Am I the only one watching the Olympics opening ceremonies? Because WTF am I watching?
First it starts with a comedy video which turns into this weird creepy thing about kids running through the Paris sewers, encountering an alligator, then getting rowed out and into the Seine by a ghost and it cuts to reality and all the nations are going down the river on boats past a bunch of water jets because they're not doing this in a stadium.
This looks awful and ridiculous. Compare this to the spectacle of London 2012.
Now they're doing some weird old Hollywood movie musical style musical number with Lady Gaga and she's on a staircase, which is... somewhere in Paris?
I am so fucking confused.
Edit: They just cut to Macron and he looks as confused as I am.
I've re-watched that Gojira performance like 10 times. The beheaded Marie Antionettes were <chef's kiss>.
I'm getting old and have watched a lot of opening ceremonies with all of this art that they have to explain the meaning to you.
In front of an in-person audience of hundreds of world leaders and live to the entire world, the French chose to depict their final monarch that they deposed and beheaded while playing death metal and opera. That's one of the most badass things I've ever seen. And the announcers didn't have to explain to you how badass it was.
Technically, they had a few more monarchs (Louis XVIII, Charles X, Louis Philippe I) after Marie Antoinette's husband even if you don't count the two emperors. The fifth republic looks unlikely to lapse, though
By far the best part. Celine was astounding and that balloon thingy is outrageously original. The light show too.
There was a metric shitload of what the actual hell going on in the run up to it. Not inherently bad in the main - but just not very well put together. Disjointed, way too drawn out, incoherent.
Thank goodness they had a decent ending.
Who was Parkour Bansky? Does anyone know? Was a tad worried they were going to skitter off a wet roof on live TV.
I was disappointed that part petered out. I didn’t expect to see who was inside, but assumed at some point we’d see them hand the torch back off to the end. Instead it was just like Zizou had it again with no explanation and handed it off to Rafa. I kind of wonder if there was supposed to be something more but they had to cut it because it wasn’t safe to do in the rain. It already seemed a little risky with the segments that were live and had someone running along those wet metal roofs (but was funnier to then see the obviously recorded segments filmed when it was dry and sunny).
I wonder how many celebrated French singers are upset that she opened the performance while mangling the French language? Like, I don’t think she did terrible, but was also clearly not a native speaker
I wonder how many celebrated French singers are upset that she opened the performance while mangling the French language?
The answer is probably none. The Olympics is a celebration of multiculturalism not just the culture of the hosts. If anything, it speaks about the impact of colonialism and historical french cultural hegemony during the XIX century.
Oh, and she does speak french, with an accent, but she does speak it.
Honestly the people who care about this sort of thing are way more upset that a black gasp woman gasp sang rap gasp for the opening ceremony. I'm talking about aya Nakamura.
It's weird, but not in a good way. Not for me. It's just so completely disconnected. There's nothing that unifies it at all. It's just random weird stuff. Lady Gaga does an old fashioned Hollywood number, sure. There's a weird Assassin's Creed faceless person doing parkour with the torch, whatever. Headless Mary Antoinette sings a song. I guess. Robot horse for five minutes... okay... get on with it.
A lady sings Imagine and I hope she doesn't burn to death because of the GIANT FIRE in the piano behind her? WHAT THE FUCK AM I WATCHING?
Welcome to the Olympics this happens every time. Mark my words when the Olympics come to the state we are going to do our damndest to out weird France.
It'll just be 500 people firing tracer filled machine guns into the air, fireworks being launched off the deck of an aircraft carrier, and a finale centered on an ICBM being detonated offshore to the tune of America, Fuck Yeah!
With the anchors telling viewers, "This flyover is of an F-35 squadron. The program has cost almost 2 trillion. The military has stated it will be using it less going forward. NOW HERE'S BEYONCÉ!"
I think the problem there is by spreading it out along the Seine it became a little more challenging to balance the presentation for viewers on TV than for people actually watching in person. It takes time for a boat to get from up by Notre Dame all the way down to the Eiffel Tower/Trocadero where the dignitaries were. If they were in a stadium like normal they would’ve just had the horse do a lap and it would’ve been done in a couple minutes because everyone saw it at the same time. Overall I liked it, but I can see how that would get old for some people.
so far I think you ment yet because apparently the French are running out of food and one whole team had to be sent back home. But France is keeping a tight lip about all things.
If you are actually heading trouble remembering what years the summer Olympics are in here is something that can help. Summer Olympics, leap years, and us presidential elections are always the same years.
It got much better. The horse running down the river gave me chills. I was in Paris a couple of months ago, and this has become quite a feat. The rain made it even more surreal.
Yeah, but it's a dumb looking ghost. It's like an Assassin's Creed character without a face. But he does have the power to bring everything in the Louvre to life, so there's that.
When I first learned how to do parkour I thought it should be an Olympic sport. Just set up some type of street and obstacles and get scored on how well you handle it plus how fast you go thru it.
They finally had attention there. I thought they were going to do a Costeau reference there haha. Now Macron is doing his proud poker face during the Marseillaise (thinking revolution and anarchism is nice, but don't bring down the state while I'm president, please)