Opening/Closing Ceremonies Discussion

[SpongeG]

they had one of the biggest french singers perform that french dude who sang a song

[Zassk]

Quebec also had one of the fiddler segments.

[officedweller]

Overall, a great show.
I viewed it in the rain at the LiveCity Yaletown site.

It's a shame about the 4th arm of the cauldron, but at least they didn't blow up the stadium (with gas from the unraised arm). I heard that the BC Place cauldron was extinguished at about 10:00 pm.

WRT the audio - there were definitely issues with the audio on the broadcasts. The live CTV feed had a delay that was evident even in the Furlong and Rogge speeches.

The NBC coverage had audio issues too, as the opening BC scenery sequence had no sound until the shot of the snowboarder atop the mountain.

I recorded the Today show on Friday morning - they aired video of the opening cermony rehearsals during promos for the opening ceremony broadcast! They showed a number of the scenes including the RCMP walking in with the flag, showed the interior of the stadium with the stage (even interviewed David Atkins in the stadium) and showed the roller bladers with the LEDs on them. Now that's clout!

[hammergirl]

Originally Posted by Zassk

Quebec also had one of the fiddler segments.

Nikki Yanofsky is from Montreal

KD Lang sang a Leonard Cohen song and Cohen is from Montreal.

Jacques Villeneuve, Julie Payette and Romeo Dallaire carried the flag

[SpongeG]

i guess they want more like they always do

[raggedy13]

The devil in the flying canoe references a Quebec folktale as well.

[whatnext]

Moore is already frantically backpedalling. Obviously he just woke up to the fact he's not in Ottawa right now, and kow-towing to the Quebecois doesn't play so well on the West Coast and with the ex-Reformers in his riding.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/blogs/bur...g-no-big-deal-moore-says/article1468980/

[twoNeurons]

Am I the only one who thought Furlong's was hideously unprepared? I understand he was working off a manuscript, but highlighting key words would've done wonders to his delivery. He was looking down at his notes every 2 words. It was also long. Very long. Too long. Fast-forward long.

[Zassk]

Originally Posted by twoNeurons

Am I the only one who thought Furlong's was hideously unprepared? I understand he was working off a manuscript, but highlighting key words would've done wonders to his delivery. He was looking down at his notes every 2 words. It was also long. Very long. Too long. Fast-forward long.

I thought it was pretty clear that he had been rattled by the death of the luger, and that he had lost all enthusiasm for delivering this speech. He sounded somber, not unprepared.

[quobobo]

Originally Posted by Zassk

I thought it was pretty clear that he had been rattled by the death of the luger, and that he had lost all enthusiasm for delivering this speech. He sounded somber, not unprepared.

Oh christ. The way people talk about that luger, you'd think they all knew him personally. People with more emotional maturity than a 7 year old don't feel that way over the death of someone they have almost no connection to.

The speech was long and monotonous, especially with his weird clipped way of speaking. Most of the ceremony was great though.

[twoNeurons]

Originally Posted by quobobo

Oh christ. The way people talk about that luger, you'd think they all knew him personally. People with more emotional maturity than a 7 year old don't feel that way over the death of someone they have almost no connection to.

The speech was long and monotonous, especially with his weird clipped way of speaking. Most of the ceremony was great though.

Yeah, that's what I was talking about. The clipped speaking, looking down at his notes after every 3-4 words. Yes, it was too long and monotonous, but he was bobbing his head every few moments. When public speaking, it's far better to pause long enough to say a complete sentence or two before checking your notes. It could be he didn't have any public speaking training for the event. Rogge on the other hand was pretty fluid. Of course, he also was stone cold and unemotional as usual (Likely a result of having to deal with people interpreting every word or pause that he utters ). This is also all old-hat for Rogge, mind you.

[Zassk]

It's not that he knew the guy personally, but that it happened on his watch. Did you see the press conference where Furlong had to announce the news? His tone at the opening ceremony pretty much followed from that.

Anyway, I fully agree that the speech was too long by half, and was delivered poorly. But these speeches are always interminable. At Torino and Beijing I changed the channel at those points, and came back later.

