14 days to go

The 2010 Winter Olympics start in less than a fortnight with men's ski jumping qualifiers at the Whistler Olympic Park in the Callaghan Valley.

Fourteen days from today. Not many songs about 14, but there is one that contains 14 right off the top. Vertigo by U2 with Bono's Spanish counting anomaly: "Uno, dos, tres, catorce!"

For those keeping score at home in English, that's "one, two, three 14!"

The iPod TV commercial is here. And here is Vertigo live in Milan at the legendary San Siro. Milan is the next big city over from Turin, site of the 2006 Winter Games.

Either Bono meant to say quatro or he didn't want to be compared to Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs.

Anyway, there are catorce days remaining until Tipperary-native John Furlong, the CEO of Vancouver's Olympic committee, becomes the most famous Irishman in a stadium with a microphone anywhere in the world (at least for a night) when the 2010 Winter Olympics formally open Feb. 12 in B.C. Place Stadium.

That's the same dome where U2 ended its 360 Tour on Oct. 30, 2009 and Bono offered "some Spanish lessons with Irish accents!"

Fourteen days until Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada says cead mille failte to the world.

15 days to go: a different kind of countdown

Aneiki is an Australian pop duo and one of its hits (at least Down Under) is 2002's "Fifteen Minutes." It's a commentary on fame inspired by pop art guru Andy Warhol's observation that "in the future everyone will be world famous for 15 minutes."

It's Jan. 28 and in 15 days, 2,700 athletes from around the world will be in Vancouver and Whistler seeking their own 15 minutes of fame at the 2010 Winter Olympics. If they win gold, it'll be 15 years or more.

By the way, it's also one month until the Games end.

16 days to go

If it's Jan. 27 that means it's 16 days until the 2010 Winter Olympics open in Vancouver.

The musical countdown continues with Sweet 16 by Billy Idol. The poignant ballad from his mid-1980s Whiplash Smile has a wistful guitar riff and simple black-and-white video of the Sneering One. There is a very colourful version from a 2008 episode of Elvis Costello's Storytellers.

The lyrics are prophetic for Vancouver in 2010. ("Well, memories will burn you; Memories grow older as people can; They just get colder; Like sweet sixteen.") There are pockets of Olympic fever. But there is also Olympic fear and Olympic frustration among segments of the populace which realize the costs may outweigh the benefits of the Games.

A Billy Idol song offers an apt segue to plug the Feb. 20 DOA "anti-Owe-Limp-Ics" gig at the Rickshaw in Vancouver with the Olympic city's best-known critic Chris Shaw. Two days later in Whistler, an official VANOC event at the medals plaza features DEVO. Yes, the spuds from Ohio are going to be in Whistler. Too bad they're not going to Pemberton, which is Spud Valley.

17 days to go

Seventeen is the theme of the day for Jan. 26. It's obvious. Seventeen days until the Feb. 12 opening ceremony of the 2010 Winter Olympics. The Games are a 17-day event. Therefore it's a good time to rewind to the 1980s' favourite rockabilly trio, the Stray Cats, and their hit video "Sexy and Seventeen."

The Stray Cats are still going strong with Brian Setzer, Lee Rocker and Slim Jim Phantom.

Grab your rock and roll queen and cut the rug. Seventeen days to go.

Behold, the official media freebie backpack of the 2010 Winter Olympics

The 2,500 accredited print and online media personnel covering the 2010 Winter Olympics will get a bagful of surprises when they show their badge at a nondescript table in the Main Press Centre. Here is the detailed swag inventory for Vancouver 2010:

