With the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics a mere work week away, some of the social media members of Vancouver took a contemplative look at how they’re going to approach the Games and events.
Rebecca Bollwit’s website, Miss 604, is an encyclopedic trove of dates, times, event descriptions, location guides, and Olympic news. Her Vancouver 2010 RSSencapsulates the many events occurring around the Lower Mainland into blog posts featuring Granville Island, the Richmond O Zone, Robson Square, and some of the participating country pavilions, just to highlight a few. Besides her blog, Rebecca can be found on Twitter tweeting live Olympic coverage.
John Bollwit’s photojournalistic endeavour took him through the city and up the mountains in order to document some of the new, and/or refurbished, locations around Vancouver. In his travels, John covered the new Olympic Line streetcar (and dry erase messaging system), the Downtown Core, the Athletes Village, and Whistler. He also outlined some his feelings about the Olympics in an optimistic blog post that considered the many different–and difficult–issues surrounding the games. John can also be seen on Twitter.
I haven’t forgotten about the politics on the local and worldwide scale. They are always there, and I can’t forget about the issues of homelessness in Vancouver nor the hefty price tag that has come with these games. Nothing I can say in a blog post could answer all of those problems, but I will be watching closely once everything is done to make sure those promises by VANOC are held accountable.
That being said, my hope and dream is to absorb the atmosphere that the games will bring upon Vancouver. I’m not sure where that might lead me, but we’ll ride the wave and end up where we end up. Be it total chaos to amazing opportunities, people, and new friends, I’ve been enlightened with stories by others who have been to games past. It prepares you as much as opens up avenues to all sorts of other questions.
I have been invited to the opening of Pride House, which will be hosted at Qmunity. The opening is on Thursday February 11th(which sadly, is one of the days I teach, so I am not sure how I’m going to juggle my schedule). But I really want to support this worthy initiative. I find that it’s hard to find any openly-gay Olympians (with the exception of my idol, Matthew Micham, World Diving Champion and Olympic Diving Champion). Qmunity is at 1170 Bute Street, almost corner of Davie. The opening is from 2:00pm to 3:00.
Kris Krüg of Static Photography followed the Olympic torch up to Prince George, snowshoed and dog sledded around the Arctic wonderland, and headed back to Vancouver’s metropolis just in time for the torch’s arrival. A consummate Vancouver photographer, Kris captured the city’s key Olympic landmarks — Canada Hockey Place and The Richmond Oval – in beautiful HDR on Flickr and 3d collage on Photosynth. In addition, Kris is actively uploading all Olympic related photos to his Flickr stream to be shared, downloaded, and enjoyed the spirit of Creative Commons. You can follow Kris on Twitter, Flickr and Youtube.
Robert Scales of Raincity Studios and Vancouver Access 2010 is heading up one of the most active and up to date independent Olympic sites on the Internet. Utilizing Flickr, Twitter, Youtube and roving social media reporters, Vancouver Access 2010 is bringing current Olympic news to the masses as it happens. Literally. What they’ve done best is distilling the schizophrenic schedule of events occurring around the city into several simple guides of fun. The most popular post by far is their Guide to Free Attractions which highlights a serious amount of entertainment available in the city for everyone. Robert’s already hit up the Robson Square Zipline and a few open houses like the impressive CODE Live. You can follow his Olympic exploits on Twitter, Youtube and Flickr.
Vancouver photographer, Bev Davies, hit the Olympic streets with her camera last week and has already begun capturing street demonstrations and corporate commericial presences on her Flickr stream for all to see. Her Olympic schedule for the next few days includes a visit to the W2 Independent Media for it’s grand opening on Wednesday — where they’re showing some of her photos of D.O.A. –, Robson Square Zipline and a few after dark events.
I will be going to the opening of w2 wed morning between 9 and 10 am. I also have a photo show there 13 Photographs of D.O.A. on the Mezzanine off the main floor gallery. I will be doing other things that include the mind bending changing colour of the lights in Ontario while staying in Vancouver. All I need to do is get there when it is dark in ontario and not after 7pm here (bands come on at 7pm). It sounds like a bit of party central because it is open until 2 AM. Also I will be riding the Zip line 6 stories above Robson Street. I will try not to forget that D.O.A. are playing at the Rickshaw Feb 20. Anything thing else that sounds good and is free let me know. bev101 on twitter.
