East Coasters: Are the Opening Ceremonies worth watching?

[pokerfan]

It doesn't air here for another hour.

Does anything happen? Any protests, controversy?

[bbernardini]

1. None that I've seen yet.

I would imagine that if there were any protests or controversy, we would have heard about it by now.

That being said, it's still worth watching. An absolutely amazing spectacle.

[CatholicEdHead]

2. The raising of the flag is eerie

Some have mentioned it in other threads.

/Central Time Zoner. ;)

[pokerfan]

6. Eerie, how?

And as a Central Time Zoner, aren't you on East Coast Time when it comes to prime time?

[CatholicEdHead]

10. Small kids to the soldiers

Yes we get the East Coast feed out here in "flyover country".

[pokerfan]

20. Ah yes, the goose step

Goose-Stepping is simply an affirmation of naked power; contained in it, quite consciously and intentionally, is the vision of a boot crashing down on a face. Its ugliness is part of its essence, for what it is saying is "Yes, I am ugly, and you daren't laugh at me", like the bully who makes faces at his victim… Beyond a certain point, military display is only possible in countries where the common people dare not laugh at the army. -George Orwell

How appropriate.

[The empressof all]

11. I think it's a beautiful gesture

That throwing of the flag has been traditional since the Revolution. I think it's lovely actually...Like casting it up to the sky.

[yvr girl]

3. I'm on the West Coast, but the CBC showed it live

It's a pretty amazing show. They have thousands of years of history and culture to draw from

[pokerfan]

7. I wish we got the CBC n/t

[bigwillq]

4. I just turned it out.

I guess it's cool if you like a big parade.

[RedShoes]

5. My mother told me that the very beginning was worth it, and very beautiful.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

8. It's stunning and amazingly coordinated

I enjoy the Parade of Nations. It's the only time you get to athletes who aren't either U.S. or competing against the U.S.

[Suich]

9. Just got done watching on CBC

and I thought it was great! Visually stunning...I have no idea how they did most of the stuff but there was a segment with "synchronized boxes" and another with about 1,000 guys doing Tai Chi that were really good. The lighting of the torch was impressive. It took about 2 hrs. for all the teams to come into the "Bird's Nest" and I didn't watch all of that; the Russian team got more applause than the US team.

No protests or controversies that I saw.

:)

[The empressof all]

12. I watched it this morning

I TIVO'd it from CBC. I thought it was fabulous and certainly well worth watching if you enjoy grand theater and spectacles. Obviously a great amount of creativity, effort and money went in to producing it. Every Olympic Ceremony I've seen has worth watching...This one is no exception.

[pokerfan]

13. I wish the NBC announcers would SHUT THE FUCK UP!

It's like watching a movie with someone chatting on a telephone.

[AlCzervik]

14. yes, shutting up would be a very good thing.

[pokerfan]

16. "listen to this beautiful music..."

"how it alternates between loud and soft... while we talk over it..." Same thing, every two years.

We used to land people on the moon and I can't mute the commentary and keep the music?

[AlCzervik]

17. this scroll thing is pretty cool, it woud be better if they would STFU. You hear me "Joshua"?

[ForrestGump]

18. This goes without saying

The summer Olympics lost their luster for me quite some time ago (I participated in one -- not as an athlete, I hasten to add -- but even then the excitement was more in the event's trappings and mostly not the actual event's core), and the absolutely execrable commentary on US broadcasts, along with tendency to ignore events in which yanquis are not big players, is the prime reason why. Bozos. These idiots remind me of Fred Willard's misplaced and clueless commentary on the dog show in Best In Show, for good reason (he based it on just that sort of stupidity).

[Love Bug]

15. Right now the 2012 Olympic committee is

hanging their heads, saying, "Boy, are we fucked!"

[MattNC]

19. It was spectacular

definitely glad I watched most of it.