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Thread: 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing

  1. #61
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    The relay was nuts.

    Just outrageously nuts.

  2. #62
    A Big Deal? Recognized Member Big D's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Yaridovich View Post
    Quote Originally Posted by Flying Mullet View Post
    I really despised NBC's commentary on the opening ceremony. I don't know if they had Chinese military behind them with M-16's but they sounded very canned like they were reading from a script and they certainly painted a revisionist view of Chinese history to put China in a good light.
    That is actually not too far off. China is censoring the games heavily and many foreigners can't even access various sites on the Internet because of its censorship.
    In a sense, they *are* reading from scripts - no-one gets to see the entire opening ceremony in advance, so shortly before the broadcast they're given transcripts that say what's happening, and what it means. Since so much of the ceremony consisted of interpretive, symbolic stuff, that kind of assistance is necessary.

    Also, the view of Chinese history that they provided wasn't exactly "revisionist". The opening ceremony basically covered China from ancient times through to the late middle ages, and they didn't exactly have communism back then. It's not evil outrageous censorship, it's just that their performance focussed on the high points of their civilisation. Do you think the London Games opening ceremony is going to include Bloody Sunday, Churchill's ADD, and Tony Blair?

  3. #63
    dizzy up the girl Recognized Member Rye's Avatar
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    Yeah, I agree with Big D. I thought NBC wasn't too bad. They did point out things like "China may not be there with peace and harmony, but it's working towards it."

    I really wouldn't have been thrilled anyway if such a beautiful ceremony was punctured by "and this symbolizes the Tienanmen Square massacre!" and things like that. This is supposed to be as peaceful as possible.


  4. #64

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    Quote Originally Posted by Big D View Post
    Do you think the London Games opening ceremony is going to include Bloody Sunday, Churchill's ADD, and Tony Blair?
    I don't know, but if it doesn't include the American Revolution, I hope we stomp them in every event we can!

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    SA! USA! USA! USA! USA!

  5. #65
    Draw the Drapes Recognized Member rubah's Avatar
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    that blake aldrich or whoever on the british synchronized diving is hooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooot. also his codiver is like fourteen! holy crap.

  6. #66

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    That's a sweet camera angle they have for synchronized diving. It goes from the board to underwater!

  7. #67
    Draw the Drapes Recognized Member rubah's Avatar
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    yeah I loved that.

    apparently I was actually thinking of the americans (thomas) but they're all hot being swimmers. except the 14 year olds.

  8. #68

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    Quote Originally Posted by rubah View Post
    apparently I was actually thinking of the americans (thomas) but they're all hot being swimmers. except the 14 year olds.
    ... sure.

    I actually don't think they're fourteen, though. I think that the limit is sixteen, but I'm not sure.

  9. #69
    Gold is the new black Goldenboko's Avatar
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    China owns diving.

  10. #70
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    Have they had a cheesy anthem song this year? (ie 1996 was Celine Dion's "Power of the Dream", 2002 was LeAnn Rimes' "Light the Fire Within", etc.) Those have typically been my favorite thing about the Olympics.
    I like Kung-Fu.

  11. #71

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    OH MY GOD IT'S MICHAEL PHELPS TIME!

    EDIT: False alarm. They're just showing how their slow-mo saved a volleyball girl's ring.

  12. #72
    A Big Deal? Recognized Member Big D's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by DMKA View Post
    Have they had a cheesy anthem song this year? (ie 1996 was Celine Dion's "Power of the Dream", 2002 was LeAnn Rimes' "Light the Fire Within", etc.) Those have typically been my favorite thing about the Olympics.
    They have a 'theme song', but they're not hyping it and it hasn't been played a lot.

    Interesting news: they've just admitted that part of the opening ceremony was faked via CG, namely the firework 'footprints' stepping toward the stadium. A fine piece of special effects work, though, and probably a good idea since the real thing could've misfired in so many ways. Still pretty cheeky, though.

  13. #73
    Draw the Drapes Recognized Member rubah's Avatar
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    didn't they do it because they didn't want to mess up their helicoptors flying them through fireworks? They had fireworks at the opening ceremonies, just didn't film them or something.

    I'm pretty sure they said *something* about him being 14. He's pretty gangly for a 16 year old.

  14. #74
    Gold is the new black Goldenboko's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Yaridovich View Post
    OH MY GOD IT'S MICHAEL PHELPS TIME!

    EDIT: False alarm. They're just showing how their slow-mo saved a volleyball girl's ring.
    Are you complaining about watching girls in Bikini's jump around?

  15. #75
    A Big Deal? Recognized Member Big D's Avatar
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    Virtually all of the opening and the fireworks were real, yeah - it's just those footprints that weren't.

    As far as I remember, there've usually been under-16s in various events, mostly gymnastics and diving.

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