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Thread ID: 48086 2004-08-13 18:28:00 Off Topic : Olympic Opening Ceremony Mike (15) Press F1
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261403 2004-08-13 18:28:00 I woke up just after 5 (for whatever reason), so I thought I may as well get up and watch the opening ceremony (coverage started at 5:15, and the ceremony is due sometime in the next hour :p)

Has anybody else joined me at this unearthly hour to watch the ceremony?

I was at the final dress rehersal of the Atlanta games, which was just awesome - I wonder if this will compare with that. The Sydney ceremony certainly didn't, but that might just be because I wasn't there live :D (The final rehersal is almost identical to the actual event, except no athletes, and no flame lighting... still had the march of nations, but it was support crews for the Olympic teams, and not the actual athletes... it was an awesome experience. The other thing about the final rehersal is that it didn't cost us anything, compared to the actual ceremony a night or two later that was US$600 a head for the cheapest seats)

Anyway, bring it on before I fall asleep!

Mike. 		Mike (15)
261404 2004-08-13 19:15:00 Dude.
Opening ceremony? Not my scene, at all.
robo.

For those that didn't catch the Australian one four years ago:
The opening ceremony. I weakened, I admit, towards the kick off, thinking I should watch it. That feeling lasted about four seconds.
The commentators give us the rundown as it proceeds, what everything represents, who is singing, who they slept with to get their career moving, and so on.
It started with formations created by people dressed up as prawns, pushing portable barbecues. They made the Olympics rings, and then an emu, a koala, and a scale representation of Rolf Harris.
As a special treat, they added an extra verse for their national anthem. Good one. Bit like coming up giving someone a bonus extra 5% tax if you ask me. Worse, I still haven't found out where Gert who lives by the sea really is.
We then had a dream sequence with a girl that swam around suspended by cables. Sadly, she didn't fall to her death, and the sequence continued. She was accompanied by yet more prawns, shrimps, jelly fish (everyone thought someone had stolen Dawn Fraser's bloomers), great white sharks, and crocs. Then the Crocodile Hunter raced out on a massive four by four and jumped off and caught the crocs one at a time. He killed them all and then went after the sharks, but had to be restrained.
A set of people dressed as historical Australians wandered around and stood in peculiar formations. They had Jake the Peg, Ned Kelly, the Man from Snowy River, Shane Warne, Nick Farr-Jones, Allan Border, Mal Meninga, Don Bradman, the Woodies, Split Enz, Russell Crowe, Sir Edmond Hillary, you name it.
A highlight was when Jelena Dokic's dad got thrown out for complaining she wasn't included in the list.
They then did a piece covering the oppression of the aborginals. It started peacefully with dreamtime, which was shattered by a re-enactment of removing the children of the stolen generation, the beatings they got, and other indignities they endured. That finished with the crocodile hunter blasting a few of them with his shotgun and then hitting a few others with the 'roo bars of the four wheel drive. The commentators didn't seem to have the script for this. The survivors then grabbed bottles of meths wrapped in brown paper bags and sat down at the edges of the stadium for the rest of the show, drank the contents and tried to beg some money for their next bottle.
Another vignette involved Ayers Rock, a small child, and a dingo, we lost commentary during that part.
The next piece seemed to be an attempt to illustrate that very few Australians are actually from convict stock, with a very wordy song pointing out that the bulk of Australians descend from people who came of their own volition and that most crime in Australia is now committed by aboriginals, parents of tennis players, and New Zealanders who now live here and don't pay any taxes at all.
Then we were treated to something that seemed to convey that the Olympic committee were not bloody great doughnutters that take bribes from anyone they can, and also something about how the people of Sydney aren't really going to pay for the games through their taxes. Then there was a bit of an apology for the traffic congestion and so forth, with a cheery theme, that was accompanied by a tune played on car horns.
The torch arrived in the stadium, carried in turn by Kylie Minogue, Jason Donovan, Edna Everidge, Olivia Newton-John, the Bee Gees, and Anthony Mundene (John Hopoate got dropped at the last minute after doing something nasty at the rehearsal). The climax was when five legendary australian women of the Olympics touched the torch to Kathy Freeman, setting fire to her and using her to light the cauldron. 		robo (205)
261405 2004-08-13 20:57:00 I got up at 5:30am as well, to watch. I have to get up at 6:30 anywya for work, so what's one hour earlier?

It's been an ok-ish ceremony. When NZ came out, you could hardly see our flag-bearer coz all the athletes were surrounding her. I would have liked to see Beatrice Faumuina wearing the Maori cloak (Am i right - the flagbearer would be wearing a very old maori feather cloak?).

Which country do you think will win the most medals? and how do you think NZ will do? 		caffy (2665)
261406 2004-08-13 21:12:00 i woke up at 6 - started watching it, then drifted off again, but i saw parts of it - still on now tho fergie (424)
261407 2004-08-13 21:19:00 >
> It's been an ok-ish ceremony. When NZ came out, you


Oh New Zealand ha been out already, I miss it
It would of been great in TVNZ had of introduced us to the greek alphabet,

What I don't understand in the begriming of those games, why they should have boats floating around and donkeys singing. to symbolize the cow jumping over the moon. 		Earnie Moore (5918)
261408 2004-08-13 21:21:00 how come my letters disappeared.

