Reply With QuoteOriginally Posted by Dirt
I can't help but feel proud to be Han. And I can't help but to be sad for the ROC.
?
ROC is 98% Han. More Han live there than in mainland China.
Dude, it's Hans.
Those opening ceremonies were horrible. Wait, let me rephrase that. The opening ceremonies were beautifully choreographed and very impressive, but the way Bob Costas kept stumbling over himself to suck up to the evil and corrupt chinese government was annoying and ridiculous. So I switched to CBC, which was actually broadcasting sporting events instead of a three hour brown-nose fest.
I also could not tolerate the syrupy play-by-play of the mostest , wonderfullest thing ever performed in the history of humanity. "As if by magic, the rings are being lifted up...". If that sort of phrase had been reserved for one or two spectacular parts.....the whole damn thing was like that. Kinda what I ecpected so it was easy to stop watching after the drums.
On-line as well it's disgusting. It's like GE and China are best buds and the saviors of Planet Earth with their coupled-promos. There's gonna be a lot of people white-washed into thinking China's a free Religious-zone and the most environmentally sound country in the world.
Dirt, what are you talking about?
<edit for typos>
Last edited by jpinard; 08-09-2008 at 06:55 PM.
Watching the women's volleyball match between US and Japan, and it's a cracker. One of the US girls is 6'7". Whoa.
... was this off-topic?
Fencing/Sabres final on right now.
Y'know what would make fencing way more awesome? Make replicas of the cliffside set in Princess Bride the official fencing arena, and award bonus points for things like fighting on the stairs, swinging on the bar, and fighting off hand (bonus bonus points for announcing in the final set that you are not left-handed....)
He's babbling inanely, as usual. It was a beautifully choreographed ceremony filled with a number of truly impressive performances (particularly the torch lighting, and the people walking around the globe). Content-wise, some of it was pretty groan-worthy, particularly the bit about environmental harmony, considering that this is an Olympics in which numerous athletes are refusing to compete because the air quality is so horrendous. China probably spent more on this ceremony than they have ever spent on environmental regulation.
It was fun to see all of the costumes, even though the US delegation looked like a bunch of golfers at a snooty country club. At least it was better than the "gay mobster" motif that Russia had going. Some of the costumes from the African nations were really cool, though.
That would be swashbuckling. Not that I don't completely endorse your suggestion.
Drama points, technique points and victory points perhaps?
J
Costumes. We also need costumes.
"Does that come in pink?"
I liked how Costas was kissing ass about how the woman dancing while being held up was a metaphor for how the individual can only accomplish so much without the help of the collective or somesuch claptrap.
I thought to myself it was far more accurate if it's the person with the lavish clothes who is literally dancing on the laboring masses to support themself.
I'm really hoping there'll be an athlete or two who stumbles, can't make their best time, has a coughing fit, etc to really call attention to the air quality issue, but with so many not performing and given how the networks chop up events, I must cynically predict that the whitewash will continue regardless.
The opening ceremony was truly beautiful. Most opening ceremonies end up being Cirque du Soleil with some fireworks at the end, so you could really see and appreciate the expanded budget the Chinese gave it. Also, I thought the Americans looked like the evil yachters from any 80's movie you care to name. The story about Afghanistan's sole female qualifier was very sad, she has disappeared and is rumored to be asking for asylum in Norway because the fundamentalists in her country want to kill her.
I haven't gotten to watch many of the sports yet, I'm watching Italy vs Russia women's volleyball right now.
I want to see the opening ceremony, any link??
When or if you get it, make sure it's in HD. You'll kick yourself for not seeing it in its full beauty.
I haven't checked to see how complete they are, but:
http://www.nbcolympics.com/video/index.html
- Alan
Pics or STFU.
It's being proud to be American, but sad because you know that a President and all of Congress will never come from your political party again. Something like that.
Michael Phelps always looks like a taller, more muscular McLovin' whenever I see him interviewed. I think it's in the grin.
US women's beach volleyball live right now; will follow up with swimming and USA-China men's basketball later tonight. Should be a good lineup of stuff tonight.
