The Big Picture: Olympic Torch Relay — Goofy Canadian Style

February 11, 2010 8:28 PM

The Big Picture: Olympic Torch Relay Canada's goofy-assed torch relay. Half the pictures are WTF moments — where is she going? Why is it in a swimming pool? Is that a T-Rex? Where's he going after he climbs to the top?

And here I thought it was carried by people jogging from city to city, on the highway.

posted by five fresh fish (97 comments total)

That first photo looks like a still from a Richard D. James video.
posted by b1tr0t at 8:30 PM on February 11, 2010

Are the firefighters there in case things get out of hand?
Is someone going to meet her at the end of that pier?

I am utterly baffled. O Canada... WTF?
posted by Coffeemate at 8:34 PM on February 11, 2010

Pic 41 is a WTF moment of its own...as in, WTF does it have to do with the torch relay?

Seeing that horrifying bastardization of an inukshuk everywhere...ugh.
posted by hiteleven at 8:35 PM on February 11, 2010

Maybe it's because I live in Canada, but those shots don't seem too WTF, but rather appropriately Canadian. The guy being pulled across the lake in what looks like a toy sled by an ATV brings back good memories.

Goofy-assed torch to you, appropriate representation of the spliff for our number one export crop.
posted by Extopalopaketle at 8:35 PM on February 11, 2010 [11 favorites]

Those are some bizarre-looking torches. What are they made out of?
posted by kenko at 8:35 PM on February 11, 2010

Canada's history: half of it are WTF moments...
posted by mazola at 8:36 PM on February 11, 2010 [3 favorites]

While the New York Times explores the vital question of the future of journalism, the Boston Globe posts kool pix of kool krap and gets on the front page of everything with up/down buttons.
posted by tmcw at 8:38 PM on February 11, 2010 [11 favorites]

While the New York Times explores the vital question of the future of journalism

Where does it do that in any way worth taking seriously?
posted by kenko at 8:39 PM on February 11, 2010

Man, those red mittens are awesome.
posted by sararah at 8:40 PM on February 11, 2010 [2 favorites]

I remember the day of #19. There were a bunch of Coca Cola employees handing out shitty plastic flags, and there were people everywhere at the UofC, people who didn't know how to stand in line for coffee GET OUT OF THE FUCKING WAY I HAVE CLASS IN 5 MINUTESKSDLHKDSJFHJLDSFK;asDJKF

Also, the day before, they decided to run the torch up one of the 2 major north-south conduits in south Calgary during rush hour.

In conclusion, for two days the Olympics created a minor inconvenience for me, and I hate them.
posted by threetoed at 8:40 PM on February 11, 2010 [3 favorites]

CANADA!
posted by The Whelk at 8:42 PM on February 11, 2010 [4 favorites]

The torch relay did seem like a whole bunch of hype. There was a lot of talk about it being the longest relay in Olympic history, but it seems like they just flew it from place to place and filmed some pretty shots on the way.

Really, I thought that most of it would have taken place on foot...pardon my foolish idealism on that one.
posted by hiteleven at 8:43 PM on February 11, 2010

These photos best viewed with Canada's official Olympic Torch Relay theme playing in the background.
posted by bicyclefish at 8:44 PM on February 11, 2010

"goofy-assed"? more like freakin' EPIC. What you see as weird is simply one facet of the sheer awesomeness that is the CANADA.

(sorry.....Olympic season's got me all patriotic and whatnot.)
posted by Throw away your common sense and get an afro! at 8:44 PM on February 11, 2010 [6 favorites]

Note that the OP is Canadian. I do think that a shot in front of that "world's biggest dinosaur" (????) is quite goofy in a distinctly Canadian way.
posted by hiteleven at 8:47 PM on February 11, 2010 [1 favorite]

While the New York Times explores the vital question of the future of journalism, the Boston Globe posts kool pix of kool krap and gets on the front page of everything with up/down buttons.

