Re: [Paddlewise] 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, BC

On 13/02/2010 3:03 AM, Craig Jungers wrote:
> I guess we all think of ourselves - we paddlers - as athletes. Certainly
> it's an athletic endeavor even at its most sedate and when taken to
> DougLloydian proportions it's clearly athletic. So it's easy to be
> sympathetic to athletes with other skills... and the international forum for
> showing them off.
>
> Not too far away from me right now the 2010 Winter Olympics are beginning;
> not without some tragedy. That tragedy notwithstanding, the opening
> ceremonies were incredible. I still cannot figure out how some of those
> tricks with light were done but they were amazing. Instead of presenting a
> world shattering image like Beijing the Vancouver director managed to convey
> a personalized - almost private - view of Canada and the people who call
> themselves Canadians.
>
> The Inuit on a trek across the ice under the Aurora, Orcas swimming across
> the stage, salmon returning to spawn, totem poles turning into trees, trees
> turning into mountains and most of all a boy flying across the prairie.
>
> It was stupendous. Bravo!
>
>
> Craig Jungers
> Moses Lake, WA
> www.nwkayaking.net

I agree completely. The orcas swimming and the totem poles into trees 
were two of the highlights for me.

Just for fun, I watched NBC's coverage to see what one American 
station had to say about it, and was gratified to see that the 
commentator was also impressed. He made the comment that, after 
Beijing, what could you do? It wasn't really in the picture to try and 
outdo them, so the answer was to go in a completely different 
direction. I gather from the comments, that the man who designed the 
show had spoken to the media and given them some background, which 
helped the commentary greatly.

My wife came home from a ladies-only party and said she thought it was 
the worst opening she could possibly imagine. She was "bored" by the 
whole thing.

So there's obviously no satisfying everyone. (Or no explaining other 
people's taste.)

-- 
   Darryl
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