who here is watching the olympics?
NOBODY!
I'm boycotting my eyes!
If anyone from AGS was watching do you think they would be able/would post to this thread?
I watched a bit of the opening ceremony but I got put off with China's choreography of a little girl singing to a millitary march.
I saw it, almost complete... Quite nice, the choreography with the chinese letters has been quite impressive, like 15 minutes of 100 guys doing a choreography without no (visual, at least) reference.
I waited to see the countries, because I know 4 or 5 guys of the swiss triathlon, but they just did a closeup to Federer :-\
I am watching ... so that in a few years when the U.S and China go to war over the last remnants of oil (oh the ignorance of it all) I can look back and compare it to the athletes give the fuher a salute in the '36 Berlin olympics.
Now russia attacks georgia (after the U.S. troops were there a month ago training the georgian army) and now the U.S. 10th mountain division is on transports to germany ... hmmm
Quote from: Darth Mandarb on Fri 08/08/2008 17:42:32
and now the you.s. 10th mountain division is on transports to germany ... hmmm
Trust me, Darth, we will be quite polite to them. IF they can do an even longer choreography.
Haha ... yeah, sorry to take the thread off subject!
Let's take it back. No, I won't watch the olympics, because I'm not interested in sports
(Apart maybe from the soccer world championship... but that's only because the police breaks in your house when Germany is playing and if you aren't watching sports, you're dragged out in the street and shot. Or so I heard.)
They begun already? I didn't even notice, though we had even a special tv channel started for Olympics.
Weekend of World of Warcraft or noble sports?
...
WoW wins!
And maybe some old projects I found last night, too.
Quote from: Jon on Fri 08/08/2008 16:57:00
I watched a bit of the opening ceremony but I got put off with China's choreography of a little girl singing to a millitary march.
I don't remember that happening...
The way I see it, you can think whatever you want about China, but they pulled off one hell of an opening ceremony. You don't have to despise everything they do just for the fun of it.
I agree... The ceremony, per se, has been magnificent. All the rest is another discussion which doesn't below to this thread.
You can bang on about the politics all you like, the fact of the matter is Beijing put on the greatest spectale EVER. I'm gonna cringe with embarrassment in 2012, 'coz there's no way London could dream of beating that.
I watched what was left of the opening ceremonies by the time I woke up. Seeing the countries parade in "Chinese alphabetical order" was pretty cool. It allowed the anticipation to build a bit before Team Canada made their proud but polite appearance.
By the way, my boyfriend found this image from an olympic protest that I had to share:
(http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a18/The_Ivy/picture78789t.jpg)
One for the history nerds. :)
Yeah I love that picture Ivy! I had seen that a while back too ...
I showed it to some people at work and was surprised (and a tad sickened) by how many didn't get it. I wonder if the person who made the sign meant it to be ironic/silly ... or if they were just plain stupid?
Well there are only two types of people who are more likely to get the irony of that... those who have studied Nazi Germany and those who have memorised who hosted the Olympics over the years... until about 5 months ago I wouldn't have got it either. I don't see what there is to get so sickened about?
I haven't watched the Olympics in a long, long time because of the way the coverage dwells on the non-sports competitions. Way back before most of you can remember were born it was possible to follow such things as boxing, water polo, wrestling, hockey, etc. You know the kinds of sports were the opponents have simultaneous participation and it doesn't matter how cute people think they look when they are doing it.
If they have to hold up signs to see who won then it ain't no stink'in sport as far as I'm concerned. I think such things would be more correctly called performance art.
I think the Olympics, or at least the TV coverage part of it, have degenerated into a mass soft porn show and is less entertaining than the current batch of reality TV shows, in which I also have no interest. Bah!!! ;)
[edit]
About the Nazi thing ... I got it and I thought it was a pretty cutting critique of China by comparing them to where Nazi Germany was just a few years before WWII. For the uninformed Nazi Germany hosted the 1936 Olympics. Hitler was espousing the superiority of the master race in this time frame.
Unfortunately Jesse Owens (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesse_Owens), a black American, won four gold medals including one in the long jump, something he had never lcompeted in before the olympics. It's my understanding that one of the USA long jumpers was unable to participate and Owens was asked to take his place. He agreed to do it even though he didn't know anything about it. One of the German athletes gave him some pointers and he went on to win the gold medal in that event.
This belied the myth of the master race and Hitler left the stadium before or during the awards ceremony. It was a big deal then and for a long time after.
I'm not a fan of sports, so I don't usually watch the Olympics. The opening ceremonies are usually pretty cool, but noting I can't watch on YouTube in a few hours.
It's really quite sad what China has been doing, but I think how people are attacking the Beijing Olympics is much more sad.
