An Olympic Double-Header
First up, over at the Willamette Week, I take a look at the tribute to bloated pomp that is the Olympics. It's basically 17 days of sports smothered by horribly cloying human-interest stories.
Second, touching on a subject I only glanced upon in the column, I can't get over how much the viewing public is willing to put aside in re: China's wild abuses of human rights in order to pretend to give a shit about Michael Phelps. In the spirit of that, here's an online transcript:
slackeer33: (sends link)
sad
me: lame
plus some of the fireworks were digitally done for home viewers
slackeer33: whaaaaat
me: (sends link)
slackeer33: "this is actually almost animation"
hahaha
me: yeah
lame
slackeer33: china is just ridiculous
me: yeah
fake fireworks, oppression, human rights abuses, trying to make it rain
slackeer33: i liked how they opening ceremonies highlighted environmental responsibility and all that harmony and concern for future generation stuff.
yeah. ok, china.
me: haha
yes
harmony IN FIERCE ACCORDANCE WITH YOUR GOVERNMENT
slackeer33: haha yeah
we kept joking during the gymnastics about how the mistakes would cost them a lot more than just a low score
"i have shamed my family. i will have to throw myself to my death promptly after completion of this rotation."
me: now that i would tune in for
Comments: 2
Never has becoming an expat felt so good than when I was discussing Olympic coverage with family back in CA.
So, how have you been enjoying the beach volleyball?
To be fair, it's pretty much only the American broadcast companies who place such an emphasis on the human interest element. Internationally, the focus is more on the events themselves.
Aug 20, 2008 7:32 PM