The Olympic torch has been dissipated in Beijing and will next make it’s way to London for the 2012 summer games. There were a lot of protesters following the torch relay everywhere it went displaying their displeasure with the Chinese government and how it so effectively uses it’s young country folk for profitable production. I can’t imagine seeing too many protesters following the torch run to London, unless they want to display their displeasure with monarchies and bad teeth.
The ‘08 Beijing games were memorable in so many ways; we saw the most expensive opening and closing ceremonies ever, we witnessed swimming rise as a ‘must see’ event, we saw USA track and field crash and burn, we saw a ‘Redeem Team‘ make a formidable comparison to ‘The Dream Team,’ and we were reminded of the glaring problems that the Olympics have failed to obliterate after all these years.
Michael Redd, Deron Williams, LeBron James, Jason Kidd, and Carlos Boozer show off their new bling, Olympic gold!
Sitting down to watch the opening ceremonies and seeing how long they are is similar to when a wife asks her husband to watch Anne of Green Gables or Pride and Prejudice with her, “What?!?!?! This thing is 53 hours long!!!” Okay, so the opening ceremonies aren’t that long, but they are creeping ever so closer. Right now they are in the same league as the Super Bowl pre-game show, which is just as long as the Super Bowl itself. The opening ceremonies were amazing, they combined both visual and performance arts that may never be matched. In many of the performances there were 2008 people on stage, seemingly improbable, but then we are reminded that there are over 1 billion people in China. Surely it wasn’t too difficult for the organizers to find a few thousand people willing to sacrifice lots of time to practice and perfect a routine show. A few Chinese people can go a long way! At one part of the ceremonies there was a cute little girl being repelled through the stadium serenading us with her angelic Chinese voice. A few days later news leaked that it wasn’t even her voice singing, but the voice of a “Quasimodo” Chinese girl backstage who wasn’t up to snuff to go on stage. Whoever made that decision definitely did not watch Ashley Simpson perform on Saturday Night Live. That single event squashed Ashley’s career like a bug, a bug living in her big bug sister’s shadow. It was rumored that the opening ceremonies alone cost upwards to $100 million! While the Chinese economy struggles to overcome such massive debts from hosting the Olympics, I’m sure all the poor rice farmers and McDonalds Happy Meal toy workers will think, “That ceremony was SO worth a pay cut!”
There is one thing that the Olympics does not leave, and that is the feeling of you wanting more. Then again, it so happens that the summer Olympics always fall during the same year as the Presidential election. Right about now when the political conventions are on every channel I’ll gladly take more of anything…even a Hannah Montana 3-D concert. (Hey, there’s an idea for London, a 3-D opening ceremony!)
Tags: NBA
August 28th, 2008 at 6:49 pm
That is so sad that the “ugly” Chinese girl had to sing backstage at the opening ceremonies while another girl got all of the credit. At least the secret was revealed to the public because the little girl really wasn’t ugly; it just goes to show what our world is coming to. On a happy note, at least the United States did really well in the Olympics this year!!