Oh NO! The Olympic Flame is broken, lol.

[Sannum]

Too funny.

I love it when lots of money is spent and things screw up...

[Hawkeye-X]

1. How?

This thread is useless without pictures :P

[Sannum]

2. Only 3 of the 4 columns came up from the ground.

they were able to light it, but it took awhile.

[ddeclue]

16. Sounds like a job for Cialis!

http://www.cialis.com/Pages/index.aspx

:rofl:

[Berry Cool]

23. That comment was inevitable.

When I saw how the other three were rising up, I said "Get the Cialis...get the Viagra."

[Foo Fighter]

28. Damn. Now I'm kind of sorry I missed it.

I don't watch TV but it sounds like this would have been worth tuning in for. I'm always up for a good laugh. Oops. No pun intended. Besides, I'm female so I guess it wouldn't really apply.

[snagglepuss]

36. +1

Welcome to DU FooFighter. DUs way more entertaining:):hi:

[Foo Fighter]

39. Thanks for the welcome!

I agree. TV sucks. I prefer to listen to the stereo and surf the web. Much more entertaining than anything TV has to offer. No contest.

:toast:

[DRoseDARs]

3. Jackeens will probably take care of that...

...just as soon as she stops throwing up in disgust with these Olympics. ;)

:hi: Jackeens

[rainbow4321]

4. Oh wow..awkward smiles from the flame holders

Ouch.

[Skittles]

12. hard to smile when your mind is screaming, "WTF!!!!!!!!!!!!"

yes INDEED

[Odin2005]

5. I almost cried, LOL.

I was like "OMG, NOOOOO, it's RUINED!!!" :rofl:

[Sannum]

8. So did the International Olympic Committee

It could be worse - They could have accidentaly set Barbara Ann Scott on fire. :P

[njlib]

6. Awww, I feel bad for them!

I wouldn't want to be the guy who was working the control for that 4th door/column! Everything was beautiful, very classy and respectful ceremony!

[Pirate Smile]

7. Awww. I feel bad for Canada. It was still good. KD Lang's song made up for any glitches.

We still love you.

[JanusAscending]

29. You can say that again!!

I had forgotten how much I love her voice.....and that song.....It was WONDERFUL!!! It really made my night. I've got a video tape of a show she did on PBS....quite a few years ago. I'll have to dig it out and see if my VCR still works!! One of the songs she did on the tape was "Big boned woman" It's a hoot!

[Renew Deal]

9. I thought it looked good

Even if it was a mistake. I thought Gretzky was going to keel over from holding the torch.

[bullwinkle428]

10. Shades of "Spinal Tap"! Too frigging funny!

:rofl:

[Skittles]

11. someone's ass gonna roll on that one

yes INDEED

[Sannum]

13. Even if he is fired, the poor sod will not have to worry about Health Care...

:P

[rainbow4321]

27. Eh, maybe not

Somethings just go wrong mechanically. My daughter does backstage work and just cuz you're the one who pushes the button doesn't mean it is your fault when that always worked in rehearsals button doesn't work. There maybe was not a feasible/possible backup plan to get that huge tower up in the air.
Trust me, backstage people were most likely scrambling faster than they have ever done in their lives. Especially since it's not like it's a play and they get to fix the problem and do the show tomorrow just fine.
I feel bad for them. I hope they all know how we appreciate them getting the rest of the ceremony off without any noticeable hitches...hitches happen all the time, try talking to a backstage person after a show and you'll hear stuff that went wrong but no one watching had a clue.

[njlib]

14. Joe & Jill Biden didn't seem to mind

They both seem so excited,like a couple of kids! Nice to see us represented so well...they weren't drunk or wearing parkas & sneers like those who shall remain nameless!

[Sannum]

15. Love them!

:luv:

[buzzard]

22. They are truly lovely people in my books you are lucky to have them.n/t

[cascadiance]

44. I guess whether they were in Washington DC or in Vancouver, they'd get "snowed"...

[MadBadger]

17. Run before the Californian's Come after you!

[veganlush]

18. the guy controling that forth column...

...was late getting back from the states where he had to go to get health care...

[Lucy Goosey]

19. ...the fuck?

Huh?

[veganlush]

50. that was sarcasm directed at those who rail against ..

single payer and "socialized" medicine.

[Canuckistanian]

31. Fail

At humor AND reality.

[veganlush]

51. see above reply...n/t

[onehandle]

20. Ugh. They don't need this after today's tragedy. nt

[buzzard]

21. I had to laugh at that as well, nothing in life is perfect no matter how hard one tries.

[Berry Cool]

25. Everybody has problems getting it up once in a while,

right, fellas?????

[Foo Fighter]

30. Well, not really.

That's just what us girls say to be nice. ;)

I didn't see the Opening Ceremonies but from what I've read here, I'm amazed they didn't have some sort of battery backup. Obviously the device used to raise the column wasn't designed by a woman. Us gals know all too well how important it is to have a battery-powered device as a backup.