Oh, and that Nazi Germany thing is hilarious. I really wish we could see who was holding the sign. That's usually the best part.
Wish no more, for with the aid of image enhancing software and the FBI I bring you this evidence!
(http://members.cox.net/progzmax/disconazi.gif)
Well I was considering watching the ones that have my fellow finns competing, but yeah, China's a bit far away from here. So the broadcasts will be on from 4am till the time I wake up. Not really the best possible time, I'll prolly be sleeping. Also, it's too early for the sports news to reach the morning paper, which has been pressed before the events, so basically the Finn swinning 100m last night will only be mentioned on today's paper, and the result will be available tomorrow, when there's new sports about. Silly, them timezones.
Quote from: Stupot on Sat 09/08/2008 04:30:01
Well there are only two types of people who are more likely to get the irony of that... those who have studied Nazi Germany and those who have memorised who hosted the Olympics over the years...
I can only speak for Sweden, but here at least "Nazi Germany" is a given part of the history curriculum of primary education. We've all "studied Nazi Germany". Although I'm sure a lot of young people don't remember much of it, there's still this batch of old-fashioned grumpy old men who somehow think it's one of those things
people should know about...
Regarding the particular detail that they hosted the Olympics in 1936, yes, it might not have been as "sickening" years ago if a lot of people admitted to not remembering it... but right now, the Olympics and its
political implications is a current issue. The 1936 Olympics is an important part of the background of the issue. If you're keeping up with current events in any way, is it that odd to also expect some knowledge of the
background of these events? Stupot wouldn't have known about it "until about 5 months ago"--but by now he does know about it, because he doesn't live in an underground linen closet in a cave on a desert island. Correct?
Well the issue here was in the end brought up just because of the olympics and the potential political influence. There's all the good, a hosting country is expecting, but there's also all the bad. Basically the internal politics of said country will be checked through with a microscope just to get something to make it interesting. Though if you compare them to Germany in '36, I wholeheartedly believe such matter would have been brought up regardless of such sports happenings. The picture is funny in an ironical sense, but still, it's funny the same way as this picture is to those who get it.
(http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_BffqPvswEfc/RiHsW-WlReI/AAAAAAAAAlw/y_ze8rFaMLA/s1600/numbers.gif)
I may be a grumpy old man, but yeah, I think one should at least find out what's funny about it.
We' ve won a gold medal! And guess what... cycling! Giro, Tour, Olympics... Let' s see what happens in the Vuelta and the World Championship ;) Cycling is my favourite sport, and we' re managing quite well, this year! Olympics are basically over for me untill the 18th and 19th, when Gomez is going to win the gold in triathlon and my friends Sven Riederer, Olivier Marceau, Magali DiMarco and Daniela Ryf can get a metal. Hope to get a place to see the race with Darren AKA Quintaros in Mittens.
Quote from: EldKatt on Sat 09/08/2008 10:27:52
I can only speak for Sweden, but here at least "Nazi Germany" is a given part of the history curriculum of primary education. We've all "studied Nazi Germany".
Same goes to my country. We were studying the whole 20th century this year and Germany was about a third of it. Also, the stuff, RickJ told us about was witten at the end of the book, in the same format, only with pictures.
BTW: Did you know that Hitler had Jewish relatives?
Yes we did.
Also, I watched all the games today for some reason. Well, I slept at my mates sofa, and we were all hung over, so we just thought we'd watch some, and ended up watching all. I wouldn't mind doing it again, it's pretty interesting, seeing sports that you don't see so often, like badminton, archery, handball, judo. It was nice, though no medals for Finland yet, probably never :)
That's the 2 first medals for Finland! Both from shooting of some kind, gold and bronze. I actually woke up at 5:30am to watch them, and also to watch Ville LÃ¥ng play badminton. He did well too. Ok, I wasn't going to watch this stuff so much, but atm I'm a bit addicted :-[
I had the same. I enjoy watching the Olympics because I get to watch sports I'd normally never watch, and there's always a country to root for even when the Netherlands don't participate in that particular sport. Especially after a night of drinking, coming home at 5, and realizing the Olympics broadcast has JUST started isn't such a bad thing either :D
Also, 1 of each medal so far, so we're not doing that badly. My tiny little country is ranked 9th so far, and while I'm sure well slip massively, that brings a smile to my face :D
The Swedes have sucked so far. Considering that we're on the 7th position in the all-time medal chart, our current 56th place is a just a farce.
Our only real victory was that CAS has cleared Swedish wrestler Abrahamian's name, and warned FILA for being unfair.
Not that I watch the olympics alot, but it's satisfying when justice is done.