1: Black, multi-pocket computer backpack with silver trim, branded with Acer and VANOC logo (manufactured by Eagle Bags and Leather Products Co. Ltd., Guangdong, China);
1: Vancouver 2010 Media Handbook (with greetings from VANOC CEO John Furlong and press operations director Lucia Montanarella);
1: White Ethernet cable;
1: Richmond Olympic Oval at sunset mouse pad (with contact information for Richmond's official chief syrup sucker Ted Townsend);
1: McDonald’s reporters’ notebook (billingual, includes coupon for six-piece Chicken McNuggets or Big Mac... which is Big Mac, in French);
1: Tourism Vancouver pen;
1: British Columbia 7.98 GB USB electronic media kit with lanyard;
1: Government of Canada lanyard and laminated card with canada2010.gc.ca\media URL (Yes, the slash is the wrong way!);
1: Visa Passport: Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (bilingual, includes "navigating the Canadian culture-do's and don'ts");
2: Newfoundland Labrador tourism postcards (screech not included);
1: Prince Edward Island tourism postcard (bilingual; that's Anne of Green Gables not Pippi Longstocking);
1: Saputo pin with smiling cow in blue toque holding red skis (moo!);
3: packages of Wrigley’s gum, including two Excel and one Juicy Fruit;
1: Snickers candy bar with special edition Believe package and Hockey Canada logo (may contain nougat);
1: McDonald’s nutrition facts pamphlet (Big Mac is 540 calories and 29 grams of fat in both official languages!);
2: Cold-FX one-day booster packs containing six capsules each (Don Cherry not included);
1: Cold-FX pin with a movable hockey goalie in net;
1: Royal Canadian Mint media kit on a thumb drive shaped like a loonie (in a metallic box with a window);
1: British Columbia host province Ez-V digital pedometer (made in Taiwan).

17 days to go

Continuing in the pop culture countdown to the 2010 Winter Olympics, Jan. 25 is brought to you by the number 17.

Heaven 17 was part of the early 1980s synthpop revolution. The Sheffield, England band is still recording and touring. In fact, the band is celebrating its 30th anniversary by performing its Penthouse and Pavement album in its entirety on tour. Here is the band's hit single Temptation.

Jan. 25 is also the 251st anniversary of Scottish poet Robbie Burns' birth. Enjoy your haggis, especially those of you in the United States who can import some of the real stuff again after a 21-year ban.

18 days to go

A real treat to mark the 18-day countdown to the Feb. 12 opening ceremony of the 2010 Winter Olympics. The video for Alice Cooper's classic "Eighteen."

Would love to see Alice Cooper come to Vancouver for the Games, but I don't think his music corresponds with the wholesome image producer David Atkins wants for the ceremonies. Phoenix-based Cooper is a big sports fan, particularly golf but he does profess to enjoy hockey. He even has his own sportsbar, Alice Cooperstown.

19 days to go

To commemorate the 19-day countdown to the Feb. 12 opening ceremony of the 2010 Winter Olympics, here's a link to the video of Paul Hardcastle's 1980s one-hit wonder "Nineteen."

It's a song with a serious message about Vietnam. Has the world learned about the futility of war? Nah. Look what's happening in Afghanistan where 139 Canadian soldiers, two aid workers, one diplomat and one journalist (Michelle Lang) have been killed.

The 2010 Games' Olympic truce will not include a ceasefire in Afghanistan.

Trivia question: what was the last country to host an Olympics while at war in Afghanistan?

The Soviet Union in 1980.

Timeline: B.C. Place and VANOC's long, strange trip

B.C. Place Stadium is owned by the taxpayers of British Columbia. It is the biggest room in western Canada and is arguably the most important building in Canada because it will host the 2010 Winter Olympics' opening ceremony on Feb. 12. The ceremony will attract the biggest worldwide TV audience of the Games and will feature every nation entered.

B.C. Place is also a building rife with controversy. Read on and enjoy bonus content by clicking the dates.

July 2/03: Vancouver chosen in Prague by the International Olympic Committee to host the 2010 Winter Olympics. Opening and closing ceremonies planned for B.C. Place Stadium.

Nov. 13/06: Janitorial worker collapses on the job in B.C. Place Stadium, dies later in hospital. WorkSafeBC not told for almost two years.

Jan. 5/07: B.C. Place Stadium roof ripped and collapsed under snow after heating system not used.

Sept. 20/07: David Atkins Enterprises Productions hired for 2010 Winter Olympics opening and closing ceremonies.

May 16/08: Premier Gordon Campbell announced retractable roof delayed until after the Games.

