Opening Ceremony

[gemfyre]

Funkee.  Psuedo-nakedness.

Lots of shades of green.  Aussies weird green, India's lovely forest green, and I think it was Argentina in that striking apple green.

One moment that really hit me was just the flagbearer from Palestine giving the peace sign.  I think that said it all right there.

The fall of the runner symbolising the World Wars was pretty haunting as well.

Comments

[miwasatoshi.livejournal.com]

What cracked me up was the Japanese contingent. Their outfits look like they were designed by a 14-year-old schoolgirl for 14-year-old schoolgirls. Yes, even the boys.

[gemfyre.livejournal.com]

I just remember that they wore white. That's about it.

Apparently it was Bermuda with the horrid red shorts that looked like they'd forgotten their pants and were just in boxers.

And then there was the country in pink and grey, reminded of galahs.

[ladyguinevere83.livejournal.com]

The ones with the red shorts made them look like little boys at public school! :)

I liked the countries who worew their national dresses.... I thought that was cool.

And the runner with the flag was quite inspired.

But strangely, the Olymbpic flame scares me!

[gemfyre.livejournal.com]

National dress is always funky.

Pity the people from Samoa weren't wearing their sarongs (they have a particular name in Samoa but I forget what it is. Mum & Dad went there and said that's all anybody wears.)

And there were no big scary Maori guys on the NZ team! That I saw anyway.

[miwasatoshi.livejournal.com]

Ooh, I know this one ... it's called a lavalava. XD

(Malayo-Polynesian peoples, represent!)

[gemfyre.livejournal.com]

YES!! That's it. :)

When mum gave us all a lavalava she promptly scolded us for calling the sarongs.

I have about 3 nice bright ones, I just can't get the hang of tying it around me in anyway so that it stays up.

[miwasatoshi.livejournal.com]

My mom is all about sarongs ... of course, she lives on the Big Island of Hawaii, so it's pretty darn commonplace there.

[anodracs.livejournal.com]

Some of the torches that the runners carried looked like giant marijuana joints to me.

[gemfyre.livejournal.com]

The whole cauldron looked like a huge cigar.

It looked like Cuba was hosting the games.

[miwasatoshi.livejournal.com]

Man, I hope the families of those Cuban athletes are okay, Cuba just got a thorough thrashing by Hurricane Charley ...

[gemfyre.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah, the footage on the news looked pretty hairy.

But then again, in that area they are used to it and prepared for it.

I can just imagine something like that coming through Perth. The place would be flattened and half the people would be dead.

[miwasatoshi.livejournal.com]

Ehh. People in Florida aren't used to it and it happens almost every year. Plus in Third World countries, the death tolls are invariably obscene ... it wasn't long ago that a storm (not even a cyclone) nailed the Dominican Republic and killed a bunch of people.

[anodracs.livejournal.com]

Huh, and I thought I was the only one who didn't like the Bermuda outfits. Reminds me of old men who make that fashion statement of wearing shorts pulled up past their waists, with those dark socks and sandals underneath.
Did you catch that whole big production with the living statues and the pregnant woman with the glowing belly? I told my mum, thanks to genetic engineering, soon we may have athletes who glow like fireflies and can compete late into the night by the lights of their own bodies.
And yes, I am certifiibly nuts. As well as a bad speller!

[gemfyre.livejournal.com]

The parade was brilliant.

The costumes were just amazing.

[miwasatoshi.livejournal.com]

My wife was just drooling over the Kazakh flagbearer, what was his name ... Askhat Shakharov, I think.

[miwasatoshi.livejournal.com]

PS> Can you believe they actually had this on the BIG screens at the local sports bar? Normally they wouldn't even preempt preseason football for this, but apparently more people wanted to see the Parade of Nations than anything else.

Plus quite a few people were genuinely cheering and happy to see both the Iraqi and Afghan teams, they were like, "Wow, that's awesome."

My faith in the American people has been reaffirmed, at least for today. Even if my Valley-boy American grammar, spelling, and idioms are a total bastardization of the Queen's English!

[gemfyre.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I noticed Iraq got quite a cheer which is nice.

Most people forget that the majority of the civilians are just trying to live a good life like everyone else.

[miwasatoshi.livejournal.com]

Yep yep. The family that runs our favorite local restaurant (Sahara) fled Iraq back when the Baathists took over in the 1960s, so we have an understandably favorable impression of people from Iraq. ^_^

Of course, I don't have an unfavorable impression of people from any given nation. Asshats are asshats and angels are angels, independently of what nationality, creed, or gender they happen to possess.

Most people forget that the majority of Americans operate this way! (lol)

[ms-abigail.livejournal.com]

yeah that runner thing with the wars was vey weird, but very well done, especially when he fell like that. It was very very symbolic

[gemfyre.livejournal.com]

It almost looked like he'd just tripped accidently.

The the voice over said "World War 1" and I was like "oh" and all sombre like.