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The three weeks of the Games
Aug. 12th, 2012 09:15 pmI love watching the opening and closing ceremonies of Olympics. I like everything about them. I even like the parade of the nations. There is something very SF&F about them. Very utopian. This one also very dream like.
I wasn't the only one who had thoughts about Tolkien watching the first part of the opening ceremony. From Shire being overrun by forces of Saruman to forging of One Ring. The lack of commentary didn't help with refuting this misconception. I missed Polish commentators who always explain what is going on and provide context for what is shown. Everyone already complained about NBC handling it (and I'm sure there will be more after they stopped in the middle to show some unfunny show tomorrow) so I'm not going to repeat it - for me it wasn't as bad as those in US who decide it to make it all about themselves and felt tribute to NHS was a comment on American healthcare (I'm still in awe of the fact that the dancers were actual hospital staff). I wonder if there'd be ones offended by Imagine.
I thought both the opening and closing ceremonies were great exercises in national pride. Basically it was all the iconic British stuff - from history to technological invention and from children's literature to all the British music. Closing ceremony was basically one big party.
The rumours about Spice Girls singing at closing ceremony turned out to be true to but they were part of the whole British music showdown. But for me the music guest that was most anticipated were Pet Shop Boys. I knew this Olympiad couldn't be complete without West End Girls. Still the best part was the whole stadium (including the athletes) singing (and whistling) with Eric Idle Always Look on the Bright Side of Life. I'm left with wanting the soundtrack.
Of course the artistic parts are just icing on the cake and in a way watching sports events is a little like genre TV too. After all many of the people we watch competing are mutant. Genetic abnormalities on the far end of bell curve selected out of thousands for their special abilities. Something that makes Alphas almost plausible. And this Olympics surely delivered from Chinese perfection to American gymnastic team flawlessness. From Michel Phelps and Usain Bolt proving again that they are superhuman to Tomasz Majewski defending his shot put title - the first man to do this in over half a century.
But the for me the most bizarre moment was when I was watching my favourite Olympics event. My favourite Olympics event is Eventing (I know - not very popular) or more precisely the cross-country part of Eventing (dressage and jumping have their own events on much higher level). I was watching it and of course there was a lot of coverage of Zara Phillips and I realised she was competing in her grandma's garden and then given a medal by her mum. In a biggest international competition there is. Somehow that was very British too. After all how could it be British without the royal family thrown in with all the other symbols associated with Isles. Certainly the image of the Queen and James Bond jumping out of the helicopter will stay with me for a long time.
And speaking of popular Brits (and for those who found it tl;dr) here are some for every generation of both SF&F and Olympics fan. Jean-Luc Picard and Arya Stark can get you any ticket you want - look what they did for Simon Pegg
PS. This being my first Summer Olympics in US I learned that sports I always considered pretty normal part of athletics baffle Americans - racewalking, pentathlon (and other -athlons). I admit racewalking is a weird sport (only well known in Poland because of our multiple medallist Robert Korzeniowski) but I didn't expect pentathlon to be so weird to Americans since triathlon seems very popular as an amateur sport - at least here where I live. It also seemed that like it was the first time they ever heard about dressage (and other horse events). On the other hands athletics and anything horse related except racing doesn't seem popular here at all. I've never seen any of the atlethic events on TV. Not the World Championships, not even the US ones (I'm not even sure when or if they happen). Now, when I think about it I think Americans only show team sports (and tennis) and only few of them (volleyball doesn't show up on the news or on sport channels when I channel surf except for the Olympics).
I wasn't the only one who had thoughts about Tolkien watching the first part of the opening ceremony. From Shire being overrun by forces of Saruman to forging of One Ring. The lack of commentary didn't help with refuting this misconception. I missed Polish commentators who always explain what is going on and provide context for what is shown. Everyone already complained about NBC handling it (and I'm sure there will be more after they stopped in the middle to show some unfunny show tomorrow) so I'm not going to repeat it - for me it wasn't as bad as those in US who decide it to make it all about themselves and felt tribute to NHS was a comment on American healthcare (I'm still in awe of the fact that the dancers were actual hospital staff). I wonder if there'd be ones offended by Imagine.
I thought both the opening and closing ceremonies were great exercises in national pride. Basically it was all the iconic British stuff - from history to technological invention and from children's literature to all the British music. Closing ceremony was basically one big party.
The rumours about Spice Girls singing at closing ceremony turned out to be true to but they were part of the whole British music showdown. But for me the music guest that was most anticipated were Pet Shop Boys. I knew this Olympiad couldn't be complete without West End Girls. Still the best part was the whole stadium (including the athletes) singing (and whistling) with Eric Idle Always Look on the Bright Side of Life. I'm left with wanting the soundtrack.
Of course the artistic parts are just icing on the cake and in a way watching sports events is a little like genre TV too. After all many of the people we watch competing are mutant. Genetic abnormalities on the far end of bell curve selected out of thousands for their special abilities. Something that makes Alphas almost plausible. And this Olympics surely delivered from Chinese perfection to American gymnastic team flawlessness. From Michel Phelps and Usain Bolt proving again that they are superhuman to Tomasz Majewski defending his shot put title - the first man to do this in over half a century.
But the for me the most bizarre moment was when I was watching my favourite Olympics event. My favourite Olympics event is Eventing (I know - not very popular) or more precisely the cross-country part of Eventing (dressage and jumping have their own events on much higher level). I was watching it and of course there was a lot of coverage of Zara Phillips and I realised she was competing in her grandma's garden and then given a medal by her mum. In a biggest international competition there is. Somehow that was very British too. After all how could it be British without the royal family thrown in with all the other symbols associated with Isles. Certainly the image of the Queen and James Bond jumping out of the helicopter will stay with me for a long time.
And speaking of popular Brits (and for those who found it tl;dr) here are some for every generation of both SF&F and Olympics fan. Jean-Luc Picard and Arya Stark can get you any ticket you want - look what they did for Simon Pegg
The Olympic Ticket Scalper with Sir Patrick Stewart, Ryan Lochte, Simon Pegg & Maisie Williams from Patrick Stewart
PS. This being my first Summer Olympics in US I learned that sports I always considered pretty normal part of athletics baffle Americans - racewalking, pentathlon (and other -athlons). I admit racewalking is a weird sport (only well known in Poland because of our multiple medallist Robert Korzeniowski) but I didn't expect pentathlon to be so weird to Americans since triathlon seems very popular as an amateur sport - at least here where I live. It also seemed that like it was the first time they ever heard about dressage (and other horse events). On the other hands athletics and anything horse related except racing doesn't seem popular here at all. I've never seen any of the atlethic events on TV. Not the World Championships, not even the US ones (I'm not even sure when or if they happen). Now, when I think about it I think Americans only show team sports (and tennis) and only few of them (volleyball doesn't show up on the news or on sport channels when I channel surf except for the Olympics).
