The list of indie artists playing the Olympics would make you shake your head. None of the top level Vancouver artists are playing Olympics and it seems that they were never even asked. Only one of the top Montreal bands is playing. More specifically, 10 of the top 20 most critically acclaimed Canadian* albums of the decade were by Vancouver artists. It was the hottest scene in Canada, but not even 1 of them will be playing the Olympics. Another 6 of the top 20 were by Montreal artists, but only 1 of them is there, and it’s not Wolf Parade. Only 4 of the top 20 albums will be represented at the Olympics and they include 2 by Toronto bands, 1 by an artist who has been living in Toronto for several years, and the last is by a Montreal band made up of a group of Torontonians who moved to Montreal to start the band. In other words, the only top tier indie artists who will be there are artists who are either living in Toronto or who otherwise have very close ties to the Toronto industry people. There is only one top Toronto band who isn’t playing, F***ed Up. If you didn’t know already, the Canadian music industry is I’m sure the most corrupt in western world, and maybe the most corrupt group of people since Tammany Hall. The Junos, the Polaris Prize, and the Canadian Independent Music awards are all completely corrupt. You should pay no attention to them whatsoever. I could give you a more completely explanation if you want, but I’m probably getting a little off topic for this thread. In short, I think the main reason why Canada has produced so many great bands this decade is that the internet has allowed these bands to bypass the Canadian industry system.
US wins their first medal ever in Nordic Combined. Won Silver, almost had Gold but lost it at the end. We also came in 4th, narrowly missing Bronze.
Thrilling news, bro. BTW, WTF is Nordic Combined? It sounds like some kind of northern European sexual practice.
WTF are ski jumping and 10k cross country? Are they more captivating sporting events than cup stacking?
Feb 21st 2010: 3:00 pm Ice Hockey Men's Prelim. Round - Group B: Russia vs Czech Republic Feb 21st 2010: 7:40 pm Ice Hockey Men's Prelim. Round - Group A: Canada vs United States Two good games in the only event that really matters, not going to bother watching anything but Men's hockey.....
There's a NordicTrack competition, aye? Is there a Winter Olympics version of the hot dog eating contest? Perhaps, a sockeye salmon eating contest? That would be totally badass.
I've been saying if the Canadians don't let BC's own The Real McKenzies play the Gold medal drought will continue. <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/D_gTDBzhQkQ&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/D_gTDBzhQkQ&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>
I don't really like hockey anymore, was a Leafs fan 8-9 years ago, but just got turned off by the sport as I grew older. I still love Olympic Hockey though, always entertaining, well at least when the good teams play. The USA vs Canada game will be great, if you guys beat us, there would be riots across Canada :grin:
None. They’re not there. The New Pornographers aren’t there. Arcade Fire isn’t there. Neko Case* isn’t there. K’Naan is there (Toronto). Broken Social Scene (Toronto) is there, even though they only have one big album from 8 years ago and haven’t put anything out in 5 years. Feist (from Calgary but now living in Toronto and seeing one of the BSS members) is there, and Stars (Montreal via Toronto) is there. There is a bunch of second tier artists there as well from all over Canada, but again a disproportionately large number of them are from Toronto. Cleary prominent industry people from Toronto were asked to put this line-up of artists together, and what you see here is what they do with the major awards as well. It’s like a form of modern day payola. They showcase their friends and other local Toronto bands while shutting other bands out, and they give them Juno awards and Polaris Prize nominations as well, and that sells more albums for them and gets them booked into major festivals around the world, because unsuspecting foreigners think that our award winners must be our best bands, but they’re not. They’re just the ones with the connections to the Toronto music mafia. People have won Juno awards in recent years without even having an album out, if you can believe it. Typically some deserving artist from other parts of Canada will be given awards, but as many as a third to a half will be artists who only win because of their connections.
It must've been somebody else around here that was a Canucks fan. I really like that team. I'm pretty sure the Sedin twins can communicate telepathically. The way they find each other on the ice is second to none. What turned you off to the sport? I've been a hockey fan for nearly 30 years now and despite the lockout and rule changes, I still love it. Hockey and basketball are 1a and 1b for me as far as favorite sports. The funny thing is I never really paid attention to Olympic hockey but am pretty hyped up this time around. It has the makings of a great tournament and with the possibility of the NHL keeping its players out in 2014, we may never see another one this good - at least for a long while. Canadians will be going berzerk if they do anything but take home gold. I don't see USA beating them or taking home a medal but it's certainly not an impossibility in a sport like hockey where luck plays such a big factor, particularly in the later round, single-elimination formats. I'm not really pulling for any one country. I am rooting mostly for Russia, Sweden and the Czech Republic because there are Caps players representing those three teams. If Mike Green was selected for Team Canada, I would have been supporting them, too. I was thrilled with the WJC several weeks ago. That upset in the final was fairly epic and a Caps prospect scoring the game-winner made it that much sweeter for me.
BTW, that comment I made about Canadians the other day wasn't meant to be taken seriously. I was just being a douche and went overboard in my e-penis war with that other poster. In fact, the reason that whole thing started was because he asserted that Canada has an uninteresting history. I love Canada and have no issues with China, either, for that matter. All people are created equal. I just overreacted to a harmless comment. I lived about half an hour from the Canadian border near Montreal for 4 years and visited Montreal a number of times. We always had a great time there. My impression is that Canadians are a are very down to earth people. And, as far as I'm concerned, Canadians are also responsible for creating the greatest sport on earth. For that alone, I am grateful to them. It also makes their history and culture fascinating to me.
University just didn't give me enough time to watch, then once I did graduate I found that the talent on the teams to be diluted, also the games seemed to be too choppy and long. Olympic hockey does not come up every year and only the best play, so I find it worth my time. I'm a hockey snob I expect Russia to win gold, their back end is a little suspect, but offensively they have the advantage against everyone.
