Letters For the Underemployed: And now for Something Completely Different...

If you are like me, you are probably sick of reading about hockey. In the end, was it worth Russia spending $111 Billion to create a place called 'Sochi' just so Canada could lay waste over the hockey landscape once again? Was it worth the $28 million directly spent on sending a bunch of Canadian athletes over to Russia? Or the $20,000/$15000/$10000 financial reward to each athlete that brought home a medal which Air Canada didn't lose on the flight home? For the record, the 25 medals Canada won don't include the 47 individual ones (excluding coaches) awarded to the men's and women's hockey teams for their annihilation of the rest of the world's hockey self-esteem (or any of the other team events for that matter).

So, rough estimates make that 10 Gold medals (really 55 inc. hockey teams at 20G apiece, 10 silver at $15 G apiece and 5 bronze at $10G apiece. Who has a calculator? That's roughly $1,300,000 in reward money. There may have been more 'team' medals but i wouldn't know as i didn't pay attention to any of the other preliminary sports that were mere eye candy while we waited for our hockey teams to destroy Canadian good will.

Good investment for our tax dollars? That's nearly $30 million directly spent on the 220+ athletes that attended, excluding 'training subsidies' - which is kind of like unemployment insurance but instead of working, you are training in your chosen sport which is why you can't find a job. I'll leave that to your own discussion. For some athletes, it's not about the money (mind you those are the NHL players who make more than $20,000 per game on any given weeknight). And being good ol' Canadian boys, they may just donate it to charity anyways, like this great role model/Olympian/non-stanley cup winner did back in 2010.

So, Let's Move on to Something Different. Name that Person!

These are people that you know. But you don't know. Maybe you do know them but I don't so I googled them, just in case they are living next to me and I didn't know it. It's like stalking, but not - because I'm just curious a little bit about people who become famous without relying on a huge Public Relations media blitz in order to 'Brand' them to their product. It's not like I'm going to become best friends with them unless they are my neighbour, in which case I most definitely will.

For instance, I've never read or seen anything about Harry Potter's universe but I know what JK Rowling looks like. Did I want to? No. Do I need to? No. But there she is...

JK Rowling before every photo shoot she's ever done.

Or Stephen King. I can name 10 books of his, mostly from his first decade of writing. I can't name any of the 64 others he's done since but he would never be able to stand behind me in Costco without me realizing who he was. He's Branded.

Stephen King promoting his book, 'Stephen King'. It's like he's not
even trying anymore.

Most actors/actresses are Branded, and work very hard at maintaining their Brand, especially the 'A' list ones - Clooney, Cruise, Pitt, Roberts, Bullock. Look at Jennifer Anniston; we get it, you are the scorned hot ex-wife of Brad Pitt but we can't name any character in any role you have ever played other than Rachel.
Branded celebrities make sure they pay publicists big money so we all know who they are. It's rare to see them out in public because People magazine makes us believe they would be smothered to death under the sheer weight of all their fans drooling on them. They have become so Branded that rarely would they be able to be in a movie without someone saying 'hey, that's so-and-so', much less attend a Junior B hockey game in my small town, like even if you are Nicole Kidman (who as you can see didn't try to hide the fact that she was Nicole Kidman attending a Junior B hockey game in my small town).

Anyone tell you you look exactly like Keith Urban,
if he was wearing a toque?

Who Are They? PART 1 of A Sporadic Series...

So let's start with three pictures of faces - 2 are predominantly known for making you laugh in the 80's-90's. The third one is of 2 of the hottest non-faces in music today. Make your guesses. Answers will be in my next blog post or you can answer them in the comments below if you like to spoil things for my mom, who is the only other person besides you and future me that reads this blog.

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