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2016 Olympics - Opening Ceremony and beyond....


Howdyphillip

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The director of the opening ceremonies was the director of City of God.

“It does not make sense to be extravagant in this moment that the country is facing,” he said in a story the IOC posted about his team preparing for tonight’s event. “It will not be a high-tech ceremony, it will be high-concept.”

http://www.wired.com/2016/08/olympics-2016-opening-ceremony-director/

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I was very impressed by the ceremony.  The courage to talk about the country's history without sanitizing it is worth talking about.  I just can't imagine the outrage in the U.S. if a similar show was put on for such a huge stage.

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3 minutes ago, SkynJay said:

I was very impressed by the ceremony.  The courage to talk about the country's history without sanitizing it is worth talking about.  I just can't imagine the outrage in the U.S. if a similar show was put on for such a huge stage.

I thought that was pretty awesome as well.

I don't know a whole lot about rowing, but isn't it really stupid to do this on the open sea?

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Loved the opening ceremony. Hate the usual trolls attacking it afterwards, calling it Leftie bullshit, and all sorts of other nonsense. What te fuck is wrong with Americans? 

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18 hours ago, Risto said:

You complain? I am stuck in Montenegro and God only knows what their national broadcaster will choose to show. Needless to say (and every Montenegrin knows this), I will mute because commentaries are like listening to hysterical crying baby. 

Where in Montenegro are you? Ive been in Kotor for the past week, will be here till Thursday. 

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9 hours ago, Howdyphillip said:

 Brilliant... This was everything that I could have hoped for in this show. Economics dictated that the show not be as elaborate as other years, but man did the Bazillions tell an absolutely fabulous story in a gripping way. The projection on the floor of the stadium was outstanding all of the way through. It is probably the best we have ever seen on that scale anywhere. 

The opening montage of the top down video at the start was beautifully shot. Some of the best photography I have ever seen. The perspective was almost jarring in places, but by the end, we get the message that our focus has come to Rio, and we will be looking down upon them with great interest to see the spectacular. 

 We are then invited into the stadium, and the cast performs a piece about joining together. The lighting upon the reflective costumes and prop blankets is in cool blues to welcome us in, and we see a performance based in synchronicity telling us that the overall objective of the night is that of unity. The music is modern, yet reaches back into classic influence.

Then we come to a brief segment on the history of the country, starting first and foremost on the rain forest, the abundant animal life and indigenous people. The use of the cordage coming down from a truss was amazing, especially when we come to the part of the story where the Portuguese arrive. It is told with props representing the bow of the ships that quickly become entwined in the forest. The introduction between these two people groups were one of conflict, and the producers of this show didn't shy away in the least in telling this story. The actors told us by their physical performance that their response to one another was that of fear and distrust. Then the slaves were introduced and yet again, the show didn't pull any punches in their introduction. Finally other groups started to appear, like Asians, and those from the Middle East. 

 This bring us to the modern day, and this is where I expected the show to give us the usual BS about how everyone just gets along in their country, and that racial strife and cultural difference is something that is already overcome. Instead, this show addressed the conflict. It placed the various people in blocks, separating them from each other. It painted the picture clearly that there are differences, and those difference could lead to strife.

 It is with this in mind, that the show called for a celebration. It asked people to recognize their difference and instead of being afraid of one anther to use them to add to the overall culture. The dancing started in earnest then, and the music became a mixture of all the various cultures in the region combined. Highlighted in this performance was a 12 year old pop/rap star singing a song about ending racism and sexism. This to me was the heart of the show. It was a call to be unafraid of one another and that by recognizing our differences and culture, we could come to a place of embracing one another and creating something new. 

 That is why the next segment was about the race to the city or the modernization of country. What emerged from the celebration was fearless individuals not afraid to leap over hurdles and obstacles to bring the country into the new. We have finally reached a point of the show that the story of Brazil has been told.

 The next step is to bring in the world, and they did so by highlighting the greatest single problem that we face today in climate change. We were given a frank discussion about the consequences of it if we don't act, and then we are given a piece (by Judy Dench) about how it is not too late, and that we can cultivate this lone, ugly flower and make the world renewed. I had actual tears in my eyes while watching this. 

