Olympic Opening Ceremonies, a lie...

[dumpthemonarchy]

The opening ceremony were fake and the closing ceremony was one cliche piled on another that added up to a pathetic heap of poop. Thank goodness we have no more shows to make for the Olympics. I sighed when Cirque de Soleil pulled out. I feared the worst and it happened. Three shows, from Turin to BC Place. Yuck.

Cirque de Soleil knows so little about entertaining millions and making millions of dollars doing it. Those pros at VANOC have so much experience here, VANOC knows logistics, not culture or art. The street parites were a surprise.

It seems the Olympics revealed Canadians just don't know the tone and temper of the nation to present to the world a show that generates pride and reflects the nation. We got a pc govt vierw of the nation and it is lame. Things can only get better.

 

[Risus]

We got a pc govt vierw of the nation and it is lame. Things can only get better.

I expected to see you post your negativity, but blaming the government?? That is insanity. They had nothing to do with the content of the closing cerimony.

 

[Risus]

The term "first nations" is itself an invention.

Everything was invented at some point or another. Whats your point?

 

[gerryh]

Bear, I gather you see the 4 Cheifs and their respective band councils to be pretty weak to allow themselves to be portrayed, in what you consider, to be a poor stereotypical fashion to the world.

 

[#juan]

For those who missed the opening ceremony here are a few photos. I thought they were spectacular:

Live Updates From Opening Ceremony - Vancouver 2010 Blog - NYTimes.com

 

[dumpthemonarchy]

I expected to see you post your negativity, but blaming the government?? That is insanity. They had nothing to do with the content of the closing cerimony.

Govt did pay for the Games, I would expect they had some say how it would be presented. Like in BC, the provincial govt wants new Skytrains, the fed govt says we'll help, so you must buy them from Bombardier in Quebec.

VANOC makes a show and puts aboriginals front and centre? Gee, who would want something like that? People who supply the bucks, the BC and fed govts. Try not to be so naive.

 

[dumpthemonarchy]

I expected to see you post your negativity, but blaming the government?? That is insanity. They had nothing to do with the content of the closing cerimony.

And I'm not always negative, the Italians put on an awesome closing ceremony in Turin. The hockey win was fantastic. The pqrties downtown were great, the hockey game I saw was great.

 

[CDNBear]

I believe coc consulted with the 4 host nations and they signed off on the ceremony.I think you are grasping at straws here.

What straws.

Are you suggesting that the 4 First Nations that directly participated in the opening ceremonies had no say whatsoever in their role? I am left with the impression that they were forced by teh government under threat.

I have no idea how you came to that conclusion.

This is a post that I made at another place in response to a similar topic, I hope members will excuse the cross-post:

It was an awesome post Paradox.

The opening ceremony were fake

Yep.

It seems the Olympics revealed Canadians just don't know the tone and temper of the nation to present to the world a show that generates pride and reflects the nation. We got a pc govt vierw of the nation and it is lame. Things can only get better.

Agreed.

Bear, I gather you see the 4 Cheifs and their respective band councils to be pretty weak to allow themselves to be portrayed, in what you consider, to be a poor stereotypical fashion to the world.

You bet, but as you know I have a poor opinion of most chiefs.

Govt did pay for the Games, I would expect they had some say how it would be presented. Like in BC, the provincial govt wants new Skytrains, the fed govt says we'll help, so you must buy them from Bombardier in Quebec.

VANOC makes a show and puts aboriginals front and centre? Gee, who would want something like that? People who supply the bucks, the BC and fed govts. Try not to be so naive.

Well said.

 

[Outta here]

For those who missed the opening ceremony here are a few photos. I thought they were spectacular:

Live Updates From Opening Ceremony - Vancouver 2010 Blog - NYTimes.com

Thanks Juan, I'll check those out for sure!

 

[Francis2004]

Govt did pay for the Games, I would expect they had some say how it would be presented. Like in BC, the provincial govt wants new Skytrains, the fed govt says we'll help, so you must buy them from Bombardier in Quebec.

The new Canada Line trains were purchased from South Korea and not Bombardier.. I could not believe Canada could not make these trains but hey, what else is new..

The South Korean-built trains that will run on the new Canada Line rapid transit system between downtown Vancouver and the city's airport will double the capacity of the current SkyTrain cars.

The two-vehicle trains will give commuters more leg room and more space for wheelchairs and bikes than SkyTrain cars, B.C. Transportation Minister Kevin Falcon said during the unveiling ceremony Friday.

"Between these two cars you can fill up 400 people on this train, which is a tremendous improvement over the existing SkyTrain. It's virtually doubling the capacity," Falcon said.

"That's going to be important, too, as we move lots of people particularly during the Olympics."

