So is it a competition each Olympics to see if they can out-weird the previous Olympics?? Since when did the Olympics have to be like the Cirque du Soleil?

Maybe I am just not in touch with my "artsy" side, but I swear those things are almost completely un-watchable for me. There's no telling how many millions of dollars were flushed down the toilet on that bizarre little ceremony.

IMO, of course.

Very true, indeed. However, I did think the fireworks were pretty darn kewl. Btw, further olympics conversation should probably go in the thread in the Sports forum

I hear for the next Olympics opening cermonies that the entire place where it takes place will be completely blown to hell at the very end. Hows that for over the top?

Yeah, and in 2012, the opening ceremony will be held concordantly with the apocalypse

I have to agree that I think the opening ceremonies are basically pointless and unwatchable. Who really cares?

I say that and yet I'm sure 40 trillion people were watching the inane festivities. I know some of the people here at work were watching it.

I think the ceremony was amazing and beautiful.
But thank god for Tivo when they were going through the parade of nations!

I watched the entire parade. It was the best part of the entire show. The place went CRAZY then Greece walked in.

The flame lighting was a little weak though. Looked like the guy was lighting the world's biggest joint. The best flame lighting ever was Barcelona when the archer shot the flaming arrow to start the events.

D

My complaint about the opening ceremonies is that NBC could have come up with better text for the flag holder.

For each country, they would show the flag holders name and event they compete in.

For 2 or 3 of the middle eastern countries where all the althletes were dressed in robes, etc. The flag holders event was shooting.

Granted, there isn't much you can do with that, but it seemed to play right into a stereotype. I'm sure the actual event has a name they could have used. Or maybe something like marksmenship.



Some of the opening ceremonies were a bit much, but it was interesting to see how they put it all together. And I enjoyed the Bjork song.

I thought the exact same thing. Although I did think Ali lighting the cauldron in Atlanta was pretty cool.

The events are called "Shooting." The only further description is the distance and type of gun (air pistol, air rifle, etc.).

It looked spectacular in high definition. I just wish I had a way to record it in highdef

Since NBC in NY has the HD broadcasting power of THREE hamsters running on wheels, I sadly wouldnt know.

So from a strictly content point of view...if this is supposed to be a ceremony for the entire world to enjoy...the entire world ISNT backwoods and rural, its urban and artsy! Who would have thunk it!

NBC's presentation sucked.

I hated the way they cut to commercials every five minutes, right in the middle of the parade.

And Katie Couric and Bob Costas couldn't keep their fricking yaps shut. I don't need to hear them mispronounce the names of these weird little countries or make snide comments about them. Goddammnit, they even kept on yammering while Bjork was singing, telling us what we were watching. It's not about you two jackasses, you know. Just let the ceremony speak for itself.

This was one of the better opening ceremonies that I've seen from the past 4-5 olympics. Very well done. There definitely needs to be less yapping, Costas seemed to be especially mean-spirited this year. Anyone know if a dvd will be released?

That was another good thing about the highdef broadcast. It wasn't Couric and Costas and their pathetic yammering.

About the only thing that SUCKED about the highdef was the exact same Sony commercial every single time. No other commercials, just the Sony one with the chips and salsa.

Hey, they finally decided to add TWO more commericals in the rotation. That Sony tv commerical is going to make me go on a killing spree.

I saw the BBC broadcast of the openings and the commentating was pretty good. The guy would chime in every once in a while to explain all the wacky symbolism then he's shut up for a while. They gave info on each coutry as they entered and only missed a couple.
You could tell the announcer wasn't too happy with having a DJ in charge of the music. More than a couple of snide comments were tossed around about the dance club sounds, other than that, it was pretty laid back.

D

I'm almost sorry I missed it because of nonstop hurricane coverage... Almost.