I don't know about you people, but I thought the ceremony sucked! The presentation before the march of athletes made no sense at all to me. The Italians should be really embarassed about it.

Of course, I'm now watching the athletes march and the eye candy is tremendous.

WHAT HAPPENED TO JAMAICA? DID THEY NOT ENTER THEIR BOBSLED TEAM? To me, that's one of the winter Olympic highlights, watching a Jamaican bobsled team compete.

I'm inclined to agree with you. It wasn't the best opening ceremony but it wasn't dreadful either. I was just watching out for Jeremy Bloom! Pity he couldn't march in shirtless dammit! Can't wait for him to compete.

Yeah, no Jamaica. There was some good eye candy. The Italian team was really beautiful--I mean, I forgot how attractive they are in general. I'll take the summer Olympics athletes any day, especially since they don't march in covered in down coats and so on. But there were so attractive guys throughout.

The guy from Ethiopia looked like he could be one of Bob Marley's numerous love children. He even had Marley's nose and dreadlocks. There were not enough long-haired guys. I thought that was the in-style in Europe.

My favorite moment was Yoko Ono. That woman is amazing. The Italian dancer guy was scary. I loved Sofia Loren, Susan Sarandon, and the other women marching with the Olympic flag. What happened to Alberto Tomba??? HE looked as old as Jean-Claude Killy! He used to be so gorgeous. I hope there's one or two really lively athletes, like there used to be. A few wild partiers, maybe some Harding-Kerrigan drama, one of the Korean speedskaters starting a bitchfest with Apolo Ohno, something to create some excitement.

The Jay Leno coverage was hilarious. That flamboyant guy who's one of his correspondents was on with Tom Greene, who asked these two Norwegian downhill skiiers if there were lots of gay cowboys in Norway as in "Brokeback Mountain." The Norwegians said that they didn't have "bush," but they had gay cowboys, so Greene replied that we had "Bush," and gay cowboys too. It was so silly, but funny as well.

I thought the lighting of the torch was fabulous.

I quite liked the opening ceremonies. My favorite bit was the choreographed olympic ski jumper. Also liked the Olympic dove and the lighting of the fire. I was able to watch the ceremonies on CBC and then the NBC version. NBC's was annoying as hell, Kostas and Williams had to comment on absolutely everything instead of just letting it happen. I also don't feel it was necessary for them to comment on the politics of every nation. If they had to say something, talk about the athletes.

[ February 11, 2006, 05:52 AM: Message edited by: swiminbuff ]

Italian press liked the ceremony.
From what I read, it was well received by the press in France, Spain and Germany too.

I have been watching the Fin/German Womens hockey game for a bit this morning on CNBC. Impressed with the rather high quality of play in the game by both teams I must say. They have alot of the mens announcer from OLN, including Mike Emrick, and Bill Clement doing the analyzing.

I thought the opening ceremonies were the best I've ever seen! Really well timed and choreographed and the fireworks were fantastic. The sound was good, too, both technically and in the choice of music, although the '80s disco entrance theme got a bit old fast.* FT, I agree: I found the Ethiopian and the Senegalese men attractive too, but i ragazzi italiani were the best! No problems with Tomba for me; that's how handsome men mature! In all, a fine presentation nella bella stile italiana.

Viva Italia! GO USA!
_____
*Like Jim Lampley, who looked strained throughout his presentation. Those without HDTV like me can reduce the glare of their pictures by turning down the sharpness control to zero to prevent their own eyestrain.

[ February 11, 2006, 06:43 AM: Message edited by: gmginsfo ]

I liked the ceremonies very much. I thought they were very creative and effective. The highlight for me is always seeing the athletes march in. The Italian team was pure joy to watch; they seemed downright giddy - maybe the splendor of wearing Prada boots and Moschino coats got to them. Speaking of splendor, Sophia Loren was a sight to behold - always the personification of elegance and beauty. At the opposite end of the spectrum was the corpulent Luciano Pavarotti, looking like something out of a Bram Stoker nightmare, and having the audacity to lip synch Nessun Dorma.