The Hyundai Rotem Company won the contract to build 20 fully automated trains for the $2.05-billion line, which is scheduled to open in 2009. Four trains have already arrived and the remaining ones should be delivered through to August next year.

Asked why the contract was awarded to a South Korean firm and not a Canadian one, such as, Bombardier, Falcon said it's about pricing and building Asia-Pacific investment.

CBC News - British Columbia - New Canada Line trains double capacity of current SkyTrain cars

 

[Risus]

Govt did pay for the Games, I would expect they had some say how it would be presented. Like in BC, the provincial govt wants new Skytrains, the fed govt says we'll help, so you must buy them from Bombardier in Quebec.

VANOC makes a show and puts aboriginals front and centre? Gee, who would want something like that? People who supply the bucks, the BC and fed govts. Try not to be so naive.

Sure, the government paid for a portion of the games, but they had nothing to do with the contents of the ceremony. That was the producer of the show and the VANOC.
Don't be racist. What is wrong with putting the aboriginals front and center???? The aboriginals are part of our beginning history. Wake up.

 

[Risus]

And I'm not always negative, the Italians put on an awesome closing ceremony in Turin. The hockey win was fantastic. The pqrties downtown were great, the hockey game I saw was great.

You are negative about a lot of subjects in these forums.

 

[El Barto]

I'm sorry to say I was not at all impressed. I didn't catch the opening ceremonies, and only a bit of the closing ceremonies... but what I did catch wasn't that great. I'm not overly comfortable with the idea of tooting our own horn quite so brazenly... it seemed a bit over the top. What I saw had the same bad taste as the whole "Own the podium" campaign... it felt like someone hijacked my Canadian-ism and defiled it a bit. All that "Lookit us! Lookit Us!" ... ugh.

The hokiest of all were those canoes and ginormous beavers romping around the stage. I have to admit, I laughed out loud - literally - but not with them. I dunno, the whole Canada/BEAVER thang... it's funny ... on a couple different levels. WTH. Is that the best we could come up with? I read a review that said it was campy. That's exactly what I thought. We could have really done a class act with this. But we didn't.

Zan , if you put on a show I'd would never laugh at your beaver

 

[CDNBear]

Zan , if you put on a show I'd would never laugh at your beaver

:lol:

 

[EagleSmack]

zan , if you put on a show i'd would never laugh at your beaver

rofl

 

[VanIsle]

I did not see any reason to open yet another thread on the Olympics but I thought I would like to share these words with you:

Brian Williams, anchor and managing editor

After tonight's broadcast and after looting our hotel mini-bars, we're going to try to brave the blizzard and fly east to home and hearth, and to do laundry well into next week. Before we leave this thoroughly polite country, the polite thing to do is leave behind a thank-you note.

Thank you, Canada:

For being such good hosts.

For your unfailing courtesy.

For your (mostly) beautiful weather.

For scheduling no more than 60 percent of your float plane departures at the exact moment when I was trying to say something on television.

For not seeming to mind the occasional (or constant) good-natured mimicry of your accents.

For your unique TV commercials -- for companies like Tim Hortons -- which made us laugh and cry.

For securing this massive event without choking security, and without publicly displaying a single automatic weapon.

For having the best garment design and logo-wear of the games -- you've made wearing your name a cool thing to do.

For the sportsmanship we saw most of your athletes display.

For not honking your horns. I didn't hear one car horn in 15 days -- which also means none of my fellow New Yorkers rented cars while visiting.

For making us aware of how many of you have been watching NBC all these years.

For having the good taste to have an anchorman named Brian Williams on your CTV network, who turns out to be such a nice guy.

For the body scans at the airport which make pat-downs and cavity searches unnecessary.

For designing those really cool LED Olympic rings in the harbor, which turned to gold when your athletes won one.

For always saying nice things about the United States...when you know we're listening.

For sharing Joannie Rochette with us.

For reminding some of us we used to be a more civil society.

Mostly, for welcoming the world with such ease and making lasting friends with all of us.

 

[VanIsle]

Here's another one:

A Note to the Critical Media of the World about Our Olympics.

ENJOY!!!!
RESPONSE TO WORLD MEDIA

We never claimed to be perfect; that means we've learned to be humble.

We say excuse me and I'm sorry as well as please and thanks. Even
when it’s not our fault we apologize.

Sure one arm of the torch didn't rise, but when the earthquake struck
Haiti, Canadians raised their hands to say "we'll help".

And yah, there is a fence around the torch, but you can walk right up
and shake hands with our prime minister ... and most famous Canadians.

We put Gretzky in the back of a pick-up, in the rain, not surrounded
by police and he was okay.
And by the way... the great one is Canadian and HE wasn't complaining!

