Excited
I was in San Francisco yesterday was happy to see a nice profile of all the Asian Americans performing in this latest article from AsianWeek.com:
“The 28 Asian American Olympians featured here will walk with the hundreds of Americans representing the United States at the Opening Ceremonies of the 2008 Beijing Olympics on August 8. From the all-Asian American badminton and table tennis teams to the 105-pound female wrestler Clarissa Chun, these athletes have risen to the occasion, defeating stereotypes and hardships, and now represent our nation. AsianWeek congratulates these Olympians as they go for the gold.”
On the cover is San Francisco Bay Area native, Kevin Tan, whom we blogged about in June. I saw Kevin Tan performance over the weekend on the still rings – which is I think his best event. Unfortunately, Tan’s dismount wasn’t so hot and he didn’t advance to the finals for that event.
As for the Opening Ceremonies on Friday, I think it was universally praised by almost everyone – and I’ll include myself in that company. The shear scale of the performance – with 15,000 performers, was pretty amazing. I had heard on NBC that the Chinese had spent more than 10X what was spent in previous Olympics, and spent about $300 million on the performance. You can rewatch it on NBCOlympics.com online here (you need to install Microsoft’s Silverlight first).
Source: San Francisco Chronicle
This is the first Olympics I’ve watched on HD, and it is beautiful and I think the first time I’ve watched 100% of the Opening Ceremonies (including the parade of nations). A Reuters article reported that 15% of the world watched the Olympics. I’m kind of surprised more didn’t, considering that, you know, China is 20% of humanity.
Regarding NBC’s coverage: the co-hosts were Bob Costas and Matt Lauer, with “China analyst” Josh Cooper Ramo. In watching the Opening Ceremonies, Ramo was certainly knowledgeable in explaining the symbolism of many of the performances, but I just had to wonder – couldn’t NBC have found a Chinese-American to have done the same? Wouldn’t it have been nice to have a Chinese-American be an “ambassador” and the China analyst to describe what was going on during the ceremonies? I would think that out of their Beijing office, NBC could have found a Chinese-American to provide some commentary – or hire someone like Connie Chung. (Or maybe that would piss off people.)
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@Grace Chu - funny, NBC 11 used the same phrase, "Milli Vanilli" move.
@Grace Chu - funny, NBC 11 used the same phrase, "Milli Vanilli" move.
How will China "save face" now - now that they look absurd in the international community for the Milli Vanilli-esque switcheroo?
Just a thought.
(P.S. The opening ceremony was otherwise awesome.)
How will China "save face" now - now that they look absurd in the international community for the Milli Vanilli-esque switcheroo?
Just a thought.
(P.S. The opening ceremony was otherwise awesome.)
and here i was feeling dumb about posting a story that you guys already knew about!
and here i was feeling dumb about posting a story that you guys already knew about!
jeff
Thanks for your well thought out response and cultural explanation. Also good to see that Moye has picked up on the story and her blog posting echoes my sentiments with regards to the girl being booted off the stage due to her looks. What the heck does "not flawless" mean? I mean even the 9 year-old that sang had missing teeth ;-) If you can find the original Chinese comments maybe you could let us know what was actually said and how good a translation to the word "flawless" was made.
Agreed that the show was spectacular - I watched it live on line and then all 4 hours on a big screen HDTV. I just felt a bit "cheated" when the truth about some of the moments came out - I guess I should have expected something like this from a famous movie director who makes awesoem flicks like House of Flying Daggers. I mean people don't fly for real, as they do in his movies ;-)
Yes real fireworks did go off that night, but the fireworks footprints that were seen by 99.9999% of people watching, including those in the stadium were the digital "fake" ones.
peter
jeff
Thanks for your well thought out response and cultural explanation. Also good to see that Moye has picked up on the story and her blog posting echoes my sentiments with regards to the girl being booted off the stage due to her looks. What the heck does "not flawless" mean? I mean even the 9 year-old that sang had missing teeth ;-) If you can find the original Chinese comments maybe you could let us know what was actually said and how good a translation to the word "flawless" was made.
Agreed that the show was spectacular - I watched it live on line and then all 4 hours on a big screen HDTV. I just felt a bit "cheated" when the truth about some of the moments came out - I guess I should have expected something like this from a famous movie director who makes awesoem flicks like House of Flying Daggers. I mean people don't fly for real, as they do in his movies ;-)
Yes real fireworks did go off that night, but the fireworks footprints that were seen by 99.9999% of people watching, including those in the stadium were the digital "fake" ones.
peter
I'm guessing Peter isn't Chinese, since he doesn't seem to understand the Chinese culture of saving face.
I interpreted the Opening Ceremony as a masterful piece of cinema (directed by one of my favorites: Zhang Yimou). He used the opportunity to display to the world the endless culture that the Chinese have to offer, and to do so, he used his expertise in cinematography.
