...everyone knew whose game they're playing!!



LUUUUUUU! CROSBY!

What an amazing end to the games. Record number of gold medals!

Canada is the land of Red, White, and GOLD!

Super Sunday! Or so we'd hoped.

The fateful Canada vs. USA game...ended in disappointment.

We headed down to try and get into LiveCity Downtown for the game, but the line was much longer than any of us had expected. After standing around and trying to watch on a crappy screen on the side of some canvas tent thing (with bars across the screen), we began to wander around in search of a good visible TV screen. Some of the places we ended up were Future Shop, 'in line' in front of a bar, on the other side of an outdoor makeshift bar thing with clear plastic tent walls, outside the windows of some other pubs, and then finally Robson Square (GE Plaza, where the zip line is). There was a large screen there and a pretty large crowd. I stood up on a stone block so I could see quite alright, though there were moments in the game I wish I hadn't seen. Later we found out that our feed was actually delayed a bit since we heard people down the street cheering, and then five seconds later we finally saw the goal.

Downtown wasn't as lively as it had been on Friday, and I can only assume that's because it's Sunday night and people have to go to work or school tomorrow. It's still pretty insane regardless. Maybe the line up at the 'Olympic Superstore' won't be as bad on a weekday in the morning or afternoon. Will have to check that out sometime. On that note, seriously wanting one of those HBC Team Canada hoodies or jackets. Curse me and my inability to think ahead. =( Hope I can at least pick up some mittens.

Took my first trip to the downtown area since the games started. Knew it would be crazy, but I never imagined it would be this crazy. It reminded me of Toronto in so many ways, except that the streets were much wider and much easier to walk on (the streets that were blocked off from cars, anyway).



The first hurdle was getting onto the SkyTrain. A friend has a new condo right beside (and I mean right beside, as in around the corner from the entrance to the complex) Stadium station, so getting there wasn't a big deal. Getting inside was a bit more of a pain, since one of the entrances was blocked off so we had to go around. Getting on a train was a whole other issue. That definitely reminded me of the TTC during rush hour, an experience I'm not fond of and definitely not used to in Vancouver.

After getting off at Granville station, decided to try and check out the 'Official Olympic Store' at the Bay, but the lineup was reminiscent of Disneyland lines so that was a pass. Met up with some other friends instead and wandered around for a bit and made our way slowly down to Robson. Sat around the square for a while, listened to a bit of a band called Hey Ocean! before the fireworks/pyrotechnic show started at 11. That was quite fun to watch and will have to go back again for it when I've got a camera that's not low on batteries.





Getting back onto the SkyTrain was a disaster. And of course, we were close to the doors since we were only going one stop...but the platform was on the other side of the train. People kept pushing to get onto the train when we were trying to get out. A huge mess all around.

The entire city will be very hung over in two week's time after this constant partying for two weeks. But I don't mind it. Then again, I'm not one of the people who lives in the apartments on Robson. Heh.

There are a number of awesome free events going on around the GVRD, which I sadly haven't taken full advantage of yet. That's on the to-do list though. Tonight was the much-anticipated free Our Lady Peace concert at Richmond O-Zone which is a huge outdoor venue (Minoru Park?) with nightly shows and things. Had been looking forward to the concert, but almost couldn't make it due to my parents leaving to go play golf and leaving me stranded at home. Thankfully they got back in time and I ran out to catch a bus to the SkyTrain. The bus driver was quite amusing and talked to us the entire time about all sorts of things, and even had a little trivia thing when we got closer to Bridgeport station.



Managed to get to O-Zone by about 7:30 or so. The line up to get in through the entrance closest to Richmond Centre was insanely long, but just as I got there, a couple volunteers (I think?) on bikes started directing people at the end of the line to another entrance down the street. It was a much faster line, and going through security was just...walking through since I didn't have a bag. There wasn't anything happening on-stage since they were in the middle of a break for the medal ceremony for Christine Nesbitt and Patrick Chan's free-skate program, which they showed on the two big screens beside the stage. Friends had gotten seats on the bleachers, which was better than the giant mosh and crowd in front of the stage.

The Arkells started playing at 8:30. Not familiar with this band so I don't have much to say about them. They were decent, though. The crowds were clearly waiting for OLP though.



By the time 9:45 rolled around, almost the entire field was packed with people. OLP played most of their good old songs and a couple I couldn't really recognize. It didn't sound like they played too many from their new album, which I have yet to listen to. They did play Innocent, Is Anybody Home?, Somewhere Out There, and 4 am (the ones I could recognize and remember). Another interesting one was a cover of MGMT's Kids and mentioning something about some sign he saw about Vancouver being a nuclear-free city? Iunno.



