Olympic Opening Ceremony

sarahp

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What did you think??

I thought it was very cool! It showed a lot of Chinese history, the things that mean the most to Chinese people, and it had a lot of flair, colour and elegance, with cool technology without being overdone by the technological aspects.

I LOVED the blocks in the center that were doing wind, and raindrops, and all that - I can't believe there was people doing that, I figured it HAD to be precision electronics!

The part showing their sailing history was cool as well.

And the screens above the stadium? Very cool!

It certainly makes the blow up kangaroos and Hills Hoist clothes lines seem a little "amateur" (granted, we have much less of a history).

I think this will go down as being one of the greatest Olympics in the way of organisation and flair.

Unlike Athens, they've been planning every aspect for such a long time, all the stadiums have been ready for a long time (which I might add are very impressive looking!), and the Chinese people seem very proud, which I think is fabulous - it's not their fault that their government is the way it is.

Go Olympics!
 

kiwideus

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It was fantastic, wasn't it? They went all out and it certainly left an impression.

A really beautiful ceremony, I hope they show it again here, so I can watch it again.
 

lovesmycats

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I thought that was one of the best opening ceremonies ever. I, too, thought that the blocks were done electronically. My jaw literally dropped when they showed the people doing them. I thought the little boy that survived the earthquake was adorable. Bless him for being there to save some of his classmates. I'm looking forward to watching the games.
 

clixpix

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I thought it was fabulous!
The drummers were unbelievable, as were the blocks. After seeing the precision of the drummers, I assumed the blocks were people too. Yes, they used a ton of technology, of course, but I loved how they really highlighted what people can do. It was really spectacular!

At the end, though, when the torch lighter was up in the air, and when the adjusted the ropes to angle him sideways, the jerkiness of the adjustment made me think he was falling...I actually gasped!
In that second I forgot that it was pre-recorded, and I would have heard if such a thing had happened!
 

natalie_ca

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I watched it today at the gym while doing my cardio. I thought it was wonderful. I actually got weepy when they did the Great Wall of China coming down!

They had the co-ordination and timing of everything down to a science. I watched part of it again this evening and I was trying to see if anyone was out of step, but I didn't see any. Amazing!

All of the women/girls looked so beautiful! Like dolls!

A lot of bad things can be said of China of late, but one thing that they can't be criticized on is their opening ceremony.
 

gemlady

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I watched it, too, and enjoyed the pageantry very much! The preciseness of the tai chi guys and their placement was amazing. And having the athletes walk across those giant "stamp pads" and walk across that painting? Wonderful idea!

Do we critique the clothing of the athletes here or in another thread?
Personally, I think Bulgaria overdid the red print. Maybe the ladies just have the print for the jackets. A nice touch was Sweden's women in Chinese style dresses in the blue of their flag. And kudos to those from Pacific islands wearing their native costumes because I imagine they were cooler than the suits other's wore.
 

calico2222

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I was very impressed! I'm glad the commentators explained exactly what things symbolized because otherwise I would have been lost in some parts. The costumes (especially the womens) were incredible! And that sweet little boy from the earthquake almost made me cry.

I didn't realize Guam and Puerto Rico had their own olympic teams. I figured being territories of the US any athletes would be put in the US team.

I'm glad all the countries got a warm welcome from the crowd. I hope politics can be put aside for these 2 weeks and everyone remember we are all human beings first.
 
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sarahp

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Originally Posted by gemlady

Do we critique the clothing of the athletes here or in another thread?
Personally, I think Bulgaria overdid the red print. Maybe the ladies just have the print for the jackets. A nice touch was Sweden's women in Chinese style dresses in the blue of their flag. And kudos to those from Pacific islands wearing their native costumes because I imagine they were cooler than the suits other's wore.
I only watched up to the Parade of Nations starting. We were going to watch until Australia came through but lucky we didn't, apparently we were up the back with Zambia for some reason!


There was a lot of criticism of the Aussie outfits - I thought they were fine, just very casual. I think that sort of outfit should be a little more elegant.
 

calico2222

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Originally Posted by sarahp

I only watched up to the Parade of Nations starting. We were going to watch until Australia came through but lucky we didn't, apparently we were up the back with Zambia for some reason!


There was a lot of criticism of the Aussie outfits - I thought they were fine, just very casual. I think that sort of outfit should be a little more elegant.
The countries didn't come out in alphabetical order, but in the order of how many strokes it took to write the name in the chinese characters...so they were all jumbled up.

I liked the outfits because each country could chose their own and add their own "flavor". I think the last opening ceremony I saw they all wore their warm up suits which was just boring. I loved some of the ones from Africa and the islands. I can't really remember the Aussie outfits so they must not have been that bad.
 

*pepper*

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Do you know if they will re-show it? I totally missed it
 

gemlady

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Originally Posted by *Pepper*

Do you know if they will re-show it? I totally missed it
Check the NBC website. They might have all (about 5 hours) or excerpts.
 

clixpix

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Originally Posted by gemlady

Do we critique the clothing of the athletes here or in another thread?
Personally, I think Bulgaria overdid the red print.
Ooh, girl, they were something, weren't they?
The hats were not helping! Poland was pretty bad too.
 

carolpetunia

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Originally Posted by sarahp

I LOVED the blocks in the center that were doing wind, and raindrops, and all that - I can't believe there was people doing that, I figured it HAD to be precision electronics!
That was my favorite part, too! Just fabulous -- and I was thinking the whole time, how on earth are they doing this? I concluded it had to be people, but it was still such a delight when they all popped out grinning and waving to the crowd!
 

hopehacker

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I didn't watch it, because I dislike sports with a passion. However, I get the feeling that the Opening Ceremonies is more about entertainment than actual sports. So, I'm sorry I didn't watch it.
 

clixpix

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Originally Posted by HopeHacker

I didn't watch it, because I dislike sports with a passion. However, I get the feeling that the Opening Ceremonies is more about entertainment than actual sports. So, I'm sorry I didn't watch it.
It really is about pageantry and national history and pride. It was absolutely beautiful!
 

natalie_ca

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Somehow I ended up taping the Olympic Flag raising and flame lighting
I discovered it while I was catching up on taped stuff this evening. It was rather original to have that guy running around the top of the statium with the scroll unrolling.

I think they did a bang-up job on the ceremony. Apparently the Olympics is costing China about 200 million dollars! They built several special venues such as the pool.
 
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