The Grand Opening of the Olympics 2008

Summer Olympics 2008 opens last Friday in Beijing, China. It is dubbed by NBC as the 8-8-08 event. NBC got all rights to broadcast the ocassion on TV and online.

I watched the opening ceremony-- one of the grandest, elaborate, meticulous fanfare I've ever seen. I watched it while preparing supper, eating supper, and cleaning up the mess of supper. At last, I sat up to watch it with my full attention after giving my daughter a bath and brushing her teeth, catching part of the parade of nations but at 11 PM, we had to go to bed. Oh, I miss the lighting of the torch... which I wanted to see.

At 3 PM, when my daughter woke up and could not go to sleep, I took her to the living room, turned the TV on and watched the replay. I watched some of the unbelievable presentations and the parade of nations again. Still, I missed the lighting of the torch because my daughter dozed off at about 6 PM and we had to go to bed (again).

Thankfully, the next day, there were broadcasters on NBC, commenting on the previous night's event. They showed a footage of the torch lighting.

Here's what I think about the Olympics 2008 opening ceremony which is arguably more spectacular than the Y2K celebration by all nations combined:

It's too long. Hey, don't get me wrong. The performances are great: very well detailed, flawless, and entertaining. But no one can hold one's attention for a good two hours even if it is that awesome. Well, I was just watching it on TV. Maybe it's a different story if I was there. But I was not. So, it wore on me as time hours went on.

The best number for me was the one by Tai-chi Masters. As I watched it I heard the announcers say that these people know the routines by heart,learning it as a chld and as they grow. So, there is really not a need for them to have a leader in doing it. Everything is innate, second nature. There are about hundreds of them (I'm not sure what is the exact count) but they were all moving like there is a hand that is guiding them. It sure captures China's theme of harmony.

I was amused to see some delegates took photos of themselves with Kobe Bryant, a famed basketball player in United States who is also a delegate. While waiting for the other nations to march their parade (there are like 204 nations I believe but I don't confirm), athletes from other countries made a good use of their time. Well, it's Kobe Bryant, they may all be Olympians but Kobe has a name and face to match.

India, with it's population of 1.1 billion has only 56 players. I think India is more on medicine, engineering, computers, and the sciences. Sports is not the focus of the country. Well, I was thinking too that because they have clothing restrictions, it's hard to engage in sports where one has to wear scanty clothes.

I think the flag bearer of China is the one I saw on Discovery Health Channel-- a very tall man from China wanting to play basketball in the US but was having health issues. Well, I could be wrong.