Olympic Images

I suspect everyone with a camera has some wonderful photos to remind them of the past 16 days. As the Olympics come to an end, here are some miscellaneous shots from the last week, in no particular order...

The Canada Russia hockey game offered many photo-ops. but I was fascinated by all the spectators in red and white, and the Russian team gathering for its pre-game huddle around the goalie.
It was also fun to watch the game with some English ladies who demonstrated their new Canadian pride.The Royal Mint display at SFU's Segal Business School was surprisingly interesting. I did not have the patience to line up to see and touch the medals, but I was fascinated by the holographic coins and the million dollar gold coin on display.One day, I went up to Whistler where the District of Squamish and Pemberton hosted a day to encourage economic development. It was delightful to meet some of the locals who had won Olympic medals, but for me a highlight was meeting Peter Mansbridge, the evening's guest speaker, who I have admired for many years.Without a doubt, however, the highlight of the two weeks was experiencing the infectous spirit on the streets, especially around Robson Square, where a stage was set up, fireworks were set off nightly, and nearby buildings served as video screens.Around the corner, CTV set up a studio on the street where Bill Good seemed to be broadcasting 24 hours a day...Elsewhere in the downtown, office buildings and trees were lit up and the early blooming flowers created an almost surreal effect for February. The tower crane on the Jameson House site seemed to be saying everything's alright!
The recently completed Granville Mall looked pretty good with the handmade lanterns, but why did they not use a more attractive finish along the street...the broomed concrete is most unfortunate.The nearby Bay Store, with its daily line-ups looked pretty good at night...
Travelling around during the day I came across some unusual sites. On Granville Island, after taking a ride on the new tram, I came across Duh Hockey Gyz...
Over at the North Shore of False Creek I found a series of globes designed as interesting public art, and great demonstrations of patriotism at CityGateOne of the biggest surprises was how well the traffic was managed...in fact there was so little traffic at times, the streets felt almost surreal and parking had to be put on sale!I have many hundreds of more images, but hopefully these will inspire others to post some of their favourite photos...It has been a great couple of weeks, but now it's time to start working so that many of the wonderful things that happened in Vancouver can become the legacies for our city.

Poe's Valentines: To —— (1829)

To —— (1829)

This title refers to two poems carrying the same name. One begins with the lines "The bowers whereat, in dreams, I see." The other begins "Should my early life seem." Both first appeared collected in the 1829 Al Aaraaf, Tamerlane, and Minor Poems. The first, consisting of 12 lines, was reprinted in the September 20, 1845, issue of the Broadway Journal and deals with the speaker's loss which leaves him with "a funeral mind." The poem, despite is many reprintings, never had any significant revisions. The second "To ——" was republished in the December 1829 issue of the Yankee and Boston Literary Gazette after being cut from 40 lines to 13. The narrator of this poem equates breaking with his love as one of several failures.

To ——
by
Edgar Allan Poe

The bowers whereat, in dreams, I see
The wantonest singing birds,
Are lips — and all thy melody
Of lip-begotten words —

Thine eyes, in Heaven of heart enshrined
Then desolately fall,
O God! on my funereal mind
Like starlight on a pall —

Thy heart — thy heart! — I wake and sigh,
And sleep to dream till day
Of truth that gold can never buy —
Of the baubles that it may.

To — —

by

Edgar Allan Poe

1

Should my early life seem
[As well it might] a dream —
Yet I build no faith upon
The King Napoleon —
I look not up afar
To my destiny in a star:

2

In parting from you now
Thus much I will avow —
There are beings, and have been
Whom my spirit had not seen
Had I let them pass me by
With a dreaming eye —
If my peace hath fled away
In a night — or in a day —
In a vision — or in none —
Is it the less gone?

3

I am standing 'mid the roar
Of a weather-beaten shore,
And I hold within my hand
Some particles of sand —
How few! and how they creep
Thro' my fingers to the deep!
My early hopes? no — they
Went gloriously away,
Like lightning from the sky
At once — and so will I.

4

So young? ah! no — not now —
Thou hast not seen my brow,
But they tell thee I am proud —
They lie — they lie aloud —
My bosom beats with shame
At the paltriness of name
With which they dare combine
A feeling such as mine —
Nor Stoic? I am not:
In the terror of my lot
I laugh to think how poor
That pleasure "to endure!"
What! shade of Zeno! — I!
Endure! — no — no — defy.

