What an Olympic Opening Ceremony!!!

[AuroraJae]

Corey and I really enjoyed it as well! It was an absolutely amazing spectacle!

 

[BriarRosie]

IMHO, you would top it if a certain team won the WS this year....

But I'm biased.....

If that "certain team" won the World Series, I would think the world was coming to an end.

 

[checkwriter]

didn't it bother you that you weren't watching it live?

Nah . . . most of what I watch is tivo'd anyway

 

[disneyholic family]

Nah . . . most of what I watch is tivo'd anyway

we watched it live in our afternoon...i completely forgot it was going to be on, but we all sat down to veg out friday afternoon after coming back from our weekly lunch at a cafe.....(friday is not a work day here)....
and i was flipping stations when i hit our main local station and it was about to begin....i think i hit the station at 3:04 and the ceremonies started our time at 3:08 PM (8:08 PM china time)...

and we all sat there for the next few hours, totally mesmerized....
i love that it was live as i was flipping back and forth between our station and the british station (although the british commentators were totally irritating me...i only watched them when our local station took to a commercial break)...

anyway, i like the idea of it being 'live'....being part of something that millions of others around the world are watching..

we kept saying how it must be a pain to have to watch it in the states in the morning....(if it started at 3 pm my time, that's 8 in the morning eastern time in the US)....
i didn't know the US wasn't going to see it until 12 hours later until i read about it online this morning (this morning, my time)...

anyway, i prefer live.......i like to be part of something bigger.....for me that's part of the excitement of watching it.....

 

[Minnie Lor]

Love, LOVED, LOVED the opening ceremony. Very impressive. I loved the precision of the circle of Tai Chi, the firework footsteps, all the teams walking across the chalk or paint to make art, the torch lighting, the globe that reminded me of Illuminations but with people walking on it, the lite up people wearing green...... They blew it out of the park.

DH and I were debating whether their were people under the boxes. He thought it was too precise. It was and there were. Loved all of the lighting around the stadium. Loved the commercials too.

We watched it last night and I'm glad that I didn't watch it live. I like seeing it at night.

 

[newtodis]

I'm going to share my thoughts and hope that I don't get flamed too badly here.

I watched part of them last night and went to bed after about an hour of it. Yes, it was amazing (I too liked the footprints across the city). I just have a hard time believing that all of those performers *wanted* to be doing what they were doing. How many were told "this is what you're going to do and if you screw it up, you will not have a job" (or another threat or something). I also have an incredibly hard time with a country that has so many people (as they pointed out during the opening ceremony or the show before) living on $2/day. I think the $300 million or whatever they spent could have been used to better so many other lives instead of putting on a big show for the world, knowing that they have so many problems in so many other areas.

Yes, I'm young (mid 20s) and a very logical, budget-minded person. I think I would have much prefered something less extravigent (sp?) and see other things improve within the country. I'm sure the people of China are proud (I hope) of the display and show, but it doesn't help them at all in three weeks when the hupla's over.

Again, just my thoughts on something that's much bigger than I am.

 

[soupy11]

I'm going to share my thoughts and hope that I don't get flamed too badly here.

I watched part of them last night and went to bed after about an hour of it. Yes, it was amazing (I too liked the footprints across the city). I just have a hard time believing that all of those performers *wanted* to be doing what they were doing.

Rest assured, I am pretty confident that the performers were quite thrilled and honoured to be there.

 

[SoScary'09]

Yeah there were politics and all that, and granted the budget was way over what they should have used given the disasters, one has to admit it was still an entertaining show.

Now as far as all the other world problems, I'm not even gonna step into that territory *_*

 

[disneyholic family]

I'm going to share my thoughts and hope that I don't get flamed too badly here.

I watched part of them last night and went to bed after about an hour of it. Yes, it was amazing (I too liked the footprints across the city). I just have a hard time believing that all of those performers *wanted* to be doing what they were doing. How many were told "this is what you're going to do and if you screw it up, you will not have a job" (or another threat or something). I also have an incredibly hard time with a country that has so many people (as they pointed out during the opening ceremony or the show before) living on $2/day. I think the $300 million or whatever they spent could have been used to better so many other lives instead of putting on a big show for the world, knowing that they have so many problems in so many other areas.

Yes, I'm young (mid 20s) and a very logical, budget-minded person. I think I would have much prefered something less extravigent (sp?) and see other things improve within the country. I'm sure the people of China are proud (I hope) of the display and show, but it doesn't help them at all in three weeks when the hupla's over.

Again, just my thoughts on something that's much bigger than I am.

