Does anyone have a link to the opening ceremony? I wasn't able to watch because I don't have cable anymore and I was too busy cleaning my apartment to find a place. I tried finding it on youtube without success.
Thanks, but that's not what I'm looking for. Here's the first part. Hopefully the rest will be added later. [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lIZmWTdDIgU"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lIZmWTdDIgU[/ame]
Would recommend it if you can find it all, was pretty spectacular. Have to say the singular greatest opening ceremony moment was in 92 Madrid where the guy shot the flaming arrow to light the cauldron, that was cool. As a whole though, the Beijing one was really really well done. Just a bit of trivia, the Chinese ceremony leaders instructed the drummers to smile more before the actual ceremony at their last rehersal to make them seem less intimidating!
The blocks were my favorite. I thought it was computer generated the way they moved. Unbelievable there were people doing that.
Same here. I thought is was some kind of hydraulic system. Watched with a friend and I said, "I want to see the system moving those blocks." He said, "It's a bunch of kids!" Then at the end we could actually see their legs. I though he was kidding. Now what I really want to know is how they kept their timing so accurate for such a lengthy performance.
Aren't there rumors that NBC did touch up some of the opening ceremony to make it look more impressive?
I think it's because China puts so much into their "child labor" training. Most professional groups of toddlers on the globe. My only question is how did they get Kathy Lee Gifford's manufacturing plant to give all those kids a night off to work the Olympics
If there's one thing about Chinese people, it's a culture that aims to train people hard to succeed. A needed philosophy I guess with so many of them.
It wasn't NBC, it was the Chinese. The portion of the fireworks that involved pyrotechnic "footprints" was CGI. More fakery: the cute little Chinese girl featured singing during the ceremony was, in fact, lip synching for he actual vocalist, whom the Chinese deemed "not cute enough."
I saw an interview with the organizer of the whole thing. They practiced the block part for 4 months, 8+ hours a day.
I wrote a satiric blog about the Chinese and the Olympics. You might like it (shameless plug) http://forums.thephins.com/blog.php?b=60
It was outstanding in many ways, but a story came out today that is very scary & typical of the Chinese government. I think a lot of people forget, because of the seeming capitolistic society the Chinese have these days, that the people still in power are the one party state, the Communist Party. In the Miami Herald it was reported this morning that the little girl supposedly singing, was not really singing, or more accurately it was not her voice we were all hearing, but that of another little girl. The one lip synching at the Opening Ceremony has the looks the government wanted, and the girl whose voice we heard has the voice but not the looks the communist government wanted. So unbenownst to anyone, they just started using the other girls voice while the little girl in the ceremony was lip synching. Don't you find it creepy that a government would do something like that.....it was important that the little girl sounded one way and looked one way, and if they didn't exist in one little girl, then they would use two. I mean why be so paranoid about something like that ? The looks of a little girl ? Are they that insecure ? Weird.....
Looks like my post was a little late......Doc don't you find it creepy that they are that insecure as to do that with a little girl ? I mean she would be seen as cutsie no matter what....just very strange.
There's a lot of things that go into why they did it. There's a lot of emphasis on image in Chinese cultural beliefs as well as hard work. That's pretty much the umbrella over everything they're doing right now. Some of it stems from humiliation from the past in how China's been unable to prevent foreign occupation, etc. Essentially just trying to make face and impress people because they haven't really impressed much on the global scene.
Someone posted this pic in the Lounge, but I think it speaks to the issue of appearances. EDIT: never mind. Can't get the pic to upload
I guess I can accept some of that as part of it, but you know they are a "grown up" country now, and not be so insecure about their image. People are going to kiss up to them now just because they are so powerful.
I think they're still budding. And all the flak they get (deservedly so) for Sudan and Tibet just causes them to shirk back a bit. Shame is probably the worst thing culturally that can happen to a Chinese person. I've felt that experience and it's almost worse than dying.
I wonder what would happen if it was proved those little girls on the Chinese gymnastics team are below 16 yrs of age. There was a published report last year that one of the girls was 13, and some newspaper guys printed the webpage and went with a story. Now it seems the webpage is no longer accessible. The shame that would bring I would fear how the government would react to that.
Aside from the fact that they would have lied to get around the rules, I'm not sure this is a big deal. The age limitation is specific to this sport, and it's not like they're cheating by playing older players in a Little League game, for example.
Heads will roll. May or may not be literally. Honestly, I don't think there's anything we can do for now. But I hope in the future, there are better arrangements in terms of verification or just get rid of the age limit to begin with.
I fear what is coming because of the advances in science. Soon they are supposed to have the ability to alter someone genetically in the womb. Can you imagine a government breeding little girls who are genetically perfect for gymnastics, and making them live lives with no family and basically being slaves of the State. It creeps me out bro. This is really serious and might happen in the next 20 years or so. Maybe less.
Think about this too.....if they can genetically engineer gymnasts they could do the same for an army....genetically altered men who are stronger, faster, and then trained from birth to be nothing but soldiers. No life, no thoughts of their own..... I think people forget the Chinese government is still one of the most repressive regimes on Earth, and are still technically a one-party state, with that party being the Communist Party. These people will stoop to anything to gain an advantage.
That's true.....and think of the future when they start manufacturing humans genetically altered....amazon women, and superior strength men that can and will be used to fight wars, and dominate the Earth. It sounds like hogwash now, but cloning was considered a farout idea 30 years ago, and now its done everyday.
It's the competitive edge I guess. Heck, I'm even acknowledging the African-American members of my family so I can avoid being tossed into the Asian pile when it comes to applications.
I'm hoping they start genetically altering beautiful future models to be turned on by rabid Dolphins fans. Of course I have a slightly differing view from mainstream science but I think its doable