Olympic ceremony poet bursts onto world stage

[HeresyLives]

Olympic ceremony poet bursts onto world stage
Last Updated: Sunday, February 14, 2010 | 10:41 AM CT
CBC News

Slam poet Shane Koyczan is still reeling from his appearance at Vancouver's Olympic opening ceremony in which he delivered what many call a defining moment for Canadians with his poem We Are More.

Koyczan, who was born in Yellowknife and moved to Penticton, B.C., in his teens, says the enormity of the moment at Friday night's ceremony, in front of an estimated 3.5 billion people, didn't hit him until the curtain was about to drop.
"I was like, 'You either go for it, or jump.'"

Spoken with a rapper's cadence, the 34-year-old's poem referenced several clichés — And some say what defines us / Is something as simple as 'please' and 'thank you' — and made mention of No. 99 and saying "zed" instead of "zee."

Beyond that, it contained a radiant pride in qualities that are immeasurable:

"We are an idea in the process of being realized," and "We are an experiment going right for a change."

Throughout the night and into the weekend, the poet's performance became a Twitter sensation and has been the talk of media articles within Canada and around the world.


http://www.cbc.ca/canada/north/story/2010/02/14/koyczan-poet-olympics.html


Maybe it's popular becauae it's a reminder of how much of our country we have lost in the last 4 years.

[HeresyLives]

1. Found this on youtube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zsq68qRexFc

[tuvor]

2. I found him obnoxious and quickly tuned him out.

I don't know if similar pro-host-country speechifying is standard at Olympic opening ceremonies, but the we're-such-a-great-country rant when we're supposedly welcoming the world just smacked to me of being a shitty host. Maybe it's just me, but it's lousy manners to invite all of your friends and neighbours to your house party and proceed to sit them down and brag about how wonderful you are. These things have their time and place, but to me this wasn't it.

Between this and "dominate the podium" and its gentler cousin "do you believe?" it sounds to me that we may be turning into "ugly Canadians".

[HeresyLives]

3. Kinda like Joe & I AM CANADIAN I thot.

But apparently a lot of people loved it.

[tuvor]

4. Indeed, it did cross my mind...

...that they could have just run the I am Canadian commercial. Good or bad, thirty seconds and it's all over!