I'm not comfortable with the "artistic" presentations using masses of people. Maybe we do make a fetish of individualism. These beautiful masses of people gave me the creeps, like watching those bizarre North Korean demonstrations. To be fair, I'm creeped out by "the wave" at U.S. stadiums. The desire to be subsumed inside a crowd is alien to me, but apparently a lot of people long for that feeling.
The Li Ning jog in the air was spectacular, unforgettable. The flame lighting was kind of a letdown after that, but after the archer lit the flame in Barcelona, nothing can match that.
With the stuff that's going on in Georgia, I don't mind W talking with Putin. They need to talk.
Yeah, the arrow shot to light the flame was a pinnacle. I wonder how much practice he put in to make sure he didn't miss it, and what kind of target arrangement he used (especially to keep it secret from the press)?
Maybe I'm too cynical, but it never occurred to me that Bush was talking about actual governance with Putin.
Personally I thought the guys in the boxes that were going up and down in waves was the most amazing stunt. The patterns were so complex they looked to be computer generated.
Watched it with my wife and I'm ashamed to admit that we didn't notice or comment on how male-dominated the performance was. In retrospect you are totally right.
It was an amazing show though.
Excellent commentary - thank you so much! I'll be back every day for more.
good news we sweapt womens saber..bad news, we are basicly the only country tat takes womens saber seriously as a sport (talk to me when we medal in a traditional event)
The opening ceremonies were magnificent spectacle (a vain hope that Bush was talking to Putin about Georgia).
Another vain hope it is that we will someday find this an alternative to war as a means of settling differences.
Yeah, the arrow shot to light the flame was a pinnacle. I wonder how much practice he put in to make sure he didn't miss it, and what kind of target arrangement he used (especially to keep it secret from the press)?
He had a fair margin for error. The idea was that the gas of the cauldron was turned up to the max, resulting in a giant ball of invisible gas above the cauldron. Hit that ball with your flaming arrow -- cauldron lit.
good news we sweapt womens saber..bad news, we are basicly the only country tat takes womens saber seriously as a sport (talk to me when we medal in a traditional event)
Most events began as something new. Besides, if you don't think that the Chinese, Russians, and French aren't pissed, and aren't looking forward to the team sabre event on Thursday, you are mistaken.
Yes, the opening theater was brilliant indeed. The director of the opening ceremony was Zhang Yimou.
Zhang directed some of my favorite films - The Story of Qui Ju, Raise The Red Lantern, To Live, and House Of Flying Dragons. And many more. Many of which starred the incomparable Gong Li.
What a treat.
Liza - Thanks for listing those. After that he's someone I want to learn more about.
The opening was artistically and technically stunning to say the least. Along with the boxes, which blew me away when the people appeared, I thought the runners on the bottom half of the globe were incredible. How'd they do that that? Also, the runner around the screen to light the flame was just brilliant.
The parade of nations cheerers lining the route .... omg! I think they had the hardest job to keep that level of energy for that long... in heels no less. I marveled at that.
I thought about the people of China and all the countries represented more than their governments. What a shot in the arm spirit wise I'm sure this gave them. Good people, tons and tons of good humans.
I liked the spirit of the opening..... being such a hopester and all.
Would it be bad for me to say that I don't give a flaming rat's ass about the Olympics and that I haven't watched a single nanosecond of this massive dog and pony show?
First off, I don't know what the IOC was thinking in giving this to Communist China, arguably the most polluted and oppressive nation on earth?
Secondly, even though I used to watch the Olympics when I was younger, has it been lost on anyone at how much the Olympics has been ruined by ringers and professionals (who haven't netted us much since the '96 Dream Team won gold in Atlanta)? I thought the Olympics was supposed to be about amateur athletes? We're doing the same thing that ruined the ancient Olympics. Didn't it give anyone nausea to see the likes of Kobe Bryant marching in the delegation knowing that a college basketball player should've been sent in his place (College players, don't forget, won us gold medals in basketball every year until the corrupt and rigged finals in Munich.)?
Thirdly, what ever happened to live announcing? All we're getting these days are responses to canned footage crafted to sound spontaneous (but never succeeds).
So forgive me if I don't share any enthusiasm whatsoever in this edition of the Olympics. It's not supposed to be about spectacular shows around they build entire stadiums.
Well, that series of photos in the Boston Globe took my breath away. Made me wish we'd actually watched some of the opening.