I got very irritated by those two loquacious windbags. What really frosted my winter ass was when someone at the ceremony was speaking, whether it was the Italian president, the IOC president, or anyone else, Costas just HAD to talk right over him, oftentimes about extraneous stuff. Can you just shut the hell up, Bob?

I enjoyed the Opening Ceremonies for the most part. Some nice aerial work and pyrotechnics. I don't know what the bits on the Renaissance and the future had to do with anything, but liked how some of the speeches and the torch went right through the athletes "mosh pit" area.

Team Canada's outfits were a disappointment. Yoko Ono was a surprise. And Peter Gabriel's Imagine started in such a dirge-like way, it was very depressing.

Did somebody say Italy was wearing Prada and Moschino? Goodness, how were the Canadian athletes able to smile wearing those bland HBC parkas? At the next Winter Olympics in Vancouver we are going to have to step it up.

Man I thought the opening ceremonies were just plain awful! The ski-jump bit was a great idea. But I think the dancers were out of sync amd kind of blew it. Yoko Ono just annoys me to no end. Peter Gabriel's performance just seemed to suck the life out of the stadium. Pavorotti seems to be a Saturday Night Live version of himself.

And could the athletes just walk in without having a cell phone plastered to their faces?

The last Opening Ceremonies I enjoyed were the ones I attended in Calgary (1988) which were kept on a relatively small scale and actually celebrated sport.

Disliked the use of '70s/'80s pop/disco music during the parade of nations. Couldn't they have used something with a bit more pomp, or (at the very least) Verdi??? When the women carrying the Okympic flag entered, I half expected them to be accompanied by 'I am Woman,' 'Bad Girls,' or 'We Gotta Get You a Woman.' The global mix of women was nice: athletes, author, Nobel Laureate, actresses; predictably, I've already heard Bill O'Reilly criticize the inclusion of Susan Sarandon.

Hated the Italians' outfits--looked like the Michelin man. Favorite outfit (don't recall the nation): a simple white car-length coat paired with a celery-green scarf. As for the babbling of Costas and Williams, after all these years, I've gotten used to it (and to those wisps of hair on Costas' forehead) and now just thank my lucky stars that Katie Couric (who creeps me out!!) isn't involved with the Opening Ceremonies.

~Adam

Rumor has it, as was reported on local radio Friday, that NBC yanked her from being a part of that in Torino. Apparently they have grown irritated about the will-Katie-go-to-CBS-Evening-News-or-won't-she situation and decided to shut her down.

Whatever the reason, that's fine with me!

Couldn't the difference of judgement about the ceremony between US posters and European press be a result of different tastes between US and Europe?

The ceremony was well received here, and for example I recall that the Atlanta Summer Games' ceremony was judged as something horrible by Italian press at the time.

As being very Euro loving and a fan of previous European Olympic ceremonies, I have to admit that I found the Torino Opening Ceremony rather boring in general.

I found several elements to be visually stuning (the people moving ski-jumper, the aerial acrobats creating the dove)and some of the costumes and designs were amazing. Also- the lighting of the torch was one of the best I have ever seen at an Olympics.

In general I find the Summer Olympic ceremonies to be much better- I think this is simply budgetary- there are more sports, more athletes, more money involved in general.

I wouldn't say that this Olympic Ceremony was much better or worse than those of recent years. I think Lillehammer was the best of the last Winter Olympic ceremonies...

Something tells me that Beijing is going to be an amazing ceremony.

Perhaps, Andrea, but don't forget that several of us US posters liked the ceremonies very much! Perhaps those of us who did just understand and appreciate European tastes more than those who disliked them. Brava, Italia!

I liked the bit with the dancing cows- and all those flamin skaters looked like extras from some "Buck Rogers" serial

Make that "Commander Cody," Jaragonus, and I'm with you! wink

"Take me to your leader"

yes, I pretty much agree. Summer Olympic ceremonies are usually better, more spectacular.

Some good bits, some bad. I loved the ski-jumper and the dove, liked the "Sparks of Passion" skaters, and fast-forwarded Yoko Ono and Gabriel. Does anyone know where I can find a decent picture of the mountain dresses that the label-carrier girls were wearing? They were great, but we never got to see a close-up shot.

Rosgrana