WINTER OLYMPICS 2010 - VANACOUVER

Self promotion in Figure Skating

What a great Olympics this has been. The Canadian management has had the horrible Luge disaster, no snow, opening ceremony malfunctions and not enough Canadian Gold. We have had a Japanese figure skater on the Russian team and a group of angry Korean speed skating judges trying to get even for the 2006 Olympics. Here at Skwoosh we are at wits end trying to find a way to self promote our light weight performance gel cushions in a witty, tactful, but not too obvious way, for use in the sport of figure skating. We have gone inside and outside the men’s costumes with no success. How do you fit a gel travel cushion to the bottom of a male figure skaters costume? For sure the compact size of the travel cushion looks like it will fit many of the Olympic skaters. In fact we theorize that placing the gel travel cushion or even our gel stadium bleacher seat cushion inside the costume may serve to “gel cushion” a skater's fall. But would the damage done to the aesthetics of that skin tight costume be worth it? We won’t even try to get into the thinking process that went with the discussion of “ what if” the woman skater from China tucked a Skwoosh……… In every case, the propriety of using a gel travel cushion or gel stadium bleacher seat to cushion a skaters costume won and Skwoosh will be sticking to Travel, Gel Therapy, Swivel and Stadium Bleacher Seating for the foreseeable future.

3 Games in 1 for Bostron College Sluggers

ACC powerhouse Boston College set another NCAA record last weekend, this one in baseball. In the baseball team’s first Division I tournament appearance since 1967, BC set a record for the longest baseball game in NCAA history – a 25 inning contest that lasted 7 hours and 3 minutes, finally wrapping up at 1:05 am EST.

We can only hope that the diehard fans who made it to the end of the game, and the players for that matter, had their Skwoosh stadium cushions with them. Ironically in a sport noted for its languorous pace, baseball stadium seats are some of the most uncomfortable in sports. Our gel cushions make sitting through a game, even one that long, a much more pleasant experience. Plus the BC players could have used their stadium seat cushions for the ride home – bested 4-3 by Army, they needed all the comfort they could get.

American Idol Gives the Symphony an Idea

Skwoosh, long a supporter of the fine arts, was mildly shocked to learn that certain symphonies and museums are integrating cell phones into their repertoire. The Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, for example, asks the audience to text message their vote, American Idol-style, for the encore. An attempt to reach a more youthful audience, it also supports efforts aimed at increasing audience participation.

We’ll leave the question of whether Hayden, Mozart et al truly intended for the audience to have any type of say in the matter to another post. However if arts institutions would like to broaden their appeal, may we suggest starting with something a little more basic – the seating. It is almost as if concert halls take the whole “suffering for your art” adage literally. Why not use our stadium seat to make the entire experience a more comfortable one? Designed for sitting on bleacher seats, our stadium cushion can nonetheless be taken upscale and would appreciate a day at the opera or symphony. Our gel cushions can even be imprinted with the organization’s logo, a great way to appeal to today’s label-obsessed youth.