Following the tragic death of Georgia Luger, Nodar Kumaritashvili, 21, the 21st Winter Olympic games in Vancouver opened last night. While the games opening ceremony was not as eye popping and jaw dropping as the 2004 Summer Games, but remember that 1 billion people live in China and more people live in California than in the entire country of Canada. Nonetheless, it was quite a spectacle and the producers use of 72 different projectors around the arena which acted simultaneously created some very vivid and rich images. So as I watched the opening ceremony, of course I had to make just a few observations.Prior to the start of the events, NBC aired the video of the remake of the song, We are the World, where over 80current recording artists participated the song in which the proceeds will go towards the Haiti earthquake relief. I remember when the original song was recorded and 25 years ago I could name every artist in the room. Last night as I looked on, I wondered, am I really getting old or do I just care less and less about self absorbed celebrities?
During the hours long epic coverage, Coca Cola aired a commercial which featured a snowball fight in the Olympic village. This commercial was funnier than 99% of the commercials which aired during the Super Bowl, and I bet it cost a lot less.
Differing from the Summer Games, the Winter Games allow the athletes to enter the arena to watch the ceremony prior to the start. I couldn't help but be struck with irony as Joe Biden was watching Team USA entering the arena as they were wearing hats with moose on them. Just the whole Sarah Palin thing hit me. The Canadians had mittens on with little maple leaves sewn in the palms of the mittens. We get it already Canada, you are all about the maple leaf. (even though you didn't adopt the current flag for your nation until the 1960's. Please. At least we picked a flag and stuck with it for a few hundred years)
Then as all the country's athletes had their butts in their seats, out comes Nellie Furtado and Bryan Adams. Nellie wearing a blue dress which looked like body paint was used to apply it. Nellie is a very beautiful woman but two words here, Jenny Craig. Much more Canadian bacon and you won't be fitting into the front seat of a Humvee. To close out the show, the organizers trotted out K.D Lang. Wow. Bryan Adams and K.D. Lang? What were they thinking? If the whole production fell apart, they could always revert back to a quick 1986 retro closing show? And what the hell was up with the outfit Lang was wearing? She looked like she just flew in from Vegas, where she is a doing 6 shows a week as an Elvis impersonator.
So the performance starts, and the voiceover is from Donald Sutherland. I had no idea that Jack Bauer's father was from Canada.
During the first portion of the show, a giant polar bear is inflated at one end of the stage. I really think the bear wasn't a bear at all. It was the stay-puff marshmellow man from the GhostBusters movies. It's a tough economy and he's got to find work where ever he can.
The rest of the production was pretty good, but the fiddle segment was troubling. After the dude with the imp-ish looking hair was done fiddling in the canoe, the stage exploded into a myriad of fiddling and tap dancing performers. The key focus was on the man on top of the wedding cake looking stage, and he was fantastic on the fiddle, but were those really tattoos or did his daughter just go crazy on his chest with a Sharpie a few days before the opening of the games when he fell asleep after too much Molsen Golden? He later broke into some scat tap dancing, but his outfit reminded me of a cross between Larry the Cable guy and some guy wanting to wash my windshield in Tampa on my way to a Bucs game.
After the performances were over, the Governor General of Canada declared the games open. When did Wanda Sykes take political office in Canada?
The Olympic torch ceremony was nice in the arena, as the top 4 athletes in Canadian history all did a relay inside the facility. Is Catrina Lemay Doan, Katies Couric's long lost sister?
The only glitch of the entire performance occurred while trying to raise the 4 pillars which would surround the cauldron housing the Olympic flame. 3 of the 4 went up. Memo to self: Don't purchase any hydraulic parts manufactured in Canada.
Does anyone else think Biden was drunk at the post ceremony interview? He was an absolute joke as the man one heartbeat away from the office of President. I've never heard a VP use terms such as Dude or Awesome. He wouldn't even give his wife an opportunity to answer questions asked by NBC correspondent Lester Holt.
Overall, it was a very nice ceremony and I look forward to watch Team USA run the table on the rest of the world. Best of luck to all the athletes and enjoy the next 16 days.
