Olympic Tawk

[digitalmonkey 929]

Seriously though....kd lang's got some pipes!

[MapleLeafpoker 1,462]

B) Celine Dion's hair is light on fire and then she's fired out of a cannon into the cauldron

LMAO!this is one of the funniest things I have ever read on FCP, and I think Ive read it all the past 3/4 years.I just got in, and while I didnt think Id really care about all this, watching KD Lang sing one of my favourite songs of all time just got me pumped. Glad I got home in time to watch this....

[TaxLawyer71 0]

Wo, Chris' 11th round pick!

[digitalmonkey 929]

I held one of those torches a month or so ago. Bombadier did an amazing job. Each torch is signed on the inside by a Bombadier worker. One of the workers is named Celine Dion.

[ajs510 122]

Well, is Walter Gretzky a liar or what?Kinda lame...

[BigDMcGee 3,355]

They olympic opening ceremonies ( any year) have to be the weirdest, most pretentious, indulgent "entertainment" anywhere on the planet.

[coesillian 0]

They should have had Cirque du Soleil do something.I watched the entire event but found it boring overall, the final fire lighting ceremony was a complete miss. Wayne driving thought the city with a convoy of cops was not good TV. He didn't look like he was enjoying himself.

[coesillian 0]

VERY NICE DALE!

[Fenxis 99]

They should have had Cirque du Soleil do something.I watched the entire event but found it boring overall, the final fire lighting ceremony was a complete miss. Wayne driving thought the city with a convoy of cops was not good TV. He didn't look like he was enjoying himself.

Like anyone would enjoy standing on the back of a pickup truck, in the middle of a rainstorm, wearing shitty knitted mittens while simultaneously trying to not fall off the back and die (ala Chris Henry) or drop the torch on international tv (which he almost did once).Liked the flame ceremony in BC place, the the Gretzky thing seems like a low-rent afterthought.

[serge 904]

i loved the athletes walking in and the ending starting from KD LANG to the Gretzky ending...HOwever the middle 2 hours of cultural stuff was a little boring IMO.

[digitalmonkey 929]

They olympic opening ceremonies ( any year) have to be the weirdest, most pretentious, indulgent "entertainment" anywhere on the planet.

Thankfully, or we'd have something awful like the superbowl halftime show.

[digitalmonkey 929]

Obviously it's not everyone's cup of tea but I thought the opening ceremonies were great. Canada is a huge and diverse country and they tried to include everyone. Great music choices too. kd lang's version of Leonard Cohen's Halleluja was unbelievable! I guess she sacrificed looks for an amazing voice I thought the acrobat/wheat fields piece was absolutely amazing...another great song choice with Both Sides Now, although Joni Mitchell's singing it may have made it even better.Also, kudos to the Georgian team for participating after the death of their teammate.

[Fenxis 99]

i loved the athletes walking in and the ending starting from KD LANG to the Gretzky ending...HOwever the middle 2 hours of cultural stuff was a little boring IMO.

It was a bit "Pretentiously Canadian"; ie: making a big deal about nothing.. but with such a short history as a nation it's not like we have a whole lot of material to work with. And I liked the whole pacific coast slant of the presentation, the production values of the whole thing was impressive.

[Zach6668 513]

I liked when the ice broke up, and the stadium flooded, and then the whales swam by.I liked watching the athletes come in, for some reason. I flipped back in every stoppage in the Pens game.I liked when Rick Hansen rolled in, all the way until Gretzky lit the outdoor flame, although the middle part in the truck was meh, obviously.I didn't care about any of the music. Tragically Hip should have been there.

[gruven 530]

I liked when the ice broke up, and the stadium flooded, and then the whales swam by.I liked watching the athletes come in, for some reason. I flipped back in every stoppage in the Pens game.I liked when Rick Hansen rolled in, all the way until Gretzky lit the outdoor flame, although the middle part in the truck was meh, obviously.I didn't care about any of the music. Tragically Hip should have been there.

That, to me, was my only big complaint. While I thought KD Lang, Sara Mclachlan, and the rest were superb, including the Joni Mitchell song, I thought it was really in need of a kick ass song... The Hip, Home for A Rest by Spirit of The West would have torn the roof off the place, anything ROCKING and Canadian..

[digitalmonkey 929]

I'm not sure the Olympics are Gord Downie's thing. Then again, maybe they're saving The Hip for the opening of the hockey tourney. <<<fingers crossed>>>

[mrdannyg 274]

Apparently there was more planned. The cultural stuff took kind of an east-to-west trip, but the Ontario/Great Lakes region was skipped. I've heard there was a rocktastic section planned, but they cut it completely out of sensitivity to the Georgian athletes death. Rumour has it Rush was supposed to perform (they may now play the Closing ceremonies instead). I read in one place the Hip were going to be involved too, but that source seemed pretty vague.Edit - looks like the person I stole that from stole it from somewhere else:http://www.rushisaband.com/"UPDATE - 2/13@12:26AM: Well, obviously no Rush tonight. Notice how the show was themed around the different provinces of Canada moving from east to west? Also notice how Ontario and the Great Lakes region were skipped over? What I'm now hearing is that this portion of the show was scrubbed due to the nature of today's tragic events. Apparently it had a full rock and roll metropolitan vibe to it and was cut for sensitivity. The word is now that Rush may tentatively play at the closing ceremony. Sorry everybody - I'm as pissed off as you are."

