Angel >> Olympic snowboarding Its introduction to the Olympics has been fraught with controversy. Usually, new sports go through a minimum two-year Olympic trial period. But snowboarding was given official status in great haste, and some professional shredders, displeased with the IOC's demands upon their sport, chose to boycott the games. Despite all that, snowboarding is the rage of Nagano--and last weekend's giant slalom competition was nothing compared to this weekend's upcoming halfpipe antics. While Canada's Ross Rebagliati was stripped of his gold medal for using a banned substance, his choice of substance--not steroids, not nasal decongestants, but marijuana--gives you some idea of what this sport is all about: ski-bum culture has now hit the big time.

Insect >> Journal de Montréal columnist Franco Nuovo As if there weren't enough reasons for the world to hate journalists, Le Journal de Montréal and one of its reporters, Franco Nuovo, combined their efforts in their attempt to mock our Olympic hosts. And they succeeded. This week, Le Journal ran a photograph of Nuovo, who is covering the games, posed with his eyes pulled back in "imitation" of Japanese physical traits. For an extra kick in the teeth, Nuovo's article provides a description of a "nosy" Japanese customs official's "menacing yet slanted eye." Way to promote tolerance and understanding at what is probably the world's most unifying event.