By the end, we were all getting ridiculously cold. Next time, will have to remember to wear another layer underneath jeans. Getting out of the venue was horrible, too. People shoving and pretty much squished together like sardines... Guess people were cold too and really wanted to go home. Oh well. It was a good show nonetheless and I'm glad I didn't skip out like I'd been thinking of doing earlier in the day.

Besides, who could say no to free? =)

A friend kindly asked me to join her family up in Whistler for the Men's Luge medal event since they had a spare ticket. Of course I was more than happy to go, since I don't have any of my own tickets to any of the events.



We left at around 7 am to get to BCIT, where there are a bunch of shuttle buses up to Whistler. The bus took us straight to Whistler Village which was great. After brunch, we headed to the Whistler Sliding Center at Blackcomb near the Excalibur gondola. There was a security check as well, though it was much better than any security check at an airport, due to the fact that the people were much friendlier. They still dumped out water bottles and stuff though.



It's a very long track, and had no idea that it would be such a hike to get around it. Got all the way up to the top where they were starting (originally the women's start, after the few changes they made since Friday) and then headed down again for a better spot.



After getting a few pictures and watching some runs from the upper corners, we headed back down to the stands at the last corner and sat down in the bleachers. The view was not so great but there was a longer view of the athletes as they took corner 16, and there was the giant screen where we could watch the athletes on camera as they came down the track. Much better than getting a one-second glimpse of them on one corner.



Unfortunately we didn't make it onto the podium, but we did make it to the top 10 so that's worth something. Canadian athletes also did improve since their Torino runs apparently, so that's also great. The final standings were:

1. GERMANY - Felix Loch


2. GERMANY - David Möller


3. ITALY - Armin Zöggeler

More images can be found on my Picasa!

Last night was the much-anticipated Opening Ceremony of the Vancouver 2010 Olympics. And since that is covered by pretty much every other source out there, I'll mostly be just going over my thoughts on it instead. It should be noted that I have yet to see the Beijing opening ceremonies myself, so my expectations for opening ceremonies are a bit skewed from other people. That being said, Vancouver's were neither fantastic, nor a complete let-down.

I was at a local pub with a couple friends to watch the ceremony, and we had great seats right at the bar to watch the TV. There were surprisingly fewer people there than expected, but I suppose most people were at home or downtown watching instead. Actually a bunch of people left once the Canucks game was over, which they won. I think it would have been a terrible let-down had they lost. Then again, maybe they were a bit distracted.

The sequences of the show that I enjoyed most were the opening sequence with the snowboarder (minus his talking), the orca whales, and the aurora borealis. The 'prairies' part was frankly numbingly boring and really could have been cut much shorter. Aside from that, I guess the rest of it was decent. Although a bunch of people were either confused or not pleased with all the First Nations bits at the start, but let's face it, that is BC's history.

The lighting of the cauldron was just...damn funny but embarrassing as well. It'll never be lived down. And I'm still confused as to why it had been Wayne Gretzky, considering there were other candidates who seemed like they would have been much better suited for the job, but what can you do.

Frankly, I don't think it would have been half as entertaining if I hadn't gone out to watch it with some friends (and text-spamming with another in Ontario during the course of the show). That being said, I should go and borrow the DVD of the Beijing opening ceremony...

And will be going to see the luge medal event tomorrow at Whistler! Can't wait to see it. Hopefully the fixes they made to the track will be good enough.

After reading a review on Chow Times, decided to try out Chef Hung's Taiwanese Beef Noodle Restaurant, located in Aberdeen Centre (which is starting to become one of my favourite malls, mostly due to the food court and Daiso) in Richmond. It was also a chance to finally take a ride on the new Canada Line SkyTrain for the first time. I found that the trains weren't as nice as the new trains on the Expo Line. Still nicer and cleaner than anything the TTC could dream of, though, but I guess that's a given.



*Note: This will not be a thorough review since Chow Times did a much better job of that anyway. This is just describing my own dining experience here. =)

We were prepared to wait a while since we'd read that the lines are usually pretty crazy, but thankfully at around 1:30 pm when we arrived, there weren't that many people waiting in line, so it only took about 5-10 minutes for us to get a seat. Plus I was fascinated by this little doodad by the front of the store:



The noodles/chopsticks part moves up and down! Keeps ADD people like me entertained for a few minutes. =) We were seated right beside the fake bamboo decorations in the middle of the restaurant, which I was quite happy about. Even if it's fake, it gives off a nice feeling. Some people may find it tacky, but done right, I don't find it all bad.