Boston Globe understands the internet, while the NY Times has demonstrated repeatedly that that it clearly does not. Not much more to it than that, really.
posted by Throw away your common sense and get an afro! at 8:48 PM on February 11, 2010 [1 favorite]

All I know is that Orville Smoke is now one of my favorite names of all time.
posted by Consonants Without Vowels at 8:53 PM on February 11, 2010 [2 favorites]

In pic 24 the describe (what I think) is a 1969 Camaro as "antique". That is a classic car not an antique. Also, if these photos are to be believed, Canada is overrun with attractive women
posted by zinc saucier at 8:55 PM on February 11, 2010

i was ready to come all in here and be like "don't you call my country goofy-assed," but now that I've looked at those pictures and had a good a smile, I'm ready to accept the goofy-assed moniker with pride.
posted by 256 at 8:55 PM on February 11, 2010 [4 favorites]

OK, yeah, you got us. Perhaps some of these are a bit goofy. What can we say? We're a laid-back bunch, not prone to hype or hoopla. Sure, put the 'Benny Hill' theme as our olympic anthem; I don't mind.

But when you make fun of our " National Tractor" YOU HAVE CROSSED THE FREAKIN' LINE.

I await your hand-typed apology, MetaFilter.

BTW, #17 surely makes up for the rest in awesomeness - carrying a flame while on a snowboard. COME ON.
posted by Hardcore Poser at 8:56 PM on February 11, 2010 [4 favorites]

I love Canada, the Olympics, the torch relay, regionalisms, and most of the pictures in that set. Please don't think I'm insulting anyone when I say, "up a pole? WTF"
posted by irisclara at 8:57 PM on February 11, 2010

(That snowboarding torchbearer would be photo #19 in Imperial measure.)
posted by Hardcore Poser at 8:58 PM on February 11, 2010

What the... ?! - What the hell are these ridiculous pictures supposed to...

Oh.

Canada.
posted by koeselitz at 9:02 PM on February 11, 2010 [3 favorites]

But when you make fun of our " National Tractor" YOU HAVE CROSSED THE FREAKIN' LINE.

I was not making fun in the SLIGHTEST. Puffy winter coast, snowy farmland, tractor, huge burning spliff and big smiles ..these are all good things.

CANADA!
posted by The Whelk at 9:02 PM on February 11, 2010

"Torches meet in front of the World's Largest Dinosaur (center, 86 feet tall, wearing official Vancouver 2010 Olympic mittens)"

I fucking love Canada.
posted by MadamM at 9:07 PM on February 11, 2010 [13 favorites]

The Whelk: "...huge burning spliff..."

True that. What better place to find such things than in BC? And who better to carry them than farmers and snowboarders?
posted by Hardcore Poser at 9:12 PM on February 11, 2010

Holy crap, I didn't even notice they put mittens on the dinosaur. How can you not love this country?

Also, while I'm not trying to defend the Boston Globe's journalistic integrity, there is an entire newspaper tucked in there too. Not just one blog worth of really good pictures. And really, you should probably check out the pictures from these sets: 1, 2, 3, that have been collected there, and maybe you'll rethink the term "kool krap". Those are just from the main page, I didn't even touch the archives.

And it's not like most of the pretty NYT infographics don't end up spread around the web as well.
posted by dnesan at 9:17 PM on February 11, 2010 [1 favorite]

Er, shouldn't our "National Tractor" be a Massey Harris or a Ferguson, and not an IH?
posted by Monday, stony Monday at 9:17 PM on February 11, 2010 [3 favorites]

The torches are made by Bombardier, carrying on a fine tradition of torch procurement via the country's leading military-industrial company. Which for Canada, isn't all that intimidating.

Did anyone notice that the VANOC photographer got married halfway through the torch relay?
posted by anthill at 9:27 PM on February 11, 2010

I thought the flame in #26 was a human figure at first (stuntman? CG!?), until I realized it was just a really nifty example of pareidolia.
posted by maudlin at 9:31 PM on February 11, 2010

Based on these pictures Canada looks like a bigger version of Minnesota.
posted by hellojed at 9:34 PM on February 11, 2010 [1 favorite]

Canucks getting your panties in a knot: I'm a Canuck. A good number of those photos are fucking goofy. Unclench. Don't pull a Harper.
posted by five fresh fish at 9:37 PM on February 11, 2010 [2 favorites]

I find nothing at all WTF about the shot in front of the dino, having grown up in California.
posted by Huck500 at 9:38 PM on February 11, 2010

I think those are all awesome. Thanks for posting this.
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 9:41 PM on February 11, 2010 [1 favorite]

I find nothing at all WTF about the shot in front of the dino, having grown up in California.

