the olympics

[bedlamsbard]

You know, every time I think about humanity has screwed up the world, and all the horrible things we do to each other, something like the Olympics comes along and reminds how absolutely fucking amazing the world really is. And the Opening Ceremonies were certainly something -- Canada and Britain must be kicking themselves right now going, "How the hell do we top THAT?" -- but what really got me was the torchbearers running past all those flags in the dimly lit stadium. Countries that can only send one or two athletes, and countries that don't have a chance at winning a medal, but by God they've made it here, and their flags are no less great than America's, or China's, or anyone else's. That's emotional, because this, this is the world. This is the world right here.

Although I have to add that, inappropriate as it is, I am highly amused by Bush and Putin having what was probably a very interesting conversation while the Opening Ceremonies went on below and Laura Bush plastered a fixed look on her face and pretending there was nothing going on around her.

Now. Let's have America sweep the medals once again. (Hey, patriotism, what can I say?) Luck to all the athletes, though!

Comments

and have we mentioned how hot and humid it is here in beijing

[lassiterfics.livejournal.com]

OH MAN THE OPENING CEREMONY. My parents and I were about to go out to dinner at the time, but then the live broadcast came on, and, uh, we never made it to dinner after all. Oh, the benefits of overcompensation! I was like, "<333333333333!!11"
OMG PAINTING THROUGH DANCING
OMG HUMANS AS PIXELS
omg acid trip costumes, some of which are FIBEROPTICS-CAPABLE
OMG THE CONSTANT DEFIANCE OF GRAVITY
i flaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaiiiiiiiiil

The unsung heroes are the announcers, who are accidentally hilarious in the way sports announcers tend to be, especially during the flag parade commentary holy shit. My favorite was when the globe thing rose out of the ground and became the earth and one announcer was like, "...Their earth is spinning the wrong way."

Re: and have we mentioned how hot and humid it is here in beijing

[bedlamsbard.livejournal.com]

The giant footprints! The fifteen thousand performers! The giant inkpad!

[lassiterfics.livejournal.com]

SO EPIC. I love it aaaaaaaaaaaaallllllllllllllll. The opening ceremony was on some special crack.

Another from my list of favorite announcer moments: did you catch when the announcers were talking about Gambia during the parade and was like, "It's located on the Atlantic side of West Africa." Because, um, AS OPPOSED TO??

[bedlamsbard.livejournal.com]

*snort* Oh, the announcers.

I'm on the West Coast, and anyway, the U.S. is like, twelve hours behind China anyway, so I kept going, "Oh, I read that this was really cool! And this!" and my dad kept going, "And what, you saw it?" "NO, DADDY, I READ IT ON THE 'NET."

[katakokk.livejournal.com]

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH, the opening ceremony.

*dies*

[bedlamsbard.livejournal.com]

SO AMAZING.

[1aquaesulis76.livejournal.com]

I think the UK Olympic Committee is now shitting bricks - at least, that was the general census of opinion by our commentators, who seemed to hold out no hope of matching it, a mood shared by most of the county who are already sick as hell at all the money being thrown at the thing, when our education & health systems are in desperate need of it! (soapbox moment over).

I missed most of the ceremony, being stuck at work, where we have a very nasty IT dept, who ban any fun website. The little I saw looked amazing, and *loved* the Olympic flame being in the ancient torch. Now *that's* an idea I wish we'd had, *sigh*

[bedlamsbard.livejournal.com]

It was really the most amazing opening ceremony I've ever seen. (GIANT FOOTPRINTS. COOLEST THING EVER.)

[franceica.livejournal.com]

I miss majority of the ceremony, too. Just caught the last bit. And yes, I think it was indeed really cool, even it is just a tiny bit I saw.

But I think, really, Britain and Canada shouldn't worry too much and shouldn't kick themselves either, *laughs*. I am serious. If you are as huge as China and the government can throw whatever money they like into a ceremony like this, you would sure be able to do something like this. Competing on grand scale with China is always not very wise. Think about the population, really.

Anyway, good luck to all the athletes. Some of them have been waiting for Olympics for so long, and I wish them no regret in this one.

[bedlamsbard.livejournal.com]

Yeah, the fifteen thousand performers who never once doubled. "Well, we have the people!"

*nods* Always. Luck to the athletes; it's the Olympics, man. Make the best of it.