olympic news: the good, the great and the sexy.

How hot is Canada at the Olympics right now?
Our athletes are showing courage and kickass-ness. And we're all damn proud.

Let's start with figure skater Joannie Rochette. After she arrived in Vancouver, she was struck with the news that her mother had died due to a heart attack.
Yet she still went ahead with a stunning short program, placing third and continued onto her long program last night, winning third overall.

In her own words from the Toronto Star:

"Tonight, for those four minutes, I could only think of my skating, which was good because I needed to be in a state of mind where I couldn't be touched, where I could be in a bubble ... I still don't know how I could do this and not cry before the music started. I feel proud and the result did not matter. I'm happy to be on the podium. It was a lifetime project for me and my mom and we achieved that."

Our women's hockey team won GOLD last night! And they celebrated on the ice with some champ, and some cigars...and now the International Olympic committee is having a hissy fit over it. Really, IOC? Really? Relax. These women worked damn hard and the ice didn't get hurt. Slow your roll.

And finally, this is a little shout-out to all those lovely Olympic athletes and the stamina they're showing in their sports...and in the sack, apparently.

According to the National Post, health officials in Vancouver have provided 100,000 condoms to about 7,000 Olympic athletes and officials - which means roughly 14 condoms per person.

But as of Wednesday - supplies were low, so an emergency shipment from the Canadian Foundation for AIDS research of 8,500 was sent out and arrived yesterday.

Free condoms started to be disturbed back in 1992 at the Barcelona games. Apparently though, the Toronto Star reports that this seems to be the first time there's been a shortage.

Oh Canada :)

perez shout-out.

Last year we posted about the Health Unit's...let's say...unique game aimed at helping youth learn about sex.

Well it seems that the Internet's most despised blogger, Perez, has even picked up on it!

Check out his shout-out:
http://perezhilton.com/2010-02-17-heres-one-way-to-teach-kids-about-condoms

We're happy to see he found the penis arms and sperm with teeth as disturbing as we did.

olympic gold means cash.

Alexandre Bilodeau (centre)

For those of you tuning into the Olympics, you know this past weekend saw our first gold medal on home soil! (The fact that it's taken us this long...another story).

Alexandre Bilodeau of Quebec killed the men's moguls - and is set to be have endorsement deals chomping at the bit for him and his, frankly, lovely personal story.

You've seen the commercials - Bilodeau with his brother, who he says is his inspiration, with cerebral palsy. But while this whole thing might seem contrived, it doesn't. It's really pretty beautiful.

But naturally, marketers and advertisers are salivating over a story like that. Bilodeau is estimated to make $1-million from endorsements since winning the gold, reported the Globe and Mail.

However, of course it's not as much as what American athletes can pull - but it's nice to know a good Canadian boy is getting some attention.

London - a low romance zone?

According to Amazon.ca, London ranks tenth in its list of the top 20 most romantic cities in Canada.

Are you surprised? Is this not a shocker?

Windsor snagged the bottom of the list (not necessarily surprising...no offense, Windsor-ites...ians?).

And apparently, Saskatoon is the most romantic city in Canada.

Yeah.

Saskatoon.

The city's mayor, Don Atchison claims it may be because, "We've got a lot of very passionate people in Saskatoon. (We have) some very warm-blooded people."

If you're wondering about the strict criteria and process by which this list was created - it was based on the sales of romance novels, DVDs and Michael Buble CDS.

We didn't make that up.

Cute, Amazon.ca. Real cute.

To read more about our ranking, check out the London Free Press.

golden boy.

It's awards season!

With the Golden Globes, the SAGs and Grammys behind us - it's time to look forward to the big night surrounding a little man named Oscar.

This week the Oscar nominations were announced - with first-time nominees and the newly expanded Best Picture category (now 10 movies are nominated).

Sandra Bullock continues her awards season sweep with a nomination for Best Actress (she's one of the first-timers), along with Precious' breakout star Gabourey Sidibe and An Education's Carey Mulligan. They're against heavy hitters Meryl Streep (nominated a record 16th time - but naturally...it's MERYL) and Helen Mirren.

The Best Actor category sees Jeff Bridges (Crazy Heart), Colin Firth (A Single Man), Morgan Freeman (Invictus), George Clooney (Up in the Air) and Jeremy Renner (Hurt Locker) against each other.

And in the big Best Picture category there are:

• “Avatar” James Cameron and Jon Landau, Producers (you would hope the most expensive movie made would get nominated for SOMETHING)
  
• “The Blind Side” Nominees to be determined (a bit surprising, critics claim it's nominated to reach out to the "minivan demographic")
  
• “District 9” Peter Jackson and Carolynne Cunningham, Producers
• “An Education” Finola Dwyer and Amanda Posey, Producers
• “The Hurt Locker” Nominees to be determined (James Cameron's ex-wife Kathryn Bigelow directed)
  
• “Inglourious Basterds” Lawrence Bender, Producer
• “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” Lee Daniels, Sarah Siegel-Magness and Gary Magness, Producers
• “A Serious Man” Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, Producers
• “Up” Jonas Rivera, Producer (only animated movie...unless you count Avatar's blue people)
  
• “Up in the Air” Daniel Dubiecki, Ivan Reitman and Jason Reitman, Producers

There you have it! One shocker was that The Hangover, despite critics suggesting it may get nominated, was shafted - but comedies never make it into the Oscars, do they?

So what do YOU think? Who will be the winners? Any surprises? Let us know!

To see the full list of nominees, visit: OSCAR.COM

faculty & union details. what it means for you.

News has been buzzing around campus about a possible strike on February 11th.

Key word: possible - as in may not happen.

So let's discuss what's actually going on.

OPSEU called for binding arbitration on Monday, February 1 (this essentially would mean that both sides would be negotiating and bargaining hardcore until midnight on February 10 and anything unresolved would be put to an arbitrator for a binding resolution. If that offer was refused - union could strike on February 11).

The most recent news is that the college faculty is exercising their right to ask the Ontario Labour Relations Board to put their final offer to the union membership to vote on.
So faculty in all 24 colleges will decide whether they accept the offer.
The date for that vote is still being determined.

But we will let you know as soon as that's released to us.

If you have any questions about what's going on - let us know!

all you need is the interrobang's LOVEline.

"Nothing takes the taste out of peanut butter quite like unrequited love."

Charlie Brown was onto something.
Don't let your love go unrequited. Indulge your Valentine's Day sappiness, or just send a shout out to friends in the February 8th issue of the Interrobang.

Your message should be a maximum of about 35-40 words long, and should be submitted before Wednesday, February 3 at noon.

Fill out this form if you're interested: http://www.fsu.ca/news_lovelines.asp

Whether you want to reach out to that person you spent a special night with post-Jack's, or the person who doesn't know you exist or even do something sweet for the one you're with - send something in!