Apparently your dinos aren't the world's biggest. Swish!
posted by hiteleven at 9:43 PM on February 11, 2010

As far as I can tell, it's only going to get more ridiculous. This morning, as part of my job, I got to photograph native youth b-boys doing headspins for the Governor-General as part of the opening to an Olympic Truce related dialogue.

I love this country.
posted by heeeraldo at 9:46 PM on February 11, 2010 [2 favorites]

Really, I thought that most of it would have taken place on foot...pardon my foolish idealism on that one.

Most Canucks know that running on foot through Saskatchewan does not make for good photo ops.

Sorry, Saskatchewan, but you have to admit parts of your province are flat.

So flat that when your dog runs away you can still see him running away four days later.

And then there are all those freaking lakes in Manitoba.
posted by bwg at 9:56 PM on February 11, 2010

Based on these pictures Canada looks like a bigger version of Minnesota.

I have been to Minnesota and thought it looked like a fun-sized version of Canada.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 10:09 PM on February 11, 2010 [9 favorites]

There were a bunch of Coca Cola employees handing out shitty plastic flags

Heh, same in Winnipeg. All the crumpled up shitty plastic flags littering the sidewalk 15 minutes after the Coca-ColaMobile passed on by were a lovely, if somewhat trite, metaphor for all this Olympic bullshit.

Also, Barbara Ann Roboscott fucking terrifies me.
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 10:30 PM on February 11, 2010 [1 favorite]

Someone explain to me why this isn't way more bad ass than people jogging on the highway?

Seriously, I don't see anything WTF about it.
posted by Corduroy at 10:41 PM on February 11, 2010

Awesome. Thanks FFF , although I found none of those locations odd or inappropriate at all, but reflective of what a wonderfully diverse country this is. As for being like Minnesota, it is winter after all ( except here in Vancouver, ironically, where it was 52 degrees today ) but I have a feeling that there aren't too many backdrops like this in Minnesota.
posted by PareidoliaticBoy at 10:50 PM on February 11, 2010 [2 favorites]

The industrial design of that torch seems a bit suspect. The unusual way the flame emerges from the top seems to coat the whole section in carbon, uglying it up.
posted by Thoth at 11:15 PM on February 11, 2010

I clicked all prepared to WTF along with you, but I have to admit these photos mostly just made me feel proud that the Olympics are coming to Canada, for probably the first time since they announced that Vancouver had won the bid. Between then and now has been mostly a steady stream of CBC reports about the atrocities of VANOC, which is apparently a fiendish coalition of James Bond villains and those Sentinel robots from The Matrix. But after viewing these photos I have a feeling it's going to be hard not to get caught up in the Olympic spirit over the next couple of weeks, even for someone who is neither particularly patriotic nor into sports, and living on the opposite side of the country.

Okay, the dinosaur with mittens was pretty funny.
posted by oulipian at 11:30 PM on February 11, 2010 [2 favorites]

Gunther Wirtz, the Community Torchbearer for Marathon, Ontario, carries the flame past firefighters on January 3rd, 2010. (© VANOC/COVAN, Luca Bertacchi with IMF)

When I lived in Pikku-Huopalahti, Helsinki, we too had what I guess you could call a community torchbearer.

The wooden bridge has been rebuilt and the reed bed has recovered, but that fiberglass whale on the beach was never brought back to life and the sofa we were moving, the one we left on the yard for about five minutes, is still in ashes.

As far as I know, he's still out there.
posted by Anything at 11:42 PM on February 11, 2010 [2 favorites]

I liked those photos. And can't say a thing about the dinosaur since we also had one near us in CA and it did not have cool mittens.
posted by fshgrl at 12:33 AM on February 12, 2010

Canada is overrun with attractive women
damn right!
posted by 5_13_23_42_69_666 at 12:52 AM on February 12, 2010

I'm a Canadian in Hong Kong, where the amount of people crammed into every square is intense, even for a big-city girl. So a shot like this, almost brought me to tears. A good reminder about the great beauty of the country.

