[ozonemania]

Very good opening ceremonies, but I am biased as I am pro-Olympics. I talked with a couple people that aren't so hot with the Olympics and their opinion of the ceremonies was similar, like 'meh' and 'not as good as beijing'. Whatever.

My favourite segments:
1. k.d.lang. She was amazing. Anyone that was bored with it doesn't appreciate music as much as they appreciate 'adrenaline-inducing noise'. She put her soul into that, and you can feel it.

2. The Prairie girl dance. I must say, the impact of that number is much greater live than on TV. I was a little let-down that the TV coverage wasn't able to capture the fluidy, continuity, and the artistry of that performance.

3. The orcas and the other floor-projections. A 'gimmick' very well-utilized.

4. The giant polar bear. This is another moment when being there had more impact. It just kinda pops out of nowhere and because it's so big it seems to pop out at you too.

My least favourite segments:
1. The Fiddler routine. Actually if you break the performance down, it was very good. It's just there was too much going on visually and acoustically, and it just came across as too busy and confusing for my tastes. If they had simplified it a bit and allowed the viewers to focus on some things better and for a little longer I think it would have been much better.

2. The poet. If this number had been for an all-Canadian audience, it is perfect. However this isn't necessarily for world consumption. I don't think that outsiders would find what we say about ourselves to be surprising or alarming. However, they might be surprised that we have the arrogance to tell them that we know it.

Maybe it's a shrewd tactic to put our Canadian athletes into an advantagous state of mind over their rivals.


PS- Aboriginal elements were so well done. They really got it right.