DD wouldn't watch it for that reason..
she even went to the chinese embassy on thursday to protest.....i probably would have done the same 30 years ago, when i was her age....

as for me, it was an amazing spectacle...
i guess i'm a bit of a hypocrit, as i am very well aware of what goes on there...from close up...
but still i enjoyed watching it and oohing and ahhing....yes i'm a hypocrit...

and if we want to talk politics, what about Putin, who sat there with his serpent smile as his troops were heading out to bomb the georgians (and they did bomb residential areas)...
they're all terrible people....

but still i enjoyed watching the spectacle...

and seeing the atheletes coming into the stadium...how terribly exciting for them after dedicating themselves to the perfection of their sport....to be at the olympics....amazing for them and i enjoyed sharing in their joy at being there...

 

[daneenm]

I just loved watching the Australian Prime Minister and his wife! What great support they gave and they looked totally thrilled to be there. Most of the rest (including George) looked bored out of their minds.

--Daneen

 

[newtodis]

I just loved watching the Australian Prime Minister and his wife! What great support they gave and they looked totally thrilled to be there. Most of the rest (including George) looked bored out of their minds.

--Daneen

I totally agree! The one time they showed the president and he was chatting with the people around him! Goodness-at least pretend to be respectful!

 

[disneyholic family]

I totally agree! The one time they showed the president and he was chatting with the people around him! Goodness-at least pretend to be respectful!

NBC must have edited the version you saw..
in the live feed, Bush (W and his wife) weren't talking....they were smiling and waving as the american team entered the stadium...
they showed them multiple times, since the american team was so big and took so long to enter....they kept going back to Bush and he continued to smile and wave...
then they switched to a camera showing kissinger (the older, heavy guy - i don't know where he was sitting relative to bush) and then it went back to Bush...

 

[checkwriter]

I recall one shot of GWB, after the team had passed by, using his little US flag to beat the time of the music on his knee. In other words, he was using the flag to tap the time on his knee. Like it was a stick or a baton or something.

 

[Jubilee]

Gorgeous - I hope they replay it!

 

[daneenm]

NBC must have edited the version you saw..
in the live feed, Bush (W and his wife) weren't talking....they were smiling and waving as the american team entered the stadium...
they showed them multiple times, since the american team was so big and took so long to enter....they kept going back to Bush and he continued to smile and wave...

No, they showed them smiling and waving when the US team came in. It was the WHOLE rest of the time when every time they cut to him he looked bored. They even cut to him once only to see him checking his watch.

--Daneen

 

[disneyholic family]

No, they showed them smiling and waving when the US team came in. It was the WHOLE rest of the time when every time they cut to him he looked bored. They even cut to him once only to see him checking his watch.

--Daneen

that was while all 200+ countries were walking in....it took over 2 hours for all the teams to march in...

you're permitted to talk to other people while all the teams are walking in...

other people were also talking....the only time they didn't talk was when their own team walked in....

i'm sure the australians were also talking to each other while other countries' teams were walking in....

give the guy a break.....geez....

 

[bawstngrl]

didn't it bother you that you weren't watching it live?

Not at all.....

It was beyond AWESOME....not sure how the next host country can even hope to compare...LOL

bawstngrl

 

[disneyholic family]

i just read that the thing with the gigantic feet approaching the stadium was faked...
they filmed it over the course of a year prior to the olympics...
it didn't happen at the time of the opening ceremony.....

 

[checkwriter]

i just read that the thing with the gigantic feet approaching the stadium was faked...
they filmed it over the course of a year prior to the olympics...
it didn't happen at the time of the opening ceremony.....

I SAW that! Also, that the cute little girl singer's voice was supplied by someone else.

Next thing we'll know, those 2000 drummers were really 3 guys from Hunan and a bunch of mirrors . . . .

 

[CinderellasSister]

I totally agree! The one time they showed the president and he was chatting with the people around him! Goodness-at least pretend to be respectful!

So no one else in the entire stadium was talking? Do you really believe that? People are complaining that he was even there, but those same people would have complained if he wasn't there! Stop nit-picking people and just enjoy the olympics!

that was while all 200+ countries were walking in....it took over 2 hours for all the teams to march in...

you're permitted to talk to other people while all the teams are walking in...

other people were also talking....the only time they didn't talk was when their own team walked in....

i'm sure the australians were also talking to each other while other countries' teams were walking in....

give the guy a break.....geez....

I completely agree!

Not at all.....

It was beyond AWESOME....not sure how the next host country can even hope to compare...LOL

bawstngrl

That's easy. They could start by not lip-syncing their national anthem!