Plus I too, approve of dinosaur mittens. It's a freaking fibreglass dinosaur, why NOT put mittens on it?
posted by typewriter at 1:03 AM on February 12, 2010

What the hell is Shania Twain doing as a torch bearer? What, was Celine Dion busy?
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 1:04 AM on February 12, 2010

These photos look great- the flame really gets around.
posted by 2nd_shift at 1:19 AM on February 12, 2010

The first half of the flame's journey (Eastern and Northern Canada) including DOGSLED!
posted by typewriter at 1:30 AM on February 12, 2010

yep, no WTF. I expect olympic torch relays to be this quaint on every country.

if these photos are to be believed, Canada is overrun with attractive women

i was gonna say that too.
posted by valdesm at 1:35 AM on February 12, 2010

Crazed Shania Twain gleefully "lighting the cauldron" gives me the willies.
posted by threeants at 2:11 AM on February 12, 2010

I watched the torch pass through my neighbourhood back in December. The relay is goofy AND awesome all at once. It's not often that people all across Canada take to the streets in celebration of any one thing.
posted by emeiji at 3:08 AM on February 12, 2010

Am I the only one who hears John Cleese narrating this? Reminds me of the ending to the "fish license" sketch.
posted by monocultured at 4:00 AM on February 12, 2010 [1 favorite]

So where it the World's Second Largest Dinosaur?
posted by ninebelow at 4:27 AM on February 12, 2010

This wasn't a relay, this was a series of picturesque photo ops. I mean, a real relay wouldn't have someone running to the edge of a pier with nothing waiting for the flame at the end.

On the other hand, damn those photos are picturesque. I love my country.
posted by sandraregina at 5:14 AM on February 12, 2010 [1 favorite]

Many of these photos are improved immensely if you add the words "IT MUST BURN. IT MUST ALL BURN." in big letters across the top.
posted by ZsigE at 5:25 AM on February 12, 2010 [4 favorites]

if these photos are to be believed, Canada is overrun with attractive women

Mark Twain remarked that Canadian women are so pretty, it is a relief to meet a plain one now and again.

After looking at the pics, I am delighted that the Boston Globe helpfully labels an 86-foot tall T. Rex wearing mittens as being "center" in the photo so we will not miss it, and also that in the second picture (Barbara Ann Scott with the torch in the House of Commons), federal Minister of Industry Tony Clement (in yellow tie) clearly does not think that the 48 press photographers in the room will adequately capture the moment, so he is taking a snapshot with his cell phone. Of course, previously on Metafilter, I saw Yo-Yo Ma doing the same thing at Obama's inauguration.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 5:56 AM on February 12, 2010 [1 favorite]

It goes by my house in 2 hours
its going to be a like a car wreck I wanna see :-)
posted by SatansCabanaboy at 6:31 AM on February 12, 2010

Don't know about WTF; I thought these were spectacular photos of a spectacular country with great people and more dazzling views than you can shake a torch at.
posted by kinnakeet at 6:50 AM on February 12, 2010 [1 favorite]

I notice they didn't run the photos from when the torch went through Sunnyvale. But I'm sure some mefistos can fill us in on how that went.
posted by eccnineten at 6:51 AM on February 12, 2010 [1 favorite]

What??? No William Shatner?

The design of the torches is very cool. Is that inspired by a whale bone?
posted by Xoebe at 6:52 AM on February 12, 2010

I took my son to see the torch come through my town in December. We got up at 5:00am, made our way downtown, where I was surprised to see about a thousand people out in the very cold pre-dawn darkness, Tim Hortons cups in hand, waiting to see a torch run by for all of 30 seconds.
Of course, before the actual torch came through, there were the protests. A small band of about a dozen high school and college aged kids with a big papier-mache torch prop and signs saying "No Olympics on Stolen Land". I noticed immediately that they were carrying the giant torch in a stolen shopping cart.
Still a fun morning, and from the pics it looks like it was the same all over the country.
posted by rocket88 at 7:05 AM on February 12, 2010

I'm trying real hard to see the WTF, but where's the WTF? Still, I want to be part of the group, so "OMG a dinosaur and the Olympic torch in the same frame!!!1"
posted by luckypozzo at 7:16 AM on February 12, 2010

nthing no WTF. Disclaimer: a friend of ours was a torch carrier and we got up early to take pics. None of them here but yeah, it was a quaint, snowy, early morning scene with school kids and cheers and a happy, smiling jogging girl in a jumpsuit. What's not to like?

