Olympic Opening Ceremony

[PeppyGPhiB]

I think people forget what most opening ceremonies are like. Beijing was the exception. Most OCs have been like this one - a history of the host country. Beijing was spectacular, but it also bothered me since there were plenty of stories about what hard-asses the country's leadership were regarding everything. being. perfect. I recall that during the dress rehearsal, someone didn't like the way some of the costumes looked, so they had all-new costumes made within something like 14 hours. You just knew that many of the people involved probably weren't having much fun, and those re-made costumes were basically made under slave labor circumstances. It was huge and stunningly beautiful, but too perfect for me because you got the sense that any errors - whether it was a prop that fell apart or an out-of-place drummer - would have been viewed very harshly by the government. I worried about anyone that made any missteps, and that tarnished it for me.

On the other hand, I loved Vancouver's ceremonies and this one because you could see that the participants were having fun, including the people who planned them. Vancouver's CC, with the Mounties who did the can-can and giant inflatables, was hilarious, and totally Canadian. I can't wait to see what this Closing Ceremony is like!