He attempted to boost the image of China in both "faces", the "mianzi" (pride/prestige) and the "lian" (moral character). In order to "save face", it is culturally acceptable to use "polite lies". An example that Americans would understand would be if your friend's girlfriend is shopping for his birthday gift, and your friend asks you if you knew where she was, would you say "she's at the mall buying your birthday present"? Or would just simply say "no"?
I, for one, have no problem with either of the "faking" of some of the events. Regardless, the show was still spectacular. I was truly amazed that the columns of printing blocks were not computer-controlled, but each had a person inside!!
And, please get your facts right, especially if you link an article that directly contradicts your statements.
a) The real singer wasn't deemed "too ugly", she was just "not flawless"... there's a major difference in cinematography. It's like casting Christian Bale to play Bruce Wayne, but then using a trained martial artist as Batman for some of the more complicated fighting scenes.
b) The fireworks were not faked, the imagery in the filming were. If you were on the ground in Beijing that night, you'd definitely would've seen all 29 footsteps in the air. However, I challenge you to fly a plane or helicopter fast and steady enough that would give you the perfect tracking shot of them stepping towards the stadium. The fact that my trained eyes couldn't detect the transition from CGI to live (the last few in the overhead shot by the stadium were real) just impresses me even more.
I'm guessing Peter isn't Chinese, since he doesn't seem to understand the Chinese culture of saving face.
I interpreted the Opening Ceremony as a masterful piece of cinema (directed by one of my favorites: Zhang Yimou). He used the opportunity to display to the world the endless culture that the Chinese have to offer, and to do so, he used his expertise in cinematography.
He attempted to boost the image of China in both "faces", the "mianzi" (pride/prestige) and the "lian" (moral character). In order to "save face", it is culturally acceptable to use "polite lies". An example that Americans would understand would be if your friend's girlfriend is shopping for his birthday gift, and your friend asks you if you knew where she was, would you say "she's at the mall buying your birthday present"? Or would just simply say "no"?
I, for one, have no problem with either of the "faking" of some of the events. Regardless, the show was still spectacular. I was truly amazed that the columns of printing blocks were not computer-controlled, but each had a person inside!!
And, please get your facts right, especially if you link an article that directly contradicts your statements.
a) The real singer wasn't deemed "too ugly", she was just "not flawless"... there's a major difference in cinematography. It's like casting Christian Bale to play Bruce Wayne, but then using a trained martial artist as Batman for some of the more complicated fighting scenes.
b) The fireworks were not faked, the imagery in the filming were. If you were on the ground in Beijing that night, you'd definitely would've seen all 29 footsteps in the air. However, I challenge you to fly a plane or helicopter fast and steady enough that would give you the perfect tracking shot of them stepping towards the stadium. The fact that my trained eyes couldn't detect the transition from CGI to live (the last few in the overhead shot by the stadium were real) just impresses me even more.
LA Times article
http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-fg-lipsync13-2008...
--snip --
The Chinese Internet quickly lighted up, with many online users condemning the apparent bait and switch at the government's big show.
"Fake singing for national honor? What kind of lessons are we giving such a small child?" asked an anonymous posting on 163.com, a news portal. "Is this national honor or national shame?"
China's propaganda ministry moved in today, deleting many online discussion entries and blocking access to video links showing Lin's lip-syncing.
--snip--
LA Times article
http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-fg-lipsync13-2008...
--snip --
The Chinese Internet quickly lighted up, with many online users condemning the apparent bait and switch at the government's big show.
"Fake singing for national honor? What kind of lessons are we giving such a small child?" asked an anonymous posting on 163.com, a news portal. "Is this national honor or national shame?"
China's propaganda ministry moved in today, deleting many online discussion entries and blocking access to video links showing Lin's lip-syncing.
--snip--
(2nd posting attempt)
Too bad Chinese officials have admitted to faking two major mements of the opening ceremony
1. the cute girl in the red dress singing "Ode to the Motherland" was lip-syncing. The actually singer, a girl called Yang Peiyi was deemed too ugly
2. the firework footprints were faked also
Hard to know what to believe when you see it on TV these days :-( Pretty much anything can be faked, but hopefully not the 2,008 drummers.
peter
p.s.see
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7556058.st...
(2nd posting attempt)
Too bad Chinese officials have admitted to faking two major mements of the opening ceremony
1. the cute girl in the red dress singing "Ode to the Motherland" was lip-syncing. The actually singer, a girl called Yang Peiyi was deemed too ugly
2. the firework footprints were faked also
Hard to know what to believe when you see it on TV these days :-( Pretty much anything can be faked, but hopefully not the 2,008 drummers.
peter
p.s.see
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7556058.st...
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