Samsung Mobile Explorers Victory!

Well, it’s been almost 3 weeks since I have returned from the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics and the Samsung Mobile Explorers Competition.  I miss it.  I miss the people, the city of Vancouver, and the excitement of the competition.  The question I have been getting the most from friends and family is, “So, how was it?”.  My responses have varied between, “Awesome”, “Unbelievable”, “Exhausting” and “How was what?”.

There really is no way to describe the feeling of witnessing history.  I would say that I experienced two sides to the Olympic Games, both very different and memorable for different reasons.  First of all, being in the center of all the action was an intense experience – one that I will remember always.  Every night seemed to be a bigger and better party than the night previous.  Whether it was stumbling in line for the Zip Line across Robson St., devouring massive amounts of food and drink at Korean BBQ and The Kobe House, weaving in and out of the crazy crowds on Granville Street during the nightly street parties, or slipping through the VIP access to the Olympics LIVE venue to see Deadmau5 tear up the turntables.  Vancouver managed to exceed my expectations on all levels and left me dying to get back in the near future.

The other side of the Olympic Games was one that I didn’t anticipate experiencing.  The side of the city that bonded together not only as a community but as a country.  We talked to hundreds of native Canadian residents from around the nation on the street over the course of our stay and every single one of them was enjoying “the spirit” of the games.  I’ve heard talk of “the spirit” and even thought I had seen it on TV during Olympics past.  But nothing prepared me for getting caught up in “the spirit” of an Olympic Games during my stay.  I thought I would be an outsider, looking in on a big party I couldn’t join.  The reality was, I was embraced as an outsider and by the end of my trip felt as much a part of the Canadian pride as Canadians themselves.

Hosting the Olympic Games in Vancouver, winning their first gold medal during a games hosted on home-turf, and the elite honor of winning the most gold medals in any winter olympic games in history bonded Canadians together.  I was a part of history just by being there.  It was quite an experience.  I have been telling people it was like watching a country bond together in the same respects the US bonded together post 9-11.  Everyone wanted to show you how much pride they had in any way they could.  It was humbling.  So now when people ask me, “So, how was it?” I can confidently say “The most amazing experience I’ve been a part of in a very long time”.  And with that, I’m off to enjoy spending my $24,000.  See you at the 2012 games in London!

It has been a couple of days since my last update so I thought it would be a good opportunity to catch you all up to our happenings.  First of all, the video above is our Challenge #3 entry.  The video won the third challenge popular vote with an astounding 47%!  Unfortunately, the way Samsung has been judging has the public vote as a small percentage of the overall challenge vote.  Other judges from Samsung also weigh in and help choose a winner.  So for challenge #3, while the public thought our video was the best (and it clearly was), Samsung did not.  Team Cool Kids shall NEVER give up! It just means we’ll have to work that much harder next time!  However, the video that DID win was hilarious and well executed by Freddie & David (whom we love).

Samsung Mobile Explorers Challenge #3 Results

I’m currently working on the video entry for Challenge #4 and it is taking considerably longer than I anticipated due to unforseen computer crashes, software failures, and transcoding glitches.  These are all criteria that we just can’t take into consideration when we plan our videos out ahead of time and guage time allocation.  However, when all is said and done, this video should be damn good and feature far more production value than any of the other entries.  The challenge theme was “Freestyle” so we could do anything we wanted. And we did a lot. Just wait until tomorrow morning at 9am when the videos are posted and the voting begins.

If you haven’t seen it yet, Lindsay and myself have also been blogging and droppin photos over on our facebook (check it here) everyday.  There have been so many amazing moments while we’ve been here that it’s hard to remember them all.  In recent days, we experienced REAL korean BBQ with Samsung’s CMO/EVP David Steel; a field trip to the Salish Longhouse in Squamish; Hannah Teter’s silver medal finish in the Ladies Halfpipe finals up at Cypress; holding Hannah’s actual silver medal in my hands; the band “Stars” performance at the Orpheum; and pretty much walking every niche of this gorgeous city.  This trip has been amazing.

