Stop emailing me

Too many e-mails. The contest is over. The red snowflake is named Neve, although she's not actually a snowflake, she's a snowball. Sorry Neve. Frankly, she looks more like a cherry snow cone, which is at least as dignified as a snowball anyhow, plus a lot tastier.

Reader Glenn was far too late to win, but he sends along this information from the official Olympics site:

"'Neve': she is a gentle, kind and elegant snowball; 'Gliz': he is a lively, playful ice cube. They are the two symbolic characters of the XX Olympic Winter Games. They complement each other and personify the very essence of winter sports. The mascots were born from the pencil of Pedro Albuquerque, a 38-year old Portuguese designer who won the international competition launched by the Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games in Turin (TOROC) on 25 March 2003. He was inspired by his passion for water and the incredible shapes this element takes on when it is transformed into snow or ice [or snow cones]; by his research into the Italian spirit and the places hosting the Olympic Games; by the Olympic values; and by the technical characteristics of the various sporting disciplines of the Games. "Neve" and "Gliz" reflect the spirit of the Italian Olympic event: passion, enthusiasm, culture, elegance, and love of the environment and of sport. They are the symbol of a young generation that is full of life and energy." [Glenn continues] So the question here is: If the guy who created Neve and Gliz was inspired by the "incredible shapes [water] takes on when it is transformed into snow or ice," why did he create those characters to be some sort of off-color versions of Gumby and Pokey? That's inspiration? And is his name really Pedro Albuquerque? Or is that a stage name?? OK, I'll never get these 20 minutes of my life back.

Exactly, that's the true spirit: the wasting of time on obscure and oddly phrased press releases from the official Olympic Web site. In that spirit, the winner of all the NBC junk and the Neve pin is reader Nick, who works at what appears to be a real job and will thus be identified merely as reader Nick. Good work, Nick. You e-mailed approximately nine minutes after the question was posed. Does [company name deleted] know what you're doing with your time?

By Dan Steinberg |  February 15, 2006; 11:37 AM ET
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