2010 Winter Olympics

Living in Vancouver, its hard NOT to follow it. It's taken over the city and most people have "Olympic fever". Myself personally, I'm cheering for team Canada, the host country and will probably watch a bit of everything, either through replay or live. It's really convenient that all the games are going to be available online.

As for the opening ceremony, I thought it was marvelous, the way they made mediocre BC place into this cool looking ice palace. While some of the performances werent that interesting to me, the whole thing was artistic and well done, with glitches aside. While China's opening ceremony overwhelmed with numbers, Canada's wowed with art, the music, the scenery, the content (not to mention at a quarter of the cost; 100 mill vs. 25 mill). I found the guy reciting the poem about Canada amazing because everything he said, it epitomized what Canada is, down to the clothing he was wearing. I thought ld Lang was amazing as well and ithe beginning was really cool, with the guy snowboarding through the olympic rings.

Sure, there are parts of Vancouver that arent really that great, but the Olympics are here, and I'll personally be enjoying them while they're here, as they'll probably enver be here again.

So...
What are your thoughts on it?
Are you following it?
What country are you cheering for?
What events will you watch (if any)?

Didn't see the opening ceremonies. The only thing I've followed about the Olympics was the man who died.

[COLOR="Red"]Remember when the last ice pillar was supposed to rise up out of the ground? Oh... wait...

Sad to say, the guy's death and the pillar being malfunct will be the only things remembered from the Olympics this year.[/COLOR]

Did the pillar mess up in the show? Is a vid of it online?

I also loved how they did the Opening Ceremony. I wasn't actually expecting it to be that good, seeing as it was held in BC Place. After Beijing's ceremonies, I wasn't sure how it was going to measure up. In the end, though, it was fantastic! It captured the pretty much everything Canadian. From the fiddlers, to saying "zed". I liked how artistic everything was, and how culture was the driving force of all the artistry involved.

Though I'm a little annoyed by how the Olympics are taking over everything. I was just at the Commercial Drive Skytrain station today, and it was PACKED with people going to and from Olympic events. Everything on TV is also plastered with Olympic merchandise, events, sponsors, etc. And when the torch went by, every school was scrambling for a chance to see it. It's almost suffocating, and you pretty much have no choice but to be involved with the Games.

I'm looking forward to seeing how the rest of the Olympics turn out. And I guess, yeah, it's a once in a lifetime thing to have the Olympics in your city.

I was hoping we wouldn't embarrass ourselves during the Opening Ceremony. It was like First Nations coming then already the introduction of the participants? Was disappointed until afterward, and the show was quite amazing. The poet was my favourite part. Although the ceremony couldn't compare to that of Beijing's. It was also quite sad when the cauldron mechanics were malfunctioning... then as Wayne Gretzky was going to light up the external cauldron, I was like "my god, don't show the street signs they're so ugly!". The moment of silence was also great; I felt terrible for the Georgians too

I was on the Canada line, it was so jam packed with people thank goodness I managed to get a seat f3. My sister was lucky to have her picture taken with the torch.

I'm rooting for Canada, China, and Kim Yu-Na

Edit: The destruction of the bows hurt me a little inside Also, watch Vancouver go bankrupt from these games ...

I don't know....the couple minutes I've seen of both Beijing and Vancouver's opening ceremonies, I've got to say I think Beijing's was at a higher spectacle level. But both were so different and so finely tuned towards their respective nation's culture that you really can't judge by the wow-factor; hearing from Canadian citizens that they phenomenally captured your nation's culture ranks these opening ceremonies highly in my book.

But I've got to say: Wayne Gretzky carrying the Olympic Torch in...standing in the back of a white pickup truck? That seemed a little trashy to me, especially for the person, my irl Canadian friend tells me, was voted by Canadians as the "Most Important Person in Canada's History." Seems like you would introduce someone like that to the world in a classier way than on the back of a pickup truck with crazed Vancouverites chasing you.

Im rooting for the sonic team....

But really: They didnt air the ceremony in mexico >=( I AM MAD!

Preferred China's opening ceremony, but eh, at least Canada didn't fake anything...I hope.

