Friday, February 12, 2010

Eh, Canada! 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics mascots

Meomi, the creators of The Octonauts series, designed the mascots for the Winter Olympics Games in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, which start today.

The Vancouver Organizing Committee (VANOC) chose Meomi's proposal from 177 entries. "They had to appeal to children from all over the world, they needed to represent the people, geography, and spirit of British Columbia and Canada, and they had to personify the values and essence of the 2010 Winter Games…. In short, they needed to be many things all at once," said John Furlong, VANOC CEO,

The three official ambassadors are Quatchi (a young Sasquatch). Sumi (a mythical Thunderbird), and Miga (a Sea-Bear). Plus don't forget their sidekick Mukmuk the Marmot.

'When we met Meomi Design's Vicki Wong, and saw the portfolios of her and her partner, Michael Murphy, I think we all felt they were born for this project," said VANOC Brand & Creative Services director Ali Gardiner. "Not only is her work warm, endearing and imaginative, but she's a very proud Vancouverite and Canadian, and was excited to share our culture and environment with the world through these Vancouver 2010 mascots. Vicki also understood immediately how the mascots could communicate Olympic and Paralympic ideals and values to children, and get them engaged in our Games."

Though Vancouver has no snow, it has the first 21st Century mascots - modern, fun, and adaptable.

Ask a Canadian friend to send you a commemorative hockey puck with a mascot stamp...or better yet collect all four adventures of their aquatic cousins The Octonauts. Their newest trek is The Octonauts and the Great Ghost Reef.

Monday, February 1, 2010

Roar at the SF Asian Art Museum

Enjoy the annual Chinese New Year family program at the San Francisco Asian Art Museum this weekend, Sunday, February 7th. The agenda is: Lion Dance - 12:00–12:30 pm Hands-on activities 1:30–4:00 pm Author Reading 2:00–2:45 at Samsung Hall At 2 pm, listen to author Oliver Chin read the newest book from his Tales from the Chinese Zodiac series, The Year of the Tiger, a charming tale about Teddy the tiger and his human friend, Su. Stick around and color pictures from the book, illustrated by Justin Roth, have your face painted like a tiger, create your own red envelopes (hung bao), decorate them with auspicious symbols, and fill with chocolate coins to give to friends and family. This is a "Target First Free Sunday"— enjoy free admission on the first Sunday of every month. First-come, first-served! We look forward to seeing you there and we hope you enjoy our new hero Teddy, his friend Su, and the other characters from the lunar new year.