THE URBAN I-TIE

I know how Im going to celebrate now!!!

Well, almost.  The opening ceremonies take place this evening (6pm Vancouver time; 9pm Eastern time) but there has already been some unfortunate news.  Georgian athlete Nodar Kumaritashvili, 21, was killed during his luge practice run this morning.  Reporters are saying that he he hit the wall coming around the final bend on the track, which has been deemed the world’s hardest and dangerous.  So, so tragic.  My condolences to his family, friends and fellow Olympians.  Let’s hope the Olympics will bring everyone together during such a sad, sad situation.

Despite everything, I’m looking forward to see what the VANOC people have put together for the opening ceremony, after yearsss of planning.  I have a feeling it’s gonna be kickass.  Wish I could be there as who knows when will be the next time we host an Olympic games…but either way, I’m still cheering, GO CANADA GO!!!

Keep track of the games here:  www.vancouver2010.com

As we’re all gearing up to kiss 2009 and this decade good-bye (phew!!), I wanted to wish the blogosphere and the world a happy, prosperous, joyous and fun-filled year!  We’ve all endured much stress and hardship, especially in 2009, so I hope we’re all going to party like a rockstar!!!

Let’s hope the upcoming decade is much more pleasant, successful and maybe we can try to get this climate change/global warming issue under control too.  So much to tackle, and it seems like so little time.  Bring on 2010!!!!!!!!!!

◙   I really didn’t think ICQ was even in demand anymore, or for that matter, still in use.  I remember the good old days of repeated “uh oh’s”; ICQ was crazy popular back in the day, wayyy before MSN was even a thought.  Looks like AOL may be selling the service to a Russia-based company for around $300 million.  Wowwowweeewow. 

◙   Oh ya, in case you didn’t hear, Tiger Woods is leaving the world of golf indefinitely.  Only he knows if he’ll ever return.  Also, he lost endorsements with Gillette, Gatorade and Accenture.  Boooo freakin hoooo.  His lame statement he posted on his website bothers me – why should we feel one ounce of empathy or compassion for him?  Paaa-leez.  His family are the ones who deserve it, not him.  On the bright side of things, he can feel proud about being named Athlete of the Decade by the Associated Press.  Which lady friend will he call to celebrate??

◙   Starbucks may be offering free Wi-Fi in their stores to compete with McDonald’s, since they’ll be offering it for free; while McDonald’s is trying to compete with Sbux to become a cool, hang-out spot. 

◙   Christmas is 9 days away!!!!!!!!

◙   Roy Disney, the nephew of the late Walt Disney (the founder of Disney) has died at the age of 79.

◙   Roy Halladay, is officially leaving the Toronto Blue Jays to head to the Phillies.  Too bad that he never won a championship with the Jays – but I guess they never worked around his amazing talent after all these years.  Good luck Doc!!

Happy ho ho hooo everyone…well those who partake/celebrate at this time of year, and I know Guitar Hero fans will also appreciate the fantastical work of Ric Turner, of Burbank, California who is a former Disney “Imagineer”, definitely wins Decorated House of the Decade, in my opinion.  The technology behind such a wonderment of coolness is mindblasting.  Thank you youtube for giving us the means for such crazygooodamazing moments!!  I love when people get realllllllly into the spirit of things.  It only took:

“Christmas Light Hero is using 7 light controllers from Light-O-Rama built from kits to control 21,268 lights and LEDs. Each controller has 16 outputs and 2-3 TTL level control inputs that are used by the game system to fire different programmed light sequences depending on what happens in the game. It relies on the fact that the game sequence is very consistent. If the game and the lighting sequences start together, they will stay in very good sync through the length of the song. The light program allows branching and overlays for fail, star power and “ready.” I have some ideas to automate the initial show/game sync, but for now you have to push doorbell buttons at the right moments.

To program the show a video recording was made of a perfect round of Guitar Hero playing Eric Johnson’s Cliffs of Dover. The timing of all the dots and the light show choreography follow that video.

When you play, you watch only the Christmas lights, but the audio you hear is from the Wii, so your flubs are broadcast for all to hear (people in cars can tune 99.1 and crank it up as loud as they want.) When we are not playing, a separate version of the program that has the audio from the recorded game plays with the lights as a loop. The YouTube video also has this audio, (because I forgot to record the direct audio when I was shooting the documentation, and the camcorder did not pick it up very well.)

A video screen is on the driveway showing the game video, but if you want to be on the high score list you have to make it through the whole game only watching the Christmas Lights. Even though the game is in “easy” mode, the lights don’t provide the same timing detail as the game does, so it is much harder. Even expert Guitar Hero players have a hard time with the lights, and nobody has made it through without errors (yet).”  (Makezine.com)

Oh ya, he even put together a show for Halloween – awwweeeeesome!!!! 

Bono’s hair, soooo lucious and the long mullet look – very becoming.

◙   If Barbara Walters thinks you’re fascinating, then it’s official.  Lady Gaga will be featured in Walters’ annual ’10 Most Fascinating People of the Year’ show on December 9.  The show will also feature chats with Tyler Perry, Kate Gosselin (why??), Sarah Palin and others.

◙   To get you into the holiday spirit, Oprah had her ‘holiday music extravaganza’ on Monday.  Good mash-up of artists some holiday faves:

◙   And because I think kitties are really cute (yes, I do dammit):

◙   K’Naan’s song “Wavin’ Flag” will be the offical song of the 2010 FIFA World Cup.  Congrats!!!  Love it.

◙   Oh ya, President Obama has stated that the US will send 30, 000 more troops over to Afghanistan.  Of course, he’s asking for other NATO countries to send more soldiers since he thinks 40, 000 troops is a better number.  In other words, send more innocent men and women who are sacrificing their lives for their countries just so the US can run the heroin/opium drug trade.  They’re not there for terrorists.  What happened to them pulling out instead of putting more in?  I don’t believe that Canada will be out of there either by the end of 2011. 

◙   I’ve been meaning to post this for a bit.  Justin Bua’s painting of Michael Jackson aptly named “The King of Pop”.  Story is, he started to paint the picture as soon as he heard that MJ had fallen ill.  As he progressed with his painting, Michael’s condition got worse, and when he completed the painting, Michael’s death was announced.  Rather eery but very cool background story.  And it’s also said that Tony Parker & Eva Longoria-Parker paid $60, 000 for the limited edition/one-of-a-kind.  Damn, if I had that money, I would have put a bid in too.  Love, love Bua’s work.

Oh, Mariah and Nick.  You can even turn Halloween into some uber-cheesy.  Cuuuuute. 

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One of THE BEST days of the year!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What were YOU for Halloween?????

Wtf???

Why are mens’ costumes way funnier than those available for women?  If you’re a woman and you want to buy a costume, you can’t really avoid looking like a $2 hooker in an uber flammable outfit.  Ugh…