 Then, as the next step in bringing in the world, they brought in the world with the parade of nations. This is the reason that I watch the Olympic Games. No matter how much strife, conflict, and hatred there is among us, every four years we set that aside and come together in the spirit of sportsmanship. We act as a global unit to achieve greatness. To see 10,000 athletes to come together as one unit in celebration is always amazing to me, and this year, we need a little hope like almost none other. 

Finally, we have the raising of the flag and lighting of the torch. The flag ceremony was fine, but the torch was absolutely amazing. Almost every year, the torch has been getting bigger, and bigger. The choice this year to make it smaller, but more artistic and beautiful was inspiring to me. It told the world that we didn't necessarily have to be the largest to be the best, and if we work with what we are given we can create the astounding.

I really loved this show.

my favorite post by you, ever. Totally agree. 

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My favorite part of the opening ceremony was the eldritch portal to...somewhere surrounding the Olympic torch.  

 

Fencing!  Its started!  Women's individual epee went fairly well for the US women.  Two lost in extremely close bouts (one touch each) in the round of 32, and the other lost a pretty close bout in the same round.  2012 had one getting beaten fairly handily in the 16, and another losing in the 32, so as a team, they seem to be improving slightly.  If you're not that involved or invested in fencing and you are an American, the events you're going to want to watch start Monday at 945, with women's individual sabre.  Traditionally a sport dominated by the US, it also features Ibtihaj Muhammad, who has recently become somewhat the face of US fencing.  Team women's sabre starts next Sunday at 8am, and should also be a good run.  

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Jesus christ, I'm watching a livestream of the men's artistic gymnastics, and Samir Aït Saïd for France just broke his leg. And I'm talking his calf completely snapped. The commentators had just finished talking about how he was best in another event, and was doing this one for his team.

And now my dad came downstairs and said that apparently a shot went off close to the dressage area.

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4 hours ago, Slick Mongoose said:

Feel a bit sorry for the Serbian pair though.

They will have a shot in the repachage tomorrow.

It's probably the worst thing that can happen to the team in the rowing event.

Still, they have won the bronze in the last World Championship so they should be able to bounce back and get into the semifinals which will be a whole new race.

Our other boat in the Olympics will have to go through repachage as well, so I'll have something to watch tomorrow as well. ;)

Having trained rowing myself for close to 10 years, I've seen these guys around a fair bit. They are all great guys and I hope they get good results in repechages and later on in the semifinals.

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1 hour ago, Aniel said:

And now my dad came downstairs and said that apparently a shot went off close to the dressage area.

And there was a controlled explosion near the finish of the men's road race? 

 

Just to recap: we've had a bullet through press tent at equestrian, a controlled explosion at cycling finish & a robber shot at Maracana

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6 minutes ago, kairparavel said:

And there was a controlled explosion near the finish of the men's road race?

You could hear the bang on the commentary, turned out it was the police blowing up an unattended bag.

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The men's road race in cycling just finished and it was a fantastic race.

Very steep stage. Constant ups and downs in terms of rider's abilities, impossible to tell who would win while at the same time many riders continued to have a chance right until the end. Superb.

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22 minutes ago, Calibandar said:

The men's road race in cycling just finished and it was a fantastic race.

Very steep stage. Constant ups and downs in terms of rider's abilities, impossible to tell who would win while at the same time many riders continued to have a chance right until the end. Superb.

Yeah, loved the road race. It was a shame the motorbikes couldn't keep up on the descent. Would love to have seen what caused that crash.

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The women's epee final was an absolutely fantastic match.  Italy's Fiamingo opens up with a clinic on tip control and distance, ending up 10-6 over Hungary's Szasz at one point.  Szasz then shows some incredible adaptation and adjusts, coming back to win it, 15-13, on a double.  It was everything good about epee, in my opinion.  A very, very good start for fencing.  

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2 hours ago, Calibandar said:

The men's road race in cycling just finished and it was a fantastic race.

Very steep stage. Constant ups and downs in terms of rider's abilities, impossible to tell who would win while at the same time many riders continued to have a chance right until the end. Superb.

It did seem to have a bit of everything. Very scenic, too.

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It was a shame the motorbikes couldn't keep up on the descent. Would love to have seen what caused that crash.

It's rare in the modern era that possibly the key moment of a sporting event happens off-screen, although perhaps it's for the best that there wasn't a motorbike right behind them when the riders crashed and ended up in the middle of the road.

I don't know a whole lot about rowing, but isn't it really stupid to do this on the open sea?

Isn't it on a lake?

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