View of the sunset along the Sea to Sky highway

Yes, it has been stressful. Yes, I’m exhausted. Yes, I miss home.  But the overall experience and memories I know I’ll have for the rest of my life will be worth it.  Just walking through the streets of downtown Vancouver last night showed me just how much energy and pride Canadians have for their country and the 10s of thousands of visitors that are currently visiting.  It was by far the most people I’ve ever seen in one place at one time.  It was electric.

Ok, my renders are wrapping up so it’s back to the grind. I miss you all and will try to keep you posted on what else happens over the last stretch of this adventure.  Team Cool Kids is so close to taking this thing. None of us can give up now. We have to see this through so let’s just nut-up and win this frakkin’ competition together!  In the meantime, enjoy this secret video I made about our driver up here, Duffy. She’s a goddess.

Here is Challenge #2′s video.  The challenge, “Your Samsung Love Song” involved making a song that both captured the olympic energy and dealt with Samsung. We feel we were pretty much the only team to nail it (though David & Freddie KILL us with laughter everytime! They’re our besties).  We utilize the number one tool for communication, the mouth, to create every note in this video. PLEASE VOTE for Team Cool kids by heading on over to the Samsung USA facebook page, clicking the “Mobile Explorers” tab and entering the Samsung theater.  We need the votes for SURE on this one kids!

Okay, it’s official. VOTING HAS BEGUN in the Samsung Mobile Explorers Competition here in Vancouver during the Olympic Winter Games.  Our first challenge was to get the message out about Hannah Teter’s charity, Hannah’s Gold.  How would we do this?  Well, with tiny shots of the Hannah’s Gold Syrup from VT. that she sells on the site!  This challenge was tough.  We wanted to think of something creative and true to the Team Cool Kids spirit and humor while keeping the message intact and professional.  I think we nailed it.  As did the other teams.  The only way we’ll know is if you go to http://Facebook.com/SamsungUSA and vote (I have a preference for Team Cool Kids).  In the meantime, challenge #2 is under way. We have to create an original song for Valentines Day about Samsung. This is gonna be good…Stay tuned for that!

Ethan & Lindsay at the Inukshuk!

Here we sit in the heart of Vancouver.  We’ve found a small cafe with delicious soup and espresso to keep us chugging along.  The day isn’t even halfway through, and already we’ve been thrown into a wirlwind of experiences that words cannot do justice.

We woke up early once again after hitting the hay at the wee hours of the morning.  After spending the night editing, blogging and posting photos following an evening spent on the karaoke stage.  Upon finishing breakfast we met up with our fellow Samsung Mobile Explorers, all bleary eyed from the night before and received our first challenge.

This first challenge is going to span two days, and started at the OR@S (Olympic Rendezvous @ Samsung in David Lam Park) where we were interviewed by media outlets and were lucky enough to meet the lovely Olympic Gold Medalist, Samsung Olympic ambassador and  philanthropist, Hannah Teter.  She was absolutely lovely, and we so wish we would have had more time with her, but c’est la vie, she is a very popular lady these days.  Our challenge revolves around her and her charity Hannah’s Gold (www.HannahsGold.com), and we can only hope we can do both aspects justice.  We’re certainly going to try our very hardest.  Believe me, we definitely have some tricks up our collective sleeves.  Be sure to hit http://Facebook.com/SamsungUSA at 9:00 PM PST tomorrow (February 13, 2010) to check out Team Cool Kids finished video and vote!

Just a couple of Knuckleheads!

For now, the day will chug along now that we’ve filled our very needy bellies.  We will continue to explore all that Vancouver and the 2010 Winter Olympic Games have to offer including the opportunity to watch the opening ceremonies at the USA Olympic house.  Revelry and good times are sure to be had there before returning to the hotel for more hard work.

We also just saw the news from this morning regarding the Olympic Luger from the country of Georgia. Our hearts go out to his fellow teammates, family and country.  It certainly is a dark cloud on the opening day of such a wonderful global event.  We can only hope that this tragic event can bring our world nations closer together in unity. May he rest in peace.

We’re running on little to no sleep, but we hardly notice.  There is so much excitement and amazing opportunities everywhere here in Vancouver.  For now, we hardly have the time to bat an eyelash with so much to do, but we look forward to finally getting the chance to get some sleep…..in March.  Team Cool Kids FTW!