Ovi, are you reading this? Do you game?
February 6, 2018 11:33 AM   Subscribe

"Other than destroying Nik Ehlers in Call of Duty, I think the best thing to happen to me last year was falling in love with Winnipeg." Patrik Laine, Left Wing for the Winnipeg Jets: Winnipeg Is Good
posted by everybody had matching towels (23 comments total) 8 users marked this as a favorite
 
I dunno, this tweet captures rioting in Winnipeg after a curling tournament. (Very polite rioting).
posted by plastic_animals at 11:46 AM on February 6, 2018 [5 favorites]


yes there are those who think that winnipeg is one great city, but it's complicated.
posted by entropone at 11:52 AM on February 6, 2018 [6 favorites]


Venetian Snares has a rebuttal
posted by Foosnark at 12:01 PM on February 6, 2018 [2 favorites]


I lived in Winnipeg for 3 years and really enjoyed my time there. Yes it is very cold, but the cold means that most days in winter have clear skies. It is definitely smaller than Toronto but it still has everything and it doesn't take forever to get somewhere. Plus after living in urban Japan for a few years Toronto feels pretty small too. If I'd gotten a job there after school then I might still be in Winnipeg now.
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 12:02 PM on February 6, 2018


I had a project in Winnipeg that took 14 months start to finish. I traveled up there from Chicago at least a week every month over that period, so I got to see the City in the beautiful summertime, when everyone is outside and it is light until after 10:00 p.m. And I endured it in the miserable winter when it's -20 (C or F, take your pick), and you don't dare go anywhere that's not accessible from the skywalk, and you know it's evening when "a darker gray is breaking through a lighter one."

That town has its quirks for sure - the slurpee capital of the world 18 years running, the bizarre popularity of a cult 70s movie to name two - but it was endearing. Our hotel was right across from the hockey arena, and I was always amazed by the turnout and energy when the Manitoba Moose AHL team was in town. My project spanned the will-they-or-won't-they saga of the Phoenix Coyotes and the Atlanta Thrashers relocation, and I was in town for the woozy celebration the day they officially announced the move.

Those fans deserve all good things.
posted by AgentRocket at 12:02 PM on February 6, 2018 [1 favorite]


Ah yes, the old saying: Only a Finn could love Winnipeg.

I kid.
posted by figurant at 12:04 PM on February 6, 2018


This thread reads like a group pitch for the next Guy Maddin documentary.
posted by Strange Interlude at 12:05 PM on February 6, 2018 [3 favorites]


I wish Finnish weren't such a difficult language to learn. There's a certain way that Finnish people speak English that is just funny in a charming way. It's gotta be something about the language.
posted by kevinbelt at 12:06 PM on February 6, 2018 [1 favorite]


I came here specifically to look for the reference to the Weakerthans song, and I was not disappointed. Yay, Metafilter!

Winnipeg residents have one advantage: they get to play the "You call *this* cold?" card whenever they discuss winter with us effete wimps who live in Toronto, for example.
posted by tallmiddleagedgeek at 12:08 PM on February 6, 2018


I have a lot of friends who were born and/or grew up in Winnipeg; every single one of them has what seems to be a complicated love/hate relationship with the place, and they all have good things to say about it no matter how mixed their feelings. Only one of them still lives there, though.
posted by The Card Cheat at 12:17 PM on February 6, 2018 [1 favorite]


This thread reads like a group pitch for the next Guy Maddin documentary.

Yeah, my first thought was My Winnipeg! It's my favorite Guy Maddin movie.
posted by shapes that haunt the dusk at 12:22 PM on February 6, 2018


This is adorable and made me happy.
posted by kitcat at 12:27 PM on February 6, 2018 [1 favorite]


Winnipeg is also home to one of the most demented noise rock bands active today. WE'RE BLESSED
posted by Existential Dread at 12:45 PM on February 6, 2018


(On the off chance that you've never seen the Ovechkin goal that he refers to, it's worth watching.)
posted by clawsoon at 1:13 PM on February 6, 2018 [2 favorites]


I grew up not far from Winnipeg, just on the Ontario side of the provincial border, and have always liked it. Very friendly compared to most Ontario cities, more interested and invested in arts and culture than most northern/western cities, and lovely and mild in the summer. Hell on earth in the winter, though, and like all prairies cities its road plan seems to have been developed by strapping can of paint to back end of a drunk mule and just following behind it laying asphalt.
posted by Fish Sauce at 1:14 PM on February 6, 2018 [5 favorites]


I love Laine. He's a cool kid with some skills. And in fact, Ovi does dabble in CoD. I'd watch that on Twitch!
posted by gemmy at 3:23 PM on February 6, 2018


Also good is Winnipeg's coach Paul Maurice, who is both funny(Autoplay) and salty.

I had Laine last year for MeFi Fantasy Hockey, along with Byfuglien. That was a good year.
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 4:36 PM on February 6, 2018


I once had a flight divert to Winnipeg on route from Detroit to Tokyo to let off some sick guy. I felt that was plenty enough for me.
posted by Metro Gnome at 6:17 PM on February 6, 2018


I really want to find an excuse to go to Winnipeg.

A drunk, racist, ex-hockey player from Calgary recently started making small talk with me, and I told him that and he was horrified, which made me want to go more.
posted by smelendez at 9:52 PM on February 6, 2018


I dunno, this tweet captures rioting in Winnipeg after a curling tournament. (Very polite rioting).

Polite Riot has to be the best name ever for a Quiet Riot cover band! Ideally they would be Canadian.
posted by fFish at 3:45 AM on February 7, 2018


"Come On Feel the Music at an Appropriate Volume".
posted by kevinbelt at 7:22 AM on February 7, 2018 [1 favorite]


Speaking from experience (I'm a northerner) northern cities can be tough places to live. They require a set of behaviors and a skill set that can be daunting to outsiders. But if you can get into the right headspace they can be great places to live.

People love dumping on Winnipeg but more often then not (in my experience) they have never been there or they don't understand how Winnipeg works or just can't imagine someplace that cold. Truly only Peggers can say that hate Winnipeg because they understand it better than an outsider. And yeah winters... The winters can be cold (but seriously though notre pays, ce n'est pas un pays, c'est l'hiver so get over it) but they are dry so it doesn't snow that much and its sunny most of the time.

Personally, I love Winnipeg. It's hardly free of problems but it is one of my favorite places in the world - I was there twice last year! There is a reason why so many creatives come out of that town. Winnipeg is like a nicer & more functional Sudbury. Its the Chicago of the North!
posted by Ashwagandha at 9:19 AM on February 7, 2018 [1 favorite]


And regarding the OP, it makes perfect sense that someone from Finland would like Winnipeg (and Thunder Bay for that matter)! When I first saw the early films of Aki Kaurismäki, all they needed to be was in French or English and they'd be Northern Canadian films.
posted by Ashwagandha at 9:26 AM on February 7, 2018


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