Whine & Cheese

The Big Picture: 2010 Winter Paralympics

Over 500 athletes from 44 countries around the world have once again descended on Vancouver Canada, for the 2010 Vancouver Winter Paralympic Games, (officially known as the X Paralympic Winter Games). After a separate torch relay and opening ceremony, competitors faced off in five different sports: Sledge hockey, Wheelchair curling, Alpine skiing, Biathlon, and Cross-country skiing - the last three broken into classes of sitting, standing and visually impaired. Currently Russia is leading the medals race, with Canada and Ukraine tied for second place. The Winter Paralympics continue until the Closing Ceremony on Sunday March 21st. Collected here are some scenes from this year's games.

via www.boston.com

I suspect none of these athletes would want our sympathy, but it was difficult not to get a little choked up or get chills while looking through this inspirational photoset (click above link).

The Big Picture: Vancouver 2010 (Part 2)

Here's the second (and final) round from The Big Picture's look at the 2010 Vancouver Games:

Seventeen days after it began, the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver are now complete. A total of 258 medals were awarded, with the United States, Germany, and Canada collecting the most medals. The second half of the games went much smoother than the glitchy first week, with many memorable performances by athletes from all over the world. Last night, a crowd of 60,000 filled BC Place in Vancouver for the Closing Ceremony, which took place shortly after the final event - a Gold Medal win by host nation Canada's ice hockey team over the U.S. The Olympic flame will next pass to London, England in 2012 for the Summer Games, and to Sochi, Russia in 2014 for the next Winter games. Collected here are photos from the second half of this year's events in Vancouver

via www.boston.com

As with the first set, I just won't limit this "sharing" to my favorite photo but a few that were in fact great photos, but also ones that I can share some thoughts too! 

While there were many athletes I (we?) knew plenty about going into Vancouver, my star of the games was Canadian figure skater, Joannie (don't call me "Joe-nee") Rochette, who just about broke my heart and had my eyes welled up every time she was on the screen whether it was on the ice, being interviewed, or carrying the Canadian flag at Closing.  For those who don't know, Joannie's (pronounce Schzo-an-nee) mother unexpectedly died of heart attack (age 55) at the start of the Games, but Joannie decided to skate on and quite remarkably won bronze.  Her strength and will to hold it together and perform at the highest ability during this time was beyond amazing and inspiring.

I was a out-of-out fan of American ice dancers Meryl Davis and Charlie White, but I think this photo is just beautiful.  I know she is just a very shy person, but it just always seemed like she had a stick up her ass, while Charlie was just a happy-go-lucky guy.  Though I did like their "Phantom" long program even over the ultimate gold medalists, the Canadian team of Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir (who was just ADORABLE!  Note to self: need to do "Hunks of the Winter Olympics" post)... but I still put Virtue/Moir's medal ceremony and "O Canada" as one of the most memorable moments of the Games.  I find such joy and so darn celebratory.

I am not sure there is anyone who doesn't like short-track speed skating... consistently the most thrilling and amazing event of the Winter Games.  Very cool composition in the above photo.

I hardly shut up about curling, once I understood how it worked.  It is a cult-classic and incredibly addictive once allow itself to enter your psyche... though I'll admit I often would skip ahead to the last "rocks" of each "end"... three hours of anything, particularly curling takes up a lot of free time.  Above is one of the rock stars of curling and definitely at Vancouver was the Canadian skip, Cheryl Bernard.  Bernard was so popular that I saw one article that dubbed her a "curlgar" (combo of curler and cougar) or a "milfimpian" (MILF and Olympian), pretty impressive nicknames for a curler!  While the women couldn't quite get win that last match, the Canadian men were triumphant in a match that probably meant just a wee bit less than their gold in hockey.

Kind of got a little tired of "regular" speed skating ... and my preference for short-track, so have to admit I didn't watch any of the new-ish even to "team pursuit," but again the beauty of this formation so nicely captured in the above.

The Big Picture: Vancouver 2010 (Part 1)

Got it with a couple of The Big Picture sets... so since they are a bit of old news already, I am posting both of them today, so look for another entry just below this one.

After the Opening Ceremonies set, I was waiting for another from Vancouver and sure enough here is the wrap on Week 1:

Today is Day 8 of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver Canada, almost the halfway mark, and it's time to have a look at the activities in British Columbia. Over 100 medals have been awarded so far, with the United States, Germany, Norway and Canada leading the medal race. This year's event has been nicknamed by some as the Glitch Games, with more than its share of problems, from a malfunctioning cauldron on opening night to weather problems and course troubles. VANOC officials said they were working on the issues they could control, and were optimistic as athletes continued to deliver amazing performances in the many venues around Vancouver. Collected here are some photos from Days 1-8, with more to follow in another entry after the closing ceremony. (45 photos total)

via www.boston.com

Being such an Olympics nut, I couldn't just share one photo from this set.  But of the shots, this may be my favorite with one of my newer Winter Olympic events, Snowboard Cross.

Next up, there were apparently a lot of complaints about the inaccessibility of the Olympic flame with clear shots only from a distance and thru a chain-linked fence.  As a photographer this would have seriously pissed me off (kinda like our experience in Beijing where we couldn't get onto the Olympic Green or near the Bird's Next or Water Cube unless we had tickets to an event).  So while addressing security concerns, which I am sure are very valid, they moved up and cut a hole in the fence for obscured shots of the cauldron.  Not pretty, but a nice concession to us amateur photographers!

