And lo, the 2008 Olympic games begin

Grandmaster Jogurt · Post by **Grandmaster Jogurt** » 2008-08-09 12:12am

I've only seen the Parade of Nations so far, but I have to say that Lesotho has the best uniforms by far.

Post by **Broomstick** » 2008-08-09 12:15am

Those opening ceremonies were seriously impressive. I think I will no longer say "lit up like the 4th of July" but rather "lit up like Beijing for the Olympics". Just awesome.

That mid-air final torch run was a fine finale.

It also occurred to me, as I watched the parade of nations, that I remember when there weren't even 180 countries participating, now it's over 200 - and many of those countries didn't exist 30 years ago.

FSTargetDrone · Post by **FSTargetDrone** » 2008-08-09 12:18am

Well, it went off without a hitch, happily. I cannot for the life of me understand why a previous poster here was disappointed there were no explosions or mishaps. That's pretty low, but, eh. In any case, I found the ceremonies impressive. That globe thing was really cool, with the runners fastened to it, running around it upside down and sideways!

Broomstick wrote:That mid-air final torch run was a fine finale.

Instead of a "torch" they are calling it a "cauldron"!

Pretty cool, indeed.

Shroom Man 777 · Post by **Shroom Man 777** » 2008-08-09 12:56am

Anyone got a youtubes of this?

hongi · Post by **hongi** » 2008-08-09 01:01am

Fingolfin_Noldor wrote:This may sound petty but the Olympics has been given to nations with dubious human rights track record. Australia is hardly a saint in that regards, at least until the new PM actually apologised for the racist policies. Let's not even forget America's often dubious record on that as well, what with all the communist witch hunts and all over the last few decades.

True, but many of these human rights violations are a couple of decades back. The last of the Stolen Generation date to the early 70s, the red scare likewise. China is not only committing them now, they even ramped it up in order to look good for the Olympics. For example, they've been cracking down on dissidents especially hard in the run up to the games. Censorship, repression of freedom of religion, torture in state prisons etc etc.

Post by **fgalkin** » 2008-08-09 01:05am

Ever heard of Guantanamo Bay?

Have a very nice day.
-fgalkin

Post by **fgalkin** » 2008-08-09 01:11am

CaptainChewbacca wrote:Yeah, two of China's gymnasts' dates of birth mysteriously jumped back in time two years within the last few months.

They're 'officially' 16, but I've seen the pics, and even for underfed asian girls they look young.

Britain has a 14 year old on its team. The terrible child abuse! The horror. THE HORROR!

Have a very nice day.
-fgalkin

CaptainChewbacca · Post by **CaptainChewbacca** » 2008-08-09 01:14am

Does anyone know WHY they were playing Scotland The Brave the whole parade of nations?

Post by **fgalkin** » 2008-08-09 01:15am

TC Pilot wrote:I just saw the end of the opening ceremony. That giant globe thingy looked neat, and the fireworks were impressively huge. But I was very dissapointed that no misfires, explosions, or other catastrophes seemed to occur.

Maybe it's just me, but I really want China to fail hard with these Olympics.

Why? Do you enjoy being an asshole or are you just trying to be hip because hating China is in vogue now?

Have a very nice day.
-fgalkin

hongi · Post by **hongi** » 2008-08-09 01:31am

fgalkin wrote:Ever heard of Guantanamo Bay?

Have a very nice day.
-fgalkin

And if the Olympics were being held in America, I'd protest as well.

Gerald Tarrant · Post by **Gerald Tarrant** » 2008-08-09 02:15am

Fire Fly wrote:Is there somewhere online where I can watch the opening ceremony? Sucks to not have a tv right now.

NBC has some events online Link

and I think this one is things that are going on right now Link Not sure how this works for different regions, though.

Fire Fly · Post by **Fire Fly** » 2008-08-09 02:52am

Gerald Tarrant wrote:
Fire Fly wrote:Is there somewhere online where I can watch the opening ceremony? Sucks to not have a tv right now.
NBC has some events online Link

and I think this one is things that are going on right now Link Not sure how this works for different regions, though.

One would think that NBC would have the opening ceremony on their site but they don't

and youtube is pulling the videos down faster than posters can put them up. Dailymotion.com is a French website and has some bits and pieces but the commentary isn't in English.

Gerald Tarrant · Post by **Gerald Tarrant** » 2008-08-09 03:31am

NBC may still be showing the opening ceremonies in some regions, if so they're probably withholding internet coverage so that their TV sponsors get more bang for their buck, they did something like that for episodes of heroes too.

