Does anyone have comments about the Olympic Opening ceremonies?

[autumnpalm]

Overall, I enjoyed the ceremony.

There were parts that seemed slightly slow to me (like the prairie scene with Joni Mitchell), sometimes disorganized and obviously some technical difficulties but I sat through the whole thing which is quite rare!

Obviously the ceremony will not compare to China's. The country is way smaller, the budget is way smaller and traditionally, the Winter Olympics have a more subdued opening than the summer. What I felt while watching was that Canada was not trying to "prove" anything to the world. I think what was put together was an understated showcase to a country I am proud to live in.

I thought the inclusion of our First Nations people was awesome. They really are our "true" Canadians and I am so glad they were able to play such a large role. I believe it was very fitting.

Yeah, I wish there was no lip-syncing and it would have been nice if everything had gone off without a hitch but I was still happy with the ceremony. I can't think of an opening ceremony I haven't liked because there is so much that goes into it and such pride from the host nation and... well... I usually end up crying at them.

I can't wait to see what London and Rio will do. I'm counting down already!

 

[DVC~OKW~96]

I thought the entire Opening Ceremony was beautiful, and very well done. It did a great job of depicting the immense diversity of a beautiful country. The inclusiveness of the Canadians is something we and many other countries of the world can learn much from.

The music was beautiful, and from Bryan Adams, to K.D. Lang, all was quintessentially Canadian.

I have long admired Canada, and grew up with a French Canadian Grandfather who adored his country.

The Aboriginal Peoples of Canada were well represented, and in a very culturally significant manner.

So! Thank you Canada.

 

[minniecarousel]

Overall, I liked it. I dozed at times (the pitfalls from watching in bed!) Loved the First Nations parts, loved the singing...Nellie, Bryan, k.d, Sarah - not fond of Opera & I'm used to the National Anthem sung faster (you know: "drop the puck!")

Found the speakers boring....LOVED the very beginning with the snowboarder.

I really liked that the flooring looked like snow....loved the modern dancers...the Olympic flag being brought in. I felt bad when the lighting of the torch got screwed up (I knew it would be Gretzky at the end.)

 

[Tarheel Tink]

I'm hard pressed to find people who didn't enjoy them. There were so many unique touches like all the crowd involvement, and the spouting whales projected on to the floor.

I loved the crowd in light blue with the upper section forming international flags, Fantastic!

I enjoyed the opening ceremonies. I thought the special effects on the floor (whales swimming), praire part where boy was running, flipping, and twisting through the sky was really fantastic and my favorite were the skiers/snowboarders going down the "mountain". I enjoyed learning about the culture of our good friends up north too! I'm proud to be an American who can call our fellow Canadians both neighbors and friends!

Loved it. Canada did not need to prove anything to the world (and China did). I was so proud to be a neighbor of this great country!

 

[pansmermaidzlagoon]

Loved it! My only complaint is, as others mentioned, a couple spots went on too long.

I loved the parts with the First Nations' peoples (I am a descendent of both Eastern Canadian and NY native peoples) and and how it wove through much of the performance. Bigger is not always better as someone already said. I liked how they used the panels and other elements over and over in new ways. Loved the music, the dance, the beat poem, and projections on the floor!

Wasn't crazy about lighting the inside cauldron and then leaving to light one further away outside, but that is just me. It was anti-climatic and boring - and would have been without the malfunction.

Overall, I found it a great representation of Canada and its people, very moving, and very appropriate for an Olympic ceremony!!!

 

[Ember]

I loved how inclusive it was! In one program we had multiple languages, many different cultures, people of all ages, people with different abilities, and one of our most famous singers who happens to be gay. I really enjoyed the visual effects, the different music and dance represented, and how respectfully the fallen athlete was mentioned and honored.

I could have done with out the Joni Mitchell song, though. Love the song, hated the rest. Ooo, a strange flying boy with strange wheat fields... It was suppose to represent the book "Who Has Seen the Wind" which was the major problem. Yes, it's a true Canadian novel, but goodness is it boring! (That's my opinion and I'm sticking to it!)

But other than that I give it two thumbs up!

 

[crashbb]

I found the prairies bit very boring (also found the book very boring), but I loved the fiddling and the images on the floor.

Also found the Olympic Anthem boring (but that isn't the organiser's fault).

Admittedly, I also large parts of Beijing's ceremony boring (guess I'm just not an opening ceremony type of person).

 

[DearDaisyinDurham]

I could have done with out the Joni Mitchell song, though. Love the song, hated the rest. Ooo, a strange flying boy with strange wheat fields... It was suppose to represent the book "Who Has Seen the Wind" which was the major problem. Yes, it's a true Canadian novel, but goodness is it boring! (That's my opinion and I'm sticking to it!)

But other than that I give it two thumbs up!

That is the most depressing song - when it started I said Oh whatever follows cannot be good! DH hated the wheat fields, I can't stand the song. Definitely the weak part of the ceremony, otherwise loved it.

