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tanithryudoDisclaimer: I feel extreme dislike for NBC and what it stands for right now. Some comments might have bashing be biased. Caveat lector.
ADD: Just learned from the net that Canada was in the same boat as the US. Some station bought all the broadcast rights and enforced its monopoly in the same draconic way as NBC.
- According to the schedule online, it's from 7:30 to 12 midnight. I'm guessing the extra time is for the commercials.
- Not five minutes into the intro and we get commercial break. -_- No wonder they monopolized the thing. Cuz if we'd had any other alternative, we'd not be watching. As it is, it just breeds hate but we still can't do anything about it.
- 15,000 performers in the opening ceremony
- 3 more minutes into the show we hit politics. *rolleyes* Of course they're going to take any chance to bash the "commies"/current unofficial public enemy of the US
- 10 minutes in... commercial again. *sigh*
- "Let's set the politics aside"...and then proceed to talk about what response to the US, French, Iran, Iraq delegations will be... Hypocrisy, thy name is--but then we already knew that.
- Commercial again. >_<
- 2008 drummers on the fu again. Yay coordination.
- Commercial break. I guess there's going to be one between every event. I'll stop harping on it. Otherwise this entry will get obnoxiously long.
- Giant footsteps: I missed that one on this morning's webcast due to TVAnts dying.
- Apsaras/仙女: As far as I recall they are older than Buddhism in China. In other words, they were an older Chinese myth that got merged into Buddhism after it was adopted in China; it didn't arise from Buddhism. Any Chinese knows this. But not these guys apparently.
- Less focus on Bush plz. Especially when the little girl is singing that pretty pretty song. (I just realize I don't have an mp3 of it... I want the version sung by that little girl. kthxpls.)
- It's interesting how far the interpretation of the US commentators differed from the CCTV ones. The unrolling scroll of paper according to CCTV is to demonstrate China's literary heritage and the invention of paper. According to the US commentators it's to represent the blank page that China was to paint a new image of itself in the world's eye. Uh-huh. My thoughts: dude, if they unroll a non-blank scroll, then WTF are they going to draw the stuff from future portions of the ceremony on, huh?
- So 山水画 is only 1000 years old? Eh, I guess I should make allowances for people who can't conceptualize a country older than that.
- Still love the Confucianist robes. <3 <3 <3 ( I notice there was no commentary about the ancient and modern writings of '和' )
- There's that 1000-year reference again in regards to the Great Wall (on the printing blocks). Look, I realize you're from a country just over 200 years old and time periods higher than 1000 might be hard for you to comprehend. But, would it kill you to at least write down the fact that the Great Wall is over *two* thousand years old?
- Yes, Tang was "open"... in that it conquered everything around it. Han was open too if we want to talk that aspect, and the silk road actually dates from Han. But I don't expect you to know that.
- Zheng He was Ming dynasty, not Tang, you idiots.
- I wish they's stop harping on and on about Zhang Yimo.
- Those are not "costumes" and Zhang Yimo did not invent or design them! *beats head* They are standard fare Tang dresses/robes/hairstyles/whathaveyou. Stop crediting 5000 years of Chinese history, art, literature, music, etc. to Zhang Yimo!!!!11
- The dudes in green and the pyrotechnic floor still driving me blind. (There's 2008 performers there too... I'm guessing there's 2008 for pretty much each mass performance). Yep, 2008 taichi performers.
- Giant globe rising... wait, just realized: they cut out the opera section of the performance. And the singing that was one of the pretty portions of the ceremony too. *grar* I think they shortened the piano portion of Lang Lang too. They probably shortened other portions too... just so they can fill it commercial breaks.
- They introduce Sarah Brightman but barely mention 刘欢? WTF? (Also, I still think they should've gotten someone with a deeper voice to sing the male part of that song instead of 刘欢, cuz his voice doesn't go with her's at all, nor with the kind of song it is... IMO.)
- Next up after the commercial break: parade of nations. Let's see... this morning I started watching at 5 and the parade started around 6:10-20ish. This show started at 8 and it's now 9:18. About the same time... but then you gotta add in the commercials every 5-10 minutes. That's like 15-20 minutes cut from the ceremony.
- Glazing over most of the parade. One note tho... these commentators are so lazy. The CCTV announcers gave pertinent info like how many attending, how many competing per country, where the athlete's strengths lie. Here? All they do crack jokes, make political commentary, and occasionally mention something about the athletes.
- Skipping over the parade as the conversation inevitably turns to politics. Who needs that?
- 630+ actually competing athletes from China? I admit I almost missed it. (zzz)
- Also want the song sang by the children's chorus when raising the olympic flag. Apparently it's sung in Greek? Heh, I wonder how the Greeks thought of the kids' pronunciations. Any better than the English being thrown around the various Olympic songs...
- Yay torch. Yay fireworks. Nothing can spoil this.
- They cut the doves. Skipped to commercials halfway through the fireworks. When we came back, the ceremony was done. Grar.
In summary: CCTV version is 200% better.