Ok, the Coca-Cola van preceding it was obnoxious, but other than that...
posted by Durn Bronzefist at 7:22 AM on February 12, 2010

Couldn't they have just bought a lighter in a convenience store near the Olympic venue?
posted by Burhanistan at 7:29 AM on February 12, 2010 [2 favorites]

How can you snark about these pictures? Some are funny but in general they are great.
posted by Memo at 7:54 AM on February 12, 2010

Maybe it appears to some as a WTF moment, because here you have 40+ pics of more or less the same object (the flame) taken in different parts of the country in completely diverse environments and in almost every picture you got all these people staring at this flame with such adulation, as if it were an incarnation of a deity or something.

So all these pictures of basically flame worship does look kinda funny.

But these ideas are great - likely done for photos but probably a lot of fun to carry out.

_{there was a Simpsons episode, where Springfield loses the Olympics to Shelbyville, I think, where they make fun of this flame worship - i think Homer steals the flame and then it is recovered by helicopter pilots, who eventually crash, but don't care beause the flame is still OK}
posted by bitteroldman at 8:01 AM on February 12, 2010

One caption that caught my eye was: 'Olympic torch runner John Stibbard, the Vice President of Operations and son of the owner of the Capilano Suspension Bridge'. Now I'd like to be an owner of a bridge...
posted by of strange foe at 8:06 AM on February 12, 2010

I thought these were spectacular photos of a spectacular country with great people and more dazzling views than you can shake a torch at.

It is a land of force and grandeur. I am fortunate enough to have seen a lot of it (I have been at the locations of more than half of the pictures in the link) and while I understand many or most people have a certain pride in their home country, let me just say for the record: goddamn, but there is some spectacular landscape in Canada.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 8:21 AM on February 12, 2010

Frickin' Harper and his frickin' asshole smirk in photo #2...as always, the dark spot in the room.
posted by Go Banana at 8:43 AM on February 12, 2010 [2 favorites]

Couldn't they have just bought a lighter in a convenience store near the Olympic venue?

What's that? Oh, you mean a Variety Store.
posted by chococat at 9:09 AM on February 12, 2010 [2 favorites]

I WTF your WTF. These are awesome.
posted by asfuller at 9:25 AM on February 12, 2010

Great pictures. I am not a fan of the Olympics in general, but I like the torch relay. I enjoy epic journeys of no real purpose.
posted by mrgrimm at 9:31 AM on February 12, 2010 [1 favorite]

I clicked all prepared to WTF along with you, but I have to admit these photos mostly just made me feel proud that the Olympics are coming to Canada, for probably the first time since they announced that Vancouver had won the bid.

I'm a cynic at heart but the Torch relay won me over.

It turned out the run went right past my office at around the time I left for home. I ran smack in the middle of it through no extra effort on my part. I started out being grumpy at being inconvenienced by it all, having to work through the thong of stupidly enthusiastic young people.

I was taken by the spectacle of it. The construction site near the route draped a huge Canada flag from one of its cranes. This was a point where the torch was handed off to another runner and there was a big crowd assembled. There was excitement and anticipation in the air. There was an energy, to be sure.

The torch ran by, people cheered, I followed it for a bit. It was good.

As I started to make my way out of the crowd I passed a mom with her 3 year old boy who was dressed in a white kitchen garbage-bag with a maple leaf stuck to it. It was ridiculous.

And to him this was probably the best day ever.

My heart melted. I was moved and touched for reasons I still cannot quite explain.

The torch relay is not about winning or losing or medals, but just an outpouring of goodness.

