As anyone who knew me 2008 may remember, I was mad for the Beijing Olympics. The conflux of sport and politics! Michael Phelps! All those New York Times articles about efforts to curb spitting Beijing! I’m not as crazy about the winter Olympics, though I still appreciate the existential absurdity of athletes who spend their whole lives training for obscure sports. I also like the passive-aggressive commentating on figure skating. This year’s Olympics being in Canada as brought Canada to the forefront. There’s that the commercial, and also Canada’s desire to actually win gold this time. I’ve always found Canadian identity interesting. They seem to have all of the freedom of America with none of the aggression, plus parts are bilingual. If it weren’t for the cold weather, it would be an ideal place to live. For more on this subject, I recommend this episode of This American Life, Who’s a Canadian?