Olympics Opening Ceremonies (leave the politics out)

[The Duke]

1st = Sydneys Opening Ceremonies due to its own historic factor
along with the best entertainment factor. (tempo was upbeat) ....

2nd = Beijing Opening Ceremonies due to its highly artistic incorporation
plus its hugely technological aspects. (downside: it was slow tempo)

[Jaykoolzboy]

That was just incredible and shocking. I feel bad for people that is going to manage the opening ceremony in London, there is just no way that London can surpass this. Also to the Chinese civilization, I remember one of my Econ professor back in college always mentioned that watch out for those Chinese people if they wanna work on something, it's going to be innovative and fast, that includes their economy and military power, why? They have some of the most spectacular and deep culture to help them out.

[canoner]

As much technology as the opening ceremony used, I thought the emphasis was on the people, on the will of men. I also like the human side of the ceremony, especially the appearance of children in several places. It was sending a clear signal that our future lies with them, therefore we must pay great attention to the education of the young.

[WEFFPIM]

I'd like to give a little not to the Torino cauldron lighting. Lighting a sort of fuse type thing that set fireworks off in the whole stadium and went up the tower and into the cauldron.

[Cowology]

I dunno, the Barcelona archer was pretty sweet, but that was only the last 30 seconds of the opening ceremonies. I think overall this years was best when you look at the complete presentation. And I actually really liked the torch lighter doing that 360 around the stadium. This was my favorite opening ceremony that I've seen. Usually there are some boring parts, but I watched the entire thing and thought it was all pretty spectacular.

[Headliner]

Web users beat censors to attack ‘authoritarian’ opening ceremony

Michael Sheridan
London Times
Sunday, Aug 10, 2008

WHILE the world marvelled at the spectacular opening ceremony in Beijing, a surprising backlash was materialising this weekend among Chinese internet users.

A significant number of those posting comments on some less closely censored websites said the ceremony had glorified authoritarian rule and one said it reduced individuals to “cogs in a machine”.

Yesterday even the website of the People’s Daily, the Communist party newspaper, recorded more readers criticising the event than admiring it, with some calling it “empty” and “boring”.

While the majority of Chinese people reflected the positive global reaction to the ceremony, the openness of the online dissent was surprising given the government’s draconian measures to crush any criticism during the Games.

China sent at least 58 citizens to labour camps for “reeducation” to stop them staging protests in Beijing, according to official figures. Eight more were given prison sentences and 45 others are awaiting punishment for daring to travel to the capital to raise their grievances.

All such protests were effectively stifled before Friday’s ceremony but yesterday the work of Zhang Yimou, who directed the show, was subjected to unusually strong public criticism.

“The actors looked like a swarm of ants,” complained Guo Yuquan, on Cat898.com, a popular website. “What was the idea? It was to consider people just as cogs in a machine. I think he got his ideas 100% from North Korea.”

[XcalibuR]

I love how message board posts and article comments are important enough to be the subject of an article on londontimes. I wonder if RealGM ever gets on the news for the stuff that goes on here.

[Captain_Morgan]

^ Well, that's the only truth you will ever get out of China. I find it hilarious that Western viewers thought the ceremony was great while China's own audience found it boring and dull. Can't blame them though... Months before the Olympics, the Chinese were bombarded with Chinese pride and Olympic propaganda. I've been there and everywhere you go.... Olympic theme music was playing 24/7 and the Olympic commercials were on every 5 minutes... It was enough to make someone jump off the bridge.

Plus, they've probably seen similar performance from their National holiday celebration..

[canoner]

I find it hilarious that people think that one bulletin board represent the opinion of whole nation. I am sure that we could find a few post here and there that describe Bush as the greatest evil of modern days, does that reflect the opinion of all americans? Media often times look for stuff to report that represent the reporter's opinion. Did we have many Iraqis who swore Sadam positively possess WMD? We never bothered to listen to Iraqis who were saying the opposite. We believe what we want to see, not what we actually see. Media is the same.

^ Well, that's the only truth you will ever get out of China. I find it hilarious that Western viewers thought the ceremony was great while China's own audience found it boring and dull. Can't blame them though... Months before the Olympics, the Chinese were bombarded with Chinese pride and Olympic propaganda. I've been there and everywhere you go.... Olympic theme music was playing 24/7 and the Olympic commercials were on every 5 minutes... It was enough to make someone jump off the bridge.

Plus, they've probably seen similar performance from their National holiday celebration..

[Harmless]

The entire event was artistic, it wasn't just to impress but also to teach. I thought it was too deep for its own good though, most people on TV wouldn't understand the meaning of the calligraphy or the modern dances and shyt.

