Summer Olympics: Opening Ceremony

The opening ceremonies in London were a mixed bag, kind of messy and complicated with various "storylines," but enjoyable for various highlights involving celebrities/notables.  Queen Elizabeth's participation in a film with Daniel Craig (playing James Bond) was a definite highlight.  Amazing how long her reign has been, just a few years' short of Queen Victoria, therefore to-date currently the second longest reign of a British monarch.  Mr. Bean was a distraction but I still liked his bit (it totally, however, took away from the performance of "Chariots of Fire").  Kenneth Branagh was cheery as "Isambard Kingdom Brunel" (apparently Americans [on Twitter] thought he was playing Abraham Lincoln, and wondered why: my guess is they were being wise-asses and didn't really think he was playing Lincoln). I always love the Parade of Nations, particularly when the commentators inform the audience of the nations participating that have never medaled in the history of the Olympics! One of the best trivia pieces offered by commentators, was about tiny group island nation Tuvalu's sale of their .tv web domain, see NYT article here and wikipedia page here (unfortunately, Tuvalu is one of those South Pacific island nations that's in danger of being under water one day due to climate change).   Just before getting to the Zs, Bob Costas summed up how I feel about the Parade of Nations at the Olympics: "Regardless of the political tensions and differences-- the world hot spots-- the smiles on the faces of these Olympians are so genuine.  They're all, each in their own way, so happy to be here."   I must say that during the speeches by the officials, the clunky term "your Royal Highnessess" sure sounded like "your Royal Highn-asses" to me.  As always, the lighting of the Olympic cauldron was a natural high point, with the numerous torches coming together this time to create it a novel approach.  Paul McCartney delivered a nice finale, and was the perfect choice.  All in all, enough "spectacle" and water cooler-talk worthy highlights to say the '12 opening ceremonies succeeded, but they probably won't go down as one of the better ones.

Winter Olympics Opening Ceremonies

My belated thoughts to Friday's Olympics Opening Ceremonies. Despite artistic director David Atkins' claim to deal with the individual, of course, 'bigger is better' still reigned, and really appropriately so: it's certainly expected. Donald Sutherland's narration was a bit "observatory star show-esque" but seemed to work nonetheless. I also liked that there was an intro, break with the Parade of Nations, then it went into the stage show (highlighted by the polar bear 'puppet'). The spectacle part had a garishness, that thankfully started with a much more subtle sequence (the runner in the 'electronic' fields [to "Both Sides Now"]). Good star wattage with the performers. Another unfavorable comparison: the Native-American section at the start and the poet at the end seemed a little "theme park" to me. Unfortunately caldron blunder may be the ceremonies lasting memory. On the whole a worthy follow-up to the Summer Olympics... although it will be many years before Li Ning's run across the top of the Bird's Nest in China is beaten for "single-most breathtaking opening ceremonies' moment."

On the death of the Georgian luger and NBC's coverage... I thought they handled it as best they could. I think I say this because I didn't feel the need to run to CNN or You Tube to be satisfied with the full story. [But: I do think saying "lugers" should be somehow avoided (I always here "losers" when it's spoken).]

I particularly liked NBC's facts-about-Canada section at the start (introduced by Tom Brokaw), and their package on the lengthy torch relay (45,000 kilometers).

In terms of the advertising, I liked all of McDonald's ads (such as the one where the parents grab the Happy meal back and forth away from each other so they can give it to their kid themselves), but hated the MARRIAGE REF promos... show looks terrible and the promos are just annoying: celebs tell middle Americans who's "right" in an argument because they are celebs and therefore have all the answers.

One Year Until the Winter 2010 Olympics: Vancouver

Believe it or not, the Winter Olympics are just one year away.

As stated on the official website: "The 2010 Olympic Torch Relay, proudly presented by Coca-Cola and RBC, will connect Canadians in every province and territory, throughout a 45,000-kilometre journey, over approximately 100 days, and involving 12,000 torchbearers. The journey of the flame will culminate at BC Place on February 12, 2010 with the lighting of the Olympic Cauldron, signalling the start of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games."

