We begin with the trendy "zoom into the stadium from space" shot and then quickly cut to a video clip that looks suspiciously like a promotional video for a Travel BC.
As the president of the IOC is introduced and he enters the big wig box it is strangely mostly empty. A few minutes later the TV announcers let us know that the First Nations leaders (who had been granted head-of-state status hadn’t arrived yet and so due to protocol most of the others who should have been seated in the box were still waiting in the wings. Wow! Nice!
The next thing I can even remember is the parade of athletes. As usual it was the longest and least interesting part of the whole three hour show. In the olden days at least, the athletes acted like the world was watching them and acted accordingly. Nowadays they barely even acknowledge the audience as they are all so busy videoing themselves being videoed and texting their BFFs “like can u c me now? lol”. I can remember the days when maybe one or two athletes would discreetly take out a camera and grab a quick shot and then get right back to the important business of being on worldwide TV. Now they’ve all got their cameras out front and center from the moment they enter the stadium. I don’t like it.
The national anthem was sung by a very good singer but I guess my thinking on how a national anthem should be sung is different from most of the world. I remember the Salt Lake Olympics when the Tabernacle choir sang the anthem and the NBC announcers were very impressed and commented “that’s the way an anthem should be sung” and I agreed totally. It was sung the way it was written. It was powerful and moving. I really don’t care for these divas who take the opportunity to showcase their own particular interpretation of the song and change it all up. Nope, didn’t care for it.
At some point along the way some guy comes out and does his version of the “I Am Canadian” commercial. Way too preachy.
Did you notice we were able to hear Brian Adams sing the first couple of lines of his duet with Nelly Furtado even though he hadn't raised his mic to his mouth yet? Hmmmmm...
In the olden days Canada was a colony of the British Empire and therefore had someone called a Governor General. This person was the representative of the King or Queen and was probably a relatively important person in the grand scheme of things. Today Canada still retains the position of GG but as Canada has been an independent country for several years now the GG position is completely symbolic and the holder of said post has no actual power. This seemed to change a bit when they started appointing TV personalities to the post. Remember that Adrienne Clarkson lady.
She totally let her pompous new title go to her head and started showing up at everything, giving her opinion like anyone really cared and all that. This delusional assumption of actual power has continued with the current GG, George Michael or John Michael or whatever her name is. Sorry but just I don’t want some former TV presenter opening my Olympics thank you very much.
The artsy and computer generated portion of the show was cool but forgettable. I kind of liked the whales. Was that Peter Pan over some barley?
The final disappointment and ultimate fail was the torch itself. How can you let something THAT important malfunction? Somebody is SO fired? And what’s with sending 99 out into the rain for a way too long back of the pick-up ride down darkened streets to light the “other” torch. Talk about anti-climactic. Lame, lame and lame!
For me, the highlight of the opening ceremonies and the only thing that made the whole thing worth watching and yes, it did make it all worth while was the brilliant singing of kd lang. I have had her rendition of Hallelujah at the 2005 Juno awards in my YouTube favourites for a long time now. Talk about a powerful soulful performance. Just brilliant!
And here it is. Hallelujah
I love the reaction of the audience, full of her music industry peers. They knew they had just witnessed a very special performance by a great talent. (I also love her reaction to their reaction.)
8 comments:
Yah, I must say I wasn't wowed either. I guess there is only so much you can do with an ice and snow theme...not a lot of color options. I was really hoping it wasn't going to be technical difficulties with the torch, but like the song says, "Two out of three ain't bad", so... 3 out of 4 is even better! Thanks for adding the video of KD Lang. That is a terrific perfomance of a beautiful song.
Hey Lorin. We watched the part of the ceremonies. When we saw the torch pillars not come up, I said the same thing as you, "Somebody's going to be fired over that one!" I missed the performance you liked, so I'll have to watch that one. Anyways, I like reading your reviews of things. I'm still waitig for an Avatar review!
PS I laughed at your last post too. I was just talking to a friend about how much we HATE playlists. You hit the nail on the head with that one for sure!
holy that was amazing!! I had chills! Amazing!!!
Yes- too many camcorders, too slow on the athletes march, and boooo Mr. Adams.
I hope there are no more luge accidents. And I hope Canada wins all the gold medals, especially curling (mens and womens).
Marlan - I'm glad you and Luci liked the KD Lang video. It is amazing isn't it?
Luci - Thanks for stopping by again and for your comments. I'm glad to hear you enjoy my little reviews. I haven't actually seen Avatar yet but hopefully I will soon so I'll try and write a review for it then.
Ray - The luge accident is such a tragedy but I won't be too surprised if there are more incidents to come.
Love that performance!
Lorin, awesome points all around. The observation about the athletes with their cameras particularily struck a chord with me - I hadn't really thought about it before but you are totally right.
KD Lang's performance WAS my FAVORITE part of the whole Olympics. Loved it then, and loved watching it just now. Thanks for having it on your blog. That is one performance I don't want to forget.
LQ
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