An earlier poster just proved your point... LOL

Basically the entire show was an attempt to distill 5000 years of Chinese culture and history into a couple of hours. And they did it quite well I must say.

It' truly was a spectacular show. Makes me real proud to be Chinese.

[Harmless]

^ Well, that's the only truth you will ever get out of China. I find it hilarious that Western viewers thought the ceremony was great while China's own audience found it boring and dull. Can't blame them though... Months before the Olympics, the Chinese were bombarded with Chinese pride and Olympic propaganda. I've been there and everywhere you go.... Olympic theme music was playing 24/7 and the Olympic commercials were on every 5 minutes... It was enough to make someone jump off the bridge.

Plus, they've probably seen similar performance from their National holiday celebration..

So a few dissidents who have something against the government represent the entire Chinese population? LMAO. Like the London Times writer, you're desperately looking for someone to backup your own point of view.

Sorry, but the vast majority of the Chinese population inside and outside China thought this was a spectacular show.

[canoner]

^ Well, that's the only truth you will ever get out of China. I find it hilarious that Western viewers thought the ceremony was great while China's own audience found it boring and dull. Can't blame them though... Months before the Olympics, the Chinese were bombarded with Chinese pride and Olympic propaganda. I've been there and everywhere you go.... Olympic theme music was playing 24/7 and the Olympic commercials were on every 5 minutes... It was enough to make someone jump off the bridge.

Plus, they've probably seen similar performance from their National holiday celebration..

So a few dissidents who have something against the government represent the entire Chinese population? LMAO. Like the London Times writer, you're desperately looking for someone to backup your own point of view.

Sorry, but the vast majority of the Chinese population inside and outside China thought this was a spectacular show.

I'd agree with that. You can see that from the faces of tens of thousands of people in that stadium. That was on camera, and I trust my eyes.

[Hank_Scorpio]

^ Well, that's the only truth you will ever get out of China. I find it hilarious that Western viewers thought the ceremony was great while China's own audience found it boring and dull.

I find NASCAR to be both boring and dull.

Most of my friends feel likewise.

Does our opinion represent "America"?

[Captain_Morgan]

^ Pretty much.

You guys don't understand China. Most of the information is controlled by the government. The only uncensored opinion is in the blogs and forums on the internet. If someone on the government forum said the show was dull... That means a lot.

[Captain_Morgan]

The opening ceremony will certainly go down as one of the best but I was still disappointed somehow...

[canoner]

^ Pretty much.

You guys don't understand China. Most of the information is controlled by the government. The only uncensored opinion is in the blogs and forums on the internet. If someone on the government forum said the show was dull... That means a lot.

Someone somewhere says something means a lot? Well those Iraqis not under Sadam's control cheated us into believing Sadam had WMD. That meant a lot, like One trillion dolloar a lot.

[5DOM]

http://2008gamesbeijing.com/beijing-use ... fireworks/

Beijing uses CG in the Olympics opening ceremony fireworks

The Beijing Times has revealed that the footprint fireworks sequence for the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics, was computer generated and inserted into the coverage too look like the real thing. Beijing’s hazy night skies and camera shake as though it was filmed from a helicopter was even added to the sequence to make it look more authentic.

The 29 footprints were lit at one footprint per second, with 29 of them marching from Tiananmen Square to the Birds Nest stadium. They were supposed to symbolize the path of the 29th Olympiad and their arrival to Beijing. The fireworks were actually lit, but what people saw on television was a computer generated sequence. Only the last footprint in the stadium was actually filmed by camera, the rest were slotted in at the right moment.

The head of the visual effects department for the opening ceremony said that since everyone thought it was filmed live, he couldn’t see a problem with it.

i dunno how i feel about this.

[Texas Longhorns]

Yeah, they sorta ruined it. I mean yeah safety was a concern, but that's just dumb. They should have either done as much real as possible, or nothing. They shouldn't have faked it.

[INKtastic]

I find it hilarious that people think that one bulletin board represent the opinion of whole nation. I am sure that we could find a few post here and there that describe Bush as the greatest evil of modern days, does that reflect the opinion of all americans? Media often times look for stuff to report that represent the reporter's opinion. Did we have many Iraqis who swore Sadam positively possess WMD? We never bothered to listen to Iraqis who were saying the opposite. We believe what we want to see, not what we actually see. Media is the same

it wasn't iraqis we didn't believe, it was the person who's very job was to ensure there were no WMD in iraq that our government refused to believe. but we're supposed to leave politics out of this.

I thought the opening ceremonies were outstanding.

[Blame Rasho]

I want more fireworks damn it.