Olympian Gods

Even for a brief, few seconds

Demigod, or falling angel?

Once again, I'm amazed at how many of these winter sports are full of dangers. But, since these athletes are really demigods, or close enough, they deliver almost every time.

Here is another daredevil sport - aerial skiing.

The performances reminded me of Leni Riefenstahl's Olympia, which showcased the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin. Riefenstahl was Hitler's filmmaker, and her most famous film, Triumph of the Will, was filmed during the 1934 Nazi party congress in Nuremberg.

Olympia could also be titled, Triumph of Man. Here is a video of Riefenstahl's diving sequences in Olympia, where the athletes lose all contact with the ground and the people around them and just become god-like creatures floating in the air, defying gravity. Scroll to near the end of the clip to see the famous shots where she slowed down the film, reversed some shots, and took some upside down, removing any context (water and identifiable diving board) out of the shots, in order to glorify the athletes.

These aerial skiers had that same sense of invincibility, soaring for those brief minutes close to the heavens.

Newfoundland Premier Naturally Chooses Life Over Death

And still pushes for the ideology of health care for all

Here's a quote from the Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Danny Williams on his recent visit to the U.S. for medical treatment.

This was my heart, my choice and my health...I did not sign away my right to get the best possible health care for myself when I entered politics.

Actually, I see nothing wrong with that. He chose life over prolonged complications and possible death.

Of course, the atrocity is that he, like any socialist hypocrite, leaves the proletariat to make do with what he deems insufficient for himself. His ideology is good enough for us, but just won't do for him.

Here's a quote from Edmund Burke's Reflections On The French Revolution:

The worst of these politics of revolution [I would substitute ideology here] is this; they temper and harden the breast, in order to prepare it for the desperate strokes which are sometimes used in extreme occasions...This sort of people are so taken up with their theories about the rights of man, that they have totally forgot his nature.

Yes, the ideology of health care for all takes over Canadian politics, while the real man, and his real needs, get shuffled out of the picture.

Some Startling Facts About Dual Citizenship

Panel on TVO

TV Ontario's The Agenda, hosted had a panel discussion last night about dual citizenship.

Here are a few startling facts about this phenomenon:

- In the 1970s, there were just a handful of countries which allowed for dual citizenship. Now there are over 150.

- There is a higher number of Canadian citizens living abroad than any other country (per capita ). Although the numbers weren't broken down, this implies that the majority of these are part of this dual citizenship exodus returning to their countries of origin.

- Although there are a large number of Canadian citizens living abroad (read here in their countries of origin), many still plan to retire in Canada, to take advantage of the health care and other first class facilities available here. This despite their not having participated as tax-paying residents of Canada for all those years they lived abroad.

- Canada has one of the most lenient requirements for dual citizenship - essentially, you get a fully-functional passport and are treated as a bona fide Canadian citizen. But some countries, like India, for example, will give non-resident passports which are only good for limited privileges. Acquiring the citizenship of another country diminishes the Indian one.

- Many French and British Canadians hold dual citizenship. In fact, one of the panel members, Rudyard Griffiths of the Dominion Institute, held a British passport in honor of his grandfather who fought in the continental war, but is now renouncing it to remain simply Canadian. But, the history of Canada is intricately linked with France and Britain (Canada is still a British commonwealth, and we swear allegiance to the Queen). So, dual British/Canadian passport is far more legitimate than dual Indian/Canadian passport.

Gliding in Unison

Golden ice dancing pair

Tess Virtue and Scott Moir in the Ice Dancing
long program on their way to winning the gold

Tess Virtue and Scott Moir were the ice dance pair favored to win when they went into final long program last night. And they gave an incredible performance. The music they chose to dance to, the adagietto from Mahler's Fifth Symphony, was serious but not overwhelming, unlike the punchy Phantom of the Opera which the silver medalists from the U.S. chose. Virtue and Moir glided together in perfect unity throughout their dance.

I cannot find a video of their full performance, but here is a video collage of some of their great moments.

Jane Austen's Persuasion Could Have Been Her Fairy Tale

Was there unrequited love in her past?


This is my favorite book cover of Persuasion. I find the tapestry-like botanical print appealing. It also suggests the adventurous spirit of men in that period, who went across continents to collect and draw such exotic plant species. Persuasion's Captain Wentworth was somewhat of an adventurer, who went across the seas as a naval officer during the Napoleonic wars, to come back to England a wealthy man.