You could try Boston.com/bigpicture while you wait. Here are some of their china pictures Link

edit: Just saw this, McClatchy's site has a nice slideshow up too. Link

Tolya · Post by **Tolya** » 2008-08-09 04:33am

I will not deliberately sit down and watch the Olympic Games.

It kinda reminds me (historically) of the 1936 Winter Olympic Games, starring Hitler, Goebels etc.

There is a 15 second gap in the transmission time, so relevant authorities can filter out if something politically incorrect happens on the stadium.

Freedom my ass.

Dartzap · Post by **Dartzap** » 2008-08-09 04:41am

CaptainChewbacca wrote:Does anyone know WHY they were playing Scotland The Brave the whole parade of nations?

Other than to break the sanity of all people in the area, its because one of the organisers encountered the pipe band from Dundee whilst touring in Europe and essentially said "Wow! I want them for the ceremony!" Thus, Scotland The Brave was repeated nine hundred times.

ray245 · Post by **ray245** » 2008-08-09 05:14am

Tolya wrote:I will not deliberately sit down and watch the Olympic Games.

It kinda reminds me (historically) of the 1936 Winter Olympic Games, starring Hitler, Goebels etc.

There is a 15 second gap in the transmission time, so relevant authorities can filter out if something politically incorrect happens on the stadium.

Freedom my ass.

Is it? There don't seem to be a 15 second gap down here anyway...

Dartzap · Post by **Dartzap** » 2008-08-09 05:31am

Is it? There don't seem to be a 15 second gap down here anyway...

Indeed, didn't seem to be time difference here either. The time delay might have been for the prevention of swearing, eh?

Siege · Post by **Siege** » 2008-08-09 05:46am

The Superbowl also uses time-delays to filter out inconvenient happenstances *cough* nipples *cough*. Oh no, a delay to ensure a worldwide live broadcast seen by gazillions of people goes off without a hitch! The humanity!

Whatever you want to hold against China (and there is plenty), I don't think time-delayed broadcasts should be among it.

ray245 · Post by **ray245** » 2008-08-09 06:13am

Seriously, I am damn annoyed with people using the word freedom to justify their actions...without even looking at their own backyard.

Lord Pounder · Post by **Lord Pounder** » 2008-08-09 07:13am

I'm looking forward to seeing how things pan out, especially in swimming. I have a vested interest since I recently started working for Speedo and frankly in this Olympics if you aren't swimming in a LZR racer don't bother leaving the locker room. Michael Phelps is gonna be dripping in so much gold he'll look like Mr T.

mr friendly guy · Post by **mr friendly guy** » 2008-08-09 10:40am

FSTargetDrone wrote:Well, it went off without a hitch, happily. I cannot for the life of me understand why a previous poster here was disappointed there were no explosions or mishaps.

I do. He is a sociopath coupled with the internet tough guy mentality.

Any way, back to the ceremony and it looked pretty neat. I stayed up until the Australian team came out, and since we were third last to come out, I stayed up until all the teams had come out.

I have seen Zhang Yimou directed live performances before, and he certainly knows how to do them. Why did they need Speilberg again?

Guardsman Bass · Post by **Guardsman Bass** » 2008-08-09 11:13am

The thing they did for the torch-lighting, with the guy on wire running around on the television carpet for the length of the stadium, kicked ass. I wish we (Salt Lake City) had thought of something like that for the 2002 Winter Olympics.

Post by **Coyote** » 2008-08-09 11:18am

The goose-stepping troops caused some eyebrow-raising on my part, but I guess most Americans these days are so ignorant of even recent history that the image will sail blithely past them, in their corn-syrup-glazed awareness.

Guardsman Bass · Post by **Guardsman Bass** » 2008-08-09 01:44pm

To be perfectly honest, the whole Chinese authoritarianism defiling the Olympics type of thing never bothered me too much; the Olympics is a celebration of athletic virtue, not a celebration of national virtue (except in terms of how well your national teams excel), and there's been plenty of dictatorships before.

AniThyng · Post by **AniThyng** » 2008-08-09 02:06pm

Coyote wrote:The goose-stepping troops caused some eyebrow-raising on my part, but I guess most Americans these days are so ignorant of even recent history that the image will sail blithely past them, in their corn-syrup-glazed awareness.

For what its worth, goose-stepping is just how the PLA marches, like the Russians. I don't think theres anything inherently malicious about it, the PLA isn't going to be any less "oppressive" in any meaningful way if they just marched American style.