I can remember being a ten year-old boy and being allowed to stay up later than even by father cared to be, so that I could watch the Islanders and Capitals play one of the longest overtime games in history.  I watched the end of the game with my mother, who had tears in her eyes when it was over — she didn’t really care about either team (and I seem to remember her referring to the Islanders as “sons of bitches”), but after having watched so many men play for so long to such a standstill, it didn’t matter who won. Someone had to lose, and that was hard to see.

That moment stuck with me, more than many others I’ve seen since, and whoever has been doing the ads for the NHL lately has tapped into that emotional experience perfectly.  In the end, the game is played by individual people playing their very hardest, sometimes beyond every limit of their endurance, and they have no words to describe it.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=JSd8CqBEbcY

If you’re wondering, this is why we Canadians get all worked up about hockey.  We still can’t put words to it, but at least this can show you how it feels.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQuqeLBTetA

(via Mini Glark)

www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBlhpw2-giw

No kidding, this is a trailer for a new Canadian cooking show, which only goes to show you that our country is — in very specific ways — the greatest in the world.

There is so much more to say about this show, including how it is the Tiki Bar TV of cooking shows and how that makes it easier to put on TV, so do stay tuned.  But if you have any opportunity to watch or support these folks, I encourage it strongly.

The genuinely delighted reactions from so many in the ad are contagious, and I’m all for genuinely creative ideas like this.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Krky4i6Xk8

But half of the impact here is the song, Patrick Watson’s “The Great Escape”.  And by happy surprise it took barely any effort at all to turn up an entirely more beautiful video that goes right along with it.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=YA2h9PrIUxs

Tina and I watched it together tonight, and both had the same immediate sense — it reminded us both strongly of so many Canadian National Film Board animations we’d seen through our childhood:  hand-drawn, pencil-animated, physical and dirty and tangible.

It’s such a delight to see that there’s animation out there, so perfect in tone and feeling, that still gets in under your fingernails.

If not, you must view it now:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5YjPteCPLo

But apparently that is not enough to fire up Alaskans, so fortunately a full wing of jet-flying polar bears are here to destroy the very earth itself in order to rile you up adequately for tonight’s game:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=I2Xt2yHCgwI

I’d like to see the Ferris State Bulldogs do that.

The Third & The Seventh from Alex Roman on Vimeo.

Every last thing in this film is computer-generated, except the footage of the photographer.  Worth setting on full-screen, leaning back to watch, and feeling downright lucky to live in the future.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=V9bT73BM2Ic

This is something I’d watch.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujUQn0HhGEk

Because this is something I really enjoyed listening to.

“By the way, why do we think it’s okay for people to pretend they can talk to the dead?  / Isn’t that totally fucked in the head? / Lying to some crying woman whose child has died?”

Here’s to the New Year, remembering the ones important to you, and one of the best stories out of a nasty bitch of a year.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=uyy_HPtRHyU

Relax, everyone.  2009 is nearly over, that nasty son of a bitch.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=tSvoacOAuz0

Enjoy those family Christmases, everybody!