Do they always include the men’s marathon medal ceremony at the Closing Ceremonies? It seemed kind of odd, though I guess if you had to choose a flagship event for the Olympics, that would be a good choice (maybe 100m dash and pentathlon, as well).
Also, the little girls with the exact same outfit and pigtails leading the volunteers seemed a bit tacky to me. I can’t quite put my finger on why; perhaps it’s just too sugary cute and that annoys me.
I loved how the Chinese speaker almost called the audience “comrades”? (tongzhimen) He changed it at the last second to “friends” (pengyoumen), but I guess when you’ve been to too many Party meetings, it’s hard to lose the habit.
When those weird unicycles with the guys riding inside the wheel came into the stadium, was I the only one who thought of Christmas morning in Whoville?
Probably. But I couldn’t help thinking of it anyway.
The London changeover was seriously whackadoodle. And even after following flying drums, airborne Power Rangers, and Jackie Chan singing. It just kept getting more and more surreal – doubledecker bus (sort-of cool), then umbrella jazz-hands dancers, little girl walking on their backs (?), Jimmy Page popping up to have Leona Lewis shriek at him, and then David Beckham pops up to kick a soccer ball into the crowd.
… I think they just gave up after seeing the Opening Ceremonies, and just decided to throw some random stuff together, really.
And somebody please tell the Lord Mayor to button his coat.
heh. I was out of the room for any introductions, and I didn’t recognize Placido Domingo when I came back in, so I said to my wife, “Look! A Chinese opera star is performing with George Lucas!”
And buy a suit that fits. And tuck in his shirt. And wear a belt. And not look like he’s been drinking when asked to wave the flag. I was going to say something about the purple tie as well, but I saw the new PM was wearing the same one, and assume it must be a royal colo(u)r or something.
About the marathon, I saw a blurry photo once of the last stretch in the 1896 marathon, the first modern Olympic games. The winner was a Greek soldier. I guess Greece hadn’t been doing to well over all, and the Greeks were bummed about it, so when their guy enters the stadium first the crowd went crazy, and the king of Greece jumped onto the track and jogged along beside the guy. You can see his hand at his hip, probably trying to keep his dress sword from bumping around.
After the middle guy waved the flag around, it got wrapped around the pole a little bit, and then he handed it to the mayor of London. And when he took it, he grabbed the pole with the flag around it, so he had to untangle things a bit at first.
and :eek: . And maybe another