Beijing Opening Ceremonies
 

Pretty cool so far. China is such an ancient civilization and the history of it is vivdly presented in this rather epix presentation.

How about that screen around the top of the nest and that HUGE LCD screen (70 by like 240) that they keep moving.

And S. Brightman - Jazzy (where ever he is) must be flipping!

I think it's been kind of tacky, but yet I keep watching. :laugh:

I think they are all cheesey to a degree. I was in the Alanta one. I loved it. I remember many people not from the South panning it because it was too Southern with the trucks and cheerleaders. While I likely would not have done that segment, I liked it and thought it was representative of the South.

The Chinese one benefited so much from the advancement in technology.

This procession of atheletes is, like all, glacier like. But, they are the show I guess.

You know what's sad? All these Steroid freakazoids like Marion Jones and others are totally ruining it for the honest hard working athletes to the point now where when I ask my friends about the upcoming olympics they all say "Why should I watch, they're all probably on steroids anyway.":mad:

ANNYWAY, Back to the Opening ceremonies.

~Stunning, the have so much culture. I adore the olympics. It's just nice to see everyone get together and be one world and one purpose. even just for a little while.

That part where the manuscript thing kept unrolling was really cool. So was the Olimpic rings rising from the floor. ALSO! Sara Brightman is awsome. :thumbsup:

Wow! The drumming, right at the beginning was amazing! Fantastic showcase and totally over the top,but thoroughly enjoyable to watch. I wonder if the art director saw the last Pink Floyd tour with the rising ball (which turned into a lotus flower thingy)...??? That rising world sure looked similar :laugh:
Just makes me wonder how on earth, London will manage in 2012...still 2 weeks of entertaining tele to look forward to now...

LOL at the shot of George & Laura Bush checking their watches.

I know. And, and this is my Southern nature, if you are the Pres. of the US of A, I do not give a shiitte that is is 90+ degrees in there, you keep your fukcing jacket on out of respect for all the atheletes in there. To W's credit, he at least put his jacket on when the US athelete's walked by. Tacky Tacky. Laura, on the other hand, looked lovely.

But, I thought the whole this was fantastic, esp, the lighting of the torch - that man "ran" that whole length.

I'm indifferent to the Summer Olympics, I like some events - Volleyball, Badminton, Sabre, Archery, Baseball/Softball and Gymnastics (Oklahoma is a hotbed of gymnastics, OKC is home to 3 former medalists - Shannon Miller, Bart Conner and his wife Nadia Comăneci).

However, I hope the supposed "Dream Team" in basketball gets their collective asses whipped yet again. I can't stand track & field & swimming - too predictable that the US will do well in those events.

Can't wait til the 2010 Winter Olympics...I'm a Winter Olympics junkie - Love all the events, especially ice skating and CURLING (Curling is the BOMB, man - love it!!!)

i loved marion jones, hearing what she did breaks my heart~

i thought the opening ceremonies where stunning~ i loved it all especially seeing the countries w/ 5 or less competing & how excited they were~

monkey boy <<<< that's what my son calles him:laugh:was sitting there looking idiotic as usual~
i love jennie finch!!!~

Everything has its dark side, don't let that taint the whole thing for you. I missed it dammit.

For real. Musicians win awards all the time with morphed and computerized voices and not with their true singing voice. I tend to think that's in the same category.....

I loved what I saw, especially the scroll part with the people in the boxes making wave like motions. I've recorded it and am going to watch the whole thing later.

Did you see how she was holding his arm as they walked down the stairs? He looked totally pissed. I thought it must have been way past his bed time and was amazed that he managed to look interested for so long. I was kind of hoping he was actually interested.

The one I can't believe was there and stayed there was Putin, with the warring in Georgia and all.

I saw Brendan Fraser today in a tv interview about the Mummy 3, where he admitted the movie special effects are kind of saturated in this industry, he meant if you imagine it, it can be done in a movie, everything is posssible, so.. even though you have never seen it before, there is nothing "new". but the good thing of this movie was also the story, etc.

and i think it's similar with olympic opening (and closing) shows. I have seen so many shows that.. even though i find them cool, nice, it doesn't impress me anymore.

Seoul, Atlanta, Beijing,... but my favorite is the L.A. 1984 closing show, when the extraterrestial and the UFO appeared, well I was 18 and I remember it reeeally impressed me and i thought HEY THAT'S A REEALLY COOL SHOW.

I was there at the Los Angeles Coliseum...August 12, 1984. Actor Richard Basehart was the narrator. Lionel Richie the entertainment.

I really enjoyed it.. The Chinese culture is really beautiful and they did a wonderful job!

A lot better than when the Olympics were in Atlanta.. OMG! Didn't they use pick-up trucks in the opening ceremonies or something? Jesus, we aren't ALL rednecks!

I didn't see the opening ceremonies. Wasn't it just a lot of pomp & circumcision?

I'm waiting for my favorite event, the luge.

I thought the whole thing was f*cking amazing! I bet London are sweating a bit now about how they can top that!

It also appeared that Bush and Laura got "general admission" seats! :laugh:

I loved it, Zhang Yimou did an awesome job. No surprise about that.

Serrart

I had just heard it was Zhang Yimou. :( so sorry i missed it.

They deserved Bob Ueker seats:laugh:

London is not going tyo try and top it. China spent $300 million on the opening...London, like Los Angeles, must try and breakeven. I think it's time to stop with the mega spectacles.

Well, we'll see. Part of China's ace in the hole was and is that the outfits, drums, etc. appear so exotic to the West, and, China is the oldest civilzation in the world. Again, the OC usually tries to display the regional culture. How will bagpipes, dancing Irish, and other cool UK legacies appear when juxtaposed to the exotic nature of the Chinese's ancient culture. Also, cities like Atlanta did it mostly on private money (the state paid for security) -- so that is a consideration as well.

Personally, I think the UK should display the Blue Picts and Wood Dwellers.

I watched the opening ceremonies and thought they were amazing! Very complicated and I thought they did a great job. I've been watching and following the Olympics this time. It's been very enjoyable.:nod:

LOL.
Lip syncing hits opening ceremony:
Olympic girl seen but not heard

They pretty much all lyp sync. Celine did at the Atlanta one. I know this because I was in it and had listen to "The Power of the Dream" like 37 million times for months before it and she sang the exact same thing the night of it.

I heard about that. That's totally lame.

Parvarotti did it in Torino.