We do have security at the games, of course, but most people don't
even have a gun they have to leave at home.

The medals ARE under lock and key but our doors and our hearts are
open to the world.

It has been pointed out that some buses broke down last week, but
let's not overlook the fact that our banking system didn't.

We didn't get the "green ice maker" right this time, but we will,
eventually; just like we did when we invented the zamboni.

If you don't reach higher how do you get faster and stronger? Was the
first quad jump perfect? Should we not have given snowboarding to the
world "in case" it didn't take off?

So big deal one out of four torch arms didn't rise. Good thing we had
3 more! It's called contingency planning!

But remember the Canadarm works every time in outer space and insulin
turned out to be okay.

We couldn't change the weather but maybe we can help stop global warming.

We don't have the tax base of the US or the power of the Chinese but,
per capita, we ponied up for some pretty kick-donkey venues in the worst
global recession ever.

Sure, some folks couldn't afford tickets but our health care is universal.

We have shown the world that we can raise our voices in celebration
and song but moments later stand in silence to respect a tragic
event...together, spontaneously and unrehearsed.

What's more, we don't need permission from anyone to have a slam poet,
fiddlers with piercings and a lesbian singer tell our story to the
world while our multilingual female Haitian- born, black head of state
shares a box with her First Nations equals.

We've shown the world that it doesn't always rain in Vancouver, that
you can strive for excellence but not get hung up on perfection.

And we've learned what it feels like to be picked on by some no name
newspaper guy and we don't have to take it lying down!

So the point is not the snow, or the hydraulics or a couple guys being
5 minutes late to a ceremony. We know we're lucky that these are the
biggest problems we had to deal with in the last couple weeks.

So take your cheap shots Guardian newspaper and cynics of the world.

We're bigger and better than that. What's more we're finally starting
to believe it!

Do you believe?

 

[Mowich]

Except for both opening and closing renditions of our national anthem - neither of which I appreciated, I thoroughly enjoyed both presentations.

I especially got a kick out of the theme of the closing ceremonies - making fun of ourselves. Yeah some of us really do think the moose should be a national symbol of Canada, right alongside the Beav. Some of us also like the fact that no nation on earth has such snazzy police uniforms, nor the legend and history they speak to. Heck, there are even some of us who got teary-eyed as the building erupted in a sustained ovation following John Furlongs' thank you to the athletes of the world. Hearing the opening bars of The Maple Leaf Forever almost instantly took some of us back to grade school when we sang it every day, as we now sang it with Michael.

Mike, Bill and Catherine were perfect in their monologues highlighting the funniest things about us, I laughed along with them and felt good about my countrymen for being able to do so in such a public manner.

Neil's voice hasn't improved over the years but his lyrics ring as true today as they did when I was younger. I liked both Avril and Alanis' choice of songs and drooled as usual over Michael.

Enjoyed John Furlong's remarks and his thanking of the volunteers especially - they are really the unsung heros of these games and deserved the loud applause they received.

In saying goodbye to the world we weren't pompous, or arrogant, or conceited. We were our usual Canadian selves when it came to lording it over another - we didn't. From the beginning of the games, we reached out our hand in friendship and kept it there locked hand in hand with nations around the world. We celebrated our victories and those of other nations. The camaraderie between our Canadian athletes and those of other countries was in evidence in competition after competition. In record numbers people took to the streets of Vancouver and Whistler, day after day and night after night and in all that time there were less than 500 arrests for all games related disturbances, most of the them pretty minor. Vancouver Police were photographed high-fiving people on the street after we our team won the game. We showed pride in our country by being civil and friendly and welcoming and very polite, in other words as true Canadians. We said goodbye with flair, humor, and style.

Yep, all in all, I would say it was a jim dandy send-off. Thank you, VANOC. Thank you, Mr. Furlong.

But then, that's just my opinion.

:canada:

 

[countryboy]

Well, I'm glad I had no part in planning the ceremonies. Trying to "do it right" would be pretty much impossible, given the apparently high numbers of people who stand by to ambush the first person who tries to do something a bit different.

Sometimes it pays to look for something good in an event. The payoff is, the critic(s) might end up feeling a little better about the country and move a bit closer to the optimistic side of things. You know, spread a little sunshine and all that...

 

[Risus]

Well, I'm glad I had no part in planning the ceremonies. Trying to "do it right" would be pretty much impossible, given the apparently high numbers of people who stand by to ambush the first person who tries to do something a bit different.

Sometimes it pays to look for something good in an event. The payoff is, the critic(s) might end up feeling a little better about the country and move a bit closer to the optimistic side of things. You know, spread a little sunshine and all that...

Some people are just negative, no matter what the topic is.