2008 Olympics (Opening Ceremony + Other Discussion)

[Mistwell]

Did folks watching the opening ceremony?

I thought it was awe inspiring. Simply incredible.

 

[RichCsigs]

I really hated the fact that the director (editor?) kept changing the shots every 2-3 seconds. Some of the stuff was so obviously meant to be seen from the vantage point of someone in the audience and they should have stuck with those shots.

That said, I really loved the Tai-Chi masters and the guys with the light up suits.

 

[Krug]

Thought it was fantastic. Agreed that there was some really bad editing choices, and the parade of nations just went on forever.

 

[Steve Jung]

That was very cool. The tai chi practictioners being able to stay in those concentric circles while performing was neat. The torch lighting was amazing. My girlfriend and I had been wondering where the Olympic cauldron was. Then all of a sudden there it was. The last carrier "running" around the stadium was a daring choice.

 

[Orius]

I thought it was pretty good, better than some of the artsy stuff that usually pops up during the various ceremonies. I thought the scroll was impressive, as well as all the coordination shown by all the various performers, and not just the tai chi masters. The torch lighting was great too.

I hope people watching in other countries had better coverage than the lousy coverage NBC provided in the States. They always show the stuff poorly, and it takes me all of 5 minutes to tire of Costas' inane commentary over what's taking place. They handled the parade of nations as poorly as they usually do. This time they had the bright idea of putting the names of countries about to enter the stadium in tiny orange letters on a bright red background; I could only make out about half of the names. Dumbest editing gaffe: as the British team entered the stadium, NBC cut to a shot of Nicolas Sarkozy in the stands. Yeah that's right, they covered the British team by panning the president of FRANCE.

 

[Krug]

BBC's hilarious take: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/olympics/2008/08/the_nightmarish_weirdness_of_t.html

 

[Tonguez]

Apparently TVNZ got first pic on camera positions and so literally got the best view in the world

and from what I saw the Beijing ceremony was awesome and imho the best opening ceremony ever. The scroll was awesome, the globe and its runners were awesome, the cauldron was awesome

admittedly I went to sleep for bits (it showed here at 12am) and turned off by the time Chad entered the arena...

 

[StreamOfTheSky]

BBC's hilarious take: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/olympics/2008/08/the_nightmarish_weirdness_of_t.html

I lost respect for his judgment values and stopped reading after he trashed Sarah Brightman. Insulting her and her talent is on the same comedic level as Jackass. Good nickname for the chap, actually.

And, while on the topic of being angry...is this the proper thread to discuss experiences with nbcolympics.com, or would that be best in a new thread?

 

[Felon]

I lost respect for his judgment values and stopped reading after he trashed Sarah Brightman. Insulting her and her talent is on the same comedic level as Jackass. Good nickname for the chap, actually.

Okay okay, we get it. You like Sarah Brightman. A lot.

Personally, I missed the garish spectable and sympathize with the author's attitude, which is complete befuddlement at how people keep acting like China is no longer a bad-guy country. I'll remind everyone: they never turned over a new leaf. They're still the evil guys James Bond should be engaging in cold war antics with. Don't cheer them on.

 

[Plane Sailing]

moderator/

Quick reminder to not get side-tracked into politics here, thanks.