I consider this Olympics to have been a success for that moment alone.
posted by mazola at 9:53 AM on February 12, 2010 [5 favorites]

I'm a Canadian in Hong Kong, where the amount of people crammed into every square is intense, even for a big-city girl. So a shot like this, almost brought me to tears. A good reminder about the great beauty of the country.

That's funny, because I just think about how Okanagan Lake is way too crowded for my taste. Also, I'm pretty sure that I used to swim off that pier as a child and I can't help but think about the highway right along the shore and the truck stop and trailer park across that highway. Oh, perspective.
posted by ssg at 9:53 AM on February 12, 2010

Oh, come now: what is there to not WTF about the photo of the guy running down the pier (#25). Where the hell is he going after that? Or the woman who is apparently apparently walking stoically into the forest (#8), never to be seen again? Or the woman picking her way through the Drumheller hoodoos (#16), trying not to twist her ankles? The fully-clothed gal who is doing a backstroke (#22) — surely to gods that's strange! #36, the guy climbing a very tall pole — what the hell?! Is he going to pass the torch when he gets to the top, or does he just shinny back down?

Those are all WTF, in the context of relaying the torch across the country. Beautiful photos, yes. Gorgeous women, yes. But really fucking strange nonetheless.

Stephen Harper, photo #2, has a face I want to punch. Does that douchebag ever look like a decent human being, or is he always sneering and smug? What an insufferable asshole.
posted by five fresh fish at 10:11 AM on February 12, 2010 [1 favorite]

The City of Vancouver released a guide listing the top ten ways to be a good host during the Olympic games.

Currently, topping the list: the RCMP will set their TASERS to 'fun'.

--from The Current
posted by No Robots at 10:32 AM on February 12, 2010

I'm looking forward to pictures from this morning -- thousands of Vancouverites, lattes in hand, charging into normally serene Stanley Park at 6.30 am to catch a glimpse of Arnold Schwarzenegger's 300 metres of torch-bearing glory.

My friends and I missed him, but it was still worth it to see the bunch of high school kids with their home-made banner:

+------------+
| GET TO THE |
|   CHOPPA   |
+------------+

posted by fhangler at 10:43 AM on February 12, 2010

It was hilarious seeing them run the torch past all those palm trees along English Bay.

CTV has a live feed of the relay here.
posted by emeiji at 10:44 AM on February 12, 2010

Wondering why there are no pictures in the Eastern provinces? Part 1 of the torch relay was covered here. It starts with the handing off of the flame in Greece and then to BC where it goes eastward across the north and then to the Atlantic provinces. Surfing, dog sledding, bus-riding, curling, and snow-shoeing all herein.
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 10:45 AM on February 12, 2010

Neo-Bjorkian Sacred Poultry Corps of British Columbia members maintain a rapt vigil during the torch-lighting ceremony.

Corps member Amanda Hsu-Jenkins, 17, suffered second-degree burns when heat from the passing torch caused her plastic feathers to melt and adhere, shrink-wrap like, to her right upper arm and shoulder. Hsu-Jenkins was taken by ambulance to a local hospital, and was released shortly thereafter. Emergency and nursing staff members report that Hsu-Jenkins maintained an air of Bjorkly Olympic ebullience throughout her ordeal, and that she led several patients and their family members in a boisterous round of polyphonic ritual clucking while waiting for treatment.
posted by palmcorder_yajna at 10:50 AM on February 12, 2010

If you're wondering, torchbearers get to keep the clothing, their mitts are identical to the ones we can buy except that they have rubberized grips, and they need to pay $300 if they want to keep their torches.
posted by jeather at 10:55 AM on February 12, 2010

I am no fan of the Olympics, and especially no fan of the Helicopter Bombardment that's been continual for the last week, but I fail to see the goofiness in these photos at all. They all seem pretty normal and situation as usual to me.

Oh wait. Right. Heh.
posted by jokeefe at 11:25 AM on February 12, 2010

1) Orville Smoke is one of the best names ever.

2) There are some damn good-lookin' people in Canada.
posted by madajb at 12:04 PM on February 12, 2010

Now I'd like to be an owner of a bridge...