Didn't take a long look at the menu since we'd both decided to get the same thing (Champion Beef Noodles). Instead of the waitress writing down orders, the customers fill out boxes on the menu instead. Sort of a waste of paper, but whatever works for them. The beef noodles came out very quickly - within 10 minutes for sure, but probably around 5 minutes. That was a good thing since we were both pretty hungry at that point.



As mentioned in Chow Times, the noodles are hand-made in-store, and you can really taste the difference. They had a full flavour that you can't really get from dry noodles. The soup was good too, with just the right hint of spiciness (although I added some hot pepper flakes anyway). The beef was tender and cooked well, especially the beef strips that one person is in charge of searing on the outside with a torch (see Chow Times).

For both of us, the bill came out to about $21, which isn't too bad, but it's not the cheapest. Pho is about $6 per bowl so this place isn't the best for a bargain, but the soup was damn good. Had to stop myself from overeating at the end.

There are plenty of good places to eat in Aberdeen's food court as well, but Chef Hung's is definitely one place that shouldn't be overlooked. Don't see myself going all the time, but will definitely go here if I ever get a craving for TBN.

Went to Taka's Sushi down by the beach today for a quick dinner. A friend insisted that they had the best toro ever, so of course I had to try it for myself.

Drove by the place at least 2 times (made a sort-of figure-eight around the place too) trying to find it. It's a very small place, and had I not been told about it, I definitely would not have known about it. Very glad we went, though.

The albacore toro was definitely very tasty. It didn't need any soy sauce since it had been seared lightly on top and dashed with some lemon juice and a hint of wasabi. Amazingly good. There were also seasonal specials, the names of which have left me completely, but they were also good. Sea bream might have been one of them.

The roll we got was called Canadian Sunset. It was quite tasty as well, but not necessarily anything to write home about. Salmon and avocado on the outside of the roll, some mayo-mix sauce on top, and tuna with cucumber inside. Somewhat typical fare, but considering I picked a random one off the list, it didn't disappoint.

We got one more each of the two special items and tried to get more albacore toro, but unfortunately they were all out. The chef gave us salmon toro instead, which was still quite good.

Inside the shop, there are about four seats by the sushi bar in front of the two chefs, and two very small raised tables cafe-style. It's not a good place for a lot of people since it is mainly a take-out restaurant, but for two or three, it's cozy. Both chefs were very friendly, although the waitress was a bit harder to get a hold of at times since she was in the back (assumedly preparing take-out orders). From the looks of it, a lot of the customers are regulars and the chefs know them quite well.

All in all, a quaint and cozy little shop, perfect for quick but good take-out. Very good quality, although the prices are typical (~$2.50 per piece of nigiri sushi). Next time I get a craving for sushi but can't find anybody, this is most likely where I will be going.

Finally, finally got to see The Princess and the Frog. After all the hype about it, and the fact that the fate of the 2D animation department at Disney apparently rested with this film, it was inevitable that I would see it. And since it was Telus Tuesday, it was only $6 for a ticket (the lady tried to gyp us and charged full price until we pointed it out), so even if I found it not so good, it wouldn't have been as painful as it would have been if it had cost the full $11-something. It didn't disappoint, thankfully. My hopes weren't too high just to be safe, but I still did hope.



As a bit of a step backward to the good ol' days of animation, this is definitely one of those milestone films. Quite enjoyable overall, but not quite up to par with the classics, nor with the epic 90's films. For a start, the score was very good since it was composed by the awesome Randy Newman, but unfortunately the insert songs were not the typical memorable Disney-musical songs. Frankly I'm hard pressed to even remember how the melodies went. Maybe I'm just getting old and need to hear them again.

The animation was top-notch, and I expected nothing less. Definitely something you miss seeing after all these 3D animation movies. Don't get me wrong - I love my Pixar any time of day or year, but there's just something about 2D that really stretches back.

Funnily enough though, my favourite sequence was during the heroine Tiana's solo song, "Almost There" near the beginning, where the animation becomes more simplistic as she describes her dream of opening her own restaurant (second half of the clip). Then again I've always loved that particular simplified no-lines style.

The ending was slightly different for a Disney movie as well. Apart from a 'final battle' that was lacking a little something-something, there's also a bit of a downturn for a moment that I wasn't really expecting. Regardless they made it fit.

I won't be touching on the 'controversy' about this movie here since there are plenty of other people busy doing that instead, but I will say that the New Orleans setting was definitely entertaining. Although John Goodman with his southern accent was a bit...odd and somewhat out of place. I still love his voice acting talents anyway. It gave me a mad craving for gumbo, too.

And god knows I can't say no to a bit of good jazz.

(I write this from the FUTURE!
...because I completely forgot to do it a few weeks ago.)

Happy New Year/Decade! To my few readers, thank you for sticking around (read: being forced by me to read it).

Here's to many better posts in 2010.