i was on tv! a ctv news team was filming this report at work on friday while i was getting a coffee. i'm way in the background at ~54secs, look above the cash register.

so i've started watching this british car show called 'top gear', recommended to me by our chiropractor. it's hilarious! and if you like british humor at all, you'll definitely appreciate the quirky antics of the three hosts. and man, they have some crazy budgets to do stuff, like driving through the amazon, driving cars off docks, etc.

The Art of Analog Computing from meltmedia on Vimeo.

check out this clip from meltmedia called the art of analog computing. couldn't help but think how much most of us do in front of our computers every day, especially when it's slowed down like this!

tonight we went to see star wars in concert, featuring a live symphony orchestra and chorus playing the music from all six films along with specially edited footage on a giant led screen. the orchestra was awesome and hearing the familiar music played live just brought the scenes to life! anthony daniels (c3po) appeared in person and narrated throughout the night. there were also some displays out on the concourse...

but did you also realize that 26% of all the rice in the world comes from china? and out of that ~68% of it was consumed in china alone in 2008?! that and 300 million turtles are sold for food each year. and they have more tanks than the U.S. anyway, wait til tim hortons gets set up... we're talking a LOT of timbits.

this is just too funny. [thx chris!]

are you ready? ANTM cycle 14 starts this wednesday. apparently, this will be the first season without a supermodel on the judging panel. (goodbye paulina... you were hot in the 80s, but i won't miss your comments on this show!) looks like tyra will go for brains over beauty, giving Vogue editor-at-large andre leon talley a regular spot on the panel, alongside herself, photographer nigel barker and a rotating guest judge.

here's a sneak peek at the models via buddytv. it's kinda hard to tell who's got potential through these shots, but my picks are always wrong anyway so just as well! wonder if there'll be an underdog nicole like last season?

buddytv slideshow'America's Next Top Model' Cycle 14: Meet the Models, Close-Up

my buddy drew recently passed these awesome youtube clips onto me, and they're just too good not to share. enjoy...

the past 2 weeks have been unprecedented for our city. hosting the 2010 winter olympics may prove to be the best thing that's happened to the 604 in a long time, right behind the deluge of asian-style cafes and the opening of vancouver's first apple store. ok, maybe in front of those.

it was like a giant party descended on us during february 12-28. i didn't get out that much to be a part of it, but even from what i hear from our friends who did, the experiences around town were all so great, and everyone keeps saying what a great 'spirit' has been among us.

here's some numbers from vancouver2010's website. i've highlighted the ones that especially blow my mind...

• 15 sport disciplines; 9 competition venues
• 86 medal competitions; 615 medals awarded
• 1,055 athlete bouquets presented
• 6,500 athletes and team officials in total; 2,632 registered athletes
• 50,000 workforce members for the Games, including paid, contractor and volunteers; of that total, 18,500 were volunteers; 6,500 volunteers will also work during the Paralympic Winter Games
• 25,000 workforce uniforms distributed
• 10,800 media representatives: 7,000 rights holding broadcasters, 2,800 press reporters and photographers and non-rights holding broadcasters, as well as 1,000 host Olympic Broadcast Service (OBSV) personnel
• 3.5 billion worldwide television viewers are estimated to have tuned into the Games
• Olympic rights holding broadcasters have offered Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Games coverage on more than 300 TV stations and on more than 100 websites worldwide
• 47 per cent more global television coverage of the Games than for the Torino 2006 Olympic Winter Games; this represents approximately 24,000 hours of coverage
• 50,000 hours of total broadcast hours of the Games across all media platforms around the world; 6,000 hours of coverage worldwide on mobile platforms
• As of Day 15, 33.1 million Canadians (99 per cent) have watched coverage
• 1,500 appearances by the Vancouver 2010 mascots: Quatchi, Miga and Sumi by the end of the Games
• 20,567 deliveries made to Olympic venues
• 1.6 million tickets available for the 2010 Winter Games
• More than 3.3 million pairs of Vancouver 2010 Red Mittens sold
• $500-million target for gross retail sales of Vancouver 2010 branded merchandise met by end of Games
• More than 4,000 artists at 600 events, over 60 days in 60 venues are taking part in the Cultural Olympiad
• More than 12,500 volunteer hours clocked for Olympic Closing Ceremony. The thousands of volunteer performers range in age from 10 to 68
• More than 450 racks of costumes, 3,600 metres of elastic, 4,100 pairs of shoes, 18 kilograms of glitter, 10,000 green sequins, 200 giant spheres and balloons, as well as 20 zygote balls were used in the Opening and Closing Ceremonies
• vancouver2010.com was visited 85 million times this month from within Canada and reached more than 70 per cent of Canadians with Internet access and over 50 per cent of the total Canadian population
• 19.1 per cent of North Americans with Internet access visited the website this month; 4.6 per cent of people worldwide with Internet access visited the site this month
• 14,000 followers on Twitter.com/2010Tweets
• More than 1.25 million downloads recorded for the official mobile spectator guide, which for 10 days of the Games was the No. 1 free app in Canada
• 1.1 million Facebook fans, nearly four times the total amount for Beijing at the conclusion of the 2008 Games

what will you remember from it all?

my friend maurice is a talented photographer and has given me permission to share some of his great shots from around town. [thx mo!] lucky bum, he was actually in attendance yesterday at the men's gold medal game!

i literally jumped for joy in our living room when crosby scored the overtime winner during yesterday's olympic men's gold game! our friends mike & mincha came over to watch what turned out to be nothing less than an epic finish to these 2010 games, and what i'm sure will go down as a classic. no longer is canada's rivalry with the russians, but now with our neighbours to the south.

what a great hockey game, for both teams. it felt like all of canada was on hold yesterday until the 3 periods were played. and then to go into OT just made it that much more exciting! if you weren't at the game, you were in front of a tv! turns out that our american friends were watching, too. nbc reported the game drew a 17.6 overnight rating, which translates to 17.6% of tv households in 56 u.s. urban tv markets, peaking to 21.6% at one point. almost unheard of for a country that normally buries any news about the sport, if even mentioned at all.

some pics from hockey canada today...