Olympic Opening Ceremony - Page 5

Alex · 08-08-2008, 10:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by innerSpaceman

Am i the only one who likes the parade of cuties ....er, parade of nations?

If the world consists of you and me, then yes. Otherwise, I can't speak definitively.

Gemini Cricket · 08-08-2008, 10:54 PM

I thought the opening ceremony was tremendous.
The drummers were so very cool.
The ink dancers, cool, too.
My favorite bit was the wood block section. Such a cool reveal at the end.

Sarah Brightman? Bleh! Can't stand her. She's as vacant as the men's restroom at Lilith Fair.

Parade of nations was cool. I stopped watching after American Samoa. Tired. Going to bed soon.

Curious about the American outfits. Not a lot of red showing. Was it an anti-China statement or just a contrast to the overwhelming amount of red present anyway? Only Ralph Lauren knows for sure...

ETA: Those Chinese cheerleader girls that were dancing throughout the parade of nations! Poor things! Hours and hours of dancing... I think a few of them were still dancing in their sleep whenever they got to bed...

alphabassettgrrl · 08-08-2008, 10:56 PM

I liked at the end of the type-blocks phase, when everybody waved. I'm just wondering about the transitions and the structure of the actual stage. Things keep coming off the floor and that fascinates me. How do they do it? Everything flies. Where does it go? How many elevators are there? How do they coordinate everybody? Way cool.

Gemini Cricket · 08-08-2008, 10:58 PM

Block dancers - I wondered how the dancers stayed in sync when they couldn't see each other. Truly amazing. One of the best opening ceremonies ever.

Bornieo: Fully Loaded · 08-08-2008, 10:58 PM

I see the parade of bouncing boobs. The asian chicks are jumpin!

lashbear · 08-08-2008, 11:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by swanie

Lashes,
WHAT were those crazy Aussies wearing?!?

Nothing Green and Gold, I can tell you !! There was an ad where you could buy one for yourself only $3999.00

Bugger that.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gemini Cricket

Block dancers - I wondered how the dancers stayed in sync when they couldn't see each other. Truly amazing. One of the best opening ceremonies ever.

See the Stoat Quote below....

Quote:

Originally Posted by LashStoat

The "Moveable Type" segment was totally awesome...and has a clever illusion at the end:

At the end of the segment, several hundred Chinese folk reveal themselves from beneath the field of "type" blocks, inferring that they had been driving the entire mechanism by themselves manually.

Given the huge amount of synchronisation, and the precise acceleration and deceleration to maintain the surface contours (and given that each individual could not see the patterns) I figure it was computer driven until the folks appeared at the end.

Glad y'all got to see it - so who TIVO'd it for us ?

JWBear · 08-08-2008, 11:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by swanie

Lashes,

WHAT were those crazy Aussies wearing?!?

swanie

Satin... lots and lots of satin.

alphabassettgrrl · 08-08-2008, 11:41 PM

I have it recording.

Synching- I'm guessing radio earpieces to call out the patterns with standardized levels of how high you raise it. The waves that began the segment are still impressive; they had to trust everybody was in sync on that one. Maybe it was driven by music cues or several series of partial height changes.

LashStoat · 08-08-2008, 11:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bornieo: Fully Loaded

I see the parade of bouncing boobs. The asian chicks are jumpin!

Yeah, but I'll bet after they'd shuffled on the spot for the best part of two hours they were well and truly over it - by the time Ashtraya entered the arena, it's rumored that the 2000+ white patent booted girls were humming bars from Nancy Sinatra's song:

"These boots were made for wokking,
...and that's just what they'll do.
On this day these boots
are gonna be a leather stew".

And that's how they fuelled the big torch at the end.

LashStoat · 08-09-2008, 12:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JWBear

Satin... lots and lots of satin.

Dear JW,

Actually, it was KevLar, named in honour of our latest PrimeMinistdent, Kevin Rudd.

The uniforms were supposed to be a shade of inky-blue, but the day before the Ceremony, a chinese laundry worker, distracted by strains of "I Enjoy being a Girl" from the Flower Drum Song put bleach in the wash. He apparently struggled for hours to drag the tops from the bubbling vat - but by then the colour had run harder than Obama.

We shouldn't complain though - in this political climate, the guys in those black body suits rolling around on the large sheet on paper left an awefully big carbon footprint.

Love and hugs,

The Stoat XXX.

08-08-2008, 10:54 PM	#42
Gemini Cricket ... Join Date: Jan 2005 Posts: 13,244	I thought the opening ceremony was tremendous. The drummers were so very cool. The ink dancers, cool, too. My favorite bit was the wood block section. Such a cool reveal at the end. Sarah Brightman? Bleh! Can't stand her. She's as vacant as the men's restroom at Lilith Fair. Parade of nations was cool. I stopped watching after American Samoa. Tired. Going to bed soon. Curious about the American outfits. Not a lot of red showing. Was it an anti-China statement or just a contrast to the overwhelming amount of red present anyway? Only Ralph Lauren knows for sure... ETA: Those Chinese cheerleader girls that were dancing throughout the parade of nations! Poor things! Hours and hours of dancing... I think a few of them were still dancing in their sleep whenever they got to bed...
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08-08-2008, 10:56 PM	#43
alphabassettgrrl Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2005 Posts: 4,978	I liked at the end of the type-blocks phase, when everybody waved. I'm just wondering about the transitions and the structure of the actual stage. Things keep coming off the floor and that fascinates me. How do they do it? Everything flies. Where does it go? How many elevators are there? How do they coordinate everybody? Way cool. __________________ Why cycling? Anything [sport] that had to do with a ball, I wasn't very good at. -Lance Armstrong
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08-08-2008, 10:58 PM	#44
Gemini Cricket ... Join Date: Jan 2005 Posts: 13,244	Block dancers - I wondered how the dancers stayed in sync when they couldn't see each other. Truly amazing. One of the best opening ceremonies ever.
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08-08-2008, 10:58 PM	#45
Bornieo: Fully Loaded Lego Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Disneyland, USA Posts: 3,704	I see the parade of bouncing boobs. The asian chicks are jumpin!
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08-08-2008, 11:41 PM	#48
alphabassettgrrl Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2005 Posts: 4,978	I have it recording. Synching- I'm guessing radio earpieces to call out the patterns with standardized levels of how high you raise it. The waves that began the segment are still impressive; they had to trust everybody was in sync on that one. Maybe it was driven by music cues or several series of partial height changes. __________________ Why cycling? Anything [sport] that had to do with a ball, I wasn't very good at. -Lance Armstrong
	Submit to Quotes