[Berry Cool]

32. I *am* a girl

why do you think I said it? :rofl:

"It's OK...this happens to a lot of Olympic host nations."

"We don't have to 'light the cauldron' tonight...we can just cuddle."

[Foo Fighter]

40. LOL! Sorry.

I thought you were a guy with a really great sense of humor. "Hey, it happens to all of us, right?" My bad. Please accept my apologies. On the bright side, you probably understood my point real well insofar as battery-powered devices are concerned. ;)

But no matter how you look at it, this whole thing is just damn funny. And I missed out. I hope youtube has the video because now, damn, I really want to see it. I love a good laugh.

[Berry Cool]

56. 'Sallright, no offense taken, no apology needed.

As for your comment on battery-powered devices... :rofl:

[ddeclue]

33. DUZY!

[nonconformist]

24. BREAKING: Toyota to issue recall on Olympic Cauldron

:D

[ddeclue]

26. If Toyota were involved the supports wouldn't be able to stop and would

have crashed wildly through the roof.

[fujiyama]

34. Lucky this didn't happen in China

The guy that designed it would never have been heard from again!

[WorseBeforeBetter]

35. It's not that big of a deal...

even though a local newsbunny was breathless over it. It's a silly thing to home in on, particularly since an athlete was killed earlier in the day. There was plenty else in the opening ceremony to make up for it, like Aboriginal dancers, the wheelchair marathoner, K.D. Lang, kick-ass fiddlers and dancers, orca whales, etc...

[snagglepuss]

37. +1

[Baclava]

38. Grumpy Gretzky looked like he was ready to take a dump and light it on fire.

ha ha

If Canada loses in hockey, then you'll see some fireworks.

[Metric System]

41. A perfect symbol for Canada under the Harper Con government.

[Foo Fighter]

46. Yeah but if this had happened in the US, the company responsible would

have gotten a taxpayer-funded bailout. The infusion of unfettered cash would have resulted in the company reporting huge profits, thereby yielding huge bonuses for those at the top that had screwed up everything in the first place by completely mis-managing the company.

Oh, and in the meantime, the company would have laid off anyone and everyone even remotely related to the product under scrutiny, just to prove they were being "proactive."

And that, my friend, is the American Way. No matter what the situation is, the rich will profit and it will be paid for by the poor and middle class.

[snagglepuss]

42. A post at CBC puts a different and touching slant on this incident.

"Although it wasn't intentional, I found that when all the podiums failed to rise to light the olympic torch it was symbolic of the loss of Nodar Kumaritashvli. Very touching. My thoughts and prayers are with his family." :(



http://www.cbc.ca/olympics/story/2010/02/12/spo-openingceremony.html#socialcomments

[cascadiance]

45. I was actually thinking the same thing when I saw this...

Kind of like an enforced tribute by an other worldly force...

[Berry Cool]

58. I kinda thought of that too, a while later.

And my humorous comments were in no way intended to make light of that horrible event or to demean the ceremonies in any way, which overall I found wonderful, touching and very emotional.

[Joe the Revelator]

43. These games are cursed...

cursed I say!

[SoCalDem]

47. The BEST flame lighting ever was the archer in Barcelona

most of the others are just like lighting a gas stove.. click-click-click..poof..flame

[LastLiberal in PalmSprings]

49. The best flame extinguishing was in Sydney

Just as the last flickers died away from the cauldron an Aussie F-111 flew low over the stadium, opened his fuel dump valve and lit his afterburner. It was a stunning effect, watching the flame being carried into the heavens.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JieWuez-_t8

[pipi_k]

52. Thanks for sharing that...I missed it the first time..

Just gave me goosebumps...I always get a little weepy when the flame goes out

[lonestarnot]

60. cool.

[begin_within]

53. That was cool.... however,

if you watch a video of it frame-by-frame, you can see that the flame at the torch began to ignite a split second before the flaming arrow got to it. They kind of cheated by lighting the flame some other way, just in case the arrow missed. This was shown once a few years back. But the idea and execution of it was the best lighting of a torch that I can remember. And the archer's shot was perfect. He must have practiced it a lot.

[RayOfHope]

57. I absolutely agree. That was amazing n/t

[RayOfHope]

59. We were hoping that Gretzky was going to shoot a flaming puck into the cauldron to light it nt

[Baclava]

61. The outdoor scene was the best.

Drunk guys chasing Gretzky's truck while he's sitting in the back holding the torch, getting soaked in the pouring rain. I thought he was gonna set them on fire, it was great.

Wayne was like, "Out of the way, peasants" - with the view from above making it look like the OJ Simpson chase scene, with security tackling random hooligans on bicycles getting too close...now that's entertainment!


None of that matters if Canada wins the gold in hockey, eh.

[Raine]

48. That's a shame, I feel bad when

so much planning and preparation is put into something that doesn't come out right. :-(

[spanone]

54. funny? shit happens

[chatnoir]

55. Video

http://tv.gawker.com/5470990/opening-ceremonies-go-off-without-a-hitch-except-for-that-major-technical-malfunction

:evilgrin: