13 February 2010
I had such fun with my little grandson last evening, while his mommy and daddy went out to dinner to celebrate daddy’s birthday.
We watched the opening ceremonies of the Olympics together – dancing together, little guy in my arms, bouncing along with the rhythm, laughing and smiling. The ceremonies were very spectacular, and I loved the aboriginal dancing and drumming to welcome the athletes, and the incredibly tall “welcoming” poles, and the later totem poles and forest grove and the amazing killer whale and salmon swimming video effects – very impressive! My little grandson especially loved “dancing” to the rhythm of the aboriginal drums, and then the toe-tapping music of the fiddlers.
And of course it is nice to see nations putting aside their political differences for a bit… and so on… but I heard an estimate of $25 million (and later, even one of $60 million) for those 3 hours of ceremony … and then there’s the multi-million cost of the temporary Canadian pavilion, which was set up just before the Olympics and will be torn down right after … and I think, “That is just crazy!” Even obscene! In a location (downtown Vancouver) where there are so many living in poverty and pain – and that’s not to mention the far greater poverty found all over the world!
Watching those ceremonies, there were moments when I didn’t know whether to be thrilled by the presentation – or to feel like throwing up because of the enormous spending on entertainment when there is so much need in the world. (Hmm… kind of like the “average $25,000” Canadians apparently spend on a wedding these days… which is probably one of the reasons a lot of folks just don’t get married… okay, yeah, I’m going down a rabbit trail, a bit!).
…. Later …. I just spent a half hour or a bit more checking out blogs, comments, face book snapshots, and so on, of the Olympic opening ceremonies and other related events – like the amazing displays put up by the different First Nations, and various countries, and such. I have to admit that 24 hours ago (it’s 1 pm as I write), I wasn’t even planning to watch the Olympic opening ceremonies (because of the amount they cost when there is so much need everywhere), but it was fun to watch with my little grandson, who loved the music and rhythm, and I do think the cultural aspects, especially, were really pretty impressive.
It seems to me that the ceremonies were overall well done. Some people, of course, thought they were dull and not glitzy enough (LOL… mostly those comments were from Americans, though some liked the presentation… oh well, what self-respecting Canadian would want to put on an American-style glitz-presentation/show anyway!). Personally, I liked that the ceremonies were perhaps a bit under-stated, which is kind of Canadian anyway, and is certainly appropriate in a time of economic hardship all over the world, and in face of the death of the Georgian athlete just hours before the ceremonies.
I thought the video technology was amazing! I hear reports of anywhere from $25 to $60 million being spent on the ceremonies (and am sure hoping the figure is at the lower end…). And I think it really is not time to try and compete with the $100 million spent in Beijing. Well, despite my personal reservations about the cost of these games and some of the things we seem to have done to try to “hide our problems,” last night’s show made me pretty proud to be Canadian!
(And I really wouldn’t mind one of those plaid-on-one-side, white-with-red-maple-leaf-on-the-other-side “official” scarves! But, lol, I really wouldn’t want to spend that much money!) (And I don’t like the “more economical” red mittens!!!)
