Olympic Games Opening Ceremony 2008

[stephbg]

Yes, it's still a work in progress, but at time of writing we're down to the boring how-bad-are-the-uniforms and let's-patronise-the-tiny-country-with-three-althletes-who-don't-have-a-hope-in-hell bits.



Unsuprisingly there were lots of people and lots of magnificent costumes. Atypically there was very little commentary, for which I was grateful. I remember being mightily offended at several points, but now the details escape me. I have an acknowledged phobia of the hive mind, but it was very distracting to have the word "creepy" constantly popping up in my head. I was obscurely reassured by the odd human pixel who got it wrong, but I disliked the absence of fun and confess to frequent moments of boredom.

There was a certain undeniable elegance to the ceremony, with the central theme of the paper providing a continuity, and no deeply mysterious pagentry or lawnmower solos. I'll be the first to admit my deep ignorance of Chinese culture and history, but in the end the spectacle carried enough weight on its own.

I liked the whales, but noted the absence of pandas and dragons.

Thoughts, people?

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

Loved some of the uniforms, hated many of the comments - fortunately, "BruceAndSandy" kept reasonably quiet most of the time, and mostly spoke about various sporting achievements of particular individuals or countries. Missed the first 45 mins of the opening cermony, but caught the last part. Commented to husband about complete lack of ANY reference to communist era, one of the most shaping eras in Chinese history I'd have thought...

--Rhonda