--- Alan
Edit: er basketball isn't until tomorrow morning.
Edit2: BTW, about the complaint about the streaming being bad last night... I only caught that in one match during the night, the last fencing one I watched, it started to get bad. Usually for me it was pretty good. Not getting any issues now, but I'm only getting dressing (okay now that is boring) and Russia vs. Iran (Men's BB).
Last edited by Alan Dunkin; 08-09-2008 at 06:17 PM.
I had to laugh at Costas' comment during the opening ceremonies about the "amazing emotional scene" or somesuch phrasing, between Misty May and Kerri Walsh when they won the Gold during the last olympic games. Oh, really, Bob? Heh.
I caught this while picking up some subs at a pizzeria. For a minute or two I was dumbfounded, not just to see fencing covered at all, but because they stuck with it for a good 10-15 minutes without any ads or other interruptions. Then of course I realized that the American girls were sweeping the medals, which explained it -- could this be the first time ever that Americans have swept a fencing category? But even so, it was pretty amazing. Almost as if they wanted to cover the event itself.
Too bad the lighting was so awful you could hardly see the blades. At least you could tell from the footwork who was doing what, kind of.
... diversion to fencing curmudgeonry ...
As an aside, as an old fogey, I have to say that modern top-level fencing style is really not as fun to watch as I would wish. Half the time points now seem to be decided by who can pull the trigger first, even in the right-of-way sports like foil and saber. I know, it's been this way for years, and yeah, it's not easy to parry a flick (which I would outlaw, yah) but even so, you'd think there would be a bit more actual fencing instead of just near-simultaneous attacks and counterattacks....
Admittedly, I saw no shameful corps-a-corps collisions during the gold-silver bout -- I only caught the last 10 touches or so -- but only about 2 out of those 10 touches actually involved a parry so far as I could see, which admittedly wasn't that much because the blades were all but invisible on TV, and I saw no single touch in which the fencers went back and forth down the strip -- I remember only one in which one of the fencers even retreated. It really seemed like for these fencers the ideal touch was a perfectly timed lunge without a disengage. A beautiful concept, but not so beautiful when both fencers try it at the same time. I watched a world-cup tape from a few years ago, and the championship men's foil bout was basically 40 fleches executed almost immediately on the command to fence. What's the point of that?
Oh yeah, this is fencing, you shouldn't shriek with joy and throw your equipment around when you win, you should carefully salute and get off the damn strip before celebrating... Bah! Kids these days.....
Agreed on all points Miramon. I saw that match, and, not knowing the first thing about fencing, was amazed that each point was over so fast, and I never had any idea who had won it. I had to watch the score to see who had made the touch.
I also noticed the constant screaming. Is that really necessary after every point? There were even a few when both girls screamed and gave a little fist pump. Not sure why.
Somewhere over the last 20 years, not sure where, the traditional courtesies became crude gestures -- like you often see fencers just vaguely waving their weapons around for the salute and not shaking hands afterwards -- and it became ok to scream on every action.
Fencing can really be a fascinating sport to watch, even in the modern style, but you have to a) have really good lighting, and b) understand the rules, so I'm afraid that 99% of the viewers were left totally confused.
The gold the American women had won in Athens (and she won it again in Beijing) was the first gold in women's fencing for the US in something like a hundred years.
The screaming I thought was really weird too; I almost think it's a bit of a plea to win over the point (sort of like pleading for a wicket), and half-celebratory. All the fencers I saw yesterday were shaking hands at the end of the contest, however.
--- Alan
I was hoping it was a cougar attacking the previous round's losers after every point, but it turned out it was just the fencers shrieking.
The sabers were pretty easy to see in HD, at least. Not that I had that great of an idea what was going on :)
Setting the alarm early for US vs Netherlands soccer......
One thing I've noticed is that the hairstyles of the men's gymnastics team is quite fashionable now.
Wikipedia is my friend:
http://www.nbcolympics.com/athletes/...bio/index.html
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