Fusion pop-up coming to street food festival

Biographer delves deep into the comedy and the tragedy of Robin Williams' troubled life

Whenever I’m asked with whom I’d love to dine, entertainer Robin Williams always tops my short list of three. Still.

It’s immaterial that we didn’t move in the same social circles. Or that our career paths never crossed, even though one of his many movies, The Big White, was partially shot in Winnipeg in 2005. Something about him — that hairy persona, those kind blue eyes, the “aw shucks” grin — had intrigued me since watching the debut of his Mork & Mindy TV sitcom in 1978. His off-the-wall goofiness simply sealed the deal.

Comedian Williams became movie-star Williams, and I bought every flick — the good, the not-so-good and the real stinkers. His raunchy standup recordings, often released between his movies, were just an added, adult-only bonus.

So I, like many, was gutted when, at age 63, Williams took his own life in 2014. I didn’t “get” it: how could an award-winning, funny guy, admired by so many for so long, get so beaten up inside that he’d off himself?

Odermatt wins super-G, keeps season title hopes alive

SAALBACH-HINTERGLEMM, Austria - Marco Odermatt dominated the penultimate men’s World Cup super-G of the season Sunday to keep himself in the race for the discipline title.

The Swiss skier finished his gutsy run on the Schneekristall course 0.62 seconds ahead of runner-up Matthieu Bailet.

The Frenchman was the 2016 junior world champion and earned his first podium result on the World Cup circuit.

Vincent Kriechmayr, the double world champion from Austria, trailed Odermatt by 0.81 in third, a day after he won the downhill on the same hill. Another Austrian, Raphael Haaser, finished two-hundredths behind Kriechmayr in fourth.

Messing credits teammates for support

MISSISSAUGA, Ont. - The rink had always felt like home for Keegan Messing. But in the days and weeks after his brother's death, the Canadian figure skater struggled to find solace on the ice.

In a sport that requires steely nerves to reel off big jumps, and the ability to dig deep to push through searing pain, Messing had lost his will.

"It was the question of: why am I doing this?" Messing said. "In the grand scheme of life, it was: should I still do this? Can I still do this?"

Less than four months after his younger brother Paxon died in a motorcycle crash in Anchorage, Messing is aiming for his first national title at the Canadian figure skating championships, and a spot on the world championship team. He credits fellow Canadian skaters Nam Nguyen and Piper Gilles for getting him to the start gate.

Tokyo Olympic aftermath still being untangled a year later

TOKYO (AP) — The Tokyo Olympics survived the COVID-19 postponement, soaring expenses and some public opposition. A year later, the costs and benefits remain as difficult to untangle as the Games were to pull off.

In his speech at the closing ceremony, IOC President Thomas Bach said a major accomplishment of the Games was simply reaching the end.

“We did it,” Bach said. “We did it together," he repeated, crediting the athletes, Japanese government officials, and deep-pocketed broadcasters for refashioning the Games despite no fans, disappointed sponsors, and no buzz around the city.

Organizers said the Games would drive tourism, showcase Japan's technological prowess, and create memories similar to the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. The pandemic erased that.

The women’s 100 metres in Tokyo ended with Elaine Thompson-Herah’s celebration. It might have cost her a world record

Thompson-Herah beats compatriot Fraser-Pryce and leads a Jamaican sweep of the podium.