Saturday, August 09, 2008
Opening Ceremonies- A Review (as if you asked)
I’m a whore for over-glamorized celebrations of other people. No denying that dear people. For example, as much as love baseball, I’m more interested in the pre-game ceremonies than the game itself. But let’s face it, the mid-summer classic aint so classic.
None the less, once every four years I get seriously giddy over the Olympic ceremonies. By their nature, the Olympic ceremonies are the penultimate of wow factors. It’s a celebration with the financial backing of one of the highest GDP’s in the world- and it didn’t let down.
I’m not gonna lie, I was a little uneasy watching how perfect and flawless it went off. I had this little poke in the back of my head telling me “of course the performers are spot on, if they’re not- well, its ‘re-education’ time.” Make no mistakes about it, although we will be inundated with the notion of this being China’s “coming out party” that the country is still a fascist foothold of deplorable violations of our fellow man. I couldn’t help but to wonder if for every performer there was a “People’s Observer” looking for the slightest quirk.
None the less, once every four years I get seriously giddy over the Olympic ceremonies. By their nature, the Olympic ceremonies are the penultimate of wow factors. It’s a celebration with the financial backing of one of the highest GDP’s in the world- and it didn’t let down.
I’m not gonna lie, I was a little uneasy watching how perfect and flawless it went off. I had this little poke in the back of my head telling me “of course the performers are spot on, if they’re not- well, its ‘re-education’ time.” Make no mistakes about it, although we will be inundated with the notion of this being China’s “coming out party” that the country is still a fascist foothold of deplorable violations of our fellow man. I couldn’t help but to wonder if for every performer there was a “People’s Observer” looking for the slightest quirk.
None the less, it’s not about governments, or politics, or women’s beach volleyball uniforms (well, maybe a little), but it truly is about sport and the magnitude of the human endeavor. Sport truly is a wonderful thing.
So, here we go.
First off, I KNOW I’M WATCHIN N.B.C.!!! How on Earth can I not know that? It’s not like they don’t shove it down our throat every chance they get. None the less, when I’m watching a scene as awe inspiring as this-
So, here we go.
First off, I KNOW I’M WATCHIN N.B.C.!!! How on Earth can I not know that? It’s not like they don’t shove it down our throat every chance they get. None the less, when I’m watching a scene as awe inspiring as this-
I have to deal with a peacock logo in the upper, right corner of my screen. Thank God they had the good sense and restraint to not have a scrolling banner at the bottom telling me the latest news on Brent Favre. Knuckleheads. I dig Bob Costas, always have. Even Matt Lauer did a pretty good job. I can’t recall the name of the China expert with them (I could look it up, but I, well- I just don’t want to) but it was a great idea to have him there as well. As good as Bob and Matt were, any attempt to tell us of the history of China (being portrayed in the ceremony) would have seemed, and in actuality been, contrived. It just flowed better. There’s no doubt that Bob is the aire apparent to the great Jim McKay, and I got no problem with that at all. He’s intelligent, well spoken, and pretty damn funny.
But what about the ceremony Kirk? Com’on we’re dyin’ here!
Well, frankly it was stunning. For the first time in a loooong time, I’m kinda speechless. They pulled it off wonderfully. From the eye dropping technology of the world’s largest L.C.D. screen (oh, freaking my!) to the simplicity of children singing, to one of the coolest torch lightings ever-
Lots of mixing with the old, Such as taking historical music to new levels-
... as well as amazing new advances to in Beadazzeler technology-
... as well as amazing new advances to in Beadazzeler technology-
All in all, a great thing to see. Now, on to the sport. The first day contains cycling- they must have known I was reporting. Well done Olympic organizing committee, keep RadioFree happy.