 

[suejai]

Wasn't crazy about lighting the inside cauldron and then leaving to light one further away outside, but that is just me. It was anti-climatic and boring - and would have been without the malfunction.

I was thinking the same thing.


I missed a large chunk of the beginning, so I missed the whales and the spirit bear, but did catch kd lang and the lighting of the caudron. I've seen bits and pieces since then and I wish I'd been home.

 

[Katieinwonderland]

This was the first time I've ever watched an Opening Cermony, so had nothing to compare it to.

I had the whole event on whilst painting my family room, so most of it was on in the background - but I did stop to watch certain parts. The parade of Nations was great (stopped painting to cheer for Great Britain!) and I LOVED the special effects - the part with the whales going across the floor was awesome!!!

There were parts I didn't pay as much attention to and I did sort of lose interest towards the end - but I think the effect they were going for (making it more intimate) was defintely achieved.

And for the PP who said that one of the goals was to make people say "I want to go there!" - well, it worked on me!!! This morning DH and I decided to try and fit in a trip to Niagra Falls on the Canadian side this year...I really did thing it looked like a beautiful country.

 

[suzanna1066@comcast.]

I thought these were the among the worst Opening Ceremonies I have ever seen. The music was awful---dated and cheesy. The whole show seemed uninspired.

 

[declansdad]

I thought these were the among the worst Opening Ceremonies I have ever seen. The music was awful---dated and cheesy. The whole show seemed uninspired.

I don't think we were watching the same ceremony.

 

[VillageMama]

I don't think we were watching the same ceremony.

Well, she and I were.

I hung in there until the part where they introduced a segment that would "give honor to the French and English cultures throughout Canada"... and then out came the Irish folk dancers in kilts.

I said to my children, "I think the people who design these acts are artistically brilliant and doped out on drugs".

Then the newscaster said, "We interviewed the designer of this part of the show and asked him what inspired him. He told us of being in Ireland and visiting a number of pubs that were serving a grain alcohol called screech.".

I said to my children, "See? I told you the designers were under the influence!

 

[DVC~OKW~96]

I thought these were the among the worst Opening Ceremonies I have ever seen. The music was awful---dated and cheesy. The whole show seemed uninspired.

Awful? Dated? Cheesy? Wow.

Are you SURE you were watching the Opening Ceremony?

To each her or his own opinion. I just think it's sad (truly!) that you were not able to see the beauty, the diversity, the inclusion of all peoples extended to the global society, and respect for the earth and all its creatures in this presentation. Canada is an incredible country.

Just sad. That's all.

 

[Imzadi]

I thought the ceremony was okay. The visual effects were spectacular and probably looked stunning in person, if one was in the audience.

The music, however, was all one slow tempo, from the Canadian Anthem, to Joni Mitchell, to Bryan Adams, to Sarah McLaughlan, K.D. Lang, the whales, the acrobat, to the end. All. the. same. tempo. ballads. That's why so many people thought it dragged. They should have really mixed in different types of songs.

And, I agree that lighting one torch indoors then running outside and waiting 5 minutes to go light another one was anti-climatic. What did the people indoors do during all that time? Was there wide screen TVs for them to watch it on?

 

[Shutterbug]

I thought China's ceremony was better and Canada fell short.

Nothing can compete with the extremely HUGE amount of money that China could afford to throw at it unlike what Canada could afford to do.

 

[Shutterbug]

I thought these were the among the worst Opening Ceremonies I have ever seen. The music was awful---dated and cheesy. The whole show seemed uninspired.

Then you must have missed the summer Olympic opening ceremony that the USA hosted...complete with pick up trucks..now that was cheesy!

 

[freepixie]

I loved the Opening Ceremonies last night! I felt it was a beautiful and moving tribute to Canada!! The visual effects were amazing!!

I had also loved Beijing's Opening Ceremonies too, but I felt last night's was a bit better because it was "just enough" - I always felt that Beijing's was a bit over the top. And finding out later how much was fake about Beijing's such as the little girls lip-syncing and it wasn't even her own voice, and the fireworks that were digitally added in. Last night's ceremonies felt "real"

I too loved the tribute to First Nations peoples, their clothing was beautiful and I loved that they had people of differing ages performing There was one older lady that I spotted in the crowd, she was adorable!

And I loved that kid doing the thing on the plains! I was sitting there thinking, wow, I'd love to be up there doing that, flipping and flying thru the air!! Wow!

All in all, loved it!

 

[OK!]

I, for the most part, loved the Opening Ceremonies. I could have done without the bit re. the prairies and really didn't care for the opera portion at all, but I was amazed by the effects and the way that they ensured that all of the people of Canada were well-represented. I know I'm in the minority here, but I didn't care for Beijing's OC. All I could think of the whole time was, "Dear God, how much did all of this COST?!" Just because one thing cost more than another doesn't mean it's better.

 

[MomofKatie]

I must be the only one who really loved the "prairie" portion. The aerialist, the music, the projections on the floor- all beautiful.

Also thought the spouting whales were very cool!

The tap-dancing, kilt-wearing fiddlers was the one part that had me fast-forwarding. Everything else was great.