Finally, enjoy the whimsy of this photo of Norwegian curling team.  BTW, I've turned into a curling fanatic!  Once I understood what was going on, I couldn't stop watching it!

The Big Picture: Welcoming the Year of the Tiger

Here is the other TBP set that got grouped-in with the Olympic first week run-down, this one devoted to Chinese New Year:

Last Sunday, February 14th was the first day of the Chinese Lunar New Year. It is also the beginning of the Chinese Spring Festival, with celebrations and observations by ethnic Chinese and others around the world, welcoming in the Year of the Tiger. Conservationists are hoping to capitalize on the Year of the Tiger by calling attention to the plight of the endangered big cats. The number of wild tigers is thought to have dropped from 100,000 at the beginning of the 20th century to fewer than 3,000 today. In September, the World Bank and Russia will hold a summit on tiger conservation in Vladivostok, encouraging countries that are host to wild tigers to reach agreements to further protect and expand their habitat. (37 photos total)

via www.boston.com

As always, a lot of spectacular photos and certainly more traditional celebratory shots... but as one of the insane travel times in China, this one just made me laugh!  

A baby sits in a basket while waiting to board a train at a railway station in Nanjing, Jiangsu province, China.

The Big Picture: Opening Ceremonies for Vancouver 2010

I knew we'd get some The Big Picture photos from the Olympics and the Opening Ceremonies, but I didn't think it would be this soon.

Last night, Vancouver, British Columbia welcomed the world, as over 2,600 winter athletes from 82 countries entered the BC Place arena, ready to compete in 86 events in 15 different sports. The opening ceremony focused on Canadian diversity and heritage, with emphasis on the many cultures of the First Nations. After the longest Torch Relay in history, the Olympic Flame has come to rest and now lights the cauldron of the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics. (30 photos total)

via www.boston.com

Click that link above to see the full set, though this I think was my favorite:

Here's a few more. One of the fun parts of the Ceremonies was following along on Twitter, even if East Coast folk were seeing stuff before I did (plus a bit of TiVo time-shift).

Having retired our lighted polar bear holiday yard display this past year, I told Todd that maybe we can try this one next year...

My friend Chris on Twitter said of this segment:  Do the Opening Ceremonies for every Olympics have to devolve into this Cirque du Soleil crap with some dude flying around like Mary Poppins?

This morning, screenwriter/comic writer Brian Lynch tweeted this: The Olympic Opening Ceremonies have the greatest floor ever. Previous champion: Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean" video.

They didn't hhave a TBP shot of the stage, but I tweeted of that and ultimately of the cauldrons that they were:  "very Fortress of Solitude"   Of the lighting malfunction, RealityBlurred tweeted: Boston Rob made fire more rapidly than the Olympics did.

These ceremonies tend to be a bit too long (must they always start in the ice age?!), but it was spectacular... and not sure that it was "intimate" compared to Beijing, seemed like pretty big-scale production to me even if they didn't have tens of thousands cast members.  Let the games begin!

The Big Picture: Vancouver Olympic Torch Relay

Very excited for tonight's Opening Ceremonies and the start of the Vancouver Olympic Games!

While this sadly ends our days of being able to say we were at the last Olympics, we'll hold on for the next two years that we were still at the last Summer Olympics.  It is still a thrill of lifetime just thinking about it!

I am sure there will be many great photos coming out from the Games, but The Big Picture has already kicked things off earlier this week with a photo series of the Torch Relay:

With only two days left until the start of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, British Columbia, the 106-day, 26,000 km overland Olympic Torch Relay through Canada has nearly come to a close. Back in December, we featured 33 images from the first 44 days of the journey. Today, we bring you highlights from the last 73 days, as torchbearers bring the flame ever closer to its final destination, Vancouver's BC Place, to light the Olympic Cauldron and signal the start of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games on February 12th. (42 photos total)

via www.boston.com

I enjoyed the whimsy of this photos as the torches are passed off in front of the World's Largest Dinosaur (at 86 feet tall) in Drumheller, Alberta.  Note the dino is wearing official 2010 Vancouver Games mittens.

The Big Picture: Harbin Ice and Snow Sculpture Festival

Ok, now that I've figured out how to use TypePad's "Blog It" feature, you might be seeing more of snippets like this (and that nifty subscripty link is pretty cool too!).  We'll just conveniently forget I snobbishly used to not consider this kind of linky-link stuff to be true blog entries...haha!  Anyhow, here's another entry via The Big Picture:

In frigid northeastern China, in the city of Harbin is hosting its 26th annual International Ice and Snow Sculpture Festival. Massive buildings built of ice from the frozen surface of the nearby Songhua River, large scale snow sculptures, ice slides, festival food and drinks can be found in several parks in the city. At night, visitors who endure the bitter cold will see the lights switched on, illuminating the sculptures from both inside and outside. This year's festival opened yesterday, January 5th, and will remain open until some time in February. Collected here are several photos from just before the festival, and of the opening night.

via www.boston.com

Again, so many amazing photos but I chose this one since the people really gives a good scope of the size of these ice sculptures and again it is reminds me of our own trip to China.