July 8/08: Atkins’ original Ceremonies Capital Works report issued to B.C. Pavilion Corp.

Jan. 9/09: PavCo announced $365 million retractable roof and interior renovations.

Feb. 5/09: VANOC CFO John McLaughlin invoiced B.C. government $3.5 million for B.C. Place construction.

March 26/09: McLaughlin asked B.C. government for more money for ceremonies.

April 14/09: version 13 of Atkins’ Ceremonies Capital Works report.

May 13/09: Workers cover hole in the middle of B.C. Place floor. Sources say it's where the Olympic flame cauldron will be.

May 20/09: VANOC board secretly approved $8.3 million extra for B.C. Place ceremonies construction.

June 16/09: VANOC quarterly report listed B.C. Place budget at $12.1 million.

Oct. 23/09: PavCo chairman David Podmore said retractable roof to cost $458 million.

Oct. 29/09: Tourism minister Kevin Krueger said interior renovation budget is $105 million.

Jan. 14/09: B.C. Place roof flattening because of weight of lights and speakers for 2010 Olympics ceremonies. Rainwater pools on top and floods like a waterfall into drainage hole on roof.

Jan. 19/10: Aggreko-supplied VANOC diesel-generator spills 200 litres of fuel at B.C. Place's east airlock doors. Vancouver Fire and Rescue and its hazardous materials team responds.

Feb. 12/10: B.C. Place to host first indoor opening ceremony in Olympic history.

May 2010: B.C. Place roof to be deflated.

June 2010: B.C. Lions to play in temporary stadium on former site of Empire Stadium.

Late July 2011: B.C. Place to reopen with retractable roof.

Happy 2010! VANOC staff gets 1.5% pay hike

The first Olympic event of the winter of 2010 in Vancouver was... ta-da!

The Pay Raise.

On Jan. 4, VANOC employees got a good news email from the head of human resources. Effective Jan. 1, their pay was increased by 1.5%. That's half-a-percent less than a year earlier, but who's going to complain? After all, it's not like the economy is booming anymore.

It's yet another spending initiative handled by the VANOC board that was not communicated to reporters after the last closed-door board meeting of 2009 on Nov. 18. On May 20, the VANOC board also voted to spend $8.3 million of taxpayers' money on B.C. Place Stadium capital works for the opening ceremony. That was kept hush-hush until the June 16 release of a quarterly financial report. Even then, VANOC executives refused to give details. I finally solved that riddle on Jan. 4 after receiving an April 14, 2009 report about what the ceremonies producer needed to make a world-class show.

What other secrets lurk within VANOC?

Read the memo below, send your comments to bob.mackin@sunmedia.ca or post them below.


From: Donna Wilson
Sent: January 4, 2010 12:31 PM
To: Vancouver2010
Subject: 2010 Salary Increase

Welcome to 2010! I hope that all of you were able to find some time to rest and refresh over the holidays. It's hard to believe that we're in the final stretch, and in less than 3 months we will be celebrating the successful delivery of the Games. All of your effort, drive and commitment to excellence is appreciated.

As many of you know, the current economic times have challenged our creative thinking as an OCOG. Notwithstanding the times we're in, at the end of 2009, the VANOC Board of Directors approved a 1.5% salary increase for all VANOC employees for the final months of this project, starting January 1, 2010.

Thank you for all your hard work and commitment to staging Canadaʼs Games. As said in our own words...

"Vancouver 2010 creates a climate of possibility that helps us to discover the greatness inside ourselves... It awakens us to the idea that we are all giants inside."

Cherish these last few precious moments. Be big, be bold.

Happy New Year,

Donna

Donna Wilson
Executive Vice President / Vice-Présidente de Direction
Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games Comité d'organization des Jeux olympiques et paralympiques d'hiver de 2010 á Vancouver
400 - 3585 rue Graveley Street Vancouver, B.C. (C.-B.) V5K 5J5
Phone / Téléphone: (604)403-XXXX Fax / Télécopieur: (778) 328-2079 Email / Courriel: donna_wilson@vancouver2010.com Website / Site Web: www.vancouver2010.com