Oh New Zealand has been out already, I missed it
It would of been great if TVNZ had of introduced us to the greek alphabet,

What I don't understand in the begriming of those games, why they should have boats floating around and donkeys singing. to symbolize the cow jumping over the moon. 		Earnie Moore (5918)
261409 2004-08-13 23:07:00 > I woke up just after 5 (for whatever reason), so I
> thought I may as well get up and watch the opening
> ceremony (coverage started at 5:15, and the ceremony
> is due sometime in the next hour :p)
>
> Has anybody else joined me at this unearthly hour to
> watch the ceremony?

Yep, you where Not the only one who got up at that unearthly hour :)

IMO, it was good & I enjoyed it, just the director was a bit slow flicking to the fireworks etc… & they did not get a Good shot of the NZ team

Part from that it was Good 		stu120404 (268)
261410 2004-08-13 23:52:00 So much for TVONE's "Live" coverage.

CNN announced that the flame had been ignited some 4 or 5 minutes before we saw it on ONE.

Thanks for all the crap ads :(:( 		Zippity (58)
261411 2004-08-14 00:18:00 > So much for TVONE's "Live" coverage.
>
> CNN announced that the flame had been ignited some 4
> or 5 minutes before we saw it on ONE.
>
> Thanks for all the crap ads :(:(

Well TVOne has to pay for the rights to broadcast the Olympics (prob at least $5million +) and all the below-par TV presenters to go over there! How else do you think TVNZ re-coups those costs???????
If you don't want crap adverts, get SkyTV 		Baldy (26)
261412 2004-08-14 00:23:00 > Dude.
> Opening ceremony? Not my scene, at all.
> robo.
>
> For those that didn't catch the Australian one four
> years ago:
> The opening ceremony. I weakened, I admit, towards
> the kick off, thinking I should watch it. That
> feeling lasted about four seconds.
> The commentators give us the rundown as it proceeds,
> what everything represents, who is singing, who they
> slept with to get their career moving, and so on.
> It started with formations created by people dressed
> up as prawns, pushing portable barbecues. They made
> the Olympics rings, and then an emu, a koala, and a
> scale representation of Rolf Harris.
> As a special treat, they added an extra verse for
> their national anthem. Good one. Bit like coming up
> giving someone a bonus extra 5% tax if you ask me.
> Worse, I still haven't found out where Gert who lives
> by the sea really is.
> We then had a dream sequence with a girl that swam
> around suspended by cables. Sadly, she didn't fall to
> her death, and the sequence continued. She was
> accompanied by yet more prawns, shrimps, jelly fish
> (everyone thought someone had stolen Dawn Fraser's
> bloomers), great white sharks, and crocs. Then the
> Crocodile Hunter raced out on a massive four by four
> and jumped off and caught the crocs one at a time. He
> killed them all and then went after the sharks, but
> had to be restrained.
> A set of people dressed as historical Australians
> wandered around and stood in peculiar formations.
> They had Jake the Peg, Ned Kelly, the Man from Snowy
> River, Shane Warne, Nick Farr-Jones, Allan Border,
> Mal Meninga, Don Bradman, the Woodies, Split Enz,
> Russell Crowe, Sir Edmond Hillary, you name it.
> A highlight was when Jelena Dokic's dad got thrown
> out for complaining she wasn't included in the list.
> They then did a piece covering the oppression of the
> aborginals. It started peacefully with dreamtime,
> which was shattered by a re-enactment of removing the
> children of the stolen generation, the beatings they
> got, and other indignities they endured. That
> finished with the crocodile hunter blasting a few of
> them with his shotgun and then hitting a few others
> with the 'roo bars of the four wheel drive. The
> commentators didn't seem to have the script for this.
> The survivors then grabbed bottles of meths wrapped
> in brown paper bags and sat down at the edges of the
> stadium for the rest of the show, drank the contents
> and tried to beg some money for their next bottle.
> Another vignette involved Ayers Rock, a small child,
> and a dingo, we lost commentary during that part.
> The next piece seemed to be an attempt to illustrate
> that very few Australians are actually from convict
> stock, with a very wordy song pointing out that the
> bulk of Australians descend from people who came of
> their own volition and that most crime in Australia
> is now committed by aboriginals, parents of tennis
> players, and New Zealanders who now live here and
> don't pay any taxes at all.
> Then we were treated to something that seemed to
> convey that the Olympic committee were not bloody
> great doughnutters that take bribes from anyone they
> can, and also something about how the people of
> Sydney aren't really going to pay for the games
> through their taxes. Then there was a bit of an
> apology for the traffic congestion and so forth, with
> a cheery theme, that was accompanied by a tune played
> on car horns.
> The torch arrived in the stadium, carried in turn by
> Kylie Minogue, Jason Donovan, Edna Everidge, Olivia
> Newton-John, the Bee Gees, and Anthony Mundene (John
> Hopoate got dropped at the last minute after doing
> something nasty at the rehearsal). The climax was
> when five legendary australian women of the Olympics
> touched the torch to Kathy Freeman, setting fire to
> her and using her to light the cauldron.

LOL Robo......... Its a pity that they didn't get Demis Roussos to light the Olympic flame - singing his world-wide hit "My Friend The Wind"....... 		Baldy (26)
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