ADD: Just learned from the net that Canada was in the same boat as the US. Some station bought all the broadcast rights and enforced its monopoly in the same draconic way as NBC.
- According to the schedule online, it's from 7:30 to 12 midnight. I'm guessing the extra time is for the commercials.
- Not five minutes into the intro and we get commercial break. -_- No wonder they monopolized the thing. Cuz if we'd had any other alternative, we'd not be watching. As it is, it just breeds hate but we still can't do anything about it.
- 15,000 performers in the opening ceremony
- 3 more minutes into the show we hit politics. *rolleyes* Of course they're going to take any chance to bash the "commies"/current unofficial public enemy of the US
- 10 minutes in... commercial again. *sigh*
- "Let's set the politics aside"...and then proceed to talk about what response to the US, French, Iran, Iraq delegations will be... Hypocrisy, thy name is--but then we already knew that.
- Commercial again. >_<
- 2008 drummers on the fu again. Yay coordination.
- Commercial break. I guess there's going to be one between every event. I'll stop harping on it. Otherwise this entry will get obnoxiously long.
- Giant footsteps: I missed that one on this morning's webcast due to TVAnts dying.
- Apsaras/仙女: As far as I recall they are older than Buddhism in China. In other words, they were an older Chinese myth that got merged into Buddhism after it was adopted in China; it didn't arise from Buddhism. Any Chinese knows this. But not these guys apparently.
- Less focus on Bush plz. Especially when the little girl is singing that pretty pretty song. (I just realize I don't have an mp3 of it... I want the version sung by that little girl. kthxpls.)
- It's interesting how far the interpretation of the US commentators differed from the CCTV ones. The unrolling scroll of paper according to CCTV is to demonstrate China's literary heritage and the invention of paper. According to the US commentators it's to represent the blank page that China was to paint a new image of itself in the world's eye. Uh-huh. My thoughts: dude, if they unroll a non-blank scroll, then WTF are they going to draw the stuff from future portions of the ceremony on, huh?
- So 山水画 is only 1000 years old? Eh, I guess I should make allowances for people who can't conceptualize a country older than that.
- Still love the Confucianist robes. <3 <3 <3 ( I notice there was no commentary about the ancient and modern writings of '和' )
- There's that 1000-year reference again in regards to the Great Wall (on the printing blocks). Look, I realize you're from a country just over 200 years old and time periods higher than 1000 might be hard for you to comprehend. But, would it kill you to at least write down the fact that the Great Wall is over *two* thousand years old?
- Yes, Tang was "open"... in that it conquered everything around it. Han was open too if we want to talk that aspect, and the silk road actually dates from Han. But I don't expect you to know that.
- Zheng He was Ming dynasty, not Tang, you idiots.
- I wish they's stop harping on and on about Zhang Yimo.
- Those are not "costumes" and Zhang Yimo did not invent or design them! *beats head* They are standard fare Tang dresses/robes/hairstyles/whathaveyou. Stop crediting 5000 years of Chinese history, art, literature, music, etc. to Zhang Yimo!!!!11
- The dudes in green and the pyrotechnic floor still driving me blind. (There's 2008 performers there too... I'm guessing there's 2008 for pretty much each mass performance). Yep, 2008 taichi performers.
- Giant globe rising... wait, just realized: they cut out the opera section of the performance. And the singing that was one of the pretty portions of the ceremony too. *grar* I think they shortened the piano portion of Lang Lang too. They probably shortened other portions too... just so they can fill it commercial breaks.
- They introduce Sarah Brightman but barely mention 刘欢? WTF? (Also, I still think they should've gotten someone with a deeper voice to sing the male part of that song instead of 刘欢, cuz his voice doesn't go with her's at all, nor with the kind of song it is... IMO.)
- Next up after the commercial break: parade of nations. Let's see... this morning I started watching at 5 and the parade started around 6:10-20ish. This show started at 8 and it's now 9:18. About the same time... but then you gotta add in the commercials every 5-10 minutes. That's like 15-20 minutes cut from the ceremony.
- Glazing over most of the parade. One note tho... these commentators are so lazy. The CCTV announcers gave pertinent info like how many attending, how many competing per country, where the athlete's strengths lie. Here? All they do crack jokes, make political commentary, and occasionally mention something about the athletes.
- Skipping over the parade as the conversation inevitably turns to politics. Who needs that?
- 630+ actually competing athletes from China? I admit I almost missed it. (zzz)
- Also want the song sang by the children's chorus when raising the olympic flag. Apparently it's sung in Greek? Heh, I wonder how the Greeks thought of the kids' pronunciations. Any better than the English being thrown around the various Olympic songs...
- Yay torch. Yay fireworks. Nothing can spoil this.
- They cut the doves. Skipped to commercials halfway through the fireworks. When we came back, the ceremony was done. Grar.
In summary: CCTV version is 200% better.
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Date: 2008-08-09 03:40 am (UTC)Also, 刘欢 was probably selected because he can actually pronounce English words. ("Time and time again, I ask myself!" XD)