Hey, why don't you meet me over at Grimaldi's on Old Fulton St., I have something you might be interested in...
posted by madajb at 12:08 PM on February 12, 2010

My 2-year-old hates mittens. But he loves his new red Olympic mittens.
"Cir-cles!"
"Ca-na-da!"
posted by Kabanos at 12:12 PM on February 12, 2010 [1 favorite]

Now I'd like to be an owner of a bridge...

Maybe the owner of the Detroit-Windsor Ambassador Bridge, which generates $60 million in revenue annually, and has a possible resale value of up to $3 billion.
posted by Kabanos at 12:19 PM on February 12, 2010

.
posted by mazola at 12:24 PM on February 12, 2010

#13 is really pretty.
posted by kirkaracha at 12:37 PM on February 12, 2010

The torch relay passed within half a block of my house so the family went out to watch the spectacle. The coke truck was handing out cokes in spun aluminum bottles, which are pretty cool, as well as the flags.

What struck me though was the localized celebritiness of the the event. The runners were transported to their hand off point by bus five minutes before the flame arrived. Everyone at our stop wanted pictures with the runner, not just the guys family. So for several minutes this guy posed with dozens of groups; what must have been at least a hundred people.

"In pic 24 the describe (what I think) is a 1969 Camaro as 'antique'. That is a classic car not an antique. Also, if these photos are to be believed, Canada is overrun with attractive women"

It's forty years old. Kids conceived in the back seat when it was new could have grand kids by now. That's way past classic. And they didn't actually let the attractive women run the torch; those are just average looking Canadians.

"Minnesota: a fun-sized version of Canada."
posted by Mitheral at 1:23 PM on February 12, 2010

It doesn't take much to break out in national pride, eh? Americans wouldn't have been let off the hook as easily on mefi, methinks…
posted by monocultured at 4:27 PM on February 12, 2010

That's because Americans don't have a T-Rex with mittens that have built-in claw sharpeners!
posted by Decimask at 4:48 PM on February 12, 2010

They are nice photos, but you have to ask yourself... WTF? What have many shots got to do with the Sport of the Olympics. Too many are a sham, paid for by the highest broadcast bidder - who included their journalists covering the event for this torch running! WTF indeed.

Beating the drums of nationalism, UGH. Or rather Corp.nation 'lympics. Those mittens? Made in China. Now that's support IOC and VANOC can get behind, yeah? In these belt tightening times, you'll tell me.

Where's the torch at the Alberta Oil Sands - specifically the 50 mile trailings ocean? [last image]


I'll give a Dave Barry commentary of some egregious examples of WTF.

2nd Photo:
A damn shame that former Olympian Barbara Ann Scott didn't set PM Harper's hair on fire, proroguing bastard! Canada, an opportunity lost.

#4
The yellow jackets are Police. When it looks like they outnumber runners and spectators...we have a problem, nu?

#10
Is this the torch inside a school? Fitness Centre? Is this advisable?

#15
Dinosaur? Could be teabaggers or Dominionists denouncing the dinosaur and trying to burn it!

#19
On the half pipe no less. SICK![ not an egregious WTF]

#22
Swimming in the hot springs in a polyester jacket and pants? Ridiculous. This is which event?

#25
We're on the road to nowhere... or is That the bridge to nowhere. Is it the end of the road for the IOC???

#26
Are we on the last day of Burning Man? Did that torch immolate someone? Who can tell...

#37
It's a snowmobile, you mercans, not snow machine.


#39
See any police presence there? Nope.



That torch looks more like a dildo than a shitty rolled spliff from the 70's. Here's the The Evolution of Olympic Torch.

I say Fish license!
posted by alicesshoe at 4:55 PM on February 12, 2010

Torchbearer Shania Twain

O, Canada.
posted by DU at 4:58 PM on February 12, 2010

Puff puff pass.

Now that's a torch relay I can get excited about.
posted by Pseudology at 9:33 PM on February 12, 2010

The torch relay of modern times which transports the flame from Greece to the various designated sites of the games had no ancient precedent and was introduced by Carl Diem at the controversial 1936 Berlin Olympics.
posted by ovvl at 9:44 AM on February 13, 2010