[GWCGWC 83]

The opening games ceremony is a huge theatrical production and geared towards getting women excited about the Olympics. I don't know how many guys would make it a point to watch the opening games without a female's influence. The person I had this conversation with last night disagreed and said SHE thought the ceremony would be watched by a lot of guys without a chicks nudging. I used the fast forward button though a lot of the ceremony.

kd lang's version of Leonard Cohen's Halleluja was unbelievable!

amenThe songs had to be prerecorded right? She not only nailed every note, she nailed every note in between notes. This was the best musical performance on the show. I'll also give a slight nod to the pretty young girl that sang Oh Canada. How does the operatic black chick with the giant hair follow Lange? I assume she's a big deal in her field and she's Canadian but that was simply horrible.

It was a bit "Pretentiously Canadian"; ie: making a big deal about nothing.. but with such a short history as a nation it's not like we have a whole lot of material to work with. And I liked the whole pacific coast slant of the presentation, the production values of the whole thing was impressive.

All Canadians should have been moved by the spoken word poem. I don't understand what you mean by pacific coast slant. I was almost immediately sick of the announcer speaking French before English. That's more east coast yes? The native/first country/aboriginal thing was pretty cool as was the Nova Scotian fiddle/tap routine.

[serge 904]

The opening games ceremony is a huge theatrical production and geared towards getting women excited about the Olympics. I don't know how many guys would make it a point to watch the opening games without a female's influence. The person I had this conversation with last night disagreed and said SHE thought the ceremony would be watched by a lot of guys without a chicks nudging. I used the fast forward button though a lot of the ceremony. amenThe songs had to be prerecorded right? She not only nailed every note, she nailed every note in between notes. This was the best musical performance on the show. I'll also give a slight nod to the pretty young girl that sang Oh Canada. How does the operatic black chick with the giant hair follow Lange? I assume she's a big deal in her field and she's Canadian but that was simply horrible. All Canadians should have been moved by the spoken word poem. I don't understand what you mean by pacific coast slant. I was almost immediately sick of the announcer speaking French before English. That's more east coast yes? The native/first country/aboriginal thing was pretty cool as was the Nova Scotian fiddle/tap routine.

Close to half the country lives in Ontario and Quebec..I didnt see much to promote or honour this part of the country.Mostly East coast and Aboriginal stuff..I am all for that but i feel those of us in Ontario and Quebec were slighted...Rush,Tragically Hip and Celine Dion would of been appreciated as well.

[GWCGWC 83]

oh and women's hockey, worth watching a few games? It's being shown on MSNBC in my market without HD.

[serge 904]

oh and women's hockey, worth watching a few games?

only if its Canada or US

[digitalmonkey 929]

The opening games ceremony is a huge theatrical production and geared towards getting women excited about the Olympics. I don't know how many guys would make it a point to watch the opening games without a female's influence. The person I had this conversation with last night disagreed and said SHE thought the ceremony would be watched by a lot of guys without a chicks nudging.

I disagree with you and agree with HER.

[GWCGWC 83]

I disagree with you and agree with HER.

Ya but you liked the acrobat/wheat fields thing so you're not 'most guys'.

[gruven 530]

I dont know about parts being cut out.... one of the few people that would be privy to the program and schedule would be the rights holders (CTV) and they ran overtime on the broadcast, which suggests it was full length. I think they also would have mentioned a segment being removed. They really didn't ignore things that went wrong. I heard from a buddy who is there covering it that all the performances were to tape except KD Lang. She refused to pre-record. I thought the poem about Canada was simply awesome, and to hear it recited by the author like that was even better. I agree with Serge.. especially about Quebec being slighted. I can understand not giving too much to Ontario (Vancouver/Toronto envy) but to shortchange the whole quebecois culture was wrong..

[FCP Bob 1,321]

I dont know about parts being cut out.... one of the few people that would be privy to the program and schedule would be the rights holders (CTV) and they ran overtime on the broadcast, which suggests it was full length. I think they also would have mentioned a segment being removed. They really didn't ignore things that went wrong. I heard from a buddy who is there covering it that all the performances were to tape except KD Lang. She refused to pre-record. I thought the poem about Canada was simply awesome, and to hear it recited by the author like that was even better. I agree with Serge.. especially about Quebec being slighted. I can understand not giving too much to Ontario (Vancouver/Toronto envy) but to shortchange the whole quebecois culture was wrong..

I think they tried to cover the Quebec culture with parts of the fiddling segment. The guy in the canoe fiddling with his shadow they were mentioning is some sort of Quebec folk tale.