Wikipedia link: The 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Canada.

Always loved the winter games... looking forward to it.

2008 Summer Olympics Closing Ceremony/ Olympics Notebook

The 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics has come to an end, with the U.S. garnering the most medals and China the most golds. It has been an exciting run-- but sometimes overwhelming to take it all in. This year I DVR'd the NBC coverage (just the main network) as a "series" and somehow managed-- doing a lot of fast-forwarding-- to keep ahead of being 100% full on my DVR's memory.


The Closing Ceremony had the same pagentry and epic scale as the Opening. The Closing did have me wondering, however, if Zhang Yimou had recently watched Tron. The London presentation was a bit odd: the double decker bus sequence seemed a little "high school" and the musical teaming of 23-year-old Leona Lewis and 64-year-old Jimmy Page was not inspired. I liked NBC's "Performances of the Games" recaps during commercial breaks— only wish they had done more.

The NBC commentators offered an interesting fact about the mingling of the Olympians from different nations in the Closing Ceremony, which I'll cite from Wikipedia's entry of the 1956 Melbourne Olympics: "Inspired by Australian teenager John Wing, an Olympic tradition began when athletes of different nations are allowed to parade together at the closing ceremony, instead of with their national teams, as a symbol of world unity. [Wing wrote a letter to organizers, which said in part:] "During the Games there will be only one nation. War, politics and nationalities will be forgotten. What more could anybody want if the world could be made one nation."

A summary of the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics:

The highlights: Li Ning's run, suspended by wires, along the length of the Bird's Nest across a moving electronic scroll to light the Olympic cauldron in the Opening Ceremony; Michael Phelps [nicknamed by the Chinese "Flying Fish"] wins eight gold medals (three wins are particularly spectacular: the 4 x 100 m freestyle relay in which teammate Jason Lezak was able to outrun the French by .08 seconds for the win, Phelps winning the 200 m butterfly despite the fact that his goggles filled with water, and his .01 margin win of the men's 100 m butterfly [with stills and slo-mos of the win shown ad nauseam]; Jason Lezak gets an individual medal— a bronze (in a tie) in the 100 m freestyle; the U.S.'s Natalie Coughlin becomes the first athlete to defend gold in the women's 100 m backstroke; U.S. gymnasts Nastia Liukin and Shawn Johnson [nicknamed by the Chinese "Minnie Mouse"] get one gold each and a bunch of other medals; the Chinese dominate the diving competitions (although they just miss a clean sweep); Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh win gold in beach volleyball and extend their international run of not losing a single set to 108 straight sets (watched all their games!); Phil Dalhausser and Todd Rogers win men's beach volleyball gold; women's 4 x 400 m relay's last leg when Sanya Richards came from behind to outdistance the Russians; U.S.A.'s Redeem team "redeems" in basketball but Spain gives them a run for the Olympic gold in a tight 118-107 victory; Jamaica's Usain Bolt's amazing world-recording breaking golds in track; Russian pole vaulter and media favorite Yelena Isinbayeva wins gold and breaks the world record again; Bryan Clay win's gold in the men's decathlon for the U.S.; Mary Lou Retton-inspired (!) discus gold medalist Stephanie Brown Trafton takes home first gold for the U.S. in her field since 1932; 38 year-old Constantina Dita-Tomescu's women's marathon gold-- she was out in front all by herself as she crossed the finish line; Andrei Aramnau of Belarus breaks three heavyweight records; Romanian Sandra Izbasa upsets in gymnastics winning the gold for floor exercise; introduction of BMX bike riding; retiring of softball and the placement of the U.S. team's shoes on the field; Australian Matthew Mitcham prevents China's clean sweep in diving (and garners the highest score for an individual dive in Olympic history); the Chinese take every possible medal in table tennis; in the last event shown on NBC before the Closing Ceremony, the U.S. defeats Brazil in the men's volleyball competition winning gold.

