that night I got a bottle of water for $7. Ouch. I clearly paid the loser premium.

Despite being overpriced and supposedly the “best” strip club in Vancouver, Brandi’s was a huge letdown. The strippers themselves were attractive enough, although only one girl did not have her breasts augmented. The private dancers (not lap dancers - this is BC, not Quebec) were downright ugly and for the most looked much older than me. Okay, so it’s not “nice” to judge people on their looks, but this is a strip club - no one goes there for humanitarian reasons. We stayed for about two hours before transitioning to the Penthouse, a nudie bar that’s been around for decades. It was a good change of scenery: no old men whose wives stopped paying attention to them, no wannabe gangsters or drug dealers with sunglasses and a jerry-curl; rather, average dudes just wanting to see some boobies. And with respect to that, the dancers at the Penthouse were refreshingly non-silicone-enhanced.

My cousin has spent a lot of his adult life claiming that alcohol has no effect on him, and to be fair, only one of the people that night had actually seen him drunk before. Of course this meant the objective of the group was to ensure the poor fellow got completely shitfaced: shots of tequila, jagermeister, sambuca, fireball, and a couple of beers, saw their way down his gullet. Needless to say this resulted in the usual phases of drunk: mildly silly, loud, faux-gay, belligerent, angry, vomity, stunned silence, more vomity, then disappearing in a cab to go home. I felt bad for him, at least a little, but at the same time it’s his stag - and the bragging about being impervious to alcohol meant it was bound to happen. I can happily report that he was feeling relatively well the next day.

And the other night I referenced in the title? Sunday night, probably the most humid and hot night we’ve had in over a year, saw me screaming myself awake at 3 in the morning due to a nightmare. It was one of those dreams that is (I guess) full of symbolism and hidden meanings but is also so screwed up that it makes no sense whatsoever. I won’t describe what it was - because it won’t make sense - but I certainly scared the crap out of my wife, who was sleeping next to me. This is the second time in my adult life that I’ve shouted in my sleep, and I’m not sure if that’s normal or not. I guess once every 7 or 8 years isn’t bad.

The Olympics! Kamloops Connection

My hometown has sent an athlete to Beijing, Dylan Armstrong, who today finished 4th in the world in the shot put. He was knocked out of the bronze medal spot by one centimeter - wow. Not only is Mr. Armstrong from Kamloops, but he also went to the same high school as I did (he was a couple grades behind me). This is pretty awesome, and while I never actually knew the guy, it’s great to see someone from the same part of town as me advance to being the 4th best athlete in the world in his sport.

This also marks the second Olympic athlete that’s barely crossed paths with me (the other being Silken Laumann, whose lawn I used to mow when I worked in Victoria).

The Olympics! Part 2: What I Don’t Like

This is part two of a two-part subject. The Olympic Games are something I’ve always enjoyed since the Los Angeles games in 1984 (one of the few vivid memories I have from that far back). After yesterday’s post of what I like about the Olympics, here’s what I don’t like about the Olympics.

Beach Volleyball, Equestrian, Archery, Shooting, and Synchronized Swimming.
Events that involve shooting stuff is boring to watch, and there’s not enough of an endurance element thrown in the mix - it might as well be horseshoes or bocce. Contrast it with the Winter Games’ biathlon, where shooting is done after skiing a few dozen kilometers, and just standing and shooting comes away looking weak. Synchro swimming is treading water to music; Equestrian is the only event that involves another mammal as a sporting implement, which is a bit odd; and beach volleyball is just too cool for its own good. Despite the titillation factor, which I’m generally in favour of at all times, beach volleyball just doesn’t “do it” for me.

CBC’s Television Coverage.
Why has CBC’s broadcasting plan expanded to include every TV and radio personality exploring the host cities in their own pathetically quirky ways? One or two people doing it was fine, when they started doing this in Spain. But it’s out of control, and set against NBC’s high production values, CBC looks woefully shabby. Throw in some unexciting broadcast graphics and theme music that escaped from a dentist’s office and I find myself watching the American channel more than our national one. And you know what - when CTV takes over for the next Summer Games, I expect even worse production effort.

Canada’s Official Olympic Uniforms.
No, not Miga, Sumi, and Quatchi. The god-awful “urban inspired” outfits and square typeface as seen in Bay stores everywhere, which is bleeding with uninformed corporate CEO what-are-those-kids-into-these-days bad decisions. Canada was the talk of the Olympics back when Roots decked out our winter athletes a decade ago; now we’re wearing junk that looks like it came from Zellers. Oh … that’s right, it is from Zellers. If there was an award given to Olympic fashion design this year, the gold would go to China. Their stuff is great.

The Slow Move Towards X-Games Events.
The Olympics has always evolved in terms of which events are included. In the past they had demonstration sports, where some less-popular events would be included but wouldn’t award “real” medals, as a way to test people’s reactions to the sport. That’s gone, and now events come and go without much notice. Anyone remember downhill speed skiing at the winter games? It lasted for only one kick at the can, in 1992. Cricket, anyone? Maybe if it was the year 1900! On the cut list for the next summer games are baseball and softball; sports I don’t care to watch, but have competitive teams in at least a half dozen countries each. Is that really the best event to cut? What about sailing, or shooting? I suppose it’s inevitable that skateboarding or a BMX bowl event ends up in the Olympics at some point, even if those sports are more style over substance. At least events like roller hockey (1992) and Aussie rules football (1958 - who the hell competed in that?) didn’t stick.