I don't exactly follow the Winter Olympics as much as the Summer Olympics, but I'll vote for the U.S.A. Shame Michelle Kwan isn't skating.

I don't know....the couple minutes I've seen of both Beijing and Vancouver's opening ceremonies, I've got to say I think Beijing's was at a higher spectacle level. But both were so different and so finely tuned towards their respective nation's culture that you really can't judge by the wow-factor; hearing from Canadian citizens that they phenomenally captured your nation's culture ranks these opening ceremonies highly in my book.

But I've got to say: Wayne Gretzky carrying the Olympic Torch in...standing in the back of a white pickup truck? That seemed a little trashy to me, especially for the person, my irl Canadian friend tells me, was voted by Canadians as the "Most Important Person in Canada's History." Seems like you would introduce someone like that to the world in a classier way than on the back of a pickup truck with crazed Vancouverites chasing you.

Wayne Gretzky was carrying the torch OUT. This was the first opening ceremony held indoors, so they had to light the torch twice, once indoors, once out. The indoor one was lighted, then Gretzky took his torch outside to Coal Harbor (?) to light the outdoors one seen around the city. The person carrying the torch in was Rick Hansen, who lighted it off to the final torchbearer, which turned out to be 4 people: Nancy Greene, Catriona Le May Doan, Steve Nash, and Gretzky. The truck thing was merely an "added extra", least that's what I felt. It would've been neat to watch Gretzky jog it out there, but in the pouring rain, it wasnt practical. That being said, the transport out probably could've been done better.

Oh my apologies! I shouldn't really talk considering I watched that 30 seconds of the opening ceremonies a tad buzzed at a house party. So yeah...but even still, I agree that the transportation was a bit sub par, though hearing that it was raining, I don't blame them. It's not like you can build an elaborate paper mache float to carry them when it's pouring.

The first gold medal for Canada on home soil was won yesterday!

Grats to Shen Xue and Zhao Hong Bo on getting Gold in Pairs Figure Skating! You guys deserved it

Grats to Shen Xue and Zhao Hong Bo on getting Gold in Pairs Figure Skating! You guys deserved it

I personally felt the pair that got second did better, but then again, what do I know about figure skating xD The song for it was absolutely marvelous.

Well the Free Skate was better for Tong/Pang which was reflected by their score, but the massive lead Shen/Zhao had over Tong/Pang from the Short Program last night is what allowed Shen/Zhao to win overall.

Thought I'd share..

For those who don't already know, CANADIANS can watch the olympic live or in replay at: [url]http://www.ctvolympics.ca/[/url]
I was told you werent able to replay beyond 2 hours back, but just now, i caught the full short program for the figure skating so I'm really not too sure where the limits are in terms of replay. To watch vids live, there's a box top right of the whole page that says Viewers' Guide - Watch Online. From there, pick a channel that shows what you want to watch. You will need to download and install a flash player made by microsoft called Silverlight. You will not need to restart your browser or computer after the download and install. You will need to refresh the page, though (by pressing the Watch the video button is enough to refresh). To replay/forward, just click and drag the marker back. To go back to Live coverage, press Live. To view canadian entries, click on the gold markers sitting on the track.

For AMERICANS it should be [url]www.nbcolympics.com/video[/url]
Sorry to say, I am Canadian and I have no clue how to navigate to the vid or how the stuff works there. You're guna have to do some exploring.


Edit: if anyone finds the online coverage for the opening ceremony, pleaaaaaaaase let me know.
Edit2: How typical of me, any time i have a question/am looking for something, it shows up in my face after I ask it. -.- So, here it is, for those, like me, who missed it:
http://www.ctvolympics.ca/video/collecti...index.html

I initially watched the opening ceremonies on ctv, but the next day, I couldnt find it anymore (I wanted to rewatch the kd Lang part...that and apparently my uncle was one of the RCMPs with the flag). If I find it, I'll let you know.

@Mike Robertson (Canadian snowboarder who got 2nd): Ive never seen anyone look so disappointed getting silver, haha. Though it was understandable and whatnot, I liked that he was pissed while at the same time classy about it.

Try this?

See my edit. lol


>.> I literally found it after i hit the send button too. Ugh.

Nice, we just got another gold medal!(Canada)