As to archery -- some people are really good at it. The national archery finals were generally held in a small town called Rangely, Colorado, where I went to college, so I watched them one year. I got to talking to one competitor, who has several times been national women's champion. She was just getting back into it after being out with a broken wrist, so she said she wasn't doing as well as usual. I watched her shoot 90 consecutive bullseyes. She said usually, when she wasn't hurting, she could do 90 consecutive center-of-the-bullseyes. I know this is possible -- I had a friend who was a riflewoman champion, and she said it was apparently a talent she was born with, because she could do it almost the first time she picked up a rifle.
Comes the revolution -- I'm going to go move in with her. 
I was trying to get tv hooked up in time to watch, being a big olympic fan... but I failed. never got the company over here to my little apartment. Does anyone have a good source online to watch the whole opening?
I'd rather keep this thread free of negativity. If you don't watch the Olympics and don't want to think about them, why come here and comment? Just a thought.
littlest hussein gator
I think NBC has the rights to all the vidio, online and on TV.
They have a ton of streaming video on nbcolympics.com but you have to download and install microsoft silverlight to view it.
Streaming video of the opening ceremonies here:
http://www.nbcolympics.com/video...core/
index.html
Myrtle, you and I cross-commented. I was speaking to Jurassicpork. Your comments were not completely condemning in a way which indicated you were coming here solely to be negative -- as you've proven.
Kent, thanks for the link to streaming video.
Just FYI, the American Idiot link above is to a story about Dubya touring the Olympics and ogling I mean observing the women's beach volleyball.
He makes me embarrassed to be American.
Secondly, even though I used to watch the Olympics when I was younger, has it been lost on anyone at how much the Olympics has been ruined by ringers and professionals (who haven't netted us much since the '96 Dream Team won gold in Atlanta)? I thought the Olympics was supposed to be about amateur athletes? We're doing the same thing that ruined the ancient Olympics. Didn't it give anyone nausea to see the likes of Kobe Bryant marching in the delegation knowing that a college basketball player should've been sent in his place
Define "amateur." One hundred years ago, "amateur" meant "rich, upper-class, white man." I don't think we want to go back to that. Not that having professional athletes has created a perfect golden age, but...
While the US Men's Basketball team hasn't done well enough with NBA players since 2000 in Sydney (the last time the US won the gold), the US Women have won four straight with pros. The Olympic ice hockey tournament is absolutely scintillating with the addition of the best of the NHL. While the best men's soccer players aren't all there, all the players who are there are professional.
So, no, seeing Kobe Bryant in the Opening Ceremonies didn't make me "nauseous." He's one of the best basketball players in the world, and if the Olympics are about the best athletes in the world participating, he belongs there.
I mean, one would assume you found it nauseous that Wayne Gretzky was on the Canadian Olympic hockey team in 1998, as opposed to some "amateur."
Another place you can check out for live streaming of events, and playback is www.CBC.ca. That's the Canadian station that's covering the Olympics for those of us up North.
While I don't want to inject any negativity into this thread, I have to say, as a genuine Olympics junkie, I find myself deeply conflicted watching these Olympics. I cannot stop thinking of how those truly wonderful, state of the art venues, were built by what was, essentially, slave labour. That many people died during construction. Or that many of the athletes may suffer comprimised health for competing in such a heavily polluted city. Believe me, I'd rather sit back, and marvel at it all. Alas, I just can't.
by the way, that drum photo is an amazing example of a tessellation.
Thanks for the word of the day tlg.
The Palestinians used to have a pool
"Last night's Olympic ceremonies included four or five Palestinians. Matt Lauer commented that the Palestinians don't have an Olympic sized pool. I'm going to find a way to send him the picture of a demolished children's pool in a Palestinian village--paid for by USAID and YMCA funds. http://www.philipweiss.org/mondo...sraelpalestine/
I really enjoyed the dance on the scroll - the choreographer, Shen Wei, has a great company in New York that has performed at the Lincoln Center festival for several years, as well as at the Kennedy Center.
The entire opening ceremony was absolutely amazing. I was impressed that they used so many performers, and managed to maintain their unison with a seemingly easy precision. The only thing that I found wrong, or rather a little humorous was the flag that Lin Hao was carrying was wrong. The small Chinese flag that he was given appears to have been upside down, with the stars and crescent appearing in the bottom corner. Small mistake, but still a little intriguing considering the pains they went to to make everything else perfect.
Isn't an upside down flag a distress call?
Commenting by HaloScan