[ozonemania]

The man spent seven years of his life for this event. I say let him do what he wants. He earned the honour to speak and I'm in no position to criticise it.

For those of you that don't like long and boring, it's not your fault. You've been programmed to have the attention span of an average youtube video and judge things that can only be summarized in the length of a tweet.

Maybe next time actually listen what people have to say, what it means to the speaker, what it might mean for other people, and what it means in relation to you. It's not always just about personal entertainment value.

[djun]

Very well said!

[dkealoha]

Not to jump ahead... but does anyone have any info on the closing ceremony? I am taking the train up there from Portland next week Thursday and plan on trying to get into one of the LiveCity areas during the closing ceremony.

I assume there were fireworks during the opening ceremony that we did not see on the TV coverage? Something similar probable for the closing?

Thanks for any info you have! Can't wait to join in all the craziness up there!

[jsbertram]

Originally Posted by ozonemania

The man spent seven years of his life for this event. I say let him do what he wants. He earned the honour to speak and I'm in no position to criticise it.

For those of you that don't like long and boring, it's not your fault. You've been programmed to have the attention span of an average youtube video and judge things that can only be summarized in the length of a tweet.

Maybe next time actually listen what people have to say, what it means to the speaker, what it might mean for other people, and what it means in relation to you. It's not always just about personal entertainment value.

What seems to be forgotten is that Furlong and may others were the core group who actively campaigned for and won the Canadian Host City bid, campaigned for and won the Olympic City bid, organized the events and facilities' construction, and worked through to the completion of the games.

If previous Olympic cities were a guide, none of original members of the organizing committee would still be around today - they would have be replaced though retirement, burnout, political intrigue , or more likely scandal.

[mr.x]

^ Furlong spent 10 years of his life on Vancouver 2010...and Jack Poole was along with him every step of the way until recently. He has great respect for Poole, who gave him this opportunity, and does not want to let him down.

[SpongeG]

Originally Posted by dkealoha

Not to jump ahead... but does anyone have any info on the closing ceremony? I am taking the train up there from Portland next week Thursday and plan on trying to get into one of the LiveCity areas during the closing ceremony.

I assume there were fireworks during the opening ceremony that we did not see on the TV coverage? Something similar probable for the closing?

Thanks for any info you have! Can't wait to join in all the craziness up there!

there were some fireworks at canada place where the outdoor cauldron was - it was badly timed and missed be broadcast on the show - the started a few minutes after the cauldron was lit - they should have started within seconds - CTV and NBC both stopped coverage - CTV did go back and catch a few but missed them

[AdrianT]

http://www.vancouversun.com/life/Opening...minorities+Vanoc+told/2573111/story.html

http://www.vancouversun.com/sports/2010wintergames/story.html?id=2573295

I thought the opening ceremonies were great, I loved the visuals, art, and poetry portrayals, but I think this was a point that I noticed too. Here the Francophone are complaining that there wasn't enough Quebec in the ceremonies but as a ceremonies that is supposed to showcase this region and Canada's multiculturalism, visible minorities(or majority in the case of Vancouver) got almost no representation at all.

And I know there's the argument of time constraints and how difficult it is to fit everything in, and I'm no choreographer or producer, but they could of just did a short 2 min segment (like the orca whales) when the rockies were rising where there was just a transition of CPR workers building the railway across Canada to BC, or mill workers and farmers during a transition to the maple leaf segment.

I don't know if it's too late to add things to the closing ceremonies as the article suggests, but it seems if the heritage minister is complaining about under-representation of Quebec, he should be looking at a large population not being represented at all.

[Zassk]

I'm as pro-multiculturalism as anyone (my kids are half-Chinese), but in terms of Canada as a whole, a large visible minority was represented - that being First Nations who are 4% of the country's population. All other visible minorities are less than 3% of the population each, so I'm not sure which ones merited special inclusion in the ceremonies in your view. As a resident of Richmond which is 60% Asian by population, I would have loved to see a reference to the Chinese New Year slipped into the ceremony somewhere, but it wouldn't have been very relevant to the rest of the country.