César Awards 2010

Jacques Audiard's Un prophète (predictably) swept the Césars today, taking home nine awards including Meilleur film (Best Film), Réalisateur (Director) and Scénario original (Original Screenplay). Its heartthrob star Tahar Rahim, already quite the celebrity in France despite appearing in just one film, won two awards for Meilleur acteur (Best Actor) and Meilleur espoir masculin (Best Male Newcomer). Emmanuelle Devos, who starred in Audiard's last two films (and is easily one of the finest actresses in the business), won the Supporting Actress prize for Xavier Giannoli's À l'origine. Radu Mihăileanu's Le concert was the only other film to win in more than one category (for Music and Sound Design). Clint Eastwood was (again predictably) the winner in the Film étranger (Foreign Film) category for Gran Torino. The big winners are below; the full list of winners is here (in French); the nominees can be found here.

Meilleur film [Best Film]: Un prophète [A Prophet], d. Jacques Audiard
Meilleur réalisateur [Best Director]: Jacques Audiard, Un prophète
Meilleur premier film [Best First Film]: Les beaux gosses [The French Kissers], d. Riad Sattouf
Meilleur film étranger [Best Foreign Film]: Gran Torino, d. Clint Eastwood, USA
Meilleur film documentaire [Best Documentary]: L'enfer d'Henri-Georges Clouzot [Henri-George Clouzot's Inferno], d. Serge Bromberg, Ruxandra Medrea
Meilleur acteur [Best Actor]: Tahar Rahim, Un prophète
Meilleure actrice [Best Actress]: Isabelle Adjani, La journée de la jupe [Skirt Day]
Meilleur acteur dans un second rôle [Supporting Actor]: Niels Arestrup, Un prophète
Meilleure actrice dans un second rôle [Supporting Actress]: Emmanuelle Devos, À l'origine [In the Beginning]
Meilleur espoir masculin [Best Male Newcomer]: Tahar Rahim, Un prophète
Meilleur espoir féminin [Best Female Newcomer]: Mélanie Thierry, Le dernier pour la route [One for the Road]
Meilleur scénario original [Original Screenplay]: Un prophète - Jacques Audiard, Thomas Bidegain, Abdel Raouf Dafri, Nicolas Peufaillit
Meilleur scénario adaptation [Adapted Screenplay]: Mademoiselle Chambon - Stéphane Brizé, Florence Vignon
Meilleure photographie [Best Cinematography]: Stéphane Fontaine, Un prophète

20 Ugliest Celebrities

1.Michael Jackson 

 

Did you really expect anyone else? Michael Jackson used to be a successful black singer, but took it upon himself to destroy his face and reputation. He now looks like an albino alien whose nose appears to change on a daily basis. Just goes to show you what can happen if you are too critical of your looks... you can end up an albino alien like Mike.

2.Marilyn Manson

Seriously ... what the hell happened to this kid? From the ghostly white makeup you can see on his black collar to the funky blue eye and blood red lips ... Marilyn Manson is a freak and there's nothing more to say, he's ugly by choice. And not only is he ugly, but he scares the crap out of us.

3.Jocelyn Wildenstein

Holy crap! This is what happens when you get obsessed with plastic surgery. A wealthy socialite from Switzerland, Jocelyn is actually a celeb for being so ugly. Her extreme appearance has led to the press giving her the nickname "The Bride of Wildenstein," a reference to The Bride of Frankenstein. Wildenstein has allegedly spent almost US$4,000,000 on cosmetic surgery over the years, all payed by her husband, the billionaire international art dealer Alec Wildenstein.

4.Michael Berryman

No, it is not make-up. This actor born in LA, suffers from Hypohidrotic Ectodermal Dysplasia (a rare condition leaving him with no sweat glands, hair, fingernails or teeth). He played Pluto in Wes Craven's 1977 horror film The Hills Have Eyes. He has also appeared in numerous science fiction and fantasy movies such as My Science Project (1985), Weird Science (1985), Armed Response (1986) and Evil Spirits (1990). He also appeared in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, and The Devil's Rejects. Berryman generally portrays mutant bikers, evil undertakers, monsters and other frightening characters. He has also starred in episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation and The X-Files.

5.DJ Qualls

Ok, we are going to be really mean again, since he's actually ugly for a another terrible reason. We're actually happy to see he has turned it into a good thing, just like Berryman. Qualls also suffered from a rare condition: Hodgkin's lymphoma, a form of cancer, at age 14. After two years of surgery (including the removal of his spleen), chemotherapy, and radiation treatments, Qualls's cancer went into remission, which lent him his famous thin stature. In 1997, he enrolled at Nashville's Belmont University. At a performance in a local theatre he was discovered by David LaChapelle and became... a model!! Yes, a model, for Prada and Calvin Klein. He then got famous for his role on the movie "Road Trip".

6.Marty Feldman

And yet another terrible case. Marty Feldman (1934 – 1982) was an English writer, comedian and BAFTA award winning actor, notable for his bulging eyes, which were the result of a thyroid condition known as Graves Disease. He wrote situation comedies such as The Army Game, Bootsie and Snudge for the BBC and later had a series of his own on the BBC called Marty. He also appeared in The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother and Mel Brooks' Silent Movie, as well as directing and starring in The Last Remake of Beau Geste. He guest-starred in the "Arabian Nights" episode of The Muppet Show.

7.Clint Howard

No weird disease this time -- he's just plain ugly. But then, again, it is probably what made him famous. Born in 1959, the actor appeared in Cocoon, Steve Martin's Parenthood, EdTV, Apollo 13, Austin Powers, That Thing You Do among others. In 1998, Howard was awarded the MTV Lifetime Achievement Award. He got married twice, just to show you that looks don't matter.

8.Shane MacGowan

This Irish musician is best known as the original singer and songwriter with The Pogues, and is considered one of the most important and poetic Irish songwriters of the last thirty years. A great find for our list... he's terribly horrible. ev > r i thood, EdTV, Apollo 13, Austin Powers, That Thing You Do among others. In 1998, Howard was awarded the MTV Lifetime Achievement Award. He got married twice, just to show you that looks don't matter.

9.Lyle Lovett

Lyle Lovett has to have some good blackmail on someone. Otherwise, how in the hell did he ever get into acting? And the fact that Julia Roberts married this beast makes us think she's not only nuts, but ugly too. Tell us one thing that you find attractive about this man ... go on. Then we'll laugh at you.

10.Kelis

Holy hell ... Kelis is not bringin' any boys to the yard looking like that. There have been rumors that she is really a man, and quite frankly we are thinking something's not right with this chick. Every time we see her she has her mouth open and looks like she's ready to eat us. She's scary. Next time we see her, we are looking for the Adam's apple.

11.Iggy Pop

Rock singer, songwriter, and occasional actor, he is sometimes referred to by the nicknames "the Godfather of Punk". Iggy Pop was the lead singer of The Stooges, a late 1960s/early 1970s garage rock band who were influential in the development of the nascent heavy metal and punk rock genres. The Stooges became infamous for their live performances, during which it was not uncommon for Iggy Pop to leap off the stage (in fact, he was among the first to "stage dive"), smear raw meat (and on one occasion peanut butter) over his chest and/or cut himself with broken bottles. So this is how you get ugly by being nut.

12.Steven Tyler

Dude looks like a zombie. He's a great singer, a cool guy, the daddy of one of the hottest girls on hollywood, plus all the money and women one could ever dream of... and yet... ugly as hell.

13.Courtney Love

Drugs don't make people pretty... and this woman is about as ugly and classless as it can get.

14.Donatella Versace

Oh, how the years go by. Yes, she's talented, famous and rich, but... she's now ugly as hell!

15.Amy Winehouse

English soul, jazz, and R&B singer and songwriter, she's another drug victim. Now, get this: she has a number of "old school" tattoos of naked women on her body. When asked about them, she was quoted as saying "I like pin-up girls. I'm more of a boy than a girl in that way. I'm not a lesbian, though — not before a sambuca anyway. And the she said she would own a beauty salon once her singing schedule calms down... that's a must.

16.Ronaldinho

Probably the world's best soccer player at this time, Ronaldinho might be one of the funniest, honest, and nicest celebs around... but he's also one of the ugliest. This brazilian is certainly saving his huge salary for something other than helping his image.

17.Kelly Osbourne

"Uh, I'm ugly." Yeah, we know Kelly. The British accent is cute and we love that she is all about being an individual, but quite frankly Kelly Osbourne's annoying and a brat. And we're not picking on her weight, because it fluctuates and we don't care. Weight really can't change whether you are ugly or not. And Kelly is on our list!

18.Tori Spelling

Tori Spelling must be thanking her daddy for helping her get into the acting business 'cause there is no other way she would EVER have made it. Thanks Aaron Spelling for ruining our lives! Sometimes you hope someone will grow on you after awhile, but even now when we see Tori on TV we immediately switch the channel. Yeah, it's that bad. And don't even get us started on her acting.

19.Rosie O'Donnell

Rosie O'Donnell is a bully, but it's not the bad temper what got her on our list... she's ugly, plain and simple.

20.Rachel Dratch

Don't get us wrong: we love Rachel. Her SNL sketches are hilarious, she's a great actress. But we are sorry to say she truly earned the last place on our list.

10 Mind-Blowing Crazy Hair Styles

While I was searching over the web for hair cut ideas ans hair styles. I come across number of a very strange crazy hair cuts ides.

People act wierd many times, some people wear strange clothes, put strange make-up and do many strnag stuff. One of the most wierd images I have ever seen are for strnage hair cut styles that I doubt any of you can do it  So, I want to share with you these crazy hair cut styles ideas and I would love to hear your funny comments.