The disappointments/tragedies: Majorly Youtube'd accident occurs when Hungary's Janos Baranyai's arm is bend backward [his elbow was dislocated] in the weightlifting competition (apparently he will [eventually] recover fully, with no bones broken); the U.S. falters in track, particularly the men's and women's relay— both drop the baton in the semifinals and miss competing for medals; BMX rider Kyle Bennett dislocates his shoulder in a quarter final crash and eventually doesn't get the opportunity to compete for a medal; 41 year-old Dara Torres misses Olympic gold in the women's 50 m freestyle by .01 of a second; attractive Paraguayan javelin thrower Leryn Franco (spotted at the Opening Ceremony) doesn't make the cut for the medal competition; the U.S. loses to Japan for the softball competition gold; injured and hurting defending champion Liu Xiang of China makes an attempt to compete in the men 110 m hurdles, but is unable to continue (after a brief try following a false start); most tragically, it was revealed that top classical Chinese dancer Liu Yan was paralyzed from the waist down in an accident while rehearsing for the opening ceremonies.

The controversies: Chinese gymnasts are alleged to be younger than the 16 year-old minimum age; the timing of Russia's conflict into Georgia during the games; bad air quality in Beijing; the "buck tooth" young Chinese girl singer is replaced by a more pleasing looking girl in the opening ceremony; some fireworks in the Opening Ceremony were digitally added; Sweden's Ara Abrahamian leaves his bronze medal for wrestling on the mat after a dispute with officials; in another to-be-seen on You Tube video, Cuba's Ángel Matos kicks a ref in the face after being disqualified in the taekwondo event [a career-ender]; a photo of the Spanish men's basketball team shows the team making an offensive slit-eye gesture; President Bush pats Misty-May Treanor; sadly, American visitor Todd Bachman is killed in an assault at a tourist site.

The coverage: Despite TV Squad's complaint regarding NBC's "live" coverage, you can't knock the number of hours covered and ratings achieved by the 2008 summer Olympics; Bob Costas did two interesting interviews with ISO president Jaques Rogge and U.S. President George W. Bush; Bela Karolyi's enthusiastic commentary about the U.S. gymnastics team was great fun even when you didn't understand it all; Costas' et al.'s interviews with Olympic champions well done.

Next up: The 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Canada.

Olga Korbut— 1972 Munich Olympics

Not to take anything away from the current gymnastics Olympians, but viewing Olga Korbut's routine is a major "wow"— the way all Olympic routines should be. As noted in her Wikipedia entry: "The media whirl which surrounded her 1972 Olympic debut caused a surge of young girls to join their local gymnastic clubs, and a sport which had seldom been noticed previously now made headlines." Her official website.

First Modern Olympics— 1896— Wasn't Filmed

I was surprised to learn that the first Olympics wasn't filmed (neither was the second). This is such a shame since film came in just in time for it to be possible, and especially since, sporting events were typical of early film subjects.



Here is Bioscope's very detailed comments about the various filmed records of Olympic Games.

Here is a link to the olympics.org site with stills from the 1896 games.

Below is a You Tube compilation showing stills from the 1896 game:

2008 Summer Olympics Opening Ceremony

The opening ceremonies to the Olympics lived up to the hype. I generally don't buy "bigger is better" in any artistic achievement-- but the epic scale achieved by filmmaker Zhang Yimou was impressive. Among my favorite parts of the ceremonies was the "movable type" sequence, with the ebb and flow created by the performers underneath the pieces. I always enjoy the Parade of Nations— and hearing some facts about far off lands. And the entrance of the U.S. team does fill you with some pride-- particularly this year when, despite everything, there was a rousing cheer. The most spectacular performance of the night by far was that of nearly 45-year-old Li Ning, the most decorated Chinese Olympian, when he ran horizontally, suspended by wires, along the length of the stadium across a moving electronic scroll to light the Olympic cauldron.