Beijing Olympic 2008

[TrickyRicky]

I will be watching some of the sporting competitions. I will not however be watching the opening and closing ceremonies or any segments pertaining to the host country or nation. This is not a slight on China or Beijing, a fascinating city and country I have visited before and the country of origin of some of my ancestors. I just never watch these things (and this will apply to Vancouver 2010 as well) for what they represent and particularly so this Olympics, jingoism steeped in nationalist mythology and fictional identity constructs.

 

[Urban Shocker]

I missed seeing the ceremonies. I assume they kept the goose-stepping to an absolute minimum?

 

[gabe]

i wont be wasting my time watching the Olympics. Some events could be postponed because of the thick disgusting smog problem they have over there.
Olympics in Beijing is hurting the locals far more than any of us! Food kiosks closed in stations, age old housing areas knocked down and invisible relocation strategies. Postal service almost dead for local business folks, power outages for many homes and factories making certain of olympic power supply. The Beijing "protesters corner" demolished and on and on.

FREE TIBET.

 

[Hydrogen]

I will be watching some of the sporting competitions. I will not however be watching the opening and closing ceremonies or any segments pertaining to the host country or nation. This is not a slight on China or Beijing, a fascinating city and country I have visited before and the country of origin of some of my ancestors. I just never watch these things (and this will apply to Vancouver 2010 as well) for what they represent and particularly so this Olympics, jingoism steeped in nationalist mythology and fictional identity constructs.

I won't be watching any of the Olympics as I don't have a television. But for those of you who love the event, enjoy!

I agree with TrickyRicky, there is an air of nationalist mythology that pervades the games that seems to have its origins in the nationalist sentiments of 1920's and 1930's. It's bizarre to see nations of hundreds of millions competing against those of a few million, or to see very wealthy countries up against extremely impoverished states.

I would rather see the whole nationalist element ditched and the focus put on the athletes. Sure that'd make team sports tougher to define, but I am always much more impressed by the efforts of the individuals more than the country they came from.

My two cents.

 

[299 bloor call control.]

Overheard from the 2012 London Olympics opening ceremony planning office during the Beijing opening:

"#%*# (*@%)! #*(! !@*$)!"

How can London, or any future Olympic city, top this morning's opening ceremonies? Well maybe if they had all the palace guards decked in in LED suits and hats.

 

[jn_12]

Typical anti-China accusation. It has not happened yet but such statement just prove my point!

Oh, and what about the Americans huh? Heard of Marion Jones? And the recent 4x4 men? They won so many golds and never got caught until now...oh, big f... deal now that they got caught.

Anti-China accusation?

Let's see... the IOC has done everything they can to ensure the Chinese games go off without a hitch. They have done nothing but turn a blind eye to many of the promises made when Biejing won the bid. How would it look if the IOC caught a Chinese athlete doping? Wouldn't it open a can of worms that the IOC doesn't want? It's common sense. If one Chinese athlete gets caught I'll gladly take back what I'm saying, but from what I have read/heard from some of the sport journalism's best, there's a general consensus that the IOC wants these games to be a Chinese success story at all cost.

What the hell do the Americans have to do with anything? I'm having trouble figuring out where I brought up Marion Jones or Justin Gatlin, or any American athlete. If you want to discuss the Americans, notice how they got to these athletes well after the success they had? Its not a coincidence. The IOC benefitted substantially from these high-profile athletes and then let WADA dump on them when they were washed up.

Anyways, all I'm saying is that the IOC has an agenda and there's little to suggest that they won't do all they can to carry it out.

 

[jn_12]

Overheard from the 2012 London Olympics opening ceremony planning office during the Beijing opening:

"#%*# (*@%)! #*(! !@*$)!"

How can London, or any future Olympic city, top this morning's opening ceremonies? Well maybe if they had all the palace guards decked in in LED suits and hats.

Some people are already comparing London to Atlanta. I don't think it's that bad, but London has more things to worry about right now than its opening ceremonies.

 

[Jayomatic]

I think London will do just fine. There is plenty of artistic talent in the United Kingdom to choose from and i'm sure technology will only get better in 4 years so i'm sure we'll see some really innovative things.

They could always play on their past as a naval powerhouse so I can only imagine what can be done with water.

I'd say this opening ceremonies ranks above Sydney for me now but I do think that the torch lighting ceremony in Sydney was just as impressive.

 

[dt_toronto_geek]

Olympic Opening Ceremonies

I recorded the opening ceremonies on my PVR from the CBC-HD feed this morning and I have to say, it's stunning. I've only watched a bit of it but from what I've seen I have to encourage anyone with an interest in this to either record or watch the US high definition feed tonight when it airs. If you have HD, be sure and tune to that channel. I have a plasma panel which looks better at night, so I'll watch it then but I wanted to give a heads up on this.
Don't miss what appears to be the most spectacular Olympic opening ceremonies ever.

Update: my roommate tells me that the CBC feed from this morning stops as the torch enters the stadium. If you have recorded it this morning, re-record the evening feed and add one hour to the recording because it runs overtime.

 

[urbanfan89]

It was S-T-U-N-N-I-N-G.

 

[afransen]

Haven't seen the opening ceremonies yet. I have to say that Sydney's torchlighting was amazing....

But....

But they still want independent.

You are quite wrong my friend. Opinion polls and two referenda suggest that Quebeckers do not want independence. Have the Chinese offered to honour a secession referendum for Tibetans? I'm not criticizing China, I'm just defending the newsworthness of these issues. You are trying to draw parallels to the Canadian situation that are just laughable. If anything, your comparison hurts your defense of China by showing how a mature, democratic government deals with a separatist movement.

 

[Venti de Milo]

Why worry about London when Vancouver is next? Let me guess, HOCKEY this and HOCKEY that?

You hear it here first!

My fave for this Beijing Opening is the foot-print painting that athletes step on when they marching out, very cool.

 

[scarberiankhatru]

I hope Pyongyang wins the 2020 games, if only for the opening ceremonies... 2000 drummers? Pshh...they'd do 20,000! And imagine how awesome the Potemkin Olympic Village would be!

 

[adma]

I hope Pyongyang wins the 2020 games, if only for the opening ceremonies... 2000 drummers? Pshh...they'd do 20,000! And imagine how awesome the Potemkin Olympic Village would be!

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

My critique (up till parade of the athletes)

Not bad - certainly not my worst case scenario - some of it is actually quite moving - but I found it a bit crass and loud.

The good: "footsteps" firework; "The scroll" - particularly the painting and movable type segments; Tai Chi.

The bad: Flag raising (nothing wrong with the act itself - i.e. PLA, but the ethnic children's salute - eek! Sorry it's just too authoritarian for my taste to get kids to do these things); "One World One Dream" - Sarah Brightman is horrid - she is a few keys away from strangling herself with her own voice; and gawd the globe is tacky. Very tacky.

And yes, one complaint in general - we know bright colours are nice, but sorry, hot neon pink (and other saturated colours in typical "Communist" China fashion) on the kids during the painting segment is just gross. The choreography need some work too, it compares badly to Seoul 88 (much less those Mass Games in North Korea). All in all, Athens 04 still won the style game.

AoD