British television productions of classic works almost always strike gold. Turning a Dickens or an Austen into a film (or a television production) is risky. The easy part is getting the set and costumes right. But, how about the demeanor of the actors, and even their accents?

PBS's Masterpiece Theater recently presented a perfect version of Jane Austen's Persuasion. I think it is the least characteristic of her novels. It is the most romantic, and its general plot seems less sure-handed and confident than her other novels. It also contains some of her more mean-spirited characters.

Emma may be ego-centric and bossy, but she is innocent of malice, and wins the love of Mr. Knightley, who sees the good in her. Pride and Prejudice may contain some confusing moments of apparent betrayal and sabotage, but they are satisfactory explained.

Persuasion's Anne Elliot refused the hand of Frederick Wentworth, a young naval officer, because of his lack of prestige and sufficient social standing. Seven years later, he returns as a wealthy captain. He is still unmarried, as is she. Her poignant quest to set things right, and his attempt to understand her rejection, takes up most of the novel.

The PBS's version of Anne (played by Sally Hawkins) makes her a little too plain, and Captain Frederick Wentworth a little too dashing. But, other than that, Sally Hawkins does a tremendous job of recreating the self-effacing, humble and very sweet Anne. It is surprising to see someone so good, even in a novel.

The female friend, Lady Russell, who persuaded Anne to break off her alliance with the young and poor Frederick Wentworth, reminds me a little of the mentor that took over young Isabel Archer's life in Henry James's A Portrait of a Lady. Lady Russell is nowhere near as vicious and conniving as Isabel Archer's friend Madame Merle. But there is still a certain callous disregard for Anne's feelings by Lady Russell, for the sake of maintaining family standing. The lovely Anne understands that she agreed not to marry Wentworth, but she could never quite fully forgive (although she says she does) Lady Russell's for persuading her to do so.

Persuasion was Jane Austen’s last novel. She died after completing it, and it was published posthumously a year later. She was forty-one when she died, having never married. I wonder if Persuasion, with its thwarted love story that was later revived, was how Austen would have liked her life to become, with a "happily ever after" ending.

Extreme Sports

The Winter Olympics' demands on athletes

Lindsey Vonn on her way to winning gold after suffering
through serious bruises on her shin

Given the ugly (yes, I will stick by that word) ideological beginnings of the Olympics, which was simply arm-twisting by the native population, I wasn't going to watch much of them.

But, the innocence of the games, which really is about winning and losing in those straight terms - however much some would say there are biased judges - is hard to ignore. It is fun and inspiring to watch hard working athletes give it their all, ignoring injury or bad weather, to come out as possible champions.

That is what skier Lindsey Vonn did with her spectacular downhill run after a seriously bruised shin, winning the gold.

And a mock "cold war" was staged between American and Russian skaters, with the American Evan Lysacek taking gold after an immaculate and flawless performance. Russian Evgeni Plushenko couldn't accept his loss to silver status, saying that he was the only one to attempt a quadruple-triple toeloop (I think that means he made four turns while still in the air!). He may have the prowess to perform spectacular jumps and turns, but he wobbled and faltered on his landings. Even spectators like me could see the inferiority of his skating compared to Lysacek. Nonetheless, this "cold war" went on for a little while with accusatory words coming from the Russian.

But, one thing that struck me about these games is the extreme physical and mental demands of the sports. Quadruple jumps; skiing at unimaginable speed on snow turned to ice; snowboarders who make that extra death-defying turn while still in the air; lugers without any protection speeding down tunnels of ice; speed skaters who can slice off their opponents' shins with the blades on their skates if they get too close.

I don't think such extremes exist in the summer Olympics. Yes, Olympic records are getting higher and higher, but what is the physical danger in running down a 100 meter lane? Jumping higher is a requisite for high jumpers, but the worst that could happen is that the jumper land on the metal pole.

I admire these winter athletes immensely. It not only takes superior physical abilities, and thousands of hours of practice, to get to their level, but also intense mental acuity to perform the razor thin turns while slaloming down the ski slope, or the last extra twist while still in the air on a snowboard.

But I also feel sorry for them. They are being required to go for more and more gutsy moves, ignoring the limits of their (great) abilities. And they will be suffering the consequences unless the posts are brought down a little.

Is "None" Singular or Plural?

Well, it can be both.

Follow the link above for full details of the argument, as well as humorous diversions